SBNation.com: All Posts by Peter Berkes

• The college football Twitter directory

• Bill Connelly: Will Missouri’s second SEC impression top its first?

• How the hell do you stop Baylor’s offense?

• EA Sports used Tim Tebow’s name in 2009 NCAA Football game

• World Series of the Week: Indians at Red Sox

Curtis Granderson injury: Yankees OF will miss at least 4 weeks with broken knuckle

2013-05-25T14:26:56Z

New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson will be out at least four weeks due to a broken knuckle, according to Yankees.com's Bryan Hoch. Granderson got hurt on Friday when he took a pitch off his hand from Tampa Bay Rays reliever Cesar Ramos.

This will be Granderson's second stint on the disabled list in 2013. He started the season on the DL after breaking his forearm in spring training and only returned to the lineup on May 14. In the eight games he has played this season, Granderson has hit .250 with one home run, on RBI and a stolen base.

With Granderson on the shelf for the next month, Vernon Wells is expected to play in left field in his place. Wells has played surprisingly well for the Yankees this season, hitting .278 with 10 home runs and 24 runs batted in.

The Yankees and Rays play again on Saturday, with first pitch from Tropicana Field scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET.

More from SB Nation:

• Manny Machado and the doubles record

• MLB draft: Key pitchers to know | Key hitters

• Blue Jays fan hurls beer at Orioles player

• Best moment in field storming history? | #Lookit

• Longform: Meet the unknown slugger

Penn State makes minor uniform change, and let's all just relax please

2013-05-25T13:14:31Z

The news came out yesterday that Penn State would be making a small change to their uniforms. Those uniforms, plain and unadorned, have become one of the signature aspects of not only Penn State football, but of the university itself. They symbolize substance over style, the team over the individual, and so on. A lot of people, as evidenced by the comments on this Black Shoe Diaries post, really and truly care about these uniforms. I am both a Penn State fan and a sports uniform junkie, so it would make sense that I’m one of those people, but the truth is, I don’t understand why people are getting so worked up.

For those that haven’t been paying attention, this is the third year in a row that a small change has been made to Penn State’s uniforms. Two years ago, the trim was removed from the collar and sleeves of the jerseys. Last year, nameplates were added to the back of the uniforms as a way to recognize those players that remained after the scandal rocked the university. I think it was a great gesture, and didn’t really care that it was breaking with tradition. And now this year, the Penn State logo is being added to the center of the neck. I was curious at first as to whether this was an official design, but lo and behold, I received an email from PennStateClothes.com last night telling me to pre-order my #8 and #28 jerseys now (Heaven forbid they say "Robinson" or "Zwinak." These are amateurs, after all).

Penn State, as an athletic program, institution and community has been thoroughly raked over the coals over the last 18 months for not having its priorities in order. I think some of that criticism was totally justified, but much of it was not. But to an outside observer, throwing a fit about a small uniform change does not look very good, and just serves to reinforce a lot of bad stereotypes.

Uniforms are, undeniably, a piece of a school’s identity. For schools of Penn State’s size, the football team is one of the biggest advertisements for the school, and the uniforms are part of that visual identity. That said, they pale in comparison to the people and the institution itself. The students and alumni are the school’s identity, not a set of laundry football players wear a dozen times a year. The team could take the field this fall wearing a technicolor nightmare of a uniform, and they would still represent Penn State.

Do I like the change? Not really. I don’t mind a PSU logo being added to the jersey like that, but I just don’t care for that particular logo, since it looks more like a chipmunk than a mountain lion. The keystone S would have been a much better choice, in my opinion, but that’s just me.

There is reasonable room to differ on this issue. Not every small change is bringing the team one step closer to a Pro Combat uniform. Penn State has made 20 changes to its football uniforms during the past century, and a lot of them were much more significant than this one. You don't have to agree with every single change, but the "get off my lawn" stuff is really tiring. Not every minute change to a football uniform is an affront to the golden olden days and everything you hold dear. So I ask you, Internet Denizen and appreciated reader, can we please relax about this?

