• One year ago today, the campus of Virginia Tech was forever changed, as a gunman opened fire and killed more than 30 people on a Monday morning. We'll never forget this senseless massacre, but have we learned enough from it? Are our campuses any safer today than they were one year ago?

• I'm surprised there haven't been more thoughts regarding yesterday's top post. Do blue-chip prospects leave programs worse off than they found them?

• Pope Benedict XVI is on American soil for the first time in his papacy, and the head of the Roman Catholic Church is going to spend some time at a pair of Major League Baseball stadiums. There are few venues that can hold the crowds that want to worship with the Pope, so tens of thousands will attend mass at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. and later in the week at Yankee Stadium.

• Sheila Johnson played three years of tennis at Arizona State from 1963-65. Forty-three years later, Johnson is back on the college courts, finishing her eligibility with a bang at the age of 60. Johnson earned a scholarship to Grand Canyon University and despite being the oldest college tennis player in the country, is 11-6 in singles and 7-10 in doubles. Johnson is the latest in a line of older student-athlete gracing the fields of play - 59-year-old Michael Flynt spent the fall playing football at Sul Ross State and 53-year-old John Wilson is on the Penn State-Altoona baseball team. At 60, Johnson is the oldest of the three, but is also having the most success.

• In Sunday's playoff loss to the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers forward Sean Avery reverted to unsportsmanlike means to try and give his team an edge. During a power play, Avery turned to face New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur and began waving his stick from side to side. The NHL quickly adopted a rule to prevent this from happening again, but it turns out the NCAA already had something in its rulebook that would stop this type of behavior. Rule 6-29-a states that "waving of arms in front of a goalkeeper by an opponent is interference."

• One week from Saturday, all of Northern State's student-athletes will participate in the university's annual Day of Champions and will engage in a variety of projects to give back to the Aberdeen community. A few of the projects include painting the grandstands and washing tents at the county fairgrounds, assisting with park restoration and painting, landscaping and removal of trees at the Adjustment Training Center.

• Last Saturday, Western Carolina pitcher Lauren Ross celebrated her 21st birthday in fashion, tossing a five-inning no-hitter in an 8-0 win over the College of Charleston. Ross struck out seven.

• While discussing the attendance of the Georgia Tech baseball team at pitcher Michael Hutts' funeral in a staff meeting yesterday, we began wondering if the team would have been able to travel to pay their respects if Hutts hadn't been from Georgia. The answer is yes. Rule 16.6.1.3 says that "The institution may pay transportation, housing and meal expenses for parents (or legal guardians) and the spouse of a student-athlete and for the student-athlete's teammates to be present in situations in which a student-athlete suffers a life-threatening injury or illness, or, in the event of a student-athlete's death, to provide these expenses in conjunction with funeral arrangements."