Kent State Women's Basketball Battles Morehead State In 2011-12 Home Opener

Head coach Bob Lindsay

The Kent State women's basketball team welcomes Morehead State to the M.A.C. Center Friday (Nov. 18) for the 2011-12 home opener. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m. The first 750 fans to enter the building will receive magnet schedules. Stop by the Athletic Ticket Office in the M.A.C. Center or call             (330) 672-2244       for more information.

The Golden Flashes (0-2) are taking aim at their first win of the 2011-12 campaign after dropping road contests at Marshall and Robert Morris to open the season.

Friday's game against the Colonials will feature live stats and free live web video. The provided links will activate at the start of Friday's game.

 

Friday's contest will be aired live on both ESPN Radio 990 AM and KentStateSports.com, with Dave Wilson providing play-by-play commentary for a second straight season. Click the link above to listen live on your computer.

IN A FLASH

• Kent State is 25-11 in home openers, including a 17-5 record under Bob Lindsay's guidance. The Golden Flashes are 8-1 in last nine seasons in their first M.A.C. Center game of the season.

• Kent State is 2-0 all-time on Nov. 18, rolling to victories over Southern (85-71) in the Fifth
Third Classic in 2006 and at Youngstown State (70-55) in 2009.

• Morehead State is the only school out of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Kent State has
ever faced.

FLASH FORWARD

The Flashes fly west to Flagstaff, Ariz. for the Hilton Garden Inn Thanksgiving Classic. Kent State battles Utah Valley State Nov. 25 at 4:30 p.m. before taking on host Northern Arizona Nov. 26 at 4 p.m.

SCOUTING THE FLASHES

Kent State fell to host Robert Morris, 78-44, Tuesday (Nov. 15) in a non-conference game at the Sewall Center.

Junior guard Trisha Krewson (Sandusky, Ohio) reached double figures for the second straight game, totaling a game-high 18 points to lead the Golden Flashes. She also led Kent State with eight rebounds (two offensive, six defensive) and three steals. Junior guard Tamzin Barroilhet (Sainte Maxime, France) finished with six points while freshman guard Jamie Hutcheson (Ancaster, Ontario) and junior center Leslie Schaefer (Verona, Wis.) each added five.

KREWS CONTROL

Krewson has emerged as Kent State’s top offensive threat so far in 2011-12. The Sandusky, Ohio, native is averaging 18 points a game and is shooting at a 59% clip -- including knocking down five-of-nine from behind the arc. During a nearly 11-minute stretch in the second half of Kent State’s loss to Robert Morris, Krewson accounted for 16 straight Kent State points -- including three straight treys. The junior guard sat out the 2010-11 campaign after transferring from Bucknell. She earned First Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District II recognition as a sophomore in 2009-10, one of just three sophomores nationwide to earn first-team academic all-district honors. A McDonald’s All-America nominee as a high school senior, Krewson scored over 1,000 points for the Perkins Pirates and was named First Team Sandusky Bay Conference three times and Second Team All-Ohio in 2008 after an honorable mention nod following her penultimate prep season.

NOBODY’S BETTER THAN BODNAR

Kent State 24th-year associate head coach Lori Bodnar was recently named as CollegeInsider.com’s “Top Mid-Major Women’s Basketball Assistant Coach.” She headlined a top-25 that featured six Mid-American Conference assistant coaches. Bodnar has helped tutor the Golden Flashes to 12 20-win seasons and four NCAA Tournament appearances.

AROUND THE WORLD

Barroilhet and freshman Itziar Llobet (Sant Cugat de Valles, Spain) both prepped for the 2011-12 campaign overseas last summer. Barroilhet, who i s a dual citizen of France and England, represented Great Britain at the World University Games in Shenzen, China. Llobet competed for Spain at the 2011 FIBA U-18 European Championship in Oradea, Romania. In the team’s quarterfinal win over the Netherlands, Llobet scored eight points and added four rebounds and two assists.

REPRESENTING OVERSEAS

Former Kent State all-conference performer Taisja Jones thrived in her first season as a professional basketball player, averaging over 18 points and 11 rebounds per game for Aguas Buenas Tigresas of the BSNF.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

MOREHEAD STATE EAGLES (1-1 overall, 0-0 OVC)

All-time series: Morehead State leads, 3-2

KSU's Lindsay vs. Morehead State: 2-0

Current Streak: W2

• Morehead State shook off a 96-60 season-opening loss against then-15th-ranked Kentucky to pull off a 62-57 win over Ohio Sunday. Senior guard Courtney Lumpkin poured in a career-high 23 points, including two free throws with a second left to ice the victory, and fellow senior Linda Dixon contributed a career-high 20 points. The Eagles have made pressure defense their trademark in the early part of the 2011-12 campaign, forcing Kentucky into 27 turnovers and the Bobcats into 29 floor mistakes.

•Head coach Tom Hodges is in his second year at the helm.

• Junior forward Ashar Harris ranked third in the nation in rebounding (12.3 per game) in 2010-11 and was selected to the 2011-12 All-Ohio Valley Conference Preseaon Team.

• Kent State looks to even the all-time series against Morehead State at three wins apiece in the first matchup between the programs in nearly 20 years. The Eagles won the first three meetings in the late 70s and early 80s before Bob Lindsay and the Flashes earned victories over the Eagles two years in a row during the 1990-91 and 1991-92 campaigns.

Bo Hodge Named Men's Tennis Assistant

Bo Hodge

Nov. 17, 2011


NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma men's tennis coach John Roddick announced the addition of Bo Hodge as an assistant coach Thursday. Hodge, formerly one of the nation's top collegiate and junior players, was formerly the assistant with the University of Alabama for the past three seasons.
"I'm excited to have Bo onboard," John Roddick said. "He is going to be a big asset to the program. He brings a wealth of experience, from both a playing and coaching aspect. He was a part of a national championship team at the University of Georgia. His experience is going to bring a ton to our program."
A former star for the University of Georgia before pursuing a career on the professional circuit, Hodge earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communications at UGA where he returned to complete his studies after several years on the professional tour as a player and coach.
"I'm excited," exclaimed Bo Hodge. "So far, it has been a great experience. I have met a lot of great people and am getting settled into Norman. I'm excited about working with John. He has been a friend and coach of mine for a long time. I learned a lot at Alabama under head coach Billy Pate, but I'm excited about the opportunity here to be able to come to the Big 12. I have been an SEC guy my whole life. I'm going to hit the ground running and am looking forward to getting started."
During his coaching stent at Alabama, Hodge was selected as one of two coaches in 2010 and 2011 to lead the USTA Men's Summer Collegiate Team. The USTA Summer Collegiate Team provides an elite training program for the top American collegiate tennis players and gives them exposure to the USTA Pro Circuit.
In addition, Hodge boasts an impressive resume that includes serving as a coach and hitting partner for Venus and Serena Williams in 2005-06 and coaching ATP professional Mardy Fish in 2007. Hodge served as a volunteer coach at Georgia under head coach Manuel Diaz from August 2006 to May 2008, helping lead the Bulldogs to consecutive NCAA national championships.
As a player for the Bulldogs, Hodge was a four-time All-American from 2001-04 while playing on three Southeastern Conference championship teams (2001, 2002 and 2004) and one national championship team (2001). Hodge was the No. 2-ranked collegiate player in the nation in both 2001 and 2004 and was consistently ranked in the nation's top five in both singles and doubles. In 2004, he and teammate John Isner reached the NCAA Doubles finals.
Prior to attending Georgia, Hodge had an outstanding career in junior tennis where he led Athens Academy to the 1998 Class A High School state title as a sophomore. After helping the Spartans win the title, Hodge moved to Boca Raton, Fla., to study under famed South African coach Stanford Boster while attending Boca Prep, where he was teammates with John's brother, Andy Roddick.
A native of Athens, Ga., Hodge is the son of Mark and Suzette Hodge. His father is a former Georgia football star and was a tight end and offensive captain of the 1978 Bulldogs.

Roebuck ruined my life, says 'victim'

Peter Roebuck's Zimbabwean Facebook friend, whose police complaint allegedly triggered his suicide, has claimed that the celebrated cricket writer lured him with money to meet him before sexually assaulting him in a Cape Town hotel.

