Reaffirming "America's Team"

Okay, so I will admit it: I nearly teared up watching the America's Game documentary of the 1992 Dallas Cowboys.

And it appears, to my childish delight, that I am not the only one who holds in their hearts the silver and blue clad team from the heart of Texas.

According to a Harris Interactive poll released in October, the Cowboys were viewed as America's favorite football team amongst those who consider themselves football fans. The Cowboys have been chosen as America's favorite team six times since 1998, and have appeared in the top five every year since 1998.

Say what you will about the likes of Jerry Jones, Wade Phillips, Tony Romo, and the rest of the lot, but the team has been consistently voted the national jewel of the NFL.

Instead of Iverson, sign Swift

No, no, not Stromile. The sexy blonde one.

In an interview aired on NBC last night, Taylor Swift sheepishly told NBC anchor Matt Lauer that she knew it took one whole minute for her to sell out a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Baffling. Only a blink of an eye was needed for 18,200 seats to be sold to see "You Belong to Me" and "White Horse."

For a team stuck in neutral at 3-13, the Knicks could sure use something to pull their heads out. How about that 12th (wo)man on the end of the bench wearing nothing underneath the snap-on warmups? Think distraction, like Connie in Mighty Ducks.

Dixon to start at QB for Steelers on Sunday

Former University of Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon will get the starting nod against the Baltimore Ravens Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers, replacing injured veterans Ben Rothlisberger (concussion) and Charlie Batch (wrist).

Dixon, a second-year Oakland native, has one career pass to his name. Dixon threw for 2,136 yards and ran for 583 while adding a total of 29 touchdowns in his injury-shortened senior season at Oregon.

Top Cheating Moments in Soccer History

Following the media feeding frenzy (here and here) surrounding Theirry Henry's apparent handball during France's World Cup qualifying win over Ireland Wednesday, it's time to take a look back in history to some memorable cheating, or at least embellishment, moments in soccer's storied history.

3. Christiano Ronaldo's dive against England...and others - Nonwithstanding his status as one of the most prolific and dangerous players with the ball at his feet or in front of goal, Ronaldo does have a propensity for going down quite easily near any hint of contact. Ronaldo, who can employ the dive in many ways to earn a set piece or a penalty, has used the technique frequently in club and national team matches. While I won't cite a specific example to indict Ronaldo here, the guy does his fair share of cheating.

2. Maradona's "Hand of God" - The gold standard of handballs, Maradona's highly controversial handball helped Argentina to a 2-1 win over England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Argentina would later go on to win the final. After his seething rant following Argentina sealing their bid to the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer, Maradona has surely immortalized himself as anything but a stand-up guy. His previous cocaine usage won't canonize him with soccer supporters, either.

1. Henry's handball - While Maradona's handball may have come at the highest level of competition for soccer, Henry's handball was in the qualification for that very same World Cup competition. However, the kicker here is that Henry handled the ball not once, but twice. Plus, the incident happened in extra time, with the match almost certainly going to penalties, barring a late (kegal) goal by either side. Additionally, play was stopped for 97 seconds to determine whether or not the ball had been handled. After a pow-wow between match officials, Henry's goal was given the go-ahead. In a match clearly dominated by the Irish, France escaped with the aggregate goal victory and the berth to the World Cup.

A friend's take on the Tennessee football team's ongoings

The beauty of the Web 2.0 world is the advent of user generated content. A prime example of that? Well, this blog right here, of course -- a fine example of why the blogging folks like myself matter in getting the word out.

Okay, enough idealistic diplomacy. Instead, I'll hit you with a dose of more user generated content: an opinion piece authored by a high school friend and a student at the University of Tennessee. Though the student newspaper at Tennessee turned his letter to the editor down, who am I to blockade the dissemination of valuable opinions?

