Kate Bolduan (pronounced ‘Baldwin’) made history this morning by becoming the youngest news anchor on a major network at 29 years of age by being named to co-host CNN’s new morning news show, ‘New Day’.  CNN, however, is banking on this being more than a mere publicity stunt.

Kate Bolduan, a native of Goshen, Indiana (same hometown as former Notre Dame and Chicago Bears QB Rick Mirer), a mere 120 miles from Chicago, has ridden the fastest of tracks to this level.  After graduating from George Washington University in 2005, she began her TV journalism career as an intern at NBC News.  The internship was followed by gigs at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. and WTVD in Raleigh, North Carolina.  A mere 3 years later, at 24, CNN Newsource, the network’s wire service for local TV stations, plucked Kate Bolduan from her regional news positions to cover national stories.  A year later or so, she was covering Congress for the mother network and sitting next to Wolf Blitzer as a co-anchor on CNN’s ‘The Situation Room’.

CNN’s News Chief, Jeffery Zucker, formerly the CEO of NBC, knows a thing about both creating magic in morning network news as he became executive producer of NBC’s ‘Today’ show at the ripe young age of 26 and hopes to catch lightning in a bottle with Bolduan, former ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ anchor Chris Cuomo and local anchor Michaela Pereira just as he did in making Matt Lauer, Katie Couric and Al Roker household names.

In fact, Zucker has already made a bold claim when he told reporters that the lineup for CNN’s new morning show, ‘New Day’ would mark the same kind of generational shift as the team he put together for “Today” did during that program’s most successful years.

So what is it that makes this Midwestern girl-next-door stunner named Kate Bolduan quite possibly network news’ ‘Next Big Thing’?

Kate Bolduan is Polished – her level of polish and savvy exceeds someone far beyond her years but Bolduan more than held her own with CNN’s resident beard, Wolf Blitzer since 2008, covering the 2008 Presidential Election.  Kate then quickly established herself as one of CNN’s D.C.-based congressional  correspondents, covering the activities of the U.S. House and Senate as a member  of the Capitol Hill unit.

Kate Bolduan is Smart – Bolduan is the child of medical professionals, her dad being a physician.  Bolduan herself graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from George Washington (GW) University.  Bolduan was active during her time at GW, playing varsity volleyball, acting in plays and interning at ‘House & Garden’ magazine.

Kate Bolduan is Hot – sure, she’s not hot in the sense of HLN’s uber-stunner, Christi Paul or ‘Good Morning America’s (GMA’s) Amy Robach – those two are ‘Super Model’-level stunners – however, Bolduan personifies those wholesome, girl-next-door qualities which, combined with a supreme level of intellect and poise, not to mention a killer figure and naturally stunning looks, can make one forget Katie Couric ever captivated some of those very qualities during her early ‘Today Show’ years.

While the pressure is definitely on Boduan and Cuomo to try to resurrect CNN’s flailing morning news programming, Kate Bolduan could be the next major network major news star.

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Sometimes the Wake Forest Demon Deacons don’t make the cut for the college football 77 in 77. There’s a whole lot of ACC in the 70s and 60s ranked teams; and a ton of basketball schools. Wake Forest is usually down here in the dregs with Duke, Kentucky, Boston College, Indiana, Virgina, every season. It’s b-ball schools and ACC; or both.

And Wake Forest Coach Jim Grobe has done well against the other ACC schools in the state. He’s 15-5 versus Duke, North Carolina and NC State since 2010. Expectations for football are pretty low at Wake Forest; their stadium seats only 31,000.

Wake Forest last season: 5-7 with a win over a nobody in the Enron Nothing Bowl. Not bad! Offense was a “No Wake Zone” as the Deacons finished 117th in total O, 114th in scoring, 113th in rushing. However, at least they were balanced. Wake Forest was also 100th in passing defense, 91 in scoring defense, and 88th in total defense. The under .500 finish was rather disappointing given that WF started out so hot at 3-1.

Wake Forest reasons to get EXCITED! ALL CAPS! QB Tanner Price  is back. And he’s good. So there’s that. But he hasn’t looked very good lately, because spring ball was a mess. He also struggled last year due to the ineffectiveness of his O Line and receivers. The Demon Deacons do have 14 seniors coming back who should contribute. And their whole starting defensive line returns. Even though their DL wasn’t actually good. Hey, at least they’re back.

Wake Forest reasons to get worried :(   What exactly does this team do exceedingly well? Stop the run? Not that well. Wake Forest hasn’t been to a bowl since the streak of 2006-08. There’s no reason to believe the blocking will be any better this year; and with that the run game should suck to high heaven again. Don’t expect a lot of holes for their pedestrian tailback tandem to run through.

Key games: September 6th vs Boston College is the real season opener, as beating Presbyterian doesn’t actually count. You and I could beat Presbyterian by ourselves. Sept 14th vs Louisiana-Monroe is important, as it could go either way potentially. So you’re looking at a very doable 3-0 out of the gates, which would do wonders for setting the tone on the season.

