In wake of the sports week

Some of the news making the rounds this week:
Regardless of how Warren Harding's state championship game turned out Saturday night against Cincinnati Elder, you must give coach Thom McDaniels and his players and staff all the credit in the world.
Last year, the Raiders had the nation's best player in the backfield and fell just short of competing for the state championship.
This season, without Maurice Clarett but with Prescott Burgess (one of the most highly-recruited players in the state injured for much of the season), McDaniels kept Warren Harding on an unbeaten pace and took the team even further into the state tournament.
It reminds us of the 1997-98 seasons at Tennessee, which lost to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl in Peyton Manning's final season, then defeated Florida State the following January in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship with Tee Martin under center.
Augusta controversy
As a follow-up to this space last week, an Associated Press poll has found that Americans are evenly divided over the issue of Augusta National Golf Club admitting women.
According to the AP, 46 percent believe Augusta should admit women and 46 percent should remain all-male.
The remaining eight percent were probably incredulous that the Associated Press would waste our time taking a survey.
Hurricanes on roll
As much as we hate making predictions (and our performance in the weekly high school football picks proved that), mark this down: Miami will not lose to Virginia Tech.
The 'Canes performance against Syracuse on Saturday was impressive, to say the least. Coach Larry Coker has his team playing its best at the end of the regular season.
Miami thrives on big plays. If Ohio State is to beat the 'Canes on Jan. 3, the Buckeye defense will have to eliminate the big plays. Perhaps Miami will prove to be too impatient to drive the length of the field against Ohio State and make some costly mistakes.
Certainly, Ohio State's "bend but no break defense" will be put to the test in the Fiesta Bowl. It will be even more important for the Buckeyes' offense to put up some points in that game. Coach Jim Tressel, no doubt, does not want to get into a shootout, but more than two touchdowns will be needed, most certainly.
No more Michael
Michael Jordan announced that there is zero chance he will return to play in the NBA next season. Which is, in our opinion, a couple of years too late. MJ had it made, making the game-winning shot against the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals, then riding off into the sunset with the title of game's greatest player.
Being the competitor that he is, though, Jordan still felt the itch to play.
While he was able to relive some great moments in his return, far too often MJ was a caricature of his former self.
It was hard to watch the endless replays on "Sportscenter" earlier this season of Jordan getting stuffed by the rim on a dunk attempt.
Line of the year
Finally, the line of the year, by Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press and ESPN's "The Sportswriters," about Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High televising its boys basketball games, featuring LeBron James, on pay-per-view: "For years we've complained about the exploitation of college athletes and demanding that someone do something about it.
"Well, someone has. Now, they're exploiting high school athletes."
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.