THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

Manute Bol died on Saturday due to severe kidney trouble and a painful skin condition at the age of 47. The 7 foot 7 inch shot-blocker played 10 seasons in the NBA. He was from Sudan and did a lot of humanitarian work in Africa after his NBA career ended. Manute averaged 2.6 points per game, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.3 blocked shots. In his rookie season (1985-1986) Bol appeared in 80 games and recorded a career-high 5.0 blocks per game. His total of 397 blocks set the NBA rookie record. During Bol's last season in Philadelphia, Bol enjoyed a memorable night while playing against former teammate Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns. Bol hit 6 of 12 three pointers all in the 2nd half  in a losing effort against the Suns.
Fans became a fan of Bol's by yelling for him to shoot when he got the ball. Manute would shoot from 3 point range more often than you would think. In 1988-89 season, when he played for the Golden State Warriors,  he shot a career-high 91 three pointers and made 20 of them. I truly wish I could have seen Manute Bol play in person. That would have been a highlight in my sports memory bank, especially if it was court side seats.

In 1987, Bullets drafted 5 ft 3 in. Point Guard Muggsy Bogues. Bullets had the Tallest and shortest player in the NBA.

Bol was very active in charitable causes throughout his career. In fact, he said he spent much of the money he made during a 10-year NBA career supporting various causes related to his war-ravaged nation of birth, Sudan. He frequently visited Sudanese refugee camps, where he was treated like royalty. In 2001 Bol was offered a post as minister of sport by the Sudanese government. Bol, who was Christian, refused because one of the pre-conditions was converting to Islam. Later Bol was hindered from leaving the country by the Sudanese government, who accused him of supporting the Dinka-led Christian rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The Sudanese government refused to grant him an exit visa unless he came back with more money. Assistance by supporters in the United States, including Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, raised money to provide Bol with plane tickets to Cairo, Egypt. After 6 months of negotiations with U.S. consulate officials regarding refugee status, Bol and his family were finally able to leave Egypt and return to the United States.



Reference:
http://www.focusdep.com/articles/Society/NBA_Star_Now_Refugee

Every Team in The Big 12 Are All Heading in Different Directions

It has been a very crazy couple of days with Colorado joining the PAC-10 and Nebraska joining the Big Ten. I love college football, and to me this is exciting. My brain is over stimulated with the possibilities of teams joining the Big Ten and other conferences. This is what we do know at this point is the Big 12 has become the Big 10 in reality with the 10 teams left. Dan Beebe the commissioner of the Big 12 stated yesterday in a teleconference that the conference can do very well with the 10 teams they have, and could actually get a better TV deal than they currently have. That is not going to happen. Its been rumored all week that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State will leave for the PAC-10 to make it a 16 team mega conference. Their has been some reports that Texas A&M may join the SEC instead. Maybe then Baylor would get into the PAC-10, otherwise they are going to be left out. Missouri has been talked about for a long time as a team to join the Big Ten. At this time, Big Ten is not looking at any other Big 12 schools, but that could change as fast as a green light. Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri have to look for whats best for them as well. Kansas Athletic Director(AD) who was an AD at UCONN has apparently contacted the Big East. The Big East had their conference raided several years ago by the ACC. The Big East doesn't want that to happen again, so they are somewhat proactive and have discussed the possibility of having those remaining Big 12 North teams join the Big East for Football. Geographical it doesn't make sense, but neither does Texas and the Pacific. The Big East is way too big for basketball already to have those schools join because the Big East has a lot of teams that either participate in D-1AA football or don't play football at all. The other option is for the Big 12 to try to add teams, maybe get Arkansas to leave the SEC, and maybe try and add TCU, Utah, BYU, Memphis and Tulsa. That doesn't make the conference very strong football wise, but they would be able to keep their Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bid.
I think next week when the Big 12 South teams decide to leave the conference, that it will be too much, and that the Big 12 will end up folding. Then I think you would see the Big Ten go ahead and grab Missouri, and the other schools will start looking for conference affiliations. The left over schools would make the Mountain West Conference a lot stronger by joining. Boise State just joined the Mountain West as well. Kansas is a powerhouse for basketball, so its hard to imagine them in a lower conference, but the Mountain West would probably gain BCS status if the Big 12 no longer exists. For those who are not aware, Kansas and K-State are a packaged deal due to their state law. So you take one, you got to take the other.
For Iowa State fans, I think Iowa State would fit into the Mountain West pretty good. They would probably be more competitive in that conference in football, and basketball.
Next week when Texas decides what its going to do, then we will know more. College sports is a business, and football is the money maker. The Big Ten created the Big Ten Network and that generates $22 million dollars a year to each University. That is evenly divided, so Northwestern takes home as much as Ohio State. In the Big 12, Texas was taking home about $10-12 million, while Iowa State and some other schools got $6 million. That is where Missouri and Nebraska have been feed up with Texas coming to the Big 8 to make it 12, and getting more money than them. Texas will tell you that they are on TV more, so they deserve that money. To me that is just like baseball. The rich get richer. The Yankees will always be competitive and the Royals will struggle. The money is night and day between the two. Iowa State needs the money more than powerhouse Texas. So Nebraska likes how Big Ten does it, and you can't blame them. Jamie Pollard this week spoke out how ISU fans who have cable or satellite are paying the University of Iowa. That's an Iowa State/Big 12 problem. They could have created a TV network, but they didn't. That's not the Big Ten's problem.
For those who are worried about traditions like Nebraska/Missouri, Nebraska/Colorado, and potentially ISU/Missouri. The Brewers use to be an American League team and had the Twins and White Sox as rivals. They are now a National League team and have become rivals with the Cubs.The Seahawks use to play the Raiders, Chiefs, Chargers, and Broncos every year. They switched over to the National league and play Rams, 49ers, and Cardinals now. Things happen, change happens, and we move on.

