''Next year' not exactly here for the Atlanta Hawks

(1/31) Former Georgia Tech quarterback commitment Sean Renfree, who withdrew his intent in December when Paul Johnson was named coach, will be tossing it around in the ACC after all. Renfree, the 10th-rated QB in the country by Rival.Com, has made a verbal commitment to David Cutcliffe and Duke. Renfree turned down Arizona State and Boise State in the process..

Influenced by the Falcons’ Bobby Petrino to Arkansas mess and then West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez to Michigan debacle, seven sports teams have decided to put aside the unsavory chore of a coach search and have named successors to their veteran coaches whenever they should decide to retire. Three in college football, three in college basketball and one NFL team (Colts) have done it.

This was the year the Atlanta Hawks were finally, finally to be competitive, right? After blowing a 19-point lead to Portland earlier in the week, the Hawks were beaten by 32 points by Phoenix Tuesday. Sounds like retooling (in the front office and on the sidelines) is the answer.

Say it ain’t so, Joe. The Wall Street Journal, the paper that has chronicled business from Lower Manhattan for 119 years, is making plans to start a sports page.

The early odds on the Daytona 500 have co-favorites -- Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The two have identical 9-2 odds to win while Jimmie Johnson, another Hendrick Motorsports driver, comes in second at 6-1.

This one won’t end up on Comedy Central. There won’t be a single smile between them. Can you imagine two less personable coaches than the New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick and the New York Giants’ Tom Coughlin?

Mississippi State basketball coach Rick Stansbury will be going for win No. 200 for the Bulldogs in their games this week. Stansbury has done it in less than 10 seasons. . . South Carolina is reportedly interested in bringing Tubby Smith back to the SEC to fill the retiring Dave Odom’s head coaching position. Strange things, but did you know that Georgia almost hired Odom before bringing in Smith to coach the Bulldogs back in the ‘90s?

Headlines sound more like 'Cops' than Sportscenter

(1/30) Rivals.Com says that the University of Miami has won the in-state football recruiting battle with Florida State and the University of Florida. . . Jeffrey Jordan, the son of Michael Jordan who walked on at Illinois, is averaging 0.9 points per game.

Kansas head coach Mark Mangino was released from the hospital yesterday and says he’ll be back at work tomorrow. Mangino, who was named the National Coach of the Year after leading Kansas to a 12-1 mark, is immensely overweight but says he was just in for some tests. Speculation is the 51-year-old is considering gastric bypass surgery.

I have to admire Southern Cal football coach Pete Carroll and how he’s managed to stay the course in Los Angeles and not be lured back into pro football. For the sixth straight year, Carroll has spoken with NFL teams but has turned them down. This year: Atlanta and Washington.

And a quick look at the police blotter, which we are wont to do on occasion. Here are today’s headlines:

>Ole Miss quarterback recruit booted for selling steroids.

>Illinois linebacker pleads not guilty to felony gun charges.

>Three players kicked off Penn State football team.

>Wake Forest running back dismissed for threatening to blow up the campus.

>Two Texas A&M players indicted in home-invasion case.

>Two UConn players suspended for alcohol-related violations.

Just a glimpse at what our youths are up to this week.

It’s worth noting what Scott Drew, son of Valpo coach Homer Drew, has accomplished with Baylor’s basketball team. The Bears, staggered by murder, malfeasance and a former coach’s treachery (as USA Today puts it,) are now near the top of the Big 12 and ranked nationally. The team’s 16-3 start is its best since 1945.

College football coaches are heavily in favor of an early signing period for football -- possibly as early as mid-December. Now football players can’t sign a letter-of-intent until the first week in February.

And here’s my obligatory Super Bowl factoid for the day. Twenty-two of the top 50-rated programs in TV history are Super Bowls, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel. The highest rated was Super Bowl XVI when San Francisco beat Cincinnati, 26-21, in 1981.

And finally, Georgia Tech assistant athletics director Wayne Hogan, one of the good guys in sports, has interviewed with his alma mater, Florida State, for the open athletics director job.

Return of the Gators? And we'll always have Paris (Hilton)?

(1/29) Don’t look now but the two-time defending college basketball champions are back. Florida, 18-3, rocked No. 13 Vanderbilt by a 86-64 score and ran its SEC East record to 5-1, good enough for first place on that side of the conference. The Gators are basically a no-name bunch and entered the game unranked. The new polls list Florida as No. 20.

Just when it looked as if Georgia Tech’s basketball team was down for the count, the Yellow Jackets have become players in the ACC race. When Tech beat Virginia over the weekend, it was its third straight ACC win and its second on the road. The last time the Jackets won two on the road was during the 2004-05 season. Tech is now 10-9 overall, 3-3 in the league.

The University of Miami has the most players on the two rosters of the Super Bowl teams with seven. Second place goes to Michigan, Marshall and Arizona with five each. . . I don’t know exactly what to read into this but beginning in 2011, Notre Dame will begin playing three Big East teams each year. . . CBS golf analyst Nick Faldo has predicted that Tiger Woods will win golf’s grand slam this year.

Just so you’ll know but I honestly don’t care who Tom Brady is dating, who’s having or has had his child, who Tony Romo is going out with or that the Queen of Ditz, Paris Hilton, is hosting a Super Bowl party. I swear it was better when we didn’t have quite so much information.

SI.Com points out that Texas coach Rick Barnes, formerly of Clemson, has a 13-2 record against the venerable Bobby Knight. Barnes’ Longhorns pulverized Knight’s Red Raiders, 74-47, over the weekend.

Dog Gone! Buddy, a three-year-old Labrador Retriever, did some serious retrieving Monday. The lab, who belongs to Chris Gallagher who lives in a suburb of Phoenix, ate his owner's pair of Super Bowl tickets worth $1,800.

