This is how the game is played: A college basketball program signs a highly rated recruit who also considered a program of superior stature and tradition. In this case, Kentucky.
Ed Graney
Ed Graney is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
egraney@reviewjournal.com … @edgraney on Twitter. 702-383-4618
They begin to occur in a college football coaching’s staff third season and increase in the fourth. Measuring games. Those weeks when it is determined where your program stands in relation to the best in its conference. Those weeks when you discover how far you have come and how far you must travel to be considered valid.
Did you hear the one about the guy who makes snow for a living and who woke up one day to find himself a crew member for an NHRA team, handling everything from tires to rear suspension to repacking parachutes?
There was a moment at a Texas football practice last week when the winningest coach in program history approached the man who has been in charge of the Longhorns since 1998.
Kathy Olivier just keeps talking — she’s a college basketball coach, which means she owns the intrinsic capacity to yap like Churchill — until the recruit’s eyes flicker. That’s when she knows the proper button has been pushed.
PROVO, Utah — On paper, it’s France against Russia. Or Britain. Or Italy (both times). It’s Bennett against John Matrix. It’s the Easy-Bake Oven against Wolfgang Puck.
Martin Houle isn’t worried. He’s a hockey goalie, which means he’s big on communication with defensemen like Paula Abdul is big on appearing … confused.
Those were the days. Pedaling the old Schwinn around the neighborhood with friends. Challenging each other’s bravery. Wondering who owned the most courage. Guessing who might risk serious injury first. Holding our breath as fearless 10-year-old Greg pumped his legs harder, hit the target, lifted his front tire and landed smoothly along the pavement.
The shadow is the size of Bermuda. Dwaine Knight is OK with that. He has made a career of producing fantastic results as UNLV’s golf coach while existing in the same athletic department with a program whose popularity dwarfs all others like John Daly does Nicole Richie.
It was forever ago when Zach Johnson sat in that Augusta National media room, and it wasn’t. It was forever ago when the guy who wasn’t the best golfer on his high school or college team and needed the financial support of 10 local businessmen back home in Iowa to chase his professional dream conquered one of the sport’s most storied courses and its greatest player, and it wasn’t. It was forever ago. It was April 2007.
Davis Love III was scheduled to tee off at TPC Summerlin at 11:50 a.m. Wednesday. He was playing in a group behind Olympic swimmer/Playboy cover girl Amanda Beard.
SAN DIEGO — A diaper bag is a serviceable item with benefits. So is the cup holder in a movie theater seat. So is the string from which your sunglasses dangle.