Tennessee is fresh off a surprisingly successful season

Once again, the SEC is loaded with talent and will undoubtedly have several teams representing the conference come NCAA Tournament time. But even with a complete turnover in their starting lineup, the reigning NCAA Champion Kentucky Wildcats appear primed to be the league's top team once again.

Kentucky rode the success of several supremely-talented freshmen en route to cutting down the nets in New Orleans last April, and even with the likes of Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist gone, John Calipari has a new class of highly-touted freshmen ready to show what they are worth. While the Wildcats continue to go young, the Florida Gators will try to find success with a veteran bunch, as several key contributors from last year's Elite Eight squad, including star senior guard Kenny Boynton, return to Gainesville. Coming from the Big 12, Missouri will likely join the elite in the SEC immediately, and at No. 15 in the preseason AP Poll, it rounds out the league's ranked teams for now (UK No. 3, Florida No. 10).

Arkansas wasn't very impressive last season without its top forward Marshall Powell, but with him returning from injury coupled with All-SEC First Team selection B.J. Young, the Razorbacks could be knocking on the leaders' doors all season long. Tennessee is fresh off a surprisingly successful season a year ago and returns a solid core of players. Alabama lost a lot of talent in the offseason but may have the conference's best non-Kentucky freshman in Devonta Pollard.

Ole Miss quietly had a very nice season a year ago, and it retains one of the deepest and most experienced lineups in the league. Texas A&M is coming off a poor performance in its last season in the Big 12 and the opportunity of a fresh start in the SEC is there with a nice mix of returning veterans and quality recruits. Georgia also took a step backward in 2011-12 and will hope guys like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will step up their performances to lead the Bulldogs back to the Big Dance. Vanderbilt was outstanding a year ago, but with the loss of all five starters, it appears to be a rebuilding year in Nashville.

It's difficult to imagine LSU improving upon its 18-win season with the loss its head coach as well of two of its top performers from last year. Although Auburn has won just nine total conference games over the past two seasons, it has seen positive growth in each of passing year of Tony Barbee's reign as head coach.

South Carolina has hope that it can eventually turn things around with new head coach Frank Martin, but it simply does not possess the type of talent to do so this season. Mississippi State was fantastic in stretches last year, but the loss of nearly 90 percent of its scoring production from 2011-12 will have crippling effects on the Bulldogs this season.

The Wildcats were the nation's top team wire-to-wire last season, finishing an incredible 38-2 campaign off with the program's eighth national championship. If UK wishes to repeat, it will need to do so with an entirely new lineup as all five starters from the championship squad, including NBA Lottery picks Anthony Davis (14.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 4.7 bpg) and Michael Kidd- Gilchrist (11.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg), have moved on. As proven last season as well as throughout his coaching career, John Calipari has shown no reservations giving big minutes to freshmen, and he will have the luxury of coaching one of the nation's top recruiting classes once again this season. It will be no easy task filling Davis's shoes at center, but Nerlens Noel will get the opportunity after being named the USA Today National Player of the Year during his senior season at Tilton High School (12.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.9 bpg). Archie Goodwin (6-4, 198) was a McDonald's All-America selection, as was Alex Poythress (6-7, 239). Willie Cauley-Stein (7-0, 244) rounds out the rookie class and will surely bring great depth to the frontcourt. The Wildcats also welcome former Wright State guard Julius Mays (14.1 ppg), who was one of the Horizon League's best players last season. Six players return from the championship squad, the most experienced being sophomore Kyle Wiltjer (5.0 ppg).

Battle in the saddle on weekend

Participants in a stationary cycling challenge were putting a positive spin on the fight against cancer on the weekend.

The first Battle in the Saddle was held at Heritage Place Shopping Centre on Saturday. Three teams of 8-10 riders raised money for research into breast, ovarian and cervical cancer. More than $3,000 was raised from the event, which saw team members take turns riding stationary bikes for 10 hours straight.

For Karen Garvie of Owen Sound, the event was a chance to help the Canadian Cancer Society after it helped her.

Garvie was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2011. While receiving treatment in Kitchener she stayed at a lodge minutes away from the hospital.

She is also in a 10-year breast cancer study which has an aim of reducing the amount of radiation treatment people have to go through.

"You just have to give back when you have been helped," said Garvie. "Any money that goes into cancer can only help this community, to come up with a potential cure or treatment that is going to make people's lives a better quality."

Garvie has had surgery and radiation treatment and is now on cancer drugs for five years.

"The cancer drugs are good, but they can also give you side effects and so on," said Garvie. "I think any money that can go into research to come up with cures and treatments to help people are really good."

Garvie has been touched by the disease in many other ways. She also lost a brother to cancer last year, her mother has leukemia and her father had prostate cancer.

She said many others taking part in Saturday's event were taking part for personal reasons as well.

"I think it is one in eight women end up with breast cancer so it is a really big one," said Garvie.

Jennifer Wright, fundraising coordinator with the Bluewater Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society said the hope is to make the event an annual one. She said she was happy to have three teams at this year's event — Payless Shoes, Sportmakers and the Zonta Club of Owen Sound were entered — and hopes to grow bigger next year. Sportmakers supplied the stationary bikes for the day.

Wright said they decided on the Battle in the Saddle event because it was something different and it is a way to show people how they can reduce the risks of cancer by being healthy.

"We are trying to promote healthy eating and active living," said Wright. "This is a good, healthy event to be doing."

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Battle in the Saddle was one of many events planned for the month to raise awareness and money. On Friday there was a fashion show at the mall with proceeds going to the Canadian Cancer Society. There are coin boxes at businesses throughout the area where people can make a donation and get a pink ribbon to wear. The Cancer Society was also to hand out information at the Owen Sound Attack game on Sunday.

Wright said about $15,000 was raised last year during the month of October. This year she hopes to raise between $18,000 and $20,000 for the month, a goal she expects to reach.

The Role of Shoes in Showbiz

Here's the total disclosure: I learned American English by watching Sex and the City because it was surely, I naively thought, the cannon version of how New Yorkers talk and live. What I also learned is, after six seasons plus two films full of fabulous shoes, that Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte and every other woman in New York, can go gaga about heels, and that heels will always be in the spotlight in the theatre world.

There's something inexplicable about being six inches off the ground: those worldly ladies from Love Loss and What I Wore told us how gorgeous a pair of high heels makes a woman feel and what a torture it is to actually walk in them. "We've all got those big toes." Indeed, raise your hand if you sympathize with Cinderella's stepsisters when they had to chop off parts of their feet to fit in the glass slipper! There's something mysterious about the dazzling color, curving arch of a pair of high-heeled dance shoes: Victoria Page showed us what tragedy stirred up in pursuit of beauty. Those red shoes cast a curse on her, and on everyone else who dreams of spinning and turning center stage, never stopping, never losing focus…she was enlightened, possessed, carried away.

We say, "stepping into someone else's shoes" metaphorically, and for stage actors, that phrase has a literal meaning. What protects your feet and supports your weight is crucial to your character development.

One of the most memorable details from Chaplin the musical was when Charlie "discovered" his character of the little tramp: the old beggar from Charlie's childhood memory appeared on stage; Charlie follows him, putting on the disgruntled pair of shoes the beggar left behind. That pair of old things – that don't even fit – got mystified on the stage, for it transformed Charlie Chaplin, a regular comedian chap from London, into a mastermind of the Hollywood golden age, as if they have magic.

Speaking of magic, who wouldn't want Dorothy's instant travelling shoes: click your heels together and you'll get to wherever your heart desires. Well, those of us who are fortunate enough to have seen Wicked would know that those fabulous, exquisitely jeweled shoes belonged to Nessarose, the Munchkin Land Guvnor's daughter, before she was squashed by a house that flew all the way from Kansas City. We also found out that Elphaba, the wicked witch of the west, locked Dorothy up to get those shoes back in memory of her sister. "Those are just shoes Elphie, let it go!" Glinda tried to persuade her. Now that's where we laugh, because Miss Galinda had impressed us all: her at least 20 pairs of, mostly pastel coloured shoes.

Charlie from Northampton at Price & Son's tried to use the same persuasion. "You people do realize that they're just shoes!" he said. A full length musical about the significance of high-heeled boots for drag queens, how would that work? Of course, of course, throw in themes like "personal growth" and "accepting people for who they are," Kinky Boots is still telling a story of the triumph of love. Then again, you've got a good story, decorated with some heelarious comical moments; it'd definitely be elevated.

I get judgmental when I see designer shoes labeled $400+. "Who are those people willingly spending a fortune just to torture themselves?" I thought. But then I realized: shoes are women's personal statements. They are categorized in accessories section for a good reason, for shoes have the same functions as ties, and perfumes: revealing their owners' personalities, philosophies and tastes.