And finally, mark Feb. 6 on your calendar as the greatest rivalry in college basketball resumes with No. 3 Duke visiting No. 4 North Carolina.

Some eye-opening final $tat$ from the college bowl season

(1/28) Three economists have devised a complicated formula to predict where top high school football recruits will choose to go to school. The formula has proven to be 72 percent effective. So what do recruits really want? They usually pick the BCS conference school nearest their hometown that has the biggest on-campus stadium and won the most game last season. Last season, mind you, giving legs to the argument that recruits may be a little short-sighted.

When Dave Odom announced his retirement at the end of this season as head basketball coach at South Carolina, the first name mentioned to replace him was that of Anthony Grant. The Virginia Commonwealth coach, who spent 10 years as an assistant coach with Florida’s Billy Donovan before accepting the VCU job two years ago, is one hot commodity. He guided the Rams to 28-7 record, won his conference and tournament titles, upset Duke in the NCAA tournament and came within an overtime period of the Sweet 16 last year.

Another reason there won’t be a college football playoff. Final attendance for all bowls in '07-08 was 1,733,499 for a game average of 54,172. Of the 64 teams competing, 28 sold out their allotment of tickets, 11 bowls sported record attendance figures, eight postseason games drew 65,000-plus fans, and eight bowls were proclaimed sellouts within 24 hours of their matchup announcements The BCS National Championship Game produced the largest crowd (79,651) ever in Louisiana Superdome history. An estimated $1.3 billion poured into the community coffers from travel and tourism in the 32 clashes.

When Hawaii coach June Jones accepted the head coaching job at SMU, his agent said Jones was interested in only two jobs -- the one at SMU or the one at Duke. Jones said he would only go somewhere that was a real challenge. I’d venture to say he chose well.

Maybe they should call it the SEC Super Bowl

(1/25) Twenty-one former SEC players are on the active rosters of the two Super Bowl teams, representing 10 of the 12 schools. The New England Pats have 13 former SEC players while the New York Giants have eight.

The New York Times points out that St. John’s University ranks seventh in all-time college basketball victories, behind only Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, Syracuse and Temple. The Times also ran an article about amateur bullfighting in Colombia. In one district, it lasts from four to six days and there’s usually a death or two. The event is filled with blood and alcohol. We have basically the same thing in the U.S.: We call it the Georgia-Florida game.

Man, talk about the rich getting richer. Matt Barkley of Santa Ana, Calif., considered the No. 1 high school football prospect in the nation for the class of 2009, has committed to Southern California. Barkley is a 6-foot-3, 220-pound quarterback.

You’ve heard how rich the state of Florida is in football talent. Here’s proof. The Miami Herald reports that Rutgers stands as the decade’s biggest importer of South Florida talent with 44 players taken since 2000. N.C. State was second with 31 while Western Michigan was a surprising third. UConn, Auburn and Pitt all have signed more than 20.

Just thinking out loud but why is Bob McKillop never mentioned for a big-time job. McKillop has built a nice, steady program at tiny Davidson College and is well thought of in the coaching fraternity.

The West Virginia-Rich Rodriguez split is beginning to make more sense. The thing that neither party had mentioned is that the school had promised the head football coach several things and then hadn’t come through, such as raises for coaches and other lesser amenities. The two had been at odds for some time, not just at the end of the season.

After three days of one of the myriad NFL boot camps, some are saying that former Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan doesn’t have an NFL arm but that Delaware’s Joe Flacco is a sure bet.

And finally, things have changed just a little. For the first Super Bowl, a TV ad cost $42,000. This year, a 30-second spot averages out at $2.7 million and Fox Sports has sold 63 of them. Do the math. (or click here)

Vols' smack act before game smacked down by Wildcats

(1/24) Troubled New York Knicks and former Georgia Tech star Stephon Marbury has had surgery on his ankle and is out indefinitely. When I saw the headline, ‘Marbury Has Surgery,’ I was in hopes it was of the frontal lobe variety.

How important is Tiger Woods to the success of the pro golf tour? In 2007, tournaments in which he finished in the top five had a 171 percent increase in viewers on CBS over those in which he did not play or wasn’t in contention.

I’m one of those who believe that once the ball is tipped off, folks just play basketball. Period. But when No. 5-ranked Tennessee went into Rupp Arena to play the 7-9 Kentucky Wildcats, the visitors crossed over the line. The Vol players were jawing with the guys in blue and wore earrings during warm-ups -- a clear sign of disrespect. The results were predictable. Kentucky broke UT’s 11-game winning streak, the longest in 30 years. Show some class, boys.

NFL recruiting guru (sometime’s self-proclaimed) Mel Kiper Jr. says notable schools currently not represented by a top 25 player for the upcoming NFL draft include Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, West Virginia and Texas.

NASCAR announced this week it was taking a break from change and making a return to its core values. That includes music, as the organization has entered into an agreement with Garth Brooks. Entertainment at the Daytona 500 includes country singers Brooks & Dunn as well as retro acts like Chubby Checker.

Politics and sports don’t mix. St. Louis U. basketball coach Rick Majerus said he supports Sen. Hillary Clinton and agreed with her party’s support of abortion rights and stem cell research. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, the famous polarizing church figure who took on John Kerry and Sheryl Crowe because of their views on pro-choice, took exception. The bishop recommended the school discipline Majerus and muzzle him.

Wake Forest has been good for the past three seasons because head coach Jim Grobe has kept his football staff together. He lost defensive coordinator Dean Hood this week as he was named the head coach at Eastern Kentucky University. . . And in basketball, Virginia Tech has extended coach Seth Greensberg’s contract through 2013. Greenberg is 291-233 overall and 78-63 in his four season in Blacksburg.

