WHO'S Hot/WHO'S Not
WHO'S Hot
Relative Success
Former Pats DE Julius Adams has reason to root against his old team on Sunday. Son Keith, six when Dad played in Super Bowl XX, is an Eagles LB, making Adams family the fifth to have father-son combo in game. In Oklahoma, Angela Ruggiero (above) became first woman nongoalie to play men's pro hockey, as defenseman for CHL's Tulsa Oilers--while brother Bill tended net.
Charlie Frye
Akron QB had super week of NFL auditions leading to Senior Bowl--scouts compared him with Brett Favre--then won game's MVP to zip up wish lists of teams looking for next MAC star (see: Byron Leftwich, Ben Roethlisberger). Raiders QB coach Steve Sarkisian: "He really showed a big-time ability."
Being Green
Hue of the moment. Eagles are in the Super Bowl, Celtics sit atop Atlantic Division, and neon threads put Aussie Open winner Serena Williams (page 62) in the limelight. It's even hotter being Green Day: Band is up for six Grammys on Feb. 13.
Maryland
Check out those Terps! Upsets of No. 2 Blue Devils at Duke and No. 22 Georgia Tech had fans dancing to a Nik Caner-Medley (left) as team climbed into Top 25. And good news at Inner Harbor: the O's landed Sammy Sosa, who may soon club homer number 600 out of slugger-friendly Camden Yards.
Arena Football
League opened 19th season with solid TV deal and high-profile owners Jon Bon Jovi (Philadelphia), John Elway (Colorado) and Mike Ditka (Chicago). Teams averaged 47 points first week; three games were decided by three or less.
WHO'S Not
Ankles
LeBron and Kobe are nursing sprains, and Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, just off surgery, showed up in court with right ankle in cast, then got four months for using a cellphone to try to set up a drug deal. And the incessant talk of TO's injury--the "will he or won't he be ready for big one" debate began before Christmas--is enough to make you cry "ankle!"
Rick Majerus
After accepting, then abruptly backing out of, job as USC basketball coach in December, big fella was back as ESPN analyst and freelance lech. During Tennessee-Kentucky game he said he hoped to see Wildcats fan Ashley Judd in stands so he didn't "have to watch adult videos back at the hotel." Classy.
Bernie Bickerstaff
Bobcats coach tells players to stop complaining to refs, vowing to quit own whining as well. Next night he gets ejected from game versus Sixers for ... arguing with ref. Said Bickerstaff, "That's great leadership, huh?"
Connecticut
UConn men's hoop team trekked to South Bend and lost to unranked Notre Dame. Hours later, Irish struck again, the women's team giving Huskies first Big East home loss since 1993. State's egghead hoopsters are faring even worse: Yale men's and women's team's are 7-25 combined.
Fussball
As Germany prepares to host World Cup, its Bundesliga was rocked by scandal: Ref Robert Hoyzer admitted taking more than $65,000 to fix matches. (He once sent off a Hamburg striker for "insulting behavior.") Worse news ahead? Said Hoyzer, "Players, too, received payments."
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TOM BRIGLIA/WIREIMAGE.COM (ADAMS)
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RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES (RUGGIERO)
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CHRIS GARDNER/AP (MAN W/ ANKLE)
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JON SOOHOO/WIREIMAGE.COM (MAJERUS)
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HUCK BURTON/AP (BICKERSTAFF)
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KEVIN COX/WIREIMAGE.COM (CANER-MEDLEY)
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DILIP VISHWANAT/SPORTING NEWS/ICON SMI (FRYE)
