Filed under: Clippers, Knicks, Nuggets, Trail Blazers

DENVER — Just about every place Marcus Camby has been wants him to have a homecoming. But who is the leader in the clubhouse?

The guys he plays for now.

The center started his NBA career way back in 1996, having a two-year stint with Toronto. There’s been no word about the Raptors wanting to bring Camby back, but every other NBA team he has toiled for just might go after him when he becomes a free agent this summer.

New York, where he played from 1998-2002, is expected to have interest. So is Denver, where he played from 2002-08. The Clippers have been the most vocal in wanting to bring back Camby, but the Clippers perhaps didn’t get bonus points by dealing him last month to Portland after 1 1/2 seasons in Los Angeles.

For now, the Trail Blazers are the leader.

Filed under: Lakers, Magic

ORLANDO — When things start to unravel — like they clearly are with the Los Angeles Lakers — perspective can be a funny thing.

Kobe Bryant seems to think there’s nothing wrong with the first three-game losing streak in more than two years. After all, he scored 39, 26 and 34 points, respectively, in those three games.

Pau Gasol, who has averaged less than 14 points in the three losses, has a different take. He believes the defending NBA champions have been thrown out of sync because one guy again has become too dominant in the offense.

And guess who that guy would be?

“Kobe is a great player, the best offensive player out there … but at the same time, we need to find some balance with our interior game, develop it a little more, moving the ball and changing sides,” Gasol said gingerly, knowing he was treading on sacred territory by questioning Bryant and the offense of coach Phil Jackson. “We need to get focused on that a little more, to find balance, to find some flow.”

Gasol has grown frustrated recently by his lack of offensive opportunities. He was speaking Sunday after the Lakers had lost, 96-94, to the Magic in a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals.

Filed under: Blackhawks, NHL Hall of Fame, FanHouse Exclusive

CHICAGO — “Other than the 15 years I skated up and down the rink at Chicago Stadium,” said Bobby Hull, “I have never known happiness like I do today.”

After a bitter and complete separation of more than 35 years, “The Golden Jet” has returned to his beloved Blackhawks as a team ambassador with fellow Chicago hockey legends Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito and Denis Savard. When Rocky Wirtz assumed the role as team chairman in October 2007 after the death of his father Bill, one of his first moves was to reconnect the fanbase and the franchise with its Original Six roots.

Although he owns a home in Florida, Hull rarely misses a Blackhawks game at the United Center. I spoke with the Hall of Famer in Chicago on Thursday night. Actually, I was more than happy to just sit back and listen.

“I never thought for a million years that I’d be a member of the Blackhawks family again,” said Hull, who turned 71 in January. “I thank my lucky stars that Rocky Wirtz took over the team and that he and (team president) John McDonough reached out to me.

“To be honest with you, I’d figured I’d burned all the bridges I could. But Rocky and his management team, they understand that if you’re not proud of your past, you’re not going to have a future. They first contacted me and Mr. Mikita a little over two years ago, and I’m telling you — I’m not going away. I’m making up for lost time.”

Filed under: Cavaliers

The Republicans and Democrats are squabbling, daylight savings time is arriving … and Zydrunas Ilgauskas will return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Several media outlets in Cleveland reported Thursday night that Ilgauskas’ agent, Herb Rudoy, had e-mailed to say Ilgauskas had decided to return to the Cavs.

“It is Zydrunas’ desire to return to the Cavaliers if a suitable contract can be agreed upon,” Rudoy said in an e-mail to the Cleveland media.

That’s not a real gigantic “if” there either. The decision is not exactly a surprise, but the confirmation is significant because it means the Cavs added Antawn Jamison to a top-tier playoff team without giving up a player.

Ilgauskas had been traded to Washington Feb. 17, but the Wizards quickly bought out Ilgauskas’ contract and made him a free agent. After “pondering” what to do for a few days, Ilgauskas decided to return to the city where he has spent his entire NBA career.

Filed under: Women’s Basketball

If you think women aren’t qualified to coach men’s teams, what happened this week in Texas must feel like a punch in the nose.

Baylor’s Brittney Griner did just that Wednesday night, bopping a Texas Tech player in the schnozz. It’s always a show-stopper when a woman goes Ron Artest, but the interesting thing came afterward.

“There’s no place for that in sports,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “It was ugly for women’s basketball. It was ugly that coaches were on the court, that benches cleared, and I will take care of that with my team.”

That was in Lubbock. A couple of days earlier and 370 miles east, Guy Morriss had a different reaction when some of his Texas A&M Commerce football players screwed up.

The school newspaper ran a story about two players being arrested on drug charges. Teammates removed every copy of the paper from racks around campus.