After overhearing people discussing it seemingly all day, I really think everyone is being a little too harsh on our freshman football felons. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning their actions, and I’m sure we all shared the same reaction when we saw the news headline that three of our players were arrested, thinking to ourselves “These guys are dummies. Oh my God, please don’t let it be Eric Berry.... wait, what the hell is a 'mike edwards'.” However, the outcry of criticism that has followed is confusing to me. First of all, contrary to what I keep hearing, I think this reflects terrifically upon the integrity of our University, proving that our boosters clearly aren’t providing our players with any illegal gifts or cash to play here. Secondly, stop with the double-standard when judging athletes; I mean, let’s be honest, who hasn’t at least thought about committing an armed robbery once or twice in their life? Granted, these players didn’t quite Oceans 11 their failed heist, as the Strip doesn’t exactly qualify as “incognito.” In fact, if they had taken their pellet gun a few blocks into the Fort, it would have been an email from UT police breaking the news, rather than a suave Sportscenter host. Anyway, my point is that I think we should ease up on Nu’Keese and Janzen, and stop pretending like anybody actually cares whether our football players have “moral integrity” just so long as they pay enough visits to the endzone. Perhaps I’m simply numb to it, since I’ve been getting robbed repeatedly by the UT athletic department every time I want a football ticket.

-Brennan Scotland

Top 3 players who won't contribute to Zags' scoreline this season

There's been lots of chatter on the sports front as to who will fill the scoring holes around Matt Bouldin this season: Will Demetri Goodson turn into a threat from the perimeter to go along with his Flash-like quickness slashing to the cup? Can Robert Sacre stay healthy and provide the big body inside Gonzaga needs to keep opponents out of the lane and off the boards?

I don't know any better than you do. Instead, I'll tell you what I do know: who won't be contributing to the stat sheet with Austin Daye, Jeremy Pargo, Ira Brown and Josh Heytvelt departed.

1. David Stockton: Okay, he has the pedigree for being a star at GU -- but so what? With dad John and grandfather Houston in the cushy seats at McCarthey Athletic Center, you can bet they'll want to see the little guy get some time on the floor. Problem is, he doesn't have the attributes to help the team out. Clearly undersized for the Division I and even Western Athletic Conference game at 5-10 and a gaunt 150, his physical attributes won't allow him to bang around on the floor with larger, more athletic opponents (Read: Call up Karl Malone at Lousiana Tech and hit the weights). Additionally, he's buried in the pecking order behind G.J. Vilarino and Grant Gibbs, so he won't see the hardwood much this year.

2. Chris Pontarolo-Maag: After playing second fiddle to last year's most notable walk-on suiting up for the Zags, Andrew Sorenson (19 games played, 3.9 minutes per game), Pontarolo-Maag steps into the high-profile role of the Zags best practice player/cheerleader/garbage time hotshot. In seven games of action last year, he went 1-4 from the field and missed his only three-pointer he attempted. This is good news for Pontarolo-Maag, who should be on pace to shatter those standards from last year and move a few rungs up the Zags all-time scoring list this year when he gets some time off the pine.

3. Mike Hart: Another of the walk-on breed in the vein of Pontarolo-Maag and Sorenson. Although he has the size (6-5) of a D-I prospect, I assume the skill set isn't as filled out as Coach Few would like to see, which explains his 3 minutes of time he logged in the exhibition game against Alberta. Hart does have a record of success from Jesuit High School in Portland, where his team made the state tournament annually and he played against the likes of Kyle Singler and Kevin Love during his prep basketball career.

Whitworth soccer could nail down trifecta of titles tomorrow

On the precipiece of a historic day tomorrow, the Whitworth men's soccer team could venture into uncharted territory tomorrow. A win over visiting in-state rivals Whitman College would give the Pirates a third consecutive Northwest Conference title, a feat that has not come to pass in almost 20 years. Whitworth was the last team to complete the three-peat, winning three straight from 1988-90.

But Whitworth sports have seen a revival over the past 10 years, as teams across the board have pushed the school into the upper echelon of athletic achievement in the region. The Whitworth football team is 66-29 over the past nine-plus seasons. The women's cross country team ran to their first Northwest Conference title in school history this season, following up on a second-place team finish in 2008 and the first ever NCAA Championships qualification in 2002. The men's cross country team won their first NWC title in 2008 and earned their first berth to the NCAA Championships.

The men's golf team won three straight NWC titles from 2004-2007. The men's basketball team will look to build upon three straight conference titles when the season tips off this fall. The women's soccer team is enjoying their second winningest season in school history at 16-3 this year. And the men's team has won over 73 percent of their games in their last ten-plus seasons.

