New Akron football coach Terry Bowden pointed to the Zips' facilities as part of the reason he took the job, which gives me opportunity to link to a story I wrote last August about the arms race going on in the Mid-American Conference to upgrade facilities.

Speaking of Bowden, he'll earn almost the exact salary and benefits as prior coach Rob Ianello, which surprises me a little bit.

Read this story on Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III and tell me he wouldn't look good in a Browns uniform.

The Big Ten is widely thought of as a media pioneer, with its wildly successful Big Ten Network. Now, the conference is blazing another path with a new agreement wit the Pac-12, which essentially gives the two leagues the benefits of expansion/combination without actually doing it.

Starting in 2017, each team from the Pac-12 and the Big Ten will play a team from the other conference in football each season, and the conferences will also begin to play each other extensively in other sports starting as soon as next season.

Rookie Norris Cole, from Cleveland State, gets some publicity in USA Today after his breakout game on Tuesday night.

Speaking of Cole, I wrote in May that “I'd be shocked if former Viking Norris Cole didn't stick in the NBA.” I loved watching him play at CSU.

In November, I wrote a story about how sponsorships are trending toward community benefits — if you want our sponsorship, show us how it will help the community and thus increase our profile within that community.

That seems to be the case with FirstEnergy, which now is sponsoring a baseball stadium in Lorain as well as providing electricity to municipal buildings within the city.

The company will contribute $500,000 to the city over the life of the agreement, and will be the main sponsor of “The Pipe Yard,” which hosts Prospect League baseball games and other youth activities during the warm-weather months.

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