As mystery continues to shroud the suicide of Roebuck,

26-year-old Itai Gondo, a refugee student from Zimbabwe, said the celebrated journalist “groomed” him on Facebook with promise of money for his college fees before sexually assaulting him.

The cash-strapped Gondo's claims were the subject of a South African police investigation on Roebuck's suicide, according to London tabloid 'The Sun'. Gondo alleged that former Somerset captain spent days on Facebook luring him into a meeting, signing himself “dad” and offering to help with college fees. Gondo came in contact with Roebuck through a university friend who knew one of 17 “adopted sons” who live at the cricket expert's 10-bedroom home in Pietermaritzburg.
He claimed that Roebuck agreed to meet him after a series of chats on the social networking site and signed off saying, “OK my boy, bring stick in case I need to beat you!”
The duo then allegedly met in a hotel suite in Cape Town during Roebuck's visit to South Africa to cover the first Test against Australia.
Gondo said they spoke for long hours before Roebuck allegedly sexually assaulted him on a bed.
 “I was in shock and told myself that it couldn't be happening,”  Gondo said, adding that the alleged attack stopped only when his mobile phone rang.
The horrified student fled, but received a Facebook message from Roebuck next day saying, “Worried bout u, hope u ok,” to which Gondo replied, “One day the long arm of the law will catch up with your evil misdeeds.”
Gondo said he disclosed everything about the incident to police. “He has ruined my life,” Gondo said.

Better marketing to survive for test cricket

A friend of mine, now about forty, wistfully remembers the time when he was much younger and was taken to watch a Test match at the Eden Gardens (“obviously...all five days!”). It was quite an event for him as indeed it was to all of us when our turn came. You waited for it, you analysed the opposition, you picked the players you wanted to follow, got excited if one of them fielded at the boundary in front of you and told your dad what you liked and what you didn’t over dinner.
Another friend recalls the time his father told his teacher that it was more important that his son went to Chepauk to watch Venkataraghvan bowl than it was to attend just another day at school. He didn’t tell me what the teacher’s reaction was, presumably the father hadn’t bothered (anyone who objected to a young boy watching cricket couldn’t be right anyway!).
Just to put the era into perspective, my elder brother used to study in Kolkata; it took a couple of days, sometimes more, to ge there from Hyderabad and we didn’t know he had reached safely until an inland letter arrived.
As you can imagine, much has changed since and yet when the Eden Gardens had just a few spectators dotting its vast stands this week, there was widespread despair. “Not in Kolkata” they spluttered into their Darjeeling tea but I’m afraid an occasion that was a rite of passage, an initiation into the endless world of sport and joy for a young man, was largely ignored. Dravid and Laxman, on whom ballads might be composed in Kolkata, hit centuries and must have searched for fans to raise their bats to. This wasn’t Kanpur or Mohali....this, sadly, was the Eden Gardens.
Yes, you could say the Test match started on a Monday (any further proof that cricket is now largely a television sport?), that there had been holidays earlier, that there has been far too much cricket to follow, that the Kolkatans too needed to go to work..you could say all that and more. But the Eden Gardens is one of the homes of cricket and it was at home that Test cricket had been spurned.
It was also a week in which Haroon Lorgat formally announced that the World Test Championship had been put back to 2017. Poor Peter Roebuck said a lot could change in a week and this is five years away. The ICC is disappointed, many players are disappointed, the romantics are disappointed and yet, as the Eden Gardens showed, they don’t count.
Outside of certain pockets, people don’t want to watch Test cricket. They know the scores, they follow the game on the internet, glimpse at the television from time to time but that’s it. I am increasingly fearful of the fact that people talk about the glory of Test cricket like they talk about world peace and Mother Teresa; because it is a nice thing to be heard saying.
There are still a few marquee series left but those are too few. If half the Test-playing world doesn’t interest audiences then there is a problem and it has to be addressed by looking it in the eye rather than through romantic, wistful writing that all of us have indulged in at one time or another. Maybe Test cricket is only played by fewer teams, maybe, as has been suggested by some former Australian cricketers, you play lesser, but better, Test cricket or maybe you seek to market it more humbly.
In India, maybe we could start by making the act of going to a cricket ground pleasant. Security is something we cannot wish away, it is a grim fact of life in our part of the world where distributing hatred doesn’t seem too difficult, but maybe we can make everything else easier. Like buying tickets, getting parking, organising public transport otherwise, providing decently priced food and, the most difficult, providing clean seats to sit on.

Test cricket is in a buyer’s market and the sellers are struggling to come to terms with that.

Salaries for college football coaches back on rise

Jimbo Fisher got a raise of roughly $950,000 after last season, his first as head football coach at Florida State, boosting his pay to about $2.8 million.

So, at a time of tightening budgets, how does a public employee get a 50% raise of nearly $1 million after one year on the job?

"You're always looking at whether or not you have the potential to lose a good coach and end up having to pay more in order to get the next one," Florida State President Eric Barron says.

That sort of inflationary reasoning is a factor in the rapid rise in salaries of major-college head football coaches. An analysis by USA TODAY found that in 2006 the average pay for major-college coaches was $950,000 — coincidentally, about the amount of Fisher's raise after last season.

The average compensation in 2011 is $1.47 million, a jump of nearly 55% in six seasons.

In the six conferences with automatic Bowl Championship Series bids, the average salary rose from $1.4 million in 2006 to $2.125 million in 2011. That's a jump of about 52% — meaning salaries at schools in the other five major conferences are going up at roughly the same rate as they are at higher-profile schools.

"The hell with gold," higher education lawyer Sheldon Steinbach says. "I want to buy futures in coaches' contracts."

Critics find it troubling that this rapid rise for coaches comes at a time when instructional spending at many schools has slowed or declined amid economic struggles and shrinking state education budgets.

"Athletics has gotten so disproportionate to the rest of the economy, and to the academic community, that it is unbelievable," says Julian Spallholz, a professor in the department of food and nutrition at Texas Tech, where coach Tommy Tuberville got a $550,000 raise. "This kind of disproportion in the country is why people are occupying Wall Street."

This season, at least 64 coaches are making more than $1 million. Of those, 32 are being paid more than $2 million, nine are making more than $3 million, and three are making more than $4 million. Texas' Mack Brown tops the list; he's being paid more than $5 million. The analysis is based on contracts or other documents showing compensation from 110 of the 120 schools in the NCAA's top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

Average pay for major-college head coaches rose 7.3% from 2010. Average pay for those coaches was flat the year before, the only time there was no increase since USA TODAY began these analyses in 2006.

Gene Chizik's $1.4 million raise was this season's biggest, but he led Auburn to the national championship last season. Fisher's Seminoles didn't achieve as much, winning an Atlantic Coast Conference division championship before losing to Virginia Tech in the ACC title game and beating South Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen got this season's second-biggest raise — $1 million. Mullen earned $1.2 million in his first season at the school in 2009, got a $300,000 raise for his second year, and the latest raise jumps his pay to $2.5 million. Last season, he led the Bulldogs to a 9-4 record, their best since 1999, and a victory against Michigan in the Gator Bowl. He also was mentioned as a candidate for head-coaching vacancies at Miami (Fla.) and Florida.

"It's all market-driven," Mississippi State athletics director Scott Stricklin says. "When we hired Dan, we paid him $600,000 less than our previous coach … with the understanding that you know when you do that, you're saving money today but if he's successful you're going to catch him up to where the market is."

Mullen moves up from last in compensation among the 11 public schools in the Southeastern Conference to ninth. The high-price contracts of the SEC, where Chizik's $3.5 million salary ranks fourth, also influenced Fisher's raise.

Barron says Florida State conducted a market analysis and found Fisher's 2010 pay "was in the middle of the ACC pack and low for the SEC" and that he deserved a raise for coaching the Seminoles to a 10-4 finish in his first season after they went 7-6 the year before.

"That is very much the traditionalist argument for raising salaries of coaches," Steinbach says. "And the argument has some merit. That's the way the market functions."

Fisher's raise, this season's third highest, boosts him past the icon he succeeded, Bobby Bowden, who made $2.3 million in 2009, his last season.

Fisher declined to comment on his contract through a spokesman. Athletics director Randy Spetman also declined to comment other than a two-sentence e-mail statement that said Fisher's package is competitive and no state money is used to pay coaches.

It is common for schools to say that coach pay is pooled largely from TV, media and marketing contracts. But in 2010, only about 20% of FBS athletics departments were able to pay all their bills without help from university or state funds or student fees, according to a USA TODAY analysis of universities' financial records.

