Most sports fans have heard about the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. It has been well-documented and its effects have been lamented by frustrated fans for decades.

But, what about the No. 2 seed / ESPN All-Access / Shelley Smith jinx?

During the run-up to the NCAA Tournament last year, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl allowed an ESPN camera crew -- and reporter Smith -- to file ‘behind-the-scenes' reports on his second-seeded team during the first week of the tournament.

The Volunteers squeaked past underdog Winthrop in the opening game, then lost to No. 7 Wichita State in the second round.

As Badgers fans know all too well, history was repeated when Smith and the gang from Bristol put their hooks into Wisconsin last week.

The ESPN crew filed reports from Madison as the Badgers prepared for the tournament. Viewers found out that some players had to miss practice because of class at that Bo Ryan's assistants had to lace up their shoes and work up a sweat. (The class-comes-first angle fed into the somewhat fawning HBO "Real Sports" story about the academic standards of the program).

Smith later reported that Alando Tucker and Marcus Landry share an apartment strewn with Tom and Jerry DVDs, a Superman blanket and SpongeBob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer Nerf hoops in the living room.

The Badgers traveled to the United Center, where they survived a scare against No. 15 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first round and then dumped a second-round game against seventh-seeded UNLV.

Given what happened, you'd think that any team that gets a No. 2 seed next season will ignore all phone calls from the 860 area code. Asked what the national exposure this season meant for the program, Ryan didn't hesitate to call it a positive:

"People, actually, have seen a lot of things about our program that they don't normally see with other programs with the whole HBO, ESPN (and) the ABC/ESPN thing," Ryan said. "They know how human our guys are, what our guys go through. ... I think what people have had a chance to see is that Wisconsin is kind of a unique place, a special place where you have an opportunity to get a great education and play in a great environment."

Karl update: Boise State basketball player Coby Karl, the son of former Bucks and current Denver coach George Karl, will play in the NABC All-Star game March 31 in Atlanta and then surgery Monday to have cancerous lymph nodes removed. Karl had his thyroid removed a year ago after being diagnosed with a form of cancer.
Karl was diagnosed with lymph node cancer at midseason, but the school kept the news private until the team was eliminated from the Western Athletic Conference tournament semifinals.

Lifestyle change: Portly Padres pitcher David Wells told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and will try to give up vices like beer, donuts and fast-food.
"From the time I found out, I made changes," Wells told the paper. "No more starches and sugar. No more rice, pasta, potatoes and white bread. No more fast food. I've cut out alcohol."

Tough call: Which story was less surprising: that a bunch of pro wrestlers are being implicated in a steroid scandal or that former Admirals tough guy Jordin Tootoo, now with Nashville, was suspended five games for punching Dallas forward Stephane Robidas in the face. Robidas was knocked unconscious.

Successful sequel: Hats off to the Wisconsin women's hockey team, which won its second straight NCAA title Sunday at the same Lake Placid, N.Y., rink where coach Mark Johnson helped the 1980 US Olympic hockey team shock the world by winning a gold medal.

Senior center Sara Bauer, who was Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Four, played the final month of the season with two broken ribs. The Badgers finished with a 36-1-4 record.

Formula Fastbreak: Fans attending the Bucks-Pistons game on Sunday, March 25 at the Bradley Center are being encouraged to donate for "Bucks Formula Fastbreak," a program designed to help infant formula to needy babies in the area. The program is being sponsored by Piggly Wiggly, the Hunger Task Force and the Lady Bucks, a charitable group consisting of the wives of team players, coaches, employees and family members.

The event will take place in Lobbies A, B, C and D at the Bradley Center. Donation barrels and cash collection tables will be located in each of the four lobbies. Fans are encouraged to donate any infant/baby formula product (powder or liquid), or cash that will be used to purchase formula. Donations will be accepted from the time the doors open at 1:30 p.m. through the conclusion of Sunday's game, which begins at 2:30 p.m.

The "Formula FastBreak" event was inspired by Amy McBurney of Muskego, WI. McBurney was an audience member for a taping of the Oprah show "Pay It Forward" that aired on October 30, 2006. At the taping, Oprah gave everyone in the audience a gift card valued at $1,000. The requirement was that each person was to use the money to make a difference in the lives of others. McBurney donated her $1,000 to Hunger Task Force to be used specifically for baby formula. When members of the "Lady Bucks" heard of the donation, they were inspired to build upon the effort by creating "Formula FastBreak".