The college football season is close, and what better way to get in the mood than by picking up a copy of NCAA Football 09 to play.

One of the biggest new additions to the game has been the ability to transfer your online dynasty offline, or vice versa. It seems that playing in an online dynasty with friends is the cool things to do, so I decided to organize a league with whoever I knew that had to game to do the damn thang.

We limited our school selections the Big Ten Conference, based on the fact that one player actually goes to one of the schools. Plus there are quality teams, so it works.

Here’s who’s who and what’s what in the league:

Jack - Wisconsin Badgers - Dude actually goes to the school (or did - I stopped trying to keep track of people), so this is warranted. Thanks for making the quasi-executive decision and at least having a team preference to narrow down who we would play with.

Jason - Ohio State Buckeyes - He claims to have some sort of kin who attended the school, so we’ll let him have dibs on the best team in the conference. I dominated him online this past weekend, so I guess he deserves a bit of a handicap.

George - Illinois Fighting Illini - This one’s for Ryne. Plus, it’s gonna be amazing typing names like Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn over and over again as I recap games.

Tyler - Michigan Wolverines - I stuck him with whatever decent team was left. Clearly just in it for the love of the game. Welcome aboard.

I’m sure you will all be thrilled to read recaps of video game college football, so this is precisely what I will provide for you. Stay tuned!

Oh wait - if you have an Xbox 360 and wanna get in on the action with another Big Ten team, leave a comment with your gamertag and I’ll reach out to you on Xbox Live. Sigh - I’m a nerd.

Or is it the other way around, Kevin Love being Linas Kleiza.

Kleiza preceded Love, but it is fair to say Love has more notoriety.

My buddy Mark brought this up recently, and I figured now would be the time to mention it, seeing as how the Los Angeles Lakers have manhandled the Denver Nuggets to the point where Denver may as well be eliminated in 3 games. The time to bring attention to this is now, while at least one of the aforementioned basketballers is still playing this year.

One wears #42 while the other is #43. Both wear powder blue jerseys on the road. Both can step out to hit the three. They have identical white boy looks.

In summation, they are identical, save for notoriety, country of origin, one jersey number, and body composition (due to K. Love being a fatty)

As most college basketball standouts were declaring for the NBA Draft, UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough decided to go the opposite direction. Rare.

Granted, Hansbrough had expressed interest in returning to win an NCAA Championship. The fact that he went out in the Final Four this year only adds to this, as it has to leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

He’s won at the high school level, being crowned Missouri state champ a few times. Now he wants to stay at UNC for his senior season to chase college glory. Wow, think he would make a good, driven pro? Winning is this dude’s M.O.

You would think someone like Kevin Love would have stayed in school as well for similar reasons. He burned out in the Final Four as well and couldn’t even touch the ball. Plus he comes from freaking Lake Oswego, Oregon - an affluent Portland suburb. It’s not like he’s cash strapped and from the hood, needing to feed his children and baby mommas.

David Stern has been trying to encourage such Hansbrough-esque behavior by instituting a new age limit, essentially forcing kids to at least go through their freshman year. Most recruits will still be one and out and onto the NBA, but perhaps some will be drawn in and want to shoot for a collegiate crown.

But for now, were still waiting on that sea change to occur. In the interim, we lost Love, but we still have the retard-strong Hansbrough. One out of two Great White Hopes ain’t bad.