Twins Brook and Robin Lopez entered Stanford together, and now they will leave the team and enter the NBA draft together.

The brothers made the announcement Monday through their crazy hippie mom Deborah Ledford. Robin made a statement through AP.

“This has been a very difficult decision for me because I really enjoyed my two years at Stanford. I have always hoped I would have an opportunity to play in the NBA and I feel now is the right time to make that dream a reality.”

And Brook Lopez said:

“After a great deal of thought and discussion with my family, I feel it is the appropriate time to enter the NBA draft. It is the dream of every basketball player to play and succeed in the NBA and I feel I am ready to take on this new challenge.”

It was Deborah’s idea to release separate statements because she thinks Robin gets overshadowed by Brook and she wanted them to get equal attention. Isn’t that sweet?

Brook averaged 19 points and 8 rebounds in 2007-2008, making him a solid NBA prospect. Robin, on the other hand, averaged 10 points and 5 boards, and might be iffy to make it in the pros.

It was an eventful opening day for the Chicago Cubs and their new rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome.

Before the game, the Cubs honored legendary shortstop Ernie Banks with a statue unveiling outside Wrigley Field. Then they began their first game of the season against their hated rivals the Milwaukee Brewers.

And then it rained, delaying the game for some time.

The game finally resumed, minus offensive action. Carlos Zambrano and Ben Sheets pitched to a stalemate. The bullpens finally got in for both teams in the 7th (Zambrano left after his arm cramped up). It was 0-0 in the top of the 9th when the Cubs inserted new closer Kerry Wood. He promptly gave up 3 runs.

The Cubs came up in the bottom of the 9th and put two men on. Kosuke Fukudome then strode to the plate. With the crowd chanting his name, the former Japan League star clocked a linedrive homer into the stands off Eric Gagne, tying it at 3.

The Brewers would score a single run in the top of the 10th on a Tony Gwynn sac fly. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Fukudome wouldn’t get a chance to bat in the bottom of the 10th. The Brewers’ David Riske nailed it down, sending Milwaukee to a 4-3 win.

As great an NCAA tournament as Stephen Curry had, the general consensus seems to be that he is not yet ready to tackle the NBA.

And one who agrees with this assessment is Stephen Curry himself.

“I’m definitely coming back,” Curry said when asked about his future plans. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

Talented and smart. A good combination. Now he just needs to work on that facial hair.

It appears that Curry may have to play for a new coach at Davidson next year, however. Bob McKillop has reportedly been approached by Rice, though there’s no word on whether he is seriously mulling the offer.

The yankees will have to wait one more day to begin their final season of baseball at Yankee Stadium.

Mother nature didn’t feel like cooperating with the Yanks and Blue Jays as they tried to kick off the 2008 season Monday afternoon in the Bronx. Rain forced postponement of the game, which will be made up on Tuesday (which would’ve been an off-day).

Opening day starters Chien Ming Wang and Roy Halladay are still scheduled to go.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman knows tomorrow’s forecast also calls for rain.

“I’m cautious about tomorrow, too,” Cashman said. “Tomorrow night is supposed to be dry, tomorrow day is supposed to be similar to what we just had.

“It’s obviously not the way you want to start. You’d like to have opening day instead of opening night. But you do what you’ve got to do. It’s still going to be opening day.”

(picture: Yahoo!/AP)

The Cubs honored one of their all-time greats, Ernie Banks, by unveiling a new statue of the Hall of Famer outside Wrigley Field before Monday’s season-opener with the Brewers.

“Is that me?” Ernie said as he gazed upon the bronze sculpture.

The ceremony was attended by several of Ernie’s former teammates, including Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins, as well as former on-field rival Hank Aaron. Racial agitator Jesse Jackson also showed up for the affair (of course, because he knew there would be cameras).

(picture: Yahoo!/AP)

For the first time in the history of AP’s All-America basketball team, not a single senior made the cut.