Chizik, Mullen and Fisher weren't the only coaches to receive big raises. About one-quarter of the 82 public schools that retained their coaches after last season gave raises of $200,000 or more; some of those raises were built into contracts that remained unchanged. However, nine schools provided boosts of $500,000 or more to incumbent coaches via new, or amended, contracts.

The 7.3% increase in the average pay for this season would have been more than 10% if such highly paid, high-profile coaches as Jim Tressel at Ohio State, Butch Davis at North Carolina and Urban Meyer at Florida had stayed in their former jobs and retained their former salaries, rather than leaving unexpectedly. (Tressel and Davis exited amid NCAA investigations; Meyer left on his own.)

Tressel made $3.9 million last season; his successor, Luke Fickell, is making $775,000 on an eight-month contract. That works out to $1.162 million on an annualized rate, the smallest number for an Ohio State football coach since Tressel earned $1,095,750 in guaranteed compensation in the 2003-04 contract year, according to Tom McGinnis, OSU's assistant athletics director of administration and human resources.

Fickell's annualized rate is slightly less than what Indiana is paying first-year coach Kevin Wilson and it's more than what Purdue guarantees third-year coach Danny Hope.

Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith declined to comment. "Considering my coach situation, I am not interviewing on these topics," he said by e-mail.

Reaction from faculty

Richard Lapchick is a social critic and coach's son who is director of the DeVos Sport Business Management program at the University of Central Florida.

"When you see the continuing escalation of coaches' salaries, I think the typical person has resentment about that," Lapchick says. "Misery is not the right word, but the lack of economic progress for most people, or the regression from where they were, makes it doubly frustrating when they see these kinds of salaries.

"I'm teaching in the Florida system. So, while I feel fairly compensated, I know there are a lot of faculty members who haven't really seen raises, or had tiny ones the last couple of years, who like everybody else are frustrated by what's going on."

Even so, there hasn't been much faculty criticism of Fisher's raise on the Florida State campus.

"I have not heard any talk about the football coach's contract," says Sandra Lewis, president of FSU's faculty senate.

Spallholz was among some members of the faculty senate at Texas Tech who questioned Tuberville's $550,000 raise to $2.059 million last winter after going 8-5 in his first season, including 3-5 in the Big 12.

"When this came out I stood up and said if I were Tommy Tuberville, I would be very embarrassed to accept such an increase, given the fact the faculty and staff had received nothing," says Spallholz, a former member at large of the faculty senate.

Florida State pays football coaches' salaries out of funds raised by its booster club. Even so, taxpayer money is affected at least indirectly. Federal tax subsidies are involved, as are state corporate tax subsidies since the university, athletics department and booster club are exempt from the state's corporate tax structure. (State subsidies for individual returns are not involved as there is no state income tax in Florida.)

"That's not any different than any other philanthropic contribution, as far as I can tell," FSU's Barron says.

For all of the TV money that flows to athletics departments in the best-known conferences, only 22 athletics departments are self-supporting, according to the USA TODAY analysis. The majority get subsidies from the university, often through student fees.

"The students pay more tuition, the faculty pay by not having a pay increase, and the football coach gets a half-million-dollar raise," Spallholz says. "And this goes on in a lot of other places, not just here.

"I think it speaks for itself, doesn't it? It says football is much more important on a lot of campuses than academics."

'It's a highly valued position'

The $525,000 pay raise for Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was as simple as Utah's move from the Mountain West Conference to the Pacific-12.

"We felt that as we made that move, we had to take people who do a good job and get them at least somewhat in the middle of the league," athletics director Chris Hill says.

Whittingham's compensation of $1.7 million is now fourth highest of the 10 public universities in the Pac-12, and Lane Kiffin at Southern California, a private school, almost certainly makes more.

Hill says Whittingham's raise is not really as large as it appears, because he says about $200,000 comes from an existing apparel deal that was outside his contract and now is included.

Hill makes $400,000, meaning Whittingham makes more than four times as much as the man he works for. Hill says that's fine by him.

"It happens in a lot of professions," Hill says. "The person who runs the hospital doesn't make as much as a top surgeon. And a top salesman often makes more than somebody else. I accept that as it's just the way it is."

As does Stricklin, the Mississippi State athletics director.

"All of us are paid based on what our value is within the context of the job we do," he says. "You can make a lot of comments about society and what football coaches get paid, but the fact of the matter is it's a highly valued position. … College football coaches, especially in the South, are some of the most high-profile citizens in each of our states."

Until recent days, Joe Paterno was among the most revered citizens in Pennsylvania. Critics suggest his larger-than-life legend contributed to an atmosphere in which his program could seem to function above the law. One consequence of football coaches who make more money than the athletics directors and presidents they nominally answer to is that the coaches can come to seem more important than their bosses.

"In the case of Joe Paterno, I don't think money was as much of a factor" in the mythology that grew around him "as his longevity and the reputation he built, partly as a philanthropist," Lapchick says. "But I do think coaches' salaries can play a role in distancing them from those they report to."

Barron, the Florida State president, says he makes $400,000 and got a bonus last year that raised his pay to $500,000. Fisher, of course, made almost two times that much in his raise alone.

What's it like to be the boss of a football coach who makes more than five times what the president does?

"I suppose it would be easy to sit there and think about that on a personal level, which is kind of the way that you've asked the question," Barron says. "I'm frequently amazed at what coaches get. … And then I Google the number of news stories about any university in the country and I realize that the top 20 stories for any university will all be about athletics. And that one mention of conference realignment will put 3,000 news stories out there.

"You can get a Nobel Prize at your university and you won't get anywhere near that attention. And so I think between the public and the media, they are telling us what they value."

 

Barcelona launch first European football school

WARSAW: Football icons Barcelona on Wednesday launched their first European training school outside Spain in Poland, aiming to spread their "tiki-taka" style among kids dreaming of becoming the next Lionel Messi.

Only 620 boys from the 3,000 "FCB Escola Varsovia" hopefuls made the final cut for a programme teaching the fluid passing play that earned Barcelona the 2011 Champions League title and helped Spain win Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.

At Wednesday's debut a forty-strong pick of the crop were put through their paces by coaches including Carlos Alos, sent by the Catalan powerhouses to run the school.

"It's kids that are the most important thing," said Warsaw's sports director Wieslaw Wilczynski.

"But it's also important for Polish football," added Wilczynski, who as deputy sports minister in 2005 played a key role in launching Poland's successful bid to host the 2012 European Championships along with neighbouring Ukraine.

The youngsters are aged from six to 12.

"These could be the players who could represent Poland on the global stage in the future," Wilczynski said.

Polish fans pine for the glory days when Poland won Olympic gold in 1972, silver in 1976, and finished third at the World Cup in 1974 and 1982.

With the current squad failing to shine, realists are already looking well beyond Euro 2012.

In another effort to boost football, the government-run "Orlik" programme - "Little Eagle", in a nod to Poland's avian emblem - has built hundreds of artificial pitches in communities across the nation of 38 million.

The school does not have a building, but instead involves regular sessions run by Barcelona-trained Poles at four Warsaw community pitches.

Monthly fees are 190 zloty (43 euros, $58). Poland's average net wage is 2,300 zloty.

Barcelona do not have a financial role - their input involves supplying know-how - and the remaining costs are covered by Warsaw council via sponsors.

Barcelona already have six similar schools across the globe, in Egypt, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Peru, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

"We are here because we know that Poland has a lot of fans of Barca. They have good installations here, and we received a good project from here," Alos said.

They do not aim to use the school to cherrypick young Poles for their club, he underlined.

"For us, the goal is to develop football, the kids, to put the focus on training the kids, like a person and not only like a player. We're here to work with our philosophy, our mentality, our methodology and the most important thing for us is to show our philosophy around the world," he said.

"If, after that, some of the kids can play in international teams, we'll be very, very happy," he added.

Barcelona - whose slogan is "more than a club" - and its players are a global brand.

Asked to name their favourite player, the Warsaw youngsters yelled: "Messi".

Over 70 percent of Barcelona's players are home-grown.

Even though Messi, now 24, is Argentinian, he joined Barcelona as a youngster.

Also said it was "too early" to speculate whether similar talent could emerge in Warsaw.