“I’m proud of my players for doing that,” Morriss told police. “This was the best team-building exercise we have ever done.”

Filed under: Sports Business and Media

A Monday afternoon in Lawrence, Kan., hours before the tip-off between Oklahoma and the top-ranked Jayhawks. The most versatile voice in American sports broadcasting slides into a booth at Joe Schmo’s, a burger joint on Jefferson Street, the main drag.

The lunch rush, if there had been one, is past. Only a few regulars haunt the space now. One of them, seated at the counter with his back to us, is Walter Aldrich, father of Kansas All-American center Cole Aldrich. When Brent Musburger is apprised of this he rises, strides over and introduces himself.

Walter Aldrich is a mud-caked-boots sort but Musburger, who hails originally from Big Timber, Mont., speaks regular-guy fluently. Before long Aldrich is at the booth, sharing stories that Musburger will use that night once Kansas, “a three-touchdown favorite” (he does love to season his calls with wagering colloquialisms), has the game well out of reach.

Filed under: Duke, Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Gary Williams couldn’t resist, and he shouldn’t have had to. A little over a year ago, when it seemed that his team couldn’t do anything right, couldn’t reach the end of the season without sweating out an NCAA tournament bid, didn’t seem like it belonged on the court with programs like Duke, he took it all personally and imbued his players with the same sense of resolve.

So on Wednesday night, after his team held off the fourth-ranked team in the country, avenged an earlier thorough defeat on the road, tied arch-rival Duke for the ACC championship and waded through the throng of students who had rushed the Comcast Center floor, Williams praised the trio of seniors who spearheaded the 79-72 victory and offered the back of his hand to his longtime critics at the same time.

“Those three guys are special, because they’ve all come through some things,” Williams said afterward of guards Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes and forward Landon Milbourne. “They’ve heard, especially last year, that they weren’t good enough. It’s nice to see that they are good enough to come through four years and win.

“We kind of stuck it to some people who didn’t have some very nice things to say,” he added.

The irony of it all, of course, was that by the time this game arrived, Maryland (now 22-7 and 12-3 in the ACC), ranked 22nd and winners of five straight, was given a good chance to beat Duke (25-5, 12-3), even though the Blue Devils had won eight straight, including a 21-point win at Cameron Indoor Stadium last month. This time, though, the Terps’ seniors, honored before their final home game, scored the first 12 points of the game as Maryland jumped ahead 7-0, 10-2 and 15-5.

They also were money in the bank at the end, particularly the volatile Vasquez, who when the teams were trading the lead back and forth throughout the final 10 minutes, managed to go out true to himself and his outsized personality. He tossed in a three-pointer with five minutes left to give Maryland a lead, launched a twisting runner on the right baseline with 3:49 left to put them ahead again — and, finally, heaved up something again from the right baseline that barely qualified as a “shot” with 38 seconds left, got it to bounce in, and gave Maryland a 73-69 cushion.

Filed under: Cardinals

It’s a stretch along I-70 that welcomes people to downtown St. Louis, like a welcome mat, really. A first impression. And the Missouri Senate has voted unanimously to take down the signs showing its honorary name and change that stretch to Mark Twain Highway. It had been this:

Mark McGwire Highway.

So at least the government is hitting the right Mark now.

I’m sure there is some good lesson in this, but my first thought is this:

One of America’s great literary figures is Plan B to a cheating baseball player. Somehow, this is a cross between an insult to Twain and straight comedy.

“When a person cannot deceive himself, the chances are against his being able to deceive other people,” Twain once wrote.

You see how timeless he was? It’s as if he said that right after McGwire’s testimony in Washington at the steroid hearing.

The road had been named after Twain, and then was switched in 1999, the year after McGwire hit 70 home runs.

That’s 70 more, after all, than Huck Finn ever hit.

Filed under: Alabama, Texas

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Give Nick Saban credit. His message never wavers.

The Alabama head coach continues to talk at length about the need for his players to ignore the distractions surrounding them and concentrate on preparing for Texas. It was following the SEC Championship when Saban challenged his team to manage its time and make good decisions over the next month.

All the steely-eyed Saban needed was a steady hand.

Filed under: Patriots, NFL Injuries, NFL Rumors

Charlie Casserly reported on CBS that Tom Brady was playing with broken ribs Sunday, causing quite the stir amongst Pats fans, New England-area journalists and anyone thought the Texans might not cover in their game against the Patriots.

Turns out, Brady’s been playing with the rib injury the entire season.

That is, at least, according to the report coming from the Providence Journal’s Shalise Young, who confirmed that Brady had been dealing with the broken ribs for some time.

Brady suffered the injury in the preseason game against the Redskins, and re-aggravated it in New York against the Jets in Week 2.