il Page 1648 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Kentucky Wildcats
1. Roc-A-Fella. After many of his made baskets, Kentucky starting point guard Ramel Bradley uses his hands to make a diamond symbol to the crowd. According to Bradley, the symbol is an ode to his fellow Brooklyn native Jay-Z and represents Roc-A-Fella records and the Dynasty of Kentucky basketball. ...

Southern Illinois Salukis
1. Watch Yo Mouth. Among many famous alums - Dennis Franz, Shawn Colvin, Bob Odenkirk, John Belushi (though it's up for debate whether or not he actually attended a class) - without a doubt the coolest Saluki grad is Richard Roundtree, best known as SHAFT. In addition to being the private dick who g...

Weber State Wildcats
1. The Original 'Cinderella Team.' You've seen the DirecTV commercial: "Who ever heard of Weber State?" Outside of Utah, the only people who know the name (and that it's pronounced WEE-ber) are NCAA Tournament fans who recognize the Wildcats as the scrappy minor-mid-major team that has managed to wi...

Central Connecticut State Blue Devils
1. The Past. Central Connecticut State University, founded in 1849 as the New Britain Normal School, is the oldest public institution of higher education in Connecticut. "Famous" CCSU alumni in the world of sports include the good (Patriots salary-cap wiz Scott Pioli), the bad (deposed NFL head coac...

Vanderbilt Commodores
1.How It Got Here. Founded in 1873, Vanderbilt University was originally to be known as Central University in Nashville, on the hope that founding a university in Graceland could heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War. It was renamed Vanderbilt, however, after Cornelius Vanderbilt aban...

Duke Blue Devils
1. Duke Green. Not that the .500 record in ACC play this year was a tipoff or anything, but this is one of the youngest Duke squads in history. The only senior on this year's team is Joe Pagliuca, who's seen his minutes steadily decline from year to year: from 9 to 7 to 4 to 2. DeMarcus Nelson, the ...

Arizona Wildcats
1. Stretch Marks. The 2006-2007 season has resembled that of a young Alpha Phi freshman, heading to Tucson after a long summer of working out and tanning in the sun. Sure, she looks great when college begins, but five months of drinking any possible liquid (Everclear, YUMMY!) and ordering Domino's o...

Davidson Wildcats
1. OK, let's get it straight now — Steph-en. If you pay attention to this team over the next week, you'll hear a lot about Stephen Curry, who pronounces his name as if it were spelled, "Steffen," not how most people named Stephen say their name. Not a big deal, except it touched off a (very) mini-co...

Villanova Wildcats
1. Kelvin Sampson for Mayor. Members of 'Nova Nation' will line up to shake the hand of Kelvin "Urban Meyer's just swimming in my texting wake" Sampson, former coach of Oklahoma, for jumping ship to Indiana. Seems that Scottie Reynolds, who played his high school ball in Herndon, Virg., had spurned ...

Louisville Cardinals
1. Time to make the donuts. The Cardinals' late-season turnaround is due in large part to the emergence of Louisville's talented freshman class, including center Derrick Caracter. DC, who has footwork that Greg Oden would kill for, has gotten his act together after serving a pair of suspensions this...

Purdue Boilermakers
1. Turnaround. The Boilermakers reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2000 season. Their 11-game turnaround from last season's nine-win campaign is one of the five best in the nation. Furthermore, their RPI at the end of last season was 175; this year it's 47. (For a point of comparis...

Who Would YOU Trust To Get The Right Supplements In Your Body?
In life, I guess it's best to stick with what you know, which is how a guy like OJ Simpson ends up trying to sell books about how to kill people. Along those same lines, it makes all the sense in the world that Bill Romanowski, former linebacker and admitted steroid abuser, is launching a "supplemen...

Another Reason Baseball Players Shouldn't MySpace
This is CJ Wilson, a reliever for the Texas Rangers, an up-and-comer, a LOOGY, if you will. He also has a MySpace page and is pals with teammate Brandon McCarthy, who also has a MySpace page. They're buddies, along with, as always, an endless supply of buxom blondes who write things like "p.s. you k...

Cultural Oddsmaker: What Comes After Shaq Fat Camp?
AJ Daulerio's Cultural Oddsmaker runs every Friday. Email him to let him know what you think....

Wait, Who's Teaching Whom Here?
You know, nothing is going to encourage kids to head out there and hit the books than an interactive reading session with Tampa Bay Devil Rays Shawn Camp and Rudy Lugo, particularly because each and every one of the kids is better at reading than Shawn Camp and Rudy Lugo. (Seriously, those SUPERSTAR...

Time To Rev Up The NCAA Tourney Previews Again
Longtime readers — or at least those who have been with us for a year or longer — will remember last year, when we introduced the world's only reader-created NCAA tournament previews. Well, that thing is a mother to put together — essentially, three presumably fascinating facts about all 65 teams in...

The Devil Rays Suddenly Have A Fan
A couple of weeks ago, MJD told you about blogger Manny Stiles auctioning off his team loyalty, setting up an eBay auction (with proceeds going to AIDS research) for a bidder who would want him to write about his/her favorite team. It was a clever idea, and the bidding eventually reached $535....

NBA Roundup: Forget About It Jake, It's Milwaukee
Notes on Wednesday's games in the National Basketball Association ......

Curt Schilling Has Something To Say. Really.
If you're like us, you ask yourself one question, every morning: Is there any way we could hear more opinions from Curt Schilling?...

Only A Dog Knows Of The Growing Phanatic Menace
A confession: We are terrified by the Phillie Phanatic. Everything about him creeps us out: That weird tongue thing he shoots out, the googly eyes that we see in our nightmares, the purple (purple!) eyelashes. He's not a monster, he's not cuddly, he's not a being with any recognizable cousins in the...