Pressed to assess the quality of Polish football, he said: "I think there are good Polish players in different, good leagues. Maybe not now in Spain, but some Poles played in La Liga before."

"I think the level here is like in other places," he added.

America's obsession with college football helped obscure Penn State scandal

WASHINGTON - In a country where college football is sacrosanct, the alleged conspiracy of silence in the horrifying sexual abuse scandal rocking Pennsylvania State University is leading to criticism about the culture of a sport that's now a multibillion-dollar industry.
Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive co-ordinator of Penn State's football team, is facing 40 counts of sexual abuse against eight children over 15 years, an indictment that has already prompted the removals of university president Graham Spanier and revered coach Joe Paterno, although neither has been charged with a crime.
Mike McQueary, an assistant coach, is also on indefinite leave amid allegations he walked in on Sandusky raping a young boy in the locker room showers and failed to speak up. In emails McQueary sent to friends and obtained by a Pennsylvania newspaper on Wednesday, however, the star witness in the case against Sandusky insists he did, in fact, put a stop to the assault.
Sandusky, for his part, said in a televised interview earlier this week that he's innocent, adding that his penchant for showering with underprivileged young boys and engaging in "horseplay" was simply a matter of poor judgment.
While Sandusky's alleged demons likely had little to do with the college football system, Spanier, Paterno and McQueary are all accused of keeping the events quiet for purely mercenary reasons — to protect the reputation of Penn State and prevent prestige, power and cash from drying up in the face of terrible scandal.
"Spanier did many splendid things for PSU as president," Carol Harter, the former president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, wrote in a recent editorial in the Las Vegas Sun.
"But his Achilles' heel, or tragic flaw, or whatever one calls this sad professional demise, is surely a product of the 'football culture' that has so dominated major university life nationwide and seems to get more out-of-control every day."
She suggested Spanier counted on revenue from the football team to support other university programs, "thereby becoming beholden to coaches — even iconic ones — and their staffs."
To have a winning college football team in the United States means lucrative television packages, mammoth payouts for bowl games, a boost in alumni donations and thousands more high-school graduates chomping at the bit to attend. It also means head coaches can negotiate salaries that often soar into the seven figures.
The University of Texas, in fact, will reportedly net as much as US$15 million annually from ESPN to broadcast all of the school's sporting events on the college's new Longhorn Network. Notre Dame will soon follow suit.
"It all centres on money — they have professionalized college football in a way you won't find anywhere else in the world when it comes to amateur sports," Geoff Baker, a Canadian-born football reporter at the Seattle Times, said Wednesday in an interview.
Canadians might fixate on hockey, he said, but America's obsession with college football goes far beyond anything that exists in Canada.
"Canadians are obsessed with professional hockey, and with the juniors during the World Championships," Baker said.
"But that's the kind of fervour you see here every single weekend in the United States, even at the high school level. In Canada, you see it once a year and even then, I doubt you'd be able to pack a stadium with tens of thousands of people once a week, even when the team is winless. Football is deeply ingrained in the culture here."
Buzz Bissinger, author of the non-fiction "Friday Night Lights," has been scathing about the so-called football culture in recent days. The TV adaptation of his book about a Texas high school football team frequently detailed the tireless efforts of Coach Eric Taylor to ward off predatory college recruiters as they targeted his players with promises of fame and riches.
In an interview on CNN on Wednesday, Bissinger compared college football teams to mafia members who fervently honour the "code of omerta" — a pledge to keep quiet when the going gets tough.
"Penn State football is God, you don't touch God, you don't touch football, you don't touch Zeus, which is Joe Paterno. Everybody — everybody — abdicated their moral and public responsibility," he said.
"You name me one football scandal ... where someone from the inside, a coach, actually turned in his program. It will never happen. They protect their own at all costs."
But Baker also believes the Penn State conspiracy of silence was given a helping hand by the U.S. sports media, which provides blanket coverage of college football and assigns "god-like" status to winning coaches. Dictatorial coaches often shut out the media entirely and no one complains, he added.
"You have to look at what gave them their power in the the first place, and it's the media that allows them to keep this status without seriously questioning them," he said.
"Very little investigative reporting of college sports teams goes on down here, and if it does, it's investigative reporters from other areas of the newsroom, not sports reporters, because then they'd lose their precious access to the team."
Penn State's scandal is by far the most extreme example, but there have been other cases of colleges covering up misdeeds by everyone from players to boosters and recruiters.
The University of Miami was recently on the hot seat for a "lack of institutional control" for failing to rein in team booster Nevin Shapiro. Currently in jail for orchestrating a US$930 million Ponzi scheme, Shapiro also allegedly provided cash, goods and prostitutes to the college's football players and paid for at least one abortion for one of the team members.
The National Collegiate Athletics Association has said that if the claims are true, it will ban the University of Miami Hurricanes from competing for a year.
At San Diego State University, former coach Chuck Long was replaced after it emerged he tried to conceal a 2008 incident that resulted in a lineman pleading guilty to assaulting a teammate.
Penn State, for its part, is creating a special committee to investigate how the culture of silence contributed to the events in the wake of allegations that Sandusky used the school's reputation and football program to lure young boys.
The U.S. Department of Education has also launched an investigation into whether Penn State broke the law by failing to report sexual assaults on campus. A long road of civil lawsuits and additional indictments also loom ahead.
Will that change anything?
"I doubt it," Baker said.

The hottest wives and girlfriends in sports

Sports stars are known for their ability to score on and off the field ... New York Rangers player Brad Richards has nabbed one of Hollywood's hottest ladies - funny woman Olivia Munn, reports UsWeekly. 'Olivia has become the Rangers' good luck charm as they've been on a 6-0 winning streak since they first started dating two weeks ago,' a source told Just Jared.

Cricinfo: India's blind cricket team in Pakistan

LAHORE: India's blind cricket team arrived for a 12-day tour, their first to Pakistan in five years, in what many expect would help in restoration of full sports ties between the two countries.

Shortly after the 17-member delegation crossed into Pakistan via the Wagah land border, Indian blind cricket team captain Shekhar Naik Lachma told reporters: "I am very happy that we were given such a great welcome on crossing the border".

A team led by Pakistan Blind Cricket Council chairman Syed Sultan Shah welcomed the Indian players.

"Despite security concerns and other issues, they have come to our country. A good message will go to the world that Pakistan is safe for sports," Shah said.

Ramakant, the coach of the Indian team, said the three T20 matches and as many one-day internationals to be played in Pakistan would help his side prepare for the 2012 World Championship to be held in India.

The Indian side will play the T20 games in Lahore during November 18-20 and the one-day matches in Islamabad during November 22-26.

The Indian blind cricket team is touring Pakistan after a gap of five years and officials have said they expect the series to help in the restoration of full sports ties between the two countries.

'We're going to have baseball for a long time': Cavemen owners announce Clemens Field upgrades

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Historic Clemens Field should feature more of a new-age look this summer when the Hannibal Cavemen take the field for the 2012 Prospect League season.

Cavemen owners Rick DeStefane and Bob Hemond and general manager John Civitate announced at a Wednesday press conference plans for new additions to the ballpark, which serves as home to Hannibal's baseball organization in a 12-team wood-bat summer collegiate league.

Included in the plans are:

º A new Daktronics electronic scoreboard and message center that will replace the existing manual scoreboard beyond the wall in right-center field.

º A radar gun/pitch speed board that will be positioned on the visitor's dugout and visible to fans.

º A canopy to cover the press area next to the Clemens Club, which is close to being completed.

º Installation of a mesh shade canopy on the northwest side of the grandstand and oscillating fans in the grandstand.

º Planting of trees near the Clemens Club.

Many of the planned upgrades are designed to provide a more comfortable viewing environment for fans.

"The message (with the planned upgrades) is that we're here to stay and that we're going to have baseball, and we want to have the best place to play baseball," DeStefane said.

DeStefane sees the upgrades as the continuation of a process of rebuilding the organization's reputation following an ownership transition last summer.

DeStefane, a nursing home executive, is president and the CEO of Hannibal Cavemen Baseball LLC, which took over ownership of the Cavemen last June. DeStefane is a 50/50 owner with Hemond, who is also a minority owner of the Sacramento River Cats, a Class AAA affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.

