Like it is: NCAA visit nothing but good news for UALR

WALLY HALL
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Usually when the NCAA comes a'calling schools gather around lawyers and start to pray.
Not true Tuesday when an NCAA representative met with UALR and Sun Belt Conference officials and took a tour of Alltel Arena.
The NCAA is seriously considering making Alltel Arena an NCAA Tournament site for either 2004 or 2005.
It would, of course, be for the opening two rounds of play.
In addition to another tour of Alltel -- one was also taken during the Sun Belt Tournament last March -- visits were made to local hotels.
To become an NCAA site a city must have a minimum of eight full-service hotels with at least 150 rooms.
However, two teams can be assigned to the same hotel if necessary.
Other considerations are the airport, fan support and even local media coverage.
Last March, the NCAA report on Little Rock and Alltel gave high grades to all areas, especially the extensive coverage of the Sun Belt Tournament by this newspaper.

They're Hog'ems.
The new breakfast cereal that has been created for Arkansas Razorbacks fans.
The Hogs' very own dietary product, and it is available at Wallace Bookstore and selected fine Wal-Marts around the state.
You can almost hear the new chant as people line up to buy their personalized cereal: "Whole Hog, half ham, Arkansas buy Hog'ems."
The companies behind this -- and the UA does get a cut of all sales -- are PLB Sports and Octagon, which launched Hokie Toasties last year for Virginia Tech, and the Hokies ended up playing for the national championship.
Flutie Flakes was their first venture into the culinary world of sports fans.
A box of the sugar-coated corn flakes was sent to this sports editor, but despite being billed as a fat-free food, the Hog'ems haven't been opened.
And won't be, so if they are as grrrreat as the longtime top seller, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, you'll have to find out for yourself.
Oh, and you can buy T-shirts, caps and cereal bowls supporting the breakfast chow.
Nebraska, Michigan, Auburn and Alabama will be getting their own cereals soon.

For the first time since 1988, not one SEC football team is ranked in The Associated Press' Top 10.
On Oct. 17, 1988, the SEC teams ranked were Georgia, No. 11; Auburn, No. 12; Alabama, No. 19; and Florida at No. 20.
Now, three of those same four are ranked again, Florida is No. 12, Auburn No. 15 and Georgia No. 19. Also ranked are Mississippi State at No. 20 and Tennessee at No. 21.

This was an actual conversation:
"The play-calling against Georgia was awful."
"Which plays were bad?"
"What do you mean, which plays? Lots of them."
"What would you have called in their place?"
"What?"
"Those awful plays that were called, what plays would you have called?"
"Uh, they didn't say."
"Who didn't say?"
"The guys calling in on the radio show after the game."
"So you personally don't recall any bad plays that were called."
"Nah, man, I've never been a coach."

ABC hired the wrong comedian for Monday Night Football.
Chris Rock would have been 100 times better than Dennis Miller.
Rock may have the reputation of being foul-mouthed but recently he was on David Letterman and was hilarious without muttering a single four-letter word.
Miller has lacked any type of punch, but what makes it seem worse is the guys who work with him rarely, if ever, acknowledge anything he says.
They leave him hanging almost every time.
If they did that to Rock, he'd eat their lunch.

This article was published on Wednesday, October 4, 2000

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