On January 7, 2013 Alabama faced off against the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a highly anticipated matchup for the NCAA football National Championship.  In the first half, Alabama started out hot opening up a 28-0 lead.  It seemed apparent in the opening drive when Notre Dame overloaded the box at the 5-yard line that they misread the play Alabama was calling.  They assumed Alabama would rely on their all-star running back to punch it in after successfully running the ball on the previous play to set up a first down and goal situation.  However, in an unconventional play call, Alabama adapted to Notre Dame’s goal line defense, faked the run and found a wide open receiver in the back of the end-zone to complete McCarron’s first touchdown pass of the game.

Upon the first completed TD, Alabama appeared to have outsmarted Notre Dame. The theme continued for the rest of the first half.  For 30 minutes, Notre Dame seemed to be guessing on defense and found little success in shutting down the Tide.  Going into the second half, A.J. McCarron had already racked up 158 yards and 2 TDs (Lacy/Williams) on 12 completions, complimenting another 2 touchdowns converted in the running game by running backs Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon. 28 points later, a comeback by Notre Dame was unlikely.

Second Half

The Tide continued to roll entering the second half – striking first on an AJ McCarron pass to Amari Cooper for a 34-yard TD.  The lead was stretched to 35-0.  With 4:08 left in the third quarter, Notre Dame finally found the scoreboard on a 2-yard rush from Everett Golson.  The Tide scored again with 11:27 left in the 4^th quarter, regaining a 35-point lead on another AJ McCarron pass to Amari Cooper, this time for 19 yards.  Notre Dame answered back on a Golson pass to Theo Riddick for 8 yards and a TD and with 7:51 left in the 4^th quarter, the Tide led the Irish 42-14.

Summary Stats

With under three minutes left in the game, Alabama pulled starters from the game and Lacy was named the offensive MVP having racked up 140 yards on 20 rushing yards and 1 TD in addition to 17 reception yards and a TD on 2 catches.  T.J. Yeldon split carries with Lacy, finishing with one more carry than him (21) for a total of 108 rushing yards and 1 TD.  AJ McCarron completed 20 of 28 passes for 264 yards and 4 TDs.  Amari Cooper finished with 6 receptions for 105 yards and 2 TDs.

Although the Tide went on to win 42-14, Notre Dame reported a couple of notable statistics.  Namely, DaVaris Daniels, TJ Jones and Tyler Eifert racked up 266 reception yards on a combined 20 catches (split 6/7/6 for 115/90/61 respectively).  Quarterback, Golson, completed 21 of 36 passes for a total of 270 passing yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.

The Tide shut down Notre Dame’s running game, allowing just 32 rushing yards on 19 total rushes.  One of those rushes went for 20 yards, meaning the remaining 18 rushes mustered up a mere 12 additional yards.  This would have been the outstanding statistic and likely recognized as the difference maker if it weren’t overshadowed by the fact that Notre Dame’s defense was shredded by McCarron and company, thus leaving little doubt the Tide would have won regardless of whether the Fighting Irish had gotten their running game working.  This is the Tide’s third National Championship in 4 years and with this latest win, McCarron became the first quarterback in history to win back-to-back National Championships.  Three other quarterbacks had the opportunity since 2000 but none were successful in winning the second game.

Mosley steps down.

Almost one month after losing to 21 year old Saúl Álvarez, after a unanimous decision, Shane Mosley, known to most as Sugar Shane has decided to retire.

“Good morning everybody. Just want to thank you for showing me so much love,” Mosley tweeted. “Had a great career and loved every moment of it, win, lose or draw.”

Mosley would later confirm to ESPN that he was indeed retiring and that his tweet wasn’t a joke or spam saying, “I’m going to leave it alone,” Mosley, told ESPN.com. “I’m good. I’m going into the promotional world, I’m training my son [21-year-old amateur Shane Mosley Jr.]. It was a helluva career. I’m happy for all the great memories and all the great fighters that I fought. Now it’s time give back. I’m ready to train my son full-time now.”

Mosley will end his career at an overall record of 46 victories, 8 defeats and 1 draw. He knocked out 39 of his opponents.

“That’s life, that’s getting older,” Mosley said. “When you get older, you see what happens. You think you can do things. You see stuff that you think you can do, that you want to do, but you just can’t do it anymore.”

When Mosley lost the fight against Álvarez on May 5^th he jokingly said after, “When the kids start to beat you up, you might have to start promoting.” Though, despite being 40 years old no one took what Mosley said seriously, however, Mosley did.