Hemond and Larry Owens were majority owners of the prior ownership group and ended up at odds. The Hannibal City Council authorized F&M Bank to sell off team assets in mid-May, and less than a month later, the Prospect League approved the sale of the team to DeStefane and Hemond. Owens is not part of the current ownership group.

DeStefane said the organization is financially stable under the current ownership group.

"I hope and encourage (the public) to trust us and look at this new regime as a new regime, that we're going forward," DeStefane said. "We have strong financial capability, so even if we have a bad year, we're not going to be hurting. We're committed to it."

Hemond said an electronic scoreboard was important to improve fan experience and to allow Clemens Field to continue to host American Legion and Hannibal-LaGrange University baseball games when a manual scoreboard operator can't always be present.

"What we really wanted to do was bring out another level of excitement and enjoyment for the fans to be able to follow the Cavemen games," Hemond said, adding that the organization plans to try to find a way to continue to incorporate the manual scoreboard somewhere in the ballpark that was built in 1938.

Hemond said it's still to be determined how much all the upgrades will cost, and he would not offer a cost estimate. DeStefane said some of the of the cost will be picked up by multiple sponsors, and some will be covered by the owners.

Hemond said the upgrades will not affect season ticket or single-game ticket prices.

"Right now we're in very good financial condition, ... and we're going to have baseball for a long time," DeStefane said.

AP source: MLB forcing Astros out of NL

HOUSTON (AP) — Major League Baseball told Houston businessman Jim Crane it would not approve his purchase of the Astros unless he agreed to move the team to the American League, The Associated Press has learned.
Crane was forced to agree to move the sale along, a person familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made by MLB or the Astros. Approval of the sale could be announced as early as Thursday at a meeting of baseball executives in Milwaukee.
Crane reportedly agreed to the move in exchange for a drop in the sales price valued earlier this year at $680 million. The person who spoke to the AP could not confirm the sales price.
The MLB Players Association believes two 15-team leagues would create a more proportionate schedule and has urged baseball to make the switch. With schedules for next season already completed, the earliest such a move could take place is 2013.
Time is running out for approval of the deal: Crane has said that his offer, which was announced on May 16 expires Nov. 30.
An MLB spokesman did not immediately return messages seeking comment, though Commissioner Bud Selig addressed an Astros' move during a Twitter chat on Monday.
"For 15/15 realignment, Houston would be the team moving to AL West. Would create more fairness in baseball," Selig tweeted via the Colorado Rockies Twitter feed. He also added that "15 teams in each league would necessitate interleague play every day but it will be better schedule overall."
The Astros currently play in the six-team NL Central. The AL West is the only league in the majors with four teams (Rangers, Angels, Athletics and Mariners).
The Astros would be in a division with in-state rival Texas. But fans are unhappy that the other three teams are all on the West Coast, meaning many road games would routinely end past midnight Central time.
Drayton McLane bought the team in November 1992 for about $117 million and put the franchise up for sale in November. He turned down an offer from Crane to buy the team in 2008.
The $680 million sale price is the second-highest in major league history, trailing the $845 million purchase of the Chicago Cubs by the Ricketts family two years ago. The $660 million sale of the Boston Red Sox in 2002 currently is second. Like the Astros' deal, the Cubs and Red Sox transactions included related entities.
A major selling point in Houston was the Astros' share in a new deal with the NBA's Houston Rockets to create a regional sports network that will begin airing Rockets games in 2012 and the Astros in 2013. Crane has said the team's 30-year lease at Minute Maid Park, which is owned by the Harris County Houston Sports Authority, will remain intact under his ownership.
Crane, who founded a Houston-based logistics company in 2008, is also the chairman and chief executive of Crane Capital, a private equity fund company. In 2009, he was in the running to buy the Cubs and last summer teamed with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in an unsuccessful bid to buy the Texas Rangers.

U.S. offense awakens in 3-2 win at Slovenia

The United States won for just the second time since Jurgen Klinsmann took over as coach, with Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scoring in a two-minute span late in the first half to lead the Americans over Slovenia 3-2 on a foggy Tuesday night in Ljubljana.
Tim Matavz scored twice for Slovenia, and Edson Buddle got the opening goal for the Americans, who had been outscored 5-2 in going 1-4-1 since Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley in late July. The former German star and coach switched to a more attack-oriented 4-4-2 against the Green Dragons, who played another exciting match against the U.S. following their controversial 2-2 tie in the first round of last year's World Cup.
"It looked much better,'' Klinsmann said. "It's a process, and that process, besides results, is going really well.''
The Americans, who have dropped to 34th in FIFA's world rankings, finished a disappointing year 6-8-3, their worst record since going 7-9-11 in 1994. But this was their first victory in Europe 3 1/2 years, having gone 0-5 since winning at Poland in March 2008.
"It's always good to come over and win on European soil,'' Dempsey said.
On a night when the fog prevented players from seeing clearly for more than 10 or 20 yards, Buddle put the U.S. ahead in the ninth minute off a pass from Dempsey after a defensive mixup.
Matavz tied the score in the 26th as an American offside trap failed. Dempsey scored with a header in the 41st and Altidore made it 3-1 when he converted a penalty kick two minutes later, giving the U.S. its highest-scoring first half since June 2008 against Barbados.
But Slovenia, ranked 27th in the world, responded with a furious rally after halftime, and Matavz cut the deficit in the 61st, just after Bostjan Cesar's corner kick had bounced off the crossbar.
U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra became the 12th American to make 100 international appearances, but Klinsmann made three changes from Friday's 1-0 loss at France.
"It was a special night,'' Klinsmann said. "The team was pumped up all day, and they wanted to do well for him.''
Buddle and Altidore started up front as Klinsmann went to a two-forward formation. Michael Bradley - son of the former coach - and Buddle got their first starts since Klinsmann's debut in August.
"It was kind of coming over the last couple of months,'' Klinsmann said. "We've been working on that.''
Fabian Johnson, who started for Germany in the 2009 European Under-21 final, began in midfield, four days after making his American debut as a second-half substitute.
Johnson nearly put the U.S. ahead in the first minute, with goalkeeper Samir Handanovic just tipping his volley over the crossbar.
Buddle scored his third goal in 10 appearances, and his first since June 2010 against Australia, after Handanovic's attempted clearance was stripped by Dempsey from Rene Krhin. Dempsey tipped the ball to Buddle, who scored from 25 yards.
Two minutes later, an open Altidore skied one over the crossbar from Johnson's cross.
With the defense playing a high line, Zlatan Ljubijankic split the center backs and Matavz broke in alone, scoring from about 15 yards over Howard's outstretched right hand.
Dempsey broke the deadlock with a header from about 8 yards off Michael Bradley's corner kick. With his 24th international goal, Dempsey tied Joe-Max Moore for fourth place on the U.S. scoring list, trailing only Landon Donovan (46), Eric Wynalda (34) and Brian McBride (30).
Miso Brecko then tripped up Johnson in the penalty area, and Altidore converted the penalty kick for his first goal under Klinsmann and 13th overall.
Slovenia had a chance to tie in second-half injury time, but Valter Birsa - who scored the opening goal when the teams met in South Africa last year - put a 25-yard free kick over the crossbar.
"We'd liked to have finished game a little bit stronger than we did,'' Dempsey said. "But we're happy with the win.''
NOTES: The U.S. is planning exhibitions at Panama on Jan. 25 and at Italy on Feb. 29. The second is a FIFA fixture date, meaning most of the player pool should be available.

No. 10 Memphis clobbers upset-minded Belmont - CNN

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Will Barton scored 23 points and Wesley Witherspoon added 22 as No. 10 Memphis defeated Belmont 97-81 on Tuesday.
Joe Jackson added 20 points and seven assists for Memphis (1-0). Freshman Adonis Thomas scored 12 for the Tigers, who shot 59 percent, including 7 of 14 from 3-point range.
Belmont, coming off a 77-76 loss at No. 6 Duke last Friday, was led by J.J. Mann with 18 points, while Ian Clark had 16. Kerron Johnson scored 13 and Mick Hedgepeth added 10.
Johnson and Hedgepeth each had eight rebounds as the Bruins (0-2) outrebounded Memphis 42-29.
Belmont was limited to 39-percent shooting and committed 18 turnovers to nine for Memphis.

