One of my favorite parts of being a sports fan is enjoying the human-interest stories that come along with it. Every sport has intriguing story lines, polarizing personalities and never-ending drama. Each day brings new information you didn’t expect and some that are just bizarre. So, here are a few recent happenings that caught my attention…

Just as the NFL season has ended, it’s time to talk about football again – just of the college variety this time. Wednesday was National Signing Day and there was no shortage of excitement. As teenage boys signed legally binding contracts for where they will play football in the fall, fan bases from around the country were watching to see how their team’s recruiting class would stack up.
There were 3 stories that I found particularly interesting. First, there’s Reuben Foster who committed to Alabama two years ago, then changing his mind and committing to Auburn (and even getting an Auburn tattoo) before finally signing his letter of intent to plat at Alabama. I wonder if Vegas has a prop bet for how long that tattoo lasts now! Next, is Alex Collins from Florida. He originally committed to Miami and then announced that he would be attending Arkansas. His mom was so upset by this that instead of signing his letter (a parent signature is required for anyone under 21), she stole it from the school because she didn’t agree with his decision. The next day, Alex was decked out in a camouflage suit as his dad signed the letter for him – and his mom has hired an attorney in the meantime to try to make him go to Miami. Finally, the surprise of signing day was Ole Miss landing 3 guys who are #1 at their position and having a top 5 class. The cynics were out in full force about cheating and violations by the young coach, but I enjoyed hearing how it all came together. Of those top 3 guys, one has a brother on the team, another has a best friend on the team and the coaches had focused on winning over the families of the guys they recruited. Once one big recruit likes a school, he talks to others and becomes a champion for the program – which worked perfectly this year. Perhaps the most impressive recruiting though was the job done by Bill O’Brien at Penn State. He ended up with the 4^th best class in the Big Ten and the 26^th overall (with less players than other programs get) – and none of these kids will even get to play in a bowl game. Given all the sanctions put on the program, he did a great job getting kids to buy into his team (I’m guessing his experience as a NFL coach helped). The loser of signing day: USC, who lost several top recruits in the past month and didn’t end up with a top 10 class.

College basketball has been full of upsets lately. We’ve come to expect the unexpected as the #1 team in the country has lost in 5 consecutive weeks and seems to be more of a curse than a blessing lately. In fact, 4 of the top 10 teams have lost since the new rankings came out on Monday afternoon (in addition to several other ranked teams falling this week). Parody rules in college basketball and you truly never know what to expect on a given night – except that it’s likely to be an exciting game. Being a product of the Midwest, I love the strength of the Big Ten Conference this year. The games are played with so much intensity that you think it could be March already. Struggling teams have given the ranked ones a run for their money (or beat them) and the battles of the top teams have been epic to watch. The B1G tournament could be crazy this year and March will again be a fun month of hoops.

Speaking of basketball…over the last week, I’ve noticed on the SportsCenter sidebar a story called “MJ at 50.” I figured it meant that Michael Jordan’s birthday was this week and they were going to let us all know that he’s still around (like that’s news, but the world wide leader isn’t about the news usually) and show us a few highlights from his career. Man, was I wrong. His birthday isn’t until February 17^th and they are basically doing 2 weeks worth of stories about him. Seriously?!? Full disclosure, I grew up disliking the Bulls and MJ, but I’ll also admit that he’s one of the best to play the game (I can’t say the best since there are so many legends I never saw play). I know that he changed the game of basketball on a global level and won 6 titles, etc – but is 2 weeks of praising him really necessary? You would think that he’s the only top tier athlete to make it to age 50 and is a perfect pillar for society based on the coverage this milestone is getting!

Paulina Gretzky

Moving into the world of golf, the Pebble Beach Pro Am is this weekend. PGA player Dustin Johnson is paired up with The Great One, Wayne Gretzky. In general, this would be an intimidating matchup for Johnson, but it gets even better – he’s dating Wayne’s daughter Paulina. She gained twitter fame a few years ago when posting revealing photos of herself and is now the story line of this pairing. I’m sure Johnson will be feeling a little extra pressure to impress his girlfriend’s dad on the course – plus, you don’t want to contribute to the legend losing at something!

Yesterday, I learned that Peyton Manning, the face of many commercials, is more than a spokesperson for Papa John’s pizza.  He actually owns 21 of their franchises in Colorado! My mind was blown when I heard this. Yeah, athletes may wear the shoes that are named after them or wear a watch they promote, but it’s not often that they actually put their money into something they are paid to advertise. It would be really interesting to me if more athletes invested in places and products they are a spokesperson for instead of just taking the money and going to their next commercial. I might just have to try a Papa John’s pizza now…

Finally, there’s the celebrity/athlete duo that seems to find their way into the news every week: Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler. KCav became “famous” thanks to MTV and seems to find a way to be in the gossip magazines on a weekly basis. Jay is the quarterback for the Chicago Bears and was recently named Forbes 4^th most disliked athlete in America. Here’s a synopsis of their very public relationship: dated, got engaged, broke off engagement, suddenly got engaged again, announced she was pregnant, had baby, talk about more kids and wedding now. I’m pretty sure the 2^nd engagement was only because she got pregnant (based on the timing of her announcements) which I suspect was only because he got hurt and needed something to do when he couldn’t play football. Regardless, neither have a great reputation and a report the came out this week didn’t help – Jay proposed over text message and mailed her the ring. Really?!? It sounds like this was for their 2^nd engagement, but still so wrong. Now she’s getting defensive of him and says that what she said got taken out of context as she promotes an E! special about herself next month. Coincidence? Most likely it’s just a ploy for more attention as they’ve moved out of the spotlight for the moment, which seems to be the story of their whole relationship.

One can only hope the next week of sports will be this interesting!