10 most powerful women in sports in 2005 (as selected by Dan Weil of FOXSports.com): Maria Sharapova: Russian tennis star, ranked No. 1 for part of the year; Sheila Johnson: co-founded BETV, stakes in the Wash. Mystics, Wizards & Capitals; Annika Sorenstam: Swede golfer, won 10 tournaments; Williams Tennis Sisters: power, athleticism, endorsements; Michelle Wie: $10 mill in endorsements from Nike and Sony; Danica Patrick: 23-yr-old w. 4th-place finish at Indy 500; Donna Orender: WNBA commish; Amy Trask: CEO of Oakland Raiders; Lesa France Kennedy: prez of NASCAR Int’l Speedway Corp.; Donna Lopiano: exec. director of Women’s Sports Foundation . . . . . . . Arms race update: revenues for U-Wisconsin athletics have increased 178% since 1995-’96 . . . . . . . University HS, a Miami “diploma mill” spotlighted in a scathing feature by the NY Times a couple weeks ago, is shutting down. No surprise there . . . . . . . A volleyball home run: American Volleyball Coaches Assn has hired Kathy DeBoer as new exec director. DeBoer - who also serves on the Clips Advisory Panel - spent 23 years in college athletics (18 at U-Kentucky) as a VB coach and administrator. Congrats Kathy. . . . . . . 27 straight: No. 25 Iowa beat Drake for the 27th straight time, 65-60, Tuesday Dec. 20. Drake has not beaten Iowa in Iowa City since 1967. . . . . . . Duke women spanked Ball State 110-24 on Dec. 19. Duke scored the first 23 points. Ball State missed its first 16 shots and its last 11, and shot a woeful 13%. . . . . . . Mount Union (Alliance, Ohio) won its eighth D3 FB title in 13 yrs. They had a 110 game regular season winning streak that ended in 1994. . . . . . . Lowest-scoring MBB D1 game since the trey: Monmouth beat host Princeton, 41-21, last night. Princeton went scoreless for a stretch of 14:54 in the 2nd half. Yawn. . . . . . Report from Canada’s Ryerson U: global investment in sponsorships have zoomed from approx. US$500 million in 1982 to an estimated US$28 billion in 2004. . . . . . . . Bravo Lakers: Grand Valley State won its third D2 FB title in the past four years with a 21-17 win over NW Missouri State. . . . . . . . . . Biggest bowl winner: Notre Dame will get a full BCS share - more than $14 million - for appearing in the Fiesta Bowl v. Ohio St. Other teams receive a fraction of their share because it is divided among other conference members. Because of Notre Dame’s independent status, they don’t have to share their share. . . . . . Clips name of the week nomination: Mario Moccia, Sr. Assoc. AD, U-Missouri. . . . . Under and overachievers: OVERACHIEVERS (none ranked in preseason, current ranking in parens)- Penn State (4) 10-1; Notre Dame (6) 8-2; UCLA (11) 9-1; West Virginia (12) 8-1; TCU (15) 10-1 … UNDERACHIEVERS (preseason ranking in parens, none in Top 25 now)- Tennessee (3) 4-6; Oklahoma (5) 6-4; Iowa (10) 7-4; Purdue (16) 5-6; Arizona State (18) 5-5 . . . . . . . . Coach of year, Mike Lopresti version (no particular order?): 1-Joe Paterno, Penn State, Too old? Nope.; 2-Charlie Weis, Notre Dame, instant restoration; 3-Pete Carroll, USC, 33 in a row; 4-Mack Brown, Texas, a dream season; 5-George O’Leary, Central Florida, from 0-11 to 8-3 and hosting the Conference USA championship game. In one year.; 6-Tommy Tuberville, Auburn, 13-0 last season, 9-2 this season. . . . . .

If you were casting for an actor to play Coach K, who would you pick?

Tom Hanks
Al Pacino
Gene Hackman
Sean Penn
Ray Romano
Dennis Hopper