Brewers Fan Sets Sights on 162 Games

By Matt Lindner
Special to ESPN.com

Ben Rouse has a new lease on life, and he's enjoying it by soaking up as much baseball as possible.

After beating leukemia for a second time with the help of a double umbilical cord stem cell transplant in 2009, 25-year-old Brewers fan Ben Rouse decided life is too short to spend it working.

So he did what countless working stiffs spend their days dreaming of doing -- he saved up a couple of paychecks and quit his job as an analyst at Tetra Tech, consulting and engineering. Then he decided to go to a ballgame.

One hundred sixty-two of them to be exact.

"I started seeing money show up in my [checking] account and I'm like, 'If I start saving, I might be able to do it next year,'" Rouse said.

The reaction he got from his boss, Tetra Tech vice president Bonnie Brandreth, wasn’t exactly what he was expecting when he gave her his notice.

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Amanda Lucas Using Her Force

By Josh Stewart
Special to Page 2

Amanda Lucas isn't using her father's success to propel her MMA career, but doesn't shy away from it.

At 8 months old, Amanda Lucas could climb out of her crib with ease. Why stick around there when there was dancing to do?

"I literally have home video of me, and you can see me bouncing to the music playing in the background," Lucas said.

Of course, she didn't know at the time that her adoptive father, George Lucas, created the "Star Wars" franchise. But her -- dare we say -- Jedi path was already set. The daughter of a man Forbes just estimated to be worth $3.2 billion wouldn't settle for a life without purpose.

Lucas, now 30, has traded climbing out of a crib for a career that often involves climbing into a cage.

In February, the hip-hop dance instructor-turned-MMA fighter won the DEEP open-weight title in Tokyo. Her win was celebrated by Darth Vader and his storm troopers, who awaited her on stage.

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Pat O'Hara Finds His Hollywood Niche

By Carson Ingle

Special to Page 2

Orlando Predators coach Pat O'Hara had a small part in "The Waterboy" with Adam Sandler.

For Pat O'Hara, the road to Hollywood wound through Orlando. O'Hara, a former USC quarterback who grew up in Santa Monica and is now an Arena League coach, also has a day job -- as a football consultant to the stars.

The Orlando Predators coach, who as a player led the Predators to two league championships, trains A-list actors like Adam Sandler, Jamie Foxx and Mark Wahlberg to look like gridiron stars. Surprisingly, he discovered the stars he worked with were great athletes and highly coachable.

"Actors are like sponges," O'Hara said. "They want to learn so bad. They will do everything you tell them to do, to a T. You have to be careful about every word that comes out because many of these high-profile actors are perfectionists."

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UFL's Unique Twitter Draft

By Matt Lindner
Special to Page 2

All it took was 95 characters -- including spaces -- for @UFLCommissioner, aka United Football League commissioner Michael Huyghue, to make professional sports history.

"The #1 overall selection in the #UFLDraft for @theColonials is Texas A&M QB Jerrod Johnson. #UFL" … so goes his tweet.

Huyghue ushered pro football into the 21st century at 8:01 ET on Monday night as the UFL became the first pro sports league to hold its draft exclusively via social media. The commissioner announced all five first-round picks on his own feed before the coaches took over.

Inside of six minutes -- a little more than half the amount of time most NFL teams take to make a single first-round selection -- the first round of the first social media draft was done.

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Terrell Brandon At Home in His Barber Shop

By Wendell Maxey
Special to Page 2

Former NBA All-Star Terrell Brandon opened his shop in his old neighborhood in Portland.

Take a peek into a barbershop in northeast Portland and you'll see an unlikely sight: Two-time NBA All-Star Terrell Brandon sweeping up hair clippings and taking out the trash.

Such is life when you own your own shop.

"A normal day for me, I'm usually in the barbershop chilling out and taking care of business just like any other barbershop," said Brandon, who spent 10 years with Cleveland, Milwaukee and Minnesota. "It makes people feel comfortable that they can come in and get a haircut -- and some people just want to come in and hang out.

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Fans in Green Bay Hit the Streets to Celebrate

By James Briggs
Special to Page 2

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Seconds after the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to win Super Bowl XLV on Sunday, the NFL's smallest city looked a lot like Times Square on New Year's Eve -- with thousands of green-and-white clad fans greeting each another with high-fives, hugs and, yes, kisses.

Fans who had been at local bars all day poured into the streets to revel in the victory.

"We're gonna go to the river and enjoy some fireworks," said Shawn Welch, 33, of Milwaukee. "Vince Lombardi's trophy came back to Vince Lombardi's town."

