Sports

Michigan junior running back Brandon Minor promises that next year's Ohio State-UM game will be different. That's a relief. I'm assuming he means that the Wolverines will finish with more points than punts, and that I won't slip into a deep slumber in the third quarter.

This is too easy: THE OSU has defeated Michigan five straight years. The Wolverines have a coach who doesn't seem to have a clue as to the importance of this rivalry. And the Big Three is on life support. Not a good time to be a Michigan man (or woman, kid or pet).

Jim Tressel, on the other hand, is flying high. It's difficult to determine whether Tressel is one of the all-time great coaches or just the beneficiary of working in the slumping Big Ten. He's not an offensive whiz, loves punters and has the personality of a Secret Service agent. But he's on the verge of a sixth BCS bowl bid in seven years. Can't argue with that.

Winter wonderland: Notre Dame fans pelted their football team with snowballs during the Irish's stunning collapse against Syracuse. (I flipped over to that blockbuster, and the Irish were facing fourth-and-40.)

Upon hearing about this new low in sportsmanship, the Dawg Pound immediately invited the South Bend hooligans to move to Cleveland.

Bad luck: Can you imagine the chaos in the Vegas sports books after Troy Polamalu's last-second TD was taken off the board in the Steelers' 18-10/11-10 win over the Chargers? Of course, most of the money was on the Steelers to cover the spread. You just can't beat those casinos.

The Swede: New UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar reminds me of Swede, the huge blonde guy in Heartbreak Ridge. Only Lesnar probably could take Clint Eastwood.

BTW, the Swede was played by Peter Koch, one of the Bengals' first-round picks in the 1984 draft. He lasted one season in Cincinnati.

In the kitchen: Famous cook Rachael Ray is coming to The Greene, a terrifying thought. My kids dragged me out to see Laura Numeroff, author of "If You Give A Pig A Pancake" and other silly kids' books. I thought it couldn't get more painful than that. It can.

Quick hits: Buick is cutting back on PGA Tour courtesy cars. That means some pampered golfers might have to rent cars. How will they survive? ... Good luck to the Columbus Crew in the MLS Cup. Hopefully one of the teams will score a goal. ... Boston's Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP award. You could poll 100 sports fans, and I doubt half of them would know his position. Hint: He stands between first and second.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2163 or

bkollars@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Knucklehead

Billionaire Mark Cuban is facing accusations that he benefited from insider trading when he dumped a bunch of Mamma.com stock in 2004. Mamma.com? Cuban apparently saved himself a loss of $750,000 with the clever move. One thing favoring the Mavericks owner: He has more cash than the federal government, which means he'll do OK if his case goes to court. Considering it took four years to level the accusation, I doubt this will be resolved before Christmas.