Weekend Primer

By Eric Horowitz

Kurt Warner's name carries some weight in Iowa. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Your guide to the weekend, SIOC style

Friday

NCAA Indoor Track and Field: Jack Jennet Invite, UNI Dome, 3 p.m.: Ever fantasized about magic words that could get you free admission to any University of Northern Iowa sporting event? Fantasize no longer. In honor of Kurt Warner's return to the Super Bowl anybody who utters the phrase "Kurt Warner" upon entering a UNI athletic event will be granted entry sans admission. I hope somebody tells those penniless students who sleep in the UNI Dome bathroom in order to watch the track team for free.

Saturday

Men's Basketball: No. 4 Wake Forest at Georgia Tech, 12 p.m.: Analysts predict that by mid-February Jeff Teague-Chris Paul comparisons will be rising faster than the country's unemployment rate.

Men's Basketball: Washington at No. 14 Arizona State, 5:30 p.m.: Washington is in sole possession of first place in the Pac-10. For Huskies fans it's kind of like looking at the football standings upside down, only much better.

University of Virginia Baseball "Step Up to the Plate" Fundraiser, 6 p.m.: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel will be the featured speaker. If hearing Manuel's prediction for how quickly the city of Philadelphia will turn on the team isn't worth $60 a plate, I don't know what is.

Men's Ice Hockey: No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 4 Michigan, 7:35 p.m.: I believe it was John Quincy Adams who once said, "Well, at least there's hockey season."

Men's Basketball: Miami at Maryland, 8 p.m.: It's Coaches vs. Cancer "Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend," which means many of your favorite coaches will be on the sidelines in sneakers instead of dress shoes. For Gary Williams (the 2009 Chair of the Coaches vs. Cancer Council) it means his feet will be extra comfortable as he watches his team blow another 2nd half lead.

Sunday

Men's Basketball: Penn State at No. 9 Michigan State, 12 p.m.: Don't look now, but the Nittany Lions can smell a berth to the big dance. Somewhere, the Crispin brothers are smiling.

Exhibit of the Week -- "LEGO-palooza 2009," UNC, 1 pm.: There will be robots, castles, and spaceships. The Blacktron and M:Tron galactic armies even agreed to a ceasefire in order to take part in the exhibit.

"Do Up Your Dorm" Contest: Thanks break.com. Where else could college students win $5,000 for living in the messiest habitat? To me, the real draw of this contest isn't the room that wins. It's the hundreds of students who trash their apartments and end up with nothing to show for it.