Imagine that tomorrow, Bud Selig holds a press conference and announces that MLB is unretiring Jackie Robinson’s number. Selig says that because of players like Mariano Rivera and Bruce Sutter, there is a tradition of outstanding players wearing the number 42, and therefore any future players should be allowed to wear it. We’d storm baseball’s offices with pitchforks and torches, right?

That’s exactly what many at Syracuse want to do with the number 44. Worn by Jim Brown, Floyd Little and Ernie Davis, among others, the number was finally retired three years ago. But now there’s a groundswell to open it up again and slap it on the back of any old running back who joins the Orange. The most outrageous part of this is that there isn’t more outrage.

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• Yeah, I like you too, Rays, but let’s not start counting our chickens before they hatch now. HOME RUN DERBY points out that this is an officially licensed shirt, not some fan creation selling on the street. Just what we need: a bunch of entitled a-hole Rays fans running around.

• CAGE POTATO reports that former UFC fighter Joe Son has been linked to a 1990 gang rape via DNA testing.

• FANHOUSE informs us that the Titans will lose a fifth-round pick to the Cowboys if the cornerback formerly known as Pacman gets himself arrested and/or suspended. In other words, the Titans are losing a fifth-round pick to the Cowboys.

• Charlie Manuel’s mother died this morning, but he’ll manage today’s Game 2 of the NLCS, says MLB.COM.

• On the day The Express opens, THAT MINORITY THING has some words about Ernie Davis.

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• So no matter that the new movie The Express might claim, West Virginia fans didn’t harass Ernie Davis during his Heisman Trophy-winning season, or ever? Next you’re going to tell me that Rudy really didn’t wind up getting carried off the field after saving Frodo from Gollum.



• Coastal Carolina’s golf team must have had John Daly as a role model, as three players were suspended for underage drinking. Drinking and golf? Who ever heard of such a thing. If they need a drinking buddy, maybe JJ Reddick news came out that his contract with the Magic could be extended - just so they can release him.
• Apparently the UC Davis Marching Band liked showing off their little Aggies a little too much for the band director’s taste - he’s filed a sexual harassment complaint against band members.
• Not fat? French league basketball player Ho You Fat. Also not fat: Bengals LB Darryl Blackstock. You usually aren’t when you’ve been yoking up with the help of steroids. Or as the Bengals call getting trouble with the NFL, “taking one for the team.”
• Mark Sanchez might not play this Saturday against Arizona St. If about 50 more players on the USC depth chart get hurt, the Sun Devils might have a shot!
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It’s hardly news, of course that a movie that’s “based on a true story” would fudge some facts, much less a historical sports movie (Sure, the Titans won a playoff game on a last-second, 80-yard reverse. Sure they did). And hey, why not, right? If we already know that the protagonist will succeed, why not have him do so in the face of as much adversity as our sick minds can imagine?

Such was apparently the mindset of the producers of The Express, the story of Heisman winner Ernie Davis and Syracuse’s magical championship season in 1959. In the “uplifting” movie, Davis and his teammates endure untold amounts of harassment from opposing fans, perhaps nowhere more so than in Syracuse’s trip to Morgantown to face West Virginia.

There, the Orangemen encountered nasty, brutal, racist fans who showered the team in garbage, threats, and epithets. In a true testament to the team’s countenance, they struggled through the hostility and kept their championship dreams alive. There is, of course, one teensy little problem with that storyline. Read more…

Now that Lane Kiffin has been removed from the Raiders, there’s rampant speculation on where the former Oakland coach & USC coordinator might find employment.

We mentioned earlier that Kiffin could end up sitting in the saddle at Syracuse, since Greg Robinson’s tenure is more or less at an end. (Getting no support from the school AD certainly doesn’t help, either. But would you support a team that gets zipped 42-28 by Akron at home?)

Now, new rumors are popping up that Kiffin could be donning an Orange shirt, but not in upstate New York. How does Knoxville sound instead?

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• How great was Monday night’s NFL showdown between the Cowboys & Eagles? Great enough to be the most-watched cable TV program ever!

Only gratuitous in-game shots of Jessica Simpson could have raised higher ratings - among other things.

• Let’s see if we can figure out this whole MLB postseason mess.

• Meanwhile, how can Major League Baseball keep children from using steroids? By reviving that old standby - “Just Say No!”

• It seems the Mets & Brewers are more concerned about making tee times than making the playoffs.

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The late great Syracuse tailback and first black Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis graduated in 1961. Syracuse unveiled a statue honoring him the other day. But there’s a problem: the sculptor gave his uniform and kicks Nike swooshes. Seeing as how Nike wasn’t around until 1971, poor Ernie’s associated with something not of his era.

Syracuse blog TROY NUNES IS AN ABSOLUTE MAGICIAN also points out that the helmet Davis’ statue is holding is a modern helmet, not one he would have worn. For its part, Syracuse is playing this cool. Athletic Director Daryl Gross tells the SPORTING NEWS in an email it’s an “easy fix. The sculptor is on it and will make it perfect“. Read more…

A new football flick is hitting theaters this fall - a film based on the life story of college all-star Ernie Davis.

“The Express” tells the story of the Syracuse running back & 1961 Heisman Trophy winner - becoming the first African-American to win the award - who sadly never saw his dreams of playing in the NFL come true after dying from leukemia in 1963. Read more…