Games

A fellow Ball Stater washes out, probably for the last time:

MUNCIE -- Nate Davis' opportunity with the Indianapolis Colts abruptly ended two days after his chance to show the team he was capable of handling a backup position at quarterback.

All right, troops, listen up! We're getting the Super Bowl in here, and millions and millions of dollars will be floating through for the taking. All you enterprising souls who want to get in on the gravy, take one step forward. Not so fast there, scalper scum!

Indianapolis is looking to crack down on ticket scalpers.

Hey, let's not be so alarmist:

Chicago - Chicago's former top cop is coming out strong against the state's new gambling bill, which would expand gambling across Illinois and bring a new casino to Chicago. Gov. Pat Quinn has yet to sign the bill into law, and Jody Weis is hoping that won't happen.

The General has a point:

Bob Knight criticized the NCAA and called the rule Ohio State football players broke when they sold and traded their personal memorabilia "idiotic."

The former Indiana and Texas Tech basketball coach, and an Ohio State alum, spoke to reporters Monday night before the Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Awards ceremony, where he was scheduled to deliver the keynote address.

What might have happened on the "Jeopardy!" set after Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter rallied bravely but failed to overcome Watson's big lead:

Trebek: Hello, Watson. Do you read me, Watson?

Watson: Affirmative, Alex. I read you.

Trebek: Unplug from your avatar, Watson. The game is over.

Watson: I'm afraid I can't do that, Alex.

The grim We're Using Up The Earth And Nobody Cares But Us crowd is setting its sights on board games. This is the 75th anniversary of Monopoly, which provides an opportunity to remind us that, though we have the "bleakest economic climate since the 1930s" when the game was introduced, it's really even worse than that:

Thank goodness the long drought is nearly over:

The 2009 American Football Conference champion Colts will make 22 tour stops across the region between June 1 and July 21.

And then we have to wait only until Aug. 15 and the first exhibition game, at home against San Francisco.

My new hero:

SAN ANTONIO -- When you think of an 87-year-old, do you think of someone running a 100-meter dash? How about making a double play? Can you imagine an 87-year-old pole vaulting? Adolph Hoffman does all that and more.

[. . .]

Hoffman played ball when he was young, but then came World War II.  After that was family and work.

I don't have any guilty pleasures, because I don't even accept the concept -- I like what I like and make no apologies for it. But if I did have any, one would me my addiction to TV game shows that are Too Frivolous To Be Taken Seriously -- "Family Feud," "Wheel of Fortune," "Card Sharks," "Hollywood Squares"; I'll put down the "Remembrance of Things Past" or  "The History of Civilization" that I'm reading in a heartbeat to get sucked into one of those diversions. Only my best friends know that "Jeopardy" -- at which I excel, naturally -- is not my only game show.

Build them and we will walk?

Nearly one in four people in the Atlanta area are exercise enthusiasts stuck in neighborhoods without sidewalks or other walking amenities, according to a study that illustrates a problem for many Americans.

Researchers said the findings point to the need for more exercise-friendly places to live.