“My son is getting older. He’s 21 and after I fought ‘Canelo,’ I thought about that he was 21 and I thought I should spent more time training my son, getting the new generation ready,” said Mosley, who told ESPN that he will also spend time trying to get his Sugar Shane Promotions off the ground.

“I hope they remember me as a great fighter, a great person and somebody that cares about boxing,” Mosley said. “I hope they remember that I loved to fight. It’s been fun.”

Junior Seau's house was robbed five days after Seau was found dead in his Oceanside home.

Just about two weeks later after reports broke out of former NFL Linebacker, Junior Seau’s death new reports are breaking tonight as they’re saying that Seau’s house was robbed.

The home of Seau’s was burglarized last week on May 7^th according to police officials who told the North County Times on Tuesday. The robbery came just five days after Seau’s death which officials diagnosed as a suicide.

The Times reported that someone forcibly entered the Oceanside home’s garage through the doggy door at roughly 2 p.m. PT on May 7^th. The thief went through the cabinets before stealing a bicycle worth around $500 that was the property of a friend of Seau, the paper said.

Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Mata told the Times that the burglar did not enter other sections of the home and the only item that appeared to be missing was the bike.

“I can’t put into words how I’m feeling right now. I’m shocked and devastated. Junior was my friend. We all lost a friend today. Junior was an icon in our community. He transcended the game. He wasn’t just a football player, he was so much more. He was loved by everyone in our family, our organization and throughout the NFL. This is just such a tragic loss. One of the worst things I could ever imagine. My prayers go out to Junior’s family. It’s heartbreaking,” said San Diego Chargers Team President, Dan Spanos in a statement following Seau’s death back on May 2^nd.

Seau was 43, before he took his life on that day that will forever remain a tragic day for not only his family members and friends, but for NFL fans and sports fans all over the world.

Seau’s suicide now marks the 12th suicide done by an NFL player within the past 25 years.

Could it happen again?

On February 4^th Jeremy Lin who scored 25 points off the bench against the depleted New Jersey Nets lifted the Knicks to a 99-93 victory which gave the Knicks, a team who at the time was very bad, hope.

Lin as a result to his 25 point performance would start in the Knicks next game. Playing against the Utah Jazz, Lin, playing in front of a home crowd once again lifted the Knicks to a 99-88 victory. Lin would score 28 points marking a new career high for him as the Knicks would win again.

The winning would continue as the Knicks would win five straight improving them to, 15-15. As for Lin not only would his performance continue but Knicks fans and others in the sports world would put a name to all of the madness calling it, Linsanity.

Though, nearly two months later “Linsanity” as they called it would come to an end, at least for the 2012 season as it appeared after Lin injured his knee.

“I can’t really do much. Can’t really cut or jump, so it’s pretty clear that I won’t be able to help the team unless I get this fixed right now,” Lin told reporters back in March. “It’s disappointing for me, it’s hard to watch the games and I think I’d want to be out there obviously more than anything right now. But hopefully, it’s a six-week rehab process but I tend to heal fast, so hopefully I can come back as soon as possible and still contribute this season hopefully.”

“Hopefully” was the word and “hope” is all what is left for this Knicks team as they trail the Miami Heat 3-1 in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs. However, despite trailing three games to one as the Knicks will travel to Miami on Wednesday where their 2012 season could potentially come to an end with a Miami win, there’s still hope, a lot of it.

The reason being; guard, Jeremy Lin. Reports broke Monday that Lin could possibly play against the Heat on Wednesday though according to Knicks head coach, Mike Woodson, it’s not likely.

“We’ll gauge it today and tomorrow, but I’m not counting on Jeremy Lin to play,” Woodson said during a conference call Monday. “So we’ve just got to continue where we’ve been in terms of guys in uniform. But I’m not counting on him to play. That’s how it’s been here in the last month and a half and that’s how I’m preparing.”

Woodson would go onto add that Lin’s conditioning isn’t that great and that Lin hasn’t played in a while.

“I’ve watched him shoot and run up and down, he’s not in great shape,” Woodson said. “You know as well as I know, playoff basketball, you’ve got to be (in peak condition). And he hasn’t played in a while, so I don’t know if that’s going to be a determining factor with the doctors.”

Though, despite being a “long-shot” to play on Wednesday its Jeremy Lin we’re talking about here. His whole NBA career has been a “long-shot.” Did anyone expect him to have this crazy season, we’re calling, Linsanity? Did anyone expect him to even play, let alone start? No, no, and no. So don’t count this 23 year old kid out of anything and with him in the Knicks line-up, don’t count them out either. Linsanity round two?

