Norman Arey says here's why I hate Notre Dame

(4/30) The top schools meeting criteria for the NCAA’s Academic Progress Report after four years included Rutgers, Navy, Rice, Stanford, Air Force and Duke. Question: Where is Army?

There is a marvelous article in The New York Times written by Harvey Araton who expresses better than I why it is that Notre Dame is so loved and equally hated by football fans. In part,he writes: "For self-importance on the grandest of delusional scales, there is no entity in sports quite like Notre Dame football, winner of three games last season, routinely whacked like a pinata in recent bowl games and not a national championship to its name in 20 years."

I swear I’m not making this up but there could be as many as 35 bowl games this year - up from 32 last season. St. Petersburg, Washington, D.C., and Salt Lake City are in the running to host new bowls.

Just to remind you we try to cover all sports bases in this space, I would be remiss if I didn’t report that Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo was questioned by police in Sao Paulo after he was involved in an altercation with a group of transvestites. Hey! I’m just reporting the news.

And here’s one of those lovely oddities, or maybe coincidences, in sports: Last year’s starting quarterback at Georgia Tech, Taylor Bennett, is transferring to Louisiana Tech to play for head coach Derrick Dooley, son of Vince. And this Tech’s nickname is the Bulldogs.

Are we going to see a change in the BCS college football playoff system, adding what is known as the Plus-One game? No way, at least as long as the Pac-10 and Big 10 have an equal say. According to ACC boss John Swofford, the commissioner of the BCS this year, nothing will happen without all seven entities voting unanimously. Can you image seven football guys agreeing unanimously on anything?

Should we care, or even be informed, that country music singer Mindy McCready allegedly had a 10-year affair with future Hall of Fame pitcher Roger Clemens? My question is, does this diminish anything either has done it their careers. My advice: Mind your own business.

And finally, I feel awfully sorry for Falcon owner Arthur Blank. How would you like to try to market the mess the NFL Atlanta team is right now?

Norman Arey asks: How badly has Alabama slipped?

(4/29) I expressed surprise that Johnny Dawkins left Duke to take the head basketball job at Stanford. My Duke expert in North Carolina says it makes all the sense in the world. Dawkins needed head coaching experience before he takes the reigns from Mike Krzyzewski and Stanford was the perfect laboratory for The Dawkins Experiment.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated magazine wrote Falcon owner Arthur Blank said he hadn’t heard from former coach Bobby Petrino after he jumped ship with two games remaining last season to take the head job at Arkansas. Blank said, "I’m not surprised. But I am disappointed."

Interesting and startling that not one player from the University of Alabama was chosen in the NFL draft.

Like him or not, Mel Kiper makes his living as a pro football draftnik and Kiper gives Kansas City an A, the highest grade in the draft, and Jacksonville, a C-minus, the lowest. He graded the Falcons at a B.

This really depends on whom you ask. I heard an Atlanta radio sports guy absolutely dismiss Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff for his initial draft. You would have thought his career was over.

Whether you thought Atlanta should have drafted LSU defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey or were satisfied with their pick of Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan, it seems to me Atlanta had no choice but to do what it did. The Falcons, fractured by the Michael Vick fiasco, desperately needed a face for the franchise and they got it with Ryan.

Wake Forest’s John Tereshinski, of the famous football playing family of Athens, signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers.

Surprising West Virginia finished sixth in the Director’s Cup, which measures the overall quality of a school’s athletic program. The Mountaineers finished behind Stanford, Texas, Cal, Penn State and Ohio State. The average budget for these schools is $75.9 million. WVU’s total was $42 million.

Falcons draft signals, if nothing else, that Michael Vick era is over, done, kaput

(4/28) The Atlanta Falcons’ owner, Arthur Blank, won’t come out and say, "You’ll never see Michael Vick in a Falcon uniform again" and I’m not sure why he won’t. But the Falcons’ drafting of Matt Ryan out of Boston College, the only true franchise quarterback in the draft, is nothing else but a statement that Vick is gone, period, aloha, he’s a memory, he’s history, he’s out of here.

Georgia won another one from Florida last week when the top-rated quarterback in the Sunshine State gave the Bulldogs a verbal commitment over the Gators and UCLA. Aaron Murray rushed for more than 900 yards and threw for more than 4,000 as a junior.

The LaFayette Daily Advertiser reports that LSU coach Les Miles will be making $3.751 million a year based on a bonus clause in his original contract. Since the Tigers won the national championship last year, his contract dictates that he must be at least the third highest paid college football coach. Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis is No. 1 at $4.2 million a year. USC’s Pete Carroll makes $3.8 million. Alabama’s Nick Saban was third at $3.75 million so Miles was bumped $1,000 more than that for the third slot.

Shocking news coming out of Duke over the weekend when 11-year associate head basketball coach Johnny Dawkins accepted the head job at Stanford. Dawkins, the second all-time leading scorer for the Blue Devils, was thought to be the heir-apparent when Mike Krzyzewski decides to retire.

The ACC led all conferences with seven players chosen in the first round of the NFL draft. The SEC tied the Pac-10 with six players picked.

No surprise that Georgia gymnastics coach Suzanne Yoculan was named National Coach of the Year after the Gym Dogs won their fourth straight national championship over the weekend. It also was the 800th victory of her career as she goes off merrily into the sunset.

The once-proud Florida State University football program has added the powerful University of Maine Black Bears to its 2009 schedule. That follows this year which sees the Seminoles take on juggernauts Western Carolina and UT-Chattanooga.

