Had been deemed top draft pick: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck says he will stay in school for another year instead of entering the NFL draft. Luck was widely considered to be the No. 1 pick by the Carolina Panthers if he chose to leave school early. But he made the announcement today that he wants to remain at Stanford so he can graduate as scheduled next year. Luck led the fifth-ranked Cardinals to a school-record 12 wins this season, including a 40-12 victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Billionaire was outbid by NBA: Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle and one of the richest men in the world, pursued buying the New Orleans Hornets, reports The San Jose Mercury News. Ellison told the newspaper he was outbid by the NBA, which offered slightly more than the $350 million he offered for the Hornets. Ellison had earlier offered $450 million for the Golden State Warriors, but another ownership group purchased the team. He denied a Forbes.com report that he wanted to move the Hornets from New Orleans to San Jose. Ellison told the newspaper he hadn’t made up his mind what to do with the Hornets if he were able to acquire the team.
Even keel: Mike Sherman’s first game as coach of Texas A&M was a home loss to Arkansas State in 2008. But Sherman immediately went back to his office and started watching game films, taking notes, says Chuck Carlton, a columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Two years later, when the Aggies beat Oklahoma for Sherman’s first big win with the team, he went right back to his office, turned on the projector and started taking notes. Sherman told the newspaper while he may project an image of single-minded focus, it isn’t always so simple inside. “Even though sometimes internally my stomach may be saying something else, you try to present an even-keel image,” Sherman says. Read the column here. Sherman will lead the Aggies in a Cotton Bowl matchup against LSU. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday on Fox.
