| Seth Davis: Postcard from Gonzaga
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Here in this sleepy town in the Pacific northwest, a basketball hoop still hangs over the driveway of the house where John Stockton grew up on, appropriately enough, Superior Street. After Stockton graduated from Gonzaga in 1984 and became a star with the Utah Jazz, he purchased a small, three-bedroom house next door. That house would hardly merit a spot on MTV's Cribs, but as Gonzaga coach Mark Few drove me past it last Friday, it provided a snapshot not just of Gonzaga's past, but also its present. "Do you see Stockton much?" I asked Few. "Oh, yeah," he replied. "I just got done working out with him." You see, John Stockton may have graduated from Gonzaga, but he never really went anywhere. The same is true for Gonzaga.
TV-RADIO NOTEBOOK: NFL is very fortunate how schedule plays out
In the spirit of this holiday season, let us resolve to take NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at his word regarding the eight-game NFL Network schedule that began Thursday night with the Colts-Falcons. That means we will stipulate to Goodell's assurances that the NFL did not rig the schedule to ensure the league-owned network would have attractive matchups and, more importantly, games it could employ to apply maximum pressure on cable carriers that don't carry the service, such as Time Warner, Charter and Cablevision. And so, given that assumption, we are left to conclude that the NFL this season is not conniving, merely fortunate. Next Thursday, NFL Network will air Packers-Cowboys, a potential preview of the NFC title game. The game will air on over-the-air TV in the teams' home cities but not in some of their most important secondary markets � among them Waco, Austin and San Antonio, all serviced by Time Warner Cable, and Madison, Wis., a Charter Cable market.
Coaches, players excited about Pete Hanna Center
Samford University unveiled its new $32 million Pete Hanna Center to the media on Wednesday and it was hard to tell who was happiest - the two basketball coaches who now have a state-of-the-art facility to recruit to, the athletics director who has a showcase for the program, or women's shooting guard Megan Wilderotter. "We have a bathroom in our locker room," said Wilderotter, a junior from New Orleans. "I know that sounds really weird, because most locker rooms should have bathrooms, but we didn't have one at Seibert. "The locker room is like quadrupled in size. I personally love Seibert, but now that we have this - it's great." The facility, which is scheduled to be open for its first athletics events on Monday at 5:30 for a women's and men's basketball exhibition doubleheader, features 5,000 chair-back seats on two levels.
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.
Everyone gets ice time: Special needs hockey program in Pembroke invites kids of all abilities to play
PEMBROKE - The players trickle out of the locker room, gliding across the milky surface of Hobomock Arena. As they cavort with teammates, their coaches gather at center ice to discuss the morning's practice.The scene is played out at dozens of other rinks on a frigid Saturday morning: Kids with boundless energy, watched by proud parents, up at dawn to indulge a passion for hockey.But what is unique about the Boston Bear Cubs is that this team is composed of special needs children. While their needs are special, their dreams are common: play a little hockey and have a lot of fun. Starting outJohn Quill lives and breathes the sport. The 37-year-old Norwell resident played at North Quincy High, still plays in a men's league, and coaches his 11-year-old daughter Megan's South Shore Seahawks team.Like other hockey parents, John and his wife, Julie, wanted to pass their love of the game to their three children.But there was a hurdle: John's son Sean, 10, is autistic.
NFL NOTES
ATLANTA: Facing millions in claims from banks, creditors and prosecutors, suspended Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has put his seven bedroom, 8 1/2-bath house in Duluth, Ga., up for sale. The asking price for the sprawling home and $1.5 acres grounds? $4.5 million. Only buyers with proof of income sufficient to buy the property and house are provided access to the home. The Web listing for the house has attracted more than 10 million page views. Vick is in a Virginia jail and awaiting sentencing Dec. 10 for felony dogfighting charges. CAROLINA: Memo to Saints fans: As you watch Panthers quarterback Vinny Testaverde (Nov. 13, 1963) do his thing today at the tender age of 44, keep in mind that he is 46 days older than Saints Coach Sean Payton (Dec. 29, 1963). TAMPA BAY: Today's game between the NFC South-leading Buccaneers and Washington will be the Redskins' fourth at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., in less than 25 months and the sixth between the teams in five years.
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