It's been a banner decade for Whitworth sports. And on the cusp of adding another trophy to the athletics case, fans should be content to sit back and enjoy the golden age of Division III athletics in Spokane.

Crazy legs

Growing up, I watched a lot of football with my family. My Grandpa Don, a down-home Cajun from New Orleans, always has something to say about the game. Whether he's shouting "Run, boy, run!" at the tube or saying "You stupid son of a..."

One of the most notable of his sayings, however, is "That boy runs like 'Crazy Legs' Hirsch out there." This post is a tribute to the good times I've had watching football with him.

Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, starred for the Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference. An oustanding player, Hirsch posted career numbers of 387 catches, 7,029 yards and 60 touchdowns. Hirsch also won an NFL championship and was named Pro Player of the Year with the Rams in 1951 after posting a 66-reception, 1,495-yard, 17 touchdown season. Hirsch was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Hirsch split his time playing college ball between the University of Wisconsin and later the University of Michigan, where he was assigned to during his stint in the Marine Corps. He was a letterman in four sports at Michigan: football, baseball, track and basketball. Hirsch died in January 2004 at the age of 80.

Hirsch can be seen making brief appearances in videos here and here.

Reasons why the Cowboys won yesterday

Though this blog masquerades as a Pacific Northwest news source, I do still have a soft spot for my favorite team. And in light of such a crucial win yesterday -- coupled with a 24-17 New York Giants loss to the Arizona Cardinals which dropped the Giants into a tie with the Cowboys atop the NFC East standings -- I thought I would explore three aspects of the game which contributed to a Cowboys 'W':

Tony Romo stayed off the turnover schnide.

Much maligned for his propensity for turning the ball over, Romo protected the football well, didn't hold onto the ball too long in the pocket (with the exception of his sack on the first drive of the third quarter) and pulled out some magical footwork to keep plays alive (notably his touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton before halftime). Dallas won the overall turnover battle, with Felix Jones' fumble the only blemish against the Falcons three turnovers.

Miles Austin again provided the Cowboys with a big play threat.

With the home run ability Felix Jones provides missing the previous two games, Miles Austin stepped into the limelight against Kansas City. He proved his run after the catch skills were not a fluke by turning in six receptions for a total of 171 yards on the day. Austin, who coming into the season had only 18 total receptions, saw his yards per reception average bubble up to an astronomical 24. Austin's quick feet in and out of comeback routes and deep fly patterns make him a threat to break into the open field at all times.

Pressure on Falcons QB Matt Ryan kept the Falcons passing offense in check.

After posting one of the league's top pass rushes last season and boasting DeMarcus Ware as the NFL's sack leader, the Cowboys had only generated 10 sacks through the first five games of the season. The defense unloaded on Ryan yesterday, taking the ex-Boston College QB down four times in the pocket yesterday. Ryan had Cowboys' meat hooks in his face all day, rushing his tender feet out of the pocket to throw the ball away or forcing poor throws into coverage, which led to two interceptions and Ryan's lowest completion percentage of the young season.

Making blogs (including this one) better

A great article on a blog I read from time to time on Yahoo!.

Hopefully, this increasing "urban sprawl" of blogging will lead, as Puck Daddy indicates, to local bloggers landing jobs in mainstream media as large, conglomerate companies seek to localize content.

Which, in turn, means people like me might be able to obtain jobs for companies like, let's say, ESPN. Fingers are crossed...

Top Alaskan high school mascots

While reading on ASAA's website about the new high school that opened up in Juneau last year, I wanted to know what their mascot was. I found it to be the "Falcons," a very ordinary name. However, Alaska being Alaska, I knew there had to be some schools out there with some strange ones. Here's what some digging produced, in the form of a top three:

3) Chaputnguaq Shaman - Chefornak, AK - Like many rural communities are, I imagine, a spiritual name. Hopefully spells and charms must be removed along with all jewelry before stepping onto the court, gypsy twirls.

2) Aniak Halfbreeds - Aniak, AK - Half man, half...whale? Many small rural communities (Aniak has an enrollement of 40 students) have mascots that identify with local icons or creatures. While I am not sure of the actual presence of werewolves or vampires in Aniak, I have heard whispers of Twilight and Underworld movies being shot here in the near future.

