Varsity jacket nightmares: Lapeer Central High School

Send your varsity jacket nightmares to patrickhayes13(at)gmail.com.

While Nike makes the green and gold work for all things related to the University of Oregon, the green leather-on-green tweed is not working for Lapeer Central High School.

LC student Marcus writes:


"You should see our student section during football games. It's breathtakingly hideous."

Hoops City U.S.A.: Flint, Michigan

Everyone knows cities like New York, Chicago and L.A. produce great basketball talent. But what smaller cities have contributed the most to basketball tradition? We'll take a look all summer. Up today, Flint, Michigan.

A city that once boasted a population of nearly 250,000 now is dangerously close to falling below the 100,000 mark as the auto industry's manufacturing jobs have dried up and crime has become rampant. Still, one constant in Flint, Michigan, has been basketball. For a city its size, Flint has produced basketball talent at a very consistent rate.

Hoops City U.S.A.: Proviso, Illinois

Everyone knows cities like New York, Chicago and L.A. produce great basketball talent. But what smaller cities have contributed the most to basketball tradition? We'll take a look all summer. Up first, Proviso, Illinois.

Located outside of Chicago with a population of about 26,000, Proviso, Illinois, has a very good percentage when it comes to producing top-flight basketball talent. Nine NBA players, four of whom have championship rings? Not only that, for four straight years, a player or coach with Proviso East High School ties has won a NBA title. There are major American cities that can't compete with that track record.

New Jersey state athletic association is not afraid of the state senate

Fans of college and pro sports teams constantly lament paying ticket prices that are high as it is in the regular season and drastically escalate for the playoffs.

Catholic high school president sued for covering up misdeeds of rapper/baseball memorabilia collecting son

While his 3rd Bass cohort MC Serch went the reality TV root, determined to prove that there are other white rappers besides Eminem who are talented (Note: he failed), Pete Nice aka Prime Minister Pete Nice aka Peter J. Nash took his career in a bit of a different direction. He became an author and avid baseball historian and collector.

Joe Paterno, Dave Wannstedt both in favor of spring football for high schoolers

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is generally regarded as the sage savant of all things pure and good about the times when sports were pure (i.e.: he's even older than classic Americana), so it's a bit surprising he came down firmly on the side of reason in the high school football practice time debate.

Questions continue to be raised about Eric Bledsoe's academics in high school

To get to college, you have to get through high school with reasonable success. Nothing ground-breaking there.

There have always been wink-wink suspicions that star athletes, on occasion, don't have, uh ... let's just say as strenuous a workload if a school needs them to stay eligible. But as a rule, even athletes have to meet some basic requirements to get to college.

Andre Rison plans on 'winning it all' as he takes over as football coach at Flint Northwestern High School

Humility was never among Andre Rison's strengths as a football player, so it should be no surprise that he might be setting the ball impossibly high for his players as a coach.

Rison, who became the head coach at his alma mater, Flint Northwestern, in March, talked recently with ESPN.com about what he expects from a program he says has lost more than 100 games in the last 12 years.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie once had his high school catching job stolen

New Jersey Governor/Kevin James lookalike Chris Christie won the state's top position despite being a bit of an underdog — he was a relative newcomer to elected office and a Republican had not won a statewide election in 12 years when he was picked by voters in 2009.

Home Room: Players choose MLB over Oregon State, soccer player's hair keeps growing and the show must go on in beach volleyball

A daily look at some of the best high school stories as you catch up on your Facebooking before school.

Baseball draft impacts Oregon State recruiting class: "(Ian) Kendall, (Brandon) Drury and (Ben) Wetzler signed in November with Oregon State. Of the three, that group headed to Corvallis could be down to one in a few weeks, as only Wetzler indicated that he's probably headed to college. Kendall, clocked this spring by scouts throwing as hard as 95 mph, said Tampa Bay was among the most persistent teams in recent weeks. Kendall said he has built a good relationship with the Rays' local scout, Paul Kirsch, and anticipated meeting with him soon." [Nick Daschel, The Oregonian]