Chicago Herald-American

Verizon pays nearly $3 million a year for naming rights to the former Capital Center in Washington, D.C.  (actually MCI bought the naming rights before it was swallowed up by Verizon). And Tuesday's Tribune is one reason why companies like Verizon do that. While American Airlines paid big bucks for a banner display ad at the bottom of the front page of the Tribune sports section, Verizon got even better play for free with its ad on the scroll in front of the scorer's table in the picture of Ben Gordon shooting against the Wizards.

(For what it's worth, United Airlines paid $36 million for a 20-year naming rights deal in 1995. MCI paid $44 million for a 15-year deal at the Cap Center in 2002).

If only he had the grades ...

Illinois gets a lot of grief for failing to recruit the right guy. And while its true in some cases (Marquette's Jerel McNeal likely would have gone there had he been offered a scholarship), it's off the mark in others. Gonzaga's Jeremy Pargo, the Robeson product whose brother Jannero played for the Bulls, hinted in this story by the Tribune's Terry Bannon why he got looks but no offers from Purdue and Illinois out of high school.

"They must have seen my transcripts," Pargo said.

Pargo's questionable grades are good enough for some schools but not for others. Memphis can get almost anyone who can sign his name into school. Not so at Illinois and most Big Ten schools. The same thing happened with Marshall's Patrick Beverley three years ago. Illinois wanted to see his transcript. His people wanted the scholarship first. Beverley went to Arkansas, where he played well his first two years but was dropped from the team after his sophomore season. Not surprisingly, academic issues reportedly were the problem.

One other interesting note from that story: Gonzaga's enrollment was 4,507 when it began its run of NCAA success in 1999. Today the school's enrollment is 7,319.