The 818 Now

Ramses Barden didn’t figure much into the New York Giants’ offensive game plans this season, but the first-year wide receiver out of Flintiridge Prep did get some opportunities today in a season-finale 44-7 blowout loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Drafted 85th overall in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Barden entered Sunday’s contest still looking for his first reception. He registered his first, and only, catch as a professional on a play good for 16 yards.

Former Glendale resident Brandon McCarthy is one of several options to be slotted into the back end of the Texas Rangers’ starting pitching rotation for 2010, according to a report on Yahoo! Sports on Thursday.

With the top of the rotation fairly set with new acquisition Rich Harden and returners Scott Feldman and Tommy Hunter, McCarthy, who went 7-4 with a 4.62 earned-run average in 17 starts last season for Texas, is reported to be under consideration for one of the remaining two spots along with Neftali Feliz, Erik Hurley, Derek Holland and C.J. Wilson.

A recent report in the Boston Globe also linked the Rangers to free-agent starting pitcher Jon Garland.

The NFC East Division championship, momentum going into the playoffs — and, for the Philadelphia Eagles, the chance to avenge a loss from earlier in the season — are all factors that will play into the regular-season finale between the Andy Reid-coached Philadelphia Eagles and the host Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

Reid, a Glendale Community College alumnus, addressed the media on Wednesday on the magnitude of the contest, as well as specific aspects of the matchup.

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According to boxrec.com, Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan’s Jan. 16 bout against Kassim Ouma will be the first defense of Martirosyan’s North American Boxing Federation light middleweight title.

The Glendale-based fighter won the NABF belt, the first title of his professional career, on Dec. 19 in a third-round technical knockout of Willie Lee in Youngstown, Ohio.

Martirosyan (26-0, 17 knockouts) will face Ouma (26-6, 16 KOs), a former world title holder, in Las Vegas.

The Philadelphia Eagles, coached by Glendale Community College alumnus Andy Reid, defeated the Denver Broncos, 30-27, on Sunday afternoon to set up a showdown with the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC East championship.

David Akers kicked a 28-yard field goal with four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to save the Eagles (11-4) from overtime after Denver had rallied from a 27-10 deficit by scoring 17 unanswered points during a span of 9:27 beginning late in the third quarter.

Philadelphia and Dallas (10-5), which defeated the Washington Redskins, 17-0, later Sunday, are separated by a single game for first place in the NFC East and will meet in the regular-season finale on Sunday at p.m. PDT. Dallas holds a tiebreaker over Philadelphia.

Local lightweight prospect Art “Lionheart” Hovhannesyan was named HyeFighters.com Hye Fighter of the Year for 2008 on Wednesday night at the Top Armenian Athlete banquet in North Hollywood.

Previous winner Glendale mixed-martial artist Roman Mitichyan presented the award to Hovhannesyan, who has gone 5-0 since 2008 and improved to 10-0  in 2009 with three TKO wins.

According to a report on ESPN.com, Glendale-based junior middleweight prospect Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan (26-0, 17 knockouts) will fight former title holder Kassim Ouma (26-6-1, 16 KOs) at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Jan. 16, which will be less than a month removed from his third-round TKO win over Willie Lee on Saturday that netted him the NABF and NABO super welterweight titles.

Although Ouma has lost four of his last five fights, Top Rank promotions appears to be aiming to use the Ouma fight as a springboard to get Martirosyan a world title shot in 2010.

“It’s definitely a step up, but Vanes is ready to go to that next level,” Top Rank matchmaker Brad “Abdul” Goodman told ESPN.com. “This will be his second southpaw opponent in a row so he can get ready to maybe face a Paul Williams or [titleholder] Sergio Martinez. We’re not taking Ouma for granted. He’s a capable guy and we’re expecting a very solid fight. Vanes knows how important it is. He has to beat an Ouma if he wants to go that next level.”

Glendale resident Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan claimed the NABF and NABO super welterweight belts with a third-round TKO victory over Willie Lee in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday night.

Martirosyan (26-0, 17 KOs) had Lee down to the count of eight in the third round and pummelled his opponent with a flurry of punches once the fight resumed to force a stoppage at the 2:13 mark.

They are the first titles of Martirosyan’s professional career.

Glendale Community College freshman defensive lineman DeVon Rosa signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Nevada in 2010 on Wednesday, Vaqueros Coach John Rome said.

Rosa had 13 tackles and a half a sack in nine games played for Glendale in 2009.

The Pasadena Unified School District is reportedly considering a proposal to eliminate funding for lower-level sports programs, better known as junior varsity and freshman teams.

With Pasadena and Muir’s membership in the Pacific League, such a move, if enacted, would diminish the pool of competition for Glendale Unified School District sports programs’ lower level branches. But it’s not too much a stretch to wonder if the same proposition could someday soon be broached in the GUSD as districts across California look to trim spending.

What do you think about the idea of eliminating lower level sports programs as a cost-cutting measure? Is it a necessary sacrifice or will it unfairly hinder the development of student athletes and the varsity programs at their schools?

Tournaments are a standard for this time of year, but the Crescenta Valley High boys’ basketball team is taking the holiday tradition to new lengths.