Doubles rivals get Scottish International off to a tasty start

TWO-TIMES Yonex Scottish National men's doubles champions Jamie Neill and Keith Turnbull will be keen to make their mark at the Scottish International Championships, starting at the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena a week tomorrow (Wed, Nov 23). And they were today given a great incentive to make an immediate impact when the draw paired them against rising Scotland star Paul Van Rietvelde and England's Ben Stawski, the recent Turkish International winners, in the opening round on the Thursday.
Scotland's other doubles hopes Martin Campbell and Angus Gilmour, who narrowly missed out on a seeding in the doubles, face a tough opening test against Austria's fourth seeds Juergen Koch and Peter Zauner. Russia's top seeds Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov start against Taipei's Lin Yu Hsien and Germany's Kai Waldenberger.
Peter Mills and Marcus Ellis, England's defending champions, are only seeded sixth and must face New Zealand's Kevin Dennerly-Mintum and Oliver Leydon-Davis in the first round. Their first real test should come against Koch and Zauner.
In the men's singles Rajiv Ouseph is out to recapture the title he won in 2008. The four-times English National champion and Commonwealth silver medallist, starts his bid against Germany's Richard Domke. But his first real test should come against old rival Scott Evans, the 12th seed from Ireland.
Ukraine second seed Dmytro Zavadsky starts against Denmark's Flemming Quach and could face Russia's 13th seed Ivan Sozonov in the last 16, whilst Scottish National Champion Kieran Merrilees faces a tough opening match against ninth seed Petr Koukal of the Czech Republic. England are also out to recapture the women's singles with 2008 winner and 2010 runner-up Elizabeth Cann seeded fourth and opening with a bye before meeting England's Holly Smith or Estonia's Saar Getter. But the title favourite is Bulgaria's Linda Zechiri. The top seed begins her bid in the second round against England's Jo Dix or Scotland's Carol Nicoll.
Zechiri is seeded to meet Larissa Griga in the final but the Ukraine player's first test is a second-round clash with Austria's Simone Prutsch or Ireland's Sinead Chambers.
Russia's third seed Anastasia Prokopenko and Dutch fifth seed Judith Meulendijks are two players also capable of making their mark on the women's singles, whilst Scotland’s Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medallist Kirsty Gilmour opens up against Japan’s Kusuhose Yuka.
In the women's doubles Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver will be out to improve on last year's runners-up spot. Agathangelou won the 2008 title with Scotland's Jillie Cooper and her main threat next week with Olver will be Sweden's second seeds Emelie Lennartsson and Emma Wengberg, who were runners-up in 2008. Both pairs start with first-round byes. One outside pair to watch for is the Anglo-Malaysian partnership of Sara Milne and Anita Rauj Kaur, who start against England's Hayley Rogers and Helena Lewczynska.
In the mixed doubles Poland's Wojciech Szkudlarczyk and Agnieszka Wojtkowska are the pair to beat and they open up against Scotland’s Jakob van den Berg and Fiona Bain, while Scotland fans will be eager to see Watson Briggs back in action after his absence from the game. He partners Cooper in a first-round clash with France's Sylvain Grosjean and Emilie Lefel.
Switzerland's Anthony Dumartheray and Sabrina Jaquet are the second seeds and open their title bid against Sam Dobson and Emily Westwood in an event won last year by Scotland's Imogen Bankier and England's Chris Adcock when the Anglo-Scottish pair lifted their first title together.
Anne Smillie, Chief Executive of BADMINTONscotland, said today: "The draw has been quite tough on Scotland players but that's only to be expected in this Olympic qualifying period and with so many players from all over the world chasing vital ranking points in the race to qualify.
"Certainly the opening-round contest involving Paul, Jamie and Keith will give fans something to shout about once the main draw gets under way."
Qualifying rounds in men's singles and doubles and mixed doubles start the third oldest tournament in world badminton next Wednesday (from 12 noon) with first-round action getting under way at 10am next Thursday. There is a full day's play on the Thursday and Friday with morning quarter-finals and afternoon semi-finals on the Saturday. The five finals on the Sunday commence at 1pm.

Federer drawn with Nadal in World Tour final

(Reuters) - Old foes Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer will meet in the group stage of the ATP World Tour finals starting in London Sunday while world number one Novak Djokovic will clash with number three Andy Murray.
The round-robin competition which ends the men's tennis season is made up of two groups of four with the top two from each pool going through to the semi-finals.
Defending champion Federer has not won a grand slam singles title this year for the first time since 2002 but has bounced back to form with triumphs in his last two tournaments including last week's Paris Masters.
"Anyone can beat anyone," said Federer before the draw ceremony in London.
"I'm really looking forward to it. It's a strong year."
Nadal and Federer are joined in Group B by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Federer in this year's Wimbledon quarter-finals but lost to the Swiss in Sunday's Paris final.
American Mardy Fish completes the pool despite being troubled with a hamstring strain.
Spaniard Nadal, who beat long-time rival Federer in the French Open final in June, missed the Paris Masters in order to focus on the World Tour finals -- which includes the eight best players this year.
Djokovic, who has enjoyed a scorching year including winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open, also pulled out of the Paris Masters because of a sore shoulder but should be fit for the week-long London showpiece.
The Serbian has been drawn in Group A alongside Briton Murray, Spaniard David Ferrer and Czech Tomas Berdych.
Murray's 17-match winning streak was ended by Berdych in the Paris quarter-finals last week.
Tsonga will face Federer for the seventh time this year but is looking forward to the challenge.
"Obviously it couldn't be an easy draw but it's a very good group for me, I'll be playing against Roger once again," the Frenchman told a news conference in Paris.
"I'll play Rafa on a (hardcourt) surface that suits me really well and I'll be expecting to beat Mardy Fish. Having played there three years ago will help me because I won't be looking around telling myself 'oh it's great to be here'. I'm not going there just to participate."

Tennis Star Anna Kournikova Will Not Return to NBC's THE BIGGEST LOSER

According to the Hollywood Reporter, tennis great Anna Kournikova, currently appearing as a trainer on Season 12 of NBC's THE BIGGEST LOSER, will not be returning to the show for another season. Kournikova replaced trainer Jillian Michael this season as one of the coaches of the popular weight loss competition. 
Contestants and members of the staff of the NBC show reportedly clashed with the professional athlete throughout the filming. Kournikova appeared to lack the sympathetic, soft qualities that Michael had brought to the competition and often scolded contestants when they complained about her harsh training techniques. According to one source involved in the show, the tennis great was "a nightmare".
In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, Kournilova said,  "I enjoyed my time on the Biggest Loser ranch. Although I will not be returning as a full time trainer on season 13, I will always be a part of The Biggest Loser family and my commitment to bettering lives through health and fitness will continue."

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: UK @ KU in Madison Square Garden -- Hyped Yet?

 So, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, are you hyped for the Kentucky Wildcats @ Kansas Jayhawks game tonight?  I sure hope so, because if you can't get up for this one, you may want to call 9-1-1.  On the other hand, maybe your nearest funeral home might be better.
This is Kentucky's first real test of the season after playing three vastly overmatched teams in two exhibitions and one regular-season contest.  The talent and size deficit in favor of Kentucky, not to mention the friendly confines of Rupp Arena, were all major factors.  That makes for a comfortable situation.
But Madison Square Garden tonight will be far less friendly, and with all the Duke fans holding over from the first game likely to be pulling for Kansas, this game will take on much more of a road-game flavor than a neutral site.  Bill Self brings in a talented and experienced basketball team, and that gives him at least one significant advantage -- he will have been able to install more of his offense and defense by now compared to John Calipari, because his starters are all returnees from last year.