'I-witness' sports: What's to come on Tobacco Road

(Jan. 23) Is this becoming a trend or what? After Florida State named Jimbo Fisher as coach–in-waiting when Bobby Bowden retires, Kentucky has named Joker Phillips as future coach when Rich Brooks retires. Just think, a Jimbo and a Joker in the coaching ranks.

It’s always an exciting off-season for Georgia football. For the third straight off-season, a Bulldog football player has been arrested in January or February. This time it was cornerback Donavon Baldwin on DUI charges at 3 a.m. and then fullback Fred Munzenmaier 34 minutes later on charges of underage possession of alcohol.

Those folks in Louisiana know how to celebrate. More than 25,000 turned out in inclement weather over the weekend to honor the 2008 National Championship LSU team in their Baton Rouge stadium. The crowd included the mayor and governor.

I hated to see that South Carolina basketball coach Dave Odom has announced his retirement at the end of this season. Odom is one of the good guys in college basketball and was ultra-successful at Wake Forest but was never able to get on top of the Gamecock program. South Carolina is expected to pursue Virginia Commonwealth coach Anthony Grant.

I was one in the crowd of 21,000-plus as the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill Saturday when Maryland and coach Gary Williams shook up the national college basketball picture when they upset Roy Williams’ No. 1 unbeaten Tar Heels. Great game, knowledgeable crowd, wonderful coaching job by the Terps’ Williams and a preview of things to come on Tobacco Road.

There already are rumors circulating that if Kentucky, now 7-9, doesn’t make the NCAA basketball tournament, new coach Billy Gillespie won’t be coaching a second year in Lexington. The question would be who would want the job with the ridiculous expectations the Wildcat fans have?

And finally, after an unprecedented six Pac-10 championships, Southern Cal has suddenly started paying attention to what’s going off across town at UCLA. After the Bruins hired former Colorado and Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel, and consequently Neuheisel’s hiring of offensive coordinator Norm Chow, the cross-towners are looking like they know what they’re doing.

Two bits, four bits, 20 million dollars. All for our school, pay up and holler

(1/22) Remember back in the good old days when folks picked their favorite college football team or basketball team simply because they liked them. Maybe it was the color of the basketball jersey, the look of the football helmet, the proximity of the school to their home, whatever.

Now, Forbes magazine has assigned a monetary value to both college football and basketball teams.

The formula is simple:

>(1) Money generated by the sport that goes to the institution for academic purposes.

>(2) Net profit generated by the program retained by the department

>(3) Conference distribution of bowl game or tournament revenue.

>(4) Incremental spending by visitors to the county during the season that’s attributable to the program.

No surprise here that Notre Dame was the most valuable football property, assigned a value of $101 million by the magazine. The football team’s contribution to academics totaled $21.1 million -- that’s as much as the next five most valuable teams combined. Operating as an independent allows the Irish to keep the entire $9 million it derives from its NBC contract.

The top five is rounded out by Texas, Georgia, Michigan and Florida. In fact, six of the Top 10 are Southeastern Conference schools with eight in the Top 20. Interestingly, there’s not a single Atlantic Coast Conference team in the football Top 20.

Not so in basketball.

North Carolina heads the round ball list with a listed value by Forbes of $26 million. Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona and Duke finish out the Top Five. N.C. State and Maryland also are mentioned in the Top 20, giving the ACC four teams.

Arkansas, with a listed value of $12.6 million, is the only other SEC on the list besides Kentucky. You should notice that Duke in fifth place, Syracuse in 18th and Xavier at 20th are the only private schools on the list.

What this all means is that with so much money on the line, with coaches making exorbitant salaries and television money going through the roof, the game no longer belongs to the fans but is a corporate venture just like General Electric, Coca-Cola or Anheuser-Busch.

I think I liked it when folks just cheered for their favorite teams.

Things are getting a little weird with pro football 'fans'

(1/21) It’s weird out there. A father was carted off to jail and fined last week for taping a Green Bay Packers’ jersey on his 7-year-old son and restraining him with more tape for an hour. He says the boy refused to wear the jersey in celebration of the Packers’ NFL playoff win over the Seahawks.

Further weird, a New England Patriots’ bald-headed fan in Boston had his head tattooed to look like a Patriots helmet.

The top-rated Georgia high schooler on Takkle.com’s list is Statesboro High’s defensive tackle DeAngelo Tyson. The 6-foot-2, 276-pound lineman has committed to Georgia.

Just so you’ll know, NASCAR driver Ryan Newman graduated from Purdue University with a degree in mechanical engineering.

The Atlanta Falcons' new general manager, Tom Dimitroff, is an avid snow-boarder, a very strict vegetarian and a new father as well as looking about 20 years old.

Mel Kiper Jr., the renowned NFL draft expert, lists his top five quarterbacks for the upcoming pro football draft. They are, in order, Boston College’s Matt Ryan, Louisville’s Brian Brohm, Joe Flacco of Delaware, Erik Ainge of Tennessee and Southern Cal’s John David Booty. The top running back, according to Kiper, is East Carolina’s Chris Johnson.

Texas head football coach Mack Brown is definitely going with a youth movement with a Southern flavor on his staff with the hiring of 34-year-old Will Muschamp from Auburn as his defensive coordinator and 29-year-old Major Applewhite from Alabama as his running backs coach.

And finally, UCLA has asked, nicely, for its basketball fans to please leave former coach John Wooden alone so he can view their games in peace. The 97-year-old former Bruin coach sometimes has 15 or more fans lined up for his autograph when he attends home games.

TV sports: Super Bowl, World Series tops for men; bowl, Olympics for women

(1/18) Just so you’ll know: Ninety-two percent of men and 68 percent of women said they watch sports on television and the Super Bowl was the top choice for both. Fifty percent of men say the Super Bowl is their favorite televised sporting event; the World Series is a distant second at 10 percent... 33 percent of women call the Super Bowl their favorite TV sporting event; the Olympics came in second at 17 percent.

