The Lady Bulldogs ended a three game losing streak on Thursday by defeating the Northern Michigan Wildcats 64-59, and extended their winning streak to two after defeating the Michigan Tech Huskies 70-58 on Saturday.

While the NCAA was “Thinking Pink” for breast cancer awareness, resulting in the Bulldogs wearing pink T-shirts during warm-ups and pink shoes laces during the game, the Bulldogs were thinking win.

The Wildcats were just a step ahead of the Bulldogs in the first half, going up by six points after Angie Leckson’s jumper in the paint. Senior center Rachel Folcik’s layup helped the Bulldogs chip the Wildcats’ lead down to two with 15:32 remaining in the half.

Freshman guard Mandy Yoder tied the score at 18 with her three point field goal. The Wildcats refused to let the Bulldogs build a lead as neither team was able to jump out to more than a one possession lead.

The Wildcats’ Steffani Stoeger sent the Bulldogs into the locker room down by one, 36-35, after making a layup with 31 seconds left on the clock.

“Yeah, we’re definitely turning into one [a second half team]. We’re happy when we have the lead at the half. We try our hardest in the first half, and we just keep trying harder,” junior forward Caitlin Hutchison said.

The Bulldogs began the second half battling for the lead and were able to clinch it after freshman guard Tiara Adams’ fast break layup, putting the Bulldogs up by three 43-40. The Bulldogs were able to maintain the lead from there, going up by as much as eight in the second half.

“Tiara gave us a big spark, we did a good job at pushing the ball, not as good as last time [the team played them]. We did just enough, we were tough enough to get by,” head coach Tracey Dorow said.

The Bulldogs were led by Folcik who recorded a team-best 11 points and Hutchison recorded 10 points, and Adams recorded nine points in her explosive debut.

The Bulldogs picked up where they left off, and dominated the visiting Huskies. The Huskies slipped past the Bulldogs in overtime the last time the two teams met, but it was all Bulldogs on Saturday night.

The Huskies and Bulldogs battled for the lead spot and the Huskies were able to commandeer it with 12:24 to go in the half after Folcik fouled the Huskies’ Katie Wysocky, who made her second of two free throws to put the Huskies up by one, 15-14.

That was all the Huskies needed in the first half as they controlled the lead for the remainder of the half going up by as much as eight twice. The Bulldogs were able to chip away at the Huskies’ lead once, but were sent to the locker room down 36-28.

The Huskies went up by 10 in their first play of the second half, but the Bulldogs refused to roll over and jumped all over the Huskies.

Folcik sparked the Bulldogs with a fast break layup to tie the score at 41 with 12:26 remaining in the game. The Huskies battled to recapture the lead but Hutchison’s layup gave the Bulldogs a one point lead and the Huskies were no match for them.

The Bulldogs kept the Huskies on a short leash by allowing only three field goals the rest of the game, as Folcik scored 11 of her 32 points to boost the Bulldogs up by six with 2:22 remaining.

The Bulldogs finished the Huskies off going up by 12, and Hutchison’s steal with six seconds remaining the game sealed the Bulldogs' victory.

Folcik finished the game with a night high of 32 points, and players off the bench outscored the Huskies’ reserves 23-12 in the win.

The Bulldogs travel to Hillsdale tomorrow for a 6 p.m. tip off and return home to play Lake Superior State at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Ferris State men’s hockey recorded a win and a draw this past weekend as they faced off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Bulldogs scored five goals Friday night to take down the nationally eighth ranked Irish 5-3.

The win marked the end of a five game non-winning streak and represented the 250th career win for Bulldog head coach Bob Daniels.

The win improves the Bulldogs record to 11-12-4 overall and 8-10-3 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association Play.

“We are really looking forward to the challenge of playing Notre Dame,” Daniels said. “Our team continues to compete hard and we are not far off from turning these close games into victories.”

Notre Dame opened up the scoring with forward Kevin Deeth converting on the power play off of a rebound shot.

Sophomore left wing Blair Riley tied the game with his ninth goal of the season on a one-timer pass from Cody Chupp just before the end of the first.

The Bulldogs scored a power play goal just 1:17 into the second period as senior defenseman Jim Jorgensen took a shot from the boards that was tipped by Bulldog left winger Mike Fillinger in front of the Fighting Irish net, marking his fifth goal of the season.

