Sara Evans

Sara Evans, who finalized a bitter divorce last year, is engaged to former University of Alabama quarterback Jay Barker.

The 37-year-old country singer filed for divorce from husband Craig Schelske in October 2006 after 13 years of marriage. The divorce was completed last September.

Barker, 35, led Alabama to a national championship in 1992 and hosts a morning radio show in Birmingham.

Barker, who's also divorced, has four children while Evans has three.

Heidi VanDerveer

Heidi VanDerveer, who has more than two decades of experience on both the collegiate and professional levels, has been named head women’s basketball coach at Occidental College. She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant for Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee, when the Lady Volunteers won the 1987 national championship and advanced to the 1988 Final Four. She then spent six seasons as an assistant at the University of South Carolina, helping to coach the Gamecocks to three NCAA tournament appearances.

In 1994, she was hired as the head coach at Eastern Washington, where she led the Eagles to 12 victories in her first year and back-to-back Big Sky tournament appearances, including the school's first in five years.

VanDerveer's first stint in the WNBA came as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Monarchs in 1997, before being promoted to head coach in 1997-98. She spent four years with the Minnesota Lynx as both an assistant (1999-2002) and head coach (2002). After serving two years as a WNBA scout from 2003-05, while also working one year at the University of San Francisco as an assistant and later head coach, VanDerveer was hired as a WNBA assistant for the Seattle Storm. The Storm advanced to the WNBA playoffs in each of her two seasons in Seattle.

Cathy Inglese

Boston College basketball coach Cathy Inglese, who guided the Eagles to the most wins in their women's basketball history, is stepping down after 15 seasons.

She has 273 wins and 179 losses in her career at BC, and a career record of 393-253 in 22 years coaching NCAA women's basketball.

She had a 120-74 record from 1986-1993 at Vermont.

Ben Braun

Ben Braun, who guided the University of California at Berkley to more postseason appearances and postseason wins than any other basketball coach in school history, was introduced on Monday as the 23rd head men's basketball coach at Rice University. As a result of his success, not only at Cal, but during previous head coaching stops at Eastern Michigan and Siena Heights, Braun ranks 11th among all active Division I coaches with 552 victories. He was 219-154 in his 12 seasons at Berkley and ranked second among active Pac-10 coaches in overall wins and Pac-10 wins (110).

Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston, the Oscar winner who portrayed Moses and other heroic figures on film in the '50s and '60s and later championed conservative values as head of the National Rifle Association, has died. He was 84.

Bill Bayno

Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Bill Bayno has been named Loyola Marymount's men's basketball coach. the 38 yeard old Bayno is a former UNLV head coach where he compiled a 94-64 record in five plus seasons.

Chris Webber

Chris Webber is ending his comeback attempt with the Golden State Warriors and will retire after 15 seasons in the NBA. Webber was a five-time All-Star, who ended his career averaging 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists a game.

Webber broke onto the scene as a part of Michigan’s heralded recruiting class that arrived on campus in 1991. Teaming with Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, Webber helped the Wolverines make it to the NCAA championship his only two years in college.

But Michigan lost both times, to Duke in 1992 and North Carolina the following year. Webber was most remembered for calling a timeout when Michigan had none remaining in the final minute of the 1993 loss to the Tar Heels.

Kathie Lee On TODAY

Kathie Lee Gifford will soon be back on TV's early shift.
The former co-star of the syndicated "Live" talk show will join NBC's "Today" next Monday. She will be teamed with Hoda Kotb, a current anchor of the program's seven-month-old fourth hour, which airs live at 10 a.m. EDT. Gifford, 54, who left Regis Philbin and "Live" in 2000, joked that the timing of her TV return "couldn't be worse" in certain ways: "I'm eight years older, 10 pounds heavier, a half-inch shorter, and just in time for HD television."

Reba McEntire

Happy 53rd birthday to Reba McEntire.

Paula Zahn

Happy Birthday to Paula Zahn, she turns 52 today.

Cristina Ferrare

Happy Birthday to Cristina Ferrare. She turns 58 today.

Bobby Knight

Bob Knight, the winningest NCAA men's division I basketball coach in history, has retired as Texas Tech's coach, effective immediately. Knight, 67, who won his 902nd game Saturday when the Red Raiders downed Oklahoma State, will be replaced by his son, Pat Knight. During his tenure at Texas Tech, Knight was 138-82, and he led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament in four of his six seasons, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2005.

John Harbaugh

John Harbaugh is the new head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Harbaugh is the product of a football family. His father, Jack, is former head coach at Western Kentucky and his brother, Jim, is head coach at Stanford and a former quarterback with the Ravens.

