Madison Square Garden

It's been a slow death, agonizing to watch for those of us who remember what the Big East represented when it started some 30 years ago. It's been confusing to follow the almost constant updates over the past 14 months since Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced they were leaving for the ACC. To say that league founder Dave Gavitt is turning over in his grave is an understatement. The Big East emerged on the college basketball scene making a lot of noise. It had big-name coaches, high-profile players and a commissioner in Gavitt who ascribed to the P.T. Barnum school of thought that any publicity was good publicity.

LCD Soundsystem called it quits Saturday, performing a bittersweet, three-and-a-half hour victory lap to a sold-out crowd at New York’s Madison Square Garden. I respect James Murphy and Co. for going out on their own terms, and not churning out more material because they feel like they “owe” it to the fans. There’s something beautiful about a band knowing when to exit and wanting to dance and get sweaty at its funeral. (The band asked anyone attending the last show to wear black and/or white.)

Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski, a football player by trade and a boxer at heart, is taking advantage of the looming NFL lockout by getting back into the boxing ring. Zbikowski will fight on the undercard of a pro boxing event at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas next Saturday. Under normal circumstances, this sort of thing wouldn't fly with the Ravens. But Zbikowski hasn't signed his restricted tender, so there is no contract for him to violate. And hey, if the NFL won't let him play football, then why shouldn't he be allowed to compete and make some extra dough in boxing in the event of a lockout?

NEW YORK -- It's with an almost blase air that Reed Krakoff mentions his latest dabblings as president and executive creative director of Coach. Grabbing a fistful of gloves splayed on a chair outside his office, he mutters, "We have mink-lined mittens, stripes, oranges." He casually gestures over at a nearby Game Boy pouch for Holiday 2003 that has fuchsia patent leather piping. And, during a quick tour of his floor, he stops briefly to inspect a new Coach shopping bag featuring a sharp pattern of pink and blue flowers.

No. 13 Illinois handed Maryland its second straight defeat Friday night, using inside-outside balance to win, 80-76, in the consolation game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden. The Illini made 10 3-pointers That, coupled with their superior size, made it a difficult matchup for the Terps. Trailing by double digits, Maryland closed to within 75-71 on a Jordan Williams (15 points) up-and-under move and a pair of free throws. Freshman guard Terrell Stoglin's 3-pointer cut the margin to 78-76 in the final 10 seconds before Illinois won it on free throws Maryland (3-2)

They were different. Opposites, really. Martina Navratilova, the left-hander from Czechoslovakia who used tennis as a passport to the West. Pam Shriver, the right-hander raised in an upper-middle class household in the suburbs of Baltimore.One became the pre-eminent singles player of her time, perhaps even of all time. The other made a fleeting appearance in one Grand Slam final as a 16-year-old, and then spent the rest of her career trying to recapture the moment.One registered as a Democrat and covered the left side of the court.

Happy 12/12/12! Enjoy the quirky numerical day while it lasts because it won't happen again for another hundred years. (Or never if the Mayan Apocalypse actually happens) Possibly fueled by this unique bit of numerology, the Internet is buzzing with news this morning. Beatle's guru Ravi Shankar is dead, the pope is an overeager Tweeter and  North Korea is making everyone mad again. And in a lunch time update, Paul McCartney is reportedly fililng in for Kurt Cobain as Nirvania reunites for tonight's huge Hurricane Sandy benefit concert.

Adelaide Close Riggs, one of the great supporters of Maryland's thoroughbred horse breeding and racing industry, rode until the age of 77, when her favorite pony had to be put down and she decided she was too old to break in a new one.Mrs. Riggs died Dec. 31 from complications of pneumonia at Happy Retreat, her 540-acre farm near the Howard County village of Daisy between West Friendship and Lisbon. She was 90."She was certainly one of the grandes dames of Maryland racing and an absolutely wonderful sportswoman," said Snowden Carter, retired editor of Maryland Horse magazine.

Maryland, which struggled to find the answer at point guard this season, will enter 2013-14 with a new starter at the position after the announcement that incumbent Pe'Shon Howard is transferring to another school for his senior year. Howard, a Californian who grew up immersed in celebrity culture as the grandson of a Los Angeles hair stylist, is likely to transfer to a school in California or close to it. His grandfather, Bill Howard, moved to Maryland to be with Pe'Shon Howard during his college years.

Critic's Pick -- JT gets love stoned in his televised Madison Square Garden concert Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow (9 p.m., HBO).