Rick Marjerus isn’t an easy man to listen to. The St. Louis coach shows no inflection and could lull you to sleep while interviewing him. However, listen to his words because there is so much more to this man.

Marjerus is a rare breed of public sports figures. He is honest, unwavering and responsible. He recently was at a rally for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and supported a women’s right to choose abortion as well as stem cell research.

He took immediate heat from the St. Louis archbishop Raymond Burke who felt a person working at Jesuit school shouldn’t say such things. Instead of waffling on his stance and spinning what he said, Marjerus stood tall and backed his words telling ESPN: “I believe in ending the war. I believe in gun control. I believe in stem-cell [research]. I believe in pro-choice. I respect that women need to make the decisions that are right for them, and I think it’s wrong for people to speculate what they would do in a gut-wrenching, agonizing situation.”

It’s not every day that someone is willing to stand up the way Marjerus has. He cares about winning, but this also shows the man cares about quality of life. I am not going to say whether I agree with his opinions, but it’s good to hear about a man who has opinions. He works at a university where free-thinking and open-mindedness should be embraced rather than stifled.

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The Rutgers basketball teams pulled off an upset that didn’t seem possible this season. The Scarlet Knights have been struggling and it didn’t seem as they would even get a Big East win this year.

Their first conference win came against the most unlikely opponent — No. 19 Villanova. Rutgers defended its home court with an 80-68 win over the Wildcats.

Second-year Rutgers coach Fred Hill used to be an assistant at ‘Nova under Jay Wright and is very close with him. After the game Hill was quoted as saying he had mixed emotions because he would never want to be a person he considers a family member.

But I am sure Hill is not sitting at home wondering how to say sorry. Hill knows that it’s all about winning. Rutgers played great defense as Villanova committed a season-high 19 turnovers. Also, junior Anthony Farmer and freshman Michael Coburn scored 23 points each to lead the Scarlet Knights.

I am sure the RAC was rocking on Wednesday night, but this isn’t going to pull Rutgers out of the Big East cellar. However, this is a start. The women’s basketball has made its mark, making a Final Four appearance last year. The football team is all anyone can talk about in Piscataway despite this year’s mediocrity.

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When you think of college basketball, most people tend to think of March Madness. With the men’s basketball teams fighting for several grueling weeks until one team in the nation gets to reign supreme.

There is more to college basketball to that though. There is actually a whole other side of the sport that doesn’t get as much attention, and I am not immune to that.

Women’s college basketball is just as passionate, just a inspiring as them men’s game. However, if you’re outside of Tennessee or Connecticut, there isn’t much talk on who is going to win the Naismith Award (that’s the women’s National Player of the Year).

One of the most exciting women’s games happened on Monday night when top-ranked UConn took on the No. 3 North Carolina. If you are ready to just skim through the rest of this post or even hit your back button, consider this: the Gampel Pavilion was sold out (10,167) and there were over 100 media request for the game. So, people were interested.

Yes, even though it’s only January, women’s basketball is a big deal and not just when these hard-nosed women make it to Tampa for the Final Four.

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Throughout their long and rich history, the Dodgers and Yankees have been intertwined. In 2008, the Dodgers are hoping the man who returned the Bronx Bombers to the pinnacle of the sport can do the same for their languishing franchise.

When Los Angeles hired Joe Torre as manager Nov. 1, it did so with the intent of ending a 20-year drought between World Series appearances, the longest-such dry spell for the franchise since the then-Brooklyn Dodgers went from 1920 to 1941 between trips to the Fall Classic.

For one of baseball’s traditional powerhouse franchises, that’s a long time without playing for the title. Consider the 47 seasons after 1940: the Dodgers appeared in 16 World Series, including eight in their first 33 seasons in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has not been to the World Series since shocking the Oakland A’s in 1988, Kirk Gibson’s epic pinch-hit homer off Dennis Eckersley to win Game 1 setting the tone for a series L.A. won in five games. In fact, the Dodgers have not won a postseason series since.

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Tom Brady just wasn’t on his game like he usually is, but that didn’t stop the New England Patriots from clenching the AFC Championship and moving one step closer to a perfect year. The Patriots have yet to lose and while much of the emphasis has been on New England’s star quarterback, Tom Brady (a man many believe is the best quarterback of his time), this game really showed how important and worthy the rest of the team is at backing Brady up and seeing that any mistake he made did not turn into a gain for the underdog, San Diego Chargers team.

Brady turned over the ball three times, once in the end zone, something that has not happened in two years since another AFC playoff game. Still, the Chargers were unable to make nothing out of these turnovers thanks to a stellar defense, which held off a battered, albeit better played (than earlier this season), Chargers team. In the third quarter, things looked shaky for the Patriots with the Chargers trailing by 2 (14-12) and Brady turning over the ball in the endzone. While he came back with a TD on the next play after the Chargers were unable to convert the turnover into something playable, the rest of the game seemed standard if not slightly sub par for the team that has now gone 18-0.

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Top-ranked North Carolina has been playing on the edge all season. The Tar Heels almost lost twice this season and unranked Maryland finally pulled it off.

The Terps Bambale Osby hit a layup with 21 seconds left for the winner. Maryland stunned North Carolina and now No. 2 Memphis fans everywhere finally feel redeemed.

The Tar Heels had two close ones already this season. They defeated Clemson 90-88 in overtime and beat Georgia Tech 83-82. This team was either going to squeak by in the close games, which just showed how good the team really is, or the close games were going to catch up to them.

Obviously, it was the latter. North Carolina is off to its best start in nearly 20 years, so this one loss isn’t going to denounce the team. The Tar Heels are top five team and should treated as such. Pundits have such high esteem for this team that even after the close games, no one really changed their position thinking they shouldn’t be the top ranked team in the country.

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Bob Knight is definitely a character. I watched Texas Tech’s game last night hoping to see Knight pull off his 900th, and I wasn’t disappointed. Going into the game it didn’t look good for Texas Tech as it was playing Texas A&M, the No. 10 ranked team in the country.

However, Tech took control of the game from the start and defeated the Aggies, 68-53. The gym was packed, there were signs being held up everywhere. Fans wanted to witness history as Knight became the first Division I men’s coach to 900 wins.

Afterward, he address the crowd on a microphone.

“You folks being here — seats being full for a change — really made a difference tonight,” he said.

The crowd roared, but I think Knight was taking a dig at the fans. Before I watched the game, I was actually in attendance for the Temple vs. No. 20 Xavier game last night. Temple pulled off the upset (hitting 13 3-pointers helped), but I couldn’t help but notice how the crowd was sparse. The Liacouras Center is in the middle of Philadelphia with a train and bus stops in the vicinity, yet the school can’t pack the gym for a ranked team. I guess it’s been that way since John Chaney left.

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With all the recent drama regarding Zuffa and their heavyweight champion, its good to see some things settled as they were meant to be: In the cage.

Saturday brings us the event from the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England where BJ Penn will get his third shot at the UFC lightweight title against Joe “Daddy” Stevenson.

Now, most people, myself include, expect BJ to dominate the fight. His striking is technical and efficient. His chin is iron. His grappling is a work of art. He’s defeated the best fighters of the sport and fought in four weight classes. His seemingly boneless legs provide a near unbeatable takedown defense and a flexibility on the ground that frustrates and overwhelms opponents.

BJ Penn IS mixed martial arts. There’s no way around that.

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Its official! The UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, LLC, filed a lawsuit in Clark County District court against five time UFC champion and overall MMA idol Randy “The Natural” Couture. The suit alleges that certain comments Couture made regarding the UFC staff and senior management caused the business “irreparable” damage and that he is also in breach of the contract he signed to come back out of retirement in December 2006.

The conflict between fighter and organization had been brewing since Couture announced his resignation from the UFC in October last year. Not only was “The Natural” upset with UFC management, but he also wanted to close out his career by fighting the widely regarded #1 Heavyweight in the world (and suspected Cyborg) Fedor Emelianenko.

Before the announcement, Couture was confident a fight with Fedor, who opted not to sign with the UFC, would be possible later this year when he was free from his obligation to Zuffa. With the suit, though, extensive court procedures may render Couture unable to fight because blah blah blah blah.

The real question is: What does this mean for the fans?

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If college basketball hasn’t felt right this year, perhaps is because Dick Vitale hasn’t been screaming at you from the television.

A North Carolina vs. Duke game isn’t the same without Vitale, the colorful ESPN analyst, yelling “BABY!” about sixty times in a broadcast. Love or hate him, fans have to admit he brings an excitement to college basketball that many others can’t.

Vitale had surgery on his vocal cords to remove non-cancerous lesions in December. Everything went well for the 68 year old and he is expected to return on Feb. 6.

Guess which game he is calling. Time’s up. North Carolina and Duke.

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