Benches clear at Fenway as Red Sox-Rays rivalry heats up

Nothing like a good old Friday night battle in the American League East.

And when I say battle, I mean it almost literally.

Oh yes, the benches cleared in Boston on after Red Sox reliever Franklin Morales drilled the Rays Luke Scott in the lower leg ? on the fourth attempt, the first sailed behind Scott and the next two just missed inside. This, apparently a continuation of some bad blood that brewed last Thursday in Tampa after Adrian Gonzalez guaranteed a home run against Rays pitching.

As their official response, Tampa's Matt Moore plunked Gonzalez in his first plate appearance on that night. Later in the game, Luke Scott was hit by a Felix Doubront offering, which may indicate Boston has selected him as their primary retaliation target after he made comments running down Red Sox fans back in February.

Both of those incidents were fresh in everybody's mind as the teams took the field Friday night. And then when�Dustin Pedroia was hit by reliever Burke Badenhop in the sixth, you had the sense a receipt was coming sooner or possibly later in the weekend. It just happened to be sooner, as in Scott's ninth inning plate appearance.

Then both sides flooded the field and congregated behind home plate with Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, coach Tim Bogar, and Rays infielder Sean Rodriguez among the most visibly upset.

Fortunately, no punches were thrown, and since no warnings had been issued, there were no ejections.�After a good three minutes of soft shoves and yelling , the scene was cleared up and the game resumed with the Rays winning it 7-4.

Now it'll be interesting to see how Major League Baseball interprets the actions of all involved. You have to imagine Morales stands a good chance for some kind of punishment, because his intentions were clear. They'll probably take a good look at Scott's reaction as well to find a reason to fine him.

But more interesting than that will be how these two teams will manage the tension the rest of this weekend series. I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out those answers. I know I will be.

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Vladimir Tarasenko decides on St. Louis Blues over KHL for next season

The St. Louis Blues were a dynamic defensive team for Coach Ken Hitchcock last season. Their offense? Less than dynamic, finishing 21st in the NHL with 206 goals.

That's why Vladimir Tarasenko's decision for next season was so highly anticipated. Drafted 16th overall in the 2010 NHL Draft, the 20 year old notched 47 points in 54 games this season in the KHL and scored 31 points in 20 world junior championship games between 2009-11.

His decision? Picking the Blues over the KHL, and coming over to the NHL beginning next season.� From STLToday.com and Jeremy Rutherford, talking with Blues GM Doug Armstrong:

"I�was just�sort of tossing and turning the rest of the night in anticipation of talking to�(Tarasenko) and moving ahead," Armstrong said.�"We spoke�and it was 'Congratulations, we're excited to have you, I know it was a difficult decision.' I just wanted to let him know how happy we were to have him. He said he was very excited to be here."

? Tarasenko was left off Russia's World Championship roster, but he�did have a lucrative�offer to return to the KHL. It's not known how much he was offered to stay, but sources say the Russian�offer�dwarfs the maximum�deal the Blues are able to provide under the current�collective-bargaining agreement. The base salary for a 2010 draft pick�is $900,000, but can be increased with some performance bonuses.

"He certainly had a contract (offer) in value that outshot what he could sign as an entry-level contract in the NHL,�so I think it's a testament to the process," Armstrong said.

Keep in mind the contract isn't signed yet, as NHL rules state he can't ink the deal until July 1. Tarasenko has informed the KHL he's headed to North America, but there are still some details left undecided, Armstrong said; Andy Strickland of True Hockey had a breakdown of the Blues' performance bonus headaches with Tarasenko.

No one knows what this young star will turn out to be in the NHL ? for every dynamic Russian star there's a Zherdev. But it's a significant boost for the Blues on the right wing. For the KHL ? well, they still have Evgeny Kuznetsov choosing Russia over North America. And Brett Ledba might play for Barys Astana. That too.

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How Los Angeles Kings will handle the rust in Stanley Cup Final Game 1

NEWARK, NJ ? The last time the Los Angeles Kings competed in a playoff game, Facebook stock was five days old and trading 18 percent below its IPO price.

