The man walked into the sports bar Sunday afternoon in a black cut-off Harley Davidson t-shirt, clenching his motorcycle helmet in his left hand.

He plopped down at the bar and ordered a drink. The man, with a skull cap on his head and tattoos of barbed-wire and demons sprinkling his arms, began talking to the patron next to him.

“How about that Vanderbilt,” he asked.

Not to stereotype anyone, but this isn’t the kind of guy you’d imagine to be talking about a private university 600 miles away with an undergraduate enrollment of less than 12,000 students.

But things are different this year. The Vanderbilt football team is 5-0 for the first time since World War II.

The Commodores, ranked 13th in the country, are the talk of the nation. College Gameday, a weekly pre-game football show that descends on the site of the best game of the day, was even in Nashville Saturday for Vanderbilt’s game against Auburn.

Vanderbilt pieced together a come-from-behind 14-13 victory in the game behind another steady defensive effort. If the Commodores can win in Starkville, Miss. this weekend against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, they will become bowl eligible for the first time since 1982.

They played Air Force in the Hall of Fame Bowl that day and lost 36-28. They have only won one bowl game in school history – a 25-13 triumph against Auburn in the 1955 Gator Bowl.

But anything is possible right now for Vanderbilt and it’s hard not to root for it. The Commodores are in the year in-year out best conference in college football – the Southeastern Conference.

Every year, they dwell at the bottom of the standings because they don’t have the massive athletic department budgets the other juggernauts have. They have the highest admissions standards in the SEC, which cuts down on which players they can recruit.

At least for one more week in 2008, however, they control their own destiny in the conference. If Vanderbilt beats Mississippi State, it will be 6-0 for the first time since 1928.

Sound familiar? The Commodores’ historic run is similar to Kansas’ last season. But this one just seems more incredible.

The Commodores have been so bad for so long that all hope seemed to be lost. ESPN even gave them honorable mention a few years back as being the worst college football team ever.

Not anymore. Congratulations, Commodores – stories like yours are what make college football so special.

Vernon Wells pelted four homeruns and drove in five runs to lead his team to the championship Sunday.

Not for the Toronto Blue Jays, whom Wells plays centerfield for, but for Bobby’s Cox – one of my fantasy baseball teams.

I had a memorable fantasy sports day yesterday. Not only did I add a gold trophy to my Yahoo trophy case and won my first league in three years, but two of my three fantasy football teams also emerged victorious in regular season games. Not bad.



I’d call it one of the more satisfying days ...

Go ahead and trick yourself. Sure, you can say the most compelling sports stories of last week were Major League Baseball’s pennant races and college football’s dramatic weekend.

But that would be a lie. As it has for much of the last 85 years, the sports world revolved around Yankee Stadium this weekend.

The old Yankee Stadium, that is. By now, you’ve heard. You know they’re tearing down Yankee Stadium and moving into the new $1.6 billion Yankee Stadium across the street next year. You probably saw part of the old stadium’s final game Sunday ...

Experts across the nation have acknowledged the Big 12 as an elite football conference this season. This week’s slate of games will determine if that talk will continue or diminish.

ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach is flirting with the idea of naming the Big 12 the toughest conference. USA Today’s Sagarin Ratings also rank the Southeastern Conference barely ahead of the Big 12.

So it’s perfect timing that three teams – Kansas State, Colorado, Baylor - in the conference will be featured on national television this week on a non-traditional football night. Kansas State plays Louisville ...

Cupcakes are supposed to be found at birthday parties – not stories about college football.

At an alarming rate, sports reporters are taking cupcakes out of the oven and placing them in their work. Turn on ESPN and you'll hear football analysts such as Mark May yelling about cupcakes. Open the paper and you’ll see articles in the sports section about cupcakes.

It doesn’t make any sense, right? Instead of describing a poor football opponent as a ‘bad team’ or ‘mismatched’, everyone resorts to using the dreaded ‘cupcake’ – or ‘tasty treat’ or ...

The Oklahoma City NBA franchise plans to unveil its team name and colors in a ceremony tomorrow with owner Clay Bennett.

All indicators point toward the name being revealed as the ‘Oklahoma City Thunder’, as an Oklahoma City television station first reported months ago. Yawn. ‘Thunder’ just isn’t a good team name.

First of all, it’s unoriginal. There’s a team called the Oklahoma Thunder that plays in the World Football League in nearby Tulsa. The Wichita Thunder, a minor-league hockey franchise, are stationed just two hours up I-35 from the Ford Center, where the NBA ...

I committed blasphemy yesterday. At least, it felt like it at times.

You see, I’m a Southern boy at heart. OK, I’ve shed my accent over the years, don’t like grits and despise NASCAR. But I’ve never lost my love for college football – especially Southeastern Conference Football.

I look forward to Labor Day Weekend every year – especially Saturday. It’s the first time I can get cozy on my couch for an entire day and watch football.

Yesterday, I couldn’t do that. And it hurt. Watching basketball in a foreign country just didn’t feel right. Don’t get me wrong ...

Ottawa 39, USA 31. That’s the halftime score from the Scotiabank Place.

Not Team U.S.A. – unfortunately Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant didn’t make it - just USA. You know, the University of South Alabama. The Jaguars already lost a game to a Canadian team earlier today and it looks like they might make it two.

Kansas plays Ottawa tomorrow night. Ottawa vs. South Alabama is kind of the opening act for the main event this evening – Kansas vs. Carleton.

Carleton had won five straight Canadian national championships until last season when it was upset. Kansas, of course, ...

It took a narrow escape for Kansas to leave Montpetit Hall in Ottawa with a 72-67 victory against McGill. Think James Bond, only not as graceful.

The Jayhawks struggled again in the second half. They led most of the time, but McGill just wouldn’t quit.

The Redmen always had an answer. But Tyshawn Taylor would respond.

Taylor made big plays when the Jayhawks needed them most and finished with a game-high 18 points. Sophomore center Cole Aldrich added a double-double with 10 points and 18 rebounds.

Check back to Kansan.com for a full story and statistics, or below ...

The Jayhawks said they planned to treat their trip to Ottawa, Canada to participate in three exhibition games like an organized practice. The gym Kansas is playing in this morning, University of Ottawa’s Montpetit Hall, should help it remember that.

It’s not exactly Allen Fieldhouse. Montpetit could probably hold 500 spectators at its capacity. But it won’t be filled. Not today. McGill, Kansas’ opponents, traveled from Montreal - about two hours away - to play in this game, meaning the Redmen aren’t going to be bringing many fans.

The contingent of 42 traveling Jayhawk fans should be about it ...