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Constantly updated with quick takes from the staff.

Brittney Griner - A GIRL! - Dunks

Before Tuesday night, there had been just six woman to dunk in a regulation collegiate basketball game. Now, thanks to Baylor's Brittney Griner, there have been seven.

As The Sporting Blog points out, it wasn't her first time, and it certainly won't be the last dunk for the freshman. Now, in your best Bill Walton voice: "Throw it down, big woman!"

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For Golden State, Six Is Enough

Less is more? Addition by subtraction? Choose whichever similar cliche you want for Golden State because they all apply. Tuesday night, due to injuries, the Warriors dressed only eight players and played just six, but won the game anyways, beating the Mavericks, 111-103.To say it was a rare occurrence would be an understatement, as SB Nation's Inhistoric points out.

In fact (according to the Elias Sports Bureau), the Golden State Warriors became the first team in the shot-clock era to win a game with only six men [playing]. The last time a team won a game with, at the most, six players was way back on February 10, 1952, when the Baltimore Bullets beat the Fort Wayne Pistons 82-77. In that game, all five Bullets starters -- Don Barksdale, Frank Kudelka, Stan Miasek, Dave Minor and Kevin O'Shea -- played all 48 minutes.

It was also the first time since 1997 that a team had three starters play the entire game.

The Warriors go 3-8 operating like a semi-functional team, and 1-0 using just six guys. Probably time to cut the dead weight, right?

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'And Then Adam Morrison Cried'

Chris Chase at Yahoo!‘s The Dagger has formed a list of the 10 best college hoops games of the decade (’cause it’ll soon be over, you see?), all of which should give you many I-remember-where-I-was-when moments. As a Maryland fan and Mason graduate, No. 9 — Duke 98, Maryland 96 (OT); Regular season, 2001 — and No. 5 — George Mason 86, Connecticut 84 (OT); Regional final, 2006 NCAA tournament — are particularly poignant.

But team affiliations aside, this goes down as the most memorable game of the decade for me. Must be something to do with Gus Johnson losing his mind:

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How 'ESPN The Gorilla' Runs The Holiday Tournaments

I attended the Great Alaska Shootout both years I lived outside of Anchorage. I saw a Ron Mercer-led Kentucky team win in 1996, and then in 1997 watched as Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter took North Carolina to the tournament title. It used to be one of the country's biggest holiday tournaments. Past tense. Now, the field has shrunk to just six teams (including host school Alaska-Anchorage) and it's no longer televised. Why? It's no longer an "ESPN tournament."

"I don't think it was the NCAA's intention at the time, but they anointed ESPN king of the [early-season tournament] world from one day to the next," says Steve Cobb, the athletic director at University of Alaska-Anchorage, which is the last school left that owns and operates a full-format early-season tournament, the 32-year-old Great Alaska Shootout. The Maui Invitational and the Shootout had long been the game's signature early-season events, but when ESPN didn't renew the Shootout's television deal after the 2007 tournament, it fell from prominence ... "ESPN didn't need me anymore," says Cobb. "All the barriers to them owning their own tournaments were lifted."

ESPN didn't need the Great Alaska Shootout because it was creating its own tournaments: The Old Spice Classic, the 76 Classic, the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the Charleston Classic are all owned and operated by the worldwide leader, with plans to launch two more later this season. And as a result, the smaller tournaments -- the ones with no TV deals -- are struggling. By Sports Illustrated's count, there are 35 holiday tournaments, and "only nine of them not owned by ESPN have their finals on national cable this year." The other 21 are left to "fight for the scraps."

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Best of the SB Nation Network: November 24, 2009

Here are the best stories from the SB Nation network for Tuesday, November 24, 2009:

Basketball

- Pounding the Rock takes a detailed look at the San Antonio Spurs history.

- Could the Celtics possibly maybe almost trade Ray Allen?

Football

- The Bears need an offensive coordinator and names like Mike Martz and Charlie Weis are on Windy City Gridiron's mind.

- Tampa Bay goes in a new direction for their defensive coordinator.

College Football

- Red Cup Rebellion offers a review of the new movie The Blind Side.

- Black Shoe Diaries laments Penn State's forgettable season.

College Basketball

- Rocky Top Talk reviews Purdue's victory in the Paradise Jam Tournament.

- Blogging the Bracket does the once around the college hoops world for November 24.

Baseball

- Twinkie Town offers classic condolences for all the other MVP candidates.

- Beyond the Boxscore looks at projected WAR and contract values for free agents.

