3 sports things you NEED to do

This is far from a complete list -- just stuff that's on my mind due to events of this week:

1) Go to the CIAA tournament. I don't mean this year -- if you haven't been already, it's a little late for that unless you get in the car right about now to go see if J.C. Smith can win either or both of the men's and women's 2009 finals. But the tournament returns to Charlotte in 2010 and 2011. It's got a definite charm (here's my column about Friday night's action there).

2) Watch Stephen Curry play. In person. He can't be totally appreciated until you see the quickness firsthand. Everyone knows Curry can shoot, but what people don't always understand is that whenever there's a 50-50 ball on the court, he invariably comes up with it. His overall quickness is amazing, and congrats to Curry for surpassing John Gerdy's all-time Davidson scoring record today with 34 against Ga. Southern.

3) Read Jon Beason's blog (which you can do here). He's got a newsy item up there right now about his recent shoulder surgery, but scroll back a little bit, too, and read the Pro Bowl stuff. You can tell this is actually a blog that the athlete writes, not one of those that is "ghostwritten" by a bunch of image consultants. It sounds like Beason, and it's fascinating.