This theory was proven true recently in a study published on Medical Daily . Of course, we are no Sherlock Holmes and couldn't deduct a person's entire "heelstory" just by examining his or her shoes, but the next time we go shoe shopping, it'd be a good idea to keep in mind that, what we wear represents who we are.

Showbiz shoes are the trickiest: they need to blend in with the story, go along with the costumes, be pretty, sturdy and highly functional. That's almost as much as you ask for in a professional actor. Simply put, shoes can determine success of a performance because they keep the dancers on their bases and all the characters in their places.

As long as we learn the lesson from Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark's Arachne and refrain from throwing high heels at the audience, shoes will have a long life in entertainment.

Scott Sowle Former Homeless Man Provides Shoes To The Needy

Sowle began a charity to help bring shoes to Seattle's homeless people. Since Sowle was once homeless himself he knew firsthand the difference that a good pair of shoes could make to life on the street.

Sowle's 13 years living on the street were a constant struggle of trying to avoid the pain and bitter cold that his feet often felt. In an interview with KOMO News, Sowle described living under Seattle's Magnolia Street Bridge until he was able to find shelter.

"I struggled so bad that I wanted to jump off the Magnolia bridge just a day before going into the Union Gospel Mission shelter," he told KOMO News.

Even while at Union Gospel Mission, Sowle saw that the shoe shelves at the shelter were almost always bare, and he still wasn't able to find protection for his feet.

One day, however, Sowle had an idea.

He began sitting at a street corner with a sign, a box, and a bunch of fliers -- and asked people to give him their used shoes.

The movement instantly took off. People donated dozens of pairs of shoes. Sowle cleaned them and disinfected them. Then he sorted them, and took them to the streets.

Today, Sowle takes the shoes wherever they are needed: homeless shelters, food banks and the place where it all started -- the Mission. He is met with hugs, smiles and surprise.

"Sometimes they're shocked. Most of them are really happy," Sowle told KOMO News.

Eventually, Redeeming Soles was born.

Founded by Sowle, Redeeming Soles is a Seattle-based charity that organizes a footwear collection and distribution center for the benefit of local organizations and provides medical treatment for feet.

"It's like a gift from God," one recipient said. "He'll come up to you and he'll bless you with a pair of shoes."

"I took for so many years when I was on the street. I just.. always took. I was taking from services that were given to me, and I wasn't able to give back," Sowle said. "Today, I can give back. And that's huge for me."

The storied shoes went neglected along with a trove of dresses

The shoes were the stuff of legend: pairs upon colorful pairs of pumps, flats and other footwear that evinced the lavish lifestyle of Imelda Marcos, the woman wed to deposed Philippines strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Thousands of showy shoes were found at the Manila presidential palace and another Marcos home decades ago, left behind in 1986 when the couple fled the country in the throes of a popular revolt.

The new government held up the high heels as the epitome of the ejected Marcoses’ extravagance as their nation was mired in barefoot poverty, an anti-Cinderella story warning of the dangers of autocracy. The leader who succeeded Marcos, Corazon Aquino, displayed the manifold footwear in the presidential palace. Hundreds of pairs were lent to a local shoe museum.

But in the decades since, the shoes that turned heads worldwide for all the wrong reasons have been boxed up. Some were damaged by termites, others deluged by monsoon waters or encrusted with mold, officials at the National Museum in Manila told the Associated Press and Filipino media this week.

The storied shoes went neglected along with a trove of dresses and accessories stored at the Malacanang Palace that was moved to museum offices two years ago, the museum said in a statement Monday. No plan was created for what to do with them, it explained.

Some of Marcos gowns could help create a fashion collection for the museum, “but this has yet to be even formally proposed given the as-yet politically sensitive nature of their provenance,” the museum said.
Though the Filipino government told reporters there was no historical significance to the boxed shoes and clothing, save for some clothing made by Filipino designers, it nonetheless promised to ensure they would be restored, local media reported. Filipinos lamented the damage on social media, saying that love Marcos or loathe her, the shoes were a reminder of the country's past that had been carelessly laid to waste.

Spoiling the shoes may have been not only an archival loss, but a financial one. The Philippines has tried to profit from the Imelda Marcos mystique in the past, seeking to sell off millions in seized and abandoned jewels, but court cases have stopped the auction, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported this month. A presidential commission has suggested displaying the gems to lure tourists.

