Congrats to the Gators. I'm so proud of Lee Humphrey. Corey Brewer is Florida's best and MOP. How many times did Jim Nantz say 'Billy' last night? How many times did Billy call Donovan, 'Dunavan'? Is there anyone at CBS who can correct him? It's obvious neither guy is getting off the national stage anytime soon so how about if we all learn each others correct name? Dunavan...Dunavan.....Dunavan.......

Is Jim Nantz at some point going to reach over and kiss Packer's ring? Please go away.

Tonight the Lady Vols look to make history! Ought to be a great game. Pretty shocking to me that they are here. At the same time, it's called history. This Lady Vol team would get hammered by some past Lady Vol teams that didn't get this far. The bracket opened up for them and they were somehow able to win that 'game' Sunday. Ought to be a great way to close the college season tonight.

I heard Bruce Pearl on a national radio show say that he didn't need a raise because 'coaches today are making too much money.' Too bad all coaches don't have this refreshing mindset.

It looks like Pete Gillen is the leader for the vacancy at Marshall. That means that Tony Jones will probably be back with the Vols next year. Why not give a guy like Jones a chance?

President at Florida touts football playoff

Commentary by DAVID CLIMER
Senior Writer


The Final Four is a bully pulpit for college sports.

And Bernie Machen is preaching a sermon many fans are craving to hear.

Machen, president of the University of Florida, is making the rounds in Atlanta, conducting interviews, participating in round-table discussions and generally enjoying the limelight that comes with being the CEO of a school that is playing for a national championship.

But his most noteworthy message is not from the Book of Basketball but the Gridiron Gospel.

Machen wants an eight-team Division I-A football playoff.

Sooner rather than later.

Machen to the masses: "Can I get an amen?"

Masses: "Amen!"

I'm sure Machen's intent is not to distract from the Gators' quest for a second straight national basketball title. But he's the straightest shooter this side of Corey Brewer.

"We need to have these considerations now," Machen said in one interview.

Finally they listen

There's something about Atlanta that seems to activate Machen's against-the-grain thinking. It was at the Georgia Dome where Florida's football team won the SEC championship game in December. At that time, it was unclear whether the Gators would be paired with Ohio State in the BCS title game, which helped initiate Machen's playoff crusade.

He shared his views with fellow SEC presidents and was surprised to discover that some of his counterparts did not laugh in his face.

Even the fact that Florida did indeed get a shot at the BCS title and ultimately waxed Ohio State did nothing to cool Machen's playoff fever.

Machen plans to present his case to the SEC presidents at the conference's spring meeting in June in Destin, Fla.

"They said they'll listen," Machen said. "That's where we are. I could never get anybody to listen to me before."

Frankly, I've yet to be won over to the concept of a playoff. The BCS works for me.

Besides, if they start talking seriously about playing another couple of games, the players are going to wise up and demand compensation. Then the genie is out of the bottle.

Still, Machen's message could be the nudge that finally gets the playoff ball rolling. For years, the nation's power conferences have siphoned millions off the current bowl system. Last season, SEC schools generated more than $30 million in bowl revenue, which will be split among its members at the conference meeting.

So if the SEC is willing to put this cash cow out to pasture, there is reason to believe a playoff would generate even more money.

"It will take a conference like ours to get this moving in the right direction," Machen said.

Others have say

Even if the SEC should put up a united front — an iffy proposition given the inclinations of several university CEOs in the league — Machen and his like-minded cohorts have a major fight on their hands when the proposal goes national.

While the vast majority of college football fans support a playoff system, university presidents long have turned a cold shoulder to the idea. Some think the BCS works just fine. Others like the security of the current bowl tie-ins. And many have voiced concerns that a playoff would signal yet another escalation in the financial arms race of college sports.

Count the Big Ten among the conferences that would throw a wet blanket on any playoff talk.

The last time the Gators and Buckeyes played for a national championship — at the BCS football title game in January in suburban Phoenix — Ohio State President Karen Holbrook stated her conference's case at a joint press conference with Machen.

"For us in the Big Ten, we are against a playoff," Holbrook said. "Our coaches are against it; our athletic directors are against it."

Too, it is unclear where the NCAA politburo would come down on this. Myles Brand, the stick-in-the-mud president of the organization, never has hinted at supporting a playoff.

On the other hand, Machen's idea for a playoff brings the NCAA into the game. As it stands now, the NCAA merely sanctions bowls. It has no role in the BCS, which is run by conference commissioners.

If the NCAA were to oversee a playoff and thus get a piece of the financial pie, would Brand suddenly become a playoff friend instead of foe?

It's a sermon worth listening to.

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You tell us. We want to know what you think, which is why we invite you to choose who you believe is the greatest player in Lady Vols history. Your comments are also welcome.

18.2%
Candace Parker
4.9%
Tamika Catchings
71.0%
Chamique Holdsclaw
1.2%
Nikki McCray
| 0.3%
Daedra Charles
1.6%
Bridgette Gordon
| 1.0%
Holly Warlick
1.7%
Other


Total Votes: 2499
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Rocker's human growth hormone claim denied
In a story of March 7, The Associated Press quoted former major league relief pitcher John Rocker saying he was advised by physicians to buy non-prescription growth hormones to treat his injured arm. "Every one of them said go to a GNC, buy something over the counter, human growth hormone, these very several amino acids ... basically (that) is the way it's done," Rocker said in an interview with ESPN Radio, quoted by the AP.