Final (he promises) note on the NFL draft:  Falcons need  to tackle Matt Ryan

(4/25) It’s old news that Jeannette High quarterback Terelle Pryor, the top prep in the nation, has signed with Ohio State. Now the Buckeyes complete the sweep by getting a verbal commitment from Pryor’s prep running back, Jordan Hall, a junior. The two led Jeannette to the Pennsylvania state title.

There have been several stories on the Internet lately that have put a clock on Danica Patrick to see how long it will take her to come to NASCAR. Since the racing beauty won her first Indytype race last week, they wonder what she has left to prove on the open wheel racing circuit.

Lucky that Memphis basketball coach John Calipari just signed a multiyear contract. The entire Tiger starting lineup has declared for the NBA draft, including freshman star Derrick Rose and fellow underclassmen Antonio Anderson, Robert Dozier, Chris Douglas-Roberts and senior Joey Dorsey.

Scotty Hopson, a 6-foot-7 guard and the high school Player of the Year in Kentucky, has signed a basketball scholarship with the University of Tennessee. Hopson, a McDonald’s All-America, is the fourth player to sign with Bruce Pearl. Now we’ll have to listen to four more years of how Hopson escaped Kentucky to play at UT, just like we did with Allan Houston and Chris Lofton.

Here & There: Say it ain’t so. Stanford is rumored to be looking to the much, much-traveled Larry Brown as a candidate for its head basketball job. We’re talking desperation here . . . Pre-trial documents show that former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez pursued the Michigan job, not vice-versa. . . Coach Randy Shannon is having trouble with the Miami offense during spring practice. Now that’s something you never heard in years past. . . And Oklahoma, the original three-yards-and-a cloud-of-dust offense, is going to a no-huddle this season.

And finally, I promise this is my last word on the upcoming NFL draft, mainly because it takes place this weekend. Rumors have popped up all over the place about who and what the Atlanta Falcons will draft. A quarterback (since their current one is in jail), a defensive lineman, an offensive lineman? I have one suggestion. A new shiny quarterback, say like BC’s Matt Ryan, would come closer to selling tickets than would a sweaty, big old lineman on either side of the ball. And yes, the Falcons do have to be concerned with selling tickets. How many butts in seats are Joey Herrington or Chris Redman gonna get you?

David Pollack wise to retire; Dolphins nuts to sign rooklie tackle for $58M

(4/24) How will the Atlanta Braves fare this year? You’ve heard teams say we’ll be OK if we can stay healthy. That’s a problem for Atlanta right now. So far, they’re a .500 team but consider that Atlanta has no less than seven players on the DL and another on a day-to-day basis.

It looks as if former University of Georgia defensive star David Pollack is calling it quits with football. Pollack, who was a first round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals, suffered a neck injury and although he’s been cleared to play from a medical standpoint, has decided to give up the sport. I applaud him for a wise choice.

Here’s what wrong with pro sports in a nutshell. Miami signed lineman Jake Long to a $57.75 million contract with $30 million guaranteed. That makes the former Michigan player the highest paid tackle in the National Football League. So the Dolphins are, in essence, telling NFL line veterans that a guy straight out of college with no pro experience is worth more than the guys who’ve actually done the job. The NFL has got to be worried about going down the road that baseball has.

I keep hearing that CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer may be in trouble. If he is, something’s badly askew at CBS. Whether you like him or not, Packer--along with Dick Vitale--probably is the most knowledgeable announcer out there.

Alabama head football coach Nick Saban already is covering his posterior. On his No. 1-ranked recruiting class, Saban warned the Crimson Tide fans not to expect too much too soon.

Is Dale Earnhart, Jr. the best NASCAR racer in the ranks as many of his loyal fans proclaim? I think not. Junior hasn’t been in the victory circle for 70 consecutive weeks but that could end at Talladega this weekend.

Could the rumor be true that the Atlanta Falcons are entering into talks with the New York Giants concerning tight end Jeremy Shockey? It would make sense since Alge Crumpler is gone. Shockey, a former Miami Hurricane, has been named All-Pro four times in six seasons.

One more Masters memory--and some Earth Day-edition TMI on Tom Brady

(4/23) And with the Masters still fresh in our minds, one quick story about The Masters and former chairman Cliff Roberts. Roberts was a man who seldom took no for an answer. One year, he wanted to shift the tournament’s dates, to be played slightly earlier in April. The problem in doing that, he was told, is that the tournament would finish on Easter Sunday. Said Roberts: "Well, who's in charge of scheduling Easter this year?. We’ll get them to move it."

Just a thought but with 34 Division I head basketball coaching jobs this year, why has no one hired, or even attempted to hire, Gonzaga head coach Mark Few?

Let it be noted that the United States Congress supports a football playoff system. Three members of Congress, including Georgia’s Lynn Westmoreland, are introducing a resolution rejecting the bowl system as an illegal restriction on trade because only the largest universities compete in most of the major bowl games.

Not only did new New York Knicks’ team president Donnie Walsh fire coach Isiah Thomas and reassign him as a team consultant, Thomas has been banned from having any contact with the players.

Reports out of Miami on ESPN.com say the Miami Dolphins have reached an agreement already with Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long and will use their No. 1 pick in this weekend’s NFL draft to take the Wolverine. Long is 6-foot-7 and tips the Toledos at 313. . . More and more draft experts expect the Atlanta Falcons to bypass Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan with the No. 3 pick and choose LSU defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey. Then the Falcons gamble they’ll be able to get Louisville’s Brian Brohm,

Michigan’s Chad Henne or Delaware’s Joe Flacco with one of their three second round picks.