The Fighting Irish tied the game at two before the second period was out as forward Brock Sheahan scored with just 33 seconds left in the period to tie the game at two.

In the third period, sophomore left wing Casey Haines put the Bulldogs in front of the Irish as he shot the puck from the far circle and put it over the shoulder of the Notre Dame goaltender.

Freshman right wing Todd Pococke scored his first goal of the year a few minutes later to put the Bulldogs ahead by two with an assist going to center Aaron Lewicki.

Notre Dame cut the Bulldogs lead to one when Erik Condra shot the puck at the net and bounced it off of Ferris State goaltender Mitch O’Keefe.

Despite an attempt at a comeback, the Bulldogs put the game out of reach for the Irish as junior right wing Justin Lewandowski scored his sixth goal of the season on a pass from junior left wing Brendan Connolly with less than two minutes left in the third.

O’Keefe tallied his sixth win of the season stopping 28 of 31 shots. The Bulldogs recorded a 36 to 31 shot advantage and were able to score on one of five power plays during the game.

The Bulldogs forced the Fighting Irish to a two-to-two overtime tie the next night with Riley netting a goal late to prevent a loss.

“Notre Dame is one of the top defensive teams in the country and goals will not come easy against them,” Daniels said. “We will have to make sure that we are sound defensively ourselves if we are to have success. We will also need good goaltending and solid play on both the power play and penalty kill.”

The tie earned the Bulldogs their 20th league point of the season and improves their record to 11-12-5 overall and 8-10-4 in CCHA play.

Notre Dame scored first on a power play just three minutes into the game with forward Ian Cole shooting from the right circle and putting the puck behind O’Keefe.

The Bulldogs were called for four penalties in the first period and gave the Fighting Irish a two man advantage halfway through.

Despite the situation Zach Redmond was able to score for the Bulldogs on a short handed breakaway to tie the game at one. Redmond notched his fifth goal of the season as he intercepted a Note Dame pass in his own zone and skated down alone on the Notre Dame goaltender. There he launched the puck from inside the right circle past the stick side of the goalie and into the open net.

Notre Dame took the lead in the second period as the Irish took advantage of a Bulldog turnover in the first 10 minutes of the period. The shot bounced off of O’Keefe’s pad and he found it was across the goal line.

The Bulldogs took advantage of their first power play of the game as Riley scored a goal in his second straight game. He hammered home a rebound on a backhand shot after freshman defenseman Scott Wietecha fired a shot from the point. The puck ricocheted off the boards and onto the stick of forward Cody Chupp who threw the puck towards the Irish goaltender where the puck bounced off his pads and onto the stick of Riley.

The Bulldogs stepped it up in the third and put the pressure to gain the win but were unable to break the two-to-two tie and the game went into overtime.

During the extra five minutes both teams fought hard for the win but great stops by O’Keefe and Irish goaltender Jordan Pierce produced a tie and a point for both teams.

The tie improved O’Keefe’s record to 6-6-5 as he recorded 33 saves during the contest.

The Bulldogs return home to host nationally ranked Miami (Ohio) Red hawks in a two game CCHA series this weekend at Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids.

The Ferris State men’s basketball team started strong Thursday night battling back from a 16 point deficit to beat Northern Michigan University 64-59. This was the first home game for the Bulldogs in almost a month. Ferris State outscored the Wildcats 41-26 in the second half while shooting 50 percent from the field.

Northern Michigan and Ferris State fought back and forth throughout the first 13 minutes of the half. The two teams traded lead changes eight times and kept it close. Missed baskets by the Bulldogs allowed for the Wildcats to push out a 10 point run to end the half. Northern Michigan gained control of the battle in the paint and scored 13 of its points off Bulldogs' turnovers.

The Wildcats started out strong in the second half building up a 16 point lead. Ferris State battled back and went on a 22-6 run tying the game up with just over seven minutes left. The Bulldogs were able to pull away in the end by cashing in on a Wildcat turnover and making their free throw shots.

Three players for the Bulldogs led the team in shooting. Freshman center Justin Keenan, freshman guard Bryan Pasciak and freshman forward DeJuan Wright scored a combined 53 of the team's 64 points.

