CWS set to begin. When I returned from last year???s College World Series in Omaha, I told anybody who would listen that I had just been to the greatest sporting event in the world. For nearly two weeks, the entire city of Omaha was transformed into the baseball capital of the United States, and I couldn???t have had a better time. I couldn???t make it out to Nebraska this year, but I have full intentions of getting there next spring. The baseball party begins at Rosenblatt Stadium this afternoon, as Louisville takes on Rice at 2 p.m. In the nightcap, Mississippi State and last year???s runner-up North Carolina will play under the lights. While six of the teams in the final eight are perennial powers in the sport, Louisville and UC Irvine are surprise guests to the party. I???ll be pulling for the underdogs by way of my living room this spring, but I???ll be wishing I was in Omaha, taking in game after game of baseball and washing it all down with a glorious King Kong burger afterwards.

Bear???s boys. Best known for his 25 years as head coach at Alabama, Bear Bryant also spent time leading the programs at Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M before ending up in Tuscaloosa. Since 1983, Bryant???s former players from Kentucky have met every two or three years for the ???Bear???s Boys Reunion.??? Nearly 40 former Wildcats will attend the event today and tomorrow in Lexington. During his eight-year tenure (1946-53) at Kentucky, Bryant compiled a 60-23-5 record and led the Wildcats to a share of the 1950 national title.

Cintron collects honor. New Jersey City junior Lizzelle Cintron was named New Jersey Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year for her performance on the volleyball court last fall. The first volleyball player to collect the honor, Cintron has 2,248 kills during her first three years of action, already enough to top the conference record books. If she stays on track next season, she could become just the second Division III player with more than 3,000 career kills.