The main reason the NCAA March Madness field of 65 teams isn’t going to expand anytime soon is that more teams would mean another weekend. CBS has that great three-weekend TV window. It works. CBS likes what it is getting in its 11-year, $6 billion contract. The NCAA Tournament is that most American of concepts: Win and keep playing. Win six games and you win it all.

Why are North Carolina and Duke so good year in and year out in basketball? The answer is simple - talent. All 11 of the scholarship players on the Blue Devils’ roster were ranked among the top 100 players in their senior high school class by Scout.com and 10 were ranked on the Tar Heels’ squad.

And whatever became of Charlie Ward, the Florida State quarterback who went on to become the first Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA? SI.Com reports that Ward is an assistant coach for the boys basketball team at Westbury Christian School in Texas.

The Daily Orange at Syracuse U. reports that Ron Hunter, the basketball coach at a small university in Indianapolis, will coach a game in his bare feet to raise awareness of people around the world without shoes. Glad the world’s got plenty of pants.

Seems fair to me that former Falcon head coach Bobby Petrino arrived at his new job at Arkansas just in time to see his two best players, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, declare for the NFL draft.

I thought it was surprising that Alabama offensive coordinator Major Applewhite left that position to take the job of assistant coach in charge of running backs at his alma mater, Texas. And for what it’s worth, which isn’t much, Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight won his 900th career game this week.

Reality checks could come early, and often, for 2008 Bulldogs

(1/17) The NCAA has approved a pilot program allowing Canadian colleges and universities to apply for membership. Can’t you just see the AP poll in the future? No.1 Southern Cal, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Montreal. And just think about the policing the NCAA would have to do.

Florida Today newspaper reports that NASCAR’s Kevin Harvick is no Hillary Clinton fan. Harvick told reporters when asked about his presidential preference: "I don’t want my president to cry. Do you want your president to cry?" in reference to Hillary becoming emotional during the New Hampshire primary. "Politics is a dirty sport. I thought our sport was back-stabbing."

Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner led the nation in passing accuracy with 72.4 percent completion average. The sophomore hit 236 of 326 passes for 2,204 yards. He broke his own school mark of 65.8 percent the year before. Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell was second and Hawaii’s Colt Brennan third.

A quick dose of reality for all Georgia Bulldog football fans. The Dawgs’ schedule for ‘08 reads like a murderer’s row. At South Carolina, at Arizona State, Alabama, Tennessee, at LSU, Florida and at Auburn. If the teams are as good as advertised, the Bulldogs' game against the Sun Devils could be one of the top games in the nation on Sept. 20. . . Plus the AJC reports that the bookies in Las Vegas aren’t all that impressed with the Bulldogs. Southern Cal again seems to be the early favorite with Florida and Oklahoma picked ahead of Georgia.

ESPN.Com picked a list of 10 college football teams writers think will improve the most next year over this one. Not surprisingly, Notre Dame heads the list but the 3-9 Irish have so far to go. Notre Dame ranked last in Division I-A in total offense, 116th in scoring offense and rushing offense, and lost nine games by more than 21 points. The main reason the sometimes-Fighting Irish will be better is because of its schedule. Gone are Georgia Tech, UCLA, Air Force and Penn State, and added were San Diego State, Washington, Syracuse and Pitt - they lose four bowl teams and add none.

And finally, as if relations could get much worse between former head football coach Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia, the Mountaineers say the now-Michigan head coach took some files from his office that belonged to the school. West Virginia is suing Rodriguez for his $4 million contractual buyout.

Are sequels to the 'Fab Five' and Ice Bowl on the way?

(1/16) News that the Atlanta Braves plan on moving their AAA affiliate from Richmond to Gwinnett County caused some folks to question the wisdom of having your highest-ranking minor league club so close. But others have done it and have been successful, including Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Seattle. Besides, if Gwinnett was intent on bringing in minor league baseball, it is better that it’s the Braves rather than say, the Yankees. And besides, if they send a player down, all he does is drive up Interstate 85 for 15 miles.

University of Georgia president Michael Adams’ college football playoff plan was basically ignored during the NCAA meetings held in Nashville this week as the council didn’t even bother to appoint a committee to look into it. I've still got a feeling it's not over yet.

In Division I college football, scoring and average team total offense figures reached an all-time high, averaging 28.4 points per game and 392 total offensive yards. . . When Alabama plays Clemson at the Georgia Dome this August to open both teams' seasons, it will be the first meeting between the two in 33 years. . . After this year’s bowl appearances, the all-time top five in bowls are Alabama (55), Tennessee (47), Texas (47), Southern Cal (46) and Nebraska (44).

Ordinarily I don’t write about college recruiting but it’s hard to ignore what the University of North Carolina’s Roy Williams has done in the past 10 days. It’s reminiscent of the Michigan class known as the Fab Five in the mid-90s. Texas center John Henson gave the Tar Heels’ a verbal commitment during the first week of January followed by forwards David and Travis Wear out of California followed by 6-foot-6 No. 2 guard Reggie Bullock from Kinston, N.C. Williams completed his slam by getting a promise from Dexter Strickland from New Jersey.

Are we headed for Ice Bowl II Sunday? A windchill of minus-13 degrees is projected for Sunday’s NFL championship game in Green Bay between the Packers and the New York Giants.

And finally, Republican president candidate Rudy Giuliani reportedly refused to sign a Packers’ hat while campaigning this week because he’s a Giants fan and felt it might be bad luck.

Bulldogs make top 10 again--UGA's president Michael Adams, that is

(1/15) If anything can help bring about a true college football playoff, this can -- because it goes straight to the all-mighty bottom line. TV ratings were down significantly for four of the BCS’s five bowl games. Ranging from 25 percent for the Sugar Bowl to 8 percent for the Fiesta Bowl, TV took a beating. Only the Orange Bowl had a small increase from last year. What that means is TV isn’t going to pay the colleges the big bucks unless something is done.

