Notes from the Coast:

With the NFL Combine happening this week in Indianapolis, I still can't understand why USC's Rey Maualuga decided to return to school for his senior year. He has already won a National Championship at USC, had a great junior year, a monster Rose Bowl game against Illinois, and his stock may never be higher. To make matters worse, Maualuga is the pure M/ILB the Patriots need to succeed Tedy Bruschi. Also, he could've learned the nuances of the position from former USC star and current Patriot Junior Seau. Now it looks like the Pats may trade down from the 7th pick and draft a CB.

• Coco Crisp says he wants to start over Jacoby Ellsbury in CF. Crisp should understand that playing time is directly related to production. Coming over from the Indians, Crisp has dropped from .300 avg. & 16 HR's a year to .265 avg. & 6 HR's with the Red Sox. Granted Crisp is only 28 years old, but based on his stats the last two years, he is a fourth Outfielder.
• There were no moves for the Celtics before the trade deadline. No surprise since they really didn't have any pieces to deal. However, there is still a chance the Clippers could buy-out and release Sam Cassell before the play-offs.
• You can see both sides of the Curt Schilling shoulder controversy. Following last year when Schill was a free agent, he elected not to have surgery, passed his physical, and signed a contract with the Red Sox. Now he belongs to the Sox and the chances are he will not pitch this year should he have surgery now. On the other hand, Schill probably realizes that this is truly his last year in the bigs if he doesn't have surgery right now because any procedure following this season will make it even harder for him to pitch for a team next year.
• The NBA is defintely going through a revival. The Celtics and the Lakers are once again successful, the new stars in the league are both relatable and marketable, teams in the West are collecting top NBA talent in anticipation of play-off showdowns, All-Star weekend was fun again, and 20, 711 people attended the Celtics-Warriors game Wednesday night setting a record for basketball attendence in California.