Anquan Boldin, who announced his retirement this week, played six seasons with the Cardinals and is second to Larry Fitzgerald in franchise history in receptions and receiving yards.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Larry Fitzgerald took a moment Tuesday to talk about the retirement of his good friend and former teammate Anquan Boldin.
“Anquan wasn’t a guy to really open up to you, you had to gain his trust,” Fitzgerald said before the Cardinals practiced. “If you were able to be lucky to get his trust, he was one of the most loyal people you’d ever be around.”
Boldin, Fitzgerald said, “took me under his wing my rookie year, invited me over to the house every single `Monday Night Football.’ Those kinds of memories are things I’ll always remember.”
“We were in Ethiopia, or Senegal, all around the world doing things that are positive and always inviting me to be a part of it,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m just happy that I was able to be around him for as long as I was able to and be able to call him a friend. I just hope he’s happy and enjoys his retirement.”
After his seven prolific seasons in Arizona, Boldin ranks high on the franchise’s career lists — second in receptions (586), second in catches in one game (14), fourth in yards receiving (7,520), first in consecutive games with a TD catch (six) and first in most consecutive 100-yard games (five).
“An unbelievable Hall of Fame career,” Fitzgerald said. “Every place he’s gone, he’s been the best receiver on that team. He’s led by example off the field. He’s done it the right way.”
And then there was Boldin’s unmistakable toughness. Fitzgerald recalled the game against the Jets in New York in 2008 when Boldin took a vicious hit to the face, fracturing his nasal membrane and numerous other bones. He required surgery to implant seven plates and 40 screws to repair it.
“I’ve never played with anybody tougher,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s the most gritty, hard-nosed guy I’ve ever been around, regardless of position. He’s just special that way. He might have broke the mold on that type of player. He was cut from a different cloth.”
“Everything is always done to the highest standard,” Fitzgerald said, “and he holds himself to that kind of expectation no matter what he does, as a father, as a husband, so when you see that everything he does is always done at the highest level, I need to be able to do stuff like that.
“I think that was the one thing that really always stood out to me, his level of excellence in everything he does and how much pride he took in what he was doing.”	
NEW YORK (AP) La Inesperada dominated the $80,000 allowance feature Friday in the slop at Belmont Park, drawing off to a 5 3/4-length victory.
La Inesperada set the pace with Javier Castellano in the saddle for her sixth win in 22 starts. The time was 1:43.84 for 1 1/16 miles in the race for fillies and mares, and La Inesperada paid $7.90, $4.90 and $3.
Oasis At Midnight, the longest shot in the field at 57-1, rallied from sixth to get second, returning $30.80 and $7.
Indians starting catcher Yan Gomes is ahead of schedule in his rehab and could be back on the field earlier than originally expected.
Gomes was originally given a six-to-eight week recovery window, but after only four weeks, he continues to work out and test his knee in baseball activities before games. Gomes was seen practicing throws to second base from behind the plate on Saturday and running the bases before Sunday’s game.
"He’s flying through it (his rehab) and continues to do nothing but progress, but we have to let him progress still," manager Terry Francona told reporters before Saturday’s game. "He still has to kind of hit certain milestones, whether it’s squatting and starting to run, or squatting and coming out and getting the bunt. He has to do all of those in a progression."
Barring any setbacks, the Silver Slugger Award winner could begin a minor-league rehab assignment as early as this week.
In its purest form, Saturday’s game between the Ottawa Senators and Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center might not have been a true must-win for the Stars, but it was definitely close.
Dallas of course was heading into this afternoon affair on a four-game losing streak and hadn’t won since March 11 at St. Louis, the night after Rich Peverley collapsed on the Stars bench during the first period of a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Since then, Dallas had lost 4-3 to the Calgary Flames in a shootout last Friday, 7-2 at the Winnipeg Jets last Sunday, 5-1 at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday and 4-2 at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday to end their three-game road trip at 0-3-0.
So to see the Stars hand the Sens a 3-1 defeat on Saturday at the AAC was definitely a welcome sight for Dallas fans. Ottawa took an early lead when defenseman Erik Karlsson scored 3:27 into the game, his 19th of the season.
However, the Stars never panicked and late in the second, tied it up when Cody Eakin poked in a puck that was resting under Ottawa goaltender Robin Lehner to make it 1-1.
"It feels like it’s been a long time for me (since my last goal)," Eakin said. "It was nice to chip in and relieve that top line. We get momentum when we play four lines and everybody is creating opportunities and putting pucks on the net."
The Stars remained patient in the third period, their steadfastness was rewarded when Trevor Daley gave Dallas its first lead at 2-1 4:52 into the period when he scored his sixth of the season, sending a puck under Lehner’s right shoulder for the eventual game-winner.
Dallas captain Jamie Benn then made it 3-1 just over two minutes later when he rifled a wrister past Lehner on the short side at 6:58 for his 30th goal of the season.
Ottawa continued to press to make the game a bit closer, but the Stars were able to shut the door and snap their winless streak with a nice two-goal win.
"The last two periods we started to really come around and skate well," Dallas first-year head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We missed some good chances early, but I thought we stayed with it, and I thought we got a real solid night goaltending."
Stars No. 1 goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced from Ottawa for his first win since March 6 against the Vancouver Canucks. Lehtonen’s solid showing on Saturday was a good sign that the Finnish netminder is back to his old self after missing some games due to a concussion sustained in the win against the Minnesota Wild on March 8.
"I just thought he looked to me like he was locked in," Ruff said of Lehtonen. "He was focused. He didn’t pay a lot of attention to a couple of bumps. The desperation time now is people go to the net hard and there’s going to be people falling into you and people taking you out but it’s going to be his job to battle through that."
Dallas will host the Jets on Monday night, surely seeing a bit of revenge after Winnipeg dropped them by five goals last Sunday at MTS Centre.	
From the Linux logo to The March of the Penguins, a certain tuxedo-adorned member of the animal kingdom has perpetually captured our hearts and imaginations. Stephen Martin regales us here with the cultural history of the penguin, revealing many fascinating and little-known facts about this beloved bird. Over twenty species of penguins can be found in the Galapagos Islands and New Zealand as well as in Antarctica, and range from the Little Bee Penguin at about 1 kg to the imposing Emperor Penguin, which can weigh in at over 34 kgs. Martin details the biological facts and natural history of each species, including their evolution, habitats, diet and behaviour, but he also combs through cultural history to chronicle the role of penguins in popular culture and thought from children's literature such as "Mr Popper's Penguins" to "Batman"'s nemesis to films and television shows including "Happy Feet" and 'Pingu". Over one hundred images of penguins enrich Martin's engaging text as well. A captivating and readable natural history, "Penguin" will be an essential addition to the bookshelves of penguin fans everywhere.