Your Late Night Fix 12.4.06 [J. Mark English]

• Joe Sheehan gives an NL Winter Meetings preview. (As he says, the Mets are looking to "corral" Zito)
• Albert Pujols apologizes to Ryan Howard for his MVP comments.
• Cardinals reward Carpenter with a $65 million contract extension.
  
• St. Louis Rams rookie, Dominique Byrd, charged with assault.
• In a similar theme, Bengals' rookie, Reggie McNeal is arrested.
• Peter King: AFC wild card race is the main drama in the NFL.
• Al Wilson of the Broncos is alright after neck scare last night.
  
• Philadelphia Flyer fans should have new reasons to hate the world. Bobby Clarke is brought back into the organization as senior vice president.
• Class & Loyalty: Hardly seen in the modern sports world, but Greg Schiano showed plenty of it today by turning down an offer from Miami, and commits to staying with Rutgers.
• Stanford shows little loyalty to Walt Harris, as they fire him after worst season since 1960.
• Michael Rosenberg argues that the old bowl system beats the BCS.
  
• UCLA the school follows upset win over USC by having its basketball team ranked number one in the nation.
• Study on race by the University of Central Florida about college football: The academic disparity between white and black football players who will compete in this season's five major bowls was nearly twice the national average, according to a study released Monday.