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When the season dawned, Michigan State was the consensus pick to win the Big Ten. And for good reason, with talents like Gary Harris, Adreian Payne, Keith Appling and Branden Dawson, among others. Wisconsin? The Badgers were supposed to be good—they always are under Bo Ryan, never finishing lower than fourth place. But Ryan’s club has taken things to another level this season during an unexpected march to the Final Four as a No. 2 seed after going 12-6 in the Big Ten. At one point this season, Wisconsin was 4-5 in Big Ten play. Look at the Badgers now....

Jacksonville, FL — After 70 years the Gator Bowl - as we've known it - is no more. The new name of the game removes "gator" entirely, and it will no longer be played on New Years Day, two big changes that we learned Thursday morning from the President of Gator Bowl Sports. The game will now be known as the TaxSlayer Bowl and played on Jan. 2nd. Dropping "gator" from the name is part of a six-year agreement reached between TaxSlayer.com and the Gator Bowl. "TaxSlayer.com recognizes the history of the Bowl's rich 70 year tradition. It is a...

Forget for one minute all the recent questions about DeSean Jackson's life off the field, the most scandalous of which have yet to be substantiated. Let's also not spend much time debating the arrogance that led Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly to believe his offense didn't need its best wide receiver anymore. The most interesting aspect of Jackson's new three-year deal with the Washington Redskins has little to do with those things. Instead, it has everything to do with a franchise that has been largely dysfunctional ever since Daniel Snyder purchased it in 1999. Anybody who thinks Jackson's arrival...

Zimmer sees flags around Manziel The spectacle surrounding Johnny Manziel's pro day last week and the celebrity status of the former Texas A&M quarterback seem to concern Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, who said "flags" popped up when the team met with Manziel for a private workout.

I was listening (via Sirius Radio) to Greta Van Susteren a few nights ago around 5:15-5:30 CDT. She was talking about the NCAA and the Northwestern University union decision. Her guest (reporter?) said that he'd played university football. She asked where and he said "Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Go Bisons!" If you heard the clip, please let me know the guy's name. Thanks

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Last week, a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that because members of Northwestern University’s football team seem close enough to “employees” of the university to satisfy the statutory definition, they can proceed in their stated desire for union representation. The United Steelworkers union, hoping for a transfusion of dues money, helped the activist players, led by quarterback Kain Colter, push their petition for a union certification election. Conceivably, the union could wind up negotiating on behalf of the Northwestern players with the university over all matters that are subjects of collective bargaining under the law...

Tiger Woods will miss the Masters after undergoing back surgery earlier this week for a pinched nerve that has been hurting him for several months, the world's No. 1 player said Tuesday on his website. It will be the first time in 20 years that Woods will not play in the event. The microdiscectomy was performed Monday by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Rich in Park City, Utah. The statement said Woods will begin "intensive rehabilitation and soft-tissue treatment" within a week, and the goal is for him to return to competition "sometime this summer."

The National Football Leagues has partnered with an app developer that will allow fans to get an in-seat visit from cheerleaders. Sports Business Journal reports the NFL has teamed up with Experience in an effort to help improve the in-game experience for fans. On top of having cheerleaders visit fans in their seats, the app will allow fans the opportunity to upgrade their seats and also allowing them to be on the field before the game.

FULL TITLE: Spot the predator: Would YOU be able to tell if a snow leopard was stalking you? Try to find the animal in these photographs These rare photographs of wild snow leopards reveal just why the elusive animal is so hard to spot. Pictured strolling across the face of a mountain, the endangered big cat is barely visible against a background of rock and shale. Experienced wildlife photographer David Jenkins, 41, braved temperatures of over minus 20 degrees centigrade in an effort to get a glimpse of the creature. Scroll down for video But after two weeks enduring the...

<p>No, they weren’t happy to see him. And they couldn’t have made it any clearer or yelled it any louder.</p> <p>New York Mayor de Blasio was booed at Citi Field on Monday, even before he had a chance to throw out the first pitch.</p>

A new set of seating is being torn down outside the Plymouth Wildcats varsity boys’ baseball field, not long before the season begins, because the fields for boys’ and girls’ athletics must be equal. […] (A)fter a complaint, the U.S Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights investigated the new addition and says it must be torn down. It says the facility was no longer equal to the girls’ softball field next door, which has old bleachers and an old scoreboard. …

Donning a pinstripe home white jersey and blue Mets cap over dress pants, de Blasio was loudly booed twice by Flushing faithful — once as he was announced and then again as he left the Citi Field diamond.... De Blasio wore No. 6 in honor of late-1960s Boston Red Sox great Rico Petrocelli, the mayor’s aides said. The infielder, who slugged 210 home runs in his 13-season career, grew up in Brooklyn. So the Boston-loving mayor managed to pay homage to his beloved Red Sox, his adopted home borough and to Italian Americans by donning that shirt. But that still...

Boston Red Sox diehard Bill de Blasio, as the new mayor of New York City, was all but required to throw the opening first-day pitch at Citi Field as the New York Mets take on the Washington Nationals. Tradition also dictates that he get booed heartily, which he did. The New York Times runs down the recent history: “Koch hated baseball, never stayed more than a few innings at most,” Mr. Roberts told us. “Dinkins, of course, liked tennis most.” “Giuliani was a die-hard Yankees fan.” (Yet he, too, threw out ceremonial pitches at Mets games.) “Bloomberg was pretty indifferent.”...

Richard Petty may be known as the King in Nascar circles, but to many other Americans that title is reserved for Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n Roll. One of Mr. Presley’s cars, the 1973 Stutz Blackhawk III he was photographed driving not long before he died, on Aug. 16, 1977, has made its way into the Nascar realm as part of a promotion for the Charlotte Motor Speedway AutoFair to be held at the track from Thursday to Sunday. In a public unveiling after the car was mechanically refurbished, Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove the car around the Charlotte track last...

It's opening day and the NY Mets are still mathematically in it!

[B.O.] chooses Florida, Arizona, Louisville and Michigan State for his Final Four picks.

UConn beats Michigan State.

VIDEO AT LINK The fastest hat trick in National Hockey League history was tallied by Bill Mosienko of the Chicago Blackhawks against the New York Rangers on March 23, 1952 – three goals in 21 seconds. Just over 62 years later, his feat was bested by an eight year old. Brayden MacIntosh of Hanover, Ont., scored three goals in 10 seconds this week in a WOAA championship tournament final against the Goderich Sailors. “It seemed really fast,” MacIntosh told CTV. How fast was the trick? His coach missed two of the goals.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Harry Hubbard Johnson, who recently left the employ of trainer Steve Asmussen at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., committed suicide Friday in Kentucky. Johnson was Asmussen’s shed foreman, a position that ranks a level below assistant trainer. He died two days following his 27th birthday. “He was a kind soul and a pleasure to be around,” Asmussen said Saturday. “I feel horrible for the whole Johnson family.” Johnson’s death comes a little more than a week after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released controversial video and audio footage recorded undercover in the...