Keenan scored a game high 20 points while playing 33 minutes. Keenan also grabbed seven rebounds, shot 57 percent from the field and 86 percent from the free throw line. Wright scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds and shot 77 percent from the field. Wright also had four steals, two assists and shot 64 percent from the free throw line. Pasciak led the Bulldogs with 36 minutes, 16 points, shot 57 percent from the three point line and 60 percent from the field.

As a team, the Bulldogs shot 42.6 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from the three point line and 74.1 percent from the free throw line. In the second half, Ferris State turned costly Wildcat turnovers into 14 points and were also able to regain the paint presence.

Like the Bulldogs, Northern Michigan had three scorers leading their team. Forward Jerard Ajami, guard Jake Suardini and guard Tyler Kazmierkoski scored 47 of the team's 59 points. As a team, the Wildcats shot 37.9 percent from the field, 22.7 percent from the three point line and 100 percent from the free throw line.

In the second home game of the week, Ferris State fell to Michigan Tech on a last second bucket 65-63.

“We played pretty good ball and we played hard enough to win,” said Ferris State head coach Bill Sall. “Keenan got into foul trouble early and was only able to play 14 minutes in the game, but we played hard today and were competitive in the last two games and it’s a step in the right direction.”

Michigan Tech and Ferris State battled throughout the entire game. The Huskies were able to pull ahead going into half time with a two point lead. The Bulldogs fought back and regained a lead of their own with 12 minutes to go in the game. In the last four minutes, Ferris State's high pressure defense was able to cause turnovers keeping the team in the game. The Bulldogs outscored the Huskies 32-24 in the paint and 10-2 in fast break points in the loss.

The Bulldogs became more balanced in scoring and rebounding. Leading Ferris State in scoring were freshman guard Darien Gay, freshman forward DeJuan Wright and freshman Center Justin Keenan.

Gay scored a game high 17 points, five assists, five rebounds and shot 58 percent from the field. Wright came off the bench to help out with 11 points, seven rebounds and hit 33 percent from the field. Even though Keenan only played 14 minutes, he was able to help out with 10 points and two rebounds.

Michigan Tech was led by forward Tim Strom and guard Sean Geary. Geary led the Huskies with 17 points, three rebounds, shot 50 percent from the three point line and 71 percent from the free throw line. Strom added 16 points and four rebounds.

Ferris State heads to Hillsdale, Mich. on Thursday, Feb. 14 for their second meeting with the Hillsdale College Chargers. The Bulldogs return home on Saturday, Feb. 16 hosting the Lakers of Lake Superior State. The Bulldogs and Lakers tip off at 3 p.m. in Wink Arena.

The New York Giants’ Eli Manning took a page from another New York quarterback great, Joe “Willy” Namath, and led his team to the greatest upset in NFL history. The Giants' last minute heroics propelled them to a 17-14 upset over heavily favored and undefeated New England.

Leading into Super Bowl XLII, everything pointed towards the New England Patriots winning their fourth Super Bowl under Tom Brady. Brady is three for three in his Super Bowl appearances and was named the most valuable player two of those years.

New England came into the contest as an 11 point favorite, despite concern about a suspected ankle injury for Brady. Since 2001, New England is 24-7 when meeting the same team twice or three times in the regular season. The Patriots also led the category in players with Super Bowl experience with 20.

The New York Giants had different numbers on their side. Super Bowl XLII is the 12th time in NFL history that two teams met for the second time. The team that lost the first game has won six of the last 11 Super Bowls bearing well for the Giants.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had coached 205 career games, the most in the NFL without making a Super Bowl appearance. Previous first time championship game coaches had gone 20-22.

The Giants are the ninth wildcard team to battle through three road post season victories to make it to the Super Bowl. Eli Manning was the only quarterback in the 2007 playoffs not to throw an interception. Leading his team to the 17-14 victory, the Giants won their NFL history setting 11th road victory away from Giants Stadium.

Super Bowl XLII started off with New England wearing its home blues and New York wearing its away whites. Giants’ punter Jeff Feagles became the oldest player in NFL history to participate in the Super Bowl at 41 years old.

Feagles’ call won New York the coin toss giving the Giants the ball. In past Super Bowl history, the team that won the coin toss reflects a 19-22 record while losing the past four and last nine of 11.

The Giants started off strong, doing what they had to do to keep Tom Brady and the Patriots' offense off the field. On the Giants' first drive, Manning went four for six, driving down the field ending in a Lawrence Tynes 32 yard field goal. New York’s drive lasted 16 plays covering 65 yards and eating nine minutes 59 seconds off the clock. The nine minute and 59 second drive is the longest in Super Bowl history.

