Arkansas

As he lay in the gully, unable to get up or scream loud enough to attract help, Matt Courson asked God for a deal. "My whole life, I haven't lived up to my fullest potential," he remembers praying as he watched the moon slowly traverse the Arkansas sky. "From now on, if I get out of here, I'll be the best person I can be. " Just after the sun crept above the horizon on that April morning, a fireman came across Courson and his wrecked all-terrain vehicle....

Mike Waddell, whose 2 1/2-year tenure as Towson's athletic director was marked both by the tremendous growth in its football and men's basketball programs and by the controversy surrounding the elimination of men's soccer and the proposed dropping of baseball, is leaving to become a senior associate athletic director at Arkansas. Waddell's departure comes a few months before the school is scheduled to open Tiger Arena and several months after Waddell found himself embroiled in an often nasty debate that ultimately reached the state legislature and was - at least temporarily - resolved with extra funding for the baseball program.

Capper to poor decision Mike Bianchi Orlando Sentinel Isn't the Arkansas radio reporter who got fired for wearing a University of Florida cap into Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino's news conference actually better off? Now when somebody asks her where she works, she doesn't have to turn red and answer sheepishly, "Hog Sports Radio. " But I digress. How far should partisan broadcasters go to support their team? Well, if you are directly paid by the team (like college and NFL play-by-play broadcasters)

Bobby Spivey can walk through the halls of Sparrows Point High School without drawing much attention from anyone aside from his group of close friends. But put the 16-year-old in the small Southern hamlet of Stuttgart, Ark. - the self-proclaimed "Rice and Duck Capital of the World" - and Spivey is something of a celebrity. Given his age and achievements to date, Spivey might become to duck calling what a teenage prodigy named Tiger Woods became to golf. Spivey had been to Stuttgart for the International Duck Calling Championship before last year's event in late November, finishing near the bottom the first time he tried in 2009 and coming in third in 2010.

The whispers reached Carroll Washington III like a game of telephone. Some said the Edmondson grad had gone to trade school. Another rumor placed him at a Division II university in Pennsylvania. Speculation on the whereabouts of the quarterback who, as a sophomore, led the Red Storm to the 2006 Class 2A state football championship, almost always boiled down to this: Whatever happened to Carroll Washington? During the two years after Washington graduated from Edmondson in 2009, the short answer to that question was working out, taking classes at Baltimore City Community College and wondering where he went wrong in his quest to play Division I football.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The two races at the NCAA cross country championships yesterday at Lehigh University couldn't have been more different.The men determined their pecking order in the first mile. Washington State's Josephat Kapkory bolted to the front and was never challenged, and Arkansas used pack tactics to claim its fourth consecutive team title.Villanova made it five straight team and individual titles on the women's side, but two-time winner Carole Zajac waited until the second mile to break away from a crowded pack, and the Wildcats' 66-72 edge over Arkansas wasn't official until the video was reviewed.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Finally, Arkansas gets an opponent that feels even more unappreciated than the Razorbacks.Tired of the expectations that accompanied bringing back every starter from last year's champion, it's an ornery bunch of Razorbacks that will face Virginia in the Midwest Regional final at Kemper Arena today.The Razorbacks have been under the microscope all season, and the scrutiny has increased with three close calls in the NCAA tournament.The Cavaliers, meanwhile, lost their top player to a broken ankle five weeks ago, and have been hanging off to the side since the NCAA basketball committee seeded them fourth and thus deemed them the weakest of the four teams that shared first in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Neither Arkansas nor Kansas spent much time studying the other's tendencies yesterday in preparation for today's Southeast Regional final in the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament.The top-seeded Razorbacks will try to run and press fullcourt against Kansas (25-7) in this contrasting matchup at the Charlotte Coliseum. The fourth-seeded Jayhawks will try to slow down Arkansas (34-3) by setting up their half-court offense, and wear down their opponents as much mentally as physically.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Arkansas center Oliver Miller has big feet. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, he also has a big mouth. The two parts of Miller's body, no strangers to be sure, met again yesterday.Miller, who talks nearly as well as he plays, was quoted in an Arkansas newspaper expressing his disappointment that the Razorbacks were not playing Indiana in the final of the NCAA Southeast Regional at the Charlotte Coliseum."I always wanted to play against a Bob Knight-coached team," Miller was quoted as saying.

DALLAS -- Get ready, America, because tomorrow you're probably going to get a chance to witness your nation's president going "Hog Wild."President Bill Clinton promised to come see his beloved Arkansas team play tomorrow if it reached the Midwest Regional finals, and last night the top-seeded Razorbacks delivered, trouncing No. 12 Tulsa, 103-84, before a sellout crowd at Reunion Arena.Arkansas (28-3) advanced to the field of eight for the first time since 1991, and tomorrow will be aiming to make its first visit to the Final Four since 1990.