Nebraska to Big Ten Officially

The University of Nebraska has accepted the invitation to join the Big Ten Conference. With Colorado's departure yesterday, this leaves the Big 12 conference at 10 teams, and the Big Ten is now at 12 teams. More news to come later about conference realignment, because its happening quickly, even Boise State is moving to the Mountain West reportedly from the WAC.

PAC-10 Conference Wants to Expand to 16 Possibly

Word came out on Friday afternoon that the Big 12 Conference may be splitting up. Their has been the talk of Missouri and Nebraska potentially joining the Big Ten Conference as they are expanding. PAC-10 Conference is having meetings this weekend and their has been reports that they would like to take some teams from the Big 12 Conference. Nobody knows for sure what teams, but rumors are Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado. Leaving Kansas, K-State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa State alone. Those schools then could ask BYU, Utah, TCU, and Colorado State to leave the Mountain West Conference, but that would make the conference weak, and most think Missouri and Nebraska would join the Big Ten for sure then. The Big Ten would still reach out to Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame to make the conference go to 16. If that all happens with Pac-10 and Big Ten expanding, look for the SEC then to grab Miami, Florida State, Clemson, and Georgia Tech to move them to 16. Then the ACC would grab some schools from the Big East. But when the dust would settle, there would still be teams like Kansas, K-state, Baylor and Iowa State. Kansas would need to be in a big conference, due to their basketball program, so maybe they jump into the Big Ten and Rutgers or Pittsburgh goes to the ACC. Time is up on Notre Dame being an Independent program. If it becomes 4 major conferences of 16 teams, Notre Dame will have no power as an Independent. The Big Ten Network would pay them more than their Current NBC deal, times have changed Golden Domers. Personally I want Notre Dame in the Big Ten. I like the sound of Notre Dame at Iowa on ABC. I like the sounds of Nebraska coming to Kinnick too and starting a rivalry with them. Iowa State may no longer be a BCS school when the dust settles, and nobody knows when this will happen, if it happens. Their is strong indication that it will.

Here is the letter Iowa State University released:

Dear Cyclone alumni, fans and friends of the University,


This week, we participated in the Big 12 Conference spring meetings in which a major topic of discussion was potential conference re-alignment. With the immense speculation and media attention given to this issue, we felt it was important for you to hear directly from us.

We believe the Big 12 Conference is the perfect fit for Iowa State University. We are committed to our membership in the Big 12, and we are optimistic that the conference will remain intact. However, we also recognize that the long-term viability of the Big 12 Conference is not in our control - it is in the hands of just a few of our fellow member institutions.

Iowa State and several other members of the Big 12 Conference are especially vulnerable under some of the re-alignment scenarios currently circulating, particularly one involving expansion of the Pac-10. We are doing everything in our power to represent the best interests of Iowa State in these discussions, but we also are sensitive to the huge uncertainty that has been created and recognize that the situation could evolve in directions that are not aligned with our interests.

We understand and share your concerns about Iowa State athletics and the Big 12 Conference. We are still optimistic that the Big 12 will remain intact and continue to be one of our nation's premier athletics conferences, but we must be ready to act if that does not prove to be the case. We will keep in touch as the situation unfolds, and we appreciate your understanding.

Go Cyclones!

Dr. Gregory Geoffroy
President

Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics

Iowa State University Letter: http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=204955238&DB_OEM_ID=10700
 

Blackhawks Up 2-0

The City of Chicago was buzzing all weekend for Games 1 & 2 for the Stanley Cup and it didn't disappoint. Even the Jordan statue outside of the United Center was sporting the Blackhawks Jersey. The Madhouse on Madison lived up to it in both games as you could feel the excitement and the energy through the TV. Game one was a 6-5 win for Chicago and the game itself did very well TV rating wise. Game one was a back and forth shootout, and the Flyers coach pulled his goalie, but Chicago continued to stick with their guy. Both Goalies were a lot better 2 days later for Game 2 as Chicago won 2-1, but it was still very intense. As this series shifts to Philadelphia, expect the players to really start to show dislike for one another. In the other rounds both teams were playing teams they had been battling all season with. These 2 only faced each other once in the regular season, but they know each other all well and fine now. The Series is going to continue to be intense, and an adrenaline rush for 60 minutes. I think the Blackhawks are going to be raising the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years, and the City of Chicago deserves it, because after this series, its back to Cubs/White Sox until fall.

Game 3 Blackhawks at Flyers 7pm Central Time on Versus Network