Suzanne Pleshette

Suzanne Pleshette, the dark-haired, smoky-voiced actress who played Bob Newhart's confident and sexy wife, Emily Hartley, for six years on the popular 1970s sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show," has passed away. She was 70. Although Newhart got a new TV wife, played by Mary Frann, for his 1982-90 situation comedy "Newhart," Pleshette had the last laugh -- making a memorable surprise guest appearance as Newhart's previous TV wife, Emily, at the end of the series' final episode.

Patricia Neal

Happy Birthday to the greatest actress of all time. Patricia Neal turns 82 today.

Florida Gators

Florida Men's Basketball team survived 12 missed free throws and constant foul trouble inside to extend its win streak against Kentucky to seven straight games. Notre Dame is the only other school in history to beat Kentucky seven straight times.

Michigan Wolverines

The Michigan Wolverine Women's Basketball team defeated the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday. Tht triumph over the Spartans is first since 2002 as the women match Big Ten win total from 2006-07. IT was a 64-55 victory over the Spartans whith a record women's crowd of 5,596. The win snapped a nine-game run of bad fortune against Michigan State that dated to 2002 and matched Michigan's (10-5, 3-2 Big Ten) 2006-07 conference total.

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL MEMORIES

From coaches Fielding Yost to Lloyd Carr and Heisman winners Tom Harmon to Charles Woodson, the University of Michigan is home to one of the greatest traditions in college football.

Experience the winning tradition of Fritz Crisler and Bo Schembechler, the excitement of football Saturday in Ann Arbor, those die-hard Michigan fans, the thrill of the marching band and Michigan's #1 cheerleader, Bob Ufer. Discover how the "The Big House", tailgating, the famous winged helmet and "Hail to the Victors" have come to be recognized throughout America as symbols of Michigan's winning legacy. Featuring rare archival footage as well as new interviews with Bo Schembechler, Lloyd Carr, Don Canham, Ron Kramer, Jamie Morris, Jim Brandstatter and others.

Oder online at MICHIGAN FOOTBALL MEMORIES.COM

LSU Wins National Title!

Ohio State struck for a quick touchdown against its Southeastern Conference opponent but suffered their second straight loss in the title game, falling 38-24 at the Louisiana Superdome on Monday night. Matt Flynn, the quarterback who didn't get a chance to become the full-time starter until his senior season, was trying to close his career with a flourish. He threw four touchdown passes for the Tigers, who scored 31 straight points after falling behind 10-0 on Ohio State's first two possessions. Self-proclaimed Michigan Man Les Miles and his Tigers are champions.

The Alex Smith Foundation

About the Alex Smith Foundation:

Why does our society spend billions of dollars on foster children, only to abandon these kids when they’re on the verge of becoming adults? It seems like we’re dropping the ball at the goal line.

Within two years of leaving the system, why do:
• 50% end up unemployed?
• One-third require public assistance?
• Almost one-third become homeless?
• 25% become incarcerated?
• Less than one in 10 attend college, and only one in 100 actually graduate?
Source: Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles
At the Alex Smith Foundation, we don’t believe in sitting
along the sidelines, watching foster children fail. And, we’re not as interested in “why,” as in “how”—how can we help?

The Pitching Center

In a continued effort to develop baseball players to their full potential, The Pitching Center has grown to become the Total Player Center (TPC), a full service baseball and softball training academy. We provide comprehensive, fully integrated training programs that evolve based on the best research and information available in areas from health & safety, peak performance, education techniques and much more. Age and skill specific programs are available for students ages 8 – High School.
At The Pitching Center, we are not only dedicated to bringing you the best information available but also to providing the highest level of quality instruction. We believe that in order to do so our staff must be comprised of highly experienced instructors who are eager to learn more. All of our instructors believe in teaching in a positive environment and will strive to do their best to help each player maximize his or her potential.



With 25 years of pitching experience, Jason Sekany is a co-founder and lead pitching instructor at The Pitching Center . As a pitcher Jason's experience began locally and includes stops on every level from Granada Little League to the Major League Rosters for both the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds. Jason played for Granada High School, Modesto Junior College and University of Virginia before being selected in the second round of the 1996 MLB Draft. As an Instructor, Jason has 12 years of experience and has completed over 20,000 private lessons. Jason has also served as director or co-director for over a dozen baseball and pitching specific clinics and has spoken at many parent and coach seminars both locally and around the country. Jason is most proud of his work with charity youth programs including the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) and others serving as both an instructor and motivational speaker for kids.
Along with his pitching and coaching experience Jason has had the opportunity to work with and learn from a number of the nations top experts in pitching. These experts include: Jerry Weinstein, Ron Wolforth, Brent Strom and world-renowned pitching coach and author Dr. Tom House. Jason has been certified under Dr. House's organization, The National Pitching Association, in the areas of pitching mechanics, functional baseball fitness, mental-emotional management and nutrition. With an open mind in addition to this experience, training and a scientific background, Jason is constantly striving to learn more and find better ways to help each pitcher reach his or her potential.

