AS IF I NEEDED SOMETHING TO CHEW UP MY SPARE TIME

Came across this little blurb a few weeks back on Yahoo...Sports Illustrated was going to start a website with access to every single article that has ever appeared in 54 years of the magazine's existance.

Seriously, chew on that for a moment. The greatest sports writing of the past half century, available in just a few short keystrokes. Not everything is up yet, but they're well on their way

For the hardcore IU fan, you can read about the championship of 1987. Or the article about Bob Knight that soured him on Curry Kirkpatrick.

How about the greatest literary April Fool's Joke in history?
Want to scroll back though the moments that earned Muhammad Ali the title of The Greatest? You wouldn't go wrong reading about the Thrilla in Manilla, the Rumble in the Jungle, The Fight, and the one with the Phantom Punch.
Sometimes they were really wrong.

Sometimes they did a pretty good job jumping on the bandwagon.

Secretariat has been mentioned in 469 articles over the years. Compare that to Larry Bird's 274, 136 for Magic Johnson, and Joe Montana with 177. Hey, none of them performed quite like Big Red did at the Belmont in '73.

And the covers are great, too. Back during college, I probably had something close to 300 of them wallpapering my dorm rooms. Really wish I'd held onto them in a folder, or at least had a picture that I could have attached here. Classy look, I tell you...

EXCITING IS ALWAYS BETTER

In honor of Mario Chalmers and his game-tying three-pointer last night that forced overtime in the national championship, here's a rundown of some of the more memorable buzzer-beating shots over the past three decades in the NCAA Tournament.

Hey, start with the best for us IU fans...Daryl Thomas throwing a solid shot fake, then having the presence of mind to find Keith Smart for the shot to give the Hoosiers a 74-73 lead late. Why again didn't Syracuse call a timeout for four seconds???

The legend started here, with then relative unknown Michael Jordan dropping a shot from the wing to give North Carolina a one point lead. But what's bigger; Jordan's winner or Fred Brown's errant pass to James Worthy?

Let's go old school on ya...defending national champ Louisville gets knocked out of the 1981 tournament on U.S. Reed's midcourt shot as Arkansas moves on.

Same year, one round later...Danny Ainge goes 1-on-5 length of the court to bounce Notre Dame.


Around these parts, us Indiana folks are a little partial to homegrown product Bryce Drew pulling off the miracle. Great pass downcourt, phenomenal airborne touch pass to the sideline, and a beautiful stroke.

I missed overtime of the 1992 Indiana high school state championship game to stand in the Hoosier Dome concourse and watch this finish. Not a big Kentucky fan, but I really loved this group of seniors and it was devestating to see Christian Laettner's shot fall through.

I don't rate this one as high as the others because it was a layup, but there was no denying the drama of Tyus Edney going all the way in less than five seconds. Early round game, but it kept UCLA alive on their way to an eventual national championship.

The terribly anti-climactic championship game notwithstanding, the 1990 NCAA Tournament was easily the most exciting start to finish I've ever seen. This Sweet Sixteen thriller between Connecticut and Clemson, with Stanley Burrell firing a 90 foot bullet downcourt for Tate George's turnaround might be the most improbable of any on this list.

This is probably the most memorable, because of Jim Valvano sprinting around the court and the sheer magnitude of the upset of a phenomenal Houston team with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. A complete broken play with Derek Wittenberg's airball getting dunked in by Lorenzo Charles. I watched a replay of this game last week...what in the hell was Drexler still doing in to get his fourth foul in the first half?

James Forrest hadn't hit a three-pointer all year if I remember correctly. Nice time to hit a twenty foot turnaround with less than a second left on the catch.

With all due respect to Chalmers, was that even the most exciting buzzer beater in this tournament? There was still 2.1 seconds left after he made it, and it merely tied the game. How about Ty Rogers for Western Kentucky knocking Drake out in the first round?

Any I'm missing? I couldn't find a clip of Laettner double-pumping from seventeen to beat Connecticut and go to the Final Four in '90.

NOSTRADAMUS CALLED THIS

Louisville 48, Kentucky 38.

On talk show radio all week around these parts, the Wildcat faithful have been calling for an upset, and virtually all of them have picked UK by two or three touchdowns. It's also been the popular upset selection among several football experts around the nation.

Really?

Two thoughts. One, Kentucky hasn't beaten a top ten team in three decades. Two, Brian Brohm hasn't lost a rivalry game (Trinity/St. X or Louisville/Kentucky) in his entire career. Neither are happening today, the Cardinal defense notwithstanding.

We'll see come this evening...