The Wiz of Odds

Henderson Reportedly Wants Out of Letter of Intent

Seantrel Henderson, who was regarded as the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2010, reportedly wants out of his letter of intent to USC after the Trojans were penalized earlier this month by the NCAA. One problem: USC doesn't want to release the manchild offensive lineman.

Larry Brown Sports reports that Trojan coaches made a second trip to Minneapolis this week to put pressure on the former Cretin-Derham Hall standout to honor his letter of intent. The trip comes a week after coach Lane Kiffin, recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron, offensive line coach James Cregg and assistant Monte Kiffin flew to Minneapolis following Henderson's failure to show for orientation at USC.

It's unclear what promises USC's staff had made to Henderson during the recruiting process, but if Kiffin's recruitment of running back Bryce Brown a year earlier is any indication, Henderson probably has reason to question the Trojans' sales pitch.

Reporters Notebooks

Brett McMurphy, FanHouse: College football's big spenders: Ohio State spent $32.3 million on its program for the 2008-09 school year, the highest total in the land. Then came Auburn ($28.8 million), Iowa ($26.9 million), Alabama ($26.44 million), Tennessee ($22.96 million), Florida ($22.86 million) and Louisiana State ($22.74 million). Wisconsin ($22.71 million) ranks eighth.

Tom Dienhart, Yahoo! Sports: Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville on the new Big 12: "I don’t think this conference will last long because there is too much disparity between all the teams. In the SEC, for instance, Vanderbilt makes as much money in the television contract as Florida. Everybody is good with it. ... That doesn’t happen here in the Big 12. We have some teams that get a little bit more money and have a little bit more stroke than some of the other teams. And when that happens, you’re gonna have teams looking for better avenues to leave and reasons to leave. We have a 10-team league right now, but I just don’t know how long that's gonna last, to be honest with you." Link to interview.

Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports.com: Expansion lessons Part I: Effects felt from the Granddaddy to TV. In one week, Pacific 10 commish Larry Scott took the league from 1955 to 2015.

Joseph Person, Columbia State: Former Heisman winners Tony Dorsett, George Rogers, Mike Rozier and Johnny Rodgers think Reggie Bush should keep his stiff-arm trophy. Gino Torretta is uncertain what the Heisman Trust should do.

Michael Lev, Orange County Register: Pete Carroll returns to L.A. and rips the NCAA.

Michael Hiestand, USA Today: Erin Andrews has reached a tentative agreement to remain at ESPN.

Doug Robinson, Deseret News: OK, can we cut the crapola already? Can we dispense with the nonsense of blaming Brigham Young's exclusion from the Pac-10 on the school's perceived shortcomings as a "research institution." Pa-leeeze. Research? What, are they going to do, host a lab-rat race?

Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News: Today's trivia question: Name the last team Alabama lost to at Bryant-Denny Stadium? Answer: Louisiana Monroe on Nov. 17, 2007.

Paul Finebaum, Mobile Press-Register: His annual Southeastern Conference coach rankings. Alabama's Nick Saban is No. 1 and Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson is No. 12.

Dave Hooker, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Former Tennessee receiver Todd Campbell, who had jersey No. 11 taken from him and given to incoming freshman tailback Bryce Brown, said he's no fan of Lane Kiffin and thinks Derek Dooley is a better fit for the Volunteers. "I think they will have a good year. They're going in the right direction because I think coach Dooley brings back structure, whereas Kiffin didn't really have a lot of structure."

Jonathan Martin, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star: The issue of college sports conference realignment has landed on the doorstep of politicians. They are well aware that for many voters, it's as important as anything else on the policy agenda.

Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News: Western Athletic Conference commish Karl Benson said the league will not be expanding until 2012, at the earliest. Plus, former San Jose State coach Dick Tomey said Boise State's departure from the WAC is not necessarily bad news. "It takes away from the overall respect the WAC has nationally. But — and I'm not trying to be flippant about it — it gives somebody else a chance to win the conference."