Yeah, it's been that long.

New Jersey Devils Coach Peter DeBoer wasn't sure if the Kings' layoff ? having not played since they eliminated the Phoenix Coyotes on May 22 ? would equate to rust in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night.

"It's�a�good�question. I don't know. [That] gave us an advantage�against�Philly�I� thought�in�Game�1.�I thought we were the sharper�team to�start that�game,�even� though�we lost.�I believe we out-shot�them�15- 20 to 5-6 in the first period.�We ended up losing that game, ran out of gas," recalled DeBoer.

"You�know, I thought that we were the sharper team in Game 1 probably due�to� the�long�layoff�they�had.� At the same time it depends how you handle�the�layoff.�I'm sure they're going to be very aware of not being stale. Knowing Darryl [Sutter], I don't expect they'll have any rust on them."

Coach Darryl Sutter and the Los Angeles Kings weren't concerned about rust heading into Game 1. They've dealt with gaps in games before during the postseason ? six days between the elimination of the Blues and Game 1 against the Coyotes, five days between the elimination of the Canucks and Game 1 against the Blues.

They're 3-0 in Game 1s of playoff series this postseason.

"A lot to do with coaching. A lot to do with leadership," he said. "I think everybody on our team says the right things. [Captain Dustin Brown] been the same guy in the playoffs that he was in the beginning of our playoff run."

Sutter said it's been beneficial to the team's health.

"Obviously we've been able to manage our time well. I think between the regular season and when we played Vancouver, there was, what was it, two or three days? Then the next one was five or six. �As series go along, there are players that definitely need days away and days off," he said. "Guys are banged up. But I think it's really helped our two or three older players."

If there is rust for the Kings, the key to shaking it off is engaging the Devils in the first 10 minutes of the game ? whether they're fueled by nervous energy or animosity.

How long will it take for the Kings to build up hate for the Devils? "It could be as long as a shift," said Dustin Penner.

An admittedly nervous Dustin Penner: "I'm keeping the butterflies at bay right now. I'm sure they'll start fluttering around 7:30."

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Report: Most NFL players would have no problem with an openly gay teammate

If football isn't the ultimate masculine/gladiator sport, it's certainly right up there. As a result of that factor, not to mention the perceived group-think of the locker room, meeting room and huddle, and supposed "caveman" mentality some believe it takes to play the game, there are some who would tell you that no openly gay player would be able to survive (literally or figuratively) in the NFL. But in a recent series of interviews with current and former NFL players, OutSports.com found that the perception is not reality. If the small group interviewed represent the majority, attitudes have definitely come around about any NFL player who would choose to come out.

Former star defensive end Jevon Kearse, who once lived with an openly gay male cousin, told OutSports that as long as such a teammate did what was expected of him between the lines, the personal stuff wouldn't really matter -- and that was the overriding message from the players interviewed.

"In the game of football, it's like a war out there," Kearse said. "Once you get out on the field, all that stuff is to the side. You're on my side. I played in the NFL for 11 years, I'm sure there were at least one or two guys along the line that were gay."

Kearse's former teammate with the Tennessee Titans, running back Eddie George, said the same, and added that he didn't believe an openly gay teammate would have been ostracized on any of his teams.

"I just don't care about that," George said. "If that's what you do, that's what you do. I don't hate you because of it or dislike you because of it. That's not my personal preference, but I respect your decision. I'm not going to like you less or not be your friend because of that."

That tolerance goes back further than you think. Vince Lombardi, seen as the ultimate authority figure, and championed as a pillar of supposed "clean-cut" values for generations of football fans, had an openly gay brother, and often told his players that anyone who had a problem with the concept of homosexuality could not play for him. It was the same as any other kind of bias to the coach -- and in an era where he had to wait far longer than he should have for a head-coaching job because of his Italian heritage, Lombardi despised prejudice of any kind.