Kentucky has a solid record against the Jayhawks historically, currently standing at 19-6 in favor of Kentucky. But the Jayhawks have been victorious in the last three games between the two schools, including an embarrassing 73-46 blowout back in 2006.  The most recent game was in the NCAA tournament back in 2007, a game that despite the 88-76 score, was not really that competitive.
But times have changed since 2007.  Two coaching changes and a complete program makeover have occurred in Lexington, and the last three years have seen Kentucky rise from the ashes of the Billy Gillispie disaster back to its rightful, historical place as a national powerhouse.  Kansas, meantime, has never left the big stage, hanging around the top ten since the teams last met.
This is a redemption game for Kentucky, very similar to the 2009 game against North Carolina.  Kentucky came into that particular contest having lost five in a row to the Tar Heels.  The victory at Rupp Arena ended that miserable streak, and I think most UK fans would just as soon not have a streak that long develop against the Jayhawks.  So tonight is not only a real test for the basketball team, but a particularly meaningful game for Big Blue history fans.
The real test for tonight will be how well this team can defend the talented Jayhawks.  I am not overly concerned about offense -- this team has seemingly endless scoring options both inside and out.  But defeating the Jayhawks will require a strong defensive effort that was mostly lacking in the early-season efforts of the last two Calipari-coached teams.
This game reminds me of the Connecticut Huskies game last year.  The Huskies were known to be talented, but everybody figured UK would win that game.  We all saw how that worked out, and this one has the potential to be the same kind of disappointment primarily because Calipari simply hasn't had time to install much of his defense yet, and the offensive execution, while brilliant at times, has been awkward and inefficient at others.
Not only that, but Kansas has the kind of players that can actually get Kentucky in some foul trouble, and that's another type of adversity that the 'Cats have not faced all year.  Marquis Teague in particular is vulnerable to this, and against Marist, he managed to pick up four fouls against a far less talented opponent.  That should be cause for concern among the UK braintrust.
With all that said, this is a great pre-season contest against a worthy, blue-blood opponent, and frankly, we owe Kansas one.  It's time to go in there and get it.

FGCU men's basketball coach's debut a close success

FGCU guard Brett Comer drives to the basket against Ave Maria during second period play on Monday at Alico Arena. The Eagles won the game 79-65. / Kinfay Moroti/news-press.com

A couple of fans welcomed Andy Enfield in his first regular-season home game with cutouts of the FGCU men’s basketball coach’s head Monday night during its game against Ave Maria.
While a big head of Enfield drew chuckles from fans — as well as the coach himself — one can be sure that the Eagles’ players won’t have big heads after their 79-65 win at Alico Arena.
The Eagles saw double-digit leads cut to single digits in each half. Enfield blistered his players — “It can’t be repeated” — after they led their NAIA level opponent just 31-27 at halftime.
They responded with a 27-10 start in the second half that put them up 58-37. However, Ave Maria drew within 70-62 before the Eagles built the margin back up.
“That’s a sign of immaturity and being a young team,” Enfield said of the lost leads. “We had a 21-point lead, then you look up three minutes later and it’s 10 points. That’s immaturity and inexperience.”
Enfield said there were problems on both offense and defense. He counted taking seven contested 3-pointers in the first half while he said the Eagles allowed the Gyrenes to penetrate too much, which led to their 11 makes on treys.
“I didn’t think any of our players played a great game,” he said. “Not up to their potential. I’m happy we won. I give Ave Maria a lot of credit. They were the reason none of our guys played well.
“We also have to learn what is a good shot and what not is a good shot.”
Sherwood Brown had 19 points and six rebounds. Brett Comer added 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Christophe Varidel added 11 points and Bernard Thompson 10.
“We got a really good team and there’s a lot of upside for the rest of the season,” said Brown, who said Enfield has worked with him on his follow through on shots. “We’re a little disappointed in (giving up the 21-point lead) but basketball is a game of spurts.”
After shooting better than 61 percent against TCU in a 73-72 loss on the road Friday, the Eagles struggled to find the range early and trailed 6-4 for nearly the first six minutes.
FGCU took the lead for good, 7-6, on Brown’s 3-pointer with 14:11 to go in the first half.
A tip-in by Bishop Verot graduate Eddie Murray, a Comer layup and a 3-pointer by Varidel helped the Eagles go up 28-18.
However, Ave Maria hung tough and when Daniel Vivas hit two free throws, the Gyrenes trailed just 31-27 at halftime. In the last 1.9 seconds center Kevin Cantinol picked up his third foul.
Ave Maria scored first to open the second half but the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to go back up by 10, 39-29.
A couple of 3-pointers by Kiel Lewis closed it to 41-35.
However, FGCU started to warm up and went on a 17-2 run. Brown had a rebound hoop and a trey. Dante Holmes hit a 3-pointer. Comer and Cantinol had layups. Varidel nailed another 3.
The margin grew to 58-37. The win was safe.

2011-12 Kent State men's basketball preview

Rob Senderoff doesn’t plan on allowing himself the pleasure of looking around for even a few seconds to breathe in the atmosphere of his first game as a Division I head men’s basketball coach.
If he did, he may have a hard time imagining a better way to start — his Kent State team taking on West Virginia on national television as part of ESPN’s 24-hour Tip-Off Marathon.
A few feet away from Senderoff’s seat, legendary color man Bill Raftery will talk about the Flashes’ defense with his familiar “starting out in man-to-man” call. 
And on the opposite bench, that will be Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins standing there.
This will be a whole world away from opening up against North Carolina Central, as Geno Ford did in his KSU coaching debut in 2008, or Urbana — the team Jim Christian mollywhopped by 60 points in his first game on the Flashes’ sidelines back in 2002.
But who wants that cakewalk? If you want to realize a lifelong dream to take on the pressure-cooker job of a Division I head coach, why not throw yourself right into the fire?
“I actually think I’ll look around and say, ‘Wow this is pretty cool,’ but for our guys,” said Senderoff, thinking of seniors Justin Greene, Michael Porrini, Carlton Guyton and Justin Manns. “It’s cool for them to start their senior year on national TV against West Virginia. I think it’s pretty cool for the guys, not for Rob Senderoff. You think about all of the work they’ve put in their entire life. 
“This is their last year and we do have a team that came off of a lot of wins last season. To get a chance to play one of the premier teams in the Big East year in and year out on the first day ESPN is doing their whole deal, that’s special for them.”
Senderoff may be cutting his teeth as a head coach, but he’ll do it with a roster of players that should not be overwhelmed by the big-game atmosphere and the ESPN cameras. 
For most of the Flashes, this game is basically an extension of last season when they made a run to the NIT by beating Saint Mary’s and Fairfield on the road before nearly upsetting Colorado in the quarterfinals. All of those games were televised by the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.”
This team may even be prepared for the unusual 10 a.m. start considering it opened the 2010-11 season by playing Robert Morris in a morning game as part of last year’s ESPN marathon. 
But are the Flashes ready for West Virginia? 
“We are going to find out,” said Senderoff. “This is a pretty good first test.”
The Flashes have high expectations for 2011-12. Their experienced roster has been buoyed by a promising recruiting class that includes junior-college All-American Chris Evans.
And while West Virginia may be a traditional Big East power, this year’s Mountaineers are in a bit of a rebuilding phase with two freshman starters and a total of five first-year players in their eight-man rotation. Even the ninth and 10th men on Huggins’ roster are freshmen.
Of course, the Mountaineers’ three lone veterans — senior power forward Kevin Jones, burly 260-pound junior center Deniz Kilicli and senior shooting guard Darryl Bryant — are among the best the Flashes will face all season. 
West Virginia’s strength is in its bigs. Both the 6-foot-8 Jones and the 6-9 Kilicli are dangerous around the basket. They can also step out on the perimeter and hit open shots — Kilicli with range to 17 feet and Jones capable of stepping out to the arc.
The Flashes can counter with some size of their own. Greene is still KSU’s go-to man in the post after averaging 15.4 points per game last season. The 6-8 forward has a stronger cast of supporting characters to turn to when the Flashes decide to play inside-out. After a year in the spotlight, Greene should be even more prepared to be the focal point of opposing defenses.
Senderoff is also expecting bigger things from the 6-11 Manns, who won the starting job next to Greene with his work in practice during the last two weeks. Manns is rebounding and defending better than ever, according to the coach, and he could be a key to this morning’s upset hopes.
In all, the Flashes return nine players from last year’s 25-win team, including four starters, the MAC’s Player of the Year in Greene, the Defensive Player of the Year in Porrini at point guard, and the Sixth Man of the Year in Guyton, who now starts on the wing. The Flashes have enough experience to expect to at least play with the Mountaineers. And at best they would love to follow Akron’s win over Mississippi State last week and Cleveland State’s win over Vanderbilt by adding to Northeast Ohio’s string of road wins to open the new season.
“Our guys won’t be intimidated, I don’t think,” said Senderoff. “If West Virginia beats us, it’s going to be because West Virginia played better than us, not because we were overwhelmed with the moment or the atmosphere.”
START ME UP
Senderoff expects to open the season with Michael Porrini starting at the point, Randal Holt at the two, Carlton Guyton at the three, Justin Greene at the four and Justin Manns at the five.
But Eric Gaines and Chris Evans could end up playing starter-type minutes as the first two off the bench at the start of the year.
“With the way Eric Gaines and Chris Evans have played in practice and in the scrimmages and exhibitions, I’m not going to say we have seven starters necessarily, but those two guys are certainly worthy of starting,” said Senderoff. “I would expect them to play major minutes, and then there is the next group of Marc (Henniger), Pat (Jackson), Dev (Manley) Kris (Brewer) who is coming back from injury and Scooter (Johnson) who is also coming back from injury. The two who are coming back from injury have to work their way back.”

