May 19

Big 10 commissioner Jim Delany formally proposed the idea of giving stipends to scholarship athletes. He is the commissioner of one of the biggest athletic conferences in the country which would immediately give an advantage to his large member schools. Also, the used to be golden boy of Big 10 clean recruiting, Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel has many rumors swirling around about his hidden dirty recruiting practices. The only way I like the rule, if it really is for the STUDENT-athlete, is if it is used as an incentive for the kids to stay in school and graduate. Otherwise, the floodgates will be opened and we will return to the days of the old Southwest Conference and the highest bidding school will receive the commitments from prospects.

As many of you know, or should have learned through this blog post, I love stadiums. There are none bigger, more attended, or more worshiped than the sanctuaries built in the SEC for Saturdays in the fall. Mississippi State is doing some much needed upgrading to the smallest football stadium in the league. When the $80 million dollar project is completed, Davis Wade Stadium will be much better on the eyes. Here is a look at the upgrades.

Kevin Durrant, the NBA's back-to-back scoring champion, has been wearing a backpack to all of his press conferences during this year's playoffs. It was announced today he will now be signing an endorsement deal with Nike and will keep the backpacks coming. As you can see in my profile picture, I am a huge fan of the backpack look and have been for quite sometime. I am not usually considered a trendsetter in fashion, but I like to think I am helping the movement.

The Conference Finals are underway. The Bulls showed surprised many with a win in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, but the Miami Heat, lead by their own version of two and a half men, won the second game. Heat Forward LeBron James, whom I have been very critical of, has begun to show the emergence of the clutch gene, hitting big shots in the second game. If he keeps this up I will gladly hop on the bandwagon. The other side of the bracket pits the Dallas Mavericks against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the I-35 rivalry. Mavericks Forward Dirk Nowitzki put on one of the most impressive playoff performances ever, 48 points on 15 shots and making all 24 of his free throws. I am pulling for the young Thunder. Now with the Hawks out of the playoffs I do not feel like I am cheating on Atlanta with OKC.