Sports Redux: Gettin' Close

With the Bruins and Celtics taking the night off, and the Patriots Bostonist took some time catching up on the Red Sox. Believe it or not, Truck Day is just about a month (Feb. 12) away.

David Ortiz is donating food and medical supplies to support Haiti in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake. Donations can be made to the Red Sox Foundation to contribute to Haitian relief efforts.

While Ortiz and the Sox do the right thing off the field, the front office continues to shape the roster for 2010 and beyond. Arbitration hearings begin February 1 and four Red Sox filed for salary arbitration today. While Manny Delcarmen, Ramon S. Ramirez and Jeremy Hermida all filed along with Jon Papelbon, the closer's hearing might be the most eventful or costly.

Josh Beckett isn't tied up in an arbitration hearing. But, he is about to begin his contract year. Ian Browne of MLB.com recently wrote that while Beckett won't get an extension before the 2010 season begins, he maintains a good relationship with the club.

The Celtics don't return to the court until Monday when Dallas comes to Boston. The green took advantage of this brief hiatus to honor Red Auerbach again by naming the North Station concourse after him. The Bruins got a timely day off in Los Angeles - imagine if it was Calgary - before battling the Kings today.

Sebastian Vollmer, on Tuesday, talked to the German media in order to sum up his rookie season in the NFL. Bostonist's German is admittedly a tad rusty. But, we think we heard the words "Matt Light" and "little girl" and "Kansas City" during his conference call.

Bostonist has little to say about Mark McGwire's "admission". Fortunately, former Sox DH Jack Clark provided a memorable quote we can fall back on. Clark said "Just seeing him in uniform makes me throw up. He should not be in baseball. He should be banned from baseball more than ever." Yeah, that covers it.