Living Without Football
It was an easygoing, unassuming late-summer Saturday in Rhode Island. I had completed my weekend house-husband chores (saving the stinky litter boxes for last, as usual), then prepared for a long, languid afternoon of relaxation on the patio. I contemplated the birdfeeder, turning out a few chamber-couplets about finches into a Moleskine.

Game 7-041 - Wagner at Bryant
Wednesday night, another giant pink blob moved up the Eastern seaboard weather map, headed straight for America East territory. A few hundred people took refuge from the oncoming storm in spacious Agganis Arena, Boston University's home for hockey -- and the occasional Terriers basketball game. The men's team plays four or five games a year there now, instead of at The Roof.

111. PMMP - Heliumpallo (2012)
And now there’s even less music in Finland, since one of Helsinki’s best pop bands ended transmission this calendar year after a decade of service. PMMP, fronted by Paula Vesala and Mira Luoti, were endlessly poptimistic purveyors of innocent wonder, their lyrics full of toys and candy and metaphors for childhood. But ten years was enough.

Northern Iowa, Pride of the Valley
In a lot of ways, Northern Iowa feels like the Missouri Valley's far outpost, all the way up there at the tip of the conference. There's no sizable metropolitan area or skyline, like the western points of Omaha and Wichita, and Cedar Falls doesn't jump up on you on the highway -- you have to choose to go there, as it's not along any of Iowa's major two-digit interstates.

MMBOW #16 - Darren Brooks, Southern Illinois
Darren is a senior guard for the Saluki-men who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 205 pounds. SIU's team leader uses his quick hands to steal, his long arms and powerful hops to snare rebounds, and his soft touch to score points. And he scores a lot.