The story should have noted that human growth hormone is not legally available anywhere over the counter. It should also have included comment from General Nutrition Centers, Inc., which provided a statement to the AP after the story was published. "GNC does not sell or distribute — nor has it sold or distributed in the past — human growth hormone in its stores or online. Human growth hormone is a prescription drug. GNC sells dietary supplements and other food products, not prescription drugs," said Steven Nelson, GNC's senior vice president marketing.
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O'Neill No Longer Under Consideration
Former NBA and college coach Kevin O’Neill, who just two days ago said he felt good about his chances of becoming the University of South Florida’s next coach, told friends Sunday he was no longer being considered.

O'Neill was the latest candidate to interview with USF athletic director Doug Woolard. Others who have interviewed for the position include former Arkansas coach Stan Heath, former Miami coach Perry Clark, Winthrop’s Gregg Marshall, South Alabama’s John Pelphrey, former Virginia coach Pete Gillen and former New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla.

On Sunday before receiving the Anaconda Sports lifetime achievement award at the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout, O'Neill would not comment about USF.

''I don't talk about any jobs,'' O’Neill said.

O'Neill was a head coach for 11 seasons at Marquette, Tennessee and Northwestern and for one year with the Toronto Raptors. He's been in the NBA since 2000. While a college coach, he was considering one of the nation's top recruiters.

With O'Neill, Marshall, Pelphrey, Gillen and Fraschilla either having removed their names or no longer being considered for the job, Heath and Clark appear the only remaining public candidates.

Neither would comment Sunday.










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If Billy D Stays Put: Here are the names to Watch:
If he decides to stay at Florida, Kentucky will turn to ... whom?

That closely guarded secret has been the subject of much speculation at the Final Four.

Among the names being bandied about at Atlanta are:

• Texas Coach Rick Barnes. He coaches a fast-paced style and has a proven record as a top recruiter. Need we say anything more than Kevin Durant?

As recruiting talk goes, a coach feels good walking through the front door to speak to a top prospect and his family. But then a deflating feeling sets in when he sees Barnes in the kitchen shelling peas with the player's mother.

Barnes is a close friend of former Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith, who finally gave public voice to some of his feelings about working at UK here when he suggested the program needed better public relations. Surely Barnes would speak to Smith before seriously considering a move to UK.

Barnes makes $1.8 million, plus he gets another $100,000 when Texas receives a bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament.

Texas facilities are the equal of Kentucky's.

Earlier this spring, Barnes publicly ruled out a move to Kentucky. Did he mean temporarily, leaving open the possibility of becoming a candidate?

"I think it's period, myself," said Kirk Bohls, a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman.• Texas A&M Coach Billy Gillispie. He left the Final Four yesterday for College Station. He has a new contract to sign. Terms include a pay raise from $1.25 million to $1.75 million and a three-year extension to 2015.

Gillispie is also due a $1 million retention bonus in 2012 and $750,000 more if he stays through 2015.

Even if Gillispie signs the new deal, he would be free to consider an offer from Kentucky. He declined comment yesterday.

Texas A&M has shown a newfound commitment to basketball. The school broke ground last week on a $22 million practice facility. But if Kentucky comes calling, Gillispie will listen.

Gillispie, a former assistant for Bill Self at Tulsa and Illinois, is considered the personification of a coach married to his job. He's divorced with no kids, thus relatively free to move.

It's not known whether he would enjoy the celebrity that goes with being Kentucky coach.

Gillispie would enjoy one aspect of the Kentucky lifestyle. He's an avid horse-racing fan. He regularly attends the Kentucky Derby, and he made a winning bet on Lemons Forever (a 47-1 shot) in last year's Kentucky Oaks. He said his father used to take the family on once-a-year vacations to places that offered horse racing.

• Villanova Coach Jay Wright. The Philadelphia Daily News reported last weekend that Wright had no interest in leaving Villanova for Kentucky. That's been confirmed.

He closely identifies with Philadelphia. His wife is a Villanova graduate. Speculation of a move from Villanova takes Wright to the Philadelphia 76ers.• Gonzaga Coach Mark Few. There's much talk in the Final Four media work room that reporters who mention Few as a possible candidate are trying to do him a favor by putting his name in circulation.

Assistant Coach Bill Grier left Gonzaga this spring to become head coach at the University of San Diego. Grier had been slated to take the Gonzaga job if Few left. So Grier's move would seem to signal Few's intention to stay.

• Marquette Coach Tom Crean. The longer the process takes, the more Crean seems to slip. Final Four scuttlebutt had Crean seeking more control of the program than UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart would feel comfortable granting.• Wild-card entries include Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Phoenix Suns' coach Mike D'Antoni.

Final Four speculation had Izzo ready to make a move. His Spartans have failed to reach the Sweet 16 in three of their past four NCAA Tournament appearances after a run of three straight Final Fours ended in 2001.