Now widowed and back in the Philippines, Imelda Marcos sits in the House of Representatives, elected two years ago. The "Iron Butterfly" has defended herself against accusations of graft and corruption, seeking to reclaim her reputation. She remained cherished as a style icon -- and went on to promote her own fashion line.

And what of the shoes that made her name a global synonym for excess? The former first lady claimed they actually attested to her innocence.

“When they broke into the palace, they went into my closet looking for stolen loot,” Marcos said of her cumbersome collection, The Times reported six years ago. “And all they found were shoes, beautiful shoes.”

performance and design for all football players

The NFL’s new form-fitting uniforms are a big hit, especially among players with sculpted physiques.

“It makes you look like you’re playing out there with nothing on,” Denver Broncos safety Rahim Moore said. “It makes you feel like you’re free, like you’re wearing a napkin it’s so thin.”

That’s precisely the problem for players who don’t have the Adonis-like bodies. The shrink-wrap fit of the new lightweight, body-contoured uniforms doesn’t look so flattering on the jelly-belly linemen.

 “Big guys don’t like it when they fit well. We don’t like the tight stuff,” 314-pound New York Giants guard Chris Snee said. “You know, stuff’s falling all over, your stomach is hanging out.”

Still, Snee is like many other players with beefier bodies or swollen stomachs who say they, too, like the new uniforms, because there’s less material for opponents to grab.

Most of the league’s huskier players don’t seem too worried about appearances anyway.

“If you’re going to put a lineman in it, there’s not too much you can do with a tight jersey and tight pants,” said B.J. Raji, the Green Bay Packers’ 334-pound defensive tackle.

New York Jets tackle Austin Howard, who packs 333 pounds on his 6-foot-7 frame, called the new Nike uniforms “a little more trendy, I guess you can say.”

“They’re a little tight, a little snug, but they’ve always been a little tight,” he said. “They were even like that last year, but these have different material so you don’t sweat like you would with the other ones. I mean, you can’t wring them out. It kind of just rolls off. The old jerseys, you would sweat and they would weigh you down.”

Justin Bannan, a 305-pound defensive lineman for the Broncos, said he was thrilled when Nike, whose apparel he wore at the University of Colorado, signed a five-year partnership in April with the NFL, which had been outfitted by Reebok for the last decade.

Even though he looks like a guy trying to fit into his old tux for his 20-year high school reunion, Bannan said he wears a smaller-sized jersey anyway to try to thwart grabby offensive linemen.

“It doesn’t look good on us. I look like a fat you-know-what, but it is what it is, nothing I can do about it,” Bannan said. “I try to get mine as tight as possible because they hold so bad. It’s just the way it is.”

Nike spokesman Brian Strong said the new “Nike Elite 51” uniform that features such things as zoned mesh ventilation and materials to help increase range of motion weren’t designed with just the svelte guys in mind.

“The thing is we understand that the linemen are part of the game, too, so we built the Elite 51 uniform in a variety of sizes, a variety of cuts with players of all shapes and sizes in mind,” Strong said. “So, the idea is to enhance performance across the board. And when we say it’s built for speed, it’s not just built for speed among the running backs corps. We really did look to enhance performance and design for all football players.”

Strong said the shrink-wrap element of the jersey is “about reducing grab points. So, essentially we’re trying to enhance performance of the athlete. If we can make him just a little more elusive from that opponent, that’s really what we’re looking for.”

while staying with the family of Bob Rosen

Runners young and older can be seen on the roads, and the outdoor tracks at UMass, Amherst College and Amherst Regional High School.

Some of them train for real competition, either in races around Western Massachusetts, or in college and high school meets. Others are just out there for a good workout.

Then there are the really serious guys, like Philemon Terer and Benard Lengat.

No, they’re aren’t from Amherst. Nor do they live there. They come from Kenya, where running is a way of life, especially for those willing to put in the miles that can lead to monetary winnings in support of themselves and their families back in their villages.

For dedicated athletes like Terer and Lengat, Amherst has become an important stop on their journey toward establishing themselves as world-class competitors. Over recent weeks, they trained together in Amherst while staying with the family of Bob Rosen, a 61-year-old distance-running guru who doubles as a Springfield lawyer.

The law may be his livelihood, but the road is his passion. He has been running since his teens, and he loves to help others with their training. He’s been doing that for years as a volunteer assistant coach of cross country and track at Amherst Regional. He also helps with Amherst College teams.

