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David Ortizs playing career came to end on Monday after the Boston Red Soxs heartbreaking loss to the Cleveland Indians in Game 3 of the AL Division Series.?The baseball world -- and some outside of baseball -- took to social media to say thanks to Big Papi.Ortizs current and former Red Sox teammates, including several from the 2004 World Series team, spoke of his character as a teammate and his contributions to Boston.?Those who have competed against Ortiz also wished him well.?New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski shared some funny pictures of him and Ortiz together, while Boston mayor Marty Walsh and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a former Massachusetts senator, tweeted that Ortiz wont soon be forgotten and joined others in calling him a legend. Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge was another figure from outside of baseball to send some love Papis way. Noted Boston sports fan Ben Affleck also chimed in.?Its more than safe to say Ortiz will be missed by the city of Boston and in the baseball world. Happy retirement, Big Papi.--Alex Tekip Custom Nike Atlanta Braves Jerseys . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. Cheap Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins. https://www.customnikebaseballjerseys.com/ . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Online . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. Custom Nike Chicago Cubs Jerseys . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. WACO, Texas -- For once, the beginning of basketball season brought with it a welcome change deep in the heart of Texas.While Baylors football program is stuck in a quagmire of scandal off the field and a five-game losing streak on the field, the Bears basketball team ascended from unranked to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll this week.Baylor already defeated then-fourth-ranked Oregon at home this went to the Battle 4 Atlantis to pull off an impressive string of victories over VCU, Michigan State and Louisville.All of that serves as context as No. 7 Xavier comes into the Ferrell Center on Saturday afternoon for a top-10 nonconference hoops matchup that will draw the eyes of the college basketball nation.Baylor (7-0) tips off at the same time as its football team kicks off on the road at West Virginia, but that coincidence wasnt even mentioned in Bears coach Scott Drews pregame press conference on Friday.Instead, Drew spoke about how fortunate his program is to have two top-10 nonconference opponents come into Baylors arena in the same season. Before this year, Baylor played only two top-10 nonconference opponents at home in its history.The chance of having two top-10 home games in nonconference, youve got a better chance of hitting the lottery, Drew said. Its a great opportunity for us to play at home against a real quality opponent. For both teams, your RPI is not going to go down if you lose and, if you win, its a great gain.Like Baylor, Xavier (7-0) is undefeated against a slate of quality opponents. Unlike Baylor, the Musketeers havent faced a team with a national ranking attached to it yet this season.Xavier defeated Missouri, Clemson and Northern Iowa twice during a stretch of four games last month.Now the Musketeers play their first game on an opponents home floor this season -- all sevenn of Xaviers previous contests were either at home in Cincinnati or at the Tire Pros Invitational in Orlando -- as well as their first ranked foe.ddddddddddddXavier coach Chris Mack knows his team will be fully focused on Baylor.Theres so much respect for the type of program that Baylors had for several years, Mack said. (Our players) saw what they did down in the Bahamas. Theres no trick, theres no science for getting our guys up for the game.With hype and motivation equal on both sides, the game could come down to whether or not Xavier can hit shots against Baylors treacherous zone defense. The Bears deploy 7-foot forward Jo Lual-Acuil and 6-10 forward Johnathan Motley in the interior. And Mack said everyone in the Bears 1-3-1 zone knows his responsibility to limit open looks.Were going to have to find soft spots in the zone and were going to have to make some shots, obviously, and then were going to have to try to rebound and get second opportunities, Mack said. Baylor makes it tough. Theyre big and they put that 7-footer under the rim. Its a challenge but we wouldnt have it any other way.The Musketeers will try to attack the zone and crash the boards with a quartet of tall guards and 6-10 center Sean OMara.Drew seemed to be just as concerned about stopping Xaviers lineup on the offensive end as Mack was about combatting the Baylor zone.We havent faced a team with as much height across the board, basically a team of four guards at 6-6, athletic, can shoot it, post it, drive it, Drew said. With that, it also makes it difficult to defend because, with a lot of shooters, you never know which one is going to be hot that day. Its easy to see why theyre such a good team. 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