D'Antoni, a West Virginia native who played for Marshall, coaches the kind of style Kentucky fans crave. The Suns played a style up-tempo even by NBA standards dictated by a 24-second shot clock. He's the son of a high school coach with experience coaching in Italy as well as in the NBA. But he's never been a college coach.
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Mark Bradley: AJC 15 To Watch in ‘07-‘08
1. Kansas

Assumption: That Brandon Rush and Julian Wright will return.

Prognosis: The Jayhawks were the nation’s most talented team this season and will be again.

2. North Carolina

Assumption: That only Brandan Wright will leave early.

Prognosis: The Heels were the nation’s second-most talented team this season and will be again.

3. Ohio State

Assumption: That only Greg Oden will leave early.

Prognosis: Mike Conley Jr. will vie with North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough for player of the year.

4. Memphis

Assumption: That no one will leave early.

Prognosis: The hugely gifted Tigers will get a major boost from incoming point guard Derrick Rose.

5. UCLA

Assumption: That Arron Afflalo will again return.

Prognosis: The offensively-challenged Bruins should find a scoring option in 6-foot-9 signee Kevin Love.

6. Southern Cal

Assumption: That Nick Young will return.

Prognosis: Even if Young leaves, the Trojans’ ascent will continue with the arrival of O.J. Mayo.

7. Louisville

Assumption: That Rick Pitino won’t take the Kentucky job.

Prognosis: Whoever coaches Kentucky will have the second-best team in the Commonwealth.

8. Georgia Tech

Assumption: That Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton will stay.

Prognosis: If the Yellow Jackets lose 12 games next season, someone will have gone wrong.

9. Tennessee

Prognosis: That Bruce Pearl won’t take the Kentucky job.

Assumption: The young and swift and dauntless Vols are growing up around Chris Lofton.

10. Kansas State

Assumption: That Bob Huggins won’t scare anybody off.

Prognosis: Rising program gets a double boost from arrival of Michael Beasley and return of Bill Walker.

11. Georgetown

Assumption: That Roy Hibbert will leave but Jeff Green will return.

Prognosis: The huge Hibbert would be missed, but Green started as a low-post player and could return.

12. Villanova

Assumption: That Jay Wright won’t take the Kentucky job.

Prognosis: Smallish Scottie Reynolds could be the Big East’s leading scorer next season.

13. Texas

Assumption: That Kevin Durant will leave early.

Prognosis: D.J. Augustin figures to be Mike Conley Jr.’s only rival as the nation’s leading point guard.

14. Duke

Assumption: That Josh McRoberts is gone.

Prognosis: Kyle Singler, another blue-chip Duke recruit, actually might not be overrated.

15. Arkansas

Assumption: That Frank Broyles won’t coach the team.

Prognosis: Dana Altman, named Monday as Stan Heath’s successor, will inherit a roster laden with size and seasoning.

The next wave 16. Indiana, 17. Maryland, 18. Michigan State, 19. Washington State, 20. Alabama 21. Marquette, 22. Oklahoma State, 23. Stanford, 24. Nevada, 25. Georgia.

Next year’s George Mason (Even though there really wasn’t one this year): Davidson. Sophomore-to-be Stephen Curry stands to lead the nation in scoring before he’s through.

Congrats Bill O'Kain, our winner of the National Championship Game Tickets!!! Thanks to Hardee's for a great promotion! Thanks to Beano for being a goofy nut! Thanks to Beano in advance for posing for our poster. Keep the suggestions coming.

Orange & White Tomorrow. Do you remember a simpler time when thousands of people would show up for the spring game? The world isn't flat anymore.

How embarrassing is it that we are having a debate about the Pearl/Summitt raise issue. How is that even an issue. If she wants to make the really big money, she needs to break the gender barrier and get a mens job and work her way up. We don't pay people in our society because they make us feel good. Or do we?

How poorly do some of these AD's operate? First Iowa gets completely punked by Pearl. Then Arkansas fires bluzz, brags about Gillespie and gets DDT'd by A&M's coach. Brutal.

Tennessee football is coming off it's most physical spring since last year and the year before that and the year before that. Oh, but they've learned from the Bowl game. Like they learned from 5 of the previous 6 bowl games. I'm surprised Chris Low thinks so little of Tennessee's chances to break through in the upcoming season. Hearing him talk like that makes me think that maybe he knows something that we don't. Kind of concerning here.
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Orange and White Game: The Orange and White spring game will kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday in Neyland Stadium.

The Vol Walk will begin at 10:30 a.m., with the stadium gates opening at 10:45 a.m. The autograph session on the field will last from 11 a.m. until noon. Admission is free.

Jonathan Crompton will be quarterback for the White team, which will consist of the No. 1 offense and No. 2 defense. Nick Stephens will quarterback the Orange team, which will consist of the No. 2 offense and No. 1 defense.

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Vols taking a more physical approach

Tennessee's football team has gone old school this spring.

The translation: It's been as physical a spring practice as either offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe or defensive coordinator John Chavis can remember in their combined 37 years on the Vols' coaching staff.

"It's the mentality Coach (Phillip) Fulmer wanted us to take and the mentality that we needed to take in spring practice," said Chavis, who vowed after the Vols' 20-10 Outback Bowl loss to Penn State that the defense would be a more physical unit next season.

"I think now we have more guys up front who know what it takes to go out and compete and play in the SEC," Chavis said.

