Tony Stewart has been granted a release from his final year under contract to Joe Gibbs Racing.  Stewart, who has been with the Gibbs team for 10 years, has earned the team 2 NASCAR titles, and been known as NASCAR’s version of Terrell Owens, at times, has decided to move on to bigger and better opportunities.

Tony Stewart will be joining Haas/CNC Racing as co-owner of the Cup team, as well as driver.  The deal involved includes the highest driver wage currently on the NASCAR circuit.  Even besting Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s massive deal last season.  Stewart will claim a 50% stake in the new Stewart Haas racing team and will be involved with any decision making going on.

If you add up Stewart’s 50% take in the Stewart Haas Racing team, his annual salary as a Nascar driver, and plus, bonuses, race earnings, AND the thought of him geting a new number (yes, Joe Gibbs is keeping the #20) and sponsorships, you can see the kind of deal this is going to be.

Dale Jr. came out well last year, and may have led the way in how much pull successful cup drivers can expect in the future.  Tony Stewart has followed right on his heels and even gathered a better deal than #88, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

It will be interesting to see what Tony Stewart has in mind for the future of his racing team, and even who his teammate might be. (Ryan Newman seems to be the name being passed around).  Tony Stewart has not made this news ‘official’ yet, but it is being confirmed through close sources to both sides of the deal.  ESPN is currently running an article discussing Tony Stewart’s Stewart Haas Racing deal.

The Sporting News has got to be one of my top places for sport news. I have been a subscriber to the print magazine for awhile now, but even their online presence has grown drastically over the past couple of years. They have done a great job of integrating the online with the print and they actually make you want to jump back and forth between the two versions to read all the latest info.

All right, got my compliments out of the way.

The Sporting News has recently released their College Football top 50 for 2008-9. Not many surprises here. The Top 5 were pretty much locks. Georgia takes #1, followed by Ohio State, USC, Oklahoma, and LSU. I am not going to sit here and run through the whole list, but I will mention one big surprise–

Ball State joins the list at #41, and they are picked as a guaranteed Bowl bid heading in to the season. Of course preseason rankings really don’t matter much, but it is nice to see a small school from Indiana showing the big dog’s whats up. They are listed higher than Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, and fellow Indiana college Purdue. It will be interesting to see if they keep that momentum once the season starts.

Speaking of Purdue, they are ranked 46th overall and are heading in to the final year of coaching for Head Coach Joe TIller. The Big Tenet blog recently touched on this a bit and mentioned that Coach Tiller’s last year is sparking a rise in sales for Purdue football tickets. Hopefully some success will follow. Ohio State and Illinois lead the Big 10, but every year it seems there is always a big surprise.

Go check out The Sporting News Top 50 College Teams, then head over to The Big Tenet for the inside scoop on Big 10 sports action.

Surprise for the Big 10? I might have to go with Indiana who recently reinstated Kellen Lewis their second team All Big 10 Quarterback.

Lewis, a junior, is the fifth Indiana quarterback to reach 5,000 career passing yards and the fourth player to collect 6,000 total yards. He joined Tim Tebow of Florida and Dan LeFevour of Central Michigan as the only quarterbacks in the nation to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 700 yards last season.

I am not sure if one man can carry the whole team, though.

Hiroki Kuroda (5-6) threw 7 perfect innings, retired 21 straight batters, and almost had a no-hitter this evening before the Atlanta Braves’ Mark Teixeira launched a double in the 8th inning, ending Kuroda’s streak.  Kuroda still came out on top as the Los Angeles Dodgers bested the Braves 3-0.

The Dodgers win puts them in a tie for first place in the NL WEST with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Click Here To read the full Dodgers vs. Braves game recap.

On an interesting side-note, the last Dodger to throw a no-hitter was fellow Japanese player Hideo Nomo, who done so back on Sept. 17, 1996.

The discussions are heating up that Brett Favre may be on the comeback trail. If this rumor ends up being true, Brett would have sat out a total of ‘0′ games while in retirement. Does that even count??

I give Brett all the credit in the world. He is one of the greatest quarterbacks to have played the game. He has won Superbowls and MVP’s, he got within one interception of doing it again last season, yet, one has to wonder why Brett Favre would come back. Perhaps he just loves the game. That may be hard to believe, but take gambling away from Charles Barkley and see how long he stays away from the tables…some people just love what they do.