Will the Knicks be better off without Stoudemire?

As more news and updates from the story that topped headlines last night about New York Knicks Forward, Amare Stoudemire who out of frustration punched the glass casing which held a fire extinguisher in the AmericanAirlines Arena hallway last night, aren’t that good for Knicks fans.

According to ESPN the Magazine’s Chris Broussard who witnessed the incident live had this to say.

“He didn’t haul off and punch the glass; he hit it out of frustration,” told Broussard to ESPN. “He kind of slapped it, but with a closed fist. He said he thought it was plastic instead of glass.”

Broussard would go onto describe Stoudemire’s hand as a result to hitting the glass casing.

“Half of his hand was just hanging off. It was really bad. Blood was just squirting out. That’s why they had the paramedics come in, because they thought he might have punctured an artery because of how much blood was coming out.”

Another league source said that while waiting outside the Knicks locker room to conduct post-game interviews, people could be heard from inside calling for towels to tend the injured Stoudemire in efforts to stop the bleeding the source said.

According to the team Stoudemire saw a hand specialist on Tuesday who repaired a “small muscle” in his hand. Though, despite needing stitches, according to another source Stoudemire didn’t suffer any ligament or tendon damage.

Stoudemire, who will miss game three according to the Knicks on Tuesday, is listed as question for the remainder of the series, depending on how long it goes. However, Stoudemire who didn’t comment on the injury to reporters would comment on his twitter late last night.

“I am so mad at myself right now,” Stoudemire posted. “I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions. headed home for a new start.”

I am so mad at myself right now, I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions, headed home for a new start

— Amar’e Stoudemire (@Amareisreal) May 1, 2012

Following up what he said before, Stoudemire would post another tweet saying, “We all have done thing out of anger that we regret. That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This to shall pass.”

We all have done thing out of anger that we regret.That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This to shall pass.

— Amar’e Stoudemire (@Amareisreal) May 1, 2012

On a better a note, the Knicks will take on the Miami Heat at home on Thursday, in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd who’s pleading for a win. The game is set to tip off at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time on TNT.

“The series is still up in the air. It’s their home court. It’s our turn now. We can’t wait to get back and protect home court. We’ve got to keep everybody positive. It’s far from over,” said Forward, Carmelo Anthony.

Are the Bulls okay without Rose?

When Chicago Bulls guard, Derrick Rose suffered a late game knee injury in Saturday’s playoff opener against the Philadelphia 76ers that would later be confirmed as a knee injury, the Bulls, who won 103 to 91 didn’t really matter anymore. Headlines were revolving Rose and his torn ACL, not “Bulls win game one” which really seemed to bother Bulls head coach, Tom Thibodeau.

“I think we all feel awful for him,” Thibodeau said after Sunday’s practice. “Derrick’s not only a great player, he’s a great teammate, he’s a great person, but it’s not a death sentence. It’s not a death sentence for him, it’s not a death sentence for our team. He’s going to come back. He’ll come back better than ever. It’s just the way it is and we’ve got to deal with.”

Rose injured his left knee on Saturday with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter as the Bulls were nursing a 99-87 fourth quarter lead. Rose, despite leaving the game early due to his injury finished with a team high 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists.

As Thibodeau said it and as doctors said it, Rose will miss the remainder of the playoffs as well as more practice time this off-season. However, is Thibodeau right? Are the Bulls okay, without Rose?

The Bulls who finished first in the Eastern Conference at 50-16 and first in the NBA, have already become accustomed to playing without Rose this season as they did so in 27 of their regular season games, winning 18 of them. And one of those wins came against Philadelphia on Saturday, March 17^th. The Bulls won that game, 89-80 with back-up point guard, C.J. Watson (Rose’s replacement) leading all of Bulls scorers with 20 points.

So, can C.J. Watson who averaged 9.7 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, and 2.1 rebounds per game and 11.3 points per game, 4.6 assists per game, and 2.6 rebounds per game as a starter replace Rose? No he cannot as replacing Rose (last years league M.V.P.) is a very tough job to do, however, he can still do what the Bulls wanted to do this post-season and that’s win.

The Bulls will take the floor again against the 76ers for game 2 on Tuesday night at the United Center at 8:00 P.M. Eastern time.

“We’re not going to let anybody paint the picture for us,” Bulls center Joakim Noah told reporters. “Obviously, it’s tough losing Derrick. I feel for him, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.