"It starts at the top, and you hope that everyone is going to be as demanding as the head coach. I think he was very demanding in this being a physical spring in us getting back to where we can play the way we like playing football at Tennessee."

Chavis and Cutcliffe were on the same page in that approach, and all they had to do was look at numbers from last season.

The Vols didn't run the ball with much success, and they didn't stop the run with much success. Both have been hallmarks of this program under Fulmer.

"It's really unlike anything that I've been around here, all the way back to when I first came," said Cutcliffe, whose first year on the Vols' staff was 1982. "We had 20 days of spring practice back then and didn't have any limitations for pads and shorts and all the things we've got now, and this is probably more physical on a consistent basis than any of those springs."

By physical, Cutcliffe means the Vols engaged in more live drills, with No. 1 offensive players going against No. 1 defensive players, than he can ever remember.

To nobody's surprise, those drills usually centered on the running game to some degree.

The Vols averaged just 108 rushing yards last season, their lowest output since averaging 83.9 yards in 1964. They finished 96th nationally in rushing offense, and that's after finishing 80th in 2005.

Defensively, the 146.7 rushing yards were the most allowed by the Vols since Chavis became defensive coordinator in 1995. They
finished eighth in SEC rushing defense.

"I think David was right in the same thought process that we needed to become a more physical football team and not rely on a player to make a play," Chavis said. "We needed to be physical enough to line up and play in the SEC.

"I think we made a step in that direction last year, but I think we're a lot closer to that now."
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Female ump flawless in exhibition game
Kenny Rogers and Eric Gagne are headed to the disabled list, while Ria Cortesio is ticketed for the minors again. If she can make it back to the big leagues, though, that would be something.

Cortesio became the first female umpire to work a major league exhibition game since Pam Postema in 1989 when she was on the bases Thursday for the Chicago Cubs' 7-4 victory over an Arizona Diamondbacks split squad in Mesa, Ariz.

Cortesio hustled all over the infield and made her calls with an emphatic fist pump. Always in the right position, she did what every umpire hopes to do during a ballgame: She blended in.

Her performance before a HoHoKam Park record crowd of 12,917 was pretty much like the sunny 64-degree day. It was flawless.

"It was pretty uneventful. I didn't have much," Cortesio said.

At least not on the field. Her phone started ringing early Thursday morning as the hype surrounding her assignment began to build.

"When I found out I had this game, my plan was to sneak in, work the game and sneak out and hope no one noticed," she said. "That didn't happen."

Working with major league umpire Mike Winters on the bases while another minor league ump, Jason Kiser, handled the plate, Cortesio was at first base for the first two innings before she switched across the diamond to third and then back again a couple of times. The moving around from side to side is standard for spring training games.

With a dark blue hat, light blue short-sleeved shirt and gray slacks, Cortesio looked very much like the other two umps - just a bit thinner.

Cortesio knew several players in the game because they were also in the minor leagues where she worked.

"I got a lot of, 'Hey Ria, where are you going to be this year?' That's the question. As of right now, I'm going back to the Southern League, but that's subject to change at any minute. As soon as a spot opens up at Triple-A, it's mine," she said.

Cortesio is the only female umpire in professional baseball. At 30, she is starting her ninth year overall and fifth in Double-A.

Once she makes it to Triple-A, she'll be evaluated by major league umpire supervisors.

If she's judged good enough, she would be invited to the Fall League, then to a full schedule of major league spring training games and finally to a spot as a fill-in in the majors.

No female umpire has ever worked a regular-season game in the majors. Cortesio obviously hopes to be the first.

"Absolute best-case scenario, we're looking at 2009 to get a couple of games," she said
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Billy Donovan A Hypocrite?
Reality, at least this weekend’s version of it, might be rather different. Donovan has to know he’s the central figure in this Final Four for two divergent and possible divisive reasons: He coaches the team that’s trying win consecutive titles, and he’s the leading candidate to coach an even higher-profile program next season.

If he’s lucky, Florida will win again and he’ll be able to say his personal status had no impact on his team. But say Florida loses. Will Donovan spend the rest of his life wondering if he was the distraction that kept the best team he’ll ever coach from fulfilling its manifest destiny?

Asked on a conference call Wednesday if he would mention Kentucky to his players, Donovan said, “There’s nothing more to address. I’ve already addressed it.”

Actually, what he has done is to act as if he has no say in anything — from last weekend: “That has nothing to do with me; it has everything to do with Kentucky. … I’m not the decision maker in the process” — but that’s just not true. If he’d decided he wasn’t interested in the Wildcats, the way Bobby Cremins did back in 1985, that’d be the end of it. But Donovan didn’t say those words, and by not saying them he has made it seem as if he’s willing to listen.

Can we fault him for that? No, because it’s the American way to want to make scads more money. But also yes, because his Gators are in a position no team has occupied in 15 years.

Three of them — Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer — famously deferred personal gain for the commonweal. Would it have killed Donovan to say, “Ordinarily I’d be flattered if Kentucky came calling, but this just isn’t the time for me to be thinking about anything but this team and therefore I’m removing my name from consideration”? He keeps telling his guys to live for the moment. Is he living for the moment by letting his name linger in the air, by allowing the rumor-mongerers in the Bluegrass to run amok?
************************************
Final Four loaded with famous father-son combinations
Whether he struggles or shines, Florida guard Taurean Green knows he's going to hear from his father throughout every basketball season.