1) Malemute Malemutes - Koyuk, AK - Utterly redundant. I am just distressed by this. You are telling me the best name you could come up with for the school was Malemute, and then to top that off, you wanted the mascot to mirror the school's moniker? Envision: "Starting at guard for the Malemutes," and "When I say Malemute you say Malemutes." This could cause poor grammar too. When will we differentiate between the school name and the mascot name?

Honorable mention: King Cove T-Jacks and Rookies, Kokhanok Warlords, Mountain Village Strivers, Yakov E. Netzvetov Axtam Taligisnikangis(es?ers?)

Pacing

I started off this post thinking about why I think baseball is mundane. The pacing of the sport is far too slow. I lose interest in the game, and while I am unfocused on what is happening, someone jacks one out of the yard or a foul ball is coming in hot to smoke me in the face. Not my thing.

Instead, I stumbled upon The Science of Sport blog. More specifically, this post centered around the human ability to pace one's self during the course of physical exertion. It reveals motivation's important contribution to pacing exercise intensity.

Fascinating stuff for something not considered while doing trail running. Now if I could only pace my eating habits...

Why are some people special?

Okay, so I'll add to the hysteria of this 9-year old child from Maine doing a ridiculous display of skill on the ice.

I'll admit, I have never seen anything like it. I've seen a lot of hockey in Alaska, and a lot of NHL on TV. But this is crazy. How long does this kid practice that to a) be that good at that wraparound shot and b) have the confidence to do it on the ice while being filmed? NHL players can't do that. How does he?

Watching this made me think of one thing: how do some kids have so much more natural ability than others?

I mean, everyone's different -- I get it. Some kids can pound out their times tables in less than a minute. Some kids were the fastest ones to sprint across the field during recess -- I get that, too. But why do some kids get that rare combination of work ethic and raw athletic talent that others don't?

Sometimes it's obvious. When you have a pedigree, like him, it's easy to see where the talent emerges. But when you're right next to a future Marino throwing the football around at Pop Warner practice, there's something that separates him from you. I just don't know what it is.

Someone's going to say 'While you were inside studying for the SAT's, Derrick Rose was outside ballin'. That's BS. No matter how much you love sports, you can't screw around on the field or court all day. Everyone has other interests.

Another finger pointer will say 'It has to do with the way they were brought up.' Okay, so your family is too poor to get Wi-Fi and buy books from Barnes & Noble. But what does every American family have? A television. And you can bet that little white kids in upstate New York are watching the same Disney channel as kids in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco.

Then, the genetics types will say that blacks and hispanics have more fast-twitch muscle fiber, giving them an inherant athletic advantage. Okay, so they start with a leg up on other kids. But what gets them from being able to jump a little higher than everyone else to the next level? Nobody's making anyone do plyos before high school tryouts. They just show up like everyone else and dominate. Somehow there becomes a deliniation between the best and the rest.

What gets me is how unfair it is. If these future stars aren't hitting the weight room more than you or out shooting hoops alone (a la Hoosiers) to improve more often than you are, they shouldn't get the spoils you can't. Escalades, MTV video honeys and a job playing pro ball while the rest of us are blighted from succeess and have to get real jobs.

Now that I have vented on my inferiority complex enough, we can move on.

The poor goalie doesn't know what hit him either. Granted, I don't feel that badly for him. The videographers, coaches and parents in the stands were surely as dumbfounded by this move as he was. Nonetheless, you're digitally immortalized for getting pwned by your teammate. Not only does this kid throw snowballs at you on the way home from practice and is going to be a dynomite Juniors player, but he just rocked you on SportsCenter last night. Sucks, bro.

Cowboys draft grade

This past weekend was the Dallas Cowboys' last opportunity to address some personnel issues before heading into offseason camps. Here are my thoughts on how well (and in some cases, how poorly) I think the Cowboys did in picking up personnel on draft weekend.

