| Knights in national spotlight
With the Rutgers women's basketball team playing nationally or regionally televised games at least twice a month all regular season, I started thinking about what these big games can do not only for the Scarlet Knights program, but also the sport of women's basketball as a whole.
RU plays on the big stage 12 times this year, including three of the five games that the Knights have played so far this season.
The increased exposure is due to a few factors: the team's heightened profile following last season's finals appearance and the fact that 12 of the Knights games are against preseason Top 25 opponents. In fact, the Dec. 30 game versus Temple on ESPNU is the only televised matchup that does not involve one of the aforementioned ranked opponents.
Playing in to both the toughness of RU's schedule, as well as the increase of TV time for the Knights, is the strength of a Big East Conference that sent eight teams to last year's NCAA Tournament.
NFL notes
EAGLES: Quarterback Donovan McNabb will miss Philadelphia's game today against New England because of a sprained ankle and injured thumb.
McNabb hurt the thumb on his throwing hand early against Miami last Sunday and left after injuring his ankle in the second quarter. He has not practiced all week.
A.J. Feeley, who led the Eagles to a pair of touchdowns in a 17-7 win over the Dolphins, gets the start for underdog Philadelphia.
McNabb has started every game since returning ahead of schedule after a torn knee ligament ended his season early last year. Injuries ended his regular season three times in the past six years. The Eagles are 13-8 without him, including 1-1 in the playoffs last season.
Feeley will make his first start since he led Miami over Cleveland on Dec.
Sandeep Yadav stars for VPPN
HYDERABAD: Striker Sandeep Yadav did the star turn for Vignan Prabodananda Prashanti Niketan (VPPN) in its emphatic 6-1 win over Wesley High School in the fourth inter-school hockey tournament for the V. Purushotham Memorial Trophy on Wednesday. Sandeep scored four goals including a hat-trick striking in the 20th, 24th, 40th and 44th minutes while Jaswanth and Mohan scored one goal apiece to complete the tally for the winner. In another match, Moulana Azad Memorial School defeated CRPF (Hakimpet) 6-0. Khaleel Hussain struck a brace in the first-half while Subhan Bin Osman netted one to give MAZHA a comfortable 3-0 lead at the break. On resumption, MAZMS slammed in three more goals through Mohd. Shanawaz (2) and Wajeed Khan (1). Match drawn State Bank of Hyderabad and South Central Railway were locked in a goalless draw in the SAAP Premier League prize money football championship here.
La Russa pleads guilty to drunken driving
West Palm Beach, Fla. — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa pleaded guilty to driving under the influence Wednesday, eight months after police found him asleep inside his running sport utility vehicle at a stop light and smelling of alcohol. La Russa said that he had decided to plead guilty to the misdemeanor because it was in the best interest of all concerned. .
Fans will lose out in NFL Network battle with cable operators
The NFL Network's business strategy is well on its way to becoming one of the biggest flops in sports television history. All the yap-flapping, spinning, and perhaps even some anger from fans who cannot watch Thursday's Packers-Cowboys tilt on NFLN won't change that fact. Neither will all the anti-cable rants coming from the mouth of Jerry Jones, whose sudden concern for the average fan is the leading candidate for Most Disingenuous Sports Moment of 2007. Nor will the well scripted, well presented words of commissioner Roger Goodell, who last week was on the stump campaigning against cable monopolists via a conference call. Surprised we have not heard from NFLN boss Steve Bornstein, marked conspicuously absent on this recent propaganda tour. It looks like Mr.
Eagles in wild-card logjam in NFC
PHILADELPHIA -- If the Eagles could have pulled off the greatest upset in NFL history Sunday night they would have been sitting by themselves in the NFC's second wild-card spot, just one game behind the Giants for the top wild-card spot. Instead, as quarterback A.J. Feeley's end-zone pass intended for Kevin Curtis was picked off by New England's Asante Samuel, the Eagles remained a game out of the wild-card picture and log-jammed with five other five-win teams. With five games left in the regular season, the NFC division titles are becoming clearer, Dallas has a three-game lead in the East; Green Bay has a four-game lead in the North; Tampa Bay has a two-game lead in the South; and Seattle has a two-game lead in the West. As far as the race for the two wild-card spots go, it's anybody guess.
Swiss players arrested for suspected sex with minor
Twelve current or former players of Swiss soccer club FC Thun were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of having sex with a minor. Nine other men were also taken into custody by police in the Swiss canton (state) of Bern. The men are accused of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl. .
BCS could expand at-large pool
The Bowl Championship Series will expand the pool of teams eligible for at-large bids if it's faced with a shortage of qualified contenders when the season is over. BCS rules state a team must have at least nine victories and finish in the top 14 of the final standings to qualify for an at-large bid to one of the five marquee bowl games. But because no conference can have more than two teams, including its champion, in the BCS, officials were facing the possibility of not having enough eligible teams to fill the 10 spots this season. The BCS announced Tuesday that if fewer than 10 of the top 14 teams in the standings are eligible for an at-large bid, the qualifying standard will extend to the top 18. If enough teams are still not available, the standard would be pushed back four spots until the pool is big enough to fill all the bowls.
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