While we're talking about uniform changes, who do I have to talk to about getting numbers back on the helmets?

More from SB Nation:

• The college football Twitter directory

• Bill Connelly: Will Missouri’s second SEC impression top its first?

• How the hell do you stop Baylor’s offense?

• EA Sports used Tim Tebow’s name in 2009 NCAA Football game

You can see a full tournament bracket here, courtesy of NCAA.com.

NCAA Lacrosse Tournament 2013: Schedule, game times, TV coverage for Saturday

2013-05-25T12:00:04Z

The semifinals of the 2013 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament get underway on Saturday from Philadelphia. Cornell and seventh-seeded Duke get things started at 2:30 p.m. ET, and No. 4 seed Denver takes on top seed Syracuse in the second game, which is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Both games will be shown live on ESPN2.

The Big Red punched their ticket to Philadelphia by beating Maryland, 16-8, and then pounding Ohio State, 16-6, in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Their opponent in the semis, Duke, took out defending champion Loyola Maryland and Notre Dame to get there, both by 12-11 scores. Syracuse got to the semifinals by beating Bryant, 12-7, and then slipping past Yale, 7-6, in the quarterfinals. Denver took care of Albany, 19-14, then edged North Carolina, 12-11.

The Orange are gunning for their 12th NCAA lacrosse title. The other three schools in the semifinals have combined to win only four titles.

ACC football announces game times for first 3 weeks of 2013

2013-05-23T19:30:47Z

The ACC and ESPN released the scheduled kickoff times for the first three weeks of its 2013 football season (along with some other games), meaning we're a few time slots closer to having a complete working TV schedule for the early weeks:

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Thu, Aug 29	6 p.m.	North Carolina at No. 8 South Carolina *	ESPN
	6:30 p.m.	Presbyterian at Wake Forest	ESPN3
Fri, Aug 30	8 p.m.	Florida Atlantic at Miami (Fla.)	ESPNU
Sat, Aug 31	Noon	Villanova at Boston College	ESPN3
	Noon	Elon at Georgia Tech	ESPN3
	12:30 p.m.	Louisiana Tech at NC State	ESPN3 ^ / ACC Network
	12:30 p.m.	Florida International at Maryland	ESPN3 ^ / ACC Network
	3:30 p.m.	BYU at Virginia	ESPNU
	4 p.m.	North Carolina Central at Duke	ESPN3
	5:30 p.m.	Chick-fil-A Kickoff: Virginia Tech vs. No. 2 Alabama (from Atlanta) *	ESPN
	8 p.m.	No. 7 Georgia at No. 12 Clemson *	ABC
Mon, Sep 2	8 p.m.	No. 14 Florida State at Pittsburgh *	ESPN
Fri, Sep 6	8 p.m.	Wake Forest at Boston College *	ESPN2
Sat, Sep 7	Noon	No. 11 Florida at Miami (Fla.)	ESPN
	12:30 p.m.	Middle Tennessee at North Carolina	ESPN3 ^ / ACC Network
	12:30 p.m.	South Carolina State at No. 12 Clemson	ESPN3 ^ / ACC Network
	1:30 p.m.	Western Carolina at Virginia Tech	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	No. 3 Oregon at Virginia	ABC & ESPN2
	4 p.m.	Old Dominion at Maryland	ESPN3
	6 p.m.	Richmond at NC State	ESPN3
Sat, Sep 14	12:30 p.m.	New Mexico at Pittsburgh	ESPN3 ^ / ACC Network
	12:30 p.m.	Louisiana-Monroe at Wake Forest	ESPN3 ^ / ACC Network
	3:30 p.m.	Nevada at No. 14 Florida State	ESPN or ESPN2
	3:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech at Duke	ESPNU
	4 p.m.	Wagner at Syracuse	ESPN3
Thu, Sep 19	7:30 p.m.	No. 12 Clemson at NC State *	ESPN
Thu, Sep 26	7:30 p.m.	Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech *	ESPN
Thu, Oct 17	TBD	Miami (Fla.) at North Carolina *	ESPN
Thu, Nov 14	7:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech at No. 12 Clemson *	ESPN
Fri, Nov 29	TBD	Miami (Fla.) at Pittsburgh *	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
Sat, Dec 7	7:45 p.m. or 8 p.m.	Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game (from Charlotte)	ABC or ESPN

