This Bobby Petrino Atlanta/Arkansas mess seems to be affecting other coaching searches outside of Fayetteville and the S.E.C.  The UCLA athletic department is still searching, but names like Norm Chow and Rick Neuheisel have surfaced.

Don't know if you knew or not, but USC just wrapped up a title in women's soccer. And the recently published "Fair Game Awards" from the College Cup have the USC team or members of the team taking four of the first five awards. The only one of those five they didn't win was the "Sore Loser" award. That went to UCLA. Are the UCLA soccer girls hanging around the USC football players again?

It should be noted that UCLA earned the "Sore Loser award" thanks to some players who didn't show up at a press conference after they were knocked out of the tournament, in the semifinals, by their rivals. That's some serious sore losing....

Gopher Nation, a Minnesota Golden Gophers blog, has come out with their Post-season NIT football bracket. Among the invitees: Nebraska, Washington, Miami, Minnesota, Idaho, and Notre Dame. Washington and Notre Dame will be playing in the first round, which figures to be a great match-up. Look for Mr. Willingham to get some revenge on Notre Dame. And beat up the offensive genius Charlie Weis (3-9 season? what?!?!?) while he's at it. We'll keep an eye on this tournament as it progresses.

The Mitchell Report was released yesterday, sending the MLB into chaos. Among the names mentioned for steroid use include Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Eric Gagne, and many, many others. While three former Sun Devils were mentioned in the report, no former Beavers were on the list to the best of my knowledge.

Mike Stutes, the pitcher who played a crucial role in both of Oregon State's championship seasons, is picking up some pre-season attention. He was named to the Wallace Award watch list earlier this week, and has also been placed on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Pre-season All America Second team.

GO BEAVERS!

--JB--