FanHouse

During Tuesday night's game between the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres, we showed you some video of Jarkko Ruutu taking a bite out of Andrew Peters during a first period altercation. In what can only be described as confusing, maybe even a little ridiculous, Peters received the only penalty on the play, picking up a two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Today, the NHL announced that Ruutu will be suspended two games for his actions. Following the game, Ruutu, reportedly, denied the incident even took place. Peters' response?

"I don't think if I did something that stupid I'd really be admitting to it either," Peters said. "It goes too far for any player. It doesn't matter who you are, it's not part of hockey."

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said he wasn't going to overreact to the incident, and even called it "humourous" and that "games need a little spice."

Funny, needing a little spice is probably would Ruutu had to say about Peters' hand.

This is Ruutu's second suspension of the season, as he received a two-game banishment for elbowing Montreal's Maxim Lapierre in the head. Combined, his two suspensions still don't equal the punishment handed out to Sean Avery for making a sex joke. I'm still not sure how that makes any sense.

If you are a die-hard sports fan like me, you probably get your sports news the same way. You read things online, you check your Google reader every few minutes to see updated news, and you keep ESPNews on in the background just in case a press conference or something is breaking.

What you might not do is tune in to ESPN that much anymore, just because most of the shows are aimed at people that might not have enough time in their day to read up on everything going on, so hitting the big stories is good enough. (Or you might just avoid most of the shows because, at times, they can be obnoxious.)

Good news if you're more on the side of sports features that don't really break the concrete, if you will. ESPN has decided to give Rick Reilly, their $17 million dollar journalist hire, his own television show called "Homecoming." Trust me, it gets better.

ESPN2's new series -- Homecoming -- challenges that old adage "you can't go home again." Hosted by 10-time Sportswriter of the Year Rick Reilly, Homecoming will debut Friday, Jan. 9, at 8 p.m. ET with an episode on Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C. The following week, Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway returns to Van Nuys, Calif. The shows are the first two of a six-part series featuring one-on-one, hour-long interviews of today's top names in sports from the towns and cities where they grew up.

It seldom occurs that the most exciting player in a non-conference Duke game is a player not on Duke.

The Davidson Wildcats, now 10-2, take that lonely trip to Camedon Indoor Stadium to face the Blue Devils and their rowdy fans.

There should be a lot of Stephen Curry talk, even more painted blue chests and a lot of hand waving and Coach K stares.

Added wrinkle? Dicky V won't be around to broadcast the game, as the NBA guys (Mike Tirico, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson) will be broadcasting the college game. Tune in around 7:00 PM EST to follow the action with some of your closest friends.

The New England Patriots have been in the news quite a bit the past week, and their quarterback situation for 2009 seems to be the primary reason. First, there was the report from Mike Lombardi that it was, pretty much, a slam dunk that New England would place the franchise tag on free-agent-to-be quarterback Matt Cassel. Then, on Tuesday, Wilson passed along the report from the Dan Patrick show that Tom Brady's knee is still a major league mess, and that we could see a two-headed monster of Tom Terrific and Cassel next season for New England.

So, naturally, Tom Curran of NBC Sports passes along today's news that the Patriots have not yet made up their minds with Cassel, possibly because franchising him could destroy their salary cap in 2009.

From Curran:

A source who'll be directly involved in the call on the Patriots ascendant quarterback said in an email that the report was "speculation," adding "needless to say, no decision has been made."

Rey Maualuga moved to number one in the blogosphere's collective heart recently when he did a little shimmy-shake behind Erin Andrews. It was baller and hysterical all at the same time. Well, not so fast, my friends. Turns out Donna Lopiano, a former CEO of the Women's Sports Foundation, didn't think so.

"[Maualuga is] my first-round pick for 'offensive' player of the year" and his dance behind Andrews "another example of a narcissistic, high-profile athlete believing that any behavior, no matter how inappropriate, is acceptable because of his status. For those who would laugh off, celebrate or enable this behavior, think twice. Ms. Andrews could be your sister, daughter or wife."

Since this is a serious matter, I'm not going to make the seemingly requisite "Erin Andrews as my wife" blogger joke. You know how I know it's serious? Rey even apologized (Go on. Kiss it.) according to a statement from USC.

"The situation was addressed immediately," the statement said. "Rey both e-mailed and spoke to Erin and apologized to her. He realized he made a mistake and used poor judgment. He deeply regrets his actions."

I see the inherent sexism that could be pulled out of this little stunt, but I also kind of tend to think that Andrews would (and probably did) laugh this whole thing off. That being said, it's still pretty awkward anytime a football player pulls off a sexist-related act on the field towards a female reporter, so, yeah, this is probably how it should have worked out.

Golf season starts tomorrow, which means it is time to actually start thinking of the best game with dimples. While the giants take a nap, others will play at the Mercedes Championship, and golf will be around the rest of the year. FanHouse spent a couple of minutes thinking what is to come in 2009. Here is what transpired.