No NFL player has ever made his homosexuality public while playing in the league, but the sheer odds tell us that just about every professional football player in at least the last two generations has had at least one gay teammate through his career. The sheer odds also tell us that there will be a wide variety of views on the subject on any roster. Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan added his support to New York's same-sex-marriage legislation right about the time that former teammate David Tyree was telling an anti-homosexual publication that same-sex marriage would lead America to "anarchy."

"How can marriage be marriage for thousands of years and now all the sudden because a minority, an influential minority, has a push or agenda ... and totally reshapes something that was not founded in our country," Tyree said.

Strahan clearly disagreed. "I have plenty of gay friends, and I don't judge them. I want them to have all the same rights I have, and all the opportunities I have to be in a relationship, a great relationship, with the person that they're in love with."

So, maybe the picture isn't as rosy as OutSports paints it. Former running back Ahman Green, who has a gay sister and brother, isn't so sure about the acceptance of a player who admitted his homosexuality while still playing in the league.

"In our sport, to be honest, I think it would be hard for any guy to come out while he's playing," he said. "And that's not a happy thing to say. The gay community is just like everybody else, but they're treated differently. It's a double standard. If a guy was gay, he wouldn't come out while he was playing. He knows the possibility of the scrutiny he might face from the locker room, which would be unfair. I am very open-minded. It is what it is. People are born that way. You can't control it. Just like you're white, I'm black. But a lot of people don't think my way. I wish they did, because then there wouldn't be guys who wanted to stay hidden."

Perhaps the most encouraging part of the interview was the take of those players just coming into the league -- OutSports spoke with rookies Trent Richardson, Robert Griffin III, Doug Martin, Coby Fleener, Nick Foles, LaMichael James and T.J. Graham. To a man, the players who will comprise the future of the league didn't have a problem with the concept -- and many wondered why it was a big deal at all.

Richardson, the Alabama star who played his college ball in a state that struck down a same-sex marriage bill with 81 percent of the vote in 2006, said that he has gay friends and brought it back to the great equalizer -- how are you on the field?

"I never pay attention to it," Richardson said. "They do what they do. I don't have a problem with them. As long as they're playing good football and contributing to the team, I don't have nothing to do with that. It is what it is. I don't have any problem with any sexuality or whatever they've got going on."

Fleener, who played in and around a far more tolerant area of the country (Stanford), echoed Richardson's statements.

"As long as they competed on the field and gave it their all in practice, that's all I care about," Fleener said. "It's not something that's at the forefront of football. But especially at Stanford and in the Bay Area, it's something you deal with on a regular basis, more so than anywhere else in the United States. So I'm very comfortable with it, whereas in other areas it might not be the norm."

Griffin had a more personal experience -- he played with a high school teammate in Texas who came out and ultimately left the team as a result.

"When he came out, he stopped playing," Griffin said. "He might have stopped playing because of the negative feedback he might have gotten from being that on the football team. So, I think that's probably why he ended up quitting."

Perceptions are changing in the game over time -- perhaps it's that people expect football players to be homophobic by default? "I think because it's such a gladiatorial sport, when people think football they think testosterone and hitting and masculinity," Palmer said. "Whatever the reason, if there was someone who was homosexual in the locker room, that would be a very hard environment to come into because of the nature of the sport. But in my experiences, I really don't think we would have had that problem."

At some point in time, we'll all find out. Back to the sheer odds -- eventually, someone will come along and have the courage to take that stand. Then and only then will we know how the NFL really feels about true tolerance. For now, at least, the words spoken point us in an encouraging direction ... for the most part.

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Behind the Box Score, where the Boston Celtics? best somehow wasn?t enough

Miami Heat 115, Boston Celtics 111 (OT) (Heat lead series, 2-0)

You can't reference the Boston Celtics' output in Game 2 as "a perfect game," can you? Not with the loss, right? Not with that bench having to combine for 40 minutes of relatively awful play. Not with Paul Pierce fouling out. Not with Ray Allen missing two of three key jumpers that could have helped put the Heat away deep into the fourth quarter. Not with Kevin Garnett missing 12 of 18 shots. Not with the calls seemingly going Miami's way, right?

