COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The lead story from the sports world came from college basketball, featuring a monster match-up between #4 Pittsburgh and #1 UCONN.  Pitt had never beat a #1 team before, and UCONN was looking to extend their dominating win streak.  The primary battle of the game was UCONN’s 7’3 Hasheem Thabeet against Pitt’s big boy DeJuan Blair.  And the winner was… Pitt’s Blair.  He put up the best performance of the season against the UCONN defensive superstar, scoring 22 points and grabbing 23 rebounds.  And Pitt goes on to unseat #1 UCONN.  Now, the Big East is deadlocked at the top between UCONN, Pitt, Louisville, and Marquette.  Wow!  The Big East tournament should be sensational.  Pitt 76, UCONN 68.

NFL

Two major stories: First up, it appears that the Jeff Garcia era is over in Tampa Bay.  Garcia had a nice run with the Buccaneers, even leading them to the playoffs.  But the Bucs just re-signed a young quarterback, Luke McCown, and have decided, basically, that Garcia is just too old (39) and injury prone.  This doesn’t mean that Garcia is out of the league; just that he’ll hit the free agency market.  He’s still got some (football) life in him, and would make a great back up for a contender (say, in San Diego or something).  Garcia said he has no resentment towards the Bucs organization, and said he will miss playing in front of their fans.

The second story — it appears that after 11 years, the Jacksonville Jaguars are finally parting ways with running back Fred Taylor.  Like Garcia, they decided to cut him and focus on their younger RB’s (like Maurice Jones-Drew).  Taylor had an amazing career in Jacksonville, rushing for over 11,000 yards.  He’s even 5th on the list of most rushing yards by a running back for a single team.  Taylor was hoping to finish his career in Jacksonville (as most players want to become the franchise guy, then eventually say goodbye to that city), however, it’s just not going to happen for him.  But you really have to hand it to Taylor, as the last five seasons, people have passed him up in fantasy football drafts, thinking he’s done and won’t produce.  And each time, Taylor proved us wrong.  That guy is resilient!  Look to see Taylor in a new jersey next year, playing in a key back-up role.

BASEBALL

Finally, speaking of players finishing their career where they started, it appears that Tom Glavine, the only active 300-game winner in baseball, might be coming back to the Atlanta Braves.  Glavine was part of the superstar Atlanta pitching rotation during the 1990s that kept the Braves in the playoffs almost every year. Dominating the NL East was never a surprise with the attack of Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz.  You just can’t blame a player for wanting to receive a standing ovation every time he takes the mound during his final years.  Atlanta will definitely welcome back Glavine with open arms.