Each Wednesday I’ll share links to good articles/columns from recent happenings – with added insights and musings – from around the sporting world.  If you come across good articles, videos, etc. – please pass them along, I’d love to take a look.

College Football: .

The Harvard Sports Analysis Collective examined the factors that contribute to college football attendance including winning, conference affiliation, city population, and undergraduate population.  If you like statistics and analysis – read it.

Photo via rivals.yahoo.com

I missed this article from a couple weeks ago but if you’ve seen Oregon play this year I’m sure you noticed the big placards featuring unique photos used on the sideline to signal the play. ESPN Page 2 tried to crack Oregon’s secret code but discovered even if you could crack the code it wouldn’t do you much good.  Definitely an interesting read.

One of the changes I proposed to make college football better was to abolish the new excessive celebration penalty.  CBS’ Dennis Dobbs explores and explains the ridiculous new rule that will ultimately take points off the board and change the outcome of a game.

Mark Cuban has been pushing for a playoff in college football but has recently shifted his attention to the current BCS system and explained how BCS Schools use Cupcakes to impact the rankings – another issue I addressed on Monday.  It’s nice to see somebody with the fame and influence of Mark Cuban speaking out against a system most everyone would like to see changed.

National Hockey League:

Eric Staal and Niklas Lidstrom were named captains of the 2011 NHL All-Star game and each will draft their team from a pool of 40 eligible All-Stars. Yahoo Sports writer Greg Wyshynski looked at potential strategies for each captain.  Naming team captains and drafting All-Star teams seems like an awesome concept – I guess we’ll see how it works out. I wonder if any other major sport leagues will try something similar in the future.

Eight year old Elizabeth Hughes was singing the national anthem at a Norfolk Admirals (the Tampa Bay Lightning’s AHL affiliate) game when her microphone went out just before the end when the crowd began to help her out in unison. Watch the video to regain some faith in our crazy society (ff to the 1:25 mark if you want):

National Football League:

Apparently there was video and criticism of Aaron Rodgers “snubbing a cancer patient” but as CBSSports.com’s Gregg Doyel found out, Rodgers couldn’t be more different than he’s been portrayed in the video and on the internet.  Read the article even if you don’t like Rodgers because you’ll probably change your mind after reading (is there even a legit reason not to like him?).

Be careful on your way home from the next NFL (or MLB) game you attend.  According to a study conducted by doctors at the University of Minnesota – nearly 8 percent of fans leaving  the measured sporting events were legally drunk and 40 percent of fans had something to drink (alcohol).  While the information isn’t particularly surprising it is alarming to think about the number of people potentially driving home drunk.

Any good stories/articles I missed?

Happy Humpday Everyone!