On Thursday, the Falcons will board a plane for Maui to take part in the 2009 Maui Winter Classic, an eight-team pool-play tournament running from Friday through Tuesday at Lahainaluna High in Lahaina, Maui.

The Falcons will compete in pool-play games on Friday, Saturday and Monday with the goal of advancing to Tuesday’s championship.

Alexios Halebian, 15, of Glendale captured the boys’ 16 singles title at the 2009 Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships on Sunday in Key Biscayne, Fla in an All-Southern California final.

After being awarded a wild card into the main draw and upsetting two seeded players, including Brazilian Karue Sell 6-4, 6-4, on Saturday, Halebian defeated Marcos Giron, a 16-year-old from Thousand Oaks, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in Sunday’s final.

Tonight’s nonleague girls’ soccer game between Crescenta Valley High and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy has been cancelled due to inclement weather. No makeup date has been announced.

Originally scheduled for 6 p.m. at Glendale Community College’s Sartoris Field, the game was a highly anticipated matchup of two ranked teams in CIF Southern Section Division II. Perhaps there will be a meeting in the playoffs.

Alexios Halebian of Glendale advanced to the Boys’ 16 semifinals of the 2009 Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships on Friday in Key Biscayne, Fla. with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4) win over No. 14 seed Julien Cagnina of Belgium.

On Saturday, Halebian, 15, who received a wild card into the main draw, will face Brazilian qualifier Karue Sell. Halebian, who trains full-time at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., has been on a roll lately, recently reaching the Boys’ 16s final of the Eddie Herr International in Bradenton, Fla. He also took third place at the USTA Boys’ 16s National Clay Court Championships in July.

St. Francis High senior football standout Dietrich Riley has been added to the Team Blur roster for the 2010 Under Armour All-America High School Football Game on Jan. 2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, according to a press release from ESPN dated Wednesday.

Dietrich Riley, left. (Roger Wilson/News-Press)

Riley, who was a two-way starter at running back and safety for the Golden Knights, is listed as a safety on the roster for Team Blur, which will compete against Team Nitro on a live ESPN broadcast beginning at 11 a.m. EST on Jan. 2.

Riley has been recruited by over a dozen prominent Division I college programs, but remains undecided. Among his teammates in the Under Armour game will be Palmdale quarterback Joshua Shaw, who helped end the Golden Knights’ season in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Western Division playoffs on Nov. 27

If you can’t beat them, join them. Works for former Los Angeles Dodger Juan Castro, who is a Glendale resident, but perhaps not for long, after signing a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

In joining Philadelphia, which holds an option for 2011 on Castro, the veteran utility middle infielder becomes a part of the defending National League champions, who defeated the Dodgers for the pennant for the second year in a row in October in the first year of Castro’s second stint in Los Angeles.

Castro hit .277 with a homer and nine runs batted in over 57 games for the Dodgers last season and hit .429 (six for 13) against National League East teams in 2009. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 31-24, on Sunday afternoon to allow the Philadelphia Eagles, coached by Glendale Community College Andy Reid, to pull into a tie for first place in the NFC East with the Cowboys.

The Eagles defeated the Atlanta Falcons earlier Sunday to improve to 8-4 with their third win in a row and will play the Giants (7-5) on Sunday upcoming  in a game with major divisional implications.

The Philadelphia Eagles, coached by Glendale Community College alumnus Andy Reid, improved to 8-4 on Sunday with a 34-7 win over the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome.

Missing their quarterback Matt Ryan and five other offensive starters, the Falcons were held scoreless for nearly the entire game, scoring their only touchdown with zeroes on the clock in the fourth quarter.

Embattled Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who began his career with the Falcons, accounted for two touchdowns on Sunday, one rushing and one passing, in his first return to Atlanta since a conviction for dogfighting and subsequent prison term ended his tenure with the Falcons.

St. Francis High graduate Gregg Zaun, who most recently played for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009, in currently a free agent and has until Monday to respond to Tampa Bay’s offer of salray arbitration.

He could spend the next three days considering up to four reported possible destinations  for 2010, including a return to the Rays, according to a FOXSports report on Thursday.

The report indicated that the Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies and possibly the Seattle Mariners are interested in signing the 15-year veteran catcher. Zaun played for Colorado for part of the 2003 season.

The San Francisco Giants signed Glendale Community College athlete Freddy Sanchez to a two-year, $12 million contract this offseason to bring some stability to the second base position, one which a total of five other Giants players tried their hand at before Sanchez arrived via trade on July 29.

According to a report on Yahoo! Sports this past week, however, Giants General Manager Brian Sabean hasn’t ruled out taking advantage of the three-time All-Star’s range on the left side of the infield. Sabean told the website that Sanchez doesn’t necessarily have to be stuck to one position and could play a little third base.

The Giants have been rumored to have interest in trading for Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla of late. Also, on Tuesday, San Francisco declined arbitration to Bengie Molina, who was the team’s primary catcher last season. Pablo Sandoval, who formerly caught before moving to third base full-time last season may possibly be in the Giants’ plans behind the plate next season, which could also open up innings at third for Sanchez.