Highly-rated Plant Senior (Florida) High School quarterback Aaron Murray has elected to spurn his home-state Gators and play his college ball with the Georgia Bulldogs instead.

The 6-1, 200 lb. Murray was also considering UCLA. He joins Zach Mettenberger as a second Florida quarterback in Georgia’s recruiting class.

Murray threw for over 4,000 yards and ran for more than 900 more as a junior, and was named Florida’s Mr. Football for 4A schools.

Cypress Bay High School is the #1 search on Google right now because of the new MTV reality show following their famed high school newspaper.

Did you know that Cypress Bay High School is one of the most active Florida high schools on beRecruited?

Compton High School basketball player Demar DeRozen is a star waiting to happen.

The senior, who will play his college ball at USC after being talked into it by his pal Lil Romeo, showed off some of his sick, soon-to-be-money-making skills at the McDonald’s All-American Dunk Contest.

The best thing about this dunk contest? The two girls who were scheduled to participate dropped out. New Rule: No girls in men’s dunk contests. Unless a girl comes along who can go between her legs or take off from the free throw line.

Vacillating college football recruit Terrelle Pryor has at last settled on which team will get his services for the next few years. And that team will be the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Pryor has kept us all in suspense for weeks, wondering if he would choose OSU or Michigan or perhaps Penn State or Oregon…or go to Memphis to play basketball or maybe become an astronaut.

QB Pryor played his prep career at Jeanette High School near Pittsburgh, where he showed the kind of talent that makes college coaches drool into their expensive coffee. He’s the only player in Pennsylvania history to rush and pass for at least 4,000. He was also a great power forward, but he says he has no plans - at this point - to pursue a spot on the Buckeyes’ hoops squad.

It’s probably a good thing that Terrelle has decided to stay away from basketball. The last headlines he made before today came because he and some of his Jeanette high basketball teammates got in a fight with players from North Catholic High School after a state tournament game. The two schools were put on probation over the matter but no players were suspended.

(picture: blog.pennlive.com)

High schooler Britney Griner is about a foot taller than the rest of the girls on the court and she can throw it down. I say let her play with the boys.

I know beRecruited well (clearly).
And I know eBay well (also clearly).
But I never thought that I would see this day - a top football recruit selling his commitment on eBay. Not sure (well yes I am) what the NCAA will think of this!

From Patrick Johnson: “6-1 195 pound CB with 4.4 speed from Pompano Beach Ely High School in Florida. Winner of the 2008 USA Today Defensive Player of the Year award. Also chosen as an Army All American and will play in the AAA game on January 5th. For a simple price of $100,000 you will get a once in a lifetime prospect with immense physical skill and upside. He can run fast, jump high, and shut down half the field.”

Michigan’s mediocre job search for a head football coach has come to an end with the hiring of Rich Rodriguez from West Virginia. The hiring will be announced on Monday. According to Yahoo Sports:

“Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez away from his alma mater after failing to bring back one of its own.

A man with ties to both the Wolverines and West Virginia might’ve helped.

College football’s winningest program ended its coaching search Sunday, nearly a month after it started, by announcing Rodriguez would succeed retiring Lloyd Carr. Rodriguez was scheduled to be introduced as the Wolverines’ coach at a news conference Monday morning.”

It just won’t die. Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Friday the Jets never requested permission to use an extra video camera in last season’s playoff game in Foxborough, directly contradicting Eric Mangini’s explanation of the events. “I was never asked for permission nor was anyone in our video department asked for permission for a second end-zone camera,” Belichick told NBCSports.com. Evidently, someone isn’t telling the truth. Mangini, responding to published reports Wednesday that said a Jets cameraman was stopped from taping, said the team received approval from the Patriots to shoot from both end zones.

New York Daily News

Memorial Cup Waterpolo Tournament

San Jose, CA.

Oct. 2007

This weekend was the 23^rd annual Memorial Cup waterpolo tournament hosted by Bellarmine College Prepatory and Lynbrook High School in Northern California. The tournament was held in honor of waterpolo greats Peter Cutino, Steve Heaston, John Felix, and other past legends that have pioneered the sport of water polo in their respective communities. The coaches were recognized for their tremendous and tireless contributions, for their overwhelming support of the many athletes, parents, and schools with whom they have been associated. Most importantly, the 2007 Finis Memorial Cup celebrated these waterpolo greats for their life-long pursuit to improve and promote waterpolo as a high school sport. The Memorial Cup has always been regarded as a very prestigious event. Not only because of these annual tributes, but because for many of these high school teams, the tournament acts as the last major competition before the CIF Section Championships.