I’m not sure why we need know this but The Boston Herald reports that New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady buys recycled toilet paper at Whole Foods.

And finally since we just got through the Pennsylvania primary, it’s noteworthy that the political ruckus within the coaching ranks at Penn State is still going. Head Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno has been a lifelong Republican. But his son Jay, the PSU quarterbacks coach, has declared for Barack Obama and is doing work in his off-time for the Democratic candidate.

Quick updates on the NFL draft--and watch for falling visors in S. Carolina

(4/22) And whatever happened to Georgia Tech running back Tashard Choice? With Arkansas’ Darren McFadden and Felix Jones on the menu along with Rashard Mendenhall of Illinois and Jonathan Stewart of Oregon, the former Georgia Tech star has dropped out of sight on the NFL draft lists.

And speaking of the draft, here’s what the NFL scouts have to say about former Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson. "Has the smarts and physical tools to be an NFL starter. Slow release and quiet huddle presence are drawbacks." Quiet huddle presence. Interesting description.

One more word on the draft from the Birmingham News: The last time that Alabama had a player taken in the first round was in 1999 when Shaun Alexander and Chris Samuels were both first rounders after winning an SEC title. And along the same lines, the University of Miami has had at least one player drafted in the first round for 13 straight years. There’s a good chance that streak will end this time around.

While everyone was watching Tiger Woods on the PGA tour, a Tigress has developed on the LPGA circuit. Lorena Ochoa became the first LPGA player in 45 years to win four events on consecutive weeks.

Atlanta pitcher John Smoltz is on the cusp of joining a very elite club. Sometime this week, the Braves’ veteran will record his 3,000th strikeout. He’s currently four short and will become the 16th player in the majors to record such a feat.

Just so you’ll know we do follow up on things, the Nebraska spring game drew a record crowd of 80,139 to see Bo Pellini’s new team. And yes, some of the tickets were scalped for more than $100.

What does South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier hate worse than the IRS? To have his quarterback throw an interception. In the Gamecocks' final scrimmage over the weekend, QBs Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher combined to throw eight! That led the old ball coach to declare that he would not name a starter at that position until the fall when suspended quarterback Stephen Garcia is supposed to return.

Opening snap of T-Day Game a bad omen for Paul Johnson's Yellow Jackets?

(4/21) Danica Patrick made history over the weekend as she became the first female ever to win an Indy Car race, taking the Indy Japan 300. The race was Patrick’s 50th of her career.

This weekend’s NFL draft should produce some surprises. For instance, Baltimore wants Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan badly. Watch for the Ravens to try and move up and who better to talk to than Atlanta, who owns the No. 3 pick? Baltimore is scheduled to draft in the No. 8 spot.

Here & There: New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning got married over the weekend in Mexico. . . The Nike Corp. is spending $3.4 billion for endorsements and sponsorships with teams and individuals. . . LSU talked to Miami basketball coach Frank Haith before hiring Stanford’s Trent Johnson. . . Oklahoma State made a run at Minnesota’s Tubby Smith before hiring UMass’ Travis Ford.

Georgia basketball coach Dennis Felton had promised to shave his moustache if Georgia won the SEC tournament. The Bulldogs did and Felton did Friday, having his personal barber cut off the facial hair. Felton also made another promise. He said if the Bulldogs win the national championship, he’ll shave his head.

Probably not a good omen that Georgia Tech fumbled its first snap during its annual T-Day football game over the weekend. The Jackets are busy installing the jazzed-up Wishbone as run by new coach Paul Johnson and it wasn’t pretty. Johnson says they’ll get better. They have to.

Best nickname in Major League Baseball has got to be that of Ryan Braun, who’s known as the Hammerin’ Hebrew.

And finally, this out of Katmandu. Nepal police and soldiers have the OK to open fire and use deadly force against anyone who tries to protest during the Olympic Torch run to the summit of Mount Everest.

Sports Buzz: Pots of gold for Hawaii, Phoenix , , , broadcast Tiger's surgery?

(4/18) Hawaii’s beat-down at the hands of Georgia in the Sugar Bowl earned the school a record $4.4 million, of which they will realize a profit of $2.2 after expenses. The Warriors also earned their WAC conference teams a payoff of $410,000 each.

Oklahoma State ran the gamut in trying to hire a new head basketball coach, flitting from national championship coach Bill Self of Kansas to Travis Ford. Who? Exactly. Ford, who had just verbally agreed to a new contract extension with the University of Massachusetts hot off of an NIT appearance, accepted the Cowboys’ offer to take over at OSU.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has opened a night club in Charlotte called Whiskey River. The Grand Opening is tonight. Junior says it’s not so much a country bar as an old rock 'n' roll joint. My kind of place.

A tight end prospect from Tampa accidentally bumped into the University of Florida’s football championship trophy and knocked it off, shattering the expensive crystal trophy. Question is will the Gators still be interested in signing the athlete, who was described by his high school coach as a bull in a China closet?

Oregon State’s new basketball coach, Craig Brown, says he won’t be getting any secret service protection. Brown is the brother-in-law of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Not sure if it’s good news or bad that one of the top football announcers in the country, Al Michaels, is spending the weekend with conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh at his beach home. Does that mean that Michaels might have all plays going to the right?

New West Virginia football coach Bill Stewart says he wants to add Notre Dame to his team’s football schedule. Doesn’t everybody?