Talk about long shots. Who would have guessed, or bet, that the Manning brother to advance to the conference finals this weekend would be Eli rather than Peyton?

The Falcons’ hiring of New England Patriots’ Tom Dimitroff as general manager, on the surface, looks to be a good hire. No, Dimitroff, as head of college scouting for the Pats, has had no former GM experience but he comes from the most successful franchise in all of pro sports and that’s worth something.

Chicago Bulls forward and former University of Florida star Joakim Noah was benched by a vote of his teammates for two games after an altercation with an assistant coach during a recent practice. Hey, this ain’t college ball anymore.

Who knew but I’m impressed? Said University of Hartford President Walt Harrison. Georgia president "Michael Adams (left) is one of the six most powerful presidents and he’s probably one of the dozen most powerful people in college sports." Harrison is the one who preceded Adams as the chairman of the NCAA executive committee.

The Xavier Lee era, if you want to call it that, at Florida State is over. The sometimes starter but mostly backup quarterback has left the program. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Lee was asked to move to tight end by offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher. Obviously he didn’t care to do that.

The Black Coaches Association reports that 63 percent of Division I basketball players and 55 percent of football players are black. Yet of the 119 schools in that division, just eight have black coaches. Twenty-six percent of basketball coaches are black but only 7 percent in football.

What primaries? SportsInfo says Hillary 1-on-1 favorite to be president

(1/14) Something strange is happening in college basketball. Case in point: Sixth-ranked Michigan State’s loss to Iowa by a 43-36 score. That was a final, not a halftime score. It set a record for the lowest point total for the Spartans in the shot clock era. But that was a ton of points compared to Rick Majerus’ St. Louis team, which lost 49-20 to George Washington. The halftime score was 25-7.

Jonathan Meyers, an outstanding football player from Greenwich, Conn., was offered scholarships at Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan, UCLA and a dozen other big-time football schools. The fullback/linebacker decided he would play for Princeton. He said the deciding factor was his life after football and he felt the Ivy school offered the most in that area. Amen.

Co-ed Magazine named its five best college town sports bars and three were in the Deep South: The University of Florida’s The Swamp was No. 1 while Alabama’s The Houndstooth was No. 4 and Clemson’s ESSO Club was fifth.

I don’t know why this little factoid is disturbing but it is. The NFL said more than 226 million people watched games this season. That’s 100 million more, the league notes, than the 122.3 million who voted in the 2004 presidential election.

With a million copies in print, Indianapolis Colts’ coach Tony Dungy’s book, Quiet Strength, became one of the best selling sports-related books in history.

After her comeback win in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton is the odds-on betting favorite - at 1-1 to win the presidency, according to Steve Budin of SportsInfo.com. Barack Obama is 2-1, John McCain is 7-2, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani are 8-1, Mitt Romney 10-1, John Edwards 15-1, Ron Paul 20-1 and Fred Thompson 40-1.

Race car driver Danica Patrick has said no to appearing on television’s Dancing With the Stars... ESPN sportscaster Ron Franklin says the four-hour bowl games have got to stop. He told the Houston Chronicle that, "We need to be closer to three hours. College basketball understand this. Football doesn’t get it. It’s going to be the ruin of college football if they don’t get their heads out of their backsides."

Buried with The Babe? Baseball fans offered a big sendoff

(1/11) So much was made of Ohio State’s weak out-of-conference schedule this season, here’s LSU’s non-league games for next season: North Texas, Troy, Tulane and one yet to be determined. That’s not exactly title game stuff.

I swear I’m not making this up. The University of Colorado women’s basketball team has one player named Britney Spears and another named Whitney Houston.

The Eternal Image casket company out of Michigan is offering a new line of Major League Baseball-themed caskets. The most popular of these caskets is one decorated in the image of the New York Yankees but the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are close behind. The price tag is $4,500.

Reporter Grant Wahl of SI.Com writes that when Kansas State signed highly sought 6-foot-9 forward Michael Beasley, it was no coincidence that the school also hired his AAU coach as an assistant. That’s not as unusual as you may think. In fact, a total of 10 Division I schools have hired their recruits’ former high school or AAU coach including Boston College, Arizona State, Indiana, Kansas, USC and Texas A&M.

When Duke beat Temple this week, it earned head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski his 787th win, placing him sixth on the all-time list. Eddie Sutton with 798 wins is next on the Blue Devil coach’s list.

Word out of Seattle is that the NFL’s Seahawks are grooming former Atlanta Falcon head coach Jim Mora their defensive backs coach to replace Mike Holmgren in the next year or two. . . Surprising that the top selling NFL jersey belongs to the Dallas Cowboys’ No. 9, Tony Romo. Romo’s jersey sales led Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and LaDainian Tomlinson.

Pro golf is in debt big time to you-know-who. Golf Digest magazine reports that Tiger Woods made $122.7 million last year and will break the $1 billion mark by 2010. . . In a related story, a total of 158 golfers surpassed the $1 million mark last year. In 1996, the year Woods turned pro, only nine players earned as much as $1 million.

Why the SEC is America's best football conference

(1/10) What? Atlanta Falcon owner Arthur Blank is pursuing Southern Cal football coach Pete Carroll. Who’s advising Blank on this one, Daffy Duck? First, Carroll already has tried his hand in the NFL and he wasn’t very good. Second, the Trojan coach is very good as a head college coach. Third, is Blank’s memory just blank? Does Bobby Petrino bring anything to mind?

Television ads for the NFL’s playoff games are going for $1 million for a 30-second spot and they’re all but sold out!

Hawaii fired its athletics director, Herman Frazier, after June Jones left the school for the head job at SMU in Dallas.

