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    SportsEXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR:Greg Pogue | [email protected]

    College Basketball | C4Scoreboard | C5

    Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008

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    Coverage of Super Bowl XLII Previewing the MTSU mensbasketball game at Sun Beltfoe Arkansas State

    Toots 22nd Annual Super

    Bowl Bash benefiting the

    United Way of Rutherford &

    Cannon Counties is today.

    Kelly Holcomb and CoryFleming will be on hand to

    sign autographs for a dona-

    tion to UW. Holcomb will be

    at the Murfreesboro store,

    and Fleming at the Smyrna

    store. Doors open at 11 a.m.H

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    OMB

    For the big picture,

    check out the

    Scoreboard

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    James, Clev. 30.1

    Bryant, LAL 28.4

    Iverson,Den. 27.0

    Anthony,Den. 25.5

    SCOREBOARD

    NF

    L I C

    2Class of 2008 Hall of Fame

    inductees announced

    MT

    S

    U I C

    3Adam Sparks files his weekly

    Blue Raider Notebook

    NHLI C

    5Predators play Western Con-

    ference foe Phoenix

    Inside

    It took IVs, a barbecuesandwich and loads of deter-mination for Kevin Kanaskieto make an improbable MTSUbasketball road trip last week.

    Stricken with the flu,Kanaskie didnt travel with theteam on Wednesday for theBlue Raiders game atLouisiana-Lafayette on Thurs-day night. But when he awokeThursday morning, the juniorguard felt a bit better and toldMTSU coaches and trainerDrew Shea he wanted to makea breakneck trek to Lafayettein hopes of helping his team

    win a key conference game.Kanaskie took some IVs to

    replenish fluids, then boardeda small university plane. Butinclement weather, includingtornados sighted in the flightpath, grounded the small four-seat plane.

    No way would I let himget on that, MTSU coachKermit Davis said. He reallywouldve gotten sick then.

    After several phone callsbefore MTSUs 11 a.m.shootaround on gameday inLafayette, coaches secured a

    spot on an 11:40 commercialflight from Nashville to Ba-ton Rouge, La., with a con-necting flight in Memphis.

    Kanaskie barely made itbefore take-off, slumpedthrough a short flight west-ward and then snacked on abarbecue sandwich in theMemphis airport.

    When he said he had apork barbecue sandwich inMemphis, I knew he felt a lit-tle better, Davis said. Butwe never knew if he was go-ing to make it.

    More obstaclesKanaskies flight from

    Memphis circled the BatonRouge airport for more thanan hour while inclementweather raged beneath the

    clouds. It was scheduled toland at 4 p.m., but finallytouched down around 5 o-clock when the weather broke.

    Kanaskie, weakened by ill-ness and jet lag, hopped into acar with MTSU graduate as-sistant Brian Burg behind thewheel. They sped towardLafayette only to get stuck inthe same gridlock traffic thatnearly kept the game officialsfrom arriving before tipoff.

    Kanaskie got to the Cajun-dome about 45 minutes beforetipoff, just in time to draw arespectful smile from histeammates, who were unawareof his attempt to make the

    game.Inspired by Kanaskie, alimited MTSU roster (from in-juries, suspension) beatLouisiana-Lafayette 57-51.

    All told, Kanaskies triptook about 10 hours. Heplayed 22 minutes, didntscore a point and committedfour turnovers. But withoutKanaskies minutes, MTSUsbackcourt may have been toothin to finish the game.

    He gutted it up, Davissaid. We couldnt have wonwithout his 22 minutes.Theres no way. Our playerslooked at him and said, Heck,if this guy is that sick and hegets here to help us, were go-

    ing to play our tails off andwin this game.

    Oakland boys bounce

    back, defeat La VergneBy ROGER [email protected]

    LA VERGNE Oaklandfound its groove in a hurry.

    The Patriots, just 24 hours

    after a 27-point loss to WhiteCounty, played once againlike the ninth-ranked team in

    the state, upending District 9-AAA champ La Vergne 53-38Saturday night with the pa-

    tient offense and sound de-fense coach Randy King haspreached all season long.

    We played with a lot ofenergy, which I was glad to

    see after (Friday) night, Kingsaid.

