Each Wednesday I 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:

Barry Sanders Jr. a top running back recruit (big surprise there, huh?) for the 2012 recruiting class knows where his father went to school but he’s wide open. Not to put any pressure on the kid but I lets hope he plays like his dad did.

Photo via sports.espn.go.com

Jadeveon Clowney – widely regarded as the nation’s top recruit in the 2011 class and pictured above – finally announced his decision that he signed his letter of intent with South Carolina over Clemson & Alabama. Fox Sports’ Thayer Evans provides an inside look into Clowney’s recruitment including some  great quotes.

Speaking of Clowney’s recruitment and postponed national announcement on ESPN, SI’s Andy Staples wrote a great column about the media landscape of college football and recruiting.  Staples says to expect similar circuses for top recruits every year and I think he’s right.

Connor Wilson over at Lacrosse All Stars came up with new concept in regarding the question of paying college athletes (mostly college football players). I’m not sure I completely agree but it’s an interesting idea.

Rivals put together a state-by-state breakdown of Division I FBS signees per high school football participant.  It’s a pretty cool look at which states produce the highest percentage of Division I college football players.

Auburn freshman Jordan Spriggs tweeted an interesting proposal to his followers yesterday, “man who is good at writing papers?????????????? i pay…” Yes, you read that right. SPORTSbyBROOKS was on top of it but I am amazed at how stupid Spriggs is for tweeting that.

Champions League:

Photo via goal.com

Set your DVR, plan on going to a bar, or make sure you’re around a TV today to see Barcelona and Arsenal square off in a can’t miss first leg of the Champions League (HT: Michael Brady) match at Emirates Stadium (2:30 PM ET – Fox Soccer Channel).  The Gunners got a boost yesterday as it was announced Samir Nasri will be in the squad after suffering from a hamstring injury. I’m not overly optimistic about Arsenal’s chances but the Gunners need a good result if they want any chance of advancing with the second leg back at Camp Nou.  Regardless there should be some excellent soccer played tomorrow at the Emirates.

National Basketball Association:

Dwyane Wade score 41 points last night against the Pacers but his best play of the night was a 90-foot alley-oop pass to LeBron James that you have to see (another angle here):

Surfing:

Surfline posted a new North Shore Sessions video as the North Shore continued to fire last week – 3 minutes of North Shore locals and traveling pros getting pitted (too bad Surfline doesn’t let me (or anyone) embed their videos).

Shea Lopez, an 11-year World Tour vet, wrote an interesting piece for Surfer Magazine suggesting Dane Reynolds & Kelly Slater should quit the tour.  I’m not sure I agree but he makes some interesting arguments.

Sunny Garcia provides an insider’s perspective of surfing barrels at Backdoor using GoPro HD cameras:

National Hockey League:

New York Rangers captain Chris Drury is out again after injuring his knee.  Drury already 29 games earlier this season with a broken finger and has struggled to produce since returning.

Peter Forsberg’s NHL comeback was a short one as he decided to retire after two games and 35 minutes of ice-time.  I was excited and nervous for Forsberg’s comeback – I’m glad he made a quick, decisive decision when he realized he didn’t quite have it anymore.

The Penguins and Islanders racked up over 340 penalty minutes last Friday leaving Penguins Owner Mario Lemieux less than thrilled. The fight-filled game came nine days after Brent Johnson one-punched Rick DiPietro knocking him out for 4-6 weeks with facial fractures. If you have the time enjoy the 12 min recap of the brawling:

Video Games:

For all the gamers out there – Madden is planning a “surprise” change to next year’s edition of the game.  This is a pretty cool concept and will be interesting to see how it actually works during game-play.

Any good stories/articles I missed?

Happy Humpday Everyone!