24-year-old boxer Benjamin Flores passed away on Tuesday after collapsing following a fight at a charity event in Dallas last week. Flores lost in his bid for the NABF’s super bantamweight title against Al Seeger. The referee stopped the fight at 2:10 of the eighth round, but Flores collapsed soon after and never regained consciousness. The Mexico native was 19-4 in his all-too-brief professional career.

His death has devastated the boxing community in Texas and Mexico, as well as his family. Flores’ 16-year-old brother, Miguel, is an aspiring boxer in his own right who looked up to Benjamin and dreamed of one day fighting on the same card. After this, Miguel had every reason to give up on boxing. But not only is he continuing to box, he’s vowed to win a world championship in his brother’s honor.

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A lot of us like to think that we’re the kind of people who would sacrifice ourselves to save someone else’s life. It’s easy to talk the talk, but few actually get into a position to walk the walk.

Young Aaron Walker of suburban Dallas found himself in that position one night in February. The former standout high school football player was out with friends celebrating his acceptance into the Army. Their car broke down on the interstate, though, and while they were pushing the car off an exit ramp, another car came barreling toward them. Walker could’ve just jumped out of the way, but that would’ve left his friends in the car’s path. So he pushed his friends out of the way and took the brunt of the force, changing his life forever (though luckily not ending it).

It’s a tragic story, but Walker’s attitude makes it one of the more inspiring stories you’ll hear this year.

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• Sick of ESPN’s baseball coverage only showcasing the Yankees, Red Sox & Mets? Padres pitcher Heath Bell feels the same sourness.

• Fights, stabbings, gunplay - just another Opening Day at Dodger Stadium.

• John Calipari greets the Memphis faithful one more time - but not without some bodyguards.

• Former Duke basketball star Greg Paulus gets a pro tryout - with the Green Bay Packers?

• Dallas would be happy to take the College Football Hall of Fame off South Bend’s hands.

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For many years some of the top high school football talent in Texas — a state ripe with football players — have ventured north to South Bend, Indiana, to play football at Notre Dame. Well, now it seems that the state of Texas would like to take something back from South Bend for itself. Specifically, the College Football Hall of Fame.

Dallas mayor Tom Leppert has joined a star-studded group of people including Roger Staubach, Deion Sanders, and T. Boone Pickens in campaigning to have the Hall of Fame relocated to Dallas where Leppert believes that they can bring a lot more to the experience.

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Have you ever been pulled over by a cop who says something to the effect of “you better have a good reason for doing what you just did”? Well, Texans running back Ryan Moats had a pretty good reason, but that didn’t seem to phase a Dallas police officer Robert Powell, who’s might be just about the biggest jerk in the world.

Moats, his wife Tamishia, and two other family members had received news that Tamishia’s mother Jonetta Collinsworth was within minutes of death from cancer, and that they needed to rush to the hospital immediately if they wanted to see her one last time. So they all piled in Moats’ SUV and raced to the hospital in Plano. Moats drove with his hazards on, and went through a red light when another motorist waved him along. That’s when Powell started following them, and what happened next doesn’t exactly help to dispel the notion that officers are too often all about being on a power trip rather than doing what’s in the best interest of the people.

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If you think of two cities in North America, it’s hard to imagine two more dissimilar locales than Vancouver and Dallas. Sure, there are more geographically removed examples, but Wasilla and Miami aren’t so dissimilar; they both love the living hell out of a particular drug (meth and cocaine, respectively). But while Vancouver is like Valhalla for potheads, hippies, and the poor of hygiene (redundant, we know), Dallas is Texas to the core, where they’d look at Hank Hill as “dangerously liberal.”

(Just think: in Dallas, this could be your son!)

That disparity in attitudes is probably best demonstrated by each’s approach to MMA, which is an acronym that somehow stands for “legally beating the living Christ out of someone for fun and money.” In Vancouver, they held five events and said “no no, that’ll be all, hockey back bacon Rick Moranis snow.” In Dallas, however, not only is it sanctioned, but it’s apparently an effective disciplinary tool for administrators of local high schools. Oh, this can’t end well. Read more…

COTTON BOWL TRYING TO SPIN WAY BACK INTO BCS CYCLE: Once a cherished post-season destination, the Cotton Bowl has become an afterthought in the days of the BCS. Now the bowl’s organizers want to be brought back into the big-money fold:

Brian Davis of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS reports how the Cotton Bowl Committee has been trumpeting their future move to the Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington - hoping to grab the BCS’ attention with the better venue.

Chances for the Cotton Bowl to become part of the BCS depend on if the coalition wants to tweak their bowl formula yet again. Davis believes decisions will be made based on how well New Orleans organizers can handle both the Sugar Bowl and the BCS Championship within the same week.

Davis writes, “If Sugar Bowl officials fall on their faces, BCS commissioners may realize that a fifth game is necessary. If they execute two games in flawless fashion, the Cotton Bowl could be left on the sideline.”