FINIS Inc., a Northern California based swim and waterpolo company and sponsor of former Stanford All-American and U.S.A. Team Captain, Tony Azevedo – himself a 4-time recipient of the Peter Cutino Award, was this year’s event sponsor. The founders of Finis, president John Mix and former Olympic Gold Medalist Pablo Morales, were both former Bellarmine Prep water polo players who went on to compete at the collegiate level. With Finis as the sponsor, the 2007 Memorial Cup served as a means to promote the outreach of the game, honor past legends, and build upon the foundation that all former and current waterpolo players have created.

The competition began the morning of Friday October 26^th and ran late into the evening of Saturday October 27^th. The field was made up of top level teams from Northern California and Southern California. The tournament schedule included the following:

Southern California Teams: Newport Harbor, Corona Del Mar, Long Beach Poly, Coronado, Mission Viejo, Harvard Westlake, Santa Barbara, Foothill

Northern California Teams: Sacred Heart Prep, Palo Alto, Clovis West, Miramonte, Menlo, Bellarmine, Jesuit, Campolindo

Due to the unexpected situation surrounding the Southern California fires, Newport Harbor High, Corona Del Mar High, and Coronado High were unable to participate. Coronado Coach Barry O’Dea said, “As a coach, I’m disappointed for the boys. It would have been a great tournament. At the same time, we have to do what we’re told.”

In lieu of these unfortunate circumstances, the weekend made for some great competition. The final games of the tournament featured a showdown between Miramonte and Sacred Heart. These two teams had met twice before this weekend, with Sacred Heart prevailing in both prior meetings. However, it was the Miramonte Matadors who took the title over the Alligators. The Matadors outscored Sacred Heart 9 to 7, with outstanding scorers for Miramonte Tommy Brisky and Brian Baier capturing 3 and 2 goals respectively, and Sacred Heart standouts Paul Rudolph and Tim Norton with 3 and 2 goals respectively. Defending champs Menlo High School stole the third place finish by defeating Foothill High School in an 8 to 3 route, with Alex Avery scoring 6 goals and Gerrard Clark scoring 2 goals for Menlo.

Tournament MVP was Miramonte’s standout goalie John Nash and the entire Miramonte defense. John Mann, UC Berkley graduate and winner of the Pete Cutino Award was on hand to pass out the tournament trophies and MVP awards, along with John Mix, president of Finis, lead sponsor of the event. Olympians Craig Klass and Wolf Wigo were also in attendance.

Also, providing support for the weekend’s participants was Mr. Anton Kajlich, a former player and goalie for Pete Cutino. Mr. Kajlich supports his passion for the game through his business, Anti-Wave International, as one of the leading manufacturers of water polo goals and lane lines in the world. The MVP’s of the tournament and winning teams of each first round game received a complimentary Anti-Wave waterpolo ball for their efforts. Anti-Wave Intl. is working with Finis to bring about some great new products for the sport.

A special tournament highlight was a note sent by Ms. Anna Cutino, daughter of the legendary Pete Cutino. Anna sent warm wishes to all players competing in the tournament and many thanks those in attendance. Ms. Cutino also acknowledged all the supporters and sponsors of the weekends’ events, thanking them for their much appreciated and long-deserved recognition of the water polo community.

*A copy of Anna’s letter is included below

** A slideshow of 180 professional photos taken at the event can be viewed at: www.finisinc.com/memorial.

To the Attendees and Honorees of the 2007 Finis Memorial Cup,

I want to thank The Finis Company for sponsoring this memorial tournament in honor of my father Pete Cutino, Steve Heaston and John Felix. I’m sure they would be humbled and honored for this tribute.

It’s wonderful for our families to witness, for the first time in the history of water polo, the vast number of second generation water polo players, some of whom are here this weekend.

As the generations before, these players are competitors, who may become teammates, and possibly even life long friends. Regardless, they will all become part of this extended family we call water polo.

It’s an excellent time in water polo communities, with growing age group opportunities for both boys and girls, and increasing masters programs all over the country. There is nothing that could pay better homage to these men’s lives and their commitment to the sport of water polo.

I want to thank all the coaches for their efforts, those that go far beyond the pool deck. I also want to say thank you to the parents for being there to support their children, and to the referees, who at times receive the least amount of recognition but who always deserve the greatest respect.

Good luck to all the competitors this weekend, and thank you again to the Finis Company for their efforts in advancing this next generation of water polo players.

Anna Cutino
Daughter of Pete Cutino

“The Question Arises… Do Sports Build Character? I Contend They Reveal It.”

- Peter Cutino

This might be an oldie, but this is by far the funniest clip I have ever seen when it comes to reporting the news. Brian Collins might have had a little jitters going, but man did he go down in flames. Here’s to you Mr. Collins.

From eBaum’sWorld