Signing Day Cap Can Even Playing Field

Another National Signing Day has passed and once again the SEC is on top.

For the fourth time in the past five years, Rivals.com gave Alabama and coach Nick Saban a national recruiting title, inking three five-star prospects. SEC schools also made up five of the top 15 recruiting classes according to ESPN's experts.

It's no doubt that the SEC's success on signing day has helped translate to six consecutive national titles on field. But there's a seldom talked about factor helping those southern schools.

SEC members are notorious for oversigning, where a school signs more recruits than available scholarships. That allows SEC coaches to take more gambles and erase mistakes by revoking scholarships.

During the SEC's title dominance, four of its six champions signed at least 14 more players than their opponent in the four years leading up to the game.

Auburn signed 19 more than Oregon, Alabama signed 18 more than Texas, LSU signed 14 more than Ohio State while Florida signed 16 more than the Buckeyes. The only exception was Oklahoma, who signed three more recruits than Florida.

But the playing field is starting to level, and that's great for college football as a whole.

The SEC passed a soft cap limiting the number of signees between Dec. 1 and May 31 to 25 to comply with the NCAA. What that does is limit a coach's ability to manage their roster and possibly replace athletes who may not qualify to play in the Fall.

"You used to always have that buffer to cover yourself for guys who won't make it (academically) if you oversigned by two or three. Now, not only would you lose the guy who may not make it, but you also lose the guy who may fill that place," ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill explained to AL.com.

Another move that could level the recruiting field and make college football better is offering multi-year scholarships.

Several blue-chip programs including Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan in the Big 10 reportedly offered those scholarships this year. In the SEC, only Auburn and Florida said they gave extended scholarships.

Again, this will limit a head coach's ability to replace players who may not live up the hype with new "top" recruits.

It remains to be seen if that could become a recruiting advantage, but the rule gives student-athletes some protection from losing their scholarships due to how they play or if they get hurt.

The SEC still has the upper hand with huge fan bases, bigger budgets and a football-crazed culture in the South. But for fans who wish the conference would stop dominating BCS title games, these signing day changes could be a small chink in the armor.

Star Power Is Alive on the NHL Ice

There's growing chatter from many sports columnists that the NHL is suffering from a star crisis.

They believe the NHL lacks true superstars.

But it certainly didn't seem that way at Sunday's All-Star game in Ottawa.

From Evgeni Malkin to Pavel Datsyuk to Marian Hossa, the game's top talent showcased amazing skills and athleticism. All three of players were vying for the league's scoring title at the break.

Sidney Crosby has been wearing
a different type of suit this year.

But the league's two "household" names did not play. Sidney Crosby's career has been derailed by concussions, while Alex Ovechkin is having his worst season in his career and sat home amid a suspension.

Often the only measuring stick used when gauging greatness is titles, and that's where today's stars come up short.

The salary cap put into place in 2005 to help hockey leveled the playing field. In the six years of the post-NHL lockout, 10 different teams have played for Lord Stanley's Cup and there have been six champions.

That's a far cry from the dominance of the Montreal Canadiens in the 70's, the New York Islanders and Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers in the 80's and the Detroit Red Wings in the 90's.

This topic probably would not even being discussed if the NHL got even a smidgen of coverage from ESPN, the 800-pound gorilla of sports media.

From the week of Jan. 7-16, ESPN covered the NHL less than Major League Baseball which is in the deep doldrums of the off-season. And all of most mentioned athletes were from either the NFL and NBA.

ESPN just ignores hockey and its stars, it is as simple as that. Without the Worldwide Leader constantly promoting its athletes, causal fans don't have a player and team to tune in for.

The NHL is a niche league, and for its diehard fans there is no star shortage.

Thanks for the Memories, Igloo

In this modern day of sports arenas, anything that's been around a decade is old. Any building five decades old is essentially the equivalent of the Egyptian Pyramids.

That's why the iconic Civic Arena, more affectionately known as the Igloo, is coming down piece by piece in Pittsburgh.

The arena opened in 1961 and the Penguins took ownership of the dome when they joined the NHL six years later.

Demolition of Civic Arena has been ongoing for sometime, but with the insides gutted, crews took a bigger step on Saturday. One of the many roof panels was demolished.



If the weather holds up, KDKA in Pittsburgh reports the remaining steel structure will come down in a month.

The Igloo was really the house Mario Lemieux built. In fact it's address was 66 Mario Lemieux Place. Now as owner, Lemieux helped orchestrate the building of the Pen's new home, the Consol Energy Center.

Three championship banners were raised in the building, but the only time the Stanley Cup was lifted, it was when Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom hoisted it above his head.

It's sad to see an icon fall, but thanks for all the memories.

Humana, Clinton Bring New Life to the 'Hope'

A year ago, I walked the Palmer Private course at PGA West during the Bob Hope Classic and the atmosphere was stale. The crowd was old and there was no buzz on the course.

Greg Norman and President Bill Clinton joke
around (Jim Edwards/Patch.com)

Something had to change and it did.

The PGA commissioner and a man from Hope, Ark. stepped in and save to the Hope.

Former President Bill Clinton lent his personality to the La Quinta golf tournament made famous by an even bigger personality, the aforementioned comedian Bob Hope.

In walking around the same course this weekend at the new Humana Challenge the buzz was back. The crowd was bigger and a bit younger.

President Clinton helped bring in a Hall of Famer, Greg Norman, one of the biggest names on the Tour, Phil Mickelson, and even a top 10 player, Dustin Johnson, come to a Tour stop that was normally skipped over.

Before gusty winds stopped play on Saturday, there was a massive gallery following Mickelson around the course, while the former President and Norman had an even larger following.

The Humana Challenge still has work to do to make this the must see Tour stop it once was, but President Clinton laid a strong foundation.

Tebow Takes Media Mantle from Favre

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is the new Brett Favre of the NFL.

Favre was either loved or hated, much like Tebow is now. And No. 4 was also unconventional, choosing to throw into triple coverage over the easy target, making the big plays and big mistakes.

Favre used to be the go-to name in pro-sports, there was even an entire summer ESPN camped out in Hattiesburg, Miss., but now its Tebow's turn.

It's hard to explain the Tim Tebow phenomenon, but a scene from the television show "Friday Night Lights" comes to mind.

In the pilot episode Taylor Kitsch's character toasts his best friend by saying, "Here's to God. And Football. And in 10 years good friends living large in Texas." Replace Florida, and equally football crazed state, with Texas and that's a taste of the mindset that elevated Tebow from high school star to college star.

Add the fact that Tebow makes many of us believe in the age old sports cliches like "staying positive" and "never giving up" can lead to victories, with good looks and his overt religious belief, and there's the formula for the most popular athlete in sports.

It should be no surprise that when Tebow does something the experts say cannot happen, like beat the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers defense with one throw in overtime, the Internet explodes.

Helping his legend status, the fact that in the Steelers game Tebow passed for 316 yards, averaging 31.6 yards per pass. That lead to an explosion of people looking up "John 3:16" on Google, because it's one of Tebow's favorite Bible verses and he wore it on his eye black in the '09 BCS Championship game.

Tebow got too much credit for the playoff win, like all football quarterbacks. To borrow from Mark Kiszla, unless MVP means most visible player, Tebow wasn't all that for Denver.

Running back Willis McGahee meant way more to Denver's rise to the playoffs.

Tebow is still very young, with less than 20 NFL starts. There's room to improve and to continue to silence the critics.

Just know we'll hear, tweet and Facebook about every step of that journey, just like Brett Favre.

Tim Tebow is fairly popular. Especially when his passing yards = Bible verses.