Two Blackcat coaches resign
FREDERICKTOWN, MO. - Two coaching changes were announced at the school board meeting Monday night. Chadd Starkey, boys basketball head coach, has resigned his coaching position (he will remain as assistant superintendent). They will begin a search for a replacement immediately. Also, at the meeting, Tami Wright, Assistant Girls Softball Coach has accepted the position of Head Girls Softball Coach replacing Tom Mooney who resigned his coaching position earlier this year. They will begin to search for a new assistant coach immediately. The boys basketball team finished up a season in which they were 4-21 and lost their final 15 games in a row. Coach Starkey finishes a 3-year stint as head basketball coach at Fredericktown, his second such tour, with a record of 22-54. Meanwhile, the girls softball team posted a record of 8-14 in what was Coach Mooney's fourth and final year. He compiled a record of 44-48 over his tenure leading the Lady Cats.

Two involved in trade rumors react
PORT ST. LUCIE, FL. (ESPN.com) - Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard said they don't expect to be traded on Monday, a day after ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reported that the Phillies had held internal discussions about swapping Howard, their All-Star first baseman, for Pujols, the Cardinals' MVP first baseman. "I really don't have anything to say about it," Howard said at the Phillies' camp in Clearwater on Monday. "Truthfully, I can go back to all the stuff that happened when I was in Double-A -- all the talk about trade rumors," Howard said. "I don't know anything about anything. I'm not really focused on it. If that were the case -- I don't know if it is or not -- it is what it is. You just keep going out there and doing your thing. If you get a call saying you're trade, then you're traded. Until that happens, I'm still a Phillie. I'm still here. Let's ride it out." Pujols was more adamant. "There's people, stupid, that like to write something when it's not the truth, and that's all I have to say about that," Pujols said as the Cardinals visited the New York Mets for an exhibition game. "If I'm getting traded, they need to come to me. That's not my job to go to them," Pujols said. "I've been saying all along I want to be here, but whatever, it's not up to me. I just think somebody tried to be funny, but it's so stupid when somebody takes something like that serious." Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. denied his team had discussed a trade and used "lies" and "ridiculous" and "irresponsible" to describe the report. Olney reported Sunday that, according to sources, an idea has been kicked around the Phillies' organization internally, with discussions about proposing a swap of Howard for Pujols. Olney's sources said that it's not fully clear whether the Phillies actually have approached the Cardinals with the idea. The mere mention of a Pujols-for-Howard quickly became the talk of baseball, where fans thirst for big trades. Like Pujols, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa didn't want to hear any more about a possible trade. "To come up with that one is abusive. To the extent that anybody takes it seriously, it could distract the Phillies, it could distract here. I am pretty sure neither is happening," he said. "Our organization plans on making Albert a player to start and finish his career here, and Albert has said he wants to stay here, so why would anybody want to start speculating?" he said. La Russa said he hasn't spoken to Pujols about the rumors and doesn't plan to unless the player brings it up. "I look at every player everyday and if I see anything that looks a little different with a player, I say, 'Hey, what's happening?' If Albert looks any differently, I'll say, 'What's happening?' If he says, 'You know, am I going to be traded?' I'll [talk to him]," La Russa said. "Otherwise, I treat it like I treat everything else. I see Albert today and he's exactly like he always is, so I'm not even going to talk to him about it." La Russa said it would be a waste of any club's time to try to trade for Pujols. "I don't think any team would kick it around because they know he's not going anywhere," he said.

