• The lone survivor of the NFL Florida boat wreck says Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper took off their life jackets & let the sea sweep them away.

• Former New Orleans Saints RB Deuce McAllister is having a hell of a time with his car dealership in Mississippi.

• Good news: The Baltimore Orioles want to give you a free ticket for your birthday. Bad news: It’s for a Baltimore Orioles game.

• A couple of Wisconsin kids are in trouble for taking a whiz in sodas sold at a high school basketball game.

Read more…

Lute Olson has been the face of Arizona basketball, and rightly so, for the last quarter century or so. Olson led the Cats to an NCAA berth in all but his very first season at their helm, including four Final Fours and one title, in which nobody expected Jason Terry to be nearly the NBA prospect that Miles Simon was (whoops). But the last few years of Olson’s tenure were wrought by controversy and sudden departures from the program, even as the team succeeded on the court. And while nobody accused Olson of taking leaves of absence for the hell of it - not when he had things like a divorce and a stroke going on - it could be that his final, sudden retirement might have been akin to that of a captain abandoning a sinking ship.

(Olson is also facing sanctions for doing the D-Miles thing, which is so played out.)

That’s because the NCAA has announced a full-scale investigation into Olson’s activities with a premier recruiting event, the “Cactus Classic” (BECAUSE THEY’RE IN ARIZONA, GET IT?), according to the ARIZONA DAILY STAR. The event is a big deal for the program, as six members of the team have participated in the event (a seventh AU commit to do so, Brandon Jennings, went to Europe instead, and you might remember how thrilled he is about that). And while the event isn’t officially under the University’s jurisdiction, Lute sure tried to put some fingerprints on the money trail: Read more…

Tucson’s ARIZONA DAILY STAR chronicles the positively bizarre behavior of Lute Olson’s ex-wife on the day Olson announced his retirement, reporting she “threatened the coach’s doctor by placing a sheet ridden with bullet holes in his office, according to a restraining order granted against Christine Olson on Tuesday.”

(Who’s the crazy one now?)

Dr. Steven D. Knope requested the order and it was granted by judge Susan Bacal.

Knope will have to get in line on this one though, as Ms. Olson has previously made dark threats to another party. Namely Lute himself! Read more…

The ARIZONA DAILY STAR reports this afternoon that Lute Olson recently suffered a stroke.

Lute Olson suffered a small stroke over the past year, his doctor said today, that likely resulted in depression and changes in judgment. The stroke was discovered Monday night when Dr. Steven Knope examined the results of an MRI. The 74-year-old was told the news and remains at his home in Tucson.

(OK, photo a little tasteless in the context of the story)

The stroke was caused when a clot likely traveled from his heart to his brain, Knope said. It did not come from stress and anxiety, though it might have caused stress and anxiety over the past year. It is in Olson’s frontal lobe, which Knope said controls “executive function, or planning,” and “a center for personality.”

So Olson’s lost his “executive function and … a center for personality“? What’s Phil Fulmer’s excuse then for having a job?

What isn’t clear is when Olson’s stroke happened. And how it could’ve been missed by doctors, given the description of his oft-erratic behavior. Read more…

Earlier today I speculated that Dick Vitale’s report this morning that Lute Olson was stepping down as Arizona baskebtall coach might not turn out to be accurate - because Olson would stay on just to spite the ESPNer’s scoop. Well, Vitale was indeed correct, as the ARIZONA DAILY STAR has just confirmed Lute Olson is out as Univ. of Arizona basketball coach.

Excerpt:

Lute Olson will step down as head basketball coach of the Arizona Wildcats, according to the fathers of two top UA recruits who said they were informed by the assistant coaches this morning. Read more…

I’m sure Mike Stoops is really excited about this one. As Stoops gets his Arizona football team ready for the biggest game of his coaching career, vs. USC on Saturday, ESPN’s Dick Vitale reported earlier today that Arizona Basketball Coach Lute Olson “is stepping down as the school’s men’s basketball coach.”

(Bald story-breakers keeping things interesting for ESPN this week)

In other words, no one in Tucson now cares about Saturday’s football game.

But while Vitale has staked his reputation on the story - culled from a “source,” the UA athletic department is wholly denying it. Though curiously, Olson has not made a public statement since Vitale’s report.

So what’s really going on? Read more…

Last season Arizona Wildcats coach Lute Olson took a year off from the team. While an official reason for for his leave of absence was never given, the school did say that it had nothing to do with health reasons, and then a few days later we found out Olson had filed for divorce from his wife.

Well it looks like Olson enjoyed that year off, because he missed practice on Wednesday and skipped an appearance at a local Rotary Club event as well. The school said Lute was just sick and has laryngitis, but according to ESPN’s Dick Vitale, that isn’t the case. He says that Olson is just stepping down as coach.

Read more…

Lute Olson’s love life has been in shambles for the past year or so. The Arizona b-ball coach went through a divorce so messy & TMZ-worthy that it cost him a whole season away from the Wildcat sidelines.

(“One of these days, Christine - POW! Right in the kisser!”)

But we hear that Lute’s heart has been mended once again, and he’s found a new lovely lady to spend the rest of his life with - who happens to be 27 years his junior.

Read more…

Lute Olson decided to take his divorce squablings to the public airwaves - and soon-to-be ex-wife Christine quickly followed suit.

The Arizona basketball coach called in to the Johnjay & Rich show on Phoenix radio station 93.7 KRQ Friday morning, to discuss an article in the ARIZONA DAILY STAR about financial issues between the Olsons.

Read more…

• A Florida Marlins reliever finds relief in shooting critters from ‘copters.

• Erin Andrews reveals what Bruce Pearl texted after their halftime hug.

• Steve Nash is not concerned if he never gets NBA championship gold.

• Baron Davis shares a soulful song.

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