The Florida Tuskers released their 2010 season schedule today.

Friday, September 17 @ Las Vegas
Saturday, September 25 @ Sacramento
Thursday, September 30 vs. Las Vegas (home opener)
Saturday, October 9 @ Hartford
Week 5 Bye
Thursday, October 21 vs. Sacramento
Week 7 Bye
Friday, November 5 vs. Omaha
Thursday, November 11 vs. Hartford
Friday, November 19 @ Omaha

The UFL Championship Game is being targeted for Thanksgiving weekend again. Venue has not been announced. Season tickets are on sale through TicketMaster for $64-128.

********

Tomorrow night is the home opener for the Orlando Predators. They will be hosting the Iowa Barnstormers. It is a national game on NFL Network, and will begin at 8pm.

I hope they will have a far better showing than they did their first two away games. Having both bye weeks already is not going to help down the line.

The UCF men’s golf team claimed their second consecutive Conference USA championship earlier today after a three-day tournament.

The individual winner was Christopher Brown of Rice, with a -7 for the tournament, shooting rounds of 70, 69 and 70 on the par-72 RedTail Golf Course in Sorrento, Lake County. But three Knights golfers, junior Nuno Henriques, and sophomores Connor Arendell and Brad Schneider, were among four golfers at -2 under for the tournament. Their rounds were 74-74-66, 73-74-67 and 73-68-73, respectively. Last year’s individual winner, UCF senior Simon Ward, finished tied for sixth at even par with consecutive even-par rounds.

As a whole, UCF finished -6, winning by a collective 18 strokes, with the top four scores tallied together. Southern Miss and Rice tied for second place, each at +12 combined.

UCF will play one last regular-season event, the one-day Golden Ocala Invitational on May 6, before going into NCAA regional competition on May 20. We’ll keep you posted as they push for UCF’s first sport national championship.

********

According to the blog’s counter, this is my 250th post here. I know sometimes I don’t have the meat that some bloggers have. That’s what happens when blogging isn’t where your money comes from. Most of the time, I just don’t have the time to go into great detail about events. I will continue to strive to bring you information on Orlando’s other sports. For those who actually read this, thank you.

UCF basketball got a major piece to their puzzle by picking up Moraine Valley Community College power forward Dwight McCombs.

McCombs, who played prep ball at Whitney Young High School along with A.J. Rompza, was heavily recruited by him and Marcus Jordan (who transferred to Whitney Young after McCombs graduated). Last year, he led his team with 22.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, and led the NAJCAA Division II with 5.1 blocks per game. At 6′ 8″ tall and 240 pounds, he will be the biggest man on the Knights in 2010-11, and he has a wingspan of 7′ 4″ and vertical leap of 42″.

Kind’ve reminds one of a certain center for a certain local NBA team, doesn’t it? Or at least a local power forward on a not-so-local NBA team.

McCombs tried to enter Miami-Ohio in 2007-08, but couldn’t cut it yet at D-I, so he transferred to the community college, where he’s developed quite nicely. Now he thinks he’s ready for the big time.

Head coach Donnie Jones said that, with UCF’s current lack of size inside, McCombs has a good chance of starting if he works hard to get himself up to the D-I competitive level.

I saw something come across on the Twitterverse recently that made me think. And it may be the most accurate argument in the whole search for “the next Michael Jordan”.

Michael Jordan did something that neither Kobe Bryant nor LeBron James will ever be able to claim: MJ never lost an NBA Finals series. The only one of the “next Michael Jordans” who can claim this is Dwyane Wade, but he’ll need to win a few more before he can reach that level.

But Michael also won all his titles with the same team. D-Wade is rumored to want to leave the Heat, which is totally different in his prime than MJ un-retiring to play a couple inconsequential years with the Wizards.

Check and mate. There will be no other “Michael Jordan”, and I am sick of the media trying to find “the next Michael Jordan”.

Although you know they’ll keep trying. Next up: Kevin Durant.

It seems the NLL–or at least our team–was waiting for the Orlando Magic.

This morning, the National Lacrosse League finally set the dates for the first round of the NLL playoffs. The Orlando Titans will host the Boston Blazers this Saturday, May 1, at 7:35pm EDT. You can buy tickets online through TicketMaster for $31-38. Or call 407-601-6516 to buy 2011 season tickets for $99-250 and get the first round of the NLL playoffs absolutely free plus substantial discounts on later rounds and extra tickets.

UCF’s golf team is hosting the Conference USA golf championship at RedTail Golf Club in Sorrento (Lake County).

After Day One yesterday, the UCF team is in the lead with a combined 4-over par (292, +4). Rice is second at +7, and Tulsa is third at +9. Four best scores for each team are used for the team score.