The good:

3rd round, 69th pick: Jason Williams, LB, Western Illinois -- conflicting reviews from ESPN analysts on this one. For my money, I like this pick. In order to offset monster DeMarcus Ware at outside linebacker in the 3-4 on one side, the Cowboys need to have a legitimate pass rush threat on the other side to avoid constant double teams on their defensive start. If Williams turns into the ball hawk (who led the nation in forced fumbles last year) he was in college, the pick looks genius. If he doesn't pan out, the Cowboys will take heat for not taking an offensive lineman or a safety (their two primary needs) first.

undrafted free agent: Rudy Carpenter, QB, Arizona State -- after a few really hot seasons under center in Sun Devil Stadium, Ru-Ru-Rudy was extended an invitation to Cowboys mini-camp this offseason. At 6-1 and around 200, he has the size to be an NFL quarterback. His worst collegiate season came last year as a senior, but did throw for over 10,000 yards and more than 80 touchdowns at ASU. He has showed in college that he has toughness, often playing in front of a sieve masquerading as an offensive line. However, he needs to get his temper and his mind right in order to be functional in the NFL.

DeAngelo Smith, CB, Cincinnati -- Until the Cowboys stop giving up the big plays to anyone and everyone that can run in a straight line at the wide receiver position in the NFC East (see here, here, and here), I'll be an advocate of drafting for the secondary. Smith can help out in nickel and dime packages, or fill in if Terrence Newman or Mike Jenkins can't stay healthy, like last year. Additionally, he can run back punts, which could free up Patrick Crayton for a larger role in the passing offense this season.

The bad:

Stephen McGee, QB, Texas A&M -- I'm not sold on the oft-injured McGee, who was more of a running threat than a passing icon during his tenure as an Aggie. Look, if the guy can stay on the field, I'm all for having him as a productive No. 3 (if he beats out Carpenter) behind Romo and Kitna. However, I just don't think he's showed anything special in an offense at A&M where Jorvorskie Lane and Mike Goodson were bigger home run play threats.

Not drafting a safety until the fifth round -- Look, I'm all for position battles and seeing who rises to the occasion. However, I think it's hard to say that a battle between Michael Hamlin, Pat Watkins and Courtney Brown will yield a safety that can cover the field admirably, make open field tackles and take the pressure off the seven men in the box alongside free safety Ken Hamlin. Smith and Alan Ball could also compete for time in the back, but I'm not sold on going after a glaring need on defense this late in the draft.

Overall: I'm giving them a C for this one. It could have been worse, but not addressing the safety position with Roy Williams gone was a mistake in my eyes.

Prelim picks for the Dance on Thursday

So I'm in a hurry today, and since I don't have much time to post on the blog anymore as it is, here's some quick reads:

Upset city, baby:

No. 10 USC over No. 7 BC -- I didn't really like the Trojans for most of the season, but they looked good and were hot in the Pac-10 tournament. Taj Gibson will need to continue to be a stalwart on defense and DeMar DeRozan needs to produce in the frontcourt.

No. 11 Utah State over No. 6 Marquette -- Utah State boasts some threatening outside shooters in Jared Quayle and Tyler Newbold. Have the WAC player of the year in redheaded Gary Wilkinson. Marquette hasn't been the same without floor general Dominic James.

Cinderellas:

No. 7 Clemson -- I have loved this team every time I see them play on TV. Trevor Booker is a double-double threat, and I have no problem saying he can bang inside in a potential second round matchup with Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. K.C. Rivers and Terrence Oglesby form a competent and veteran backcourt. This team usually underachieves in the tourney, but look out this year.

No. 5 Florida State -- Nobody scores in double figures except for 21-point per game guy Toney Douglas, but this team has all the tools to go deep in the tourney: go-to-player, good balance on offense (68+ ppg) and solid depth in the front court. Plus, they have one of the best athlete graduation rates of teams in the tourney.


The faves:

North Carolina -- experienced team, and with reigning POY Tyler Hansbrough -- who has been somewhat under the radar, always in contention. Ty Lawson's injury looms large.

Louisville -- I think Terrence Williams (from Seattle) is the next big thing at the next level. But they don't have a dominant player inside (Samardo Samuels, Earl Clark are more role players) and they can't consistently put points on the board. I still like them for a Final Four pick.

Dark horses:

Wake Forest -- have some freaks offensively (James Johnson, Al-Farouq Aminu), and sophomore point guard Jeff Teague can make the big plays leading his team.

Gonzaga -- yeah, yeah, a cop out/hometown pick -- but I like the experience Josh Heytvelt, Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin have leading this team. If they can get to the second weekend against potential opponent North Carolina, watch out.

