UC/XU
Enquirer: Crosstown Shootout likely to continue
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Bengals
CB Stanford Rouut signs with Kansas City
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UC
What the Big East tournament bracket would look like today
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Reds
Re-posted from January 23
Buffed Bailey?
700 WLW's Gary Jeff Walker and attorney Lisa Wells interviewed personal trainer Brian Wiefering. He operates WieFit in Newport. He said he worked with Homer Bailey this offseason. Homer came to him and said he wanted to gain muscle and strengthen the muscles around his shoulder. Homer said he's so flexible and loose that there is too much shoulder movement around his shoulder joint. Wiefering says Homer has gone from 207 pounds to 225, looks ripped, feels great, and thinks we will see "a different Homer Bailey in 2012". Listen to his comment HERE at the 20:16 mark of podcast.
Fay: Cueto to start Opening Day, Valakia 100%, Francisco hurting
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NCAA basketball
USA Today Bubble Tracker: UC in, XU in
Joe Lunardi: UC 12 seed, XU 11 seed
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NFL
What can Linsanity teach us about upcoming NFL draft?
Freakonomics.com
Our latest Football Freakonomics episode — the last one this season — argues that the draft is much more of a crapshoot than most of its practitioners would have us think. The evidence is everywhere. Consider the research of Cade Massey and Richard Thaler, who find top draft picks to be seriously overvalued. Consider the data presented in the interactive graphic here, which reveals the average draft position for the top five players this season in key categories. For instance:
2011 Passing Yards (Avg. Draft Position for Top 5 Performers = 51.4)
Player
Overall Pick Number
Drew Brees 32
Tom Brady 199
Matthew Stafford 1
Eli Manning 1
Aaron Rodgers 24
2011 Rushing Yards (Avg. Draft Position for Top 5 Performers = 115.8)
Player
Overall Pick Number
Maurice Jones Drew 60
Ray Rice* 55
Michael Turner 154
LeSean McCoy 53
Arian Foster** Undrafted (257)
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Stuff
For $8,000, Natalie Gulbis will let you carry her bag
Xavier film wins bronze Telly Award for "The Roller Derby Queens"
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Dan Hoard: JK Schaffer looks to prove doubters wrong, again
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Reds
Sheldon: Cool under pressure, Madson ready to deliver
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Bengals
Will Benglas and Ravens pursue Mike Wallace?
ESPN
The Steelers are concerned that another team will take Mike Wallace if they put a first-round tender on the restricted free agent instead of the franchise tag. The last place Pittsburgh would want to see the big-play wide receiver go is inside its own division.
The Ravens and Bengals are among a handful of teams who are considered viable candidates to go after Wallace. Both teams are looking to upgrade at wide receiver. Both have more salary-cap room than the Steelers. And both have more motivation than other teams: Acquiring Wallace not only makes them stronger at wide receiver, but it takes away a playmaker that they won't have to defend twice a season.
Pass blocking efficiency
ProFootballFocus.com
1. Joe Thomas
3. Andrew Whitworth
16. Anthony Collins
Joe Thomas is widely regarded as the finest tackle of his generation and finishes second, just ahead of Andrew Whitworth who gave up one less pressure, but was in pass protection at tackle for 72 fewer snaps. Neither man covered themselves in glory in the run game, but a franchise left tackle first and foremost should keep their quarterback upright, and you can’t deny that either man excelled in that regard.
.....Gaither gave up just three pressures on 165 pass blocks which would have led the league, though you could say something similar about Anthony Collins of the Bengals. He spent 80 snaps in pass pro at tackle and gave up just the one hurry; a trend whenever Collins has seen the field in recent years.
Interview with Andrew Whitworth
ProFootballFocus.com
One day at practice I was just joking with him, he dropped a snap and I kinda made a joke about it, how it was his fault, just trying to rile him up a little, and he got livid with me. We’ve spent a lot of time together and we’re very good friends, but he got mad at me, and that to me just reiterated what I thought about him, that he’s such a competitor, you know, that he was mad. He was more mad that it had happened and that he might have done something wrong, so later in the practice he saw me pointing to a guy I wasn’t going to in the protection, and even though I knew who I was blocking, he kinda rattled back at me ‘Hey, make sure you point to the right guy’, and I laughed at him and said “oh ok, that’s how it’s going to be”. That’s how he is; he’s very perceptive and very feisty.
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Latest RPI
Jerry Palm, CollegeRPI.com (Sunday 8:58PM)
1 Syracuse
4 Kentucky
7 Ohio State
19 Indiana
20 Kentucky
52 Purdue
53 Xavier
73 Dayton
82 Cincinnati
90 Ohio
209 Wright State
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The Kid remembered
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UC football
UC football recruit involved in bloody incident during high school basketball game Saturday night
(Photo: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review)
Fight overshadows Peters' comback
McKeesport Daily News
Woodland Hills senior Shakim Alonzo was ejected with 3:38 remaining in the fourth quarter for throwing an elbow, then ran the length of the court and punched Peters Township center Gabe Pritz in the side of the head, leveling him.
..........Novak indicated that Alonzo -- a University of Cincinnati football recruit -- and his family will be required to meet with school officials about possible in-house discipline.
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