Bo's Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership

Bo Schemebechler the late football coach of the Michigan Wolverines wrote a book just before he passed away and "Bo's Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership" has been released and is available from Amazon.

Rick Neuheisel Named UCLA Head Football Coach

Rick Neuheisel who quarterbacked UCLA to victory in the 1984 Rose Bowl and who compiled a record of 66-30 as a collegiate head coach, has been named his alma mater's 16th head football coach, Bruin athletic director Dan Guerrero announced this week. He fashioned a record of 66-30 and his winning percentage of .688 places him among the top 20 active coaches. During his four seasons (1999-2002) as head coach at the University of Washington, Neuheisel led the Huskies to a record of 33-16 (.673) and four bowl games (one Rose Bowl, two Holiday Bowls and one Sun Bowl). His Pac-10 record was 23-9 (.719) and Washington won one league title and finished second twice in those four seasons. During his four seasons (1995-98) as head coach at the University of Colorado, Neuheisel won 33 of 47 games (.702) and won all three bowl appearances. In his final season, Colorado finished 8-4. Born February 7, 1961 in Madison, WI, he grew up in Tempe, AZ, attending McClintock High School. He and his wife Susan, a UCLA graduate, have three children, Jerry, Jack and Joe.

Lloyd Carr goes out a winner!

In a dramatic finish to Lloyd Carr's coaching career, Michigan won a 41-35 classic over Florida in the Capital One Bowl.

Also Carr received the Bobby Dodd national coach of the year award this past week. It’s an award that honors a Division I college coach “whose program represents quality on and off the field,” with the words scholarship, leadership and integrity, the hallmarks of Carr’s tenure at Michigan.

Happy New Year!

The Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation

The Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation. Providing educational and recreational opportunities to enhance the character, self-esteem and career possibilities of at-risk boys and girls.

Deanna Favre Hope Foundation

The mission of the Deanna Favre HOPE Foundation is to provide assistance to women who are underserved or underinsured in their battle against breast cancer.

Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research

Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research


Our Mission:
To improve people’s lives through innovation in research, education and patient care.

Our Values:
Integrity
Teamwork
Innovation
Excellence
Leadership

Our Vision:
Working as a team, we will shape the future of medicine by creating, disseminating and applying new knowledge, and by personalizing health care to meet the needs of each individual.

The Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association

The Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association has been serving in the Philippines since 1985 with five major priorities: Evangelism, Church Planting, Pastor Training, an Orphanage, and the Training of the Next Generation of Evangelists. It is the primary goal of BTEA to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ available to every person in the world.

In 1998, BTEA began to implement a plan to preach the Gospel in every barangay (village) in the Philippines. There are approximately 42,000 barangays in the Philippines and it is estimated that over 64% of them do not have a single evangelical church. In a country of 87 million, the number of people who have never heard the Gospel is staggering. These statistics do not even take into account the dozens of ethnic tribal groups that have been living on obscure islands and in remote mountain villages for centuries. It is our goal to go to each and every barangay and give the people the opportunity to hear the Gospel at least one time. In addition to preaching the Gospel, we are endeavoring to plant indigenous churches with the new converts and train national pastors. It is a tremendous task that must be completed.


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Merry Christmas!

Duke University

Duke University has a new football coach. David Cutcliffe has been hired. The former Ole Miss coach was 44-29 in six seasons as the head coach at the University of Mississippi.

Heisman Trophy

Tim Tebow from the University of Florida recently won the Heisman Trophy. He became the third quarterback from Florida to win the most prestigous award in college football. Steve Spurrier and Danny Wuerffel preceded him. Each were children of ministers.

Rich Rodriguez

The University of Michigan has a new football coach. His name is Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez was hired from West Virginia.

Salem College 2-8-0 1yr
Glenville State 43-28-2 7yrs
West Virginia 60-26-0 7yrs
Total 104-62-2 15yrs

Sylvia Hutton

Sylvia Hutton turns 51 today. Happy birthday to Sylvia.

