Rams working on contract with Saunders (STLToday.com)

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the St. Louis Rams are in contract negotiations with the agent of recently fired Washington Redskins coordinator Al Saunders for their vacant offensive coordinator job.

“We’re in negotiations with the Rams now,” Saunders’ agent, Bob LaMonte, told the Post-Dispatch on Monday afternoon.

“And I think we can come to an agreement.”

As Thomas point out, Saunders made something more than $2 million last season holding the same position in Washington.  That same salary would place him ahead of what Rams head coach Scott Linehan makes per annum.

Former UA football coach Larry Smith dies (Tuscon Citizen)

Larry Smith, who coached at Arizona, Missouri and Tulane, passed away at age 68 in Tuscon, Ariz., the Tuscon Citizen is reporting.

Smith suffered from leukemia and lymphoma.

Selanne agrees to terms with Ducks (CP/TSN.ca)

One of the worst kept secrets in the NHL has been revealed: the Anaheim Ducks have signed free agent forward Teemu Selanne to a one-year contract.

“It took Teemu several months to determine if he had the passion and determination to return to the NHL, and we are thrilled to have him back,” said Ducks Executive Vice President/General Manager Brian Burke in a statement.

The ten-time All-Star was originally drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1988 Entry Draft.

NHL expected to scrutinize future all-star weekend events (TorontoSun.com)

The Toronto Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, who we like to call the “Larry Brooks of the Canadian Press” because he loves to make up trade rumors, reports that the National Hockey League is strongly considering making major changes to its all-star festivities.

Though cancelling the game seems a little harsh, there are proponents of that route in the NHL headquarters.

At the very least, it would appear the skills competition is going to become a victim of the changes once the league figures out what direction it wants to take.

[…]

“I haven’t heard any positive comments about the skills competition at all,” a league executive yesterday said. “The players think it’s painful, the changes to the competition didn’t work and quite frankly, the players are bored with the whole thing.”

This comes on the heels of an article we posted from The Hockey News that praised this year’s festivities.

News and notes while Chuck Knoblauch makes travel reservations to Washington, D.C. …

Detroit group buys into English soccer (AP/USATODAY.com) A Detroit, Michigan-based group led by former Detroit Pistons exec Andy Appleby has bought a stake in Derby County of the English Premier League.  Appleby tried pursuing the NHL’s St. Louis Blues two years ago.

Star showcase finally lives up to the hype (THN.com) The folks at The Hockey News write that this weekend’s NHL All-Star Game activities in Atlanta, Georgia lived up to expectations.

The party is in Glendale. You are not invited. (The Sporting Blog) Will Leitch of Deadspin.com turns in a piece for The Sporting News’ sports blog The Sports Blog while on assignment covering the Super Bowl festivities in Glendale, Ariz.

Tiki’s burnt bridges coming to the forefront (Awful Announcing) Remember Tiki Barber’s blistering comments directed at his former coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning? Well, the chickens are coming home to roost as the Giants appear to be preventing him from snatching any exclusives from his former club.

Source: Angelos yet greenlight proposed Bedard deal (ESPN.com)

ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark reports that the proposed deal that would send lefty Erik Bedard to the Seattle Mariners has not yet been approved by Baltimore owner Peter Angelos.

Stark also writes that the same source also indicated that Angelos wasn’t informed of the particulars of this latest proposal until late Sunday and that he won’t be available Monday to confer with the Orioles’ baseball officials because of a personal matter.

Stark also points out that the longer this situation drags out, the likelihood of a deal being consummated dwindles.

Pistorius sees little hope of running in Beijing Games (AP/USATODAY.com)

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputeed sprinter who lost a judgement by the IAFF to participate in the 2008 Beijing Game, has virtually given up his fight to appear in those Games and his focusing on 2012 in London.

While still appealing the ruling by the IAFF, Pistorius told the Associated Press.

“I can’t even run in qualifiers. I won’t be able to run in Beijing anyway, so I am looking at 2012,” Pistorius said Monday before an appearance organized by the national sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport.