The L.A. Times writes that a telecast of Tiger Woods’ knee surgery would probably draw higher television ratings than the four tournaments that he’s going to miss because of the surgery.

And finally the estimate is that Phoenix’ economy realized more than $500 million for hosting this past Super Bowl.

Why we love minor leagues: Kansas team has 'welcome' night for Vick

(4/17) The Kansas City T-Bones minor league baseball team will hold a "Welcome to the Neighborhood Night" in honor of Michael Vick, who is incarcerated in nearby Leavenworth penitentiary. The team will wear black and white prison-striped shirts while the visiting Gary (Ind.) Railcats will wear orange prison suits. The night will be highlighted by flashing search lights and escape sirens. Proceeds will go to the local animal shelter.

The University of Memphis announced it has a deal in place with basketball coach John Calipari to remain. In 2006, Calipari considered leaving for N.C. State but saw his salary bumped up to $1.3 million. The next year, he considered the Arkansas job but was paid $1.8 million. This contract supposedly will pay him $2.5 million. Ain’t success wonderful?

Wonder where he’ll transfer next? The Southern Cal coaches made it official this week, naming Mark Sanchez the No. 1 quarterback to replace John David Booty as the Trojans enter the fall. Sanchez beat out Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain for the top spot.

The recent MVP of the McDonald’s All-America game, Tyreke Evans, looks as if he’s headed to Memphis over Villanova and UConn. . . Not to be confused, the much-traveled and sometime-troubled Tyree Evans will attend Maryland, choosing the Terps over FSU, Arizona and Kansas State.

The Atlanta Falcons home schedule this year is relatively unexciting. The Birds entertain Kansas City, Detroit, Denver and Chicago at home. And no, Atlanta won’t appear on any Monday night showcase games.

Not sure if it’s good or bad, but the 50,000-student Georgia State University is going full steam ahead with its plan for a football team and the first game should be played in the 2010 season. It’s basketball team is Division I but no announcement yet on where football will stand.

Did you know that Atlanta was singled out as "The Most Miserable Sports City in America" by Forbes Magazine last week?

About the Hawks going into the NBA playoffs with a sub .500 record: Remember that Atlanta, with Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Theo Ratliff and Glen "Big Dog" Robinson couldn’t make the field in 2002-03. Remember bringing in bad man Isiah Rider? Remember passing up Chris Paul for Marvin Williams and then Brandon Roy for Duke’s Shelden Williams? This franchise is hopeless.

How 'bout those Hawks! Uh, you know, from Atlanta. In the NBA playoffs ... ?

(4/16) After nine years, the Atlanta Hawks have backed into the NBA playoffs after sitting on their duffs and watching Indiana lose to give them the entry. And their reward is just -- they must play the No. 1 Boston Celtics. Seriously, is there anyone out there who cares?

How much do Nebraska fans love their football? The stadium is sold out for the spring game and some are paying as much as $95 for a ticket.

How much did Davidson College’s magical run in the NCAA tournament do for the Wildcats’ recruiting? Not much. The only player coach Bob McKillop had signed, 6-foot-8 Alex Vouyoukas, didn’t qualify academically.

Former Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley is in a precarious position with the Atlanta Falcons. Shockley missed all of last season with an injury and still isn’t completely healed. The Falcons have already signed Chris Redman and Joey Herrington. If Atlanta drafts a quarterback in the upcoming draft as it is expected to do, where does Shockley fit in?

Keno Davis, the National College Basketball Coach of the Year, has left Drake University and will become the new head coach at Providence. Davis was no better than the Friars' third choice.

The teammates of University of Central Florida football player Ereck Plancher say the player was struggling badly during workouts before the collapsed and died. That wasn’t the line the coaching staff or school was putting out. This week, Plancher’s roommate quit the team and left school.

One of the most interesting jobs open in sports is that of Athletics Director at Duke University. The new guy will have plenty to deal. For starters, he’ll have to contend with fixing the Blue Devil football program, which has been broken for decades. He’ll also have to implement a plan for a smooth transition for the basketball program when Mike Krzyzewski decides to retire. If I had to choose a guy, I’d go with Jay Bilas, a former player, lawyerand current ESPN basketball guru. Of course, I’m sure Christian Laettner is available.

By the numbers: 78,200 at 'A' game; 60,000 see Gators; 100 'K' salute Jayhawks

(4/15) Former University of Georgia superstar Herschel Walker’s book, Breaking Free, came out Monday. In the book, Walker tells of having Dissociative Identity Disorder, more commonly known as multiple personality disorder. He says he first became aware of it when he was very young. Walker says he was fat and had a speech impediment, and was bullied at school.

Alabama held its annual A-Day game over the weekend before a crowd of only 78,200. Last year the game attracted an amazing 92,138. . . Meanwhile, Florida welcomed more than 60,000 for its spring game. And speaking of crowds, more than 100,000 gathered in Lawrence, Kansas, for a parade to honor the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team which won the national title last week.

Florida’s scrimmage featured Chris Rainey, a red shirt freshman who has been clocked at 4.24 in the 40-yard dash. Rainey put on a show for the assembled Gators. Now imagine Rainey and play maker Percy Harvin on the field at the same time.

It’s doubtful anyone could have handled anything as badly as Penn State has concerning Joe Paterno’s contract. Now the 81-year-old coach will not have a contract but will be reviewed at the end of each season.

Parade Magazine says Tiger Woods earned $115 million last year but his earnings paled in comparison with Oprah Winfrey, who banked a cool $260 million. Of course Oprah is a terrible golfer.