Soccer

- Steve Nash weighs in on the French-Irish World Cup controversy.

- World Soccer Digest figures out who might be the strongest heading into World Cup 2010.

Hockey

- Behind the Net works overtime to detail how NHL teams win games that go extra time.

- Broad Street Hockey breaks down the Daniel Briere suspension.

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Small Child Attacked By Deer During Backyard Football Game

The kid's all right, which means it's OK to giggle:

All that's missing is a reenactment of the attack itself. (Although we love the grainy, COPS-style shots of the deer skulking around the scene of the crime.)

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Get Excited About The New York Mets

The Mets may or may not be improving their ballclub this offseason, but either way, the club is clearly hoping a few aesthetic changes prove distracting enough to keep fans from violently storming Citi Field. For one, the Mets are building a new museum at Citi's front gate; for another, they're keeping the current announcing team intact. And finally, the coup de grace: new jerseys! Those new threads should really complement whatever medical bandage apparatus Jose Reyes inevitably ends up wearing.

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BYU-Air Force Referee Does Not Appreciate The Act Of Deception

And he's not afraid to tell you about it:

That video is via The Wiz of Odds, and yeah, what? Was that a penalty? There is some sort of socio-philosophical, "Minority Report"-esque commentary about attempting to police the intention to commit a crime ... but I'm staying away, because it's 8:15 in Chicago, it's raining, and I need food. (Readers with more caloric energy are free to have this discussion in the comments.)

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Soccer In Iraq Basically As Screwed Up As Iraq Itself

Iraq has improved by leaps and bounds since its nadir in 2006 and 2007. Unfortunately, those benefits are not being felt by the Iraqi soccer team, who -- through a mixture of FIFA squeamishness and internal Iraqi dissent -- was suspended by FIFA Friday. The New York Times' analysis of the suspension is plenty long, but it's interesting reading if the words "soccer" and "Iraq" in conjunction mean anything to you.

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Jimmy Clausen Hides Black Eye, Practices With Visor

The Jimmy Clausen-got-punched saga rolls on. Yesterday, it was a series of reports saying Clausen was punched in the face by an irate fan at a South Bend bar after the Irish's ugly loss to Connecticut. (Clausen may or may not have initiated the altercation.) It's generally accepted that Clausen has a black eye, but few have been willing to go on the record with that assertion. Today, Clausen practiced with a dark visor, which he doesn't customarily wear.

In other words: Yes, Jimmy Clausen got punched. Yes, this punch led to a black eye. Yes, this story is basically over now. Let's all move along, shall we?

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Rich Rodriguez Is Worth More Dead Than Alive

Professionally speaking, of course, despite what the most downtrodden of Michigan football fans might have in mind.

FanHouse's Clay Travis has himself one'a dem fancy lawyering degrees, and his argument is that Michigan should rid themselves of Rich Rod while they can still fire him for cause:

Because you have a legal hook that can significantly lessen the blow of the firing -- you can argue that Rich Rodriguez breached the terms of his contract by violating NCAA rules. Bang. Meet Michigan's own stimulus plan for the athletic department, firing Rich Rod for cause.

What follows is a whole lot of legal explanation, which, for a one-time prospective law student like yours truly, proves incredibly interesting, even if you're just talking about whether or not Rich Rodriguez will keep his job through the offseason.

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PETA Calls For Robot Mascot To Replace Georgia Bulldog

The University of Georgia lost their beloved Bulldog mascot, Uga VII, to a heart attack last week, and via EDSBS, we learn that a certain oh-so-vigilant watchdog (sorry) group has taken a particularly ridiculous interest in his eventual replacement. We are not making this up -- PETA wants Uga VII replaced with a robot:

In the wake of the untimely death of the University of Georgia's (UGA) bulldog mascot, Uga VII, PETA has asked the school's athletic director, Damon M. Evans, to replace the mascot with an animatronic dog--or to rely solely on a costumed mascot--instead of using another real bulldog.
[...]
"By choosing a humane alternative to the use of live animals as school mascots, UGA can show that compassion always wins."

All joking about compassion in SEC football aside ... PETA, however cruel it was to subject an innocent creature to Georgia football this season, have y'all seen the pampered existence that dog enjoys? Them critters don't suffer, to say the least. That said, robots are always en vogue, and we've taken the liberty of putting together a mockup of what an animatronic Uga might look like:

Robodawg_tuff_med_medium

University of Georgia athletic department, no need to break out the checkbook for the rights to this bad boy. The thanks of a grateful nation will suffice.

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