The verdict:

All Big East final -- Connecticut snips down the nets over Pittsburgh in the final -- too much depth for the Huskies, and Hasheem Thabeet must stay out of foul trouble and patrol the lane -- but I'll go with 82-73 to end it for the team from Storrs.

Double bubble

Who's on the bubble that should be in?

Here's my take:

South Carolina -- 10-6 in the weak SEC isn't all that impressive, and their nonconference slate is a tad weak. Beat #20 Baylor at the time, and kept it close with Clemson -- who bowed out of ACC tourney early. But did finish with 21-8 record, have Devan Downey as a playmaker who can get them to SEC title game.

Saint Mary's -- playing last half of conference schedule without leading scorer and favorite foreigner Patty Mills hurt -- making up 17 points a game was tough. Recovered to make a 6-game winning run before falling to Gonzaga in WCC finals. 25-6 record should be good enough to get them in the tournament, where they could make some noise against a team without a big man inside.

Baylor -- This team looks like a 2009 version of Georgia to me. Nineteen wins to 13 losses is pretty solid, but underachieved at 5-11 in Big 12 play. Could rely on Curtis Jerrells, LaceDarius Dunn and Kevin Rogers to get them into tournament -- have five guys that average double figures. If they can lock down on defense and hit their 3's, team has a chance to win in the next round against Texas. I like them to get to the conference title game, where they'll likely have to stop Blake Griffin to get into the Big Dance.

More on the bubbles popping and rising as we get later into the week.

Federer withdraws from Davis Cup first round

Good news for the Andy Roddick-United States camp. Roger Federer will rest his ailing back during first round play of the Davis Cup.

Australian open highlights can be found here.


Also, a list of the first round ties for the Davis Cup:

06 Mar - 08 Mar

Argentina	March 6-8
Czech Republic v France	Czech Republic	March 6-8
United States v Switzerland	United States	March 6-8
Croatia v Chile	Croatia	March 6-8
Sweden v Israel	Sweden	March 6-8
Romania v Russia	Romania	March 6-8
Germany v Austria	Germany	March 6-8
Spain v Serbia	Spain	March 6-8

Pac-10 rankings on Yahoo!

In all honesty, I think this isn't the same deep conference that sent five teams (UCLA, USC, Oregon, Arizona, Stanford and Washington State) to the tournament last year, and could have potentially (Arizona State) sent one more.

UCLA has been as good as advertised with their prized recruiting class from this year (Jrue Holiday and Drew Gordon, anyone?) and point guard Darren Collison (14.1 ppg, 5.1 assists/game) opting to stay in school. Washington has been solid with the "other" Isaiah Thomas and Justin Dentmon giving the Huskies a formiddable outside combo to team with the guy with no neck and double-double machine inside, Jon Brockman. Arizona State has disappointed with the amount of talent they have in stars James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph, and the rest of the conference, with the exception of the youthful Ducks, being mediocre.

At any rate, here are the rankings from Yahoo! sports.

ESPN gives front page treatment to NHL!

In case you haven't seen it yet, Jerome Iginla and his NHL compatriots have graced the front page of ESPN's Web page today. I dig it, let me tell you. After seeing the sport buried behind the out of season MLB and my own beloved sport of soccer on the tabbed browsing on ESPN's site, it was a welcome sight to see hockey get some love.

Streetball/And1 show has official blog

If you guys are interested in keeping up with the 2008 And1 Mixtape Tour, here's a blog that Grayson Boucher, or "The Professor," lists as his official blog. I pretty much stopped watching ESPN2's coverage of the show after I got a real summer job in high school, but I always enjoyed seeing some of the things people can do athletically and skill-wise with the basketball.

Duke Tango online

In case you like Mr. "Oh, baby!" as much as I do, here's his MySpace page.

ESPN + Spokane = Gonzaga bedlam

In case anyone is still harboring hopes of getting on television for their fleeting 5 seconds behind Digger Phelps' ubiquitous highlighter, here's some hope for you: ESPN's College GameDay will be coming to Spokane this Saturday as the 18th-ranked Zags host the 14th-ranked University of Memphis Tigers.

Look for Jeremy Pargo (who's a friendly guy, FYI) and Mike Goodson to press Tyreke Evans. I haven't been impressed with Evans the few times that I've seen him this year, and I think this is definitely a winnable game for the Zags if they can force Evans into bad decisions and turnovers. The Zags will have to be strong inside against Shawn Taggart, Robert Dozier and Pierre Niles-Henderson to keep them off the offensive glass to win as well. As a team, Memphis holds a +4 turnover margin and nearly a +5 rebound margin.

As a side note on a team Gonzaga has dispatched of twice this season, what happened to Tennessee? Talk about unmotivated and unfocused -- a total of five losses in the past two months. Games against Gonzaga and Memphis ended with losses to quality teams. But Kentucky, LSU and Kansas aren't the best resume builders. Tennessee should dominate the second half of their schedule against a weak Southeastern Conference this season. It will be imperative for them to find a go-to-guy (Wayne Chism?) if they are to be successful down the stretch. Also, here's Bruce Pearl's bare chest.

As usual, men's and women's swimming in first place down home stretch

The Whitworth University men's and women's swimming teams remain unbeaten in Northwest Conference meets following clashes with Lewis & Clark and Willamette last weekend. The men's swim team (5-1 overall, 5-0 Northwest Conference) and the women's swim team (5-0, 5-1) host Whitman College next weekend in the last Whitworth Aquatic Center regular season meet of the season.

Highlights from the weekend featured a smattering of domination:

• Whitworth men go 1-2-3 in 200-butterfly (Justin Leyendekker, Kellen Pacheco, On Leung) and 200-yard breaststroke (Rory Buck, Quinton Darling, Kyle Homad) and 100-yard freestyle (Michael Woodward, Justin Brandler, Eric Patterson) against L&C
• Whitworth women sweep top three places in 200-yard freestyle (Jennifer Benson, Kara Fisher, Brenda Foster) against L&C
• Whitworth sweeps Willamette in men's 100-yard butterfly (Buck, Brandler, Patterson) and 400-yard individual medley (Darling, Pacheco, Dan Neal)
• Women's team takes top three slots in 50-yard freestyle (Benson, Foster, Allison Shigley)

Noel Sollom-Brotherton, who has the third best time in the NWC for the 200-yard backstroke, and Chris Bendix, third best in conference in the 400-yard individual medley, will lead the Missionaries into the meet in Spokane. Lauren Flynn holds the fifth best time in the NWC for the 50-yard freestyle and Linnea Scott is fifth best for the 400-yard individual medley on the women's side for Whitman.

Pirates pummel Lutes, improve to 12-3 overall

Whitworth's three-point assassin continued his assault from behind the arc, as sophomore guard David Riley posted a career-high 37 points in a rout of cross-state rival Pacific Lutheran University 88-60. Riley was 8-for-12 from downtown in the game. Junior forward Nate Montgomery and senior guard Tim Sellereit had 14 and 13 for the Pirates, respectively, while junior guard Ross Nakamura dropped eight assists.

A peek at the upcoming schedule for the team:

Whitman (6-9 overall, 2-4 Northwest Conference)
Lewis & Clark (10-4, 4-1)
George Fox (5-10, 1-5)

Whitworth dropped out of the D3hoops.com poll from the #24 slot last week following losses to Linfield and Puget Sound.

An encouraging sign going forward for Whitworth is their muscle and both ends of the court. Statistical buffs could marvel at the Pirates' defensive prowess, as they have held opponents to less than 64 points per game as a team. On the flip side, Whitworth can fill it up in a hurry too, leading the conference at nearly 50 percent shooting from the field and a plus-15.9 point per game scoring margin. Whitworth leads nearly every major statistical category, and is in the top tier of teams in all others. The key will be putting it together on both ends of the floor each night.

Cowboys can't shake off resident flea Jason Garrett

Bad news for those who like good news: Jason Garrett, as of this posting, is still the Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator in Dallas. Giants assistant head coach Steve Spagnuolo will get the gig in St. Louis. Fellow NFC East teams rejoice in this news, I know, but there is still hope Garrett can find a new home elsewhere in the NFL (Tampa, anyone?) by the time the Super Bowl wraps up. Check out the Dallas Morning News' blog for more info.