McDonald’s All-American Taylor King has transferred from Duke to Villanova. . . The word is that Oklahoma State, which had hoped to lure Kansas’ Bill Self to take over its basketball program, is now looking at Minnesota’s Tubby Smith.

I don’t know about you but that creepy music that is played in the background when the Masters is shown on television has gotten old. Really, it’s not a church service. It’s a golf tournament, for goodness sakes.

Andruw Jones not exactly lighting up the scoreboard for the L.A. Dodgers

(4/14) There’s more and more talk about some type of boycott of the Beijing Olympics, either a boycott of the Opening Ceremonies or of making a statement in other ways to show discontent over China’s policy toward human rights. England says it won’t boycott; France says it might. The United States is split. Stay tuned.

Tennessee says it will charge students to come to football games beginning this fall. The charge will be $15 per game or $90 for a season ticket. The only teams left in the SEC not charging students: Vanderbilt and South Carolina.

Notre Dame will have only one scholarship quarterback available for its spring game later this month. Jimmy Clausen will be there but Evan Sharpley is a key player on the Irish baseball team and will be excused to play on the diamond.

Although the details of Bill Self’s new contract at Kansas hasn’t been made public, it’s believed that Self will make in excess of $2 million a year plus get a new practice facility and better living quarters for the basketball players.

Former Atlanta Braves’ center fielder Andruw Jones isn’t exactly setting the West Coast on fire for the L.A. Dodgers. Jones was batting .129 with no homers and only one run batted in through the weekend.

The Wall Street Journal reports that pro basketball players make an average of $5.4 million a year, baseball players make $3 million and football players bring home $1.4 million. But get this. Salaried entourage members typically earn $30,000 to $50,000 basically for just hanging around. No word on how to apply for one of those jobs.

Will Paul Johnson be successful at Georgia Tech running his option offense? Here’s something to consider: While coaching at Navy, Johnson’s team averaged 11.1 passes per game. Every team in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Big East averaged at least 20 passes per game.

New, improved Fighting Irish in '08 (can't get much lower than '07)

(4/11) Some short shots: It looks as if LSU is going to hire Stanford head basketball coach Trent Johnson to replace the fired Hal Brady. Word is that one of the favorites to take over the Stanford job is National Coach of the Year Keno Davis at Drake University. . . The viewership of the final game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was down 6 percent from last year. . . New South Carolina coach Darrin Horn is bringing his entire coaching staff with him from Western Kentucky. I think it’s a mistake to throw these guys from a small conference and a small school into the midst of the red-hot Southeastern Conference recruiting knock-down-drag-out.

The Chicago Tribune says Notre Dame will be better next season because 11 of the 12 linemen the Irish have listed on their two-deep spring chart are 300 pounds or more. The newspaper didn’t add the school also will be better because they can't get much worse than they were last season.

One local lad who’s getting a lot of attention from the football recruiters in the SEC and ACC is Calhoun’s defensive lineman, Eric McDaniel. The 6-foot-2, 297-pound lineman already has interested from Alabama, Clemson and Auburn.

Whoa Now! Former White House public affairs director Robert Weiner, who as a spokesman at the Sydney and Salt Lake Olympics, says the upcoming Olympics should be moved out of Beijing because of the murders and human rights violations by the Chinese in Tibet. He suggests moving to a city which has recently hosted, such as Sydney or Athens. What? No Atlanta?

The AJC reports that despite selling only 241 tickets from an allotment of 3,000 to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Georgia Tech netted more than $150,000 from its appearance, losing to Fresno State by a 40-28 score. That must be some of that new math.

And finally, just so you’ll know, the latest odds on the Masters looks like this: Tigers Woods is even money, Phil Mickleson is 8-1 while both Ernie Els and Vijay Singh are 22-1.

Some questioning Williams' loyalties; none are questioning Summitt's Vols

(4/10) The final AP basketball poll of the year had, of course, Kansas at No. 1 and Memphis second. North Carolina and UCLA finished third and fourth, respectively. But Davidson, the story of the tournament, finished No. 9 in the country.

Here’s how things really work, not just in sports, but in life. Mario Chalmers made a three-point shot to enable Kansas, eventually, to win the NCAA tournament and I hope he enjoyed his night of fame. But the real winner was coach Bill Self, who will be set for life because of it. But remember how fragile fame and fortune are. A week before, Davidson’s Jason Richards missed a trey which would have kept Kansas out of the Final Four.

A huge flap has developed in Chapel Hill after North Carolina coach Roy Williams was spotted in the crowd Monday night with a Kansas sticker on his shirt. The coach had sent his team back home and stayed to see his former school play. Williams has spoken unrelentingly about his love for Kansas after coaching there for more than a decade before coming to the Tar Heels. Just a suggestion, but ‘Ol Roy needs to coddle the injured feelings of the baby blues and move on. There are a myriad of ways to look at Williams’ perceived gaff. Jeff Schultz of the AJC asks how would Alabama fans feel if Nick Saban lost to LSU one week and then showed up at the SEC title game with a Tiger emblem on his shirt, pulling for his old team? Or Georgia’s Mark Richt losing to FSU and then showing up at their next game with a Seminole sticker on his chest?

I say this. Are we to believe that before Williams arrived in Chapel Hill, that he underwent some sort of brain washing and doesn’t remember his great years at Kansas? All in all, it seems more than a little overblown. Worry about global warming and what George W. Bush will do next, or better still, why the Tar Heels were so unprepared when they fell behind Kansas 40-12 in the first half in the semi-finals.. Believe me, it had nothing to do with Williams’ loyalty. Is the insinuation that he coached less hard because it was against his old team? I don’t believe the North Carolina nation is so shallow that any of this makes one iota of difference. Much ado about nothing.

