Piecing things together

In "Red and Me," Bill Russell's bestseller about his half-century relationship with Red Auerbach, Russell writes at some length about his college coach (Phil Woolpert) and his Olympic coach (Gerald Tucker), without ever naming either man. Russell had issues with both coaches. When I asked Russell if the omission of their names was intentional, he laughed. That's what I call carrying a grudge. Russell is slated to receive an honorary degree from Dartmouth in two weeks, and Sam Jones wants him as a presenter when Jones is honored at The Tradition at the Garden June 24.

UMass plays Michigan in football on Sept. 18, 2010. At Ann Arbor. The Minutemen in the Big House. Pretty good.

Channel 4 is blatantly embedded with the Krafts and the Patriots. During a nightly newscast last week, an infomercial on the opening of a luxury hotel at Patriot Place was passed off as actual news. "All Access" comes with a price.

Maybe the Bruins were not as close as we thought. For those who stopped paying attention, the Carolina Hurricanes were slaughtered in four straight by the Penguins.

Quiz: Who was the batter when Nolan Ryan broke Walter Johnson's all-time strikeout record in 1983? (Answer below.)

Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay looks like cartoon oldie Doug Funnie.

John DeFilippo, son of the Boston College athletic director, will be Mark Sanchez's quarterbacks coach with the Jets this year.

Think Ben Affleck would like to take "Gigli" off his résumé? He should hire the Notre Dame sports information staff. Charlie Weis's 3-9 2007 season is omitted on Page 90 of the Irish's 2008 media guide and again on Page 15 of the spring prospectus. The ND SID office did the same thing with Charlie's pro career. Super Bowls and plus-.500 seasons are included, but the Patriots' 6-10 season in 1995 and other losers have been erased. Maybe David Ortiz can get Red Sox publicists to delete 2009.

Sad to see Rachel Alexandra not running in the Belmont. If the filly had run, ESPN could have dispatched Rachel Nichols to cover the race. Before she married, Nichols was Rachel Alexander.

It's Always About The Red Sox Dept.: In a Sports Illustrated interview with Dan Patrick, Cal Ripken talked about his role as consultant on Robert DeNiro's "The Fan." "DeNiro was very interested in Boston fans, how crazed they are, how personal they take it," recalled Ripken.

The Pirates have a minor league prospect named Henry Henry. Henry Squared is 22, hit .341 in the Venezuelan summer league last year, and is slated to play for the Pirates' Gulf Coast League team this summer. Hope he makes it to The Show.

Folks at Kansas State recently learned it's going to cost $4.4 million to finalize the divorce from former football coach Ron Prince. According to reporting by Jeffrey Martine of the Kansas City Star, Prince cut a secret deal with former KSU AD Bob Krause. Krause resigned last week when news broke of the secret pact. Prince is represented by Neil Cornrich, the same Neil Cornrich who represented Bill Belichick when he split from the Jets in 2001.

The late, great Dom DiMaggio still holds the Red Sox hitting streak record, 34 games. Jacoby Ellsbury, DiMaggio's heir in center field, started his recent 22-gamer six days before Dominic passed. Ellsbury was stopped Thursday in Minnesota.

John Calipari: more vacancies than a luxury hotel in downtown Detroit. You remember. UMass's 1996 trip to the Final Four was erased by the NCAA when it learned that Marcus Camby accepted money and gifts from sports agents. Now the NCAA may vacate Memphis's 2007-08 Final Four ride because of new charges against a Calipari program. Naturally, Coach Cal has moved on (for infinite millions). These days, it's up to Kentucky's admissions department to try to stay clean during Cal's reign. Cal is on track to bring in one of the great recruiting classes, but it's going to be tough to get some of the student-athletes through the NCAA clearinghouse. He's also probably going to exceed the 13-scholarship limit, which means he's running kids out of the program.

While the Sox play at Detroit Tuesday night, the Red Wings will be in Pittsburgh for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals.

If you're into women's football, the Boston Militia play the New York Nemesis (great name) at Dilboy Stadium next Saturday. Coached by Derrick Beasley, the Militia gave up only one touchdown in their first five games. They have a running back from Villanova named Mia Brickhouse.

No matter whom the parents are, a 17-year-old kid holding a beer can at an NCAA lacrosse game does not qualify as news.

Knowing he was too injured to pitch, oft-maligned Keith Foulke (now trying to make a comeback) retired in February 2007 one day before he would have collected $5 million from the Indians just for showing up at work. Here's what Foulke said to the Globe's Stan Grossfeld when asked about Curt ($8 million for not pitching in 2008) Schilling: "He's got to wake up and look himself in the mirror every day."

Manhattan College recruited and signed Kevin Laue, a 6-foot-10-inch center from California who was born without a left hand.

Wonder if Pedro Martinez will surface before the end of the season.

Notice how much cleaner public bathroom walls have become since the popularization of Internet message boards?

Quiz answer: Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills. Then a backup infielder with the Montreal Expos, he took a sidearm curveball on the outside corner for a called strike three.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com.