New England answered back on the arm of Tom Brady and the legs of Laurence Maroney. The Patriots drove down to the 17 yard line where things looked to be stopped on third down and 10, but a pass interference penalty was throw on Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce. It took the Patriots two plays but on second and goal, Maroney ran behind the right guard for the game's first touchdown.

The Giants and Patriots traded punts moving towards half time. New England started its last drive of the half with the ball on their 11 yard line with all three time outs left. The Patriots moved the ball down the field throwing on every down. The pass came back to haunt New England when Brady was sacked by Osi Umenyiora, causing a fumble that was recovered by the Giants.

The third period didn’t produce any scoring. The Patriots were faced with fourth down and 13 from the Giants' 31 yard line. Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick chose to attempt a fourth down play instead of attempting a 49 yard field goal. New England wasn’t successful in its attempt, causing a huge momentum change for the Giants.

New York struck first in the second half with a five yard touchdown pass from Manning to David Tyree. The Patriots were not able to respond on the next possession and were forced to punt. After holding New York to get the ball back, however, Brady went to work.

Brady put together a 12 play drive covering 80 yards in five minutes and 12 seconds ending in a six yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss. The Giants defender stumbled on the play allowing Moss to run the route uncovered. The score put New England on top 14-10 with two minutes and 42 seconds left.

Eli Manning’s reputation was on the line. Manning drove the Giants' 39 yards down the field but came upon a crucial third down and five. Tyree got an open running square in across the middle and Manning found him. Tyree made the catch of the evening, going up and catching the ball above his head while pulling it away from the Patriots' defender.

On first down and 10 from the Patriot 13 yard line, Manning found Plexico Burress wide open in the back of the end zone. Burress’ touchdown catch put the Giants on top 17-14 with 39 seconds left. Manning led the Giants down the field in 12 plays covering two minutes seven seconds.

Brady was unable to lead the Patriots into field goal range in the final seconds. The Giants had a prevent defense called and were still able to get a sack from their defensive line.

In the end, Belichick should have kicked the field goal in the third quarter. You always have to take the points when you can get them, especially in big games. I think this is what hurt the Patriots the most. I was also very impressed with Manning’s composure in the final drive. I received all of my information from nfl.com.

America’s favorite past time has become professional sports' big black eye.

Everyone knows the game of baseball. Most have played the game and know about the use of steroids and human growth hormones (HGH) throughout the sport.

It started when professional baseball player Jose Canseco published his book and tarnished the record of baseball for the rest of history.

As the situation stands today, Roger Clemens is under the gun for his use of HGH and steroids, along with a string of other players who have been accused of abusing these drugs.

There is a congressional committee assigned to the task of dealing with this abuse by baseball players. I’m sure everyone knows these things because you can’t turn on the television without hearing about it or watching the latest update on who used steroids and when.

Personally I am sick and tired of it. I don’t care anymore. To me, the issue has been drawn out so long that I don’t want to hear about it.

Clemens probably used steroids, along with dozens of other players around the league, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I want the story off the opening story of my ESPN SportsCenter. I’m ready to hear about something else other that who used steroids.

In my opinion, there’s been so much talk and so many accusations about steroid use throughout the world of professional baseball that it wouldn’t surprise me if every baseball player has used these HGH and steroids at one time or another.

And the bottom line is that I don’t care anymore. There’s more interesting things about sports going on right now then the fact that Clemens is testifying in front of Congress.

How bout the fact that the Detroit Red Wings are on their way to achieving the most wins in National Hockey League history, or that the Detroit Tigers have possibly the best team in baseball heading into next season? Why isn’t this front page news?

Instead of hearing about teams breaking records or the hope of a World Series championship coming back to Detroit, I have to hear about how some baseball player used steroids 10 years ago and now he has to pay for his sins. Great, that just makes my day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning steroid use by any means. I feel that what those players did was cheating and they should be punished for their actions.

The fact of the matter is that I don’t want to hear about it anymore. There’s nothing that can be done to tarnish the image of baseball or its players anymore so why continue to run the stories?

Bring back the days of amazing plays and record breaking seasons into the news. No more "he said this" and "you’ll never guess who we think used steroids 50 years ago."

