Fast Break
College football
Cougars name football captains
Seniors Alex Brink, Michael Bumpus (pictured) and Husain Abdullah, as well as junior linebacker Greg Trent, have been elected captains of the 2007 Washington State football team.
“The players vote and I couldn’t agree with them more,” head coach Bill Doba said in a statement Wednesday. “They took it seriously and did an excellent job of picking out four kids that will be outstanding leaders for our team.”
Brink is the only returning captain, but all four will enter at least their third seasons as starters.
Bumpus has earned All-Pac-10 honors at wide receiver, and Abdullah is the lone returning starter in the secondary. The same is true for Trent at linebacker.
College football
Hail Flutie! Hall of Famer
Doug Flutie was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, joining Ahmad Rashad and 10 other players honored by the National Football Foundation.
The 5-foot-10 Flutie won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 for Boston College and threw one of the most memorable passes in college football history. His 48-yard touchdown pass to Gerard Phelan as time expired gave the Eagles a 47-45 victory over Miami. The desperation ‘Hail Flutie’ toss and the sight of him leaping in the air to celebrate with his teammates has become timeless.
Flutie was elected with Rashad, a star receiver and running back at Oregon, and former Dartmouth linebacker Reggie Williams.
The other new Hall of Famers are: Oklahoma center Tom Brahaney, Michigan defensive back Dave Brown, Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis, Texas defensive back Johnnie Johnson, Ohio State quarterback Rex Kern, Indiana running back Anthony Thompson, Houston defensive tackle Wilson Whitley, Southern California linebacker Richard Wood and Notre Dame defensive tackle Chris Zorich. Herb Deromedi, who won 110 games as coach at Central Michigan over 13 seasons, also was elected.
Boxing
Apparently, sport not dead yet
Turns out the obituaries written for boxing were a bit premature.
Oscar De La Hoya’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. set a record for most televised buys for a fight, according to figures released, surpassing Mike Tyson’s second fight with Evander Holyfield and making it boxing’s richest.
A total of 2.15 million households paid $54.95 for the fight, generating revenue of $120 million. The previous record set by Tyson-Holyfield was 1.99 million buys.
Mayweather beat De La Hoya on a split decision to win the WBC 154-pound title Saturday night in an entertaining fight that drew a record live gate of $19 million at the MGM Grand.