Bits and Pieces

-Jim Joyce and the positive that has come out of the blown call that cost Detroit's Armando Galarraga a perfect game last summer.  Good write-up by Amy K. Nelson over at espn.com.

-Question: With Andrew Luck's announcement that he is staying at Stanford, does Jim Harbaugh end discussions with NFL teams and also stay?  Could be a run for the national championship at the elite school come next Fall.  My guess - he stays at Stanford.  And no, they do not win the national title when they lose to Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish in a high scoring shootout in the title game (!).  Luck does win the Heisman Trophy for 2011 though.

-The LPGA firms up its 2011 schedule (clip of Michael Whan at the Golf Channel), opening with a charity event and closing with a Titleholders tournament.  Titleholders tournament?  New and different - the top three players from each of the year's tournaments will be eligible to participate in the season finale down in Orlando.  Could be interesting and my hope is that they have a full field - sixty or seventy players.  Wonder if anybody looked at 2010 to see how many players would have made the tournament if it had been played?

-On the local scene: Winter here in Loogootee with a dusting of snow on the ground and temperatures in the 30's.  Do have boys' basketball tonight - Lions are going up to take on the Brent Dalrymple's North Daviess team in the Cougar Den.  Eric said the Lions are going to get whupped.  Expect Hogan and Ackerman and Wittmer and Bough and Mathias will have something to say about that.  And, yes, I plan to be there.

-Time for breakfast with Diane.