If you're a UT fan this article is worth reading just so you can finally learn the back story of the lady with the flag.

Neat interview here by Paul Lukas of Uni Watch with Frank Cloutier, PR director for the Saginaw Chippewas about their relationship with CMU and how schools can appropriately use Indians as mascots. The Great Lakes region has plenty of Native American history and if, say, Eastern Michigan used this blueprint for a relationship with the Huron tribe, they could very well bring back that beloved mascot, as they briefly did last year.

Just in case you were feeling upbeat about college athletics, check out this Kevin Hadsell interview to bring you back down to earth.

I'm not entirely sure who puts this projection together, but they purport to use computer rankings to project the season. You'll notice Akron as a 12 and OHIO as a 13, which I am guessing means they have Ohio over Akron in the MAC Championship, with the Zips nabbing a 12-seed ... along with Kentucky. What a weird, stupid season. (For the record, most projections have Akron still as a 13-seed.)

The accomplished Miami (OH) is finally getting the Jon Gruden treatment. He'll be one of nine quarterbacks to attend the camp and, I imagine, will have a segment about his game on ESPN at some point. No sign of Alex Carder, though.

The former Shaq of the MAC, who shot over 80 percent from the floor his HS senior year, is now a "cultural intervention specialist" for a grade school in St. Paul. As a person Trent turned his life around before attending Ohio and becoming a beast of a player, and is now helping young children do the same. Awesome. (h/t @deftlyinane)

Those aren't two opponents holding those helmets. Those are Notre Dame football players. I hate asymmetry in uniforms. It's just a pet peeve I guess. This fact can be accounted for 45% of why I dislike watching the Steelers. But more than asymmetry, I hate non-matching colors. If you're going to go gold, GO GOLD. That 3/5ths of the helmet with the gold leaf? Not bad. But those pants? Um. That's not gold. They look like the Dallas Cowboys, who manage to use three different shades of silver probably just to bother me. Here's my solution for the Notre Dame football team: Go Gold or Go Home. Get rid of that terrible blue less-than-half of the helmet and make the numbers and pants match the outrageous shiny hat. While you're at it, just go full Boise State on everyone - GOLD LEAF TURF. With a shiny gold field, everyone will know you are serious about that National Title run. You're welcome, Notre Dame.

Ohio's D.J. Cooper and Buffalo's Javon McCrea were among the Top 100 players in college basketball in CBS Sports's annual ranking. Cooper, ranked 73rd, is a senior on a loaded Bobcat team poised to repeat their success of last season's Sweet 16 berth. McCrea, ranked 97th, is a junior that will need to step up in a big way this year for the Bulls, who lost four productive seniors to graduation.

Yes, I am linking to myself here, only because I used it to make reference to EMU "bringing back" their Native American imagery.

After 39 years with the EMU Athletic Media Relations Office, Jim Streeter is retiring effective October 19. A 1973 EMU alumnus with a major in physical education and minors in journalism and history, "Streets" is EMU's fourth Sports Information Director/Media Relations Director, heading up the office for 37 of its 52 years.