As Rosen puts it, “I love to deal with young, motivated people who want to learn. I try to help them get better and faster, and I try to give them what can be a lifelong love for the sport. It’s something they can do for years.”

It was no wonder, then, that Rosen reveled in the success of the Amherst Regional boys teams when they won a “Triple Crown” in 2011-12 – Western Massachusetts titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.

As for the Kenyans, the training they have been doing with Rosen in Amherst has produced impressive results. On Oct. 13 – a cold and crisp Saturday morning – Terer and Lengat finished 1-2 in the Hartford Half-Marathon, outlasting a field of 7,000 entries. If not for the cold, one or both might have broken the course record of 1:05.24 for the 13.1-mile grind.

It seems that Amherst always has been known as “a running town.”

Runners young and older can be seen on the roads, and the outdoor tracks at UMass, Amherst College and Amherst Regional High School.

Some of them train for real competition, either in races around Western Massachusetts, or in college and high school meets. Others are just out there for a good workout.

Then there are the really serious guys, like Philemon Terer and Benard Lengat.

No, they’re aren’t from Amherst. Nor do they live there. They come from Kenya, where running is a way of life, especially for those willing to put in the miles that can lead to monetary winnings in support of themselves and their families back in their villages.

For dedicated athletes like Terer and Lengat, Amherst has become an important stop on their journey toward establishing themselves as world-class competitors. Over recent weeks, they trained together in Amherst while staying with the family of Bob Rosen, a 61-year-old distance-running guru who doubles as a Springfield lawyer.

The law may be his livelihood, but the road is his passion. He has been running since his teens, and he loves to help others with their training. He’s been doing that for years as a volunteer assistant coach of cross country and track at Amherst Regional. He also helps with Amherst College teams.

As Rosen puts it, “I love to deal with young, motivated people who want to learn. I try to help them get better and faster, and I try to give them what can be a lifelong love for the sport. It’s something they can do for years.”

It was no wonder, then, that Rosen reveled in the success of the Amherst Regional boys teams when they won a “Triple Crown” in 2011-12 – Western Massachusetts titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.

As for the Kenyans, the training they have been doing with Rosen in Amherst has produced impressive results. On Oct. 13 – a cold and crisp Saturday morning – Terer and Lengat finished 1-2 in the Hartford Half-Marathon, outlasting a field of 7,000 entries. If not for the cold, one or both might have broken the course record of 1:05.24 for the 13.1-mile grind.

Land had called police on himself

Dominic Doyon was good and dead, and Toby Land had made a present of himself to police.
Land had called the cops on himself within hours of Doyon's death late on May 4, 2009, and he'd handed them a bag of his own bloody clothes and shoes, a court heard Monday.

Late afternoon the next day, Land sat slumped in a police interview room, convulsing in tears.

"I spoke to my lawyer and he told me not to speak to you guys," Land blurted out near the beginning of the interview tape, which was shown to the jury at his second-degree murder trial.

Doyon was found dead and bloodied in the living room of his apartment. The Crown alleges Land killed him with a sword and a hammer. Land has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Sitting at a right angle to the inconsolable man in the video, Det. Sean Gordon went to work.

"That's totally your right," he told Land. "(But) someone's dead."

Land hid his head in his hands.

"I can tell this is eating you up, there, brother." Gordon said. "If you didn't have a conscience, you wouldn't be here."

Gordon started searching for something — anything — to draw Land out of his apparent grief.

There was flattery, because Land had called police on himself.

"That doesn't happen every day," Gordon said. "That's the most stand-up thing I've ever seen."

There was raw emotion. "What's your mom gonna think?"

There was even sympathy, because an underage girl had been saved from her relationship with the 31-year-old Doyon.

"You and I both know what he did. What he's been doing. Which isn't right," Gordon said. "Don't you think she's not going to thank you someday? For getting this guy outta her life?

"In the grand scheme of things, there's nothing better you coulda done for her."

Land said little, but the jury has yet to see all of the interview footage.

Earlier in the day, the girl who Gordon said should've been grateful to Land spent the day in the witness stand trying to keep her stories straight.

Now 18, her identity protected by a publication ban, the woman clung to her tale that, a month before he died, Land threatened to kill Doyon if he didn't leave the teen alone.

The woman told cops the men were shouting but she told court they were whispering and couldn't even keep straight the number of people in the apartment when it happened.