Wake Forest bottom line: With their soft schedule, at least 5-7 looks doable. 4-8 if they mess up. A bowl bid might actually happen if they can knock out B.C. and Syracuse. However, they’ll still be a pretty bad team. I would say 5th or 6th in the ACC Atlantic. However, that streak of no conference championships since 1970 fell in ’06, a magical season in which Wake Forest became the smallest school to ever play in a BCS game. After that THRILLING and EXCITING 9-6 win over Georgia Tech in the ACC Title game. This should buy Grobe more time. Even if they fail to make a bowl yet again this year.

Key & Peele East/West College Bowl Roster: QB Maddox Starney, TB Sherman Ragland III, OLB Duke Ejiofor

For the 2013 College Football rankings 1-77

#77 Colorado Buffaloes

#76 Kansas Jayhawks

#75 Ohio Bobcats

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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The Illini had some serious issues at quarterback last year. To quote Spandau Ballett: “I know this much is true.” They also had some issues on the O Line, and in the receiving corps and the running backs and the…Let’s move on. Ex Oklahoma State quarterback Wes Lunt, a Rochester Illinois native, is coming home, according to multiple reports.

Lunt could be a good fit for the Illini and Bill Cubit’s spread offense.

In addition to the Illini, Lunt considered Southern Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Louisville. This news won’t really affect current Illini signal caller Nate Scheelhaase, who regressed terribly last season. However, I doubt backup QB Reilly O’Toole is especially thrilled with the idea of Wes Lunt coming in. As O’Toole has a legit chance of inheriting the job once Scheelhaase is gone.

Wes Lunt will have to sit out a year. I guess Lunt didn’t gel with Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. And anytime you mention Gundy you have to bring up:

“I’M A MAN! I’M 40!!!! I DON’T READ NEWSPAPERS CUZ THEY’RE GARBAGE!!!”

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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Miss Utah Marissa Powell is the latest pageant winner to show what happens when you combine the dangerous mixture of intellectually challenged women and extreme micro-managed public relations. Beauty contestants aren’t the brightest bunch, and they’re expecting to over manipulate every public statement as if they’re the Machiavellian of politicians.

Marissa Powell was asked about gender income disparity during last night’s Miss USA pageant. Her answer was perhaps the most nonsensical thing ever said in a public forum. If the Equal Pay Act was a living human being, its head would have exploded upon hearing this dreck:

I think we can relate this back to education and how we are continuing to try to strive to (pause) figure out how to create jobs right now. That is the biggest problem and I think, especially the men, are um, seen as the leaders of this and so we need to try and figure out how to create education better so we can solve this problem. (h/t Guyism for the transcript)

Marissa Powell on Twitter

Marissa Powell homepage

Still not as bad as Miss South Carolina Caitlin Upton in 2007

In the case of both, I cite Billy Madison:

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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HBO Sports, NFL Films and the Cincinnati Bengals coalesce when Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Cincinnati Bengals debuts August 6th. The first sports based reality show kicks off its five-episode eighth season that Tuesday night at 9 PM CDT on HBO. Hour-long episodes debut subsequent Tuesdays, with an encore every Wednesday at 10:00 p.m CDT.

The Cincinnati Bengals Hard Knocks ends on Sept. 3.

“With playoff appearances three of the past four seasons, the Bengals have built a terrific young team and we are extremely grateful to both Coach Marvin Lewis and the entire organization for agreeing to participate. The series has become captivating television with appeal far beyond the hardcore football fan,” Ken Hershman, President, HBO Sports.

“This year’s Bengals squad provides us with a compelling combination of unique storylines: a veteran coaching staff, young superstars, high-profile free agents and an intriguing draft class,” said Howard Katz, COO of NFL Films and NFL Senior Vice President of Broadcasting.

The Cincinnati Bengals compete in the ultra-competitive AFC Central, so watching them prepare for the 2013 NFL season will provide great drama in the preseason before the real drama of the regular season. Hard Knocks in in its 12th season:

Said Cincinnati Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis added: “Some people say, ‘Well, you won the division the last time you did this; is that a reason for doing it again?’ I really don’t think that matters or figures much into the decision. Every day, every time is a new experience. As coaches and players, we just go into it knowing we have to do our jobs to the utmost. We have a grueling schedule, and expectations are very high, particularly among ourselves.”

A 24-person NFL Films crew will live in the city of Cincinnati as the Bengals will hold camp at Paul Brown Stadium, shooting more than 1,250 hours of footage shot over the course of the series.

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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I tweeted last night a few hours before NBA Finals game 5: “Look for Miami Heat Forward and Struthiomimus Chris Bosh to have another big game tonight. He was coming off a 20-13 in game 4 as Bosh and the Heat bounced back with a bang. Chris Bosh put up a 16-6 as the Heat lost rather convincingly.

Now the Spurs have the Heat on the verge of extinction. Ever since Chris Bosh was drafted by the Toronto Raptors; there’s been a popular consensus that he looks like a velociraptor. Or another dinosaur. Some others say a weasel or an ostrich.

I say Struthiomimus, a genus of ornithomimid dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada and Wyoming, USA. So it is quite funny and beyond coincidental that Chris Bosh was drafted by the one Canadian NBA team. And the one franchise with a dinosaur nickname.

