Sports

By JOHN CRUMPACKER
Friday, November 24, 2006
With the college football season rounding third and heading for home _ to use a misplaced metaphor _ it's time to reveal my choice for the 2006 Heisman Trophy, the most overblown award in all of sports.

By B.G. BROOKS
Friday, November 24, 2006
Pete Carroll and Charlie Weis aren't close enough _ and likely never will be _ to be The Odd Couple.

Carroll, Southern California's coach, likes pickup hoops and boogie boarding.

By MARC LANCASTER
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The official acknowledgement Monday of the two worst-kept secrets in Cincinnati baseball probably did little to alleviate the sticker shock felt by the Reds' bookkeepers.

In committing nearly $20 million to shortstop Alex Gonzalez and left-hander Mike Stanton, the Reds addressed areas of need on their in-flux roster while also facing up to the realities of the economic climate in which they find themselves this winter.

By RON HIGGINSTuesday, November 21, 2006Give Florida coach Urban Meyer a place in line, next to Southern Cal's Pete Carroll, Notre Dame's Charlie Weis and Arkansas's Houston Nutt. They all hope that the Bowl Championship Series doesn't re-match current No.

ByTuesday, November 21, 2006Unless something unbelievable happens, Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith has reduced the race for the Heisman Trophy to a mere formality.With his terrific four-touchdown pass performance in Saturday's 42-39 win over No.

By CHRIS TOMASSON
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The 20th century saw The Great Train Robbery and the Brinks Job. The 21st century so far has the J.R. Smith trade.

The Denver Nuggets in July acquired Smith, a shooting guard, from Chicago, for next to nothing.

By RON HIGGINSTuesday, November 21, 2006Finally, 30 games into his college career, a football floated into Arkansas junior cornerback Chris Houston's hands ... and it stuck. Mississippi State quarterback Michael Henig didn't see Houston, one of the Southeastern Conference's best cover corners, and Houston collected his first interception on Saturday wearing a Razorback uniform.

By DAVE KRIEGER
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The good Jake Plummer returns Thanksgiving night in Kansas City or rookie Jay Cutler becomes the Denver Broncos starting quarterback 10 days later at home against Seattle.

By SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Journal Sports Writer

So, technically, we've passed the halfway point of the season, but there's nothing that says we can't take stock of the New England Patriots' performance and fortunes after 10 games.

Call it the five-eighths season report.

Since we're generally loathe to administer grades _ for one thing, we won't pretend to know that much about the intricacies of the game, and for another, we left A through F behind at Syracuse _ let's use pluses/minuses/incompletes instead.

By ED BOUCHETTE
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Two years ago, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suited up for his first game in Baltimore expecting to do what he did in his first professional game the previous week: Watch from the sideline as Tommy Maddox played quarterback.

Everything changed that afternoon.