And lest we forget the women, Pat Summitt’s Tennessee team beat Stanford easily and won Summitt’s eighth national championship. UConn has five titles and a couple of others have won two, but eight! Amazing.

Talk about a real case of Memphis blues; will Jayhawk coach be Self-served?

(4/9) Final word on the NCAA basketball championships: There is no way that the better team won in the Memphis-Kansas finale. In fact, it’s doubtful if Kansas was any better than fourth in the Final Four lineup but regardless, the Jayhawks won.

What is a Jayhawk? What is Rock Chalk? A Jayhawk is a mythical bird, a cross between a Blue Jay and a Sparrow Hawk. Rock Chalk refers to the limestone that surrounds the Kansas campus. Now you know.

And keeping with the Kansas theme, head coach Bill Self, an Oklahoma State alum, told reporters before the title game that he wouldn’t even return a phone call from his alma mater to talk about its head coaching vacancy. But with lottery-type money being offered, Self admitted he would take the phone call. And why not? How many chances does a basketball coach get to make $4 million a year plus receive a $6 million signing bonus. Take the money and say thanks.

If North Carolina should lose front court player Tyler Hansbrough and back courters Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington to the NBA, coach Roy Williams has it covered. The Tar Heels have 6-11 center Tyler Zeller, 6-8 forward Ed Davis and 6-foot guard Larry Drew coming in next fall.

One of the top prep receivers has verbally committed to play at Tennessee, choosing the Vols over Illinois, Penn State and Oklahoma. Je’Ron Stokes said he sat down with his family in Pennsylvania and talked about Tennessee. Said he, " I decided this is where I wanted to be. This is where God is leading me." And all this time, I thought God was a Notre Dame fan.

Great trivia question I ran into on Yahoo.Com. Only two coaches had a winning record against legendary Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught. Who were they?

Alabama’s Bear Bryant was 4-3 and Tennessee’s Robert Neyland was 3-2 against Vaught’s Rebels.

Four quarterbacks who need to have strong years after disappointing ones last season according to Rivals.Com: Texas’ Colt McCoy, Vanderbilt’s Chris Nickson. Cal’s Nate Longshore and Alabama’s John Parker Wilson.

Who's who on NBA draft list; Self being drafted by T. Boone Pickens U?

(4/8) OK, here’s the real skinny on the upcoming NBA draft and who’s going to stay and who’s coming out of the college ranks. This is one of the deepest college freshman pools in years. In other words, unless you’re a for sure lottery pick (among the first 14) it would benefit you to stay.

Here’s the way it looks: Freshman Michael Beasley of Kansas State and Derrick Rose of Memphis look to be the No. 1 and No. 2 NBA picks. USC guard O.J. Mayo and UCLA center Kevin Love should go next. Indiana freshman Eric Gordon and Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless will go high. So will sophomore brothers Brook and Robin Lopez of Stanford.

Bad news for the teams losing talented freshmen but good news for the North Carolinas and Dukes and UCLAs and Syracuses who may hang onto their underclassmen for one more year.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Bill Self at Kansas. The word is that his alma mater, Oklahoma State, is prepared to offer him a contract worth $4 million per year plus a $6 million signing bonus, all courtesy of OSU’s personal benefactor, T. Boone Pickens. Self makes $1.35 million now. He would become the highest-paid college coach in the country.

For you Steve Spurrier watchers, he’s been at South Carolina for three seasons and his overall mark is 21-16, 11-13 in the SEC. The former Florida coach felt the Gamecocks were in a position to challenge last season and injuries coupled with poor play didn’t make it happen. He says he doesn’t want to coach past 66 and he’s pushing 63. Something needs to happen soon.

When former Stanford Hall of Fame coach Mike Montgomery accepted the head basketball job at Cal, it shook the left coast. The Cal-Stanford rivalry could be compared to the Duke-North Carolina rivalry on the east coach. Some left-coasters liken it to Mike Krzyzewski taking the North Carolina job or Roy Williams coaching at Duke.

Oregon State has offered its head basketball job to Brown’s Craig Robinson. Robinson has also been contacted by Providence. Robinson is the brother-in-law of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

There have been 31 head basketball coaching changes in Division I thus far. LSU and Marquette appear to be the best jobs still available.

Final Four fiascos and two bad Tech jokes: 'Joe Kerr' hoax, 14 fumbles

(4/7) What can you say about the semifinal round games in the NCAA men’s tournament? When you assemble all four No. 1 seeds under one roof, you expect some great basketball, right? Didn’t happen Saturday in San Antonio.

Memphis just beat UCLA up and down the floor to win by 15. Then North Carolina fell behind Kansas, 40-12, before figuring out where it was. Although the Tar Heels cut the lead to four, it ended up losing by 18. I’ve never seen teams at this level play so poorly. UNC should be ashamed and embarrassed.

Now the real question is who will return for North Carolina next season. There’s a chance that junior Tyler Hansbrough, national player of the year, will decide to skip his senior season as well as sophomores Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington. If all there return, Carolina should dominate basketball next season.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports department got fooled badly on April Fool’s Day when it ran a story about a Kentucky running back named Joe Kerr giving Georgia Tech a verbal commitment. Only problem is that Joe Kerr was a spoof made up by Tech’s Internet site, The Hive. Sports Illustrated reported it thusly: "The AJC.Com sports page isn’t exactly known as a bastion of accurate reporting but this was especially brutal." Ouch!

