The 10th season of UA basketball great Corey Williams' Tucson Summer Pro League finished up Sunday with a championship-game upset led by a not-so-surprising title game MVP.

The Casino del Sol-sponsored squad, which finished sixth in the 10-team league's regular season, beat No. 1 seed Clausen Moore in the semifinals then downed No. 2 Nimbus 115-112 in an electrifying championship at St. Gregory College Prep.

Casino del Sol was led by Donte Williams, who earned his seventh TSPL championship in 10 seasons and earned finals MVP honors.

TSPL scoring leader Larry Boyd, who averaged 20.5 points per game, was named league MVP, while Jason Timpf of Nimbus won the league's 3-point shooting contest and Michael Purdie took home the Slam Dunk Title and a $500 prize.

The travel budget here at Weekly World Central isn't what it is at other media outlets. We can't afford to send a reporter, let alone two, to Culver City to spend the day following around Arizona's and other schools' coaches, player reps and media relations flaks for mostly canned responses to the usual questions.

So that means, in order to provide our readers with the kind of comprehensive UA coverage they so desire, that meant spending the day monitoring the Twitter feeds, live streams and various Web pages of those from Tucson who were able to make the trip to the Sony Pictures studios for a day of pomp and circumstance. Which, apparently, included a luncheon of spaghetti and potato salad.

Not much of any substance came out of the day, from what I've seen/heard/read. Arizona has been picked by conference media members to finish fourth in the Pac-12 South Division, behind (in order) UCLA, ASU and USC and head of Utah and Colorado. Which means, if things go as predicted, the Wildcats could get either the sixth or seventh bowl slot from the league, meaning a late December road trip to either ... Las Vegas or Tempe, home of the (!!!) Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

Other bon-mots culled from the interwebs:

* RichRod does good banter. Whether it's from the podium, in one-on-one interviews or swarmed by beat writers and TV guys watching him eat, Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez is engaging. He didn't hesitate one bit when, after being asked a Twitter-fed question from an ASU fan how much the loss to the Sun Devils still weighed on the minds of his players, simply stating "none." Followed a few moments later by "next question."

* Ka'Deem isn't ready for prime time. Beat writers noted that RichRod probably wouldn't have brought Ka'Deem Carey along for Media Day (instead, seniors Jake Fischer and Terrence Miller were the Wildcat reps) even if he hadn't gotten in a mess of trouble during the offseason. Apparently, RichRod doesn't think Carey wouldn't been the best fit for a massive nationwide marketing campaign, such as would be the case with the nation's leading rusher and a viable Heisman Trophy candidate.

* Brace yourselves for more mini-movies. Expect 'Hard Edge III,' the third installment of UA football's Western-themed cinematic shorts, to hit YouTube soon. It could include ... outtakes. If that means a Harlem Shake, I may have to ask for a refund on my season tickets.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back onto YouTube ...

The University of Arizona football team has released another, ahem, promotional video shot at Old Tucson Studios, this time including a dozen or so impact players along with head coach Rich Rodriguez in an endeavor that probably stretched the wardrobe department to the brink to find Western wear that would comfortably fit linebackers and defensive tackles.

The biggest difference between this video and the previous (which featured only coaches, one of whom got 'tossed' out of the saloon) is the well-done splicing of game highlights from last season into scenes of the players moseying thru the swinging doors and posing, like all cowboys used to do.

Somewhat surprisingly, seeing as the football program has made every effort to shield Ka'Deem Carey from media attention (NOTE: he's not going to the Pac-12 Media Days, where you usually feature your star players), he is among the participants in the video.

In actual on-the-field news, the UA also announced today its training camp schedule leading up to the Aug. 30 opener against Northern Arizona. Practices begin Aug. 4, including a three-day sojourn to Fort Huachuca Aug. 8-10, and Media Day is Aug. 18.

University of Arizona defensive back Patrick Onