Conference USA: The Middle Ground

Note: The following is the third of a four-part series on Conference USA basketball, which will run every Friday from now until completion.

Outside of the sleazy trio of Houston, UTEP and Memphis, most other Conference USA members struggle just to keep up. Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulane have academic requirements beyond the typical C-USA school, forcing those three programs to say no to prospective recruits who would qualify at other schools in the conference.

There's a group of six schools -- Central Florida, East Carolina, Marshall, Southern Miss, Tulsa, UAB -- that does its best to stay competitive in a conference where competitive balance rarely exists.

These six schools are all capable of admitting top-tier athletes with sub-par grades, but lack the facilities -- and some would suggest, lack the bankrolls -- to hang with schools from the big six conferences. The rosters are filled with academic risks, transfers, junior college players and kids who have been kicked out of other programs, all factors that cause other schools choose not to roll the dice.

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One of Conference USA's biggest pipelines was The Patterson School, a 7th-12th grade and post-graduate institute in Lenoir, North Carolina. Patterson closed for the 2009-10 academic year, but from 2006 to 2009, provided college basketball programs with an unbelievable amount of qualified Division I athletes.

In 2006, Patterson produced Jordan Hill, who averaged 5.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Knicks and Rockets this year, after getting selected in the NBA Lottery last year.

From 2007 to 2009, Patterson produced 24 Division I basketball players, sending athletes to USC, UConn, Washington, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, and, most of all, schools in Conference USA.

With Patterson's closing, which the administration attributed to a hemorrhaging budget, parasitic college programs will have to look elsewhere for a surplus of talent. Perhaps Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, or South Kent School in South Kent, Connecticut. Wherever they go, coaches will have to look other places than Lenoir, North Carolina.

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EAST CAROLINA -- In 12 seasons as head coach of Tennessee Tech, Chattanooga and Auburn, Jeff Lebo never managed to appear in an NCAA Tournament game. Understandably, the ECU fan base is lukewarm on the hire and was clamoring to get recently-fired Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz. Lutz guided the Niners to five NCAA Tournament appearances in 12 seasons, but never received an offer.

The Pirates are in a bit of disarray. Some of its most promising players haven't been able to stay out of trouble.

First, sharpshooting wing Chris Turner was suspended a third of the way into his sophomore season after he failed to stay academically eligible. Turner had originally committed to Oregon State over offers from Baylor and Seton Hall, but later committed to East Carolina after all other schools saw his transcript. From a talent perspective, Turner could have hung around in the ACC -- and for a while, Maryland and Virginia were after him.

Next, Sophomore forward Darrius Morrow started 26 games this season and averaged 12.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. A one-time South Carolina commit, Morrow got released out of his letter of intent when head coach Dave Odom got fired. Yet, even with a promising career ahead of him, in January, Morrow was suspended for three games after violating team rules. That violation might have had something to do with the fact that three weeks prior to his suspension, Morrow was arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana in December.

Right around the same time, freshman guard Wakefield Ellison was suspended for an undisclosed violation of team rules. Ellison ended up appearing in 18 games all season, sporadically playing a few minutes here and there, but never sticking in the regular rotation.

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MARSHALL -- Like other Conference USA schools, Marshall's fans wanted to dive head first into the muck in which the rest of the conference swims. Marshall considered hiring Morgan State's Todd Bozeman, who was once blacklisted from coaching in NCAA basketball while head coach at Cal. Bozeman paid recruit Jelani Gardner's parents $30,000 over two years. After Gardner's playing time evaporated, his parents turned Bozeman in to the NCAA.

Marshall ended up hiring Tom Herrion, who has a tall task ahead of him before he even coaches a game for the Thundering Herd. Herrion has to figure out one of the most scattered scholarship charts in all of college basketball.

With four transfers from other colleges and five kids who went to prep school, it's anyone's guess how many scholarships Herrion has available for future recruiting classes.

One scholarship that opened up recently is freshman Hassan Whiteside, a 7-footer from North Carolina who scouts rated as the No. 12 center in the country. Whiteside qualified out of The Patterson School by the skin of his teeth, and chose Marshall over interest from Auburn, Florida State, Kentucky, Louisville, Mississippi State, Seton Hall, South Carolina, St. John's, West Virginia and Xavier. Like most once-promising prospects who end up in C-USA, most of the programs backed off while Marshall stood by Whiteside's transcript.

Herrion inherits a roster that also features Cam Miller, a player from Western Carolina University who transferred in after receiving an undisclosed indefinite suspension from the Catamounts. Miller transferred instead of taking the suspension. Herrion's roster also features three transfers: Chris Lutz (Purdue), who transferred closer to home, Antonio Haymon (Cecil College), who qualified and sought more playing time and Eladio Espinosa (South Florida) who didn't see eye to eye with his old coach.

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SOUTHERN MISS -- From 5-foot-11 to 7-foot-1, Southern Mississippi's basketball team is a virtual melting pot. Three players are from Division I programs (Kansas State, Southeastern Louisiana and USC), two are from junior colleges (Cuesta College and Chipola Junior College), two are from prep school (Marion Military Academy and G-d's Academy) and one is from Brazil (Universidade Anhmebi Morumbi). Got all that?

The most compelling story, though, is that of star forward Gary Flowers, who was suspended indefinitely from Oklahoma State for violating team rules. Reports later surfaced that Flowers was busted for marijuana possession, and he later transferred to Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Florida.

Chipola, a goldmine for D-I programs, has sent recruits to Marshall, Oregon, Florida State, St. John's, West Virginia, Kansas, Indiana and others.

Flowers later resurfaced at Southern Miss as a junior, where he led the team in points (15.0) and rebounds (8.3) per game, though questions about his character and priorities still loom in the back of people's heads.

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UAB -- Like most of the middle ground, UAB's roster includes a handful of transfers and former junior college players -- five, to be exact. George Drake transferred in for more playing time after graduating from Vanderbilt, certainly not a typical journey of a C-USA player. Elijah Millsap, younger brother of Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap, transferred from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, and is testing the NBA waters this year. Then there's Jamarr Sanders, who went the more conventional route, transferring in after spending two years at Northwest Florida State Community College.

There is one risk case on the Blazers' roster: Kenneth Cooper, a journeyman who started his career in 2006 with Oklahoma State. Cooper left the team because of family problems at home, and transferred to Louisiana Tech.

After sitting out a year, Cooper thrived at Louisiana Tech for the first half of the season, starting in 15 of 16 games and averaging 11.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Halfway through the season, though, Cooper was dismissed for repeatedly violating team rules.

One year later, he surfaced on UAB's roster, where he appeared in 34 games, starting in just four, and averaged 5.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

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UCF -- The Orlando-based Knights swiped conference rival Marshall's head coach, Donnie Jones, after whiffing on Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt. Hewitt could have succeeded greatly in Conference USA, certainly more so than in the academically-minded ACC, but ultimately turned down jobs at both UCF and St. John's.

For the most part, UCF has maintained a relatively clean program, even with the low academic admission policy. However, in 2009, junior forward and starter Tony Davis was "declared ineligible for the remainder of the season following an undisclosed violation of school and athletic department policy." It was Davis' third suspension for academic-related problems, and he has been removed from the team's roster.

If that wasn't a big enough hit to the team, shortly thereafter, freshman guard Nik Garcia failed to qualify to join the team last summer, and appeared in only six games, logging 0.7 points and 0.5 rebounds per game. In December, Garcia announced his intentions to transfer out of the program.

For the rest of this series:
Part 4: The Golden Child(ren)
Part 2: The Used Car Salesmen
Part 1: Basketball's Wild Wild West

Dez Bryant fields the tough questions

We've all been in Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant's position. Well, let me rephrase that. Everybody has, at some point, fielded tough interview questions before getting a job.

Google is notorious for asking absurdly tough interview questions, like "How many golf balls fit into a school bus?" and "Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year old nephew."

The question that Bryant was asked during a pre-draft interview takes the cake.

A story broke on Wednesday that Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland asked Bryant a series of questions -- par for the course at the pre-draft workouts -- one of which, Yahoo! Sports reported, was whether or not Bryant's mom was ever a prostitute.

Wait, that's not a standard interview question? Then why did Circuit City ask me that exact same question when I was interviewing with them for a summer job in high school? (Just kidding, mom!)

Well, that question certainly seems legitimate, and relevant to Bryant's success on the NFL field. After all, how are the Dolphins ever going to sleep at night if their front office doesn't know whether or not the parents of someone on their 53-man roster was at one time a hooker?

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has already issued a statement publicly apologizing for Ireland's behavior, and called Bryant on the phone despite the fact that Miami didn't end up drafting him.

"In interviewing employees, we always look to obtain relevant and appropriate information in adherence with the best industry practices. Jeff Ireland has already apologized for questions asked of former Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant. I will be looking into this matter personally and will take appropriate actions if necessary."

It's unclear exactly why Ireland asked the question. Maybe the power of asking the players anything he wanted to went to his head. Maybe he was curious for personal reasons. Who knows.

All I know is that I better be ready if a future employer ever asks me that question.

On the Jason Campbell trade

The Jason Campbell era is over in Washington, and it seems that most fans couldn't be happier.

Despite Campbell posting career highs in quarterback rating, completion percentage, passing yards, touchdowns, and sacks taken, Redskins fans cheered like crazy when the front office gave up a second round draft pick for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Cut Campbell some slack. In the last 10 years, between his careers at Auburn University and Washington, the fifth-year quarterback has worked with eight offensive coordinators.

You try working for a different boss eight times in 10 years.

The Redskins also didn't bother to tell Campbell when they traded for McNabb. Instead, Campbell found out about the trade through The Washington Examiner's John Keim.

"That's the first I heard of it. ... I'd better go call my agent," Campbell told Keim on April 4th.

No cursing, no yelling. Just rolling with the punches and handling it as classily as anyone could.

Even during the NFL Draft, when Campbell was traded to the Oakland Raiders for a conditional fourth round pick -- that only grants the Redskins a fourth rounder if Campbell reaches a Pro Bowl or the Raiders reach the playoffs by 2011 -- he was still upbeat talking with NFL Network's Rich Eisen about working in so many different offenses throughout the years.

Campbell joked that he's thinking about writing a book about his experience, and that if he ever decided to get into coaching, he'd have a lot of plays to choose from for his own playbook.

So, Redskins fans, welcome to the McNabb era. From a personnel standpoint, the offensive line hasn't changed too much. Chris Samuels retired after being the line's rock for a decade, and Oklahoma's Trent Williams was drafted with the fourth overall pick to take his place.

Campbell was sacked 43 times last year, the third highest number in the NFL. No quarterback can thrive behind a line that allows him to get beaten and bruised as much as Campbell was last year, and, predictably, the Redskins' offense ranked 26th in points scored and 22nd in total yardage.

In McNabb, the Redskins get a quarterback with somewhat similar averages to Campbell. McNabb has thrown 216 touchdowns to 100 interceptions, with a career 86.5 quarterback rating. Campbell threw 55 and 38, with a quarterback rating of 82.3.

McNabb also has gaudy win/loss numbers as a starter, to the tune of 92-49-1, while Campbell was just 20-32 as a starter. Of course, it's hard to win a game entirely by yourself in the NFL, and McNabb will likely end up with a losing record as a starter this year for the first time since 2005.

In Oakland, Campbell will compete for the starting job alongside JaMarcus Russell, Kyle Boller and Bruce Gradkowski, but is expected to win the gig, as the Raiders extended his contract by a year.

Here's to rooting for success for one of the NFL's classiest guys.

Bobby Valentine on Josh Johnson

ESPN baseball analyst and former major league baseball manager Bobby Valentine might want to stick to what he knows.

That is, analyzing baseball, and not making metaphors for which he does not understand completely.

Last night, Valentine predicted that Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson would bring his A game in his performance against the Padres. Unfortunately, those weren't the exact words to come out of his mouth.

"I think Josh Johnson comes out of the closet tonight. You know, he's going to make a statement against the Padres," Valentine said.

Well, I don't know what San Diego is going to do when Johnson comes out of the closet, but Valentine seemed awfully keen on the idea.

Valentine went on to predict a two-hit shutout and 92-pitch game, which was pretty damn impressive, considering Johnson allowed three hits and one run in a complete game last night. The Marlins won 10-1, and Valentine did get that part of the equation right.

Now that I've spoiled the punchline, enjoy the video evidence below.

2010 NFL Draft redux: Good, bad, ugly

After three days, the NFL Draft finally came to a close when the Detroit Lions drafted Tim Toone, a wide receiver from Weber State. While Toone will be remembered forever as 2010's Mr. Irrelevant -- an award that goes to the player selected last in the draft -- the rest of this year's draft was equally memorable from top to bottom. Let's recap.

Three best drafts:

1. Seattle Seahawks - Seattle killed the rest of the league in head coach Pete Carroll's first draft with the team. No other team left the draft with a more impressive three days than the Seahawks. First, Seattle took offensive tackle Russell Okung with the sixth pick and safety Earl Thomas at No. 14. The Seahawks also managed to grab a talented receiver in Notre Dame's Golden Tate in the late second round. Later, Seattle improved its depth at running back, acquiring LenDale White to move down in the fourth and sixth rounds, and gave up their fifth round pick for New York Jet Leon Washington. All in all, an incredible haul for the Seahawks.
   
2. Kansas City - The Chiefs wowed me with their five picks in the first three rounds. First, they got probably the second most talented overall players in the draft in safety Eric Berry, before picking up two speedy playmakers in the second round in Mississippi running back Dexter McCluster and Alabama cornerback Javier Arenas. Both are undersized but possess an unbelievable amount of speed. McCluster is in the same mold as Darren Sproles in San Diego, and won't be an every-down back, but will still be a difference maker.
3. Baltimore - The Ravens didn't panic when Dallas traded one spot ahead of them in the first round and took their guy, wide receiver Dez Bryant. Instead, general manager Ozzie Newsome traded out of the first round altogether, picked up a couple more draft picks, and selected outside linebacker Sergio Kindle and defensive tackle Terrence Cody in the second round. Both guys are first round talents, but need to stay disciplined to reach their potential. The Ravens showed their dedication to quarterback Joe Flacco by drafting a pair of talented tight ends in Oregon's Ed Dickson and BYU's Dennis Pitta. And let's not forget the best draft pick in Baltimore didn't even have his name called this weekend: wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who the Ravens acquired in the offseason, gives Baltimore a bona fide stud wideout.
   

Three worst drafts:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars - It wasn't that the Jags made horrible pick after horrible pick. They actually filled most of their needs, but gave up a ton of value in doing so. Jacksonville reached for defensive linemen Tyson Alualu and D'Anthony Smith in the first and third rounds, and ended up drafting four defensive linemen with its first four picks. The Jaguars also ignored needs at linebacker, safety and quarterback.
   
2. Washington Redskins - Washington had one of its better drafts in the last five years, and it was still a mess. The Redskins' selection of offensive tackle Trent Williams was good, but after that, there's not much to be hopeful about. Seventh round pick offensive lineman Selvish Capers was a sleeper that late, but in between Williams and Capers, the Redskins did not draft a quarterback, safety, cornerback, or defensive lineman.
3. New York Jets - The Jets needed help on the defensive line, linebackers, offensive line, safety and wide receivers, and left with a cornerback, two running backs and an offensive guard. Not a good strategic draft for New York, and it's never good to only have four picks in a draft that Kiper called the deepest in at least five years. Running back Joe McKnight is more of a luxury for a team like Indianapolis or New Orleans, not a proven, every-down back and the face of the franchise. Disappointment all around for the Jets.

Three best picks:

1. 2nd round, 16th pick - Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen finally comes off the board when the Carolina Panthers snatch him. Carolina needed a quarterback to replace Jake Delhomme, and got a guy who many thought would be gone in the first half of the first round. A great value halfway through the second.
2. 4th round, 2nd pick - USC DE Everson Griffen was on Mel Kiper Jr.'s "best available" list for what seemed like days. Griffen's character is in question, but his talent is first round caliber. If he works hard, Griffen will be a force to be reckoned with in Minnesota alongside Pro Bowler Jared Allen.
   
3. 4th round, 8th pick - Maryland OT Bruce Campbell went to the team that some thought would take him with the eighth overall pick in the draft. Campbell slid down the draft board due to concerns if he can stay healthy. A workout warrior with first round talent, Campbell was a steal in the fourth round, and is now one of the lowest risk, highest reward guys in the draft.
   

Three worst picks:

1. 1st round, 25th pick - Florida QB Tim Tebow shocked the nation when Denver drafted him over Clausen. Tebow's mechanics are questionable -- though he has worked on changing his release -- and his athleticism won't set him apart from the rest of the NFL like it did in college. On the bright side, as one of my friends pointed out, Mile High Stadium is the highest altitude of any NFL team, and therefore Tebow will be able to invite his two friends, G-d and Jesus for every home game.
   
2. 1st round, 10th pick - California DE Tyson Alualu ended up getting drafted ahead of a few defensive ends and linebackers graded higher than he was. It's not so much that Alualu isn't a good player, but the Jaguars could have traded out of the top 10, picked up some draft picks, and still gotten Alualu 10 or 15 picks later in the first round.
3. 1st round, 9th pick - Clemson RB CJ Spiller is a home run hitter and a scary talent on the field, but he definitely wasn't what Buffalo needed to draft. The Bills needed offensive linemen, but took Spiller instead. Meanwhile, three more talented offensive linemen came off the board in the first round, and Buffalo still doesn't have a viable quarterback or serviceable offensive line for the upcoming season.
   

Conference USA: The Used Car Salesmen

Note: The following is the second of a four-part series on Conference USA basketball, which will run every Friday from now until completion.

Memphis, Houston and UTEP play by a different set of rules than the rest of Conference USA, and frankly, from the rest of Division I basketball.

Quite frankly, they're in a different world.

It's one thing for some no-name blogger to accuse a head coach of being a slimy recruiter, and a downright cheater. It's another thing when the NCAA launches a full-blown investigation.

Not surprisingly, the head coaches of Memphis, Houston and UTEP have all been subject to NCAA investigations.

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MEMPHIS -- FedEx Forum houses one of the slimiest programs in college hoops. Memphis' former coach, John Calipari, became the first person to ever vacate Final Four appearances at more than one school.

Nobody, nobody, thinks that Calipari plays by the rules. He allegedly arranged for Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose to have his SATs taken for him prior to attending Memphis.

The most head-scratching personality associated with Memphis isn't Calipari. It's William Wesley, also known as World Wide Wes. Nobody knows how he makes his money, or what his official job title is. But they know that if they are on his good side, he'll steer the top talent toward your school.

Technically, his job title includes being an agent, personality, talent scout and maybe even a salesperson. He steered Sacramento Kings point guard Tyreke Evans to Memphis despite the Tigers getting involved with Evans in the 11th hour.

Former Tigers and current New Jersey Nets guard/forward Chris Douglas-Roberts admitted on Twitter that when he was 17 years old, he was flown into Denver International Airport for an NBA game between the Nuggets and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wesley is LeBron James' agent. Fast forward five months and Douglas-Roberts was committed to Memphis.

Even coaches around the NCAA know that Calipari is a slimeball. One-time Volunteers commit Josh Selby's decommitment sparked a stream of consciousness with one anonymous coach talking about Calipari to a reporter recently.

