St. John's To Face Kentucky in Big East/SEC Challenge

Two of the winning est college basketball programs will hook-up next season when St. John's faces Kentucky in the Big East/SEC Challenge.  The game will be played at Rupp Arena in early December.

The Big East/SEC Challenge, which was expanded last year, will pit the Red Storm-- with the nation's #2 rated recruiting class--against a tournament-tested Wildcats squad which lost 56-55 to Connecticut in the 2011 Final Four semi-finals.

Both schools have two of the most storied programs in college basketball history.  Kentucky is the all-time NCAA men's basketball wins leader with 2052 victories and a .760 winning percentage, while St. John's is #7 on the list with 1724 wins and a .658 percentage.

Next season, St. John's will field it's youngest team in 104 years and one of the youngest in NCAA history.  Nine freshmen will be on the roster of the 2011-12 team after four senior starters from last year's team completed their eligibility.

Last year, the senior-heavy Johnnies compiled a 21-12 record and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002. 

Head coach Steve Lavin, who is battling prostate cancer, hasn't let the disease hinder his piling up of top players.  Yesterday it was announced that Arizona guard Lamont "MoMo" Jones will transfer to St. John's and could be eligible to play next season under NCAA hardship rules.

MoMo, the  Harlem product, will join the rest of the highly-touted Red Storm class including God's Gift Achiuwa, Sir' Dominic Pointer and Nurideen Lindsay--and all will be potential nominees for the 2012 All-Name team.

Kentucky will be without Brandon Knight, their star guard, who opted for the NBA.  The Wildcats will be led by Queens, NY guard Doran Lamb and a squad of experienced players.

Lavin vs. John Calipari, call it the Big East/SEC Hair Gel Challenge.

Right Place & Best Cure For Yankee Blues: Camden Yards & Boog's BBQ

The New York Yankees took the first step to overcoming a tumultuous week by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays last night, 6-2.  Now the New York Grandersons take a two-day jaunt to their home-away-from-home--Oriole Park at Camden Yards. 

The remedy to any Yankees slump seems to be a series against the Baltimore Orioles.  It's take two and call me on Friday.

The confines of the Baltimore stadium seem to be as inviting to the Yankees and their fans as one of those Boog Powell pulled BBQ sandwiches.

"Planking." The Stupidest "Sport" Since Pole-Sitting Claims Life

The latest craze among young people blazing across the Internet is called "planking", where a person is photographed lying face down, stiff as a board and in a precarious place.  The "sport" now has it's first known casualty.  A 20 -year-old man fell from a seven-story balcony after trying to balance himself across a two-inch railing the other morning.

The worldwide sensation of planking has thousands of participants and Facebook pages with 100,000 followers.  YouTube is being flooded with images of rigid and motionless teens and twenty-somethings who then hurry home to spend hours in front of their computers sitting and staring at photos of other people lying down doing nothing.

The dead man was identified as Acton Beale, who was pronounced dead outside his Brisbane, Australia apartment complex at 4:30 a.m..  He was allegedly being filmed by a friend when he fell to his senseless death.

The "sport" of planking has become a dangerous, and now deadly, craze among young thrill seekers.  It involves nothing except a camera, a lot of time on your hands and an even more bored friend to record the action--or inaction.

Posada Should Have Gotten Bronx Cheer Not Standing O

It only took one day for New York fans to forgive Yankees designated hitter Jorge Posada for abruptly yanking himself from the line-up one hour before a critical game against the Boston Red Sox.  The slumping Posada got a standing ovation from most fans when he pinch-hit for Andruw Jones in the eighth-inning of last night's 7-5 loss to their division rivals.

Neither Posada or the Yankees deserve any sort of applause after dropping their fifth straight game and nine of their last 12.

True blue Yankee fans will claim that the one-time starting catcher had shown remorse for his temper tantrum and earned the right to be upset after being demoted to batting in the ninth spot by manager Joe Girardi.  A spot where he hasn't hit in 12 years.

Truth is, Posada has been moping since platooning with Francisco Cervelli last year and was batting a measly .165 when Girardi penciled the prideful DH in at the # 9 spot.