Blues finish 6-game road trip with loss to Wild
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. (CBSsports.com) - Strong goaltending has been a hallmark of the Minnesota Wild's nine-season existence. During this transition to a new coach and a new playing style in front of those nets, the goalie play has dropped off a bit. But at least for the last two games, Josh Harding has been a steady presence. Harding made 36 saves, and Mikko Koivu had a power-play goal and two assists to help Minnesota beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Sunday -- a critical victory for a Wild team trying to climb into the playoff picture. "We know we have two solid goaltenders, and we know we can rely on them each and every night," Koivu said. "We're trying to make it a little bit easier on them. I think the defense did a very good job." The offense, too. Andrew Brunette and Guillaume Latendresse also scored in a three-goal first period for Minnesota, which pulled within a point of 10th-place St. Louis in the Western Conference. The Blues, who pulled goalie Chris Mason for Ty Conklin at the first intermission, began the day five points out of the final playoff spot. Mason made only four saves before being replaced, with coach Davis Payne desiring a fresh look. "The other teams around us and in front of us are winning, and this really hurts," said center Keith Tkachuk, who blamed "dumb breakdowns" for the early deficit: "At this time of year, you can't take a shift off." Patrik Berglund and Paul Kariya scored for St. Louis, which finished 4-2 on its six-game trip to surge back into contention. The Blues had won seven of their previous eight games. Harding started his third straight game, in a four-night stretch, with Niklas Backstrom nursing a groin injury. After giving up five goals at Detroit on Thursday night -- Harding called his performance "brutal" -- the 25-year-old snapped back. He made 43 saves in a 3-2 win at Buffalo on Friday night and carried that momentum into Sunday, stifling St. Louis until a clearing attempt by the Wild in their own zone bounced off Berglund's shin pad and shot in the goal to cut the lead to 4-1 with 2:51 left in the second period. That came on a power play, the sixth of the game for the Blues after being denied by the energized Wild on their first five. "Our power play has almost been our weakest link in a lot of games this year, and it's tough to win games when that's the way things are going," said center T.J. Oshie. Harding has been mentioned for the last year or two as a trade possibility, with Backstrom entrenching himself as the regular. Though Harding is only 7-9 this season with a save percentage barely above .900, he has been called on more than the Wild expected in recent months with Backstrom sidelined on separate occasions due to multiple maladies. "The more you play the more of a rhythm you get into," Harding said. "I know I need to be sharp. If Backy was in there, he'd be doing the same job. I've got big shoes to fill." Minutes after Kariya scored from the slot early in the third period, Brad Boyes had a chance to pull the Blues within one goal. But Harding made a graceful backhand save with his glove after Boyes had maneuvered into the slot for a close-range shot. "He looks relaxed, and he looks big, and he's square to the puck," Wild coach Todd Richards said. Koivu scored for only the third time in 16 games, giving him 19 goals for the season, to make it 2-0. That came after he won a faceoff to help set up Cam Barker for a slap shot that glanced off Brunette's stick for the game's first goal. Then in the second period, Koivu did a 360-degree turn in the faceoff circle as he looked for an open teammate and found a charging Antti Miettinen for a perfect feed to stretch the lead to 4-0. The Brunette-Koivu-Miettinen line totaled seven points.

Rams begin overhaul of QB spot, sign A.J. Feeley
ST. LOUIS, MO. (Associated Press) - The St. Louis Rams have signed free agent A.J. Feeley as part of what could be a big shakeup at the quarterback position. Terms of the deal announced Saturday were not disclosed, but media reports said Feeley got a two-year contract. Feeley, who turns 33 in May, was a backup for Carolina in 2009. In 10 seasons he has completed 372 of 665 passes for 4,070 yards, 27 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. His lifetime quarterback rating is 69.6. Feeley was drafted by the Eagles in the fifth round out of Oregon in 2001, and spent his early career in Philadelphia at a time when Andy Reid's staff included Steve Spagnuolo as a defensive assistant and Pat Shurmur as an offensive coach. Spagnuolo is now head coach of the Rams, and Shurmur is offensive coordinator. "A.J. has an understanding of our offensive system and will be a valuable addition for our team," Spagnuolo said. How valuable is to be determined because the quarterback situation in St. Louis couldn't be more unsettled after the Rams went a league-worst 1-15 in Spagnuolo's first season. Starter Marc Bulger and backup Kyle Boller may not be back. The Rams' short list of candidates for the No. 1 overall pick includes two quarterbacks - Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Jimmy Clausen of Notre Dame. They also have Keith Null, a third-string rookie forced to start four games at the end of the 2009 season due to injuries to Bulger and Boller. That means Feeley could end up being anything from a starter until one of the younger quarterbacks is ready to a backup to a third-stringer. "I have a great deal of respect for coach Spagnuolo and coach Shurmur and I'm looking forward to working with them again in whatever capacity it might be," Feeley said. Feeley has spent most of his career as a backup, starting 15 games and appearing in 23. He started the final five games of the 2002 season for the Eagles after injuries to Donovan McNabb and Koy Detmer, and won four of those games, helping the Eagles earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. He was traded to Miami for a second-round draft pick before the 2004 season and started eight games for the Dolphins. He was traded to San Diego midway through the 2005 season, re-signed with Philadelphia in 2006, and was a backup for Carolina last season. Feeley hasn't thrown a pass in a regular-season game since 2007. The Rams also announced the re-signing of safety Craig Dahl, who started 10 games and was fifth on the team with 71 tackles. He had two sacks and recovered two fumbles.

Steven Jackson's take: trade #1 pick
ST. LOUIS, MO. (ESPN.com) - St. Louis Rams general manager Billy Devaney says he has not decided what to do with the first pick in April's NFL draft. But the Rams' top running back didn't hesitate when asked what the team needed with the top choice. "If we don't feel someone is hands-down the number-one pick, I think we should trade down, try to get an extra second-rounder, an extra second- or third-round pick, 'cause we have so many things that we can use as an organization," Steven Jackson said Friday on ESPN "First Take" from Orlando, Fla. Devaney, who said Friday at the league's annual scouting combine that the Rams were still gathering information to make the right choice, maintained the team was not interested in trading Jackson and, in fact, they would like to acquire more players like Jackson this offseason. "We have to wait on the combine to see how the guys pan out," Jackson said. "But I'm definitely a fan of Ndamukong Suh. I hear he's a great person, his family is unbelievable, and he's definitely an impact player."