As the thermometers drop on campuses nationwide, students start to ‘hibernate’. BBQs are abandoned, windows are locked, and Football Saturdays are replaced with Wednesday Night Basketball. That’s right. It’s once again time of year for your classmates to take to the courts for one of college’s time honored traditions.

While crowds assemble down the street and you desperately try to land a student voucher for one of the rivalry games, EA Sports has your back with some of the most realistic games on the market. NCAA Basketball 09 has taken authenticity and given it a healthy helping of crack.

Not only are the graphics like nothing you’ve seen before and have the team’s coaches roaming sidelines hungry for blood for the first time in NCAA Basketball history, but you can get your hands on your favorite coach’s playbook. Every Division I team is programmed with true-to-life styles of play. So if you’re Tennessee, you’ll be running a 1-2-1-1 full court press just like Bruce Pearl. Or if the Big 10 is your turf, you can play Bo Ryan’s patented-Wisconsin Swing Offense. The player stats are also up-to-date as EA partnered with the guys at Blue Ribbon to give your roster accurate player ratings according to their real life counterparts.
The game also gives real-time locker room feedback on how you’re playing and what steps you need to take to improve your game. So if your style of play isn’t helping put points on the board, the coaching staff responds with new hints to help you regain the tempo on the court and come out with a comeback ‘W’.

Ah yes, the college ski trip.  It’s like spring break, only substitute beaches and swim trunks for frozen slopes and ski goggles.  And what’s even better is that you don’t have to travel to Colorado or California to conquer a king-size run.  The Midwest offers plenty of skiing options that are easily accessible and won’t burn a hole in your pocket.  Here are some of the places to look out for.  

Devil’s Head Resort (Merrimac, WI)  

Distance from:

Madison- 45 Minutes

Milwaukee- 1.5 Hours

Chicago- 3 Hours 

Vertical Rise: 500 Feet

Number of Runs:

28 runs plus a terrain park

Lift Ticket Rates:

$40 weekday

$45 weekend

$ 18 rope tow pass   
 

Devil’s Head is one of the premier ski and snowboard areas of the Midwest for a couple of reasons. One, it’s easy to get to from major cities, and two, it offers an array of runs that vary from expert to beginner, which is rare for a Midwest ski area.  And another cool thing about Devil’s Head is that there are three quad lifts, six double chair lifts and one triple lift spread around the mountain, so you won’t have to wait in a lift line for long periods of time while waiting to get to the top.  Devil’s Head also offers lodging accommodations at the base of the mountain, so you won’t have to go far to rest your ski booted feet after a hard day of shredding.

**Also included:  Lutsen Mountains,  Boyne Highlands, Indianhead Mountain 

 When I was younger, all the kids in the neighborhood would spend the day riding bikes and frolicking in the summer air. We'd play a little baseball and throw things at the abandoned house down the street. Of course when we played baseball it wasn't in a deserted lot, nor did it share a fence with a giant dog called "The Beast". Looking back, it would've been more entertaining if it had.

I was watching TV the other night with my roommate and we came across The Sandlot. After the "oh man, I love this movie" and "yeah smalls" commentary, the inevitable question was raised - what ever happened to the team? It has been 15 years since the Sandlot touched our lives, now it's time to reconnect. Boosh spent the afternoon doing investigative reporting (i.e. Google) to find out just what happened to your favorite starting lineup.

Scotty Smalls

Actor Tom Guiry took the lead role in The Sandlot after only one appearance on a TV movie "A Place to Be Loved". Since the 'Lot', Tom was in a couple other films including 1994's Lassie and another baseball flick The Last Home Run. In 1999 at the age of 18, Scotty Smalls became a father. Guiry remains a steady actor, landing a huge role as the drug-laden Jimmy Donelly in the underrated and since cancelled NBC series The Black Donnelly's.

When it comes to famous alums, USC is pretty stacked with Hollywood royalty. So when Will Ferrell showed up atTrojan practice Thursday, it was just a normal practice. Donning an Iron Man costume with red banana hammock, "Captain Compete" got the team fired up. 

Don't really understand what the whole guy-on-fire thing was, but the ending is hilarious.

"Captain Compete fears nothing. Wait, he fears one thing. Small dogs."

Shout out to The Wiz of Odds for turning us onto this gem.