"That kid was committed to Tennessee for almost a year, then he goes to a Nike event, the mom talks with Wes, the kid decommits from an Adidas school, and now he's looking at Kentucky. ... Come on, man. That's messed up. I mean, that's just messed up."

Calipari left Memphis and headed 350 miles northeast to coach the University of Kentucky.

The Tigers hired Josh Pastner, who had no prior head coaching experience, but was known as a hot recruiter, and almost certainly for good reason. He was a disciple of Calipari and long-time Arizona coach Lute Olson, another notoriously shady recruiter.

Olson, too, was investigated by the NCAA for soliciting donations for a high school all-star game, the now-defunct Arizona Cactus Classic.

As a 13-year old, Pastner was publishing a scouting report for the Houston area. By 16, he was coaching his father's Houston Hoops AAU team, which featured NBA talent including Emeka Okafor, TJ Ford and Daniel Gibson.

With no prior coaching experience, and a pedigree that included training under two head coaches with an NCAA rap sheet, how did Pastner manage the nation's top recruiting class for 2010, even after missing the NCAA Tournament in 2009?

Academically, Memphis is a diploma mill, with five transfers or junior college players on its roster.

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UTEP -- The Miners lost head coach Tony Barbee to Auburn in the off-season, and started looking for his replacement. Just six days later, UTEP announced the hiring of former Southern Cal coach Tim Floyd.

At the time, Floyd seemed like one of the least likely names to pop up on a college program's radar, particularly because USC is still being punished for his time in Los Angeles. Floyd has been accused of paying LA event promoter Rodney Guillory, well-known for being OJ Mayo's handler.

Mayo's recruitment was odd, and perhaps too good to be true. The fairytale of Guillory coming to Floyd's USC office, telling the coach that Mayo wanted to play for him and that Floyd couldn't have Mayo's phone number because 'he'll call you,' was, indeed, too good to be true. The investigation caused several recruits and signees to go elsewhere, and resulted in USC forfeiting 21 wins, losing a scholarship, and missing this year's Pac-10 and NCAA Tournaments.

That's a lot of damage for a guy who only coached the Trojans for five years.

Despite the chaos at his former job, Floyd inherits a team full of transfers and junior college players. He won't have the pleasure of coaching big man Derrick Caracter, a problem child at Louisville who eventually transferred to UTEP.

Caracter, a 6-foot-9, 275-pound force down low declared for the NBA Draft at Louisville, but withdrew his name after realizing he wouldn't get drafted. Caracter was ruled academically ineligible, which came on the heels of multiple suspensions throughout his two years as a Cardinal.

He missed 17 games in two seasons under Pitino, was once suspended for missing curfew twice in the same night, and always struggled to keep his weight down. Fed up with Caracter, head coach Rick Pitino eventually asked the big man to leave the school.

Caracter headed out the door before Floyd ever got to El Paso, but ended his collegiate career transferring around, much like he did in high school, having attended four high schools in four years. That's six schools in eight years, if anyone's counting.

Expect fireworks from Floyd out of El Paso, where the academic hurdles are significantly lower than the ones in place at USC.

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HOUSTON -- At first, the Cougars are an inconspicuous bunch. Head coach Tom Penders led Houston to six straight winning seasons and, most recently, an NCAA Tournament appearance, before stepping down this past season.

Penders' tenure at Houston was mostly clean, but his past was not. He resigned from George Washington after being bought out of his contract with the University of Texas. At GW, he let four of his players run up more than $1,400 in long distance phone calls and signed transfer Attila Cosby, who had a criminal history that looked like the white pages. At Texas, rumors surfaced after Penders reportedly released the grades of former player Luke Axtell to an Austin-area radio station.

Penders' reputation was far from spotless, though he seemed to tone things down in Houston. Still, during its coaching search, the Houston fan base was begging for a slimier coach.

Two of Houston's most ideal candidates were Billy Gillispie and UTEP's Tim Floyd. Floyd's rap sheet was detailed earlier in this entry, but Gillispie's past is so bad that it's shocking he's even still being considered for a head coaching gig.

He left Texas A&M for the Kentucky job and notified his team via text message. At Kentucky, he got a commitment from NBA-bound freshman Daniel Orton, whose father is a motivational speaker that Gillispie paid roughly $25,000 to speak on-campus in Lexington. Orton committed to the Wildcats shortly thereafter.

Despite this -- and a handful of DUI arrests -- Houston was close to hiring Gillispie. The Cougars settled for James Dickey, the former coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who also had a checkered past.

Dickey was fired from Texas Tech after a set of academic violations stripped the Red Raiders of its Sweet 16 appearance in 1996 and took away nine scholarships over the course of four years. Though Dickey was not implicated, he never had a winning season and was fired shortly thereafter.

Not surprisingly, Dickey grew as a coach under Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton, whose affliction for alcohol practically cost him the job in Stillwater. Sutton was once the coach of Kentucky and was investigated for several violations, the most noteworthy of which was an envelope broke open containing $1,000 in cash that was addressed to future NBAer Chris Mills' house.

Back to Houston -- the Cougars boasted a league-high nine transfer or junior college players on this year's roster, which may not mean much outside of a lack of a commitment to a stringent academic acceptance policy.

For the rest of this series:
Part 4: The Golden Child(ren)
Part 3: The Middle Ground
Part 1: Basketball's Wild Wild West

NFL mock draft

Today is a good day. It's the 2010 NFL Draft, and while it has been stupidly extended from two days to three days, it's still a glorious event. Now, better than ever, we've got a good idea of who is going where. So without further ado, here's the last documented NFL mock draft before things kick off at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

1st pick - St. Louis - QB Sam Bradford, Oklahoma -- after releasing QB Marc Bulger, the Rams couldn't possibly go into the upcoming season without a new quarterback. That man is Bradford, without a doubt.

2nd pick - Detroit - DT Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska -- the most talented player in the draft going to a team that desperately needs help shoring up its defensive line. Suh will create havoc on the Lions' line.

3rd pick - Tampa Bay - DT Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma -- Warren Sapp version 2.0, McCoy will fit into Tampa Bay's defensive schemes better than Suh would have.

4th pick - Washington - OT Trent Williams, Oklahoma -- Washington seems to prefer Williams, who has a higher ceiling but is the higher gamble between the two top 10 tackles.

5th pick - Kansas City - OT Russell Okung, Oklahoma St. -- Okung has been called the more polished player, and will anchor the Chiefs' o-line for years to come. His potential is lower than Williams, scouts say, but he is the safer pick at this point.

6th pick - Seattle - RB CJ Spiller, Clemson -- running back Julius Jones proved last year that he's not a long-term solution for the Seahawks. Jones finished with 177 carries for 663 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Spiller is a producer and will be able to fill in on special teams as well, in a Darren Sproles-esque role.

7th pick - Cleveland - S Eric Berry, Tennessee -- one of the top three most talented players in the draft, Berry may slide down to Cleveland due to the offensive and defensive linemen getting nabbed in the top five. Berry is a playmaker that scouts say remind them of Ronnie Lott and the Browns need him in the worst way.

8th pick - Oakland - DE/LB Jason Pierre-Paul, South Florida -- Oakland needs help everywhere, and it probably won't go with the smart pick (Pierre-Paul). Instead, the Raiders will probably draft a wide receiver or an offensive lineman -- not that they don't need either of those positions, it just wouldn't address their biggest needs. Pierre-Paul has a great frame, good fundamentals and is versatile enough to plug in the gaps at different spots in Oakland.

9th pick - Buffalo - QB Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame -- Buffalo is either drafting the best available quarterback, which is Clausen at No. 9, or the best available offensive tackle. You're only as good as your line, but with new head coach Chan Gailey taking over, you have to think that he'll want to groom a young franchise quarterback like Clausen.

10th pick - Jacksonville - S Earl Thomas, Texas -- the Jaguars need help at safety with some doubt surrounding Reggie Nelson's ability to play at a high level, and the rest of the safeties on Jacksonville's roster are nothing to write home about. Thomas has big play potential and is a good value at this pick. There's almost no chance that Berry is still around at 10, and Taylor Mays is more of a late first round pick at this point.

11th pick - Denver - WR Dez Bryant, Oklahoma St. -- with Brandon Marshall no longer on the roster, the Broncos' wide receiver corps is painfully average. Bryant is the lone budding star at wide receiver in a draft weak at that position.

12th pick - Miami - DT Dan Williams, Tennessee -- the Dolphins may have drafted Rolando McClain if they hadn't acquired Karlos Dansby, but now Miami's biggest need is to address the defensive line. Suh and McCoy will be long-gone by now, but Williams is a playmaker and a solid choice here.

13th pick - San Francisco - CB Joe Haden, Florida -- San Francisco's most pressing need is arguably at cornerback, where it has no star players. Though Haden's 40-time at the NFL Combine was worrisome, he is the best available player at a position the 49ers need to address.

14th pick - Seattle - OT Bryan Bulaga, Iowa -- Bulaga may not last this long, but if he does, Seattle ought to draft the Hawkeyes tackle. LT Walter Jones missed all of last year and could retire, and if he does, the Seahawks are without a franchise left tackle. Bulaga would fill that void.

15th pick - NY Giants - LB Rolando McClain, Alabama -- McClain may get taken earlier in the draft, but there's no way he slips past the Giants. By far the best inside linebacker in the draft, the Alabama product would be a great replacement for MLB Antonio Pierce, who is no longer with New York.

Charles Barkley's new toy: the Shake Weight

If you haven't seen it already, the Shake Weight™ is one of the best products in the As Seen on TV catalog.

It's a better fitness item than the Bender Ball, Billy Blanks' Tae Bo and the Hollywood 24 Hour Miracle Diet.

The Shake Weight is a slinky-like weight that claims to tone up women's arms by shaking the object back and forth in an incredibly pornographic and hypnotizing motion.

NBA Hall of Famer and hilarious NBA analyst Charles Barkley discovered the Shake Weight and demonstrated how to use it on TNT in the clip shown below.

Since his retirement, The Round Mound of Rebound has become, well, The Extra Round Mound of Rebound.

Even though the Shake Weight is designed for women, it has started being marketed for men on BuyShakeWeightForMen.com. And Barkley is clearly taking advantage of his new-found discovery by showing Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson just how it works.

"You're pretty good without the instructions," Smith jokes. "The only thing about this weight, if you do it too much, you go blind."

The camera crew erupts with laughter. Enjoy the video below, as his fellow analysts laugh as hard -- or harder -- than you will.

Dick Vitale loves Tim Tebow

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale, known for his affection toward Duke basketball, endorsed Florida quarterback Tim Tebow in his column on ESPN.com yesterday.

Gee, why am I not surprised? Outside of Syracuse quarterback -- and former Duke point guard -- Greg Paulus, Tebow is the most Duke-like player in college football.

"I believe that a number of NFL teams will look back and realize they made a mistake by not grabbing Tim Tebow in the first round," Vitale writes.

Well, it's a good thing Vitale isn't an NFL scout, because some team would be getting really screwed if he was.

The 70-year old former high school, college and pro basketball coach -- I can't stress this enough, he has no background in football whatsoever -- explains that with Tebow, "there is something about that kid that you can't teach. He is a winner with a fierce, competitive drive to be the best he can be."

Nobody's questioning his drive, Dick. They're questioning his ability to make tough passes, get the ball to his receivers in stride, not float passes, not look to run before a play finishes developing, work on his new throwing technique and his footwork, and learn a playbook.

But no, Dick says. "He is so durable, too -- he has a great body and the ability to take a pounding."

Really? Aside from the obvious laugh that gave me from a dirty joke perspective, let's not forget that Tebow was rushed to the hospital after suffering a concussion against Kentucky.

Vitale finishes his column by comparing Tebow's desire to succeed to several NBA rookies, including Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans.

As great as that is, if NFL scouts, who are paid to do this for a living, think that Tebow's new throwing technique -- the equivalent to a basketball player's jump shot, Dick, if you're reading this -- isn't going to cut it in the pros, then maybe, just maybe, he's not worth a first round draft pick.

Orioles turn down Cal Ripken for a job

With the worst record in the league and no playoff appearances since 1997, it only makes sense that the Baltimore Orioles (2-11) are in a position to turn down Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. for a job.

Coincidentally, the last time the O's were relevant, Ripken started all 162 games.

Ripken met with President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail, apparently the only person in Baltimore's front office without his head up his own butt.

Despite this meeting, team owner Peter Angelos apparently told Ripken that he didn't want to hire the Iron Man because he didn't want Ripken "to receive credit once the team returned to prominence," FoxSports.com reported.

After the story broke, Angelos told the Baltimore Sun that the report was "grossly incorrect," though the owner later admitted he had a hard time believing that Ripken "would somehow take a secondary or minor role in operation of the Orioles."

With rumors that manager Dave Trembley may be on his way out -- and at 2-11, most managers would have their offices packed -- Angelos likely wants to keep the team focused on the current season, rather than a potential change in coaching.

According to the Fox Sports source, though, Ripken and MacPhail didn't even discuss a specific role. Rather, Ripken wanted to help young players like catcher Matt Wieters reach their full potential.

Oh, the audacity.

The weirdest part? Ripken is the CEO of Ripken Baseball, Inc., a company that owns three minor league teams, including Baltimore's single-A affiliate Aberdeen IronBirds.

Conference USA: Basketball's Wild Wild West

Note: The following is the first of a four-part series on Conference USA basketball, which will run every Friday from now until completion.

The waters of Conference USA basketball run murky. The rosters of its teams are lined with kids who couldn't make the grade by the NCAA's standards, or were dismissed from high-major programs; the coaches are mostly retreads with checkered pasts, often including recruiting violations, scandals, and rehab facilities.

For high school seniors on the fringe of qualifying academically, the choice often comes down to prep school, junior college, or playing in a league with lower academic hurdles, like Conference USA.

It's the highest level of college basketball an athlete can play without needing to prep first.

=====

The biggest difference between Conference USA and the big six conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC) is that C-USA allows partial qualifiers, or student-athletes who don't fully qualify.

The NCAA's basic eligibility requirements involve a sliding scale. The lowest GPA a student-athlete can receive while still qualifying is a 2.0. The lower the GPA, the higher the SAT scores need to be, and vice versa.

With a 2.5 GPA, a student-athlete needs an 820 SAT score to fully qualify for an ACC or Big East program. A 3.0 means he can score a 620.

In Conference USA, though, partial qualifying means that a student can have a 2.0 GPA and not reach the 1010 SAT score; or, a 400 on the SATs without the required 3.55 GPA results in partial qualification.

The ACC can admit two partial qualifiers per year in all men's sports. With football teams boasting 85 scholarships, most of the time, these academic exceptions go to the gridiron.

Meanwhile, Conference USA schools can bring in four partial or non-qualifiers per year, including one in basketball.

Non-qualifiers don't meet the minimum SAT score or grade point average. As of 2001, East Carolina's football team could admit five per year. Non-qualifiers pay their way through the first year and aren't allowed to practice with the team. However, after spending a year getting their grades in order, they are eligible to play and receive a scholarship. If, after four years, they are still in good academic standing, they get a fourth year of eligibility and can come back for a fifth year.

From 1995 to 2001, East Carolina admitted 20 non-qualifiers. Tulane allowed 25 exceptions per year, even though most of them went to football. The higher level of college graduation from these partial and non-qualifiers, the more each school is allowed to admit each year.

At Tulane, up to 40% of signees across all sports could be partial qualifiers, a jaw-dropping number.

For big six conferences, non-qualifiers don't even exist. These student-athletes can qualify eventually, but only after going to prep school or junior college first.

Partial qualifiers and second chances. Welcome to the world of Conference USA basketball.

For the rest of this series:
Part 4: The Golden Child(ren)
Part 3: The Middle Ground
Part 2: The Used Car Salesmen

Everything's bigger in Texas

Behold this magnificent new football stadium, fit for a king -- or several thousand kings. With a budget of nearly $60 million, it will be about as big as 50% of Division I-AA football stadiums, with a seating capacity of 18,000.

Except it's not a college football stadium. It's the new home of the Allen High School Eagles in Dallas, Texas.

The stadium features a video scoreboard, four concession stands and 12 bathrooms. With a student body of 3,900 students, the need for an 18,000-seat stadium shows just how big Friday night lights are in Texas.

Keep in mind, Allen Eagles Stadium will be nearly 50% larger than Villanova Stadium, home of the 2009 FCS champion Wildcats. It would be the fourth largest stadium in the Colonial Athletic Association, which may eventually join the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Allen High has some notable alumni, including Casey Dick, the University of Arkansas quarterback from 2005 to 2008, and Julie McCullough, who played Julie Costello on Growing Pains in the 1980s.

With $60 million in what I can only assume is taxpayer money, Tim Carroll, the school district's public information director, noted that the construction of the stadium was "not that controversial."

There will, of course, be a student section, which Rivals.com reports will look like a college football team. And the band, naturally, is 600 members deep, the biggest in the country.

Five thousand of the 18,000 seats will be sold to season ticket holders, while 4,000 will go to the students -- 100 more than all of its four grades combined, but whatever -- and 5,300 seats will be for the visitors.

So I guess the saying really is true: everything is bigger in Texas.

Two Providence players suspended for assault

Providence freshmen basketball players James Still and Johnnie Lacy wanted to get their minds off the Friars' disappointing 12-19 (4-14 Big East) season, which ended on March 9th with a 109-106 loss to Seton Hall.

So they set off to do what any normal college kid would do to blow off a little steam: they beat the crap out of the first person they saw.

Wait, that's not normal? Most people make some food, have a beer, watch some TV or go to the gym when they get bored? But assaulting someone? Well, whatever floats your boat.

According to Magistrate Joseph P. Ippolito Jr., Lacy and Still "said they were going to beat up the next male they saw. ... The victim was just in the wrong place."

The victim, Yerkin Abdrakhmanov, not only has a name that is nearly impossible to pronounce, but he also has a broken nose and eye socket. He's also a 21-year old resident advisor from Kazakhstan. Nothing says RAs are cool like getting jumped by two guys on the basketball team!

Still and Lacy have been suspended from the team until the investigation is complete. Lacy had already announced his intentions to transfer from the team prior to the alleged assault.

Combined, the two contributed an average of 13 minutes, 2.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. How on earth will head coach Keno Davis be able to replace that kind of production?

Nike, Duke getting frisky in Sports Illustrated

Get your barf bags ready.

Duke men's basketball, one of the most polarizing things on the planet, collaborated with Nike, the world's biggest shoe company, to produce the advertisement equivalent of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

ORDER HAS BEEN RESTORED, the ad that appeared in last week's issue of Sports Illustrated obnoxiously proclaims, with the Duke logo above it.

The only thing that redeems this from being on-par with Geico and AT&T commercials is that, assuming this was a national ad, Duke paid somewhere between $166,500 and $238,000 for the full-page brag, according to the rate card.

Of course, part of this is envy. I would love to see a full-age Maryland Under Armour ad appear in S.I. after the Terps take home a National Championship.

I wouldn't, however, love to see that my hard-earned and donated dollars went toward an advertisement for the hell of it.

So cheers to you, Duke athletic department. Enjoy your one year atop the mountain, because next year it's going to be someone else's turn. And chances are, they won't feel the need to take out an insufferable full-page advertisement about it.