High hopes for merchandising at new Caterpillar Visitors Center

The Caterpillar Visitors Center, set to open in Downtown Peoria this week, will do more than showcase the company's machines and people. Also on display will be the Caterpillar brand.

That brand was ranked 61st in this year's Top 100 Brands as compiled by Interbrand.

"The Cat brand continues to expand," said Sarah Gutchall, manager of the Cat Merchandise Center, which is moving to the visitors center from its previous location at 121 SW Adams St.

Gutchall has been selling Caterpillar merchandise - caps, shirts, shoes and replica models - since 1999. In 2007, she came to Peoria as vice president of retail operations with Louisville-based MPC Promotions to operate the Cat store here, the largest of its kind in the country.

She's excited about the new location at the center. "Caterpillar was going to open a store here, so they gave us first option. We didn't hesitate," said Gutchall.

Moving to a highly visible vantage point in a new $37 million development on the Peoria riverfront is a definite upgrade, she said. "We got a lot of the tour groups when they came to town before. We'll get all of the tour groups now," said Gutchall, adding that she's also looking for more traffic from the general public.

"We weren't part of a tourist attraction before. Now we hope to get the attention of people who never visited the store before," she said.

No move comes without adjustments, however. The new location at the center will require what Gutchall calls some "streamlining." "We had 5,000 square feet on Adams Street, plus storage and office space. We have about 2,700 square feet here," she said.

"We'll have the same selection of merchandise. We'll just have to be more efficient in what we display," she said.

Gutchall knows from experience which items to stock when it comes to the Cat brand. "Hats and boots are hot ticket things, along with the scale models," she said.

The Cat brand continues to grow, said Gutchall, noting that sales have picked up 30 percent since 2007.

Cat's footwear is so famous in Europe that some associate the Caterpillar name with shoes and boots before the company's machines, she said.

Caterpillar continues to spread across the retail spectrum, said Gutchall. "You're seeing the Cat brand on luggage, briefcases and backpacks now. The Cat watch line is also expanding," she said of branded timepieces.

when he was growing up in World War II-era England

Do a Google search on Steven Adams, Pitt's 7-foot freshman center, and dozens of stories on New Zealand's greatest basketball export appear. Many of them describe him in the same manner. One stated he is a "freak athlete." Another professed he was "a freak of nature."

Adams' father, Sid, heard the same variations of that word when he was growing up in World War II-era England. Only the term "freak" back then had a much different meaning. It was a derogatory term meant to ridicule a person for being different.

"He went through a pretty rough time," Adams said of his father. "That was when they were discriminating against freaks. That's what he called himself. He was really, really tall and they'd tease him. He had it pretty hard."

Sid Adams wasn't long for England. After a career in the navy, he settled in New Zealand, where he had 18 children with five women. Many of Sid's children blended their impressive size and athleticism into sporting success.

Males in the Adams clan average 6 feet 9 and females 6 feet. The tallest of Steven Adams' sisters is Valerie Vili-Adams, a 6-4, 246-pound two-time Olympic gold medalist in the shot put. Valerie, who has the same father as Steven Adams but a different mother, won her second gold medal at the London Olympics this summer.

Two of Adams' brothers -- Warren and Ralph -- played with and against Pitt coach Jamie Dixon when Dixon played professional basketball in New Zealand in the late 1980s. Dixon and others who played with Warren and Ralph said they should have been in the NBA.

Steven Adams, the last of Sid's children, has the potential to become the most famous athlete in the family. He is Dixon's highest-rated recruit and has the potential to be the first player from Pitt in 25 years to go in the top 10 of the NBA draft. One 2013 NBA mock draft has him as the No. 10 prospect. Another has him as the No. 7 prospect.

But Steven Funaki Adams -- his mother is Tongan -- is not your typical fast-tracked super recruit with one foot out the college door to the NBA. He doesn't have any handlers planning his future. He isn't obsessed with the draft websites and what they have to say about him. He is unpretentious and a bit oblivious to the hype that surrounds him.

Simply put, Adams is not your average NCAA basketball player.

It's not an uncommon sight to walk past the rows of coaches offices at the Petersen Events Center and see Adams strumming a country tune on his guitar for Dixon and the assistant coaches. Teammate Talib Zanna described him as a "cool guy who sometimes doesn't even know what's going on."