“The whole team has to step up,” Noah would continue. “Our margin for error is a lot smaller with Derrick out. Can you replace a guy like Derrick? No. But it’s on us to step up as much as possible.”

What do you think of the boos by the Knicks' fans?

Regardless of any NBA team, on any given night, no matter whom the opponent is, there’s always fans there supporting their home or away team. And even sometimes, one, two, three, or more of those fans are celebrities. Also, usually those celebrities that are cheering (usually the home team) are as a result cheered on by the home crowd fans.

However, at the New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, where the Knicks took on the Los Angeles Clippers, New York Jets football players, quarterback, Mark Sanchez and wide receiver, Santonio Holmes weren’t cheered on…they were booed.

Matter of fact, booed loudly.

The New York Jets, whose season ended months ago after they went 8-8 last season and didn’t make the playoffs certainly wasn’t forgotten by the displeased Knicks’ fans.

Now while it wasn’t clear why the Knicks’ fans were booing, the answer to the question that has been out there since the addition of newly acquired quarterback Tim Tebow was certainly answered and that question; when will Sanchez first be booed?

Is it too soon?

As for Sanchez and Holmes they would decline to comment to ESPN about the fans boos at halftime. Though, Holmes would comment to twitter as he posted on his account:

Good game going on between the Knicks n Clippers

— Santonio Holmes (@santonio10) April 26, 2012

Jets cornerback, Antonio Cromartie was also at Madison Garden Tuesday night. However, he wouldn’t bee booed, though he would be introduced as the wrong player.

At the Knicks game snd they jus called me Shonne Green. I am not the big. Lol

— Antonio Cromartie (@ACromartie) April 26, 2012

The Knicks would go onto defeat the Clippers, 99-93, improving to 35-30 and move closer to locking up the 7^th seed in the Eastern Conference.

Sanchez, threw for 3,474 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions last season and Holmes, who caught 51 passes for 651 yards and 8 touchdowns last season. As for Cromartie, known to Knicks’ announcer as “Shonne Greene” had 45 tackles, one forced fumble, and 4 interceptions last season.

What's your take on Metta World Peace's elbow?

Now it’s most likely clear that you have already heard of and have seen the “elbow play” by Los Angeles Lakers forward, Metta World Peace (Ron Artest). However in case you haven’t, here’s what happened.

It was on a fast break when World Peace drove to the basket and landed a powerful dunk with Oklahoma City Thunder forward, Serge Ibaka trailing on his back. The dunk brought a huge cheer from the home Laker crowd as their team was trailing by only one, 48-47 as they were looking to gain the lead before halftime.

Though as the Lakers’ fans were celebrating and cheering on World Peace, he too also responded to the loud cheers of the fans as he began a celebration himself as he pounded his chest and then caulked back his elbow which then hit Thunder guard, James Harden resulting in Harden falling to the floor.

World Peace continued to run down the floor as he didn’t know that he hit Harden and as a result the whistles blew and the Thunder players, especially Ibaka responded because Harden remained lying on the court.

As for World Peace he stepped up to the confronting Ibaka as he looked shocked as to why Ibaka was trying to fight him. Luckily for both teams and the NBA the confrontation between the two would be broken up.

As for Harden, he would be helped to locker room and wouldn’t return. As for World Peace he would be ejected from the game. As far as if there will be further punishment for World Peace, the NBA as yet to say.

Here is the video of the entire play:

Now as you can see from the live camera view, it looks like just a routine celebration that Harden unfortunately just got in the way of. However, after watching the replay it looks completely different as you can see that before World Peace threw the elbow, the two collided so World Peace did know that he was there.

Though, to World Peace’s defense he only had about two seconds to react to Harden’s presence and that’s not really enough time as World Peace was already beginning is usual routine celebration.

After the game, World Peace would address the media saying that it was unintentional.

“During that play I just dunked on (Kevin) Durant and (Serge) Ibaka and I got really emotional and excited and it was unfortunate that James had to get hit with an unintentional elbow,” World Peace told reporters. “I hope he’s OK. The Thunder, they’re playing for a championship this year, so I hope that he’s OK and I apologize to the Thunder and to James Harden.”

World Peace would go onto add saying, “You know, it was such a great game and it was unfortunate so much emotion was going on at that time. … That’s it for today.”

As for Ibaka (The one who World Peace dunked on) he told the media that he didn’t know why World Peace did it? “I saw it happened and it was a very hard hit,” Ibaka said. “That’s the first I’ve seen anything like that happen live. I was surprised. I went up to him to ask him why he did that and he wanted to fight me too. I don’t know what he was thinking. I have no idea.”

