I frikkin love Jim Calhoun. The Yankees asked him to throw out the first pitch at an upcoming game and he turned them down.




Bronx Brushoff
Calhoun Heads Back To Fenway

April 15, 2004
By DAVID HEUSCHKEL, Courant Staff Writer

The additional visibility from setting foot on the biggest stage in sports could only help Jim Calhoun's efforts to recruit players from New York City.

That didn't matter to the UConn men's basketball coach.

The Yankees wanted Calhoun to throw out the first pitch at an upcoming game. But as a lifelong Red Sox fan who grew up in Braintree, Mass., the coach of the national champions didn't want anything to do with the Evil Empire.

"No chance," Calhoun, 61, said Wednesday. "Sixty years of torment is enough."

Calhoun was more than happy to accept the Red Sox's invitation to throw out the first pitch Monday before the Patriots Day game against the Yankees at Fenway Park. Emeka Okafor, the most outstanding player in the Final Four, is also expected to be on hand with the NCAA trophy.

Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino said it was "very cool" that Calhoun turned down the Yankees.

"We love Calhoun, Okafor and UConn," Lucchino said.

According to sources, Calhoun said something to the effect of, it would be "over my dead body" the day he throws out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox are also planning to recognize the national champion women's team and coach Geno Auriemma.

"For us it's incredibly important," Red Sox senior director of broadcast services Chuck Steedman said. "It's of paramount importance that we do the best we can to bring the Red Sox to Connecticut. What we're doing on Monday and what we'll do with Geno and the team is a small but visible piece of that."

Steedman, who worked in UConn's sports information office in the 1980s, extended the invitation to Calhoun through Mike Enright, the associate director of athletics for communications.

"Mike said he was absolutely thrilled," Steedman said. "Talk about a two--way street. So are we. It's also poetic because it's on Marathon Monday and he ran it a bunch of times when he was at Northeastern."

This will be the second time Calhoun throws out the first pitch at Fenway. He did the honors April 18, 1999, after UConn won its first men's national title. Auriemma also did it last year.