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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina junior guards Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington have decided to enter the NBA draft, ending their college careers a few weeks after leading the Tar Heels to the national championship.

Lawson and Ellington announced their plans at a news conference this afternoon.

Last year the two of them put their name in the draft but never signed with an agent making them eligible to return for their Junior seasons.

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Torry Holt agreed to a three-year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday that could be worth as much as $20 million

The 32-year-old Holt agreed to a creative contract that grows financially based on the way he plays. The base salary of this contract is for 3-Years, 13-Million. The interesting part of this contract is the lack of signing bonus; however the first year of the contract is guaranteed.

Holt chose the Jaguars over the Tennessee Titans, among other teams that were interested.

Holt certainly boosts the Jaguars’ wideout position. The seven-time Pro Bowler ranks 11th on the NFL’s career list with 869 receptions. He caught 64 passes for 796 yards and three touchdowns for St. Louis last season.

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When you don’t have a legitimate star and your having issues selling jerseys what do you do? Change your logo and uniforms of course. In efforts to sell more jerseys and increase revenue the lowly Detroit Lions have unveiled it’s new Logo and uniforms for the upcoming 2009-2010 season.

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On Thursday John Madden, a fixture in NFL broadcast booths for 30 years, and current Hall-Of-Famer has decided to retire.

Madden said. “It’s time. I’m 73 years old. My 50th wedding anniversary is this fall. “I have two great sons and their families and my five grandchildren are at an age now when they know when I’m home and, more importantly, when I’m not.”

The NFL has been Maddens life for over 40 years both coaching and in the booth.

“It’s still fun and that’s what it makes it hard and that’s why it took me a few months to make a decision. I still love every part of it — the travel, the practices, the game film, the games, seeing old friends and meeting new people… but I know this is the right time.”

Madden has worked as lead analyst for all the major networks broadcasting NFL games, forming tandems with Pat Summerall at CBS and Fox, Al Michaels at ABC and NBC. He has won 16 Emmy awards for outstanding sports analyst/personality and nominated for many more.

Madden has also been the face and voice of the best selling sports video game ever with EA Sports’ “Madden NFL Football.”

His last game announcing was the most recent Super Blow XLIII between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Kevin Garnett isn’t ready to start the playoffs, and Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Thursday that there’s a strong possibility that he will miss the entire postseason.

When asked to clarify, Rivers said there was a chance Garnett could be out for the rest of the season.

Rivers said this morning “He’s not going to be ready. After watching him practice, there’s no way. The way I saw him move today, I don’t know if he’ll be ready.”

The Celtics begin the best-of-seven first round series against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.

Garnett injured his right knee Feb. 19 and missed the next 13 games before returning for four, but never playing as many as 18 minutes. With the Celtics assured of a high playoff berth, Rivers then held Garnett out with an eye toward bringing him back for the last three games of the regular season; that became the last two, then the last one, but he never made it back.

Rivers said Thursday he watched Garnett run at the team’s practice facility and said he had to shut him down after 20 minutes.

“If he can’t get through biking and working out without swelling and his leg locking, I don’t know how you can play in the playoffs. “This was an honest run today, you couldn’t make your way through it. The guy’s a warrior, you see him try to mask his way through it. But after 20 minutes of running, I don’t see it. After today, there’s no way he can play.”

Boston was 18-7 without Garnett this year and finished the season 62-20 but, without Garnett, what had seemed like an easy road to the Eastern Conference finals to meet the Lebron and the Cavs has gotten more difficult.

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On Tuesday Oscar De La Hoya’s biggest fight came to an end. It was with himself as he went back and forth for months on whether to hang up the gloves or not.

With Oscars retirement it ends a career as one of the most famous boxers of all-time and 10 world titles in six divisions.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s over inside the ring for me.” Oscar said Tuesday evening.

With the realization he wasn’t himself anymore De La Hoya finally came to this decision four months after he was thoroughly beaten by Manny Pacquiao, which was his fourth loss in his last seven fights. He hasn’t beaten a worthy opponent since Fernando Vargas way back in 2002.

Old age and diminished skills led to losses in recent years to Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“This is the love of my life, boxing is my passion, boxing is what I was born to do, and when I can’t do it anymore, when I can’t compete at the highest level, it’s not fair. It’s not fair to me, it’s not fair to the fans, it’s not fair to nobody.”

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MIAMI — Isiah Thomas is back in coaching, and Florida International a program needing a buzz wind up interlocking.

Although the financial details have not been released, it’s reported the deal is for 5-years. Grumblings from a few sources have said it is in the neighborhood of $200,000-250,000 per year.

FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said. “We are very excited to have such a legendary athlete and proven winner in Isiah Thomas to lead our men’s basketball program. There is no doubt that Isiah will give FIU a tremendous opportunity to take the basketball program to the highest level.”

Isiah Thomas believes there is a ton of talent to be had at FIU…”I think we can get good players from across Florida and around the country to buy into our plan to make this a top-tier basketball program. I’m committed to growing something here, and strongly believe that over time, we’ll put a team on the floor that everyone at FIU can be proud of.”

With FIU needing a boost in athletics and being turned down numerous times, and Isiah with no other options out there to speak of. This seems like a situation where the two ugly people got together and formed a couple.

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PHILADELPHIA — Harry Kalas was the Phillies, and now after passing at age 73 he will never be forgotten.

He didn’t just announce the games. His voice captured each and every moment, of every pitch and made them unforgettable.

Harry Kalas was known for many things, but his strike three call will always be remembered “right on outta there.”

His voice, his presence, was that powerful. Even when you were witnessing something live, with your very own eyes, you still felt as if you were missing something — because you hadn’t heard Harry describe it.

Harry Kalas was not just a big part of the Phillies, he was the Phillies. He has been around for both championship titles in the teams 126-year history, Mike Schmidt’s 500th home-run, and Pete Roses’ National league record breaking 3,631st hit.

Philadelphia is wondering what next? He was a voice that will not only be missed, but will never be replaced.

Although baseball will move on it will take some getting used to — because, for millions of Philadelphians, Harry was what baseball sounded like.

If there’s a rhythm to the heavens, if there’s a script to every life, we can take some solace in knowing the championship last season was an amazing finish to Harry Kalas’ script.

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Free-agent quarterback Byron Leftwich has agreed to a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The 29-year old first-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars out of Marshall in 2003, won a Super Bowl ring last season as a backup with the Steelers. Leftwich passed for 303 yards with two touchdowns in five appearances with the Steelers last season as Ben Roethlisberger’s backup.

Zach Thomas the seven-time Pro Bowl linebacker agreed to a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Thomas, 36, started 14 of 16 games for the Dallas Cowboys in 2008 during his 13th NFL season, recording 94 tackles.

Thomas spent the first 12 years of his career with the Miami Dolphins, with whom he was named to his last Pro Bowl in 2006 before missing 11 games with migraine headaches resulting from an auto accident in 2007.

Thomas should be a great fit for the Chiefs along with newly acquired Mike Vrabel and the 4th year pro-bowler Derrick Johnson. The linebacking core should be the strength of the Kansas City defense for the upcoming season.

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