Sidney Green, a former star at UNLV, veteran of six NBA teams and a former college coach, understands the life and psyche of the elite athlete. So he'll buzz his son's cell phone, or show him some video, hoping to provide guidance, advice and the occasional kick in the pants.

"He doesn't always tell me what I want to hear, but he always tells me what I need to hear," Taurean Green said.

This sort of father-son dynamic dominates this year's Final Four. At least one main character from the four participating teams -- Florida, UCLA, Ohio State and Georgetown -- is the son of an athlete who enjoyed similar success at the college, pro or international level.

Last year, Florida's father-son relationships dominated the headlines. Besides the Greens, UF center Joakim Noah is the son of French Open tennis champ Yannick Noah. And Al Horford's father, Tito, stands 7 feet 1 and played two years at Miami before enjoying a short career in the NBA.

This season, it's Georgetown also playing all in the family. Coach John Thompson III's dad led the Hoyas to their lone national championship in 1984 and helped push the program to the national stage. The star on the title team, Patrick Ewing, now watches his son, Patrick Jr., play for the 2007 Hoyas. And Georgetown reserve Jeremiah Rivers' dad, Doc, coached the Magic for parts of five seasons and now leads the Boston Celtics.

"He has been a great resource for me," Jeremiah Rivers told reporters last week in East Rutherford, N.J. "We talk all the time. He's giving me coach stuff."

Doc Rivers said this week he hopes to schedule his team's practices so he can attend his son's games in Atlanta. If Georgetown defeats Ohio State in Saturday's semifinal, it would meet the winner of the Bruins-Gators semifinal in Monday's title game.

Rivers, whose constant shuttle from Boston to his children's games and matches around the East is well-known, has made five Georgetown games this season. But a scene like the one in Sunday's East Region final, when Doc watched on TV as Jeremiah tried to check North Carolina guard Ty Lawson, provides the coach with almost unbearable stress.

"It's amazing for a parent," he said. "I've never been more scared in my life."

The Final Four's other two contestants also boast star players with excellent bloodlines. Olympic triple jumper Mike Conley, a gold medalist in 1992 at Barcelona, coached his son, current Ohio State point guard Mike Conley Jr., in AAU ball.

UCLA point guard Darren Collison's mom and dad each represented Guyana as sprinters in the Pan-American Games; his mother, June, made the 1984 Olympic team. And fellow Bruins guard Josh Shipp is the son of former USC football player Joe Shipp.
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Florida Basketball: The Real Truth On Their Attendance
Here are some facts:

Florida drew 11,000-plus in the 12,000-seat O'Connell Center for each of its five November home games this season, despite paying the likes of Samford, North Florida, Jacksonville, UT-Chattanooga and Florida A&M.
Florida's lowest home attendance of the season was 10,758 for a Dec. 6 game against Donovan's alma mater, Providence.
The Gators drew 10,775 for a game with Liberty on Jan. 2, but you would have to think that much of Gator Nation was headed to Arizona to see the football team play Ohio State in the BCS Championship game. Plus, Florida students were out on holiday break.
Florida's lowest attendance figure for an SEC game was 11,344 on Jan. 6 for Georgia. Of course, that was also about the time of the BCS title game.
Florida drew 12,598 for its home game with Alabama and 12,614 for its regular-season finale against Kentucky.
Florida's biggest crowd of the season was 12,621 on Dec. 23 game with Ohio State.
The year Donovan became the Florida head coach, 1996-97, the Gators averaged just 7,896 for home games.
The O'Connell Center, better known as the O'Dome, opened in 1980, but was re-furbished in 1998 and underwent more upgrades in 2006.
Florida did sell just 500 tickets for its first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games in New Orleans.
Florida sold out its allotment of tickets for the SEC Tournament in Atlanta, and even purchased unused tickets from the Vanderbilt allotment to try and satisfy requests.
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Phil Mushnick: NY Post Blasts Theismann
March 30, 2007 -- ITEM: Joe Theismann out, Ron Jaworski in as ESPN's lead NFL analyst.
We don't enjoy kicking a guy when he's down, but how come it took nearly 20 years to recognize that Theismann is a telecast-wrecking blowhard when most viewers knew by halftime of Theismann's 1988 ESPN debut?

It gets so silly that this past season ESPN actually assigned staffers to track exactly how much each of its Monday Night Football guys - Theismann, Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser - spoke during the telecasts.

What ESPN found from this study - Are you sitting down? - is that Theismann talked way too much.

And ESPN now acknowledges that, yes, perhaps its Monday Night Football productions last season went too far. We take that to mean ESPN may no longer be in complete denial, that it realizes MNF was overloaded with ESPN/ABC promos, interviews in service to the Disney Fatherland and assorted junk that made the telecasts seem like an elaborate practical joke.

Again, what viewers knew on Night 1 of MNF, it took professional TV minds an entire season to discover - if they, in fact, have discovered it.

In the end, if ESPN continues to foolishly tailor its telecasts to the tiny percentage of "casual fans" instead of those who tuned in to watch the game, it wouldn't matter if they had replaced Theismann with Pop Warner. Heck, if casual viewers are so essential, why not throw some live football into "Desperate Housewives?"

