A slow day in sports today so these stories are small, but interesting.

Frasor Out For The Year: North Carolina junior Bobby Frasor will miss the rest of the college basketball season with a torn ligament. He is a versatile player capable of playing many minutes and can play quality time while the Tar Heels rests its stars. He averages over 16 minutes a game and is a player that Roy Williams has valued over the last 2 years. Though it will not have an immediate impact, the loss of Frasor will shrink the Tar Heels bench and require Hansbrough, Lawson, and others to play extra time.

Rod Smith Needs Surgery: Denver Bronco wide receiver Rod Smith may have caught his last pass in the NFL. After undergoing hip surgery in February, three years after his hip began to hurt, Smith wanted to get back into the NFL by the second half of the season. Unfortunately, his hip didn’t agree and Smith has not played a single play this year. Smith revealed today that “It has not healed. It’s not healing at all. Honestly, I don’t even like walking on it. It’s that bad right now to me, and it’s a matter of the hip socket has been bone-on-bone for a while”. He is seeing a specialist in Los Angeles and will likely have a resurfacing of the joint in January. Smith is 37 years old and holds the NFL record for most catches, touchdowns, and yards than any undrafted wide receiver. In his comments today, Smith also spoke about how he wants to spend more time with his family, another remark that sounded as if he was going to retire. Rod Smith has been a great player over his 13 years in the league, and if he does retire, the Broncos and the NFL will lose a talented veteran.

Jones, Newbie Fined For Refusing To Play: Cleveland Cavaliers’ players Damon Jones and Ira Newbie refused to enter the final minutes of the Cavaliers’ game against the Miami Heat on Christmas Day, claiming they were not warmed up. They were both fined an undisclosed amount of money and the team has refused to comment on the situation. Both players claimed that they were not warmed up and did not want to get injured. The part that confuses me is that both players average more than 15 minutes per game so why did Cleveland coach Mike Brown wait until the final minutes to play them. The Heat have had a terrible year thus far and I would expect Cleveland to play its bench normally. Except they didn’t. The only explanation that I can see for this is that Jones and Newbie must have been benched for some of the game against Miami for breaking team rules or some other problem and when Brown decided to give them a couple minutes, they decided to stand up to their coach. This may not be over and shows how incompetent the Cavaliers are with the exception of LeBron, of course.

Sanders, Colts Agree To Deal:  The Indianapolis Colts and safety Bob Sanders have reportedly agreed to a 5-year, $37.5 million contract which would make Sanders the highest paid safety in the NFL. Sanders is having another excellent year and is heading to the Pro Bowl again this year. This is a big move for the Colts as tight end Dallas Clark is also a free agent and the Colts would now have the option of retaining Clark with their franchise tag. Clark is having an excellent year and being able to hold on to him and Sanders would be huge for the Colts.

Champs Sports Bowl: Boston College and Michigan State are currently facing off for in the Champs Sports Bowl with the Eagles leading 14-7 with 7 minutes left in the second quarter. It is Matt Ryan’s final college game and it is a great oppurtunity for him to put up a big game before the NFL Draft. He has started well, completing 8 of 14 passes for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns, but will need to do even better to improve his draft stock. Ryan is expected to go high in the draft though I do not think he will be a good pro quarterback. More on the NFL Draft in a later article. In terms of the bowl, it is the Spartans first appearance in a bowl game since 2003 and they will be pumped up to bring a win back to East Lansing. The Eagles, on the other hand, have made and won 7 consecutive bowl games and will be just as excited to bring the title back to Boston. It has been a hard fought game and will likely continue that way until the end.

Those are today’s stories. Back towmorrow with others, including the Patriots attempt at 16-0.