Here's an avalanche of an update, with all the latest random news bits together in one big post.

The Red Sox Rookie Clinic is in full swing. Twelve of the Sox best and brightest future stars reported for duty on the 6th, and will be in Boston for the clinic through this Friday the 18th. Roll call of the Rooks: Aaron Bates, Bubba Bell, Michael Bowden, Dusty Brown, Clay Buchholz, Chris Carter, Devern Hansack, Hunter Jones, Jed Lowrie, Justin Masterson, Dustin Richardson and Jonathan Van Every. The rookies will participate in twice-daily workouts (conditioning, strength and fundamentals), as well as seminars educating them on "assimilating into Major League life off the field, particularly in a market like Boston"- including: Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino, general manager Theo Epstein, vice president of international scouting Craig Shipley, manager Terry Francona, pitching coach John Farrell, hitting coach Dave Magadan, second baseman Pedroia -- a former member of the program -- former Sox lefty Bruce Hurst, UConn men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun and ESPN reporter Peter Gammons.

Clay Buchholz, and the same eleven other Red Sox prospects, will be on Yawkey Way today (Monday) at the Official Red Sox Team Store for a Red Sox Foundation fundraiser from 4:30 until 5:45 p.m. For the price of a $20 donation, you can get Clay's John Hancock-- as well as signatures from the other eleven guys.

Even though there's no Beckett Boot Camp down in South Texas, that apparently didn't stop Jon Lester from heading over to Beckett's Herradura Ranch for some huntin'.

That deer looks like he's trying to lick Jon's face.
Except for the whole, you know, "being dead" thing

And speaking of boys who like to hunt Bambi-like animals, Braves pitcher Blaine Boyer was interviewed for ChopTalk magazine, and he has a total man-crush on Josh Beckett. From the article:

In pitching, the power comes from your legs. You watch certain guys pitch, like Josh Beckett and you see that he "falls" into his legs so well. He's got big, strong legs, and he uses the power from his legs and backside to his advantage.

Terry Francona and Mike Lowell will be the special guests of President Bush at a dinner at the White House on January 22nd. Francona was also the guest of honor at a banquet in his hometown of Brighton, PA, outside Pittsburgh. As part of the program that evening, former classmates and teammates spoke about Francona, including telling some stories about the rabble-rousing he got into as a teen:

They talked about the small amounts of mischief in their teenage years, such as trying to walk out of the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe without paying the bill or how Francona liked to see if he could get his green Mustang coupe to exceed 75 mph.

However, all the speeches ended the same with talk of Francona remaining the same likeable person he was while growing up in Daugherty Township and how he has stayed humble and true to his both his family and hometown roots.

"He's never changed and he is never going to change," [one teammate] said.

Francona got a kick out of the tales of his youth, though he seemed just a touch embarrassed at times, cracking, "I'm going to be the first 47-year-old man ever to be grounded."

And let's close this out with a random video of Jacoby Ellsbury doing some offseason workout exercises - including running with a parachute tied to his back and balancing on a board (while another athlete falls off next to him).