And we're back

Been away on trips to New York and Las Vegas so there has been no activity on the site of late but there is so much to get to, let's begin with recruiting.

• The Summer Football Camp has come and gone and there are two new commitments, with one impending one as well this weekend. Rocko Khoury got the offer he was waiting for and committed a few days after receiving the offer. He becomes the 4th OL to join this class but we will still be looking to add another one or two. The other camp commitment was junior DT William Campbell from Cass Tech in Detroit, same school as Boubacar Cissoko, it's rare to see a junior commitment be released so early but it's definitely great to see us continue to lock up in-state talent and show that last year was a fluke.
  
• The impending commitment looks like it will come from Texas WR Daryl Stonum. He was just up at Michigan this past week and his top three was supposed to be Michigan, Florida State and USC. His original plan was to visit FSU in July and USC in August, but now he has changed his mind and will announce this coming Sunday on TV in Dallas. That is a great sign for the Maize and Blue.
  
• There are so many Lakers rumors out there right now it's tough to figure out what is going on. What we do know is that the front office is actually trying to make something happen and bring in some big name talent whether it be Jermaine O'Neal or Kevin Garnett. The rumored 4 team deal that spread on Monday is now dead and supposedly Phoenix is now the leader to pick up KG. But some of the pieces don't add up. No matter what is rumored, unless Amare Stoudamire's knee requires more work down the line I find it hard to believe that the Suns are willing to trade him for KG. There was rumors of the Lakers bringing in Atlanta to make a deal and I thought that would be the best way for it to work. Use Atlanta instead of Boston in the 4 way deal and then you have happy campers all the way around. Atlanta gets a veteran big in O'Neal to solidify their team with Joe Johnson, Minnesota gets the high draft pick they desire at #3 as well as expiring K in the form of Kwame Brown, Indiana gets Bynum/Odom which they wanted all along and the Lakers get the Big Ticket which would immediately create the buzz in LA that would makes Staples Center the place to be again. So while the Suns may be the leader I'm not counting the Lakers out yet. The interesting note is that if KG is traded after July 1st his trade kicker counts fully against this year, as opposed to before July 1st the trade kicker can be spread out over two years. In that case, we know Jerry Buss is willing to take on Garnett's contract even if it means luxury tax, while we know Robert Sarver, Suns owner, does not want to pay any more luxury tax than is necessary. Throw that in with the fact that Dr. Buss did tell the Wolves that he is willing to re-sign KG to an extension and I still like our chances. Do I like them as much as I did a few days ago? No, but I still think we have a chance to get it done.
  
• Oregon State repeated as National Champs in baseball but UC Irvine made a great run including being the first team to win back to back extra inning games in the CWS. I hope to catch some games next year when I'm down there.
• I was in Vegas over the weekend and was able to catch the Ricky Hatton-Jose Luis Castillo fight. The fight was good for the time it lasted, only four rounds, but what made the fight worth it was the atmosphere. Thousands and thousands of English fans made the trip across the pond and created a setting like I've never seen before. It gave me a taste of what watching a soccer game in England would probably be like. There were groups of friends all wearing shirts they had made for the trip along with horns, a band and a number of songs they had created for their fighter Ricky Hatton, who ended up winning with a 4th round KO. The interesting thing afterwards was Hatton calling out Floyd Mayweather and even more interesting now is the fact that Floyd says he'll fight. Hatton is a very good fighter but he will be no match for Pretty Boy Floyd. Hatton recently has been holding a lot during fights after getting his punches in but Floyd would not allow that to happen. Also Hatton has not seen the speed of Floyd before and that will be difficult for him to handle. If this fight really goes down, chalk it up for Floyd by decision.