So just how did this son of a military man, with the height and athletic gifts all aspiring basketball players covet, become a free spirit who, in his words, "doesn't care much"?

What was sold in the souks of Cairo in a month

In March 2011, as she had done every Friday afternoon for years, Jenny Poche Marrache held court at her 16th-century compound in the heart of Aleppo’s sprawling ancient market. Wearing a fur-lined leather coat to ward off the spring chill, the tiny 72-year-old regaled visitors with stories of this city’s cosmopolitan past. When her great-grandfather — a Bohemian crystal merchant — arrived here two centuries ago, Aleppo had already been a hub of East-West trade for half a millennium. Carpets from Persia, silks from China and high-quality local textiles filled the warehouses and stalls. Even at the height of the Crusades, Venetian agents exchanged timber and iron for Indian spices in the city’s souks.

In the midst of Syria’s civil war, more is being lost than lives. Aleppo may be the world’s oldest continuously occupied city, dating to the era of the pyramids, and at the height of the Ottoman Empire, it was the world’s largest metropolis after Istanbul and Cairo. That antiquity, wealth and diversity left behind magnificent mosques with Mameluke minarets, Ottoman-style bathhouses, and neoclassical columns and balustrades overlooking traditional courtyards tiled with marble and splashed by fountains. But Aleppo’s legacy extends beyond historic buildings. The city welcomed people of many faiths and traditions, while its old rival Damascus, a holy city and a gateway to Mecca, was long out of bounds for Westerners. Muslims, Christians and Jews created Syria’s commercial hub and one of the most tolerant, long-lasting and prosperous communities in the Middle East. “What was sold in the souks of Cairo in a month was sold in Aleppo in a day,” Madame Poche said, quoting a Syrian adage.

As we sipped coffee the week that the civil war began, this refined, prosperous world was already long in decline. “The situation is deplorable,” Madame Poche said in French-accented English, looking with disdain at the crates of cheap Chinese shoes filling the courtyard. Neighborhood merchants complained that the local textile mills had shut down, forcing them to replenish their stock with inferior cloth from Dubai. Despite Aleppo’s status as a World Heritage Site, many old buildings were in serious disrepair. And the once-vibrant Jewish community had vanished.

Since my first visit to Aleppo two decades ago, a coalition of entrepreneurs, city planners and foreign experts began the formidable task of rescuing and restoring one of the cultural and architectural jewels of the Middle East. Last year I walked along the new promenade surrounding the moated and massive ancient citadel. I stayed at one of the bed-and-breakfasts that had sprung up amid the warrens of covered markets to cater to foreign tourists, and I visited a recently uncovered 4,500-year-old temple. At an art gallery, I chatted with a photographer who helped organize an edgy international arts festival — an event unthinkable in dour Damascus.

The growing recognition of Aleppo’s importance in Middle Eastern history and culture makes the burning of the old city all the more tragic. In recent online videos, flames crackle in the closely packed alleys of the covered bazaar, smoke billows from a medieval caravansary, and an armed fighter gestures at the collapsed dome of a 19th-century mosque. Reportedly, more than 500 shops in the 71 / 2 miles of streets within the region’s largest marketplace have been damaged. The minaret of a 14th-century school is now only a stump. The entrance of the medieval citadel is cratered, and the fortress’s huge wooden gates are gone. A car bomb last week blew out the windows of the Aleppo Museum, one of the world’s best collections of Near Eastern artifacts.

who all could face life in prison

An extremist Egyptian-born preacher entered a U.S. courtroom Saturday for the first time to face multiple terrorism charges, complaining that his prosthetic hooks, medication and special shoes were taken away from him. The preacher was one of five terrorism defendants rounded up in Britain and extradited overnight to the U.S.

Abu Hamza al-Masri was surrounded by several marshals in a Manhattan courtroom as he faced charges he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and helped abduct 16 hostages, two of them U.S. tourists, in Yemen in 1998.
Terror suspects from UK appear in NYC court

Al-Masri, 54, exposed both of his arms through his short-sleeved prison shirt. His court-appointed lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, asked that al-Masri, indicted under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, have his prosthetics immediately returned "so he can use his arms."

In the 1990s, al-Masri turned London's Finsbury Park Mosque into a training ground for extremist Islamists, attracting followers, including Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Al-Masri — jailed since 2004 in Britain on separate charges — was flown overnight to New York from London along with four others accused of U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa and with helping terrorism operations in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

The five men, who all could face life in prison, have been battling extradition for between eight and 14 years.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the extraditions "a watershed moment in our nation's efforts to eradicate terrorism."

