The AP more often than not still uses a time-tested format called the inverted pyramid, in which the most basic and crucial facts are placed at the top, with increasingly peripheral details as you read down. The idealist says it's so readers get the important stuff early, even if they don't read to the end of the…

A lot of great stories about the late Beano Cook have been making the rounds this week, but there may be none better than this one, which originally appeared in the Sept. 1, 1982, issue of Sports Illustrated:

So says Andrew Taglianetti, a senior defensive back at the University of Pittsburgh and a former college teammate of McCoy's. Yesterday, Taglianetti shared a fascinating bit of information from his time spent on McCoy's team:

NESN.com published a report on Thursday that said Tyler Palko, the former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, was now working at a shoe store in Aberdeen, S.D. The source of this extraordinary news was Wikipedia, and NESN.com helpfully added this:

Hard though it may be to believe, there are still media relations people out there who think it's a good idea to encourage folks to use Twitter hashtags to send interactive questions to members of their favorite teams. Arizona State put out the word the other day that #AskASU would be a way to send questions directly…

SMU's Jared Williams suffered a break of the largest bone in the human body in the fourth quarter of the Mustangs' BBVA Compass Bowl matchup against Pitt. The snap was loud enough to be heard on the sidelines (and, thus, ESPN's field mics) and left Pitt defender Andrew Taglianetti emotionally devastated. Get well…

Oakland got beaten by a lot of highly regarded teams this year; did that make them stronger? Is Pitt legit or playing above their heads? Why is a Michigan school so California-centric?

Alan Siegel, whom you've met around these parts before, attended last year's Elite Eight matchup between Pittsburgh and Villanova. His story:

Wow, that got...uncomfortably close for a bit. The top-seeded Panthers survived a big scare from eighth-seeded Oklahoma State, pulling away very late against a Cowboy team that wouldn't go away.

Last night the Oklahoma Sooners traveled to Texas to renew the Red River Rivalry with a number one ranking on the line, only to be rebuffed once again by the Longhorns.