A truly great teammate

Washington State’s Taylor Rochestie is willingly giving up his scholarship next season to accommodate another recruit.

That is impressive, whether his family is well off or not. I have never heard of anything like this happening before. Rochestie and his family is making a personal, monetary sacrifice for the benefit of his team.

Rochestie’s decision gives me a real reason to add to my previoiusly-held belief that Washington State is my second-favorite team after UCLA. (Before, the reasons consisted of underdog status and Bennett-ball — I love 42-40 games.)

Is it college basketball season yet? I can’t wait for it to start.

Hat-tip to what’s emerging as one of the better college hoops blogs out there, Storming the Floor (via Larry Brown Sports).

Links of the Day: Trying to forget about the weekend in sports

The video above is of a wiffle ball pitcher making Freddy Sanchez look silly. In case you forgot, he was the 2006 NL batting champion. (Home Run Derby)

The Angels didn’t take batting practice before Sunday’s game. That decision didn’t work out too well. (Larry Brown Sports).

In the Shawne Merriman commercial for Nike, it turns out there’s a Reebok logo on his jersey during the commercial. Nike is brilliant. As Michael David Smith points out, this is also the same Merriman that was suspended for steroid use, but that’s OK to promote. (AOL Fanhouse)

Jimmy Fallon is now trying to destroy hockey too. (Hugging Harold Reynolds)

The best race horse names ever. They’re dirty. (100% Injury Rate)

Seeing how my Angels are done, it’s time to start looking at the offseason. An early look at the available free agents — in my dream world, the Angels sign A-Rod and Adam Dunn. (Baseball by Paul)