But if history is any indicator, we'll see the Blue Devils in exactly nine years, as Duke has won the Championship in 1992, 2001 and 2010.

Do you think they get a cheaper rate for reserving an ad with S.I. nine years in advance?

Wake's to-be hire a puzzling one

Perhaps even more puzzling than firing men's basketball head coach Dino Gaudio is the fact that the leading candidate for his replacement is Colorado Buffaloes head coach Jeff Bzdelik (buzz-DEL-ik).

Oh, you've never heard of Bzdelik and/or didn't know how to pronounce his name prior to that last sentence? That puts you in the vast majority of East Coast (and ACC) college basketball fans.

Sidebar: Let's be clear. Gaudio is a terrible Xs and Os coach, but a capable recruiter. He wasn't necessarily a part of the Demon Deacons' 10-year plan, but it was an odd time to fire him, after leading Wake Forest to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Bzdelik isn't an up-and-comer. He's a 57-year old guy whose greatest claim to fame is coaching Carmelo Anthony in Denver during 'Melo's rookie year.

Let's dig in to Bzdelik's resume, which may or may not include an AARP membership.

After eight years of being an assistant with Davidson and Northwestern, Bzdelik finally got his first taste of head coaching in 1986, when he led the UMBC led the Retrievers to a 25-31 record over two years.

It's unclear whether he was fired or just left the job to join the Washington Bullets as an assistant. He served as an NBA assistant or scout for the next 14 years before getting promoted to head coach for the Denver Nuggets in 2002.

Denver went 17-65 in his first season coaching. The Nuggets drafted Carmelo the next year and, coincidentally, Denver's record skyrocketed to 43-39. The luster wore off in 2004, though, as Bzdelik was canned after a 13-15 start to the season. A 73-119 record over two and a half years of coaching in the pros.

After a year on the unemployment line, Bzdelik got another paying gig in college hoops, this time for Air Force, where he guided the Falcons to a 24-7 and 26-9 record over two years. Air Force reached the NCAA Tournament first round and the NIT Final Four in back-to-back years, and all of a sudden, Bzdelik was a hot name.

Since 2007, he's been coaching Colorado. Here's where the puzzling part of this begins. The Buffaloes are 36-58 (10-38 Big 12) in three years under Bzdelik. Usually that's grounds for being fired, not promoted.

Bzdelik has no real ties to the Winston-Salem area, other than a tight friendship with athletic director Ron Wellman and a daughter attending Wake Forest.

His head coaching profile includes a 180-223 record and no consistent success. He's flopped at Colorado, and his recruiting hasn't been impressive despite a brief stint in the NBA.

Wake Forest is interviewing Bzdelik today, which reports indicate is just a formality at this point.

Sometimes, nepotism pays.

How 'bout dem Orioles, hon?

The Orioles are already out to a hardly-torrid 1-2 start after their opening series against the Rays, but today is special. Today is Baltimore's home opener.

It's a little late for a season preview, but that's not stopping me. Here, courtesy of the brain of loyal reader Kelaine, is an inning of Orioles baseball. Three up(sides) and three down(sides) to the remaining 159 games of the 2010 season.

Up:

1. Youth - The Orioles have a young corps of talent. While some of that talent is still up-and-coming in the minors, a good bit of it is already on the major league roster, and making an impact already. Pitcher Brian Matusz, the Orioles' 2008 first round draft pick, earned his first win of the season last night, allowing just two runs in five innings against the Rays. Catcher Matt Wieters finished 2009 with 96 games under his belt, and was on pace to hit 15 home runs and drive in 73 RBI in his rookie season. Outfielder Adam Jones is in his third season as a major league starter, and earned an All-Star Game nod last year. Fellow outfielder Nolan Reimold is showing equal promise and has good pop on his bat after 104 games in the bigs last year. Other exciting youth is on the way, either in AA Bowie or AAA Norfolk. Get excited.
   
2. Pitching - Six of Baseball America's top 10 Orioles prospects are pitchers. Why is that exciting? Because only one of them is on the major league roster right now -- Matusz. The others: Jake Arrieta, Zach Britton, Matt Hobgood, Brandon Erbe and Kam Mickolio are all expected to join the roster in the next year are so, which is good news for an organization that has struggled in the pitching department for years.
   
3. In MacPhail we trust - As I detailed in a March post, president of operations Andy MacPhail is a battle-tested guy who knows talent when he sees it. He's already made two, arguably three, favorable trades for the Orioles in his short time, and has built a promising farm system in that time as well.
   

Down:

1. The now - The Orioles won't win a lot this year. Vegas pegged Baltimore around 72-74 wins this season, which means no postseason. It means a better draft pick next year, and a better opportunity to infuse the franchise with some promising youth. It's not about this year. It's about the (near) future.
   
2. The division - Let's face it. As good as the Orioles get, they'll still face off against the Yankees and the Red Sox a ton during the regular season. The Rays and Jays are no walk in the park, either. Swap the O's with the Washington Nationals in the NL East, and Baltimore might finish above .500 for the first time since Cal Ripken was on the roster. No, seriously.
   
3. The bullpen - Not so much a downside as it is an unknown, Baltimore's bullpen is incredibly unproven. Mark Hendrickson is old and washed up, Jason Berken and Mike Gonzalez are unknown -- at least in the bullpen role. Matt Albers is young, Jim Johnson and Cla Meredith are hardly proven, and Will Ohman has shown some life despite being 33 years old.
   

The Masters preview

OK, a good chunk of the field has already teed off, but that doesn't mean there's not time for a quick preview of The Masters.

Despite competing in his first tournament in a while, Tiger Woods is still the odds-on favorite to emerge as the winner of The Masters, at 4-to-5. Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els are the next most likely at 2-to-1 each.

5Dimes.com has the most proposition bets on Woods of any sportsbook, including the following:

• How will Tiger do on the first hole? Eagle (200-to-1), birdie or eagle (5-to-1), par (1-to-2), bogey or worse (2.5-to-1).
  
• Tiger's first shot hits a tree (11-to-1).
  
• How many bogeys will Tiger get in the first round? 0-3 (1-to-1.25), 4-5 (2.5-to-1), 6 or more (3-to-1).
  
• Tiger leads at the end of any round. (2.5-to-1)
• Tiger's highest round over/under 74.
  
• Tiger goes 72 holes without a bogey or worse (70-to-1).
  

You get the idea. Everybody's eyes are on Tiger, as they probably should be. Sleazebag or no sleazebag, the storyline entering The Masters is how Woods will do after so many weeks outside of the golfing world.