Which golfer will be the first to break through in the Majors?
A lot of the time this is overlooked, but look back a few years ago to Tiger's first full year on tour. The guy won his first-ever start in a major as a professional. With Tiger, the monkey never even had a chance to find a nice place to rest on his back. How long did it take for Tiger to win number two? Eleven major championships. Yeah, it isn't nearly as easy as he makes it seem now.

What I'm trying to say with all of this is that winning a major championship is really, really, really tough and as Sergio Garcia (and Phil Mickelson a few years back) can tell you, if you don't get one early, then the questions about "When will it happen?" start to stir around.

Garcia has gone 38 majors as a professional without a victory. That might seem like a tremendously long time until you think of some of the talented guys that took a while to win their first big one. Vijay Singh didn't get his until his 27th major. Fred Couples went 34 until he took the 1992 Masters. Tom Kite played in 67 majors before taking his 1992 U.S. Open crown.

Garcia is in panic mode but he's still young (in golf terms) and has enough talent to open the floodgates in the major championship sense.

Along with him, Anthony Kim is due to take one of these as a youngster, as well as Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Camilo Villegas.

Interesting stat to close all this up and make it apparent how hard it is to win a major: Out of the top 10 in the Official World Rankings, five have won majors, five have not.

It was no secret over the second half of the season that Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis wasn't happy with his role on the team.

But while Portis more or less confirmed that he didn't like the way the latter portion of the season went in an interview on John Thompson's radio show, he also said he'd be more than happy to do anything at all the team asks of him -- including punt:

"You know, I mean, you want to have hope, but is it really hope? You're telling me in seven games I couldn't get 500 yards after I was 300 yards above all competition in Week 9? So who knows, man? I can't do nothing but go ahead and just do what they ask me to do. If they ask me to come in and start punting, I'm gonna get my leg ready and learn how to be a punter."

That comes from Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog, who also reports that Thompson twice told Portis during the interview, "Boy, you're crazy."

It's hard to know how to take anything Portis says, because he always seems like he's half serious and half kidding. With most people I'd want him to just tell us exactly what he thinks, but Portis makes things so entertaining that I'll take him just the way he is. And I half expect him to punt a few balls at the first minicamp of 2009.

It's one thing to throw Mark Grace a vote because you really like him as a person -- and just manufacture reasons that it's a "warranted" vote. It's quite another to blatantly neglect Rickey Henderson when voting for eight other players -- including Matt Williams -- to enter baseball's Hall of Fame. Yep, Corky Simpson might be a billion years old -- and retired -- but he still has a vote. This is a mind-boggling ballot. I mean, he listed Rickey in with Ron Gant, Dan Plesac, Greg Vaughn, and Mo Vaughn like some also-ran.

I would accuse Corky of being one of those curmudgeons who just needs to get over himself because he's trying to guard against someone from getting unanimously elected -- as people have done in the past. In reading what he wrote, though, I'm not so sure he even knows what's going on. Can't we start monitoring the senility of the voters instead of just letting them vote for the rest of their lives? Rob Neyer and Keith Law have to wait ten years to vote, but this dinosaur gets to cast a ballot?

In case you don't fully understand how unconscionable it would be to leave Rickey Henderson off a single ballot, let's review what Rickey did:

Jeff Jagodzinksi, the current head coach of Boston College's football team, is, according to the Boston Globe, about to get fired at a press conference today because he chose to interview with the New York Jets, despite the team's insistence that he would lose his job for such an action. Even if they do not actually can Jago, there's still going to be a press conference to "discuss [the] football team and its coach." Update: They did indeed fire Jagodzinski.

Jeff Jagodzinski will be fired as the Boston College football coach this morning in a meeting with athletic director Gene DeFillippo, according to sources close to the program.

After meeting with the New York Jets yesterday in New Jersey regarding their opening for a head coach, Jagodzinski called DeFilippo last night, setting up a face-to-face meeting this morning. They will finalize the details of his termination in the meeting. Jagodzinski has three years remaining on the contract.

This isn't that huge of a surprise, I suppose; you can only have so many publicly scrutinized people playing a game of chicken before someone gets in a wreck.

At the same time though, it was a pretty bold move on Jagodzinksi's part to pull on the interview if he wasn't completely confident he would get the job. That being said, Gene DiFilippo only comes off looking worse if the outcome is termination, so he should probably be able to land on his feet elsewhere soon enough if the Jets gig doesn't come through.

Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson was arrested early Tuesday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence. It was his second offense -- according to the San Diego Union-Tribune he was driving on probation for a prior DUI -- but this time is different.

You see, he's been framed. Okay, that may be overstating it a tad, but Jackson thinks he was wrongly accused. From a statement he released yesterday afternoon:

"This morning I was stopped by an officer ... I don't think any charges will be filed as a result of the stop. In the event they are, I look forward to clearing my name and proving my innocence."

While we wait for the results of the blood test (Jackson apparently refused a breathalyzer), the Chargers' best deep threat will be on the field against the Steelers for the AFC Divisional playoff game this Sunday. As the Union-Tribune's Kevin Acee writes, "The NFL's collective bargaining agreement gives the league, not teams, authority to punish players for alcohol and substance abuses. Any discipline by the league would be meted out for the 2009 season, several sources said."