Robert Cade, Gatorade inventor died recently

Dr. J. Robert Cade, who invented the sports drink Gatorade and launched a multibillion-dollar industry that the beverage continues to dominate, died Tuesday of kidney failure.
He was 80. His death was announced by the University of Florida, where he and other researchers created Gatorade in 1965 to help the school’s football players replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat while playing in swamp-like heat.
Cade’s researchers determined a football player could lose up to 18 pounds — 90 to 95 percent of it water — during the three hours it takes to play a game. Players sweated away sodium and chloride and lost plasma volume and blood volume.
Using their research, and about $43 in supplies, they concocted a brew for players to drink while playing football. The first batch was not exactly a hit.
“It sort of tasted like toilet bowl cleaner,” said Dana Shires, one of the researchers.
The researchers added some sugar and some lemon juice to improve the taste. It was first tested on freshmen because Coach Ray Graves didn’t want to hurt the varsity team. Eventually, however, the use of the sports beverage spread to the Gators, who enjoyed a winning record and were known as a “second-half team” by outlasting opponents.

Evel Knievel dies at 69

Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over crazy obstacles including Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Anne Donovan

Anne Donovan has resigned from head coach of the WNBA's Seattle Storm. Donovan became the second coach in Storm history in 2002 after two seasons leading the Charlotte Sting. She coached Seattle to a regular-season record of 93-77 (.547) and to four playoff appearances. That included the league championship in 2004 -- Seattle's second major professional sports title in the last half-century. In 2005, she became the first female coach in the WNBA to win 100 games. Last season, she became the second-winningest coach in league history.

Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee from the Food Network has written her memoir. It is called Made From Scratch and it is available from Amazon.

Lloyd Carr

University of Michigan football head coach Lloyd Carr announced today his retirement from coaching after 28 seasons with the Wolverine program. Carr is second to only Bennie Oosterbaan (31 years; 20 years as an assistant and 11 years as head coach) in years of service with the nation's winningest college football program. As head coach, Carr has compiled a 121-40 overall record and is currently seventh among active coaches with a .752 winning percentage. He has led the Wolverines to six 10-win seasons. Carr trails only Fielding H. Yost (165-29-10) and Bo Schembechler (194-48-5) in career victories at Michigan.

Kim Mulkey

Kim Mulkey has written a book. It is called "Won't Back Down" and it is available from Amazon.

Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today

Tom Brokaw has written another excellent book. It is called Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today and is available from Amazon.

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day. Here is a history of Veterans Day.

NAVY BEAT ND IN FOOTBALL!

Navy finally beat Notre Dame 46-44 in triple overtime on Saturday, ending the Fighting Irish's NCAA-record winning streak against the Midshipmen at 43 games.

Susan G. Komen For The Cure

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever.

In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, we have invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill our promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.

Tommy Zbikowski

Tommy Zbikowski has established Tommy Z9 Foundation to help contribute to several charitable foundations. Charitable organizations we have donated to include the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Hannah and Friends, Make a Wish, and PanCan.

The Jalen Rose Foundation

The Jalen Rose Foundation was
established by NBA star and Phoenix
Sun's Guard Jalen Rose to create
life-changing opportunities for underserved
youth through the development of unique
programs and the distribution of grants to
qualified nonprofit organizations. Grants
focus on sports and education and are
distributed in Jalen's hometown of Detroit
as well as his current NBA home.

Primarily funded through generous
donations from Jalen, JRF has distributed
nearly $1 million to charities. Most recently
JRF awarded a $100,000 grant to the
Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and
Research Center in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. In addition to
supporting the endowment of a scholarship
at the University of Michigan, the foundation
distributes 5 four-year scholarships
annually to Detroit high school seniors. JRF
received more than 230 applications this
year from qualified Detroit high school
seniors looking for financial assistance.

The foundation welcomes individual
donations and corporate sponsors so that
we can enhance our scholarship program.
Every young man and woman deserves
access to a college education!

Deborah Kerr

Deborah Kerr died recently. She was 86. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated Kerr six times for best actress, but never gave her an Academy Award until it presented an honorary Oscar in 1994 for her distinguished career as an "artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance."

AC Green Foundation

The A.C. Green Youth Foundation is about building character, building strong bodies and strong minds, winning and losing with dignity, teamwork, and sacrifice. We provide programs that ignite dreams and an abstinence program that says it's okay to wait until marriage. In short, we are building leaders. Leaders who, in their individual capacity, no matter what their station in life, will be able to stand up for what is right instead of wrong, and in fact, will be their brother's keeper.

Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire has released a new CD called Duets. It's available from Amazon.