WASHINGTON "Rebirth" didn't sound like too strong a word to Dmitri Young. "I'll go with it," said the Washington Nationals first baseman. "In the game, you get used to going from the top of the mountain to the bottom and back again. You don't get used to having the mountain...

DURHAM, N.C. It was just a game and nothing more. It wasn't a holy war. It wasn't a Passion play. It wasn't a summit meeting. It wasn't a test case. It was just a game, and there was every reason to be grateful for that. The setting was Koskinen Stadium, a couple of fast breaks from the...

Think you're having a lousy week? Be grateful you're not Don Imus or Mike Nifong, a couple of flaming dunderheads who barged eyes-wide-shut into innocent bystanders and are now suffering the consequences. Hump day turned into rump day for this twosome. Imus—he of the Rutgers lampoonfest...

Maybe not from Day 1, but from Day 4 or Day 5 of the Duke University lacrosse case, two things were fairly obvious: It was unlikely anyone was going to jail. Lots of lawyers were going to be raking in lots of money. These suppositions were confirmed yesterday when North Carolina Attorney General Roy...

Dignity is in short supply in this Imus-in-the-morning world of ours, but it's dignity more than anything that'll be celebrated today when Eddie Robinson is laid to rest in a rural cemetery near the Louisiana college he made famous and graced with his presence. Robinson won 408 games as a football...

The Four Fall Guys are a support group rather than a vocal group, but they definitely injected an element of harmony into this year's Masters golf tournament. Zach Johnson, the Fall Guys' "lead singer," is your new Masters champion, claiming his first major title and rele gating no less...

AUGUSTA, Ga. While we all talk to the golf ball, the ball only listens to Tiger Woods. Conclusive evidence appeared to be provided during yesterday's fourth round of the Masters, when Woods ("Bite! Bite! Bite!") appeared to persuade one of his high-compression Nikes to trickle off a high...

AUGUSTA, Ga. Stuart Appleby joked earlier this year that his biography would be the skinniest book in anyone's library. "I was born, I played golf, and then I died, maybe one page," Appleby told an interviewer. "And don't ask me too much about the golf. I probably won't remember."...

Some years ago, after a reunion of his Virginia Military Institute football team, Gil Minor got a note from his one-time coach. It was hand-written as always. It was brief. It was poignant. "Gil, it was great seeing you again," John McKenna wrote that day, "but I'm worried about your...

AUGUSTA, Ga. The natural beauties of Augusta National don't stop with the azaleas and flowering dogwoods. There's also Vaughn Taylor's putting stroke. Taylor's pass through a putt flows about as smoothly and silently as maple syrup over a pancake. Somehow, Taylor manages to disconnect...

AUGUSTA, Ga. I've got some bad news for everyone who was looking forward to a weekend shootout between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the Masters. It's probably over. While I'm certain both players will complete the final 54 holes as scheduled, history says that yesterday's first round...

The blush is on the rose. The Rose River, that is. Redbud blooms are dabbing rouge on the cheeks of spring, adding to the golden forsythia, ivory dogwood and emerald saplings sprouting in the Madison County mountains. The Rose is a treasure in any season, but this time of year gives it added sparkle....

AUGUSTA, Ga. Only at the Masters could the day's biggest news story be 71 years old. It seems that Horton Smith, the eventual winner of the 1936 Masters, was walking up the 18th fairway at Augusta National unsure of exactly where he stood vs. his competition in the final round. "You're going...

Now begins the waiting game. For Billy the Kid. For the three amigos. For the AD in Gainesville. For the corporate raiders in Lexington. For the agent provocateurs. For inquiring minds. For one and all. (One and all to include VCU honchos and rooters who'd prefer to play ball and not dominoes with...

His delivery is bombastic, even annoying at times. He shouts, screams, and seemingly talks in code. He never has met a coach who isn't great or a player who isn't fantastic and charming. Dick Vitale is the most recognizable broadcaster in college basketball, and he is not perfect.

ATLANTA Two shining moments. One helluva of a team. Some historic footprint. So what more can you say about Florida's Gators that hasn't been said already? That they come at you with the glossiest starting five since Fleetwood Mac? That they boast the world's most famous ponytail...

ATLANTA By now, we all pretty much can agree that this Florida basketball starship is quite the extraordinary machine, yes? Save for a few mid-course hiccups over the past two years, it's been in an orbit that figures - unless some guy named Oden swipes it from the sky - to end with a soaring...