"As is charged, these are men who were at the nerve centers of al-Qaida's acts of terror, and they caused blood to be shed, lives to be lost, and families to be shattered."

In New York's federal court, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary entered not-guilty pleas to charges they participated in the bombings of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. They were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden.

In New Haven, Conn., Syed Talha Ahsan, 33, and Babar Ahmad, 38, entered not-guilty pleas to charges they provided terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya with cash, recruits and equipment.

Al-Masri, a one-time nightclub bouncer, entered no plea, saying only "I do" when he was asked by U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas whether he swears that his financial affidavit used to determine if he qualifies for a court-appointed lawyer was correct.

Shroff told Maas that al-Masri needed use of his arms. "Otherwise, he will not be able to function in a civilized manner."

She also asked for a dictating machine, saying he can't take notes, the return of his diabetes medication, and special shoes that prevent him from slipping. She said he will need a special diet and a full medical evaluation in prison.

Al-Masri peered through glasses as he consulted with Shroff and another court-appointed lawyer, Jerrod Thompson-Hicks, in a proceeding that lasted less than 15 minutes.

Al-Masri has one eye and claims to have lost his hands fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. His lawyers in England said he suffers from depression, chronic sleep deprivation, diabetes and other ailments.

Al-Masri faces 11 counts relating to the hostage taking in 1998, calling for holy war in Afghanistan in 2001 and participation in the failed 1999 effort by Seattle resident James Ujaama and others to create the terrorist-training camp on a Oregon ranch in Bly. Ujaama's testimony led to the indictments against al-Masri.

Shroff and Thompson-Hicks also represented al-Fawwaz, 50, a citizen of Saudi Arabia. Thompson-Hicks said he was concerned whether his client would be properly treated for hypertension and high blood pressure. Attorney Andrew Patel, representing Bary, 52, an Egyptian citizen, said his client needed asthma medicine and treatment for other medical conditions.

Patel, who declined to comment afterward, told Maas that Bary reserved the right to request bail in the future.

Four others who were tried in 2001 in the August 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania are serving life sentences.

Ahsan, 33, and Ahmad, 38, were kept detained while they await trial in Connecticut, where an Internet service provider was allegedly used to host a website. Their lawyers declined to comment.

Ahmad made efforts to secure GPS devices, Kevlar helmets, night-vision goggles, ballistic vests and camouflage uniforms, prosecutors said.

Al-Masri is not the first Egyptian-born preacher to be brought to Manhattan for trial. A blind sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 1995 in a plot to assassinate then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and in another to blow up New York landmarks, including the United Nations and two tunnels and a bridge linking New Jersey to Manhattan. Abdel-Rahman has various health problems, including heart trouble.

Sighted take walk in shoes of blind

Veterans Park was filled with people walking the trails wearing a sleep shade and using a walking stick Saturday, occasionally wondering into a planter or flower bed.

Members of the National Federation for the Blind, Tupelo chapter, were showing friends, interested community members and nursing students at ICC what being blind is like.

The blind members of the National Federation for the Blind also were helping the nursing students train for helping a blind patient.

“We’re out here showing people what it’s like to be blind and also that it’s OK, if you see a blind person, to approach them and say something,” said Richard Joyner, president of the Tupelo chapter of the National Federation for the Blind.

Joyner was in the eighth grade when he began losing his eyesight and had to learn to walk and navigate the Tupelo streets without his eyes.

“I thought I knew the streets when I started training at the Reach Center,” Joyner said. “They put me on Greet Street and I said, ‘I know this street.’ They told me to go to Church and then take Jefferson and I got totally lost. But I mapped it in my head, ‘Now I know exactly where I am.’”

Nurses walked the trails with blindfolds on to understand what a blind person has to feel for when they walk in an unknown area and then they would walk with blind individuals around the track.

“We’re instructing the nurses that are going to ICC on how to sight guide a blind person or lead a blind person, as far as giving them directions,” said Necy McGaha. “We’re teaching them to work with a blind person in case they have to work with a blind patient.”

McGaha is the vice president of the National Federation for the Blind Tupelo Chapter.

Cindi Eskey, of Tupelo, teaches blind students in Booneville. She attended the event as a way to better understand what needs her students have and walk a short ways in their shoes.