    His Patriots led 20-13 athalftime and really turned iton after intermission, making15 of their 20 field goal at-tempts. They also held LaVergne to zero third-quarterfield goals, which promptedWolverines coach JeremyMoore to sit his starters for

    the remainder of the game.

    Having a mature team

    thats been through the wars, I

    didnt really see this coming,

    Moore said. I didnt think we

    competed. They were tougher

    than us.

    Junior Tyler Edwardsscored 18 points to lead the

    Patriots (19-4), who knewthey had to respond after the

    White County loss.

    We werent ourselves

    (Friday) night, senior point

    guard DeAndre Maupins said.

    We had to prove a lot today,

    and we stepped it up.

    The Patriots shot 62 per-

    Fla. duo

    anxious toink withRaidersBy ADAM SPARKS

    [email protected]

    MTSU footballs two latestadditions may be defined asmuch by their original collegechoice as their current one.

    Florida high school widereceiver Amos Wood recent-ly changed his commitmentfrom defending Sun Beltchampion Florida Atlantic to

    MTSU. Fellow Florida highschool safety DerrickCrumpton was bound for OleMiss until Rebels head coachEd Orgeron was fired and hisscholarship offer rescinded.

    Now both are anxious tobecome Blue Raiders on Na-tional Signing Day onWednesday.

    HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL MTSU FOOTBALL

    History or bust

    By BARRY WILNERAP Football Writer

    GLENDALE, Ariz. This one is for history.No longer can the New England Patriots ignore it. Beat the New YorkGiants today and it means more than winning a fourth Super Bowl in

    seven years. More than reaffirming their dynasty in a sport designed toeven the playing field.

    It means staking an undeniable claim to that most elusive of titles:greatest ever.

    I think its the biggest game of all of our lives my life, the en-tire team, our coaches, said Tom Brady, the NFLsMost Valuable Player and the Patriots poster boy for

    perfection. Were going to be remembering thisgame for as long as we live, win or lose. Were going tohave great memories of this experience, or were going

    to look at it truly as a missed opportunity. Theresnot too many teams in the history of the NFL

    none, in fact that have been 18-0 goinginto this game.

    The pursuit of an unbeaten sea-son, surpassing the 17-0 by the1972 Miami Dolphins that stands alone atop the profootball pantheon of unblemished excellence, hasturned this Super Bowl into even more of a must-see or must-attend event. Resale tickets for thefirst title game in Arizona since 1996 are going forthousands of dollars above face value. TV ratingsare expected to challenge the highest for any game.

    All those elements make this game quite an at-traction as if a matchup between two teams that

    played a 38-35 season finale isnt enticingenough.

    Throw in all the passing records set byBrady, receiving marks established by RandyMoss, the prospect of another shootout with

    a fearless opponent that has won 10 straightroad games, and its enough to make even thecasual fan salivate.

    I Go to dnj.com

    to see expand-

    ed Super Bowlcoverage, in-

    cluding blogs

    from five DNJ

    sports writers.

    More Super Bowl Coverage InsideI A look at the key matchups for todays game. C6I 72 Dolphins know perfection could be theirs to share tonight. C6I Super Bowl pop culture quiz. C6

    I Rosters for the Patriots and Giants. C7

    I The road to the Super Bowl for the Patriots and Giants. C7

    I Team statistics for the Patriots, Giants. C7I A look at University of Phoenix Stadium, site of tonights game. C7

    Glendale, Ariz. New England vs. N.Y. Giants Today 5:17 p.m. FOX (Ch. 6)

    Eli Manningand TomBrady

    ADAM SPARKSStaff Columnist

    Adam Sparks is the MTSU beat writerfor the The Daily News Journal. E-mail him at [email protected] editor: Corby A. Yarbrough

    Patriots go for perfect 19-0 season in todays

    Super Bowl; Giants ready to be the spoilers

    Ten for 22

    meant a lot to

    Blue Raiders

    See DUO, page C3

    On page C8I Roger Garfield files his weekly Prep

    Notebook.I The MTCS girls play in the James

    C. Haile Tournament. Also go to

    dnj.com to see a photo gallery from

    the Lady Cougars game.

    DNJ photo by Aaron Thompson

    Oaklands DJuan Epps goes up for a basket in frontof La Vergnes Justin Bather at La Vergne HighSchool Saturday night.See OAKLAND, page C5


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