TERRE HAUTE —
College football will be here before you know it and some of the preseason picks already have been made.
The Sporting News recently published its rankings for all 119 teams that play in the upper echelon of the sport.
Louisiana State is first on the list followed by Oklahoma, Alabama, Stanford, Oregon, Boise State, Florida State, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
Going on down the list, Michigan State is No. 14 and Notre Dame No. 15 with Ohio State at No. 17 and last year's champion, Auburn, is 18th.
Other teams and their numbers include Penn State 24, Iowa 28, Northern Illinois 34, Northwestern 38, Michigan 39, Texas 42, Purdue 45, Illinois 59, Minnesota 72, Indiana 90, Ball State 118 and Louisiana-Lafayette last at 119.
Indiana State fans know that the Sycamores will be going to Penn State this season. Hopefully, it will be the start of another banner season for ISU.
There will be changes in the lineup this season as the article notes … the Big 10 will have 12 teams and the Big 12 will have 10 teams.
With all of the problems faced by Ohio State, its No. 17 ranking could be too high. The Buckeyes may lose to Michigan for the first time in a few years.
Magic moment — Saturday marked another milestone for Derek Jeter as the veteran member of the New York Yankees got his 3,000th hit.
While he is the first Yankee to mark that phase in his career in a Yankee uniform, four other players who played for the team also had 3,000-plus hits in their careers.
Paul Waner, who mainly played for Pittsburgh and only played a short time with New York at the end of his career, is one of the four and got his 3,000th hit with the Boston Braves.
Dave Winfield is another former Yankee who gained the magic number and got his 3,000th with Minnesota. Rickey Henderson is another and collected his 3,000th with San Diego and Wade Boggs is the fourth and he made history with Tampa Bay.
By going 5 for 5 in Saturday's game when he reached the milestone, Jeter passed Roberto Clemente immediately on the list of players who have reached 3,000 or more. Clemente got his 3,000th in the final month of the 1972 season and was killed later that year.
According to The New York Times, Jeter is only the third shortstop to reach the mark. Honus Wagner and Cal Ripken are the other two.
Tom-Cattin’ It — The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was run Saturday at Kentucky Speedway with a sellout crowd in the stands.
The Louisville Courier-Journal said a major traffic jam marked the inaugural race at the track at Sparta. Some fans said it took them more than two hours to make a trip that ordinarily takes less than an hour.
It's nice that the track finally got the Sprint Cup event but doing it likely takes away some fans who normally would have gone to Indianapolis to see a race.
Kyle Busch will go down in the record books as the first winner at Kentucky Speedway.
• “Cowboy” Jones at 68 years of age is still riding horses at Ellis Park.
Jon Court is 51 and six times has been the leading rider at the track located near Evansville and Henderson, Ky.
He had his first ride in the Kentucky Derby this year and had four winners in six trips on Saturday at Ellis Park. He will not be at the track all season but will be one to consider when making a bet if he is on the program on your next trip to the races.
• Congrats to A. J. Reed for being named Mr. Baseball and to Travis Turpen for winning the Terre Haute Savings Bank Mini-City title.
Junior golfers will be on the course this week for the city tourney that begins today.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.
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