Florida Gators basketball team gets tough early test tonight against Ohio State

GAINESVILLE — There are still two games remaining in the regular football season, but the big game for the Florida Gators this week is taking place on a hardwood court.
Coach Billy Donovan is taking his eighth-ranked team to Columbus, Ohio, to face No. 3 Ohio State tonight (8, ESPN2, 620-AM). It is a rematch of last year's game which the Buckeyes won 93-75 in the O'Dome, and the Gators' first road test of the season.
"I feel like there's a level of excitement going there to play Ohio State," Donovan said Monday. "For players, I don't know if they necessarily look at it as an opportunity to grow as maybe coaches do, in terms of what we really need to address. But I do think that they like the fact they are playing against a really good team, that they have a lot of respect for, that they know is really, really good. A team that they played last year, and I think got a first-hand glimpse of how good they were. Now we're having to go there and play, and I think there's a level of excitement and enthusiasm in playing a game like this."
Several years ago at the urging of SEC commissioner Mike Slive, Donovan and other league coaches began to beef up their non-conference schedule to bolster postseason resumes come tournament time. But just playing the games isn't enough. Donovan said winning and growing from the higher level of competition is imperative. Otherwise you're just a demoralized team with a lot of losses against tough opponents.
ROBERSON OUT: Freshman CB Marcus Roberson will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a neck injury in the loss to South Carolina. Coach Will Muschamp said Roberson should be able to return in the spring. Roberson played in 10 games this season and had 22 tackles (17 unassisted) and one interception.
"We're still evaluating him, but our medical staff has informed me that he will be out,'' Muschamp said. "It's nothing that's going to be permanent. He'll be fine in four to six weeks. He strained his neck there, and they're just taking precautionary measure, obviously, with something like that. He'll be fine."
Also on the injury front: OT Chaz Green (ankle) is probable this week. Muschamp said the Gators had hoped to have him back last week but his ankle began swelling Thursday and he couldn't go. DE Lerentee McCray (shoulder) is also probable.
LETTING GO: For Florida QB John Brantley, Saturday's five-point loss to South Carolina was hard to accept. Brantley described the plane ride home from Columbia, S.C., as "very quiet" and "a real, long tough flight." The hardest part was trying not to replay the game in his head.
"Saturday night I was definitely sitting around trying to figure out what went wrong and everything and there's a bunch of what-ifs?" Brantley said. "But the game's over with and there's nothing you can do now. All you can do is move on and move forward and get better."
The Gators will attempt to do just that against Furman on Saturday at 1 p.m.
DID YOU KNOW: The football team has five wins this season, and those victories have come against teams with a combined 15-34 record; none of the opponents has a record above .500. On the flip side, its losses have been against legitimate teams that are a combined 41-9.

Washington Nationals' baseball player Wilson Ramos rescued from kidnappers

Wilson Ramos is greeted by an unidentified friend at police headquarters in Valencia, Venezuela

(Credit: AP Photo/Lexander Loiza)

(CBS/AP) CARACAS, Venezuela - Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos has been rescued from kidnappers after Venezuelan police swooped in to save him in a flurry of gunfire and arrested five alleged abductors.
The 24-year-old said he was happy and thankful to be alive, and that the final moments had been hair-raising as police and the kidnappers exchanged heavy fire in the remote mountainous area where he was being held.
"The truth is I'm still very nervous, but thanks to God, everything turned out well," Ramos told Venezuelan state television, speaking by telephone after arriving at a police station in his hometown of Valencia early Saturday.
He thanked the police and National Guard commandos who rescued him, saying "the boys did a great job."
Ramos had not been seen or heard from since he was seized at gunpoint outside his home Wednesday night and whisked away in an SUV. It was the first known kidnapping of a Major League Baseball player in Venezuela, and the abduction set off an outpouring of candlelight vigils and public prayers at stadiums as well as outside Ramos' home.
Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami announced on Friday night that Ramos was "safe and sound" after the rescue. He didn't say whether anyone had been wounded in the gunfire.
Five men were arrested in the kidnapping, including a Colombian "linked to paramilitary groups and to kidnapping groups," El Aissami said.
"Three guys grabbed me there in front of my house," Ramos said. "...they took me to another SUV and from there they took me into the mountains," in central Carabobo state.
He said his abductors spoke little to him. "They simply told me to cooperate, that they were going to ask for a ton of cash for me."

Henk Lindeque lifts the lid on the secret life of a cricket master Peter Roebuck

Caned by Peter Roebuck ... Henk Lindeque (inset). Picture: The Daily Telegraph

A MAN who was caned on the buttocks by Peter Roebuck has described the turbulent year he spent being coached by the former first class cricketer and respected journalist.
South African Henk Lindeque, speaking in Cape Town just days after Roebuck threw himself from a window while being questioned by police over an alleged sexual assault, said his former coach had "a brilliant mind" but "a different way of communicating".
Mr Lindeque, now 31, was in the UK with Taunton cricket club when the incident occurred in 1999. Roebuck received a suspended jail sentence in 2001 for common assault after pleading guilty to caning Lindeque and his South African teammates Keith Whiting and Reginald Keats, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"He had a few canes, some were a fair piece of willow if you can call it that," Mr Lindeque said yesterday.
"He hit me through my shorts and it hurt a hell of a lot.
"After he caned me, he wanted to have a look at the markings and that wasn't something I approved of and that's why I never had any contact with him after that. It was really sore. He said, 'Don't be shy, let's have a look'. I pulled off a bit (of his shorts) to one side and he said, 'No, c'mon, don't be shy' and I pulled my shorts down very briefly."
He recalled how on another occasion Roebuck encroached on his "personal space".
"One day, I was sitting on the couch at Peter's house, watching cricket on a Sunday afternoon," he said.
"He sat down and put his arm around me. I turned around to him and said, 'Listen Peter, I do like my personal space and I don't like this'. I moved away quickly and sat on the ground. That's the only time I felt he made a sort of advance on me.
"In the back of my mind it was something that stuck with me (that Roebuck might be gay).
"It was a possibility, but he never came out, so how are we to know? He was eccentric. I wouldn't say he was harsh or indifferent, but he had a different way of communicating.
"He did warn us he had hard ways and in many senses that's not a bad way to look at life, especially in cricket."
Mr Lindeque said he held no ill will toward Roebuck and was saddened to hear of his death.

Former Kent Director of Cricket Paul Farbrace joins Yorkshire as second team coach

by Mirza Iqbal Baig
Kent’s former director of cricket, Paul Farbrace, has been confirmed as the new second-team coach at Yorkshire.
Farbrace resigned in September after two difficult years with Kent which saw the club relegated from LV= County Championship Division One, followed by a second-bottom finish in Division Two last season.
The 44-year-old has now taken up a role in a new-look Yorkshire coaching set-up which includes the appointment of former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie as first-team coach.
Farbrace (pictured) will also work with the county’s wicketkeepers as part of his role with the club’s second-team.
He said: "It’s a great move for me. I know a lot about Yorkshire cricket, a lot about the players and I know there’s a lot of history and tradition associated with the club, so for me it’s an absolutely fantastic move.
"I’m excited by the club in so many ways. It doesn’t matter whether you’re coaching the first-team or second team – it’s coaching cricketers and that’s what I enjoy most and I’m really looking forward to getting started now."
Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, said: "Someone from outside of Yorkshire is always a good thing I think. He’ll give a different perspective on things and Paul has vast experience of coaching at all levels and has coached at Academy, second XI and first XI level and with Sri Lanka.
"His wicketkeeping skills are something we haven’t had a lot of in recent times, so Paul brings the whole package and he’s a good guy as well so I’m sure he will be a good addition to the staff and hopefully the players will thrive under him."
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