Kentucky fans will have to go somewhere else to relive the glory days of Wildcat hoops, as the UK’s Basketball Museum has closed its doors.
The AP reports that lackluster attendance & financial problems have beset the Lexington shrine since it opened in 1999. Only 25,000 visitors per year have passed through its halls - a far cry from the 110,000 yearly fans that consultants had originally promised. Read more…
U of Illinois head football coach Ron Zook is an absolutely dogged recruiter and coming off a top season for the program, complete with Rose Bowl appearance as the sacrificial lamb to USC and Pete Carroll.
So, what is he doing for a follow-up with this new-found attention on what used to be a floundering program? He and his football team will be part of a season of reality TV on the BIG TEN NETWORK.
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE’s Teddy Greenstein says “Illinois Football: The Journey” will be a 10-13 episode series airing on the conference’s cable channel, which has had some difficulty getting off the ground and into homes.
Read more…
• NEW YORK NEWSDAY’s Neil Best hears that the NFL Network gig vacated by Bryant Gumbel could be filled by - Al Michaels?!
• Stephanie Stradley of AOL FANHOUSE knows what the Vikings’ Kenechi Udeze is going through, as her sister had her own fight with leukemia.
• ON THE BASELINE follows up that Maria Sharapova is still mad about a forced photo shoot, so she plans to dig up some dirt on behind-the-scenes at the WTA.
• RANDBALL catches Nick Saban embracing new technology to get around NCAA rules created specifically for him.
Read more…
UK ESCAPEE SMITH GETS GINORMOUS TUB O’ MINNY MONEY: The MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE reports today on the contract of new Minnesota basketball coach Tubby Smith.
The seven-year deal makes Smith the “highest-paid employee in [school] history.” Smith can earn over $13M in University-based salary. Plus, the tubster could receive “additional money in incentives that could boost his annual salary to more than $3.3[M] this year.“And don’t forget he also gets a free car, tickets to school athletic events, reimbursed travel expenses to games for his family AND a pension.
Yeah, but all that dough doesn’t erase the sting of not having a Krystal Burger in town (Lexington has 10!).
