Hunch Break. Quasimodo mugs for camera as the Fightin' Irish break during a recent summer practice.

SOUTH BEND, IN (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) — First there was Rudy, the inspiring story of an against-all-odds player making the Fightin’ Irish football team; now this. Quasimodo, the famed bell ringing Hunchback of Notre Dame will return to the school from where he was banned 178 years ago in an attempt to make the football team in 2010.

A towering figure in Victor Hugo’s literary masterwork The Hunchback of Notre Dame, from 1831, Quasimodo, a hideous malformed hunchback, was mostly associated with Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris as the church‘s chief bell ringer. But, unbeknownst to most people, he did appear in two scrimmages for Notre Dame University during the late 1800’s when the team was then known as “The Catholics” instead of the Fightin’ Irish, which became the official team name in 1927. (more…)

No Fool in the Office Pool. TSD refuses to get caught up in the bracket hysteria and says it won’t issue it’s bracket until after tourney time.

BOCA RATON, FL (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) The Sportsman’s Daily has announced today it will wait on filling out and issuing its NCAA brackets until after the tournament has ended.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and lack of confidence around the world right now,” said TSD legal team member Howard Plotnick. “We think it wouldn’t be prudent to add to the global hysteria with inaccurate or irresponsible prognosticating. We realize there are some, perhaps in the traditional sports reporting outlets, who might suggest we’re hedging our bets, but I assure you, our interests are for you fans.” (more…)

Tim Duncan has what LeBron wants most: no, not the rings, the four years of college ball and a degree (though not necessarily in that order).

CLEVELAND, OH (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) — In 2003, LeBron James made a seamless transition from high school to the NBA, quickly fulfilling even the most extreme expectations. He averaged 20.9 points, 5.9 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per game and was named Rookie of the Year, becoming the youngest NBA player to ever receive the award. Most expect the championship rings and Olympic gold to come, as James is still, despite his spectacular accomplishments, only 25 years old.

But if there’s one thing James is unlikely to experience it’s the excitement and drama of playing in the NCAA tournament. (more…)

Hoop, There It Is? No. The bizarre Cornelius Blake came up empty.

PROVIDENCE, RI (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) Sure the bigger news may have been St. Mary’s knocking off favored Villanova on Saturday, but Cornelius Blake, a Villanova freshman math major was getting all the attention.

Blake received awkward stares when he brought his first baseman’s glove to the game in the hopes off snagging an errant basketball in the stands. He was seated in row F, seat 12 in section 110. “I had some good looks at a couple of balls, but I went home empty handed,” the bespectacled frosh quipped in what may be the most dazzling double entendre of the entire tournament. “I was disappointed — let’s just leave it at that.” (more…)

If you think Tubby is going mental, wait until we're a couple of weeks into the tournament and tightly wound fans around the country start losing it.

WASHINGTON, DC (The Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) — March Madness is in the air. It’s also in the water. And after three weeks of heart-stopping action, it will be seriously afflicting thousands of fans across the nation, some of whom will require months of counseling and care before they are able to regain their capacity to function as nominally productive human beings.

The NCAA tourney is one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated sporting events. The build-up itself is fraught with mounting anxiety as fans await rankings and seedings, poring over and debating various statistical models, some of which require an advanced degree in differential calculus to grasp. Then, for three weeks, tens of thousands of fans across the nation are consumed with brackets and betting pools, exhilarating late-game heroics and devastating, soul-crushing last-minute defeats. Up, down, down, up, every game a gut-wrenching emotional roller-coaster. (more…)

uilliard freshman Gunther Paulsson displays "game face" before taking the field for intra-campus exhibition football game. Paulsson plans on trying out for a position on the team's offensive line, where his heft, booming baritone and heroic golden pigtails are best suited.

NEW YORK (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service)— If you can knock out two flawless etudes, break off a dazzling solo and nail a representative sampling of standard orchestral excerpts – all under the withering scrutiny of the school’s famously demanding faculty — you stand a chance of playing Juilliard football in the fall of 2011. With more musical prodigies per square inch than perhaps anywhere else on earth, Juilliard is the last place one would expect to have a football program. But in just two years, the fabled Juilliard campus will fill with the sounds of Chopin, Mozart and the violent cacophony of helmets colliding in ¾ time. (more…)

Closet Tactics. Coach Leach locked Adam James in here for a spell - just to think things through.

LUBBOCK, TX (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) Suspended and subsequently fired Texas Tech Head Football Coach Mike Leach admits he made some mistakes when he was accused of locking sophomore Adam James, son of ESPN football analyst Craig James, in small, dark place when the younger James was unable to practice due to a concussion.

The defiant Leach has since sued Texas Tech for the firing, but admits that perhaps had he gotten into the closet with James, things might have gone more smoothly. (more…)

Second Clown and Seven. Thanks to Urban Meyer, Mumbles, the Incoherent Clown has returned.

GAINESVILLE, FL (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) First he stunned the sports world by announcing that he was stepping down as the Florida Gator’s Head Coach to get his health in order. Then the 45 year old Urban Meyer modified that by opening the door for a possible return.  His statement changed a third time when he announced he’s merely stepping away for a while, but will almost certainly return as Gator football’s top man in 2010. (more…)

John Calipari credits Stanley Kaplan -- and Ethan Cohen, Elliot Rabinowitz, Ken Chu, among nameless others -- for helping countless athletes squeak through their SATs.

NEW YORK (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) The man indirectly responsible for helping scores of high school athletes squeak by their SATs and make it to the college ranks, died yesterday at the age of 90. Fittingly, several prominent college coaches paid tribute to Stanley Kaplan and his indispensable SAT prep courses through use of analogy. (more…)

The Houseman Chase. The coveted Houseman Award, named for the late actor John Houseman is Spencer Crane III's to lose.

CAMBRIDGE, MA (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) Spencer Crane III, the twenty-one year old junior fullback for the Harvard Crimson is the odds on favorite to earn the coveted Houseman Award. (more…)

Juilliard freshman Gunther Paulsson displays "game face" before taking the field for intra-campus exhibition football game. Paulsson plans on trying out for a position on the team's offensive line, where his heft, booming baritone and heroic golden pigtails are best suited.

NEW YORK, NY (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service)— If you can knock out two flawless etudes, break off a dazzling solo and nail a representative sampling of standard orchestral excerpts – all under the withering scrutiny of the school’s famously demanding faculty — you stand a chance of playing Juilliard football in the fall of 2011. With more musical prodigies per square inch than perhaps anywhere else on earth, Juilliard is the last place one would expect to have a football program. (more…)

Famed French Literary Character Has One Year of Eligibility

"Quasy" or "Hunch" puts his stamp on the classic "Statue of Liberty Play."

SOUTH BEND, IN (Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service) — First there was Rudy, the inspiring story of an against-all-odds player making the Fightin’ Irish football team; now this. Quasimodo, the famed bell ringing Hunchback of Notre Dame will return to the school from where he was banned 177 years ago in an attempt to make the football team in 2009.

(more…)