Perfect games end with a win. Perfect games, in baseball parlance, mean no errors or walks to go along with the no-hitter ? two outside influences from teammates (errors) or umpires (walks) that tend to shift the eventual designation of the ultimate individual honor. Then, by whatever stretch, Boston could not have come through with the perfect game on Wednesday night, because after all, we have the documented proof that says otherwise.

Find a more perfect output for this team, though. Ask yourself, whether you're catching up a day later or if your nose was an inch away from the tube while watching it twice as our significant schnoz was, will Boston play any better? Scratch that, and even toss in this year's Charlotte Bobcats into where the Heat once stood as a replacement opponent ? can the Boston Celtics play any better? Considering that the wasted 53-minutes of Rajon Rondo's game for the ages more than made up for any of his teammates' mitigating factors, was this it? Did the C's just find a way to hamstring perfect? Did the Heat just find a way to overcome it?

This is what is going to have to sit, like a half-digested brick of processed cheddar, at the bottom of Boston's stomach from now until Friday night's Game 3 tipoff. The idea that no matter how many changes they make, no matter how many Heat adjustments they prepare for, or any improvement on finishing open shots or finishing games, that it might not be enough. Because they just watched as a performance that would leave Michael Jordan shaking his head fail to shake the "0" that follows Boston's tagline in this series.

This also doesn't mean things are over for Boston, or that the team's season wraps up on Sunday with a tidy sweep at the hands of those merciless Heat. Far from it.

For all of Miami's recent and impressive play, the squad still doesn't do well with expectation. After an entire half of working its way back against Boston's double-digit second half lead on Wednesday night, when it came time to close the C's out in the final minutes, the team resorted to an isolation brand of basketball that hasn't helped them or any other team (read that: ANY OTHER NBA TEAM) in that part of the game since Michael Jordan was daring the referees to swallow their whistles against MJ's Bulls. Charged with taking the shovel to the dying animal, instead of working together the Heat went alone. Wade took a crack, but couldn't follow through. James missed free throws, nearly clinched it with a close lay-up attempt, and missed the potential game-winner with an isolation jumper at the buzzer.

No, the Heat do well when coming from behind. When working as the martyr but actually doing something productive about it instead of moping and relying on one-on-one gimmickry. This should give Boston hope, as it heads home, that the Heat fritters away a chance at knocking Boston off with all those expectations on hand to witness.

Yes, Miami handled New York with ease at Madison Square Garden in Game 3 of the first round, but this isn't the first round. The Knicks defended well and struggled to score as the Celtics did, but they're not in Boston's league. And Rondo is playing with a confidence that no Knick or Bull in 2011 or even Celtic in 2011 has been able to boast.

We think.

Because though athletes will tell you that they don't think about statistics or efficiency or certainly not regression to the mean as they continually check that hot hand, Rondo took a step back as the Heat made its comeback in the third quarter on Wednesday. He still hit two of this three shot attempts from the floor, but hitting 66.7 percent of your shots doesn't really mean much when it still means you end up with two makes.

LeBron James' defense on Rondo was fantastic, to be sure, but James played off of Rajon. Which means he was still able to pounce on those somewhat contested 19-foot jump shots, as James hovered with one foot below the free throw line, ready for that screen. The same shot as was available for Rajon in the first half, endlessly, against Mario Chalmers.

That doesn't mean Rondo was scared, or that he shirks from the spotlight, or that he doesn't believe in his shot. It just means that he, like the rest of us, knows he isn't superhuman. And that attempting the same series of jumpers in the third, as he did in the first half, might not be the smartest thing to do. With the bigger LeBron or Joel Anthony switching over to him, it might be time to drive and find others.

The only problem with this rather intelligent line of thinking is that, on Wednesday night, Rajon Rondo was superhuman. Forty-four points, eight rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, and only three turnovers despite playing the entire game. A game that went into overtime, lest you forgot.

