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:

Alabama FANATIC Harvey Updyke (named his kids Bear and Crimson – seriously) was arrested for poisoning the legendary oak trees at Toomer’s Corner on the Auburn campus.

Photo via sports.espn.go.com

Updyke’s decision to poison the oak trees at Toomer’s Coner upset college football fans across the country.  Andy Staples (SI) says Toomer’s Corner poisoning should enrage all college football fans and Mark Schlabach (ESPN) says Toomer’s Corner Poisoning is a new low.

Despite Updyke’s heinous act, Alabama fans created a Facebook group titled Tide for Toomer’s to show support for the Alabama-Auburn rivalry and allow fans to donate money to Auburn University’s efforts to rehabilitate or replace the poisoned trees. The group has over 58,000 members and has reportedly raised over $37,000 (last I saw) – pretty impressive.

Florida State fans looking for some inside recruiting information or hoping to hang out with Head Coach Jimbo Fisher now have their chance.  Seminole fans can go on the 2011 Jimbo Fisher Cruise - a seven day Eastern Caribbean cruise with FSU coaches on international waters starting at $949 per person.

Mark Cuban’s quest for a college football playoff took another step with the creation of  ”Radical Football LLC“.  Keep up the good work Mark – we’re all rooting for you!

Boise State got a late addition to their 2011 recruiting class with a commitment from ATH/CB Malcolm Holland.

National Basketball Association:

As I’ m sure you know – Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups were traded from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks on Monday.  ESPN’s Michael Wilbon explains how the Knicks might look after playing together for a few weeks. If Wilon is right the Knicks have a chance to be decent especially considering they also got Billups in the trade.

This wasn’t in the dunk contest but it’s pretty impressive and includes no props.  John Wall’s bounce pass alley-oop to Blake Griffin in the Rookies Challenge:

Soccer/English Premier League:

U.S. International Clint Dempsey is on the verge of history in the English Premier League.

Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl announced he is running for the presidency of FIFA. Current FIFA President Sepp Blatter (74 years old) is running for re-election despite showing reluctance to implement instant replay and knowingly running a dirty organization.  Futbol fans from around the world would rejoice if Wahl somehow managed to pull this off. We can dream, right?

Arsenal agreed to a deal with Barcelona for 16-year-old midfielder Jon Miquel Toral Harper.  If this sounds familiar it is – the Gunners signed a 16-year-old from Barca back in 2003 that you may have heard of – Cesc Fabregas.   We’ll see how this 16-year-old turns out…

Surfing:

Sunny Garcia and Jeremy Flores face disciplinary measures from the ASP Rules and Disciplinary Committee after Garcia’s son got into a verbal argument with a local surfer (Gold Coast, Australia) causing Sunny to take things into his own hands. There’s video of the incident on the link.

National Hockey League:

Photo via sports.yahoo.com

The Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues pulled off a blockbuster trade late Friday night. The Avs sent promising youngsters Chris Stewart, Kevin Shattenkirk and a second-round draft pick to the Blues for former No. 1 overall pick Erik Johnson,  Jay McClement, and a first-round pick either this year or next.  I’m not real happy to see Colorado give up Stewart – one of the league’s best young power forwards - but getting Johnson (pictured above) in return could potentially be worth if he lives up to the hype of being picked No. 1 overall after being viewed as a disappointment in St. Louis.

College Lacrosse

Lacrosse All Stars was kind enough to post a calendar of all the lacrosse on TV through the end of May.  I know all you laxers will bookmark this but I encourage the non-laxers to check out a game or two this season.

Happy Humpday Everyone!