Then after the media left and assuming when World Peace returned home, he went to twitter where he said this:

Hope James Hardin is ok… I remember when I hit by Marc Gasol the same way.. I was spitting up blood and a headache during the game…

— Metta WorldPeace (@MettaWorldPeace) April 22, 2012

I just watched the replay again….. Oooo..My celebration of the dunk really was too much… Didn’t even see James ….. Omg… Looks bad

— Metta WorldPeace (@MettaWorldPeace) April 23, 2012

The Lakers would go onto beat the Thunder, 114-106. As for the NBA, they have yet to respond to this matter.

Shabazz Muhammad (Left) and Nerlens Noel (Right) have selected their schools; see who they picked.

On a night where two of the top high school prospects from the class of 2012 made their decisions of where they wanted to play basketball next season, some schools who were hoping to land one of the top two prospects of 2012, walked away empty handed.

First it was number two of the class of 2012, Shabazz Muhammad to make his decision. Muhammad who was considering Duke, Kentucky, and UCLA selected the baby blue and gold Bruins making the University of California, Los Angeles a for sure title contender.

“It was down to Kentucky, Duke and UCLA and I chose to be a Bruin,” Muhammad said during a nationally televised appearance on ESPNU. “I’ll be at UCLA next year.”

Muhammad explained that his reasoning for picking the Bruins was that he felt most comfortable with their coaching staff as well as he was looking forward to the challenge of getting the Bruins back to where they’re usually at; the National Championship level.

“I just think it’s a challenge,” Muhammad said. “Knowing how bad they were these last two years, it’s a challenge to really get them back up to the top knowing they are the leaders in all-time championships with 11.”

After Muhammad shocked the viewers as it seemed like he was the for-sure pick for the University of Kentucky, number one prospect of the class of 2012, Center, Nerlens Noel was on the clock.

After being asked a few questions before the big one; where was he going next fall? Noel when finally asked the question, selected, Kentucky.

Here's what the Kentucky logo looked like on the back of Noel's head.

After thanking ESPN, his recruiters, and all of the coaches that he met, Noel dropped the famous line, “I’ll be taking my talents to” and then said, the University of…paused and turned around where the University of Kentucky logo was sketched out on the back of his head.

“It was the toughest decision of my entire life,” Noel said during a nationally televised appearance on ESPNU. “Georgetown and Syracuse are great programs.”

“Coach Cal recruited me real hard. He is a good person who cares about his players, he helps them reach their goals and the team’s goals,” Noel continued. “They play as a unit and are very unselfish. Also the fans were incredible on my visit. They are behind the program 100 percent.”

With still several top players from the class of 2012 still un-decided as of now, it was great to see the top two players of the class of 2012; Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad decide where they wanted to go and play basketball next fall.

Lamar Odom drives to the basket.

Months after being traded to the Dallas Mavericks from the Los Angeles Lakers due to a previous trade by the Lakers that would’ve sent Odom to New Orleans. Forward, Lamar Odom said that he felt “disrespected” by the organization so he demanded a trade. So the Lakers would respect his decision and as a result they would trade him to the Mavericks for a first round pick and an $8.9 million trade exception.

However, despite having his wish granted by the Lakers Odom, wouldn’t fit in Dallas as his production would drop significantly. Going from averaging 14.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and 3.0 apg to 6.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, and 1.7 apg, Odom would see his production drop in every major stat line from the previous season.

So as a result to his poor play and a result to a not so good season by the Mavericks (31-26) they decided to part ways with Odom as he’ll be placed on the inactive list.

“The Mavericks and I have mutually agreed that it’s in the best interest of both parties for me to step away from the team,” Odom said in a statement to ESPN.com. “I’m sorry that things didn’t work out better for both of us, but I wish the Mavs’ organization, my teammates and Dallas fans nothing but continued success in the defense of their championship.”

As for why the Mavericks wouldn’t just release Odom from their team versus placing him on the inactive list, is because, come the end of the season they will have the opportunity to be able to trade him during the NBA Draft or leading up to it, where as if they released him now they wouldn’t have been able to do so.

So what this means for Odom is that due to being placed on the inactive list, his 2011-12 NBA season is now officially come to an end.

Now even if the Mavericks did release Odom, it still wouldn’t have helped as he would be ineligible for the playoffs anyways as the deadline for a player to be eligible after being waived was March 23.