'The Tillman Story' Trailer

Work is complete on the upcoming documentary "The Tillman Story", which chronicles the government's coverup of the death of Pat Tillman.

The former Arizona State star died on a rocky hillside in Afghanistan in 2004, and members of the Bush Administration and military officials tried to turn his death into propaganda, claiming that Tillman was killed in a firefight with hostile forces.

Dannie Tillman, Pat's mother, pressed for the truth, and the Army eventually acknowledged Tillman was killed by friendly fire.

The film's release date is Aug. 20.

A Sure Sign That Football Is Just Around the Corner

The start of the season for the Barrow High Whalers is just over a month away, but the North Slope Borough School District is making full use of Cathy Parker Field by playing host to the Top of the World Sports and Leadership Camp.

Barrow resident Budd Goodyear was kind enough to send two photos from the camp, which concludes today. If you're wondering what life is like 340 miles north of the Arctic Circle this time of the year, Budd sent along the following note:

Reporters Notebooks

Kirk Bohls and Mark Rosner, Austin American-Statesman: Obstacles and uncertainty notwithstanding, the Texas athletic department is pursuing development of a Longhorn television network, but the startup cost is staggering — between $15 and $30 million. The business model under consideration suggests that Texas could find an investor or investors, line up media partners and offset some of the costs by converting existing space inside Royal-Memorial Stadium, rather than creating production facilities from scratch.

Mike DeArmond, Kansas City Star: Now Missouri is talking about starting up its own television network.

Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal: Another Western Athletic Conference program is having financial trouble. Nevada is faced with a budget deficit between $600,000-$2 million, a gap created by a 17% decrease in state-appropriated funds (roughly $1.2 million) as well as sluggish tickets sales for the men's basketball and football program. Last week, Fresno State announced that its athletic department was in a financial crisis.

Lee Barfknecht, Omaha World-Herald: Nebraska's Tom Osborne, reflecting on how talks about a Big 12 network came to a halt in 2007 when some schools (Texas?) balked at assigning all rights to their events to the conference: "That ended up being a bigger decision than many people realized at the time."

Berry Tramel, Oklahoman: Oklahoma and Texas don't love each other, but they've learned to live together.

Tim Bisel, Topeka Capital-Journal: Former Kansas State coach Ron Prince likely isn't on the Christmas card list of Bill Snyder. Prince's bold approach to nonconference scheduling has the Wildcats playing nonconference games against UCLA, Miami, Oregon, Virginia Tech and Auburn in the next three seasons. Thanks to John!

Kristi E. Swartz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: OK, maybe vuvuzelas won't be allowed at Southeastern Conference games.

Gregg Krupa and Vincent Goodwill, Detroit News: The strange case of Boubacar Cissoko. Last fall, he was a starter in Michigan's secondary. Today, he is facing 45 years in prison.

Indianapolis Star: It seems difficult to imagine, but Purdue and Indiana have winning records against Nebraska.

FanBlogs: Is the sharing of wealth among conference members going to become a thing of the past?

More Downs Than Ups for Key Figures in Bush Case

It's time to tally up the winners and losers in the Reggie Bush scandal now that the NCAA has layeth the smacketh down on USC.

Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune tracked down the whereabouts of key figures in the case that had its beginning five years ago. For some, life has gotten much better, including Bush's parents — LaMar and Denise Griffin.

They are living in a new house in Chula Vista, Calif., about 11 miles from the home in Spring Valley that served as the starting point in the NCAA investigation that led to USC's penalties.

Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, has no worries. He signed a six-year contract with the New Orleans Saints in 2006 that guaranteed about $26 million.

Others have not fared as well. Former sports marketing investor Michael Michaels, who was the Bush's landlord when they lived in Spring Valley, has faced federal and state tax trouble. Today he works at Sycuan Casino.