The ACC and ESPN agreed to a new TV contract in May of 2012, and the league members agreed to a grant of media rights earlier this spring which would effectively lock the teams into the conference for the foreseeable future.

More from SB Nation:

• EA Sports used Tim Tebow’s name in 2009 NCAA Football game

• Matt Barkley and Denard Robinson review Star Trek Into Darkness

• How the hell do you stop Baylor’s offense?

• FINEBAUM BACK?

2013-14 college football bowl game TV schedule revealed here

2013-05-22T16:12:53Z

The TV schedule for the 2013-14 bowl slate has been revealed, and the final BCS National Championship will be played on January 6, 2014. The full bowl schedule for the BCS' last year, via the Football Bowl Association:

There have been a number of changes to the bowl schedule from last year. Most notably, this will be the final year before the College Football Playoff begins, ending the era of two teams being picked to appear in the title game.

Some bowl tie-ins should continue to shift as well, as the Pinstripe Bowl is expected to go from a Big East-Big 12 matchup to one between the Big Ten and ACC by next year. The Big 12 is also being swapped out for the Big Ten in the Holiday Bowl, which means that several of the Big Ten's Florida bowl games will be looking for new partnerships as well. The Insight is now the Buffalo Wild Wings, the Independence is now the AdvoCare V100, and the BBVA Compass is still in the market for a new name.

Some bowl names will also likely change in the near future, most notably the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which is expected to regain the lost Peach portion of its name by the time the Playoff starts, and the Little Caesars, which could move as the Detroit Lions reportedly start up their own game.

More from SB Nation:

• Bill Connelly previews Auburn: Please be patient, Tigers fans

• Detroit Lions bowl game replacing Little Caesars

• Oklahoma State’s insane transfer restrictions list

• Johnny Manziel’s greatest Alabama-trolling yet

NCAA/EA Sports' Ed O'Bannon defense? Some players don't match

2013-05-21T19:42:46Z

The NCAA and EA Sports are threatened by litigation claiming they have used the names and likenesses of athletes without compensation, but one of their possible defenses is that some of the players don't really match.

Former UConn guard Tate George was presented with screengrabs from the 2006 edition of NCAA Basketball, which included teams from past years, including the 1990 UConn team he was a part of, and asked whether the player that wore his number resembled him:

Curtner: "But you did wear Number 32?"

George: "Yes."

Q: And do you agree that that Number 32 belonged to the University of Connecticut, not to you?

A: From what I was told, yes.

Q: And, certainly, the Huskies logo belongs to the University of Connecticut and not to you?

A: Correct.

Q: And you would not say that that looks like you as you appeared in 1990?

A: No. I'm cuter.

The plaintiffs, led by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, contend that EA attempted to get as many in-game player characteristics as possible to match their real-life counterparts, and that the NCAA allowed them to do so while not offering compensation for those players in return.

For more on the case: Ed O'Bannon vs. the NCAA

A class action certification hearing for the case is scheduled for June 20. If the plaintiffs are allowed to certify as a class and pursue litigation as a group, the potential liability for the NCAA and EA could be astronomical.

More from SB Nation:

• Bill Connelly previews Auburn: Please be patient, Tigers fans

• Detroit Lions bowl game replacing Little Caesars

• Oklahoma State’s insane transfer restrictions list

• Johnny Manziel’s greatest Alabama-trolling yet