We all know it's the storyline, for better or worse, if you've watched ESPN at all in the last week. Even 5Dimes knows it, as it offers only propositions on Tiger and no other golfer.

I am interested to hear, though, what everybody thinks about Tiger coming back, so I included a poll below.

UConn ladies win an ugly one

Disclaimer: Apologies in advance if and when this post comes off as chauvinistic.

Last night was a big step back for women's college basketball. As in, the sport went from mostly unwatchable to completely unwatchable.

The UConn ladies finished their season an incredible 39-0, topping fellow No. 1 seed Stanford (36-2) by six in the championship after trailing by eight at the half.

A great story in itself, if, perhaps, a coworker told you that in passing today.

Digging into the championship game, the showdown between the top two teams in the country ended up barely edging out BookTV on CSPAN.

While tons of future WNBAers lined up against each other, neither team could make an exciting game. And trust me, a 53-47 finish, despite the closeness, was not what the sport needed.

Women's basketball isn't flashy. It doesn't have dunks (usually) or alley-oops. It relies on marksmen (or markswomen?) who shoot at a 50 percent-or-better clip. It's a game of accuracy.

That's why UConn winning, despite shooting 33 percent, is such a disaster. At least it was better than Stanford's 27 percent from the floor.

Take out the game's two high scorers -- UConn's Maya Moore and Stanford's Kayla Pedersen -- and the Huskies shot 25 percent (10-for-40), while the Lady Cardinal shot 24 percent (13-for-55).

Outside of Moore and Pedersen, UConn shot 20 percent (3-for-15) from three-point range, while Stanford shot 29 percent (5-for-17). And the Huskies trailed 20-12 at the half. Yuck.

OK, enough with the stats. It was an ugly game, you get it. The point is, this was exactly what women's college basketball didn't need. It needed a high-scoring game that was close at the end. It needed enough plays to merit some Top 10 plays on SportsCenter. It needed a pulse.

UConn was favored by no less than 15 points in each of its six games throughout the tournament. The lack of parity is a problem that doesn't appear to be going away any time soon. ESPN.com isn't helping the matter.

Instead of highlighting the rest of the 64 teams in the tournament, seven of the 10 headlines under women's basketball are UConn-related. With the top five or so programs in the country so far ahead of the rest of the sport, look for another UConn-Tennessee final next year.

RIP Butler

No daughter of mine will ever date anybody who cheered or would cheer for the team pictured on the right.

Because, as some of my friends and I discussed yesterday, the type of people who cheer for Duke last night also root for the following: genocide, oil spills, sitcoms with laugh tracks, cholesterol, body odor, kicking puppies, gag reflexes, clogged drains and full diapers. You get the idea.

Ultimately, Goliath beat David, as he does nine times out of 10. Unless Butler joins the Big Ten in the next 50 years, it won't be in the National Championship game again.

Duke collected its fourth National Championship in 15 trips to the Final Four. And it couldn't have happened to a more hateable team.

Really, though. Put down your $5 bracket, even with a $100 prize pool on the line if Duke wins. Realize that this could be history in the making. Appreciate Butler forward Matt Howard's 1970s porn star mustache. Cheer for star Gordon Hayward's (likely) last game in a Butler uniform. Root for the 33-year old coach in Brad Stevens who has amassed an 89-15 record in three years as a head coach.

And boo the incessant flopping from Duke's tandem of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Brian Zoubek. Consider that coach Mike Krzyzewski didn't need a fourth National Championship ring. Three is plenty. Don't be greedy.

I have never cheered for a non-Maryland team as hard as I did last night. Hayward's late fadeaway jumper and desperation half-court shot both came up just short. Butler went home as the runner-up, while the rich got richer.

McNabb a Redskin

Peep this week's column in The Daily Get Up about Washington's acquisition of quarterback Donovan McNabb, the face of the rival Philadelphia Eagles' franchise.

McNabb is now 33 years old, but his mileage is misleading. Having started for the Eagles for the last 10 seasons and weathered the Philadelphia fans' abuse, I wouldn't be surprised to see him hang it up for good after this season.

The Redskins give up their second round pick -- the 37th overall selection -- as well as a third or fourth rounder next year.

Essentially, Washington just drafted a 33-year old quarterback in the second round.

He also becomes the fourth veteran acquisition the Redskins' front office has made under new head coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen, after adding running backs Larry Johnson and Willie Parker and cornerback Phillip Buchanon.

Wise moves for a team contending for a Super Bowl, like the Patriots. Not so much for a team that finished 4-12 last season and desperately needs to rebuild its offensive line.

Anyway, for more details, give the column a read. And drop me a comment, either in this entry or that one.

Which way to the gun show?

Cleveland Browns nose tackle Shaun Rogers was already a scary dude on the football field. A three-time Pro Bowler, Rogers just got a little scarier off the field.

Rogers was arrested yesterday at Cleveland's airport after trying to bring a loaded handgun on the plane.

Whoops!

Rogers has a concealed weapon permit for Michigan, but not Ohio. Hopefully Rogers knows that he lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Though he claimed that he forgot that the gun was in his luggage, Rogers may not be the trustworthiest of characters.

In 2006, he was suspended four games for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, and in 2007, he was accused of sexually assaulting a stripper.

If Rogers gets convicted, he could face anywhere from probation to five years in prison. Carrying a concealed weapon is a third-degree felony in Ohio.

Crying foul

It's just over a month until Mother's Day, but Minnesota Twins centerfielder Denard Span is going to have some serious sucking up to do between now and then.

Span hit a foul ball in the first inning of a spring training game against the Yankees that sailed over the third base dugout and hit his mom, Wanda Wilson, directly in the chest.

Some son you are! I may have never bought my mom a mansion in Beverly Hills, but ask her if I've ever hit her with a foul ball in a spring training game. I bet she says I haven't.

Wilson was treated by paramedics with Span by her side. Though she was back in her seat shortly, Span was shaken up to the point where he had to leave the game in the third inning, after telling a team official that his head wasn't in the game.

Still, his mom insists that she is OK. "Tell everyone that I'm alright. Everyone was so worried, [Span] was so worried, he was so worried. But I'm alright," Wilson told the Associated Press after the game.

The worst part? Wilson was wearing her son's jersey. Though, maybe after this experience, she'll start sporting a Justin Morneau jersey instead.

It's OK, Denard. Go to Minneapolis' nearest tattoo parlor and get a mom tattoo. And be ready to shell out for some serious Mother's Day gifts.