Father Judge to honor Jackie Robinson

FATHER JUDGE'S baseball team will pay tribute to Jackie Robinson today and Wednesday when the Crusaders play games against Roman Catholic.

The Judge players will wear T-shirts with the No. 42 during warmups. They'll then don the shirts under their jerseys during the games. Judge athletic director Jim Lynch came up with the idea.

Traditionally, major league teams honor Robinson, the first black major league player, on April 15. That was the day in 1947 that he broke the color barrier by starting at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the visiting Boston Braves. The Dodgers won, 5-3, with Robinson scoring a run and making the game's first put out.

Judge doesn't play tomorrow so the Crusaders will sandwich their tribute on the days before and after April 15.

"I approached coach Tim Ginter and he was on board with the idea," Lynch said yesterday. "The front of the T-shirts say Father Judge with No. 42. And the back has No. 42.

"The [players] all know the name Jackie Robinson and there was the film ["42"] last year. This can be a [further] learning experience.

"I'd like to try to get the entire Catholic League to do it next year."

As ideas go, it's a home run.

Hard to believe, but there's a professional football team interested in the services of wide receiver Chad "I'm no-longer-Ochocinco" Johnson.

Apparently, the Montreal Alouettes, of the Canadian Football League, think he's still got game and announced on their website that they will "work him out in Vero Beach [Fla.] this week."

Johnson, 36, who last played with the Patriots in 2011, told the Twitterverse he will work out tomorrow. One of his followers tweeted that she was "buying alouettes season tickets if you sign!"

To which Johnson replied, "You might as well buy them."