An Auburn fan, apparently fresh off safari in Dothan, sends in this photo today.

(Actually, it’s both)

Syracuse fan: Don’t get any ideas.

While celebrating Georgia State’s landmark first-ever college football victory last night at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, head coach Bill Curry was briefly knocked to the ground after Panther players attempted to give him the traditional postgame sports drink cooler bath.

(Curry a tough old goat, Baltimore Colt)

In amateur video of the incident from WSB’s Zach Klein, the 67-year-old former head coach of Alabama, Georgia Tech and Kentucky can be seen on the ground for about 15 seconds before he was able to get back on his feet.

Moments later Curry was all smiles with his players following GSU’s 41-7 win over NAIA Shorter College in front of a remarkable crowd of 30,237 fans.

The native Atlantan’s quick recovery comes as little surprise, considering he also enjoyed a decorated 12-year NFL career as an offensive lineman.
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L.A.-area congresswoman Grace Napolitano is the sponsor of a federal bill (HR 2531) which aims to establish a law that “provides for comprehensive school mental health programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate and age appropriate.”

(Of course he is)

Introduced well over a year ago, the bill hasn’t gotten much traction since being referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

That lack of political action apparently is what led to Ron Artest’s first post-championship endorsement deal. (Sorry Wheaties!)
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Here’s a photo of University of Hawaii football player Kealoha Pilares racing to a touchdown Thursday night against USC.

Per Hawaii’s official apparel supplier, Pilares is decked out head to toe in Under Armour gear - with one notable, unintentional exception.

The official website of Ole Miss athletics announced Friday that Rebels quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has won his appeal against an NCAA, overturning a ruling which had previously required him to sit out a season after recently transferring from the University of Oregon:

Ole Miss quarterback Jeremiah Masoli may compete immediately, according to a decision today by the NCAA Division I Subcommittee for Legislative Relief. The subcommittee’s decision overturns the staff decision that required Masoli to sit out the 2010-2011 season.

Masoli had previously requested a waiver from the NCAA in order to use his last year of eligibility to compete for the Rebels this season - despite having obtained his undergraduate degree at Oregon.

On its official website, the NCAA confirmed the ruling reversal with the following statement: Read more…

Three fans were captured on video fighting in the upper deck of Arthur Ashe Stadium during a U.S. Open match Thursday between No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia and unseeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany.

Follow Brooks on Twitter for daily, real-time updates.

The ugly spat started when a woman reportedly complained to a male fan about his loud use of expletives during the Djokovic-Petzschner match. In a subsequent argument with the male fan, who was in his early 20s, the woman slapped him across the face. (See above video.)

After the woman slapped the younger man, he began verbally antagonizing her and her older male companion. Things then got physical between the men, with the older man grabbing the younger man by the neck:

The men eventually both fell backwards down three rows of seats. When the younger man returned to his seat, he was again confronted by the woman who attempted to punch him. The woman missed and the younger man pushed her away. Onlookers and security personnel then descended on the younger man, ending the outburst.

Though the older man and woman - who were reportedly father and daughter - appeared to have started the physical portion of the confrontation, there’s no doubt from watching the video that the younger man initiated the entire incident with antagonizing language.

Something tells me alcohol may have been a factor in the incident.
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ESPN last night:

Producing so many games, understandable that ESPN would occasionally make some unfortunate errors.

So let’s go back to the basics, like naming the Broncos starting quarterback. Read more…

Last Thursday University of New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert returned to the pitch for the first time since she was captured on video physically bullying members of the BYU women’s soccer team during a game last November. Lambert was suspended from the team after the video went viral on the web and in the national media.

In a stunning coincidence, the night after Lambert’s return, an ugly spat broke out between two players on the Oregon and Oklahoma State women’s soccer teams in Eugene, Oregon - with the altercation captured on video by KVAL-TV in Oregon.

Though the incident was only innocuously noted in a game account on the Univ. of Oregon website:

Oregon senior defender Mercedes Walters and OSU forward Kyndall Treadwell were sent of the pitch in the 63rd minute following a skirmish which resulted in both receiving red cards. The two teams played with 10 players each for the remainder of the contest.

Curtis Anderson of the EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD also downplayed the brawl but did get a muted reaction from Oklahoma State coach Colin Carmichael: Read more…

This week a high-ranking NFL executive predicted that average league attendance would drop for a third consecutive year, falling to levels last seen in 1998.

(Attendance so bad in Jax that Jags regularly sell tarps over seats as ad space)

Michael McCarthy of USA TODAY reports executive vice president of NFL Ventures and Business Operations Eric Grubman attributed the downtown to the struggling economy and the improved home-viewing experience - but not ticket prices.

NFL ticket sales are projected to drop 1% to 2% this season with season ticket sales getting hit the hardest, losing 5%. Though single-game ticket sales, partial season ticket plans and online ticket brokering is expected to make up some of the shortfall.

That downtrend probably isn’t coincidence considering that while the national unemployment rate nears 10%, Team Marketing Report recently noted that the NFL’s average ticket price rose 4% to $75 last season.

But while average in-game attendance is falling off, television viewership is taking off.  USA Today:

For the 2009 season, the league drew its biggest audiences in 20 years. Regular season games were watched by an average 16.6 million viewers, up 2 million from the season before, and the highest number since the pre-Internet days of 1990.

But fans are often caught in a Catch-22 with the league’s blackout policy. If an NFL team’s game isn’t sold out, the NFL blocks the network telecast from airing in the corresponding city. Read more…

Four months ago, Texas A&M and the Southeastern Conference confirmed that the Aggies nearly moved their sports programs from the Big 12 to SEC. Since then, there’s been much conjecture about why A&M elected to stay in the Big 12 instead of bolting for the SEC.

(Not the first time Byrne hasn’t been afraid to rile up the A&M faithful)

Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne cleared up much of that speculation with a brutally honest assessment of the situation during a guest appearance on WTAW-AM in College Station, Texas, this week. (Via Wiz of Odds.)

Byrne on why A&M didn’t make the move to SEC: Read more…