Tianna Hawkins had 20 points off 9-for-9 shooting from the field, and the No. 9 Maryland women's basketball team cruised to a 76-36 victory against Brown in the opening round of the Terrapin Classic on Friday. Hawkins has created matchup problems for most opponents this season, and she wasted little time establishing her dominance against the Bears, as she scored 16 of her 20 points in the first half. Alyssa Thomas had 16 points and Katie Rutan added 11 points for the Terrapins (9-2)

The whispers reached Carroll Washington III like a game of telephone. Some said the Edmondson grad had gone to trade school. Another rumor placed him at a Division II university in Pennsylvania. Speculation on the whereabouts of the quarterback who, as a sophomore, led the Red Storm to the 2006 Class 2A state football championship, almost always boiled down to this: Whatever happened to Carroll Washington? During the two years after Washington graduated from Edmondson in 2009, the short answer to that question was working out, taking classes at Baltimore City Community College and wondering where he went wrong in his quest to play Division I football.

As the amateur signing deadline draws nearer, the Orioles are still negotiating with their top pick, LSU right-hander Kevin Gausman, who was the fourth overall selection in the June draft. “We are making progress,” said Orioles' director of scouting Gary Rajsich on Thursday morning. “We're waiting to hear their next proposal.” The Orioles and Gausman have until 4:59 p.m. Friday to agree to a deal. If they can't, Gausman would return to LSU for his junior year while the Orioles would get a compensatory pick, the fifth overall, in the 2013 draft as well as their usual first-round pick.

The most visually stunning probable entrant in the upcoming Kentucky Derby could also become the favorite with a good showing at the Blue Grass Stakes this weekend. Hansen, a nearly all white colt trained by Mike Maker, is the 6-5 favorite in Lexington . He'll be challenged by Howe Great, trained by Maryland-based Graham Motion and owned by Team Valor International. Motion and Team Valor, of course, won last year's Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, and have another possible Derby horse in Went the Day Well.

The Next Level is a weekly Recruiting Report feature that focuses on natives of Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County and Howard County who appear on NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision rosters. Darron Edwards ' first season of Division I football ended with his Arkansas State squad finishing a disappointing 2010 campaign at 4-8. The Dunbar grad's second DI season, however, proved to be much more successful. On Saturday, Edwards capped an excellent senior season by helping Arkansas State to a 45-14 win over Troy, giving the Red Wolves (10-2, 8-0)

The Next Level is a weekly Recruiting Report feature that focuses on natives of Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County and Howard County who appear on NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision rosters. Chris Eckard, a senior at the University of Maryland and Baltimore Sun sports department intern, is your author. At 5-10 and 255 pounds, Arkansas junior fullback Kiero Small (Cardinal Gibbons) has one purpose for the No. 3 Razorbacks: to bulldoze.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Vowing to "reinvent government" and redefine the Democratic Party, Gov. Bill Clinton jumped into the 1992 presidential race yesterday.The Arkansas Democrat called for "a new covenant" between government and the people, an appeal to the resentments of middle-class voters who have turned to the Republican Party in recent elections.Mr. Clinton is also adopting the theme of generational change.His anthem is the rock song "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow," performed by Fleetwood Mac. The candidate lip-synched those lyrics as he and his family waved to supporters at his announcement ceremony in downtown Little Rock.

Time, site: 8:02 tonight, Reunion Arena, DallasTV: NoneOutlook: The key for Arkansas will be to get the ball inside. F Corliss Williamson scored 27 points in the Razorbacks' 93-91 overtime victory over Tulsa in December. For Tulsa, the key will be to free up G Shea Seals and F Gary Collier from beyond the three-point line. Arkansas was vulnerable to Kentucky in the SEC tournament, allowing 16 three-pointers in a 90-78 loss. Arkansas' depth will play a role.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Southwest Airlines flight ultimately headed for Baltimore landed safely at Little Rock National Airport after malfunctioning equipment caused a spark and some smoke in the cockpit. Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz says airport emergency officials were alerted about 12:25 p.m. Wednesday after a small spark occurred in an overhead light fixture on Flight 871. Mainz says the malfunction caused some smoke in the cockpit, and a fire extinguisher was used as a precaution.

As he lay in the gully, unable to get up or scream loud enough to attract help, Matt Courson asked God for a deal. "My whole life, I haven't lived up to my fullest potential," he remembers praying as he watched the moon slowly traverse the Arkansas sky. "From now on, if I get out of here, I'll be the best person I can be. " Just after the sun crept above the horizon on that April morning, a fireman came across Courson and his wrecked all-terrain vehicle....