When the MNF game plan includes a long sell-list that doesn't include the game, the only guarantee is bad TV. And if we know that, how come . . . ah, never mind.


Doc N Jeff

Thought we had a GREAT show yesterday with Al Brown, Mark Eldredge and the former Globtrotter. Go back and listen to the first 90 minutes if you missed it! Really great stuff!!!

We give tix away today to the National Championship game Monday night down in Atlanta today @ Hardee's! It shall be awesome. I also have some t-shirts from the Women's Final Four and the Mens San Antonio Regional that we'll be giving away today as well courtesy of Alumni Hall in West Town Mall!

Unbelievable story in today's blog that appeared on ESPN.com on former Vol LaRon Harris who now has a different last name, against his own will. Really strange adventure for him.

Parker top All-American
Sophomore forward named on every ballot except in Tuscaloosa


Tennessee sophomore forward Candace Parker missed by one vote Tuesday of being a unanimous selection to The Associated Press women's basketball All-America team.

Parker was a first-team pick on 49 of the 50 ballots from the national media panel that votes in the weekly Top 25. The voting was done before the start of the NCAA women's tournament.




Tommy Deas of the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News was the lone voter not to select the Tennessee star.

"She is a very good player and was one of several I considered for first team," said Deas, who once worked for the now-defunct Nashville Banner. "I chose by position and although she is very versatile, I couldn't pick her."

Parker, who was named to the second team last season, averaged 19.9 points, 9.8 rebounds per game this season and also blocked 95 shots.

"It's a huge honor," Parker said. "I wouldn't be where I am right now without my tremendous teammates."

Also chosen were Oklahoma's Courtney Paris, Duke's Lindsey Harding; Ohio State's Jessica Davenport, and North Carolina's Ivory Latta, who was also on the first team last season. Parker and Paris are sophomores; the other three selections are seniors.

Paris had 46 first-team votes; Harding had 44; Latta had 38; and Davenport had 20.

Parker, who played on the U.S. team that won a bronze medal last year at the world championships, will be joined in this year's national team selection pool by Harding, Davenport and Paris.

"It bodes well for the USA," said Duke's Gail Goestenkors, an assistant on the national team. "We're really trying to prepare these young players so we can get them ready."

The four players will spend time in Italy in April when the U.S. team heads there for a training trip.

"I wouldn't want to play against them," Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale said. "Across the spectrum you got your guards, a swing, your posts, that team would be fantastic."

Paris, a center for the Lady Sooners, has racked up 61 straight games with double-figure scoring and rebounding and became the first women's basketball player selected her first two years for the team.

"Ever since eighth grade, I was always annoyed when a girl would score five points one game and then 20 the next," Paris said. "I always wanted to be consistent, so when I got to Oklahoma, I considered it my job."

Chrissy Givens of Middle Tennessee State was named to the second team.

Honorable mention All-America selections from the Middle Tennessee area included Vanderbilt's Dee Davis and Carla Thomas; Tennessee's Alexis Hornbuckle; and Western Kentucky's Crystal Kelly.



Felton given two-year extension
By CHIP TOWERS
— Georgia basketball coach Dennis Felton on Wednesday got two years added to his contract and $200,000 added to his pay. Now comes the hard part: Proving he's worth it.

The pay raise and contract extension — good through June of 2011 — were approved by the executive committee of the Georgia Athletic Association board of directors late Wednesday afternoon on the recommendation of athletics director Damon Evans and UGA President Michael Adams. In return, they hope to see the program continue to make the improvement it did this past season, when the Bulldogs (19-14) won four more games than the previous year and advanced to the second round of the NIT.

"Obviously the contract extension is saying that we have confidence in our basketball coach," Evans said Wednesday evening. "We've made a lot of improvement the last couple of years and we think it will continue."

Felton and Evans met on Friday and spent most of the time evaluating the team's performance and discussing the prospects for the future. Eventually, they got around to his contract.

"It was real simple," Felton said. "We got together, he told me this is what he'd like to do and I said, 'that's great.'"

The contract extension was necessary because Felton had only two years remaining on his original six-year agreement. It's nearly impossible to recruit in the rugged SEC unless you can assure prospects you'll be at a school their entire careers. And even with the $50,000-a-year raise, Felton's compensation package (now $760,000 a year) still ranks in the bottom half of SEC coaches.

The gestures are a show of faith that Georgia's athletic hierarchy believes Felton will get the program turned around. To date, Felton is 58-62 in four seasons and 22-42 in SEC regular-season play.

In addition to winning four more games (three more in SEC play), the Bulldogs made improvement in virtually every statistical category. They improved in points (75.1), shooting (.462), rebounding (37.9) and defended better (.438) than the previous season.


Georgia expects to return four starters — including leading scorers Takais Brown and Mike Mercer and point guard Sundiata Gaines, who led in everything else — and nine lettermen.

To that it will add four highly-touted freshman: 6-foot-9 forward Jeremy Price of Decatur, 6-foot-8 forward Chris Barnes of College Park, 6-foot-7 wing Jeremy Jacobs of Hargrave Military Academy and 6-foot-1 guard Zac Swansey of Dunwoody.

Also, the Bulldogs will open a new $30 million practice and training facility this summer.

Felton said he doesn't feel any additional pressure in light of the richer deal.

