Michael's daughter Julia (via Michael)As he reviewed the divorce settlement his ex-wife's lawyer handed him earlier this year, Michael noticed an inequity he hadn't anticipated.

His ex-wife requested custody of their son and daughter for four Jewish holidays and half their Christmas vacation. The only Catholic holiday he'd intended to ask for in the custody agreement besides Christmas was Easter.

"I'm thinking to myself, 'This is highly unbalanced,'" said Michael, who requested only his first name be printed in this story to protect his kids. "I'm not a very religious person, so I tried to think of culturally some other things that are important to me that I wanted to make sure I share with my kids."

Two of the three days Michael requested to have 7-year-old Julia and 5-year-old Liam were St. Patrick's Day and Super Bowl Sunday, nothing too out of the ordinary. His third request, however, was one neither his attorney nor his wife's had ever encountered before.

Michael asked for Julia and Liam to be with him on the day of the NCAA men's basketball title game if Syracuse is one of the two teams playing. A lifelong fan who grew up in Syracuse but now lives in the Chicago suburbs, Michael passionately supports the Orange and hopes to pass that down to his children.

"Even though Syracuse has only won the title once and it may not happen for another 20 years, it's something that's really important to me," Michael said. "It's not a holiday exactly, but it is holy to me. Other people define themselves by their religion or race. Frankly, Syracuse sports, especially basketball, football and lacrosse, are a big part of my heritage."

Neil Reed and Bob Knight (Getty Images)To most college basketball fans, Neil Reed was the Indiana player legendary coach Bob Knight choked in 1997.

To those close to Reed, however, he was far more than that.

He was a McDonald's All-American who led East Jefferson High in New Orleans to a pair of appearances in the state tournament. He was a PE teacher and sports enthusiast who coached basketball and golf at a high school in Central California. And he was a father to two daughters, ages 4 and 6.

Reed, 36, died Thursday of a massive heart attack, fellow faculty members at Pioneer Valley High School told the Santa Maria Times. The Nipomo, Calif., resident had difficulty breathing Thursday morning and was taken to an area hospital where he went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

[Related: Iona grieves over the tragic death of incoming recruit Michael Haynes]

A solid but unspectacular player throughout his first three seasons at Indiana, Reed's life changed when Knight attacked and choked him during a practice near the end of his junior season. Knight dismissed Reed from the team at the end of the season and he finished his college career at Southern Mississippi.

In March 2000, Reed went public with his claims that Knight had choked him three years earlier. The Indiana coach denied the accusation, but video of the incident surfaced, giving the school further reason to fire Knight six months later.

I'm sick of them. You're sick of them. Heck, by now even Carly Rae Jepsen is probably sick of them.

And yet, new "Call Me Maybe" parody videos keep rolling in by the day like waves at the seashore.

Xavier coach Chris Mack and his family added their entry to an ever-growing illustrious list that includes everything from the Harvard baseball team, to SMU women's rowing, to USA Swimming. And what Mack, wife Christi, and daughters Lainee and Hailey lack in originality, they at least make up for in enthusiasm.

How many Division I head coaches would do a song-and-dance number to a pop song? And how many of them would film it and put it on YouTube? I'll give you Buzz Williams, Tom Izzo and Bill Self, but the list might not get far into double figures.

If there's a hidden message to the parody — and like all pop song parodies it isn't subtle — it's that Mack would like recruits to call. Hopefully prospects interested in Xavier have better taste in music than their potential future coach but they appreciate his enthusiasm nonetheless.

Photos of Northwesterns new uniforms via the school's official athletics site

No longer will Northwestern football merely be known for its high-octane spread offense, its suspect defense or its 63-year bowl victory drought.

Now one of the Wildcats' signatures will also be a prominent horizontal stripe previously reserved for rugby shirts or soccer jerseys.

Photos of Northwesterns new uniforms via the school's official athletics siteThe stripe across the sleeves, chest and back is the most striking and unusual feature of the new Northwestern football uniforms Under Armour unveiled Thursday. The Wildcats will debut the more subtle home uniform against Syracuse on Sept. 1 and the splashier road jerseys at Vanderbilt on Sept. 8.

Under Armour included the design element as an homage to the "Northwestern stripe," the school's signature thin-thick-thin striping pattern that it pioneered in 1928, paving the way for it to spread throughout the world of sports. Most assumed the pattern would go on Northwestern's socks or sleeves when Under Armour indicated it wanted the stripe to be part of the new jerseys, but the designers had a bolder option in mind.

"Under Armour is dedicated to making all athletes better through innovation and design and the new Northwestern uniforms are the perfect example of blending best-in-class technology with the University's rich football heritage," Under Armour's Matt Mirchin said in a statement. "We are excited to see these uniforms take the field and look forward to providing the entire Northwestern athletic department with a unique, cohesive look."

Reaction to the jerseys has been largely positive among Northwestern fans thus far.

This year's Maui Invitational features North Carolina, Texas and Butler, among others (AP)

Most of the top holiday tournaments next season released their brackets on Thursday. Here's a look at the brackets, who got the toughest and easiest draws and some initial thoughts on each tournament:

MAUI INVITATIONAL
Dates (Site): Nov. 19-21 (Lahaina)
Matchups: Butler vs. Marquette; Mississippi State vs. North Carolina; Texas vs. Chaminade; USC vs. Illinois
Toughest draw: Rebuilding Mississippi State's first two games will be against North Carolina and either Butler or Marquette. Plan on being in the seventh-place game against Chaminade, Bulldogs.
Most favorable draw: Texas should be thrilled to not only get host Chaminade in the first round but also to be on the opposite side of the bracket from North Carolina, Butler and Marquette.
Parting thoughts: It's not as potent a field as past editions, but it will be wide open with six teams that have realistic hope of winning the tournament. North Carolina must replace four first-round draft picks. Marquette is beginning life without Darius Johnson-Odom and Jae Crowder. Texas must find a go-to scorer to replace J'Covan Brown. USC welcomes a handful of key transfers. Illinois has a new coach. And Butler must prove it can shoot the ball thanks to the addition of transfer Rotnei Clarke and recruit Kellen Dunham.

CBE CLASSIC
Dates (Site): Nov. 19-20 (Kansas City)
Matchups: Texas A&M vs. Saint Louis; Kansas vs. Washington State
Toughest draw: A semifinal against Kansas in front of a pro-Jayhawks crowd was the nightmare scenario. Good luck, Washington State.
Most favorable draw: Kansas plays in front of a partisan crowd and avoids facing A-10 favorite Saint Louis until the title game. The Jayhawks couldn't have asked for more.
Parting thoughts: Since rivals Missouri and Kansas won't be playing one-another next season, a potential CBE Classic Title Game between the Jayhawks and Saint Louis may be as close to the Border War as we're going to get. The defensive-oriented Billikens return every key piece of last year's NCAA tournament team besides forward Brian Conklin. They'll have a tougher semifinal than Kansas, however, against a Texas A&M team that is formidable down low and features Elston Turner on the perimeter.

Penn State students would have been more shocked had the NCAA handed down a four-year death penalty (Getty Images)

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports' Pat Forde on Monday, NCAA President Mark Emmert revealed that members of the Division I Board of Directors discussed much more severe penalties than the ones actually levied against Penn State.

Now we know specifically what was on the table.

Emmert and Penn State President Rodney Erickson told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" on Wednesday that the majority of school presidents favored suspending the university's football program for four years.

Instead of either accepting that unprecedented punishment or forcing the NCAA to launch a formal investigation by refusing to accept sanctions, Erickson entered covert discussions with the NCAA in hopes of reaching a compromise that did not include the death penalty. The result was a defacto plea bargain in the form of the consent agreement Penn State leaders signed. In return for the NCAA taking the "death penalty" out of the punishment, Erickson agreed not to appeal penalties that included a four-year bowl ban, the nullification of 112 wins, massive scholarship reductions and a $60 million fine.

That Erickson negotiated that deal without consulting Penn State's board of trustees did not please everyone. The board of trustees met Wednesday with Erickson to discuss whether he had the authority to agree to the penalties without its approval and released a statement begrudgingly expressing its acceptance of the deal he negotiated.

"The Board finds the punitive sanctions difficult and the process with the NCAA unfortunate," the statement read.  "But as we understand it, the alternatives were worse as confirmed by NCAA President Mark Emmert's recent statement that Penn State was likely facing a multi-year death sentence."

Kansas will make a league-high four Big Monday appearances next year (Getty Images)

The announcement of ESPN's Big Monday schedule for the Big 12 next season proves the old adage that the victors receive the spoils.

Kansas will appear on Big Monday a league-high four times next winter, a fitting reward for a program in search of its ninth consecutive Big 12 title.

Four other Big 12 teams will make multiple Big Monday appearances: Three apiece for Baylor, Texas and newcomer West Virginia and a pair for Kansas State. The only two Big 12 teams left off the nine-game slate are bottom-feeding Texas Tech and fledgling TCU, neither of which have either the talent or panache to merit a primetime national TV appearance.

It's hard to know in advance whether ESPN selected the right matchups, but the network's choices appear pretty enticing on paper.

The Jan. 14 opener between Baylor and Kansas probably pits the Jayhawks against the top contender for the Big 12 crown. Both teams lost multiple key players to the NBA draft, but Baylor returns the league's best backcourt headlined by guards Pierre Jackson and Brady Heslip and Kansas has three starters back from last year and finally adds highly touted freshman Ben McLemore.

Three appearances by newcomer West Virginia also was a smart choice by ESPN because the presence of the Mountaineers ensure some fresh matchups this year. Kansas' Jan. 28 visit to Morgantown is the first meeting between the schools and West Virginia's Feb. 18 trip to Kansas State will mark Bob Huggins' return to the school he briefly coached.

Zac Nuttall shoots a free throw (photo by Kristy Nuttall)

To provide a window into the pressure facing borderline recruits trying to earn their first Division I scholarship offers, Yahoo! Sports will track guard Zac Nuttall during the July evaluation period. This is the third installment in the series.

Unlike most of his peers who rush to the DMV to take their driving test soon after they turn 16, Zac Nuttall is in no hurry to get his license.

The 17-year-old has spent so much time this summer playing basketball, working out with trainers or getting up shots at the gym that car rides with his parents to practices or games are the only time he has to rest. Nuttall napped much of the time the family spent in the car last week driving 120 miles a day to and from the Best of the Summer Tournament in Anaheim.

"A lot of his buddies will say, 'I can't believe you don't have your driver's license yet,'" mother Kristy Nuttall said. "He'll tell them, 'I don't have a problem being driven around.'"

The extra rest Nuttall got courtesy of his parents could only have aided his attempts to convince college coaches in attendance in Anaheim he's worthy of a spot on their rosters. The point guard played five games in three nights, helping lead BTI Select to three wins in its first four games before its tournament ended Friday night with a one-point overtime loss in the quarterfinals.

Although the tournament-ending loss was a disappointment for a BTI team that led by 10 at halftime and had hopes of winning the event, Nuttall's performance during the week was once again solid. He shot the ball consistently well, he was aggressive going to the rim and he made good decisions as point guard.

In Nuttall's best game, a win over Idaho Select on Friday afternoon, he looked particularly comfortable and confident running the team. He fell one assist shy of a double-double and did not commit a single turnover, a stat line that put a smile on the face of his coach.