The elder statesmen on the team are a pair of juniors: North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough and Memphis’ Chris Douglas Roberts. D.J. Augustin of texas is the lone sophomore; he’s joined by a pair of freshmen, Kansas State’s Michael Beasley and UCLA’s Kevin Love.

Luke Harangody of Notre Dame made the second team, along with Shan Foster of Vanderbilt, D.J. White of Indiana, Roy Hibbert of Georgetown and electrifying NCAA tourney performer Stephen Curry of Davidson. The third team featured Tennessee’s Chris Lofton, UCLA’s Darren Collison, Stanford’s Brook Lopez, Memphis’ Derrick Rose and Indiana’s Eric Gordon.

I think it’s safe to say that former Patriots offensive lineman Kenyatta Walker has some issues.

Walker, who now plays for the AFL’s Tampa Bay Storm, was reportedly arrested early Monday morning and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, obstruction and trespassing. The arrest came after Walker tried to urinate on the dance floor at a club and was asked to leave by club security and police on extra duty.

Walker was exiting the club when he turned around, prompting one of the police officers to grab his arm. Walker allegedly shoved the officer up against a door. At last report, he was being held on $4500 bond.

The Storm released the following statement:

“We are closely monitoring the situation and will let the legal process run its course. His status with the team is pending.”

Walker has been arrested several times before, once as a member of the Patriots for scalding a teammate with hot water, and once while in college at South Florida for possession of a concealed weapon.

If he’d kept his weapon concealed this morning, there wouldn’t have been any trouble.

Those of you who don’t follow Indiana Pacers basketball very closely may not have been aware that Jermaine Oneal, the team’s star player for the better part of ten years, hasn’t played since January 16.

Actually, there might be a few Pacers fans who didn’t realize it either. Like the ones who gave up on the season a long time ago.

Well, Jermaine is at last making his return from his little vacation, which was necessitated by on-going problems with his surgically repaired left knee. He says he will play Monday night when the Pacers take on the Heat at home.

O’Neal, who will come off the bench, says defense shouldn’t be a problem for him…but offense is another story.

“I haven’t lost my defensive rhythm,” he said. “Offensively it’s going to take me a couple of games to get myself together, but we don’t need me as much offensively now.

“If we play better defensively we can get in. I think I’ll fit right in.”

The Pacers, because they play in the East, are actually not out of the playoff hunt. So it’s conceivable O’Neal could step in and spark the team to enough of a run to get them past New Jersey and Atlanta and into the post-season.

And then they’d get to play Boston, in what would certainly be one of the most painful first-round playoff match-ups in NBA history. They’d be better off tanking the rest of the season for more ping-pong balls.

George W. Bush can’t run a country worth a damn. He also doesn’t have much future as a baseball announcer, at least going by this clip from last night’s Nationals-Braves game, which saw the former Texas Rangers owner and sometime ruiner of America’s reputation abroad stepping all over Jon Miller’s home run call.

Miller…just punch him. It’s not like there are ten Secret Service guys ready to pull guns on you or anything…

The New England Patriots are reportedly bringing horn-dog Arkansas running back Darren McFadden in for a visit.

McFadden, a two-time Heisman Trophy also-ran, is considered by many the most talented player in this year’s draft, but because he’s a running back with a questionable personal history, it’s believed several high-drafting teams will elect to take a pass on him.

This could be good news for the Patriots, who pick 7th, and could use a second back to go with Lawrence Maroney.

The Patriots have become a well-known landing place for dodgy characters in recent years (Randy Moss, Corey Dillon), and McFadden would certainly qualify. The strikes against him include his profusion of baby-mamas (four at last count), a fight outside a piano bar that got him cuffed by cops and another fight in a club that ended with him injuring his toe badly enough to need surgery.

Clearly, McFadden is no genius. But all he has to do is run between the big men trying to tackle him, so he should be okay.