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Fans in Pittsburgh Hit the Streets to Go Home

By Chris Adamski
Special to Page 2

PITTSBURGH -- As Ben Roethlisberger's fourth-down pass intended for Mike Wallace in the final minute fell harmlessly to the turf, most bars in Pittsburgh's tavern-heavy South Side bar district sat in stunned silence. Moments later, patrons quietly exited, carrying blank expressions as they flowed out onto the street.

Wiser for the experience of post-Super Bowl jubilation five and two years ago, Pittsburgh Police presence was heavy here. Carson Street was closed, and parking was prohibited on it and side streets.

But streets that hours before in the pregame revelry were filled with black-and-gold clad fans now were mostly desolate.

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Miami Heat Stars Align for Pat Riley's Charity Gala

By Andy Kent
Special to Page 2

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- First, in order to be able to host a lavish charity fundraiser at your home you need one big enough to accommodate all of the guests -- and the media.

Check.

Second, you better have a few big names attached to the invitation, and a proven track record of success wouldn't hurt either.

Check and check.

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Tale of the Tape: Chicago vs. Green Bay

By Matt Lindner
Special to Page 2

Bears versus Packers. Packers versus Bears. It's hard to imagine a more marquee, bold-faced NFC championship matchup than Sunday's game in Chicago at Soldier Field.

The Bears lead the series between the two teams 92-83-6, but this game means more than the previous 181 meetings combined.

You're going to hear plenty about how these teams match up against one another on the field in the days to come. But how about off the field? Page 2 takes you to the Tale of the Tape to find out.

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Dallas Golfer Sets World Record for Rounds

By Michelle Hiskey
Special to Page 2

On Sunday, when the frost melted off the TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas near Dallas, Richard Lewis teed off on his 600th round of the year.

Golfers talk about the grind. Could be a hole. A round. A tournament.

For Lewis, the grind has been a year. In a year of weather extremes, he's smashing the Guinness Book of World Records for most golf played in a year. The previous record was 586 rounds.

No matter what Mother Nature dishes out, Lewis, 64, carries an old Odyssey putter and a set of Clevelands or Taylor Burners in the same Sun Mountain bag and keeps hoofing.

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16-Year-Old Golfer Drives Long to Success

By Gideon Rubin
Special to Page 2



Domenic Mazza showed up at the ReMax World Long Drive Championship with a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich in one hand and a driver in the other.

Then the 16-year-old high school junior mixed it up with a field of 144 older, whiskey-drinking, elite professional golfers.

And finished second.

"There were guys that were 6-foot-8 and they weighed 100 pounds more than me," said Mazza, who is 6-foot-1, 175 pounds. "I just felt really small."

But he came up big.

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Above Atlanta on Goodyear Blimp

By Michelle Hiskey
Special to Page 2

ATLANTA -- Fast, lean and young athletes may rule the field.

But the Goodyear blimp dominates the sky by being slow, lazy, fat and old.

That's what makes riding in it so fun.

The Spirit of Innovation touched down in a big field near Atlanta Motor Speedway this week, its home while covering Saturday's SEC championship game at the Georgia Dome.

Sweat dripped only as the blimp docked. A crew of 16 in black uniforms ran out like a grounds crew in the sixth inning, grabbing cables dangling from the blimp, steadying the 13,000 pounds of helium as it hovered just above the ground.

The ground crew heads out to wrestle the 13,000-pound Goodyear blimp.

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Rajon Rondo's Alcatraz Tournament

By Jennifer Starks
Special to Page 2

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sure, Al Capone was a master manipulator, a mafia kingpin with a sly tongue and a quick trigger finger. But what about his crossover dribble?

George "Machine Gun" Kelly was a robber and kidnapper, a supposed "expert machine gunner" with a tendency to boast about his unlawful exploits. But what about his midrange game?

It was difficult not to draw those parallels, as past and present collided Saturday night at the Red Bull King of the Rock, a one-on-one basketball tournament held on Alcatraz and hosted by Boston Celtics superstar Rajon Rondo. For three hours, an eclectic group of 64 hopefuls battled the elements and each other for supremacy and a $10,000 grand prize in what was the first-known athletic event in the prison yard since its closure in 1963.

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Arian Foster Bows to Show Respect

By Jim McCurdy
Special to Page 2

Arian Foster is mystifying even his teammates with his newly-adopted bowing-in-the-end zone act.

"I don't know if it's from the Chinese or the Egyptians," Texans fullback Vonta Leach said.

