ODU big man a success on and off court

Bon voyage: Four years after arriving from Australia, ODU’s 7-foot-3 fan favorite Sam Harris graduates today with a degree in business management before returning home to play in the Aussie pro league. In more ways than one, Sam has completed an important leg of an improbable journey.

Moving man When Larry Brown was hired to coach the Charlotte Hornets, it was reported to be his 12th coaching job, but that doesn’t count his cup of coffee with Davidson in 1969 after Lefty Driesell went to Maryland. Brown was at Davidson a month before he resigned without coaching a game.

Idle thought On the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton has gone negative often enough to be mistaken for a newspaper columnist.

Graffiti By taking on the thoroughbred racing industry, PETA is being accused of beating a dead horse.

Nagging concerns In their own way, PETA’s critics overreact as badly as the activists do. What is it about animal issues that bring out the beast in so many people?

Too tough Somebody once said of the young Allen Iverson that guarding him was like trying to change a tire on a moving car. Ditto Chris Paul.

Letdown Two bad games don’t make him overrated, but in the what-have-you-done-for-us-lately world of superstar performances, LeBron James has to get in line far behind Kobe Bryant, Paul, Kevin Garnett, Manu Ginobili, and, hard to believe, even Cavaliers teammate Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Overrated I can’t believe that coach-for-hire Mike D’Antoni is suddenly worth all the fuss the Bulls and Knicks are making over him. What did he ever win in Phoenix? If he was allowed to bring Steve Nash along, that would be different.

Update As more eyewitness accounts of police conduct emerge, those who ridiculed Bears running back Cedric Benson since his arrest may have to consider the possibility that Benson has been mistreated on more than one front.

Animal house Since the White Sox’s clubhouse display of two female blow-up dolls arranged with suggestively positioned bats was never meant for public consumption, we’ll cut the players some slack. Still, in general, what is it about baseball players, more than any other pro athletes, that makes them so determined to constantly relive their adolescence?

Bottom line There’s no reason BCS schools shouldn’t fare best in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate scores — they’ve got the money to hire more tutors for their jocks.

Numb-ers The APR links athletic competition with academic performance, but keeping players eligible is not the same as educating them. The data doesn’t tell us what the athletes are tackling in the classroom. Real subjects or cream puff courses?

Needling Jose Canseco recently revealed a heretofore unknown consequence of steroid use: thinking that you’re the next Hemingway. Canseco says that he’s started writing a novel. Shouldn’t he have to prove that he can read one first?

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373 or bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com