Andrew Shaffer

When he acquired Village Deli nine years ago, owner Bob Costello had only one goal in mind: to bring the more-than-30-year-old restaurant back to its original objective.

"Transformers" drops into D+ territory because behind the glitz and glamour of shiny robots and mass chaos, this really is a bad movie.

Andrew Shaffer, a former sports columnist for the Indiana Daily Student, remembers Terry Hoeppner's arrival on campus

This is it. For four years I have dreamed about writing this article: my last column in college. First, some advice to the incoming freshmen: There are two things you should always have: a fake ID and shower sandals. Do not lose either.

Two weeks ago, I sat across from former IU halfback George Taliaferro as he delicately described to me that an element of racism still exists in Bloomington. I stopped him instinctively in self-defense.

That’s it. I am putting my foot down. If NASCAR is a sport, then driving your car should be considered an aerobic activity. Putting on your seat belt should be practiced as often as a jump shot, and changing your tire should be clocked like the 40-yard dash.

It must feel good to be king. For the fifth straight season, the NFL set a paid attendance record by surpassing 22 million fans for the first time. The figure, which includes playoff games, is up 400,000 fans from the 2005 season. But I don’t need to explain the success of football to you Americans.

With Opening Day approaching, the future of Major League Baseball is anything but rosy. • Former Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose admitted on ESPN Radio last Wednesday, “I bet on my team to win every night,” and all facts published in the Dowd Report about his bets on baseball were true, he said. Yet the report reads that Rose did not bet on his team every night.

Do you know what it takes to make a hockey player cry? A hockey player won’t cry if you hip-check his head into a wall. He won’t cry if a slap shot finds its way underneath his eyelid. He even won’t cry if an opposing player pulls a Happy Gilmore and tries to stab him with the blade of his skate.

The 1946 IU head basketball coach Branch McCracken pondered a question as the crowd held its breath. McCracken was publicly asked about “Jumpin’ Johnny” Wilson, a black man from Anderson who was named Mr. Basketball later that year. Wilson wanted to play for IU, but McCracken, in accordance with the Big Ten gentlemen’s agreement, had never recruited a black basketball player. That night in the Anderson YMCA, a man stood up and confronted the coach with that question.

For Shelbyville High School basketball coach Frank Barnes it was about class not color. He needed veterans who work well in the system – players with quick feet and precise jump shots. But he never expected this.

What would it be like to play God? The NFL might know. If I were God, I would do three things: end world hunger, cure all forms of cancer and give Brent Boyd $960,000 dollars.

John Elway is clutch. Joe Montana is cool. Troy Aikman is collected. Terry Bradshaw is bald, and Peyton Manning is -- well, what exactly is he? The Colts quarterback has been hailed for years as this generation's greatest quarterback, but he's already 30 years old in his ninth season with the Indianapolis Colts and is just now making his first trip to the Super Bowl.

Anthony was no ordinary teenager. At his California high school, Michael Anthony Castro became a fullback and linebacker for the Banning High Broncos when the team's starting quarterback was ruled academically ineligible. At 6-foot-2, 210-pounds, Anthony volunteered to play quarterback. That season he was named captain of the team and all-conference player in that position. Throughout high school Anthony was a member of the wrestling squad and captain of the swim team.

A ninth Cincinnati Bengals player was arrested within nine months, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was caught carrying a suspicious water bottle and legendary head coach Bill Parcells announced that he's retiring from coaching. But, who the hell cares? The Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears will face off in Super Bowl XLI, and finally Bloomington is going bowling -- Super Bowling, that is. Of course, there is only one town on Earth that will serve the front lines for this February feud. If Chicago and Indianapolis were the respective capitals of this gridiron clash, only one region will be the bedrock of bedlam. "What town?" you ask.

Major League Soccer has a problem. It has enjoyed steady success since its 1996 inaugural season. It has expanded to 13 teams, and its newest -- the Houston Dynamo -- recently won the league's championship in its second year of existence. The MLS is heading north in 2007 by establishing a new franchise in Toronto, the league's first claim in Canada.