We're not underestimating the Celtics' talent and guile when telling you that they can only hope to approximate this performance moving forward. Their best hope, as it has been since the Heat began their fitful run all the way back in October of 2010, is that Miami eases off the throttle a bit.

That is not to denigrate either side, in this instance. All we can go on is what we've seen, in the past, from either team and make informed decisions moving forward.

And we'd like to inform both the Celtics and the Heat that we'd like to see another Game 2, all over again.

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Anthony Davis wants to be able to say, ?I shut Kobe down? (VIDEO)

The entire basketball-observing world already expected former University of Kentucky star Anthony Davis to be the No. 1 overall selection in next month's 2012 NBA draft; now that the 2012 NBA draft lottery's done, we know he'll most likely be going to the New Orleans Hornets, who entered Wednesday night's drawing with the fourth-best odds of coming away with the top selection but leaped over the Charlotte Bobcats, Washington Wizards and (by virtue of losing an amazingly fortuitous coin flip) Cleveland Cavaliers to take home the evening's grand prize.

With draft-loving eyes now trained solely on how Davis will fit in the Big Easy, the monobrowed monster joined Dan Patrick on his nationally syndicated radio show on Thursday morning to talk about how the settling of the lottery impacted the 19-year-old big man. Davis said he was "very nervous" while watching the lottery, not so much because he was concerned which team would wind up with the top pick, but because seeing the whole process unfold in front of your eyes can be sort of nerve-wracking.

He also said he hadn't yet heard from anybody in the Hornets organization, that he wasn't too keen on having his mom move down to the Bayou from her home in Chicago ("I might let her get a house down here, but that's too close") and that his family kind of liked the idea of him going to the Charlotte Bobcats, where he could play for owner and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan, whom Davis loved growing up in the Windy City. (I think a lot of Bobcats fans would agree, no matter how stoked the organization is with the No. 2 pick.)

The interview's most interesting moment, though, came when Patrick asked Davis who he's most looking forward to playing against in the pros, an exchange you can hear in the clip above, thanks to the folks at CSNChicago.com:

"The guy I'm looking forward to playing against is one of my teammates ? if they get drafted, one of my teammates, in the NBA, to have the opportunity to reunite with them and try to beat them," Davis replied.

"But you want to, like, dunk over [Michael] Kidd-Gilchrist or DeMarcus [Cousins] ? I mean, you were only there one year, you can't have that many guys to play against," Patrick replied. "You don't want to go against LeBron [James] or Kobe [Bryant] or Dwight Howard?"

"Um, probably Kobe," Davis said.

"Really," Patrick said, hinting at a question mark but not quite getting there.

"You know, Kobe, he's a monster," Davis said. "So I want to just go out there and try my hardest. You know, there's a lot of guys who can't stop Kobe. So if I stop him, I'll be one of them guys who can say, 'I shut Kobe down.'"

"Be careful what you ask for, Anthony," Patrick said, as Davis laughed. "He listens to the show, and he's got a great memory."

"Tell him I'll be waiting," Davis replied with a laugh.

So, this is great.

For starters, it is obviously hilarious and amazing that a 6-foot-10-inch not-even-rookie ? even one touted as perhaps the most impactful defensive prospect since Howard came out of high school in 2004, if not longer ? is talking about shutting down an off-guard who, despite having nearly 1,400 games on his NBA odometer, still came within one game and one-tenth of a point of leading the league in scoring this year. Even though Davis was clearly just responding to a lighthearted leading question during a talk radio interview, this presents a pretty awesome introduction to Anthony Davis for NBA fans who maybe weren't paying such close attention to his lone season as an NCAA player.

Yes, Anthony Davis is a unique and ludicrous defensive player, with all kinds of length, quickness, angles and space-eating, but more importantly, he carries that all-enveloping capacity with a little bit of swagger. The world has too few defenders who treat preventing points like scoring points; if Davis can be that, he gives the league some needed personality balance in addition to providing a putative identity for a Hornets team in dire need of one as it begins a new chapter.

