Collison to stay at UCLA

UCLA’s Darren Collison has chosen not to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft and will stay at UCLA for his senior season.

Wow.

I, like many others thought for sure he was gone. Either Collison wasn’t sure he was going to be taken in the first round or he really likes playing at UCLA (can you blame him?). Regardless of why, I’m sure glad Collison’s back and I’m thrilled I was wrong for thinking he was gone. As Ben Howland said Collison’s return means UCLA starts the season with an All-American point guard.

Even if Kevin Love, Josh Shipp, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya all end up leaving early, I’m confident UCLA basketball will still be really good next year with Collison’s return and the incoming freshmen coming in next year.

I’m not the only one excited. Bruins Nation, Gutty Little Bruins and Bruin Basketball Report all beat me to posts about this. Collison’s already been on three Final Four teams. While it’s unreasonable to expect that to happen a fourth time, you never know. It will certainly be a fun senior season to watch.

10 runs in 1st inning and scary incident

The Dodgers scored 10 runs in the first inning in Saturday night’s game, all off of Rockies’ starter Mark Redman, who actually stayed in the game and pitched five scoreless innings after that. What a game. Nine of the runs that inning came with two outs, the last four coming on a grand slam by Matt Kemp. I wonder how many fans showed up late to Dodger Stadium and missed the extremely-rare 10-run inning.

The scary incident came in the fourth inning, when plate umpire Kerwin Danley was hit by a 96-mph fastball in the jaw, right below the mask. David Chalk of Bugs & Cranks uploaded a video of it here. According to the Los Angeles Times, Danley was expected to be released from the hospital sometime last night. We all hope Danley is OK and he is in our thoughts and prayers.