The Boston Celtics set an NBA record over the weekend as it managed the biggest turnaround in history. The Celtics are now 61-15 - that’s 37 more wins than last year’s 24-58 disaster. The previous best turnaround was San Antonio going from 20-62 to 56-26 in 1998.

How is Georgia Tech’s football team reacting to new coach Paul Johnson’s new offensive style? Bad news on The Flats. The Jackets fumbled 14 times during its second scrimmage of the season.

And finally, one of the most intriguing sports stories of the year begins this week as Tiger Woods plays in The Masters. Woods has stated that his goal for the year is to win the Grand Slam of golf’s four major tournaments and Augusta is the site of his first swing toward that goal.

Last-graph Final Four No-No? Look for N. Carolina vs. Memphis Monday night

(4/4) With Lute Olson back as head coach at Arizona after a year’s leave, the school announced that interim head coach Kevin O’Neill would not be returning next year. Olson says he wants to coach through 2011 and O’Neill didn’t wish to remain an assistant for three more years. And the school said it has tabled the plan for O’Neill to be coach-in-waiting. Strange stuff.

Can he spell "idiot?" Chris Henry, the Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receiver who was arrested four times in a 14-month period and was suspended for the first half of last season in the NFL, has been arrested again. This time for fighting and breaking a guy’s car window with a beer bottle. Cincy cut him later in the day.

Indiana University is obviously serious about cleaning up the mess former head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson made. The IU folks gave Marquette coach Tom Crean an eight-year, $18.3 million contract - the eight years is almost unheard of for an incoming coach.

They’re dropping like, well, insects, at Georgia Tech. Receiver James Johnson, who caught 25 passes for the Yellow Jackets last season, has decided to forgo his senior season. Johnson makes the fourth receiver that’s no longer a receiver on the team. Earlier Colin Peek and D.J. Donley transferred and receiver Greg Smith was moved to another position.

Hate him or like him, CBS announcer/color analyst Billy Packer, now in his 34th year doing the NCAA tournament, will be announcing his 100th Final Four game this weekend.

The Atlanta Falcons may use their No. 3 pick to draft an offensive or defensive lineman -- at least that’s how the GM and head coach are talking. Coach Mike Smith says his first edition of Falcon football will feature physical play and he’s looking for big, strong guys. They didn’t discount, however, selecting Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan, either.

This is the first year in a long time that the eventual winner of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament won’t fade into obscurity. Maryland won it in 2002 and has been relatively quiet since. Syracuse won it in 2003 and has all but disappeared from view. Georgia Tech made the Final Four in 2004 and you know what happened to the Jackets. Florida, two-time defending champion, isn’t even in the tournament. Neither is Ohio State. But UCLA, Carolina, Kansas and Memphis are perennial challengers and should be back again next year, regardless of the outcome. I believe you’ll see North Carolina play Memphis in the Monday finals.

Sports by the numbers: salaries, ratings, Dogs' chances of being No. 1 this fall

(4/3) For the first time in Major League Baseball history, the average player will earn $3 million per year. . . In that same vein, the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez annual compensation is $28 million, which is more than the entire roster of the Florida Marlins will make.

For those who like to plan ahead, Louisville will play Kentucky on ESPN on Sunday, Aug. 31, and Tennessee and UCLA will go at it on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1.

March Madness goes beyond the court and into the $3 billion college merchandise marketplace. The NCAA Division I men's hoops tourney is the No. 1 driver of sales. Hundreds of NCAA-licensed goods take fans from the cradle (pacifiers, bibs) to the grave (coffins, urns).

Kind of hard to believe considering Davidson’s run in the NCAA tournament but television ratings are down 11 percent from last year.

I don’t know what to make of the news that Falcon owner Arthur Blank is corresponding with former quarterback Michael Vick in Leavenworth. If he is, I hope his letters start with "Dear Michael, please send money." Blank says he hopes that Vick might play in the National Football League again one day. If he does, the league’s name should change to the National Felons League.

Indiana surprised lots of folks by hiring Marquette basketball coach Tom Crean to take over its staggering program after firing Kelvin Sampson in February.

Remember Chris Paul, the Wake Forest guard passed over by the crack Atlanta Hawks’ braintrust for UNC sixth-man Marvin Williams? Paul, a finalist for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award, has averaged 20 points and 10 assists and has had a hand in 49 percent of the New Orleans Hornets’ points this year.

And finally, a reality check for Georgia football fans. The Bulldogs have non-conference games against Arizona State and Georgia Tech. It plays South Caroline, LSU, Kentucky and Auburn on the road. It hosts Alabama, Tennessee, Vandy and meets Florida in Jacksonville. The LSU road game and the Florida game are back-to-back. In short, the National Championship may not be a given. I mean, somebody had to say it.

No seniors in top All-American squad; hoops, not strikes, at the White House?

(4/2) Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina and Kansas State’s Michael Beasley were unanimous picks on the AP First-Team All-America squad along with Kevin Love of UCLA, Texas’ D.J. Augustin and Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts. It’s the first time a senior has not been chosen on the first team. Davidson sophomore Stephen Curry was chosen on the second team, which leads me to say that there’s no justice in the world. No one was more important to his team than Curry but because Davidson plays in a small conference, Curry suffered.