Is the SEC the best football conference in America? Taking into consideration that Florida won it all last season and then LSU took it this year and Georgia is favored to open the season at No. 1 next season plus the fact that three SEC teams are listed in most 2008 pre-season polls in the Top 10, I would have to grudgingly admit yes. . . The SEC’s overall bowl mark of 7-2 is the highest of any conference in history. . . I must also warn you about next season. Ohio State returns 19 of 22 starters and boy, do they have chips on their shoulders.

You might have missed it but Appalachian State, the reigning Division I-AA champion, finished 34th in the final AP poll, ahead of Rutgers, Connecticut, Air Force, Tulsa and South Florida.

SI.Com points out that there are many good reasons why there will not be a college playoff in the near future. One is Ohio State president Gordon Gee (you remember him, right? The guy who dissolved the athletics departments at Vanderbilt.) Anyway Gee is quoted as saying, verbatim, "You would have to pry a national championship tournament from my cold dead fingers."

The grace and beauty of college basketball is a welcome sight now that the football season is finished. Some non-obvious things to look for - Indiana, Tennessee and Xavier should rise in the polls over the next two months while I can’t see Ole Miss continuing its miraculous start. Others who will have a rough time are N.C. State and LSU.

Final thoughts on football (and the season's No-Nos)

(1/9) Some tidying up now that the college football season is finally, finally over:

In Norman’s No-Nos, I correctly predicted the losers in 22 of 32 bowl games for 69 percent accuracy. For the year, I was 163-74, also 69 percent. So there.

University of Georgia president Michael Adams is pushing for a college football playoff. Admirable but remember that University of Florida president Bernie Machen also pushed for it last year and it just didn’t go over with his peers. Adams is advocating an eight-team playoff and says he thinks it could be implemented within a year or two.

This is the right time for a playoff push considering that four of the five BCS games were blow-outs -- the only one that was the least bit entertaining was the Orange Bowl which saw Kansas nip Virginia Tech, 24-21.

I’m personally glad it’s all over and I don’t have to hear about Ohio State, Jim Tressel, The Big 10, etc. The Buckeyes didn’t belong in the mythical title game and proved it for the second straight year.

The fact that Georgia finished No. 2 in the final AP poll bodes well for the Bulldogs’ national championship aspirations for next season. If the Dogs can start high, the climb isn’t so steep and they should open the season in the top five.

Tulsa quarterback Paul Smith, who is also a national scholar athlete, set a Division I individual record with his 14th consecutive 300-yard passing game vs. Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl. The Golden Hurricane’s 63-7 victory also eclipsed Alabama's largest bowl victory margin of 55 points, 61-6, in the 1953 Orange Bowl.

How could we end the football season without mentioning Michael Vick, the former Falcon quarterback who has been transferred to Levenworth, Kansas, in order to participate in a drug rehab program administered by the prison. His participation could cut considerable time off of his 23-month sentence for dog fighting and it’s conceivable he could be out before the end of this year. I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad.

Georgia Tech has lost its fourth high school commitment since Paul Johnson was named head coach as Buford linebacker T.J. Pridemore has said no thanks and is leaning toward Florida. The Jackets also lost their top tight end as Colin Peek has transferred to Alabama.

TV: No surprises from Rocket; Dogs game a real dog

(1/8) The dissatisfaction with new basketball coach Billy Gillespie continued to grow over the weekend when Kentucky’s record dipped below .500 at 6-7 and the team who administered the Wildcats’ latest beating was none other than hated rival Louisville. . . In an unrelated story, former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith says he’d like Kentucky to play his Minnesota team in the future but doesn’t know if the Wildcats would be amenable to the idea.

I’m not sure what an appearance on the TV show "60 Minutes" did for pitcher Roger Clemens. Of course, he denied he used steroids. Really, what did you expect? He’ll get another chance next week when he’s been asked to appear before a panel made up of congressman.

Reason No. 1,000 why we have too many bowl games: The International Bowl - Rutgers 52, Ball State 30.

Reason No. 1,001: The GMC Bowl - Tulsa 63, Bowling Green 7.

Georgia’s Sugar Bowl rout of Hawaii wasn’t just a stinker on the field - the Sugar Bowl’s television ratings were down 17 percent from last year. But the Fiesta Bowl match between West Virginia and Oklahoma was up 10 percent and the Orange Bowl between Virginia Tech and Kansas climbed 6 percent.

What the heck is it about hiring a college football coach that’s so attractive to state governors? When West Virginia was in the throes of its search to replace Rich Rodriguez, the governor was on the search committee and sat in on interviews. Same thing when June Jones was deciding on whether to return to Hawaii or go to SMU. The governor of Hawaii called and tried to persuade him to stay.

There are still six unbeaten college basketball teams and the two most unlikely are climbing in the polls. Vanderbilt, 15-0, moved to No. 12 and Mississippi, 13-0, is now 15th. North Carolina, Memphis, Washington State and Kansas are the other four with perfect marks.

And finally, when the NCAA announced basketball referees would be enforcing bench decorum this season, Wagner College coach Mike Deane had a seat beat installed on his chair to keep him out of trouble. Cute, Mike, but a guy named Bones McKinney at Wake Forest beat you to that idea by about 50 years.

Coaching changes in football, 'climate' changes in Fla.

>Norman's final No-No of the season: who wins tonight, OSU or LSU? Click No-No

(1/7) Remember the Pony Express, led by Erik Dickerson and Craig James who led SMU back into the national college football spotlight until coach Bobby Collins was found guilty of almost every violation imaginable by the NCAA? The Dallas school was handed the death penalty by the NCAA in 1987 and barred from having a team for a year. Since, SMU has been floundering in the shadows. The Mustangs finally decided to do something about and reportedly will introduce Hawaii coach June Jones as its new coach today.

National Prep Record: Brandon High School in Brandon, Fla., had not lost a wrestling match in 34 years -- that 459 straight wins -- until it was beaten by South Dade High School over the weekend.

