• After work yesterday, I headed over to Bishop Chatard High School for our junior-varsity baseball game. I usually go directly to the field after work on most days that I'm in town, so nothing was unusual about yesterday's 5 p.m. activity. What was unique, however, was the team in the opposing dugout - we played against the Indiana School for the Deaf. Although we won 14-3, I was interested to see how the language of baseball and the simplicity of sports translated to our opponent. There wasn't anything to choose from the signs we gave to our hitters at the plate and the signs the ISD coaches relayed to their players. Catchers still put down one finger for a fastball and two for a breaking pitch. Although the volume of the game was lower, I would argue that ISD's players were cheering for their team just as loud - the only difference was that they had chatter going with their hands.

• Fifteen coaches and players were elected to the College Football Hall of Fame yesterday, including Lou Holtz, Troy Aikman, Thurman Thomas and Don McPherson.

• You might recognize McPherson's name from his days as a standout quarterback at Syracuse, or you might know the former Heisman candidate for his January Double-A Zone podcast. At this year's NCAA Convention, McPherson took time to discuss his role in hazing prevention on college campuses.

• If you don't think student-athletes are tough, you should probably meet Stanford's Alicia Follmar. At last weekend's Penn Relays, Follmar was tangled up during her leg of the distance-medley relay and fell to the track. After the fall, Follmar was spiked in the forehead by a trailing runner and began bleeding. Despite the injury, she picked herself up and maintained her third-place position while bleeding all the way through the run.

• I didn't know this - apparently nobody did - but Tennessee standout Chris Lofton battled his way back from cancer during the off-season. Apparently, Lofton had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from one of his testicles following the Volunteers' Sweet 16 loss to Ohio State last spring. Lofton battled back to lead Tennessee to a school-record 31 victories this season while becoming the most prolific three-point shooter in SEC history.