Pistorius is still waiting for an appeal to be ruled upon by the IAFF.

Ravens retain defensive boss Ryan (Baltimore Sun)

The Baltimore Ravens have retained defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and was given a promotion of assistant coach to new head coach John Harbaugh, the Baltimore Sun reports.

According to a source, Ryan was given a three-year contract worth roughly $1.3 million to $1.5 million annually.

“This is a good thing, this is great,” Ryan said. “I’m excited to be back with the Ravens, and excited about what is going on here. These are my guys [on defense], and we’ve been through a lot together.”

Ryan interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins head coaching positions.

Clemens’ agent contests notion that drugs boosted career (AP/USATODAY.com)

The agent for Roger Clemens issued an 18,000-word statistical manifesto report that disputes popular opinion that “The Rocket’s” career took off during the time he allegedly took PEDs in the late 1990s-early 2000s.

“Of the six years that feature Clemens’ best ERA margins, two occurred in Boston, after he had been in the major leagues for several years; two occurred in his two years in Toronto; and two occurred after he switched leagues and pitched for the Houston Astros,” the report said.

“During the 1996 season Clemens ranked first in strikeouts in the American League and tied his own record by striking out 20 batters in Detroit on Sept. 18, 1996. In addition, he ranked sixth in the American League in ERA, second in the American League in hits per nine innings, and fifth in innings pitched. This performance cannot be reasonably categorized as a ‘twilight.’ “

We suppose we’ll get more answers to the many questions we have regarding his performance towards the end of his career with his testimony before the House subcommittee on Feb. 13.

In the meantime, we won’t be holding our collective breath.

ESPN’s Jacobson back on air, apologizes for comments at roast (ESPN.com)

ESPN’s First Take co-host Dana Jacobson returned to the airwaves after a week long suspension in relation to her comments at the “Mike & Mike” celebrity roast in Atlantic City on Jan. 11. The roast was for ESPN “personalities” Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg.

Upon returning to the airwaves, Jacobson reiterated that she was sorry for her comments.

“I want to once again say how truly sorry I am for my poor choices and bad judgment that night,” Jacobson said at the top of the program. “I’ve taken responsibility for what I did say and do that night.

[…]

“Mistakes do not define us. It’s how we respond to those mistakes that does,” Jacobson said in her on-air apology. “I hope you forgive me, and allow my future to define me.”

And with that, we should finally be able to put this issue to bed.

News and notes while in awe of Shawn White’s 1260 (video)…

O’s deny Bedard deal in place (Baltimore Sun) On Sunday, The Seattle Times reported that the Mariners and the O’s were close to finalizing a trade for lefty Erik Bedard.  Now comes word from The Baltimore Sun that the Orioles are denying that a deal is done.  Also, Bedard’s agent told The Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec that he hasn’t been notified of such a transaction.

Brady acknowledges injury, says he’s ‘ready to go’ (USATODAY.com) Tom Brady of the Patriots says he’s ready to go for the match-up against the New York Giants after getting some therapy and doing drills to test his injured right ankle.

Carroll turned down Redskins (NFL.com) Adam Schefter of the NFL Network reports that Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder flew to St. Louis, MO to talk to USC head coach Pete Carroll about the vacant head coaching position in the nation’s capital.  Carroll reportedly turned down the overture.

Right now, I’d take Brady over Joe (The Press Democrat) Matt Maiocco of The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.) writes in his Super Bowl XLII blog that he’d take Tom Brady over NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana…sorta.

Sources: Warriors to sign veteran Webber (ESPN.com)  Marc Stein, the NBA reporter for ESPN.com, writes that the Golden State Warriors are on the verge of inking veteran Chris Webber despite the fact that he and head coach Donn Nelson have a feud that dates back some 14 years.

…and finally…

50 thoughts from Australian Open (SI.com) Jon Wertheim of SI.com drops his top 50 list of things that captured his fancy “Down Under.”