Actually, it's derived from Hindu or Indian and Nepal origins. It's something the second-year undrafted running back out of Tennessee, relegated to the practice squad most of last year, came up with in the off-season.

"I feel like every running back should have their own little stamp on the game," said Foster, whose troubled adolescent days shifted from Albuquerque to San Diego before an up-and-down college career at Tennessee.

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For Sale: The Right to Be Chargers' Boltman

By Jill R. Dorson
Special to Page 2

If you have the money, you can buy the rights to "Boltman" and become a mascot.

For the low, low price of $75,000, you could be an NFL mascot. Yep, that's right, San Diego Chargers fan Dan Jauregui is done being "Boltman," the muscle-bound mascot with a lightning strike for a head, and he's selling to the highest bidder -- unless that happens to be a Raiders fan.

"I wouldn't sell it to Al Davis, if he called me up himself," Jauregui said, despite a report in Saturday's San Diego Union-Tribune that said he won't turn a Raiders fan away.

"Absolutely not," he said when asked if he'd sell to someone in Silver and Black.

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Jake Long Highlights All-Island Team

By Rob Daniels
Special to Page 2

Miami Dolphins lineman Jake Long makes Page 2's All-Island Team.

No man is an island, but these men at least sound like they belong in relative isolation. Don't get "Lost" as we present the All-Island Team:

Tony Banks: Probably felt a bit deserted when he lost his starting job as Baltimore Ravens quarterback to Trent Dilfer in 2000, but he did get a Super Bowl ring that year thanks to Ray Lewis and crew on defense. As for Banks Island, it's part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, which looks like the sort of place to which backup quarterbacks get banished. The island is named for Sir Joseph Banks, a British horticulturist credited with bringing eucalyptus to this part of the world.

John Block: The 6-foot-9 power forward swatted 35 shots for the 1973-74 Kansas City-Omaha Kings and probably restrained his ego better than Adrian Block, the Dutch explorer who charted a piece of land 11 miles from modern-day Rhode Island and named it after himself in 1614. We're guessing they play basketball on Block Island, but the quality isn't scintillating: Lots of shots that never get to the rim and lots of drives to the basket that get cut short by step-slow defenders.

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Bike Polo Isn't For the Timid

By Dan Murphy
Special to Page 2

MADISON, Wis. -- Imagine beer, bikes and polo meeting on asphalt and you'll start to get an idea of what hard-court bike polo is all about.

This little-known sport is an incredibly distant relative of horse polo -- but without any of the gentility. Cut-offs and T-shirts replace the more formal riding pants and tails; merciless hecklers serve as fans; worn asphalt tennis courts replace finely manicured polo pitches; and oozing scabs are a sign of a game well-contested. Oh, and tattoos, while not required, are certainly encouraged.

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Dwyane Wade's PDA with Gabrielle Union

By Chris Perkins
Special to Page 2

MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade could always move the crowd. But this time it was different for the Miami Heat superstar guard. At halftime of Sunday's All-Star basketball game he shares with Alonzo Mourning at Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena, Wade boldly strolled over to the front row and sat down beside actress Gabrielle Union.

The two smiled and laughed, posing for pictures as a mob of photographers swarmed around them. And then, in front of a crowd of about 10,000 people, Wade kissed Union ("Bring it On," "Bad Boys II," CBS' "City of Angels"). It was the most public announcement yet that the two are a couple. It also symbolized a great sense of freedom for Wade, who has spent almost three years going through a nasty divorce and custody battle.

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Spain's Top 10 Moments in Sports History

By Samuel Chi
Special to Page 2

Why did Spain's players stubbornly refuse to sing their national anthem before taking the pitch against the Netherlands in the World Cup final?

Because the famous Marcha Real, perhaps the oldest national anthem in the world, has no words. The joke is that, had there been lyrics to the melody, gunfights might break out over the singer's preferred regional language.

But Sunday's overtime victory has made Spain whole; it's now one nation under the FIFA World Cup Trophy. The Catalans, Basques and Castilians are united by the greatest sporting triumph of their nation.

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Lion's Jim Schwartz Is a Music Lover

By Jeff Arnold

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The three guitars in Jim Schwartz's office may suggest that their owner has a twinge of musical ability.

Yet, for all of the song lyrics Schwartz has stored inside his head, the ability to reproduce them in ear-pleasing fashion eludes the Detroit Lions' coach.

"I'm an awful singer. I'm awful at whatever instrument you want to play, but I love music," Schwartz said. "And I love it for a lot of different reasons."

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