Indiana, Ball State to begin 3-game series\nMUNCIE -- IU and Ball State have agreed in principle to a three-game series that will bring the Hoosiers to Muncie for only the fourth time since the schools first played in the 1934-35 season.\nThe scheduling contract is expected to be signed this spring, said Ball State athletic director Bubba Cunningham.\nThe series would begin with a Dec. 28 game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, followed by a game in Muncie during the 2005-06 season and a third game in Bloomington in 2006-07.\nThe Hoosiers have won 16 of their 17 games against the Cardinals. Ball State's only win was 42-38 in 1937.\nThe teams last played Dec. 31, 2002, when the Hoosiers beat the Cardinals 76-62 in Worthen Arena. The crowd of 11,500 was Ball State's only sellout in the past five seasons.
Chicago Cubs plan to block rooftop's view of Wrigley Field\nCHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs plan to block the view of Wrigley Field from the only rooftop business that has not agreed to share revenues with the team.\nTwelve of the 13 rooftop businesses overlooking the baseball stadium have agreed to share revenues after fighting with the team for years. Skybox on Waveland has not reached an agreement with the team and may now have its view of Wrigley blocked.\nCubs President Andy MacPhail would not say how the Cubs would keep those at Skybox from seeing the game.\n"We'll do something that is not a distraction to our fans or an impediment to our other rooftop partners," MacPhail said.\nSkybox's attorney Chris Gair says the 125-seat rooftop will "never pay anything" to the Cubs.\n"It's even more ludicrous since this one business is hurting the Cubs not at all," Gair said. "If the Cubs are intending to try and block Skybox on Waveland, the only thing they will be doing is hurting Cub fans who want to see the game, but can't get into Wrigley Field because it's sold out. That doesn't sound like very good PR to me."\nThe dispute between the rooftops and the Cubs started when the team began arguing with the rooftop owners over plans to expand the stadium. The rooftop owners feared their views of Wrigley would be blocked.
Saint Louis coach worried about ND's 'home court' advantage\nFORT WAYNE -- St. Louis coach Brad Soderberg is worried about Notre Dame's home-court advantage Monday night -- even though the Irish haven't played here at Memorial Coliseum since 1967.\n"To me the issue is there are going to be a lot of Notre Dame fans there who maybe can't usually get tickets to Notre Dame games," Soderberg said. "It could be worse than at Notre Dame because the crowd might be louder and more rowdy than a typical Notre Dame crowd."\nNotre Dame coach Mike Brey hopes Soderberg is right.\n"I fully expect that coliseum to be our sixth man," Brey said. "We know it's a big Notre Dame town. Now we're coming to town."\nThe second round National Invitation Tournament game is being played in Fort Wayne, 90 miles southeast of South Bend.\nThe move was made because Notre Dame's home arena, the Joyce Center, is hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA women's tournament. NIT tickets went on sale at the coliseum late Thursday afternoon and sold out Friday.