Duke McDonald’s All-America freshman Taylor King, a 6-foot-6 forward, has announced he will transfer, probably to Gonzaga or Villanova. . . Western Kentucky’s Darrin Horn has been named the new head basketball coach at South Carolina to replace the retiring Dave Odom. . . Stanford’s 7-foot sophomore twins, Robin and Brook Lopez, are leaving for the NBA.

Bad news for Gator football fans as play-maker wide receiver Percy Harvin may require surgery to mend a troublesome heel injury and will miss the rest of spring practice at Florida. Harvin ran for 764 yards and six touchdowns last year, and caught 59 passes for 858 yards and four scores.

Jaybo Shaw, a quarterback signee for Georgia Tech out of Flowery Branch, was arrested for underage drinking over the weekend. Sounds like he might be a better fit at Georgia.

Indiana interim head basketball coach Dan Dakich may not be around much longer but it’s for sure he’ll be in Bloomington longer than starters Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis. Dakich kicked both off the team for missing team functions. The Hoosiers also lose two seniors from their starting five and freshman Eric Gordon is almost sure to go pro, leaving the cupboard bare for whomever is named head coach.

Barack Obama says if he’s elected president, he’ll replace the bowling alley in the White House with a basketball court, maybe half-court. Obama played basketball in high school and wore No. 23 - "before Michael Jordan wore No. 23," he said.

And finally, Davidson College may be in for an unexpected windfall. In the year after George Mason made the Final Four in 2006, their overall gross royalties on school merchandise jumped 144 percent.

This year's Final Four should be called the Fantastic Four (143-9 overall record)

(4/1) One of the many, many sidebars which will arise from this weekend of Final Four action will be Roy Williams facing his old team, Kansas. Williams, now five years into his commitment to raising the Tar Heel program back to the level at which Dean Smith had it, is not the most popular guy with Jay Hawk fans. They feel they were jilted.

Obviously this is the strongest Final Four in memory. No one has lost more than thrice and the combined won-lost record for the finalists is 143-9.

After LSU announced that troubled quarterback Ryan Perrilloux would be allowed to come back after three run-ins with the law, one blogger suggested that the SEC actually stands for Shady Ethics Conference.

Oh Boy, another college football bowl game. The ACC has signed an agreement with the proposed Congressional Bowl which will be played in the Washington, D.C., area next year. The opponent, if the bowl is approved, will come from among Army, Navy and Air Force. Another proposed bowl is the St. Petersburg Bowl which will match a Big East team against a Conference-USA team. Be still my heart.

Folks, there are things going on out there that we don’t know about. Wrestlemania XXIV was held in the Citrus Bowl over the weekend and sold $5.75 million in tickets and brought in a crowd of 75,635 which set a bowl attendance record.

Even though it came at the Atlanta Braves’ expense, you gotta admit that a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs was a great way to christen the new $611 million Nationals Park for the Washington team.

And this has absolutely nothing to do with sports but it bears reporting. Over the weekend, a teenage boy with a knife approached an 84-year-old man carrying two sacks of groceries in Santa Rosa, Calif., and said he’d cut him if he didn’t surrender his money. The man said he was an ex-U.S. Marine, had been threatened by guns, bayonets and bombs in three different wars and wasn’t afraid of him. The teen approached, the man leveled him with one kick, and went on his way with the teen lying doubled-up on the street. Love it.

Already missing Davidson's great run. Baseball: Cubs win, Cubs win, Cubs win?

(3/31) There are great stories in sports but perhaps none greater than the Davidson waltz in the Big Dance that didn’t end until the amazing Wildcats missed on a last-second shot against No. 1-ranked Kansas that would have sent them to the Final Four. Alas, the Fat Lady sang.  If Davidson had gone, it would have had to play top-seeded North Carolina and that would have given the citizens of North Carolina a huge game.  Instead, for the first time in NCAA tournament history, all four No. 1 seeds made it all the way. Now North Carolina plays Kansas and UCLA takes on Memphis. I’ll miss Davidson.

Two college football players going different directions for the upcoming NFL draft. Marcus Buggs, an outside linebacker for Vanderbilt, greatly improved his stock while LSU receiver Early Doucet failed to impress during his workout.

The U.S. Olympic softball team is touring, taking on college teams as it readies for the Beijing games this summer. The U.S. team had a 185-game winning streak in pre-Olympic exhibition dating back to 1996 until Virginia Tech and pitcher Angela Tincher no-hit them to snap the streak last week.

A crowd of 115,300, the largest ever to watch a baseball game, witnessed the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 in an exhibition game in the L.A. Coliseum over the weekend. The game was part of the Dodgers' 50th anniversary celebration of moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

The naming rights for the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium may set a record of more than $400 million over 20 years as several companies are interested in bidding. . . A new prediction on the NFL draft shows Miami taking Virginia defensive end Chris Long with the No. 1 pick, St. Louis choosing Ohio State defensive lineman Vernon Gholston and Atlanta picking up Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan.

And speaking of quarterbacks, most of the lists I’ve seen of Heisman Trophy candidates next year include four of them in the top five. Quarterbacks Chase Daniels of Missouri, Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, Pat White of West Virginia and Florida’s Tim Tebow are on almost every list along with Ohio State running back Beanie Wells.

Sports Illustrated magazine is out with its annual baseball preview issue and the Atlanta Braves are picked to finish third in the NL East, six games behind the New York Mets and one game behind the Phillies. The magazine predicts that the Chicago Cubs will beat the Colorado Rockies in the NL Division Series and the Detroit Tigers will take care of the New York Yankees in the AL playoffs. Then the Tigers whip the Cubs in the World Series.