Baseball
Hall of Fame catcher and manager Al Lopez suffered a fatal heart attack this past Sunday. Lopez was a two-time all-star who played parts of a 19-year career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Braves (later the Atlanta Braves), and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After his playing career, Lopez amassed 1410 wins as a manger for the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox. He led both teams to a pennant in the 1950s, a decade otherwise dominated by the New York Yankees. His pennant in 1959 was the last pennant Chicago won up until this year.

Theo Epstein parted ways with the Boston Red Sox.

Brian Cashman signed a three year deal to remain the general manager of the New York Yankees.
The Boston Red Sox signed relief pitcher Mike Timlin to a one year deal.

The Los Angeles Dodgers fired General Manager Paul DePodesta. The Dodgers won the NL West in DePodestas first year, but finished with a losing record this season.

The Philadelphia Phillies named Pat Gillick their new General Manager.

Matt Lawton has tested positive for steroids and will miss the first ten games of the 2006 season.

Football
Daunte Culpepper will miss the rest of the season with injuries to his ACL, MCL, and PCL. The extent of each injury is unknown due to swelling, but Culpepper will soon have surgery.

Basketball
Grant Hill will miss up to six weeks with a sports hernia.
Denver Nuggets center Nene will miss the season with a torn ACL.

Hockey
Pavel Bure retired earlier this week from professional hockey. Bure had not played since March of 2003 due to knee injuries. Over 12 seasons, Bure amassed 437 goals, breaking the 50-goal mark five times. Bure spent half of those seasons with Vancouver and the remaining time with Florida and the New York Rangers. Bure is now taking over as the GM for Team Russia and will prepare for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.
Boston Bruins Defenseman Brian Leetch will miss a month with a sprained MCL.