Golden State Warriors head coach Keith Smart is still probably best known for the shot that won the 1987 NCAA basketball championship for Indiana Now, though, he is rapidly making a name for himself by leading the Golden State Warriors to respectability and perhaps even a Western Conference playoff berth this season

The heavyweight boxing division was dominated by fighters of African descent for nearly 70 years From Joe Louis in the late 1930s to Lenox Lewis in the early part of this century, there was an almost uninterrupted string of Black heavyweight titlists, most of them Americans

The Atlanta metropolitan area sports a population that is more than 50 percent Black, and its hockey franchise has only led the National Hockey League (NHL) in empty seats since its inception in 1999 This year they are trying something new in the predominately White NHL, a roster that at times this season has sported five Black NHL players

Sometimes mother does not know best Following Arian Foster’s junior season at Tennessee his mother, Bernadette Sizemore, encouraged her son to return to Tennessee for his senior year despite gaining 1,193 yards, scoring 12 touchdowns, and receiving indications that he would be a second round pick in the 2008 NFL draft

By far the biggest moment in the NBA offseason was the hour-long ESPN special in which LeBron James made what he called “the decision” to “take his talents to South Beach” and in tandem with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade make the Miami Heat an instant championship contender as the 2010-11 NBA season gets underway

“I think we are the team to beat in the NL East – finally” Jimmy Rollins said that before spring training in 2007

Until this season Delmon Young was best known for throwing a bat at an umpire during a minor league game that led to a 50 game suspension in 2005 He was also considered to be a mild disappointment on the field and had been traded away from the team that made him the first pick in the nation in 2003

Michael Vick got to celebrate Easter twice this year as his NFL career completed its rise from the dead when he was named starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles by head coach Andy Reid on Sept 21

Baseball legends like Don Newcombe don’t come along often Newcombe began with the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League of the 1940s, he was an ace pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the Jackie Robinson era, and won the Cy Young and National League MVP Award in 1956, the first time the Cy Young Award was offered

NFL wide receivers tend to have a self-centered streak Terrell Owens has made a career out of creating a spectacle of himself, and teammate Chad Ochocinco has certainly shown the he can find the “m-e” in team

Michael Crabtree news has dominated 49er training camps in each of his two seasons with the team Last year the number one draft choice sat out training camp and the first five games of the regular season in a contract dispute

Sometimes major league players are reluctant to play for their hometown teams The added pressure of performing in front of friends and family, fulfilling ticket requests, and the complete lack of privacy can make the 162 game grind seem even longer and more difficult