I want to know who’s on his or her way to breaking a record, or whether or not this is the season something amazing happens.

This is a time in professional sports when we have possibly the best players to ever participate in the game and you’re going to tell me that the best news story that ESPN can come up with is about some washed up pitcher who may or may not have used steroids in his past.

Well hold on, let me hit the record button on my TIVO because I don’t want to miss this. Give me a break.

Send them all to jail, suspend them indefinitely, I don’t care. Make a decision with what to do with these players and end it because as a fan I want something else.

Tell me something good about baseball please because all of this negative publicity is actually making me hate the game. I have no respect for players, coaches or the league anymore. Like I said, it has tarnished baseball’s record, and there’s only one way to bring back fans. Stop talking about it.

Bring back the good things about baseball. The fact is that one of the greatest things in the world to do is get together with your friends or family and go down to the stadium, grab a hot dog and a beverage while you watch your favorite ball team play nine innings.

That’s what baseball’s about to me, no steroids or HGH, no more accusations, just straight up baseball.

Can the Tigers beat the New York Yankee’s this year? I don’t know, but when that game happens that’s what I want to hear about, not guess who used steroids.

Bring baseball back to what it was and what it can be again, America’s favorite past time, it’s not too late.

For this week's column I decided to focus on females who lack sports knowledge and have been called out on it, such as a girl yelling touchdown after a home run.

This past week a former Torch Sports Editor and I were talking and he told me about a radio show “Skirts on Sports,” which airs at 10 a.m. on WDFN, a Detroit radio channel.

The show comprises of a male DJ asking females about sports and different sport related questions. Such as “name three Detroit Lion starters,” “name the teams playing in the World Series,” etc.

For some reason these females are unable to answer these questions. One female struggled with answering the following question: “You just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do next?”

If you answered “go to Disney World,” you are correct. If you answered “shopping,” like one woman did, you’re not correct.

Some questions are difficult, such as when they asked what the name of the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl winner is. I don’t know. However, I do know the trophy is not called the Heisman.

I then began asking guys what their thoughts were about females struggling with sports trivia. Most of them didn’t care if a girl knew trivia, it was more important that they understood the sport, than who recorded over 2,000 yards passing, and 1,000 yards rushing in a single season. Ladies, if you ever need to show off some trivia knowledge, it was Vince Young in his junior/final year at Texas.

I know guys like to make fun of the female population about not being able to understand and remember all the crazy rules that have been made up as the game has been played.

I also know that guys have developed suspicions of females who do show an interest in sports, can remember all the rules, and know that a touch back is not an opening for “that’s what she said.” In fact men have begun thinking women that do have an interest in sports are spies.

Yes, that’s right a spy. According to the “Man Law” group on Facebook which reads “[rule]102: Women who claim they ‘love to watch sports’ must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to pick a Buffalo wing clean.”

You don’t have to know every rule, every play, every player, the history of the team, where the team originated from before it moved across the country or any other mundane detail.

Especially if you follow the men’s lead and jump up and scream when they do, and boo and complain about the obvious missed call.

You do, however, need to know these details if you ever want to partake in a sports related conversation. Smiling and giving a toss of the hair may work with some, but with others it leads to eye rolls and you being labeled a spy.

I also understand that ESPN is a little overzealous with all of its channels and there is no way a sane person could watch that many channels, with that many sports, in such a limited time. There’s a trick.

Watch SportsCenter, quick highlights, some news and some has been/wannabe athlete analyzing the game. Read headlines in the sports section. I know, as does every other writer, that all you need to know is the headline and maybe the first paragraph if the headline is weak, after that it’s all filler.

Ask simple questions about the game that is on the TV, such as “what’s the score?” If its 21-14, there is a good chance you can rule out every sport besides football. If the score is 2-1, good luck.

If you don’t know the answer to the Giants and Cardinals game in late September it’s okay. Fess up and say you missed the game, blah, blah, blah.

This is also where it gets messy. Please note there are the San Francisco baseball Giants, and the New York football Giants. There are the Arizona football Cardinals and the St. Louis baseball Cardinals, league affiliation doesn’t matter as no one cares until playoffs.

I know sports make life far more complicated than it needs to be, and I know sports have taken over the world, the country and this paper you enjoy reading, but it’s also something fun that allows us to have parties at random times during the year.