The woman responsible for bringing NFL football back to her hometown of St. Louis in 1995 has died, according to media reports in St. Louis.

Georgia Frontiere was 80 years old and died after a long battle with breast cancer at UCLA hospital in Los Angeles, Calif.

Frontiere inherited the then-Los Angeles Rams from her husband Carroll Rosenbloom, who died suddenly scuba diving in 1979.

More later…

***UPDATED at 7:48 PM CT***
The organization has released a statement on the death of Ms. Frontiere.

John Clayton of ESPN.com reports that the Baltimore Ravens have hired John Harbaugh, a special teams/secondary coach on the Philadelphia Eagles staff of Andy Reid, as their new head coach.

More in a bit…

***UPDATED at 6:22PM ET***

The Baltimore Sun’s Jamison Hensley has all the details.

UCLA’s Myers taken first in MLS draft (AP/USATODAY.com)

The Kansas City Wizards selected sophomore defender Chase Myers with the first overall pick in this year’s 2008 MLS Draft.

That’s right — he came out of school early to be eligible for the MLS draft.

“When I heard they traded for the No. 1 pick, (MLS Commissioner) Mike Garland said the interest was high and I could be No. 1,” Myers said. “After the season was over, it was kind of unexpected if I was going to leave or going to stay, but my choice paid off.”

The rest of the draft went as follows: No. 4, Sean Franklin (L.A. Galaxy); No. 5, Ciarin O’Brien (Colorado Rapids); No. 6, Andy Iro (Columbus Crew); No. 7, Patrick Nyarko (Chicago Fire); No. 8, Josh Lambo (Dallas); No. 9 Julius James (Toronto); No. 10, Pat Phelan (Toronto); No. 11, Roger Espinoza (Kansas City); No. 12, Dominic Cervi (Chicago); No. 13, Rob Valentino (New England Revolution); No. 14, David Horst (Real Salt Lake).

Date set for Clemens interview (AP/Google News)

Roger Clemens has been asked to meet with congressional committee staff on Jan. 26, ahead of the House hearing where he and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, have been invited to testify, the Associated Press is reporting.

The depositions will be given under oath, while an interview will not require one.

Ex-49er Stubblefield accused of lying to feds in steroid case (SFGate.com)

Former NFLer Dana Stubblefield was charged Friday with lying to Federal investigators related to the BALCO investigation.

Stubblefield stands accused of making false statements to an IRS agent in November 2003.

During that testimony, the former defensive end told investigators that he didn’t take EPO or the steroid “the clear”.  He also falsely denied receiving shipments from BALCO.

He becomes the first charged in the BALCO scandal.

***UPDATED at 5:28 PM ET***
Stubblefield has plead guilty to charges levied by the Federal government over statements the ex-defensive end made to IRS investigators in 2003.

Holliday avoids arbitration, signs for two years (AP/ESPN.com)

National League MVP runner-up Matt Holliday agreed Friday to a $23 million, two-year contract Friday with the Colorado Rockies that avoided arbitration.

After making $4.4 million last season, Holliday gets $9.5 million this year and $13.5 million in 2009.

News and notes on this get-away Friday…

Phillips said to succeed Brooks as Kentucky’s football coach (AP/Y! Sports) A guy named Joker Phillips will eventually become the Kentucky Wildcats head coach, succeeding Rich Brooks upon retirement.

Rays, Peña reach agreement (AP/SI.com) The Tampa Bay Devil Rays buck up to keep Carlos Peña, signing the ‘07 breakout player to a three-year deal for over $24 million.

Cardinals, Ankiel avoid arbitration (MLB.com) Agent Scott Boras made reference to Babe Ruth last week in finding one comparable player to pitcher-turned-outfielder Rick Ankiel, but his client nets a $900K deal and avoids arbitration.

The bright side of long-term deals (TheHockeyNews.com) Rory Boylen tackles the upside of long-term deals in the NHL.

…and finally…

Even the commentators fight in hockey (Awful Announcing) This short clip leads little introduction.

We mentioned this in the “The Snooze” and we have finally found an embeddable workable copy for all of you to view here.

Slick.

Golfweek replaces editor responsible for ‘noose’ imagery (AP/ESPN.com)

The editor who decided it’d be a good idea to put a noose on the cover of Golfweek magazine in reference to the Kelly Tilghman controversy, was canned.

“We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country,” Turnstile Publishing Co. president William P. Kupper Jr. said. “We were trying to convey the controversial issues with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic.

To recap: that’s how to lose a good gig in less than 24 hours.

Fischer, outspoken ex-chess champion, dies in Iceland (AP/ESPN.com)

Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess champion who defeated Russian chess whiz Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1972, died of kidney failure in Reykjavik, Iceland.

He was 64.

An American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, Fischer dethroned the Spassky in 1972 in a series of games in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, to become the first officially recognized world champion born in the United States.

Blues cancel ‘Tuesdays on Tap’ before it even starts (STLToday.com)

On Thursday, the St. Louis Blues of the NHL announced what they thought was a marketing home run in a beer drinking town: “Tuesdays on Tap” was supposed to be a catalyst for ticket sales on weeknight games that typically draw smaller crowds.

Good idea in theory; horrible idea in planning and execution.

You see, earlier in the day former NHL defenseman — and St. Louis Blue — Rob Ramage was sentenced to four years in prison for a drunken-driving crash in which a friend and fellow hockey player Keith Magnuson died.

The club’s CEO on the business operations side, Peter McLoughlin, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they rescinded the plan shortly after sending out a mass email to subscribers touting the marketing effort.

At 4 p.m., Blues executive Peter McLoughlin told the Post-Dispatch, “This one is not happening.”

Asked why, he said that it was a “business decision.”

“We were discussing a lot of creative ideas,” said McLoughlin, CEO of the business side of the Blues franchise. “It’s unfortunate the e-mail went out.”

While nothing beats a free beer or two, we applaud McLoughlin and the club for realizing the error and rescinding the idea.

Now about that power-play…

News and notes while Small White Ball finds the first video of the ‘Mike & Mike’ roast…

Immunity unlikely for McNamee (MLB.com) Brian McNamee’s lawyer has asked for immunity in exchange for his testimony and deposition before Congress and will likely get turned down.  Within this story is mention that Roger Clemens’ lawyers have tried to serve McNamee in his defamation lawsuit 12 times — without success.

Irsay: Caldwell would take over Colts should Dungy walk (AP/Y! Sports) Colts owner Jim Irsay tabs assistant head coach JIm Caldwell as Tony Dungy’s replacement should Dungy step down as rumored.

Day 5: Serena, Henin, Sharapova advance to round four (AP/SI.com) Serena Williams, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova roll on to the fourth round of the Aussie Open.

Odom expected to announce he’ll retire at season’s end (ESPNU.com) Citing several sources, Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports that South Carolina Gamecocks hoops coach Dave Odom is expected to announce his retirement on Friday.

Mangino wins Bear Bryant award (AP/USATODAY.com) KU’s Mark Mangino nabbed the Paul A. “Bear” Bryant Award for college football’s coach of the year, edging out seven finalists that included Les Miles, who coached LSU to the national championship, Missouri’s Gary Pinkel and Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech.

…and finally…

One of the sickest goals you’ll ever see, scored by Columbus’ Rick Nash against the Phoenix Coyotes (NHL.com Video)

Note: We tried to embed this, but it messes up the formatting.  Our apologies.