"I really don't feel there can be any more pressure than there already is," he said with a laugh.










No Buyout For Donovan:
No buyout clause for Donovan

If Billy Donovan was to leave Florida for Kentucky, he could do so with little financial penalty.
There is no specific buyout clause in Donovan's 31-page contract. Nor is there any mention of specific exemptions regarding Kentucky.
Donovan received a $300,000 loyalty bonus at the end of the regular season. Under terms of his contract that pays him $1.7 million annually, he would have to pay $200,000 of the bonus back within 30 days if he was to leave for another program.
That sum would easily be erased by the performance bonuses he's made this postseason. Donovan has already earned a $100,000 bonus for reaching the Final Four and would earn an additional $50,000 for winning the national title.




Column: NFL balks at equalizing overtime
It really should be simple. If nearly two-thirds of the NFL's overtime games last season were won by the team that won the coin toss, why not try to do something about it? Nope. As they often do, the league's owners, coaches and general managers decided to put off what they couldn't agree upon - even something as simple as moving up the spot of the overtime kickoff 5 yards.

"The focus needs to be on winning the game in regulation," commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday. "If it's still an issue a year or two from now, we might want to take a look at it again."

Here's the current issue: last season, 64 percent of the teams that won the toss in overtime won the games. Not necessarily on the first possession, but eventually - in part because receiving a kickoff from the 30-yard-line game gave the receiving team field position it never lost.

Before the kickoff was moved from the 35 to the 30 nine years ago, the split was perfect, with each side winning half the games.

So why not do what was suggested by the competition committee: move the overtime kickoff back to the 35?






















FORMER VOL Just trying to make a name for himselfBy Elizabeth Merrill
ESPN.com
With nothing but a bed and a bagful of clothes, a man can stare at a ceiling at night and ponder just about everything. Sometimes, LaRon Harris wondered if he'd ever make a name for himself. And he wondered what name that would be.
"That's what you stand on, your name," Harris' mentor, Earl Lester Jr., used to say. "People remember you by your name and first impressions. You just have to make the best of both of them."

It is late March, a long time removed from the day he left Tennessee for his last shot at football at Northwestern Oklahoma State, and Harris is trying to stand on his own. The gigantic kid who yearned to get noticed by the NFL scouts has rabid message-boarders typing "LATE-ROUND STEAL" and "Draft LaRon Harris now!" The hulking nose tackle with the once-wandering work ethic is leaner and works out twice a day. Harris is finally in control, it seems, and then he pulls out his driver's license and eyes a name he doesn't know.

It says LaRon Moore.

Five years ago in Memphis, Harris went to get his drivers license and realized the name on his birth certificate had been changed. He figured his father, a man he's never known, did it to carry on his name. Or was it bureaucratic red tape?

"I'm going to get it changed," Harris said. "Just the past few years, being in school, all the money I had went to meals and books. I didn't have the money to pay for a name change.

"I've always had the attitude that if he doesn't want me around, I don't want to be around him. My mom was all I ever needed in a parent. That's the only parent I know."
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The gritty Hyde Park neighborhood in North Memphis was all Harris knew as a kid, and when gunfire sounded, he followed his mama's orders to jump on the floor.

He was always bigger than others. Different. The kids wouldn't play with him at first, he says, because he was too light skinned. But he wanted people to like him. For entertainment in Hyde Park, they'd line up the mattresses from the trash and jump on them. Harris taught himself how to do a back flip, which was shocking then for a huge 6-year-old who looked as if he was 10.

Now at 22, weighing upward of 350 pounds, it's salivating to NFL gurus.

The intangibles were never a problem for Harris. He was a high school All-American, a can't-miss prospect, a big-time recruit when he signed a letter of intent to play at Tennessee. His potential was, and still is, untapped. At a recent workout in Connecticut, Harris ran a 1.74 in the 10-yard shuttle, did 33 bench-press reps, then hurled his monstrous body into a back flip.

"He has amazing ability," his agent, Joe Linta, said. "But he's an unrefined talent. If this kid had stayed at Tennessee, we would probably be talking about him as a first-day lock."

Mention Tennessee, and Harris is brutally honest about his mistakes. He was young, he was cocky, he was playing in front of 100,000 people. Harris didn't think he was getting enough playing time and skipped class. Eventually, he flunked out of Knoxville.

"I was just being rebellious," Harris said. "Just being dumb. I was looking for a reason why I wasn't playing a whole lot, and nobody could explain that to me. I decided I wasn't going to do things their way anymore."

His last option was Northwestern Oklahoma, an NAIA school in Alva, Okla. With one year of eligibility left -- and no credentials -- he flew to Oklahoma City, then sat in a car for three hours while trees and fields whizzed by his passenger window.

Alva has a Wal-Mart and a McDonald's, so it's not in the middle of nowhere. It just felt like it to Harris. His new best friend was a teammate who owned a television.

If that day at the DMV in Memphis stripped a boy of his identity, an autumn in Alva wiped away his humility. Lester, his defensive line coach in high school, heard it in their phone conversations.

"When he was at Tennessee, he kept trying to blame someone else for what he was going through," Lester said. "I'd tell him, 'LaRon, you're your own person. You make your own decisions. No one told you not to go to class, not to go to the weight room.' Now he saw every mistake he made in the past. He's doing everything he can now not to go back to where he was."

