Next stop for Brind'Amour, Toronto

In the National Hockey League, you have two types of players. The flashy, first-line guys that light up the scoreboard every night (see Alex Ovechkin), and the not-so-flashy second and third liners that consistently win faceoffs and cycle the puck down low. Look up the definition of that second group in the dictionary and you'll find Rod Brind'Amour.

The Ottawa native known as "Rod the Bod" was known for his intense workout sessions, often heading straight to the gym after the game and staying there until the lights went out. Brind'Amour spent his lone college season with the Michigan State Spartans after being drafted 9th overall in the 1988 entry draft by the St. Louis Blues.

Brind'Amour joined the Blues at the end of the collegiate hockey season for the 1989 playoffs. He made his debut against the Minnesota North Stars in game 5 of the Blues' divisional semifinal and scored on his first career shot on goal. Following the 1990-91 season, Brind'Amour was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, where he would become one of the Flyers' most popular players. It was there that Brind'Amour cemented himself as one of the NHL's career iron men, starting in a franchise record 484 consecutive games.

Following an ankle injury during the 1999-2000 season, Brind'Amour was traded to Carolina for Keith Primeau. Neither player was happy with the trade at the time, but during the 2001-02 season Brind'Amour officially put the Hurricanes on the map. He teamed up with Bates Battaglia and Erik Cole to form the infamous "BBC line," leading the Hurricanes on a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals before falling to Detroit in five games.

Brind'Amour never scored the flashy goal. In fact, his most famous tally might have been the go-ahead goal in game one of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals. After the Hurricanes overcame a 3-goal deficit to tie the game late, Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson misplayed the puck behind his net with under a minute remaining. Right on cue, "Rod the Bod" was there, stealing the puck from Roloson, scoring the empty net goal and changing the entire complexion of the series.

For most Hurricanes fans, the one memory that will always be etched in their minds will be seeing an emotional Brind'Amour hoisting the Stanley Cup at the end of that seven game series. Brind'Amour tore his ACL during the 2007-08 season but returned to the Hurricanes in 2008-09 to lead them to the eastern conference finals, exemplifying his dedicated work ethic.

Brind'Amour's career was characterized by gritty, classy play. He showed younger players the ropes and set the standards in the dressing room. When his playing career was winding down, he gave up his captain's "C" to a younger Eric Staal, knowing that he had solidified his legacy and couldn't play the game he loved forever.

Brind'Amour was a classic hockey player and set the standard for how the game should be played. He might not be on the ice next season, but after accepting a job with the Hurricanes' front office, he'll be around.

Brind'Amour played in the NHL for a remarkable 21 seasons, and when he receives that call from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, he'll be remembered forever.

Nagy, Beam sweep A-10 awards

Even in the off-season, the Charlotte 49ers are making headlines. Senior Corey Nagy of men's golf and senior Hailey Beam of women's soccer were named the A-10's Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year for their outstanding accomplishments both on and off the playing field. The voters were comprised of the athletic directors of the A-10.

This marks just the fourth time in conference history that one school has swept the awards and the first time since the 2001-02 season. With the sweep, Charlotte now has five award winners in just five years in the league.

Nagy, who was the first Niner athlete to earn All-American honors in each of his four years, was voted as a second team all-America by Golfweek and the GCAA. A psychology major, Nagy graduated cum laude with a cumulative 3.60 GPA while leading the Niners to four straight A-10 titles and four straight NCAA appearances. Nagy was instrumental in Charlotte's back-to-back NCAA top 10 finishes in 2007 and 2008 and was part of the team that was ranked as a consensus No. 1 in the fall of 2007. Nagy finished his 49er career as the most decorated golfer in program history.

Beam, the women's soccer program's first consensus all-America selection, was also a two-time A-10 Midfielder of the Year and two-time A-10 Women's Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year.

She finished her Niner career with 103 total points. Her 36 goals equal the 49ers all-time record and her 31 career assists rank her second in the program's history. Beam graduated magna cum laude with a 3.81 GPA in finance and marketing.

College Player Watch: John Brantley

John Brantley could have started at quarterback anywhere else for the last two years. Problem was, he was on the same depth chart as Tim Tebow. But Brantley always wanted to be a Florida Gator, as both his father and brother attended UF. Brantley might not have the inspiring words of Tebow, but something he does have that Tebow lacked is a pocket presence.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 218-pound Brantley has the pro-style arm that Tebow was without but still has the ability to make the occasional play on the ground. Brantley is unproven, and it will be a tough task taking over for one of the most accomplished players in the history of college football. Brantley finished his high school career with a FHSAA record 99 career touchdown passes, one more than the aforementioned Tebow.

Photo courtesy of MCT Campus

College Player Watch: Stephen Garcia

Garcia was a hot recruit coming out of high school, and some might say he's underachieved. At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, he has a big arm and good mobility, and showed the ability to make plays from inside the pocket and with his feet.

An average season in 2009, Garcia completed just 55 percent of his passes while throwing for 2,862 yards, 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. After getting off to a strong start, including a win over fourth-ranked Ole Miss, the Gamecocks floundered down the stretch. Behind a dismal offensive line, Garcia threw eight interceptions over the final eight games and ended the season with an ugly loss to UConn in the Papa John's Bowl

Garcia didn't have any time to make plays in 2009, but behind an improved offensive line he'll have the full reigns to Steve Spurrier's offense in 2010. While he can run (186 yards and four touchdowns), he isn't the perfect fit for Spurrier's complex offense and probably won't be able to accomplish everything the old ball coach wants to. If Garcia can't produce in the early-going, Spurrier won't hesitate to pull the plug and make some dramatic changes.

Photo courtesy of MCT Campus

Busch goes back-to-back

Another Coca-Cola 600, another dominant performance for the winning car. Kurt Busch backed up last week’s All-Star win with a dominating performance Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway to win NASCAR’s longest race. Busch became only the seventh driver to win the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 in back-to-back weeks, joining the ranks of Dale Earnhardt and Darrel Waltrip. Busch led for a race-high 256 laps with the next highest number of laps led by a driver being Jimmie Johnson with 36 laps led.

“This has been a dream come true to be able to wrap up this special weekend,” Busch said. “This was a fantastic job by my guys to keep us up front all day. This was a race for the ages. To have a car as good as it was in the daytime, I was afraid of what it would do at night. It’s unbelievable that we swept both races.”

“It’s a prestigious race, it’s a tough race, and most important, it’s a team race.”

For a while, it looked like Kyle Busch might score another comeback win. Busch came from almost three laps down in Saturday’s Nationwide Series to get his fifth win in six tries at Charlotte. Sunday night, it looked like he might do it again. While leading, Busch got tangled up with Brad Keselowski on lap 168 after a two-tire stop and seriously damaged his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota. Busch meticulously made his way through the field though and worked his way up to a third-place finish to move within 29 points of series leader Kevin Harvick.

“We had a really good race car, I thought we were one of the best to be able to keep up with the two and the one,” Busch said. “We made a lot of changes to it (the car), we kept making swings at it to try and make it better, and we got a third place finish out of it.”

Jeff Burton was among the late race challengers, but on a late restart, it looked as if Kyle Busch got into Burton’s left rear tire in a three-wide situation. Burton proceeded to cut the tire down and finish 25th.

One of the evolving stories of the night was the run of Jamie McMurray and the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. Earlier in the day, Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 to make Chip Ganassi the first car owner to win both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 in the same year. And with McMurray making a run to the top at Charlotte, it looked as if Ganassi might win the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day, an unprecedented accomplishment in auto racing. McMurray finished second behind Busch and moved up two spots to 15th in the points standings.

“We had a great car, you know I was worried after happy hour. Our car had really good speed but it just didn’t drive very well,” McMurray said. “We did a great job of making adjustments though and put the same setup we ran in the All-Star Race. The car was really good and they did a nice job of adjusting on it all night long.”

Starting the race fourth in points, Johnson looked poised for another win at Charlotte early in the race but tagged the outside retaining wall on the front stretch just under 100 laps into the race. Johnson rebounded back into the top 20, but got loose on the back stretch on lap 274 and slammed into the wall, effectively ending his night.

“I was trying to run from the leader, and I had the leader on my tail coming through,” Johnson said. “We made some big adjustments to the car and basically adjusted it to free it up there and I just spun out off of (Turn 2).”

Point leader Harvick picked up an 11th-place finish to retain a slight points lead over Kyle Busch. Other points movers were Jeff Gordon, who moved up two spots to fourth after a sixth place finish while Busch moved up three spots with the win to sixth.

The Sprint Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway next week for the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 presented by Target.

Photo courtesy of Wilson Herlong

Geoff Bodine to race for share of $1 million

Yes, you saw that right. 61-year-old Geoff Bodine has signed on to race for the largest U.S. Legends purse in grassroots racing history. Bodine will compete in the Legends million at Charlotte Motor Speedway July 15-17 behind the wheel of the Florida Alzheimer's Association car.

Bodine has an illustrious NASCAR career that includes 18 series wins, including the 1986 Daytona 500 and 1982 Rookie of the Year. The event will feature Legend car Series regulars as well as up-and-coming drivers in a 100-lap dash for the cash. The only other auto racing series that compete for a $1 million prize is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide and IndyCar Series.

The main event will be nationally telecast on SPEED TV on July 17, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. The telecast will include the entire live A-Main race as well as highlights from Thursday and Friday night's racing action. The winner of the A-Main event will pocket $250,000 with the final spot assured $10,000.

For the Legends Million, Bodine's race car will showcase his commitment to helping those in need. Bodine's car will carry a special paint scheme for the Florida chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and Bodine has pledged to donate his entire prize winnings to help the organization.

"The only way my friends got me to agree to run in the Legends Million was is I could give the money to a charity," Bodine said. "I've been involved in a lot of charities over the years and want to influence people who do good things. I hope we're able to help those affected by this terrible illness."

Bodine's first experience in a Legend Car came in 1997 in a celebrity race. His son, Barry Bodine went on to win the series championship that year. Bodine's final Sprint Cup Series win came in August 1996 in the "Bud at the Glen." Bodine raced in his final Sprint Cup Series race in 2004 at the MBNA America "A Salute To Heroes" 400 at Dover.

3 drivers to watch in the Coca-Cola 600

Now that it's raceday for the Coca-Cola 600, here are my three drivers to watch in the season's longest race.

Darkhorse: Kasey Kahne

Sure, Kahne is 19th in the points standings, but he's always been strong at Charlotte. Kahne was dominant in yesterday's Nationwide Series race before alternator problems eliminated any chance of a win. Three of Kahne's 11 career wins have come at Charlotte, so don't be surprised if the No. 9 Budweiser Ford is in the mix near the end.

Contender: Kyle Busch

Busch doesn't have a strong track record at Charlotte in the Sprint Cup Series, but who can argue against four straight wins in points races in NASCAR's top three series. Busch has six career Nationwide Series wins at Charlotte and has picked up two Sprint Cup Series wins this season. After his late-race run in with Denny Hamlin last week, Busch is poised to pick up his third win of the season.

Winner: Jimmie Johnson

He's fourth in points, but Jimmie Johnson is always a solid winning pick at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A winner of four straight points championships and six Sprint Cup Series races at Charlotte, Johnson is hard to bet against at the 1.5 mile oval. After three straight wins in NASCAR's longest race, Johnson hasn't picked up a win at the 600 since 2005 and seems overdue for a victory.