Big Game Bob Stoops is getting ready to lose that moniker. Oklahoma has lost four straight BCS games and Stoops is wondering aloud what he needs to do to get things pointed in the other direction. In the Sooners’ last five bowls, they have trailed at halftime and were outscored 100-36 in the first half. The OU defense has allowed an average of 48.7 points in its last three outings.

Something to ponder: Florida lost its bowl game to Michigan. Central Florida dropped its bowl game to Mississippi State. South Florida was beaten, Florida State was beaten and Miami didn’t even get a chance to go. Former Florida coach Steve Spurrier stayed home and former Gator coach Ron Zook got humiliated. Only Howard Schnellenberger and Florida Atlantic won a post-season game. Things are a ‘changin in the state of Florida.

Quick Kicks: West Virginia’s new head football coach, Bill Stewart, took all of 10 minutes to negotiate his contract at the school. He says his wife is his agent. He reportedly signed a five-year deal for $4 million. . . Stewart didn’t exactly inherit a needy team. The Mountaineer offense is set next year with eight and possibly nine starters returning including quarterback Pat White and possibly running back Steve Slaton. If Slaton should jump to the NFL, sophomore Noel Devine is more than an adequate replacement . . . Southern Cal quarterback Mark Sanchez is the leading candidate to replace John David Booty, ahead of much-bally-hoed Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain. . .

And finally, Rich Rodriguez has further deepened the contention between himself and his former school, West Virginia, by taking at least four of the Mountaineer assistant coaches to work with him at Michigan.

The Bowl Championship Snooze and other football news

(1/4) This BCS season, at least three games into it, has been a complete disaster. The Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl have been blowouts. The Sugar saw Georgia decimate Hawaii by 31 points, the Rose was a runaway for USC, which embarrassed Illinois by 32, and then West Virginia stomped Oklahoma in the Fiesta by 20. So tell me again why the BCS is good for college football.

If you watched West Virginia run over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, you saw the enthusiasm and charm of interim head coach Bill Stewart. Evidently so did the WVU administrators who hired the 55-year-old West Virginia native to take over the program on a permanent basis after Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan. Stewart also is a huge favorite with the players, which may or may not translate into success. Remember Ron Jirsa at Georgia?

Looks like the Miami Dolphins knew what they were doing after all when they hired Bill Parcells as Director of Football Operations. Parcells first fired the GM and hired Jeff Ireland from the Cowboys. Now he’s fired head coach Cam Cameron, who had just finished his first year as head coach.

Yes, it’s exciting to see there are still six undefeated college basketball teams left and of those six, two are Vanderbilt and Ole Miss. Those two are not going to stay that way. Both have the same problem -- defense. In fact, Vandy is allowing more than 76 points a game and that can’t continue.

One personal aside. I observed possible Falcon head coaching candidate Jim Caldwell up close when he was the head man at Wake Forest from 1993-2000. Caldwell, now an assistant with the Indianapolis Colts under Tony Dungy, is a workaholic and totally committed, but achieved little in Winston-Salem. Don’t think he’s the man for Atlanta.

And finally, new Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson announced his coaching staff. Overall, I was unimpressed. It may be a fine staff, but the overwhelming common denominator is that all of them are familiar with the state of Georgia and this will help in recruiting. Tech recruits nationally, or at least, should. Also, there is no offensive coordinator. Johnson will keep that duty for himself. Didn’t Chan Gailey try that, too?

Sugar-high Bulldog fans: Just wait until next season

(1/3) Just a few ramblings and afterthoughts for the new year . . .

After Georgia’s rout of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, Bulldog fans already are barking about next year and the mythical national championship. And another thing: After Georgia’s blowout win in the Sugar Bowl and Southern Cal’s domination of Illinois in the Rose Bowl, it’s a no-brainer that the two winners should have been playing each other. But with the antiquated bowl system, it wasn’t going to happen. But it’s clear that it should.

In case you wondered, there are now 331 men’s basketball teams in Division I, up from 307 in just 10 years ago. . . Name of the week: Jerry Kill, the new head football coach at Northern Illinois. . . The honeymoon is officially over in Lexington as Wildcat basketball fans booed new coach Billy Gillespie after the ‘Cats lost to San Diego to drop to 5-6 for the year. . . With their Rose Bowl win, Southern Cal became the first team ever to win 11 games for six consecutive seasons.

Who’s gonna take the rap? That’s the question in Tallahassee where one of the most blatant cheating scandals has consumed the athletics department. It’s clear it won’t be head coach Bobby Bowden, yet the Florida State fans have seen their program deteriorate since 2000 and now their school is embroiled in a huge scandal. How much longer will status quo be in place? Another question is whether Jimbo Fisher really wants to inherit this mess?

With all the money now in college football - the BCS participants take home millions of dollars, the conference offices split up the monies among their affiliates, the coaches get huge salary bumps and contract extensions-- who’s the one person who gets nothing? The answer is the player. Tain't right.

And finally, after Arkansas’ disappointing performance in its bowl outing, Bobby Petrino’s job may be more difficult than he thought when he flew the Falcons’ coup to take the job in Fayetteville. It’s for sure the Razorbacks lost a few fans in this state.

Final No-Nos: OSU or LSU? As easy as S.E.C.

(1/2) This is Norman Arey with your Norman’s No-Nos where I pick the losers in five college football bowl games - the last five bowls of the year.

Fiesta Bowl - West Virginia vs. Oklahoma: The Mountaineer fans should play in this one if they’re as mad as they sound after Rich Rodriguez’ departure for Michigan. Oklahoma is an enigma, a big-time program but with two untimely losses to Colorado and Texas Tech. It’s hard to see the Sooners slowing down Pat White and Steve Slaton but then again, Pitt did it. Oklahoma is too strong. NO-NO. Speed kills. Sooners left behind in 31-28 loss.