The Brett banter going on around the internet questions whether the Packers even need him or will allow him to come back. The cheeseheads say they rather let the past be the past and move on with an unproven quarterback who looks to have a great future. Looks can be deceiving–just ask Vince Young. Vince had everything going for him, yet, three years into the NFL and he was contemplating retirement. How about Ricky Williams? Great runner, I’ll give him that, but when you have to stop at the 50 yard line for bong hits, it starts to get a little ridiculous. You just never know how someone is going to turn out. Vince and Ricky may both be able to turn things around.

I say go with the veteran. He almost took Green Bay to the Superbowl last year and they weren’t even thought of as a contender. Why not have him play teacher to the young pup and show him the ropes for one more year? Green Bay, what are you thinking? Instead you rather see Brett in another jersey?

This decision could be the difference between a 13 win team and a mediocre 6-7 win team. Then again, Aaron Rodgers could be the next Tom Brady.

It has become official. Seattle has lost their NBA franchise to Oklahoma City. This news made the rounds a couple of weeks back, but until a team is officially wearing a uniform anything can happen. Oklahoma City is wearing the uniform..

Oklahoma City’s new NBA franchise recently premiered the ‘new’ look at a recent scrimmage during the Orlando summer league. The Orlando summer league pits many young pros and rookies against each other, giving them some much needed experience.

I have to say that the new image isn’t that bad. The jerseys are solid black with a white double-stripe down each side. Emblazend across the chest–Oklahoma City. These aren’t the official jerseys-the team hasn’t even been given it’s new nickname yet.

Speaking of nicknames–what should the old Supersonics be called? By the look of the jerseys, I am hoping that they aren’t going with the “Bombers”. That could be amusing and help heal some wounds, yet, you would have to think there might be some outrage in Oklahoma City..

Whatever the outcome, you can rest assured that new uniforms don’t make a team. Take their recent scrimmage with the Indiana Pacers. Given that this isn’t a ‘real’ game, it still had some public ramifications, if on jersey merit alone. They lost 95-78. The Pacers shut down any thought of a first game victory and probably made a few of them wish they were back in Seattle.

Seattle shouldn’t fret to much over losing the Supersonics. If this turns into anything like an NFL saga, Seattle could come back and host another team. *cough* Anyone remember the Houston Oilers? Or the Baltimore Colts? It could happen, but probably not any time soon.

For more, check out Stripped of Sonics colors, logo, OKC starts over in summer league from ESPN.

The Sports ‘n More blog is getting a new kick of  life.  I am not going to say much in regards to the previous administrator, other than due to prior obligations he has decided to move on.  When I first came on board with Skinny Moose Media, this was one of the sites that I really liked.  I thought it offered a lot of opportunity to someone who was willing to take the time involved with running a sports site.

I should mention a little about myself.  My name is Jason A. Hendricks.  Some of you may know me from my other projects,  The Adventurist and U.S. Outdoors Today.  Both have become quite successful ventures, but at the same time, I have focused on outdoor adventure and recreation for over two years now.  I wanted another outlet to expand my reach.  Don’t worry, those two site will still be maintained as they have been, but this is a new project and one that should be looked upon separately.  I probably won’t be talking about Mt. Everest much.

Sports have been a big part of my life ever since I can remember.  I am from Indiana.  Naturally, that puts me in the state where basketball is front and center.  I am a third generation Hoosier fan.  My Grandfather and Father taught me right.  I follow the Indianapolis Colts religiously, The Pacers and also enjoy baseball, racing, and anything else that comes around.

So what can you expect?  NFL. NBA. NHL. MLB, college football and basketball, as well as some high-tempo Nascar and racing action.  Oddly enough, I am not new to Sports writing.  This does present a different focus than what most will know me from on here, but I have written articles and pieces from time to time on Protrade, as well as been involved in many of the fantasy sports leagues on ESPN.

I am not an analyst.  I am not a pro sports columnist, nor do i pretend to be.  I am a fan.  That will be my key focus.  I may be wrong from time to time, but generally I will know what I am talking about and present the information as I see it.  There will be plenty of room for discussion, some of your feelings may not be the same as mine, yet, if nobody shared an opinion, or thought they knew who would win the next Superbowl, there really wouldn’t be any room for any of us to enjoy the sports that continually captivate our minds.

Your likely to see just about anything here–if it is a sport, eventually something will be said.  My personal favorites will be discussed, but I also take an interest in these leagues as a whole.  Like I said, I have been involved in fantasy sports for years-you learn to follow everything, even a strained toe.  I will do my best to make this an enjoyable experience and offer up some worthwhile information and commentary.  I hope you’ll join me for the fun.

Jason A. Hendricks