UCF senior Simon Ward, last year’s individual champion, is tied for third with an even-par 72 for the first round.

For those interested, there are two more rounds, today and tomorrow with 8:30am tee-offs. The event is free to the public. RedTail Golf Club is between SR 46 and CR 46A in Lake County. It can be accessed from SR 46 either going west from I-4, or east from US 441.

UCF’s baseball team can’t seem to get any traction in Conference USA, having been swept this past weekend by rivals Marshall.

********

On Friday afternoon, UCF got roughed up, 7-2.

While the Knights beat writers blamed the loss on wasted chances, I’m content to blame starting pitcher Owen Dew, who had a rough outing. He gave up all seven of Marshall’s runs (6 earned) in his 3 2/3 IP. Reliever Brian Adkins only gave up 3 hits and 2 walks in 4 1/2 IP to at least keep the lead from getting any wider.

UCF’s offense only managed 5 hits, but did draw 10 walks. Unfortunately, the only runs were two solo home runs by RF Shane Brown. The offense was unable to capitalize on any of their other opportunities with an astounding 16 total left on base.

***

Saturday was even worse. After the Knights took the lead with a 3-run seventh inning, Marshall walked off with a 6-5 victory.

This time the cough-up was by reliever Joe Rogers, who perhaps was left in a little too long. He went 2 1/3 IP before the winning runs were scored on a double and a single, with one retired in the bottom of the ninth.

Shane Brown hit another home run, going 1-for-2 and walking three times. LF Chris Duffy and 1B Jonathan Griffin each had two hits, and the team again drew nine walks but still left 12 on-base.

***

Sunday we coughed it up again, losing, 5-3.

Duffy and Griffin each went 2-for-4 with a home run, but the offense as a whole only drew 2 walks to go with their 9 hits.

Starting pitcher Nick Cicio did well the first six innings, striking out four…but coughed up three runs in the seventh to lose the game. The one plus is that, at the time he was pulled, he only had 73 pitches. Not a terrible performance, seventh inning notwithstanding.

********

Although the Knights are 26-17 overall, they are 6-9 in C-USA. They get a rare week off this week before hosting a three-game series against Memphis, starting Friday night. The game times are 6:30pm Friday, 4pm Saturday and 1pm Sunday.

The Orlando Titans had their hands full. That’s what happens when you have a shot at the top record, and your opponent, the Minnesota Swarm, has nothing to play for but pride.

The Titans held back and made their comeback in the fourth quarter to tie the game at the end of regulation. It then only took 24 seconds for the Titans to win, 12-11 in OT.

Casey Powell had 4 goals and 5 assists. Matt Alrich and Mike McLellan each scored 2 goals. Jordan Hall had an insane 8 assists. The OT game-winner was scored by Chad Thompson. Matt Vinc saved 40 of the 51 shots he faced.

I was incorrect about the #1 seed  yesterday, the stories I read made it look like we had control for the NLL Championship Game. But that assumes the Washington Stealth makes it to the Championship Game themselves.

Orlando will begin their playoff journey in Orlando against the Boston Blazers. Gametime still TBA.

Sport Club Orlando would like to congratulate UCF defensive tackle Torell Troup on being picked in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft last night by the Buffalo Bills. He was picked 41st overall, the ninth pick in the second round.

This is the second-highest NFL Draft pick ever out of UCF, and its highest ever defensive pick. The highest pick ever, obviously, was QB Daunte Culpepper, who was picked #11 overall by the Minnesota Vikings in the 1999 draft.

At UCF, Troup was the cornerstone of a team that led Conference USA in total defense the past two consecutive season. He was voted All-C-USA second team each of the past two years.

At a major Bills fan site, Buffalo Rumblings, fans are a bit split on the pick. Many are complaining that there were bigger needs to fill than a D-linesmen with their second-round pick, while others are heralding his ability to stop the run. ESPN called the pick a “reach” (that’s code for “probably should’ve gone later”), but otherwise thought he would be a good fit in their base 3-4 formation.

John Denton has written an article on Troup’s pick for the UCF Athletics website.

The Orlando Titans returned to dominating form as they beat the Philadelphia Wings, 11-5, last night in the makeup game from the earlier snowout.

Tied 3-3 at the half, the Titans pulled away by dominating the third quarter, 4-0, and adding another four in the fourth.

Casey Powell led the way with 3 goals and 3 assists. Pat Maddalena had 2 goals and 3 assists.

Goalkeeper Matt Vinc sat the game out to keep rested for tonight’s showdown. Kurtis Wagar saved 40 out of 45 shot attempts.

At 10-5, the Titans now control their own destiny for homecourt. If they win tonight at Minnesota (8:35pm EDT), they will get homecourt for a potential NLL Championship Game.