Orange Bowl - Virginia Tech vs. Kansas: Two 11-win teams show up for what should be a slug-fest. The Hokies craftiness and Beamer-Ball against the Jayhawks’ Mark Mangino and quarterback Todd Reesing. Talk about scoring. The Jayhawks have accounted for more than 40 points in eight games. With the exception of a blow-out loss to LSU, the Techsters didn’t give up much. Jayhawks hang a ton of points on the Hokies. NO-NO. KU is KO’d, 24-14.

International Bowl - Rutgers vs. Ball State and the GMAC Bowl - Tulsa vs. Bowling Green: I’m combining these two because I just don’t care who wins either one. All I know is Greg Schiano turned down Michigan to stay at Rutgers and Tulsa’s coach left to take the Louisville job last year. NO-NO to Bowling Green and Tulsa. They both lose -- combined 68-30.

THE MYTHICAL COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - LSU vs. Ohio State: Buckeye quarterback Todd Boeckman isn’t exactly a household name in college football. Plus, I’m sick of Jim Tressel’s red sweater vest. Tigers are the first team in BCS history to participate in this game with two losses. And I’m sick of Les Miles, period. Nevertheless, the OSUers want to prove they belong after last year’s debacle at the hands of another SEC team, Florida. The Bucs should be well prepared after victories over the likes of Youngstown State, Akron, Washington, Northwestern, Minnesota and Kent State. Ohio State didn’t beat a single Top 20 team. That ends here. Buckeyes take the Bayou Bengals to the woodshed. NO-NO. The Big 10 is embarrassed once again the Ohioans don’t belong here, tumble, 41-14.

The New Year's Edition: Georgia over Hawaii? No-No

(1/1) This is Norman Arey with your Norman’s No-Nos where I pick the losers in six college bowl games. There will be the final No-Nos on Wednesday.

Outback Bowl - Tennessee vs. Wisconsin: The Vols won nine games and the Orange folks still aren’t happy. Eric Ainge has been very good at times. Badgers had higher hopes as well, but lacked a sound quarterback. On Wisconsin. NO-NO. Badgers in a hole, lose 31-29.

Cotton Bowl - Missouri vs. Arkansas: A wonderful showcase games for two great players - Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel and Razorback running back Darren McFadden. Hogs run wild in this one. NO-NO. Tigers are frustrated national title wanna-bes. Arkansas falls, 35-27.

CapitalOne Bowl - Michigan vs. Florida: Lloyd Carr wants to go out with a bang. Gators sport Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. Wolverines gather themselves for their coach. NO-NO. New Michigan boss Rich Rodriguez has his work ahead of him. Michigan downed, 38-24.

Gator Bowl - Virginia vs. Texas Tech: Cavaliers led the nation in close game wins. Texas Tech was one of the national leaders in blowouts, scoring more than 30 on 10 occasions. Wahoos aren’t impressed, take a win. NO-NO. Cavs should have been impressed, tumble 42-28.

Rose Bowl - USC vs. Illinois: On paper, it looks like the bowl season mismatch. Pete Carroll seemingly can do no wrong. Illini’s Ron Zook is one of the season’s feel-good stories. Illinois springs the big upset. NO-NO. They shouldn’t even have been here. No Roses for Illini, 45-20.

Sugar Bowl - Georgia vs. Hawaii: Does even sound right does it? Georgia. Hawaii. To me the most intriguing of all the games. The Bulldogs will be, by far, the best team the Warriors have played. Georgia will own the ground game and take a double-digit win. NO-NO. I’ve just got a feeling that the Dawg secondary isn’t ready for the likes of the aerial show Colt Brennan will offer up. Georgia goes down, 41-38.

No-No's Lock of the Week: Tigers win Peach Bowl

>Keep track of this season's bowl games at CBS Sports. Click Bowls

(12/31) This is Norman Arey with your Norman’s No-Nos where I pick the losers in six college bowl games. There will be more No-Nos Tuesday and Wednesday.

ARMED FORCES BOWL - California vs. Air Force: Cal had high hopes at season’s start and is now here. Air Force won nine but it plays in the not-really-football-conference. The Falcons shine during their time in the sun. NO-NO. Bears are just too much, flyers lose, 35-27.

SUN BOWL - South Florida vs. Oregon: South Florida peaked four games into its season. Oregon was still peaking when quarterback Dennis Dixon was lost for the year at season’s end. Oregon is still viable and takes the Floridians. NO-NO. Ducks drowned by Bulls, 27-17.

HUMANITARIAN BOWL - Fresno State vs. Georgia Tech: I really like Fresno’s head coach, Pat Hill. I like Tech’s running back, Tashard Choice. Jackets feel they have something to prove after getting their coach fired and finally whip some Bulldogs. NO-NO. A Bulldog is a Bulldog. Tech down again, 28-17.

MUSIC CITY BOWL - FSU vs. Kentucky: If the Seminoles can field a full team, it might be a contest. Kentucky fell off the big boy football truck in second half of the season. Some Seminoles may play both ways, fell the Wildcats. NO-NO. FSU is reeling, loses badly, 35-10.

INSIGHT BOWL - Indiana vs. Oklahoma State: This is an after thought bowl and I have no insight. Indiana just plays basketball, right? Don’t the Cowboys have that coach who yells at media members on national TV? NO-NO? Who knows? Who cares? Hoosiers lose, 14-13.

PEACH BOWL - Clemson vs. Auburn: I like this match-up. These two should play every year. This also is a lock. The Tigers will win. Which one? Tommy Tuberville looks guilty of something. Tommy Bowden looks bewildered. Auburn wins. NO-NO. Those Tigers lose, 31-28.

Super Bowl revenue: That works out to more than $170 million in advertising revenue.