PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates have hired Jeff Branson as hitting coach and added Jeff Livesey to the major league coaching staff. Branson replaces Jay Bell, who left the organization last week to take a job with the Cincinnati Reds. Branson worked with Bell last season to implement the teams hitting program. The Pirates won 94 games to make the playoffs for the first time in 21 years but struggled offensively. Pittsburgh hit just .245 on the season and finished in the bottom half of the NL in several offensive categories. Branson played nine seasons in the majors between Cincinnati, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Dodgers before retiring in 2001. Livesey spent the last three years as Pittsburghs minor league hitting co-ordinator. . M... Lemieux Jersey .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. To... Barrasso Jersey . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. Pau... Martin Jersey .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner. Nic... Bonino Penguins Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human.Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic says hes "done trying to defend" his hometown of Vancouver after he claims he was punched twice at a nightclub. "I have no reason left to try and defend my city, and the people of my city," Lucic told reporters in Boston on Monday. "Other than being at Rogers Arena, no one will ever see me in downtown Vancouver ever again." A video released on the Internet that has since gone viral shows Lucic in an altercation with an unknown person in front of Vancouver police. No punches are thrown in the video. Lucic and the Boston Bruins were in Vancouver for a game on Saturday. The Canucks won the game 6-2. Lucic told Boston reporters that the incident took place after the game and he was punched twice -- once inside the club and once outside. &quuot;Its something that happened late Saturday night and its something Im not proud of, but it was part of an unprovoked attack," he said.dddddddddddd "I was punched in the face on two separate occasions. From this point forward, Im just exploring to pursue this in a legal manner." Lucic has had problems in his hometown before. Last year, a Serbian Orthodox church in Burnaby connected to Lucics family was vandalized. Lucic also claims his grandparents have been harassed at Rogers Arena. The Bruins and Canucks have had an antagonistic relationship since Boston won the 2011 Stanley Cup on Rogers Centre ice in a testy seven-game series. In Saturdays game, Bruins forward Brad Marchand celebrated a goal by mimicking lifting the Cup and pretending to kiss his championship ring. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '