By Marie Torto, Boston.com Staff

In September, 28-year-old Norway native Havard Rugland posted a 4-minute video entitled "Kickalicious" on YouTube. One and a half million hits later, Rugland is an internet sensation and was invited to practice with the New York Jets this past week.

The New York Times has an excellent look at who he is and how his one video became an Internet sensation.

By Matt Pepin, Boston.com Staff

The Marist College Center for Sports Communication has released the results of its annual best in sports poll for 2012.

Among the findings:

• Michael Phelps' Olympic medal record was the biggest accomplishment in sports in 2012, with the US women's gymnastics team winning Olympic gold second.


• The New York Giants' Super Bowl win was the best sports championship, with the San Francisco Giants' World Series championship second.


• The Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State was the most impactful story of 2012, with Lance Armstrong's doping case second.


• Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was the player with the biggest impact on his sport, with LeBron James of the Miami Heat second.


• Jets backup quarterback Tim Tebow was the overwhelming choice for most overhyped athlete. Yankees third baseman Alex Rodroiguez was second.


• Sixty percent of adults nationwide consider themselves sports fans.

The complete results can be found at Marist's web site.

Lions receiver Calvin Johnson set the NFL record for receiving yards in a season on Saturday vs. the Falcons. Johnson passed Jerry Rice, who set the mark at 1,848 in 1995, and has 1,892 yards with one game to play.

Watch the highlights from Johnson's performance in the embedded video.

By Matt Pepin, Boston.com Staff

Texans running back Arian Foster put an interesting spin on the time-honored tradition of backfield stars gifting-up the workhorses who pave the way for them.

Foster, who is fourth in the NFL with 1,313 yards this season, gave each of his offensive linemen a Segway. Foster said the linemen had joked about Foster's use of the personal transporter, so he decided to get one for each of the players on the offensive line depth chart.

“I can’t do anything without them,” Foster said. “If there’s no them, there’s no me. That’s what a team’s all about. It’s just my way of giving back to the big fellas up front.”

The linemen were pretty happy with the gifts.

"I think he's going to have a big day on Sunday," tackle Duane Brown said.

On Wednesday's Boston Sports Live, Chris Gasper and Chad Finn tossed around the question of which sports figure would be Boston's sportsman of the year, similar to the annual Sports Illustrated honor that went to LeBron James for 2012.

Watch the video above to see their choices, then cast your vote below (or write in a candidate).

East Boston High posted a dramatic victory over Madison Park on Tuesday, with Pat Santos hitting a full-court buzzer-beater.

The play was No. 1 on ESPN's Top Plays on SportsCenter on Wednesday. Video was captured by the Boston Herald. The shot comes at the 38-second mark as the video timer counts down.

By Matt Pepin, Boston.com Staff

All 126 top-level NCAA football schools, including Boston College, are eligible for the cover of the next edition of EA Sports' popular NCAA Football video game thanks to a fan vote.

The first round of voting, designed to whittle down the field to 32, is now open on Facebook. Schools are listed alphabetically in two lists: Air Force to Missouri and Navy to Wyoming.

First-round voting closes Dec. 31.

Fans are also invited to download special images customized for their favorite team for use on Facebook and other social media.

By Gary Dzen, Boston.com Staff

Former Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis has agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal with the New York Yankees, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. According to the report, the deal is done pending a physical.

Youkilis played for the Red Sox from 2004 until last season. On June 24, the Red Sox traded Youkilis to the White Sox for righthanded pitcher Zach Stewart and utilityman Brent Lillibridge. Neither player is with the Red Sox organization.

Youkilis hit .235 with 19 home runs in 122 games between Chicago and Boston last season. He is expected to see time at third base in New York while Alex Rodriguez recovers from an injury.

Businessman Donald Trump created a bit of a stir with a tweet sent a few hours before kickoff of the Monday Night Football game between the Patriots and Texans.

Good Luck to Bob Kraft, Tom Brady and Coach Bob Belichick tonight.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2012

Naturally, the gaffe prompted a range of responses.

We can only imagine how Patriots coach Bill Belichick would respond if he were on Twitter. Got any suggestions? Feel free to post them in the comments.

The boxing card scheduled for next week at TD Garden has been postponed because one of the fighters in the main event, Danny O'Connor, was injured while sparring.

TD Garden Night at the Fights was rescheduled for Jan. 26. Tickets will be valid for the new date, or fans can obtain a refund from the place they bought tickets. Refund requests must be made by Jan. 15.

By The Associated Press

A 25-year-old Kansas City Chiefs player fatally shot his girlfriend early Saturday, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide in front of two team officials, police said.

Police spokesman Darin Snapp said the player killed his girlfriend and then went to the team practice facility, where he shot himself. He did not identify either the player or his victim. Multiple reports have identified the player as Jovan Belcher, a fourth-year linebacker who played college football at the University of Maine.

Before turning the gun on himself, the player thanked Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel for all they had done for him, Snapp said.

Authorities received a call Saturday morning from a woman who said her daughter had been shot multiple times at a residence about five miles away from the Arrowhead complex. Snapp said a call was then received from the Chiefs’ facility.

Upon arriving, Snapp said that police witnessed a black male in a car with a handgun to his head talking to two Chiefs officials. That’s when police heard a gunshot. Arrowhead Stadium has been lockdown since about 8 a.m.

‘‘We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning,’’ the Chiefs said in a statement. ‘‘We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation.’’

Kansas City is scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The league has informed the Panthers to travel as scheduled because the game is going on as scheduled.
The season has been a massive disappointment for the Chiefs, who were expected to contend for the AFC West title.

They’re just 1-10 and mired in an eight-game losing streak that has been marked by devastating injuries and fan upheaval, with constant calls the past few weeks for Pioli and Crennel to be fired. Things have been so bad this season that Crennel fired himself as defensive coordinator.

The Chiefs have been ravaged by injuries, led the league in turnovers, can’t settle on a quarterback and are dealing with a full-fledged fan rebellion. The Twitter account for a fan group known as ‘‘Save Our Chiefs’’ recently surpassed 80,000 followers, about 17,000 more than the announced crowd at a recent game.