Former Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum died Tuesday at age 61 of a heart attack. He had battled diabetes and other illnesses for years. Tatum, who had 37 career interceptions, played 10 seasons in the NFL , nine of them with Oakland, and went to three Pro Bowls and won one Super Bowl.

But he is best remembered as the man who paralyzed New England Patriots WR Darryl Stingley in a 1978 preseason game. Stingley, who over the years would regain some limited use of his body, spent the rest of his life in a wheel chair until he died in 2007. Tatum never apologized nor ever spoke to Stingley after the incident. Stingley’s former QB Steve Grogan just couldn’t forgive the man for that.

"I have a hard time trying to find something nice to say," Grogan said about Tatum. "That bothers me because I'm not like that normally. You may talk to guys that played with him, and they might tell you he was greatest teammate in the world and everybody loved him.

"The circumstance that we were involved with, just the way he handled it, that will never come out of any of our mouths or minds."

"When something like that happens and you can't apologize for it, go out and write a book to make money and try to get famous off the incident, that's just not right," Grogan said. "I thought he handled it very poorly."

Tatum, who wrote three books called “They Call Me Assassin”; “They Still Call Me Assassin” and “Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum” once suggested that he and Stingley have a live televised reconciliation to promote one of his books.

It never came to be, although Stingley as late as 2003 told the Boston Globe he would welcome a visit or call from Tatum that didn’t have a commercial agenda attached to it.

"If he called me today, I'd answer," Darryl Stingley said. "If he came to my house, I'd open my door to him. All I ever wanted was for him to acknowledge me as a human being. I just wanted to hear from him if he felt sorry or not. It's not like I'm unreachable. But it's not a phone call I'll be waiting for anymore."

NFL Hall of Fame writer John Clayton wrote in his remembrance of Tatum that his behavior toward Stingley likely kept him from the Hall of Fame.

Photo credit: Ron Riesterer/The Sporting News/ZUMA Press

After coming from behind last night, the Boston Red Sox look to conclude their ten-game west coast road trip with a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this afternoon at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

This afternoon's game will start at 3:35 p.m. and will be shown on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game can be seen in the Angels television market on Fox Sports West. If you can't catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.

Josh Beckett will make his second start since being activated from the disabled list on July 23rd. He's made ten starts in 2010 for the Red Sox and is 1-1 with a 6.66 ERA. He hasn't faced the Angels in 2010 and is 2-3 with a 4.13 ERA in eight career starts. He's made three career starts at Angel Stadium and is 1-2 with a 4.05 ERA.

One-time member of the Red Sox, Joel Piñeiro, gets the start for the Angels this afternoon. He's made 20 starts in 2010 and is 10-7 with a 4.18 ERA. He took the loss back on May 5th against the Red Sox after allowing two runs in six innings. Overall in his career, the former New Haven Ravens pitcher has made 11 starts against the Red Sox and is 3-6 with a 5.94 ERA.

Lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, and links after the jump.

The New England Patriots have signed their first round draft pick CB Devin McCourty (1st Round -27th overall) out of Rutgers University. McCourty inked a five year deal with a max value of $13.2 million of which $7.825 million is in guarantees and bonuses.

He is the last of the teams 12 draft picks to sign a contract but only the second of all the first rounders in the league. Only Dallas WR Dez Bryant (21st overall) had signed prior to McCourty.

McCourty is likely to be in camp today ready for the start of team workouts tomorrow.

Photo credit: AP Photo

NESN's Kathryn Tappen is down in Ft. Myers and sat down with injured Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to talk about the rehab process among other things.

Here's the video for you to enjoy:

Boston Red Sox starter John Lackey returned to the place he called home for all of his major league career until this season in search of his elusive 10th win of the season. His buddy, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim starting pitcher Jered Weaver, had every intention of spoiling Lackey's quest.

Lackey started and ended his Tuesday night with boos from the crowd of his former team but it was he who had the last laugh as the Red Sox rallied for a 4-2 win. Weaver was actually quite surprised the Angels fans booed him.

"The ovation wasn't quite what I thought it would be," Weaver said. "This guy's done a lot for the organization for eight years. It's very disappointing people didn't understand."

The pair engaged in a good ol' fashioned pitcher's duel last night with the Angels getting to Lackey for a run in the third. And that's how the score would stay as they matched zeroes until the top of the 7th inning.

Weaver had gotten the first two outs before a walk to Darnell McDonald, who was late addition to the lineup after J.D. Drew was scratched with a sore hamstring. Marco Scutaro got McDonald to third with a single and both would come around to score when Jed Lowrie hit a double over Juan Rivera who had been playing shallow.

The Red Sox added a run in the 8th on an Adrian Beltre double and it was a good thing  because Bobby Abreu ended Lackey's night with a solo home run to cut the lead back to one. Daniel Bard finished the inning off for him and after a run in the top of the 9th, Jonathan Papelbon closed the door on the Angels.

Lackey had said that he would have a good second half and he's shown that in his three starts since the All-Star break. He's 1-0 with a 1.61 ERA (5 runs/4 earned in 22.1 innings).

Despite throwing a lot of pitches early on, he was sharp on the mound. He had great command of his offspeed stuff and that's what helped him keep pace with Weaver who mowing down Red Sox hitters like they weren't even there. And the fact that he gutted it out for as long as he did allowed Terry Francona to use the guys he trusts most in the bullpen in Bard and Papelbon.

A win today against the Angels would go a long way for the Red Sox to finish off this 10-game west coast swing before tomorrow's off day.

We'll be back in a short while with this afternoon's lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, news and any links from the day but for now enjoy the overnight links after the jump.

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below.

Thank you for stopping and by making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

Boston Red Sox @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 10:05 p.m Angel Stadium of Anaheim SP: John Lackey vs Jered Weaver TV: NESN, MLB.tv Radio: Red Sox Radio Network

Evening Red Sox Delight - 7/27 [SOX & Dawgs]

It should be an emotion filled evening tonight as the Boston Red Sox look for another win tonight against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in game two of a three-game set at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Tonight's game will start at 10:05 p.m. and will be shown on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game can be seen in the Angels television market on Fox Sports West. If you can't catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.

John Lackey will make his first start at Angel Stadium since leaving the Angels in the offseason as a free agent. He's made 20 starts so far in 2010 and is 9-5 with a 4.36 ERA. He's faced his former club once this season and in his career, picking up the win back on May 5th after allowing one run over seven innings. Lackey had made 112 starts at Angel Stadium (all in an Angels uniform) and has 49-32 record with a 3.72 ERA.

Jered Weaver has made 21 starts in 2010 for the Angels and is 9-6 with a 3.22 ERA. Weaver hasn't faced the Red Sox in 2010 and is 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA in eight starts against them in his career. He leads the American League in strikeouts with 147

Lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, and links after the jump.

With the Boston Red Sox clinging to a one-run lead over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last night, J.D. Drew came to the plate with two runners on base. He ended up getting a good pitch to hit and he got all of it.

Unfortunately for him though, he needed to hit it about an inch further to get a home run as the ball went off the top of the wall for a two-run double.

Here's the video for you to enjoy: