UCLA’s Honeycutt to enter NBA draft

UCLA sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt announced Monday that he will hire an agent and make himself eligible for the NBA draft.
“After speaking with my family and everyone close to me and all of my coaches here, I feel that it is in my best interest to enter the NBA Draft this year,” Honeycutt said. “We had a good year and I finished strong and with it being a so-called weak draft this year, I feel that it is best for me to leave.”
Honeycutt averaged 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.1 blocks.
“He did a great job for us the past two years and has worked very hard and has improved a lot,” UCLA head coach Ben Howland said. “He made a big jump from the end of his freshman year to now. I’m 100 percent supportive of his decision.”

NFL Picks Week 14: Shine’s Off Colts-Titans Matchup

Peyton Manning has thrown 11 interceptions in three games which is … nothing that can’t be fixed by a running game and healthy receivers. Peyton doesn’t really have them these days, but he does have a trip Thursday night to Tennessee, where he and the Colts play a team that’s having even more problems than they’re having.

Like at quarterback, where Vince Young is on IR (and at odds with Jeff Fisher); Kerry Collins may finally have reached his expiration date; Randy Moss is not the injured Kenny Britt; and Chris Johnson is only 40 percent of the way to his avowed goal of 2,500 yards with three-quarters of the season gone.

In any case, both teams have lost three straight but things seem even worse for the Titans than the Colts — Indy, at 6-6, still has a decent chance to win the AFC North and get their ninth straight playoff berth.

Well, at least a decent chance to win this game.

IndyCar offering $5 million bonus for Las Vegas race

The sanctioning body of the IZOD IndyCar Series revealed that Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the 2011 season-ending race and a huge jackpot of $5 million will be awarded to any driver not competing in the series that wins the event.

IndyCar chief executive officer Randy Bernard said during a press conference held on Tuesday in Las Vegas that five non-IndyCar drivers will be accepted for the multi-million dollar challenge. The outsiders will be determined by mid-summer.

Therefore, some NASCAR drivers could be eligible to compete in the Las Vegas race, which has been scheduled for Sunday, October 16 at 3:30 p.m. NASCAR’s top-tier series is competing the night before at Charlotte Motor Speedway — the site of the fifth event in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

IndyCar officials are hopeful the challenge will further promote the series, which has struggled in popularity for several years.

“We showcase our drivers as being the very best, fastest and most versatile in the world, and we are putting our money where our mouth is,” Bernard said.

The addition of Las Vegas comes five months after IndyCar released its 2011 schedule. Las Vegas had been widely rumored as the site of the 17th and final race of the season. The series last competed at this 1.5-mile oval in 2000.

Las Vegas was reconfigured with steeper banking in its four turns in 2006.

“We had the opportunity to conduct a test with Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske at Las Vegas last November, and our cars performed very well at this facility,” said Brian Barnhart, who is IndyCar’s president of competition and operations. “Its banking and width is similar to Chicagoland Speedway, which has produced some of the most exciting, side-by-side racing and closest finishes in the history of the series.”

IndyCar had held it’s season-ending race at Chicagoland from 2006-08 and then Homestead-Miami Speedway the last two years. Both tracks have been dropped from the schedule.

Series officials also announced the start times for each of its 17 races. The May 29 Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to begin at noon (et), one hour earlier than in recent years.

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