There is nothing unique about LaRon Harris' draft bio. He never made an all-conference team in college, never brought a scout to Alva. When he arrived at Velocity Sports in Trumbull, Conn., a few months ago, he couldn't weigh in because the scale went up to 350 pounds.

"I'm sure he was a biscuit away from 365," Linta said. "Somebody needed to give him a wake-up call. You can be good, but you can't be good and fat."

Linta has made a living off of second-day draft picks and diamonds in the rough, but Harris, on the surface, seemed like somewhat of a gamble. His college stats credit him with just six unassisted tackles in 2006 and half of a sack. The Rangers voluntarily forfeited their league title recently because of an academically ineligible player.

But Linta, who landed 12-time Pro Bowl guard Will Shields after playing a game of pickup basketball with him, saw something beyond the back flips and baggage.

"I had the faith in him to take the project on," he said. "This kid is way more work than [2006 first-rounder] Kamerion Wimbley was. It's a labor of love, and you care about the kid and you really feel good about this kid getting his chance."

Harris was scheduled for a workout Sunday with an undisclosed team. Linta said another team has promised, worst-case scenario, that Harris will get invited to its minicamp.

"Why wouldn't they?" he said. "What have you got to lose? It's like buying a lottery ticket for a buck. If it works, you've got a guy who's going to play nose guard for 10 years."

And if it doesn't? Nobody close to Harris wants to talk about that now. Lester fears that without football, Harris would end up like him, working two jobs and struggling to support his family. Others wonder if he would have gotten caught up with some bad elements in Hyde Park.

Harris called his agent Friday and happily reported that he was down to 340 on his doctor's scale. They know he has much more to do before the NFL draft at the end of April. But he's initiating the workouts himself, motivated by the draft deadline, his family, and some new supporters.

"If it wasn't for the back flip, I probably wouldn't get any attention," he said. "I didn't think it would cause the buzz that it has, but I'm glad I know how to do it."


The price of a name, at least in the state of Tennessee, is $161.50

That's how much it costs for a name change in chancery court. When Harris found out about the switch in high school, and what it would take to get his name back, the price was too expensive. It still is. But he vows to officially become LaRon Harris again once he signs his first contract -- if he signs a contract -- and then maybe he'll find peace.

How did he suddenly become LaRon Moore? Cassandra L. Brown, the local registrar at the office of vital records for Memphis and Shelby County, said it happened back in the early 1990s, when juvenile court ordered the birth certificate change after LaRon's mother took his father to court for child support.

In the confusion, LaRon spent his childhood thinking his last name was Harris, his mother's maiden name, then assuming it was his father who changed it.

He hasn't seen his dad since he was about 2, and has no memories of him. Harris' mom, Diane Jones, never realized the void LaRon felt until he went to Tennessee and ran into problems with grades and playing time.

"He never knew a whole lot about his father," she said. "I knew he was from up North somewhere, and he kind of disappeared. I wasn't expecting him to disappear, you know.

"[LaRon] never really talked about it. I guess he just held it in."

To hear Harris speak, he never really needed a father. When his shoes were worn and dirty on his gigantic feet, his mother washed them and changed the laces. When he sat up at night in Oklahoma, wondering about the future, he ate Ramen noodles and crackers and sustained himself with dreams of the NFL.

Maybe Linta, for now, has filled in as a surrogate father. He drives him to workouts and jokes about an upcoming endorsement deal with "Lean Cuisine." He's offered to pony up the money for Harris' name change, but there are weight-lifting sessions and weigh-ins to jam their calendar for the next month.

"A kid like him has one chance on his pro day," Linta said. "If he performs the way he's capable of, the film speaks for itself and he will get drafted. If he has issues...


"I've really taken to this kid. The other night, he was sitting at the kitchen table and my kids were teaching him magic tricks. I really look at the kid and see how he interacts. Every time he walks in, he hugs my wife and high-fives the kids. You root for him."
Elizabeth Merrill is a writer for ESPN.com. She can be reached at merrill2323@hotmail.com.
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Does It Have Breasts?
McGwire Sculpture Remains Under Wraps
A bronze statue forged to honor slugger Mark McGwire is built to last forever. The only question is whether it ever will see the light of day.

The Cardinals commissioned the statue after McGwire hit 70 homers in 1998, obliterating Roger Maris' 37-year-old record. There's a place set aside for it alongside other mini-monuments to Cardinals legends outside Busch Stadium.
But the bronze is draped in cloth, hidden in a downtown warehouse. Its place in the limelight has been thrown into question, like so much of McGwire's legacy, by suspicion that steroid use enhanced his career.

McGwire hit 583 homers, seventh on the career list. But he was named on only 23.5 percent of the ballots this January in his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame, far short of the 75 percent necessary to be enshrined. Cardinals president Mark Lamping said team policy is that statues are reserved for Hall of Famers whose numbers have been retired. An exception is Kenny Boyer's No. 14, retired in 1984 even though he did not make it to the Hall.

"It really isn't something we need to even worry about at this point because his number is not retired," Lamping said. "If you look at the past and use that as your guide, retiring a jersey would be the guide.

"But it's totally up to ownership."


Peace

TB