MICHAEL KIRAL

One final jaunt around the world of sports: Let’s see, Rick Pitino to Louisville. Bobby Knight to Texas Tech. It’s good to see recycling projects are not dead.

The way things are going, the field of 64 may refer to the number of schools looking for new coaches. Those include some prominent programs, including Louisville, Massachusetts, Michigan, UNO and South Carolina. And once upon a time, guiding a team to the NCAA Tournament ensured job security. Not anymore. Tennessee’s Jerry Green and Wisconsin’s Brad Soderberg are both looking for jobs after participating in the NCAAs this season. Guess wins and losses are not as important as how many boosters and administrators you can impress. Maryland is probably tired of the name George by now. The Terrapins’ first three opponents in the NCAAs were George Mason, Georgia State and Georgetown. This just in – Gonzaga is a pretty good team. Who would have thought that the Bulldogs are just one of three teams – with Duke and Michigan State – to make the Sweet 16 the last three years? North Carolina may not schedule any Sunday games next season after their performance on the seventh day the final five weeks of this season. Rasheed Wallace tied his own record this week with his 38th technical foul of the season. Not quite up there with Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game is it? Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to shoot a 59 in competition in the second round of the Standard Register Ping last week. Which brings up a question. Instead of another Battle of Bighorn this year, how about a competition between Sorenstam and Karrie Webb and Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson? Speaking of Woods, his winless streak to begin the season was blown way out of proportion. Not enough credit was given to the other players on the Tour. As the commercials say, these guys are good. Kudos to the organizers of the Compaq Classic for the beginning of another excellent field. To put Spring Training games in perspective, as of Thursday, the New York Yankees were last in the American League and Atlanta was second to last in the NL. If that is the case with a week left in the regular season, then there is a story. The XFL’s ratings continue to drop and the league is considering adding teams? Isn’t that like buying silverware for the Titanic after it hit the iceberg? Finally, as the great Bob Hope always used to say: thanks for the memories.