Anyways, here are the best “Chris Bosh as a dinosaur” memes, side by sides, Photoshops etc. that I found on “the internets.”

Intro pic from Total Frat Move.

Next one from The Takeover

Next two from Sports Memes:

From Twicsy.com

From Ryan Writes Daily:

By the way it’s hilarious that “open the door get on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur” has a “Miami Vice” reference right there in the opening verse. Watch below

Weird Al Yankovic’s “Jurassic Park” song is an underrated classic too.

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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Danica Patrick finally finished a race in a spot not in the high 20s or 30s for a change. She finished a respectable 13th in the Quicken Loans 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Danica Patrick, driver of the GoDaddy Chevrolet SS scored just her third top-15 finish of 2013. Remember, Patrick finished eighth in February in the season-opening Daytona 500 and 12th in April at Martinsville. Still think NASCAR is fixed? If it is, then why don’t they fix at least one race for their most popular driver/media personality?

Or at least let her finish in the top 5 for once.

Crew chief Tony Gibson was pleased with Danica Patrick’s first Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan.

“We had a really good car all day,” Gibson said. “She did a really nice job. We were a little loose to start, but once we got that fixed, we were definitely a top-15, top-20 car. We tried to stay on the same track position as all the other leaders and make sure we didn’t get ourselves in a bad position. And then we let her do the rest. It was a good day for us. She drove hard.”

Patrick’s teammate Tony Stewart, finished fifth to score his 12th top-five in 29 career Sprint Cup starts at the 2-mile oval. It was also Smoke’s third top-five this season.

Danica Patrick is competing for the Rookie of the Year honors against her boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr., She finished three spots ahead of him.

The next Sprint Cup race is the Toyota/Save Mart 350k on Sunday, June 23 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. We’ll see how Danica Patrick does then.

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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Wow, Maria Taylor is a former volleyball player and a MBA! Who looks like this? I’m getting excited!

Maria Taylor on Twitter

Maria Taylor on ESPN Front Row

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now,  Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports

A Fulbright scholar, published author and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; he’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too.

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If the San Antonio Spurs win the NBA Finals, then forward Danny Green should be your NBA Finals MVP.

Green has been a hero for the Spurs this NBA Finals, and with it he’s becoming America’s Sweetheart. Danny Green was 6-for-10 from the 3-point line — setting an NBA Finals record for most 3-pointers in a series (25) — and he scored 24 points to put the Spurs a win away from their fifth NBA championship in 14 years.

Danny used to be known first and foremost for what he did to Duke guard Greg Paulus (pictured below) during his UNC Tar Heels days; that’s won him some fans too. When you posterize (and place your crotch right on the face) of one of the most hated players in college basketball history, it helps you win friends and influence people

Danny Green at the NBA Finals media session tonight

Q: You did the same thing yourself. You kept shooting the ball and missed a few and made a few, but made that big one in the fourth.

Danny Green: Our bench guys have been doing a great job all year of encouraging us. Every time we catch that ball they are yelling on the bench “shoot it, shoot it” and they give a great deal of confidence.  Pop does. Everybody. They are doing a great job of encouraging us to keep shooting and eventually it’s going to fall.

Q: Having played against LeBron, how tough is Kawhi’s challenge?

Danny Green: Very tough. Obviously he’s the best player in the world. He’s doing a good job on the ball and everybody is doing a good job behind him and making him feel confident and able to guard him.

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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The Miami Heat failed to win consecutive games yet again.  The Heat must now win consecutive games to defend their NBA title. But they haven’t won back to back since the closeout Game 5 of the Chicago Bulls series and Game 1 against the Indiana Pacers. That win actually closed out a five-game postseason winning streak, but the Miami Heat are 5-6 since then.

“It just snowballed down the hill [from then], and we couldn’t control it. And so we just didn’t show the mental resolve that we needed at that point,” Miami Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers has been off since game 2.  He was 2-for-10 tonight (he had as many turnovers as made shots) and is 4-for-19 since then. 2010 was the last time the NBA Finals saw a game 7. And coincidentally, it was the last time the loser of game 5 in a series went on to win the Finals.

“That might be the series. Come on, this is The Finals. It’s elite basketball right now. There’s not a large margin for error either way. We had some empty possessions, and it cost us,” said Spoelstra.

The Miami Heat troika was formed a few weeks after that game, with the infamous “not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4…..” If the San Antonio Spurs win Tuesday it will make the Miami Heat just 1 for 3 in the NBA finals since the Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh triad formed. The Spurs get 1/100 the headlines, but they could have a perfect Finals record of 5-0 if they can win on Tuesday. Or on Thursday if a game 7 is forced.

Game 6 is Tuesday,  the Miami Heat will host 8 p.m. CDT. This is the same exact situation as the 2011 NBA Finals when they lost to the Dallas Mavericks: down 3-2 going home for two. This will go 7 though, mark my words.

“During the year we had 15, 20 games where we were down by ten and had to find a way or up and lose a lead. We’ve been in every situation you can. That’s not an excuse. We just didn’t execute and they did,” said Spoelstra

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker

Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook

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