Plus, this makes the first Hornets-Lakers matchup of next season a much more interesting contest to circle on your NBA schedule, because it's virtually unthinkable that Kobe won't go right at Davis when he gets a chance to square him up on the court with live ammo flying. When exciting things get more exciting, it's a win for the fan. Also, this should make for some AMAZING stories coming out of Team USA practices.

I wholeheartedly support Anthony Davis' "talk about shutting superstars down" initiative. I can only hope he will start keeping a checklist of players he wants to lock up, like Chad Johnson's "Who Can Cover 85?" list. That way, we can all keep track, which is very social and very Web 2.0.

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The Shutdown Corner Podcast: Greg Cosell on the 2012 AFC North Draft

With the draft over and all wrapped up, we thought it would be a good idea to get back on the phone with our buddy Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN's "NFL Matchup," and talk about the NFL by division. Who did themselves the most favors in the draft, and who came up short when addressing their roster deficits?

The Shutdown Corner Podcast Greg Cosell on the NFC West draft

We started off with the NFC West last week, and we now move to the hyper-competitive AFC North. Appropriate, given Greg's recent post on the NFL Films Blog praising the Cincinnati Bengals' draft strategy. With that in mind, we asked Greg what he thought the Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers did to bolster their teams.

Related: [Cosell on�quarterbacks,�running backs/wide receivers,�tight ends/offensive line,�OLB/DE/DT stars, the ILB/DB class, and overall draft review]

Baltimore Ravens OLB Courtney Upshaw, and how he'll be tasked to replace Terrell Suggs: "The Ravens are very versatile with their fronts. Suggs would line up in two-point and three-point stances. He played a number of different positions and alignments -- that's what the Ravens do, and Upshaw fits that role. I don't think anybody's going to say that he's going to do what Suggs has done for a number of years -- Suggs is a pretty damned good player -- but the way Upshaw plays, I think he could eventually become similar to that guy."

Cincinnati Bengals OG Kevin Zeitler: "I seem to be in the minority here, and we'll never know how the Bengals felt because David DeCastro was gone when they picked, but I thought Zeitler was a little more complete than DeCastro -- I thought he was a better athlete. I thought he had more scheme-versatility, and he fits very well in a zone run game. I'm not sure DeCastro does. Now, DeCastro fits in the power run game better; that's what he did at Stanford. But given what the Bengals want their guards to do, I think Zeitler was the better choice, and would have been the better choice had DeCastro been available."

The Shutdown Corner Podcast: Greg Cosell on the 2012 AFC North Draft

The Cleveland Browns' first-round selections of Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden: "Theoretically, you could look at it this way -- they ended up with Richardson and Weeden instead of Ryan Tannehill and Doug Martin. And I think Richardson/Weeden is the better combination ... in fact, I don't think, I know. Richardson, we don't need to discuss ... I thought he was the best player in this draft. Weeden has some concerns. He was the best pure pocket passer in this draft, but he's got meaningful and troublesome issues with pressure. That's a serious red flag when you transition to the NFL."

Pittsburgh Steelers RB Chris Rainey: "I love this pick for them. It's funny how things change in given years, and where people get drafted -- I like Rainey more than Dexter McCluster, and McCluster was a second-round pick of the Chiefs [in the 2910 NFL draft]. The reason he's a fifth-round pick? He is what he is. He's not a feature back, but you design 12 to 15 plays [around him], whatever you choose -- but this guy can score from anywhere on the field."

As always with everything involving Greg Cosell, this podcast is a must-listen for those fans of advanced tape analysis. Subscribe to the�Shutdown Corner iTunes link (in iTunes, go to "Advanced/Subscribe to Podcast," and paste this link in:�http://ysportspods.podbean.com/category/shutdown/feed/). You can also use the link below to either left-click and listen, or right-click to save to your computer.

The Shutdown Corner Podcast: Greg Cosell on the 2012 AFC North Draft

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