Besides Posada's lack of production, it is his lack of clubhouse instinct.  After 17 years in the big leagues, you would think Posada would have figured out that something was in the wind.  A player with less of a history with the Yankees would have been benched weeks ago.  He was hanging on by tenure and World Series rings.  The statistics don't lie, so why was it such a surprise?

Posada Pulls Himself From Line-Up Before Crucial Yankees/Red Sox Game

In a move to shakeup the New York Yankees line-up, Manager Joe Girardi penciled  his slumping designated hitter, Jorge Posada, into the ninth spot of the batting order before tonight's game against their division rivals the Boston Red Sox.  Posada, the one-time starting catcher regulated to a DH position this season, apparently disagreed with the demotion and pulled himself from the line-up before Saturday's nationally-televised game.

According to Fox Sports, the proud Posada met with Girardi an hour before the game and came out saying he wouldn't play.  No one knows what was said in the meeting.

Before the two met,  Girardi explained why he was juggling the line-up and said, "It's been a struggle this year, we're trying to get things going."

During the past three losses, the Yankees have left 37 runners on base.

There was speculation that the 38 year-old Posada would not accept batting ninth and that there was even talk of retirement.  Chances are Posada, one of the Yankees original Core Four players, wouldn't walk away from the remainder of his $13 million contract.

This weekend's series against the Sox is an important barometer of where the Yankees are headed.  The team has lost three straight and dropped out of first place in the AL East.  They in the midst of a grueling schedule where they play 32 games in 33 days.  Discord in the clubhouse could make things worse.

Posada has been slumping badly.  He has an anemic batting average of .165 as the DH and hasn't hit a home run in weeks.  Fans have been calling for his head for the last month of play.

Russell Martin has been the Yankees starting catcher all season and hasn't let the team down.  The Yankees also have a streaking prospect, Jesus Montero, on their Triple-A  club in Scranton.  Montero is batting .325 and has 2 home-runs.  He looks ready to jump up to the bigs.

Whether or not Posada is in breach of contract with the Yankees is one thing, but acting like a spoiled brat is another issue.

The next month of the schedule will probably exhaust a lot of Yankees players.  If Posada decides not to play, it might be a blessing in disguise.  It would free up the DH spot and allow older players like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and even Martin the luxury of resting while having just DH duties.

Posada, as one of the respected veterans on the Yankees, should conduct himself in a more fitting manner.  He has no one to blame but himself for his poor showing so far this season.

Steve Lavin Announces New Strategy to Beat Cancer at Yankee Stadium

St. John's basketball head coach Steve Lavin, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer last fall and kept it a secret during the Red Storm's surprising run to the NCAA Tournament last season, has found a new approach to beat the Big C without surgery or radiation treatment.

Lavin told reporters attending a "Coaches vs. Cancer" pre-game ceremony at Yankee Stadium last night that the new, less traditional, treatment is called active surveillance and consists of tracking the size and growth of the cancer.

The Red Storm coach might be one of the first public figures to use the radically new technique to battle prostate cancer.

Sean Avery Speaks Out For Gay Marriage; Gets Bashed For It

Who knew that New York Rangers hockey-goon and serial dater Sean Avery had such a soft spot for relationships?  The abrasive and controversial NHL winger appeared in an ad this week endorsing same-sex marriage for the Human Rights Campaign's New Yorkers for Marriage Equality drive.  Now Avery is garnering criticism for standing up for the group's message.

Avery might seem like an odd choice to appear in the video, along with former-President Bill Clinton, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actors Julianne Moore and Sam Waterston,  which advocates gay marriage.

The polarizing Avery--who once interned a summer at Vogue magazine, got suspended for making nasty remarks about his ex-girlfriend actress Elisha Cuthbert and got bum-rushed from Dallas to New York for his dirty play and filthier mouth--has never fit squarely into any mold.  Supporting same-sex marriage in the macho world of professional sports is another twist in his colorful image.

"I treat everyone the way that I expect to be treated, and that includes marriage," said Avery.

It would have been easier for Avery to stump for other popular, cut-and-dry social issues like safe-sex or drug use, but he took a position that even the most ardent Avery fans might not accept.