Sports thoughts on this Friday

Some sports thoughts heading into this weekend…

Miami (OH) wins GoDaddy.com Bowl, finishes season 10-4
The Miami Redhawks have had a turbulent offseason to say the least. In the days after winning the MAC Championship game over Northern Illinois they found out their head coach, Mike Haywood, was leaving to go coach the Pittsburgh Panthers. Lance Guidry was named the interim head coach. Haywood was arrested on New Year’s Eve, fired one day later as Pitt coach, and on New Year’s Eve, Miami announced that they were hiring Michigan State offensive coordinator, and Miami alum, Don Treadwell.

Enough to make your head spin.

Haywood’s turnaround of the Redhawk program was the best one-year turnaround of any FBS team this season, as I mentioned in December. Miami defeated Middle Tennessee State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala., last night to improve their record to 10-4, ending a bowl season of ups and downs on an up.

By the way, UC football fans can take solace in the fact that the Bearcats whipped the Redhawks at Nippert in early October, 45-3.

UC beats XU in Crosstown Shootout
UC fans can also take solace in the fact that their basketball team is better than Miami’s, and another, bigger rival of theirs.

Cincinnati native and Withrow High grad Yancy Gates was recruited by both UC and Xavier in high school. In his three seasons at UC, Gates had never beaten XU. Until last night.

UC ended a three-game losing streak to its cross-town rival by beating the Musketeers 66-46 in the 78th edition of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. I had to watch the game in class and have to deliver a full game report (which I’ll attempt to post here later today or tomorrow).

Andrew Luck staying in school
All those teachers that told us, “Stay in school, it will only help you,” were right. Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, one of the top pro prospects in the country announced yesterday he was staying in school. According to ESPN’s Joe Schad, Luck wants to remain in school and get a degree.

“I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter of 2012,” Luck said in a statement.

In a world of kids who leave college early to get paid millions, Luck passed on the guaranteed big bucks to get something a lot more worthwhile: a college degree. That’s something that makes me want to stand up and applaud Andrew Luck.

If only more guys were like Luck.

LeGrand talks with ESPN
Rutgers’ Eric LeGrand, who was injured on a kickoff return in the Scarlet Knights’ Oct. 16 game with Army, has now regained some feeling in his entire body. He was paralyzed from the neck down after hitting Army’s Malcolm Brown on the kickoff return.

LeGrand’s first interview aired an hour ago on the 9 a.m. episode of SportsCenter. He revealed his thoughts with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi.

“Fear of death, that's the biggest fear that I got because I couldn't breathe the way I was breathing and I couldn't move,” LeGrand told the ESPN reporter. “Laying out on the ground, motionless, not being able to breathe was the hardest part in thinking, can I die here?”

LeGrand also says he feels he will one day walk again, and is optimistic about his chances of recovery.
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I’ll have much more as the weekend rolls along. Tomorrow, with 43 days until the Daytona 500, I will discuss “The King,” Richard Petty, and his role in NASCAR, along with a preview of his team Richard Petty Motorsports. Sunday is Mark Martin’s birthday, so I’ll offer some thoughts on the man who has been my hero since I began watching the sport nearly two decades ago.

And on Monday, I’ll give you one reason why I’m rooting for Oregon to win the National Title game, and it has nothing to do with what happens on the field, but rather, with an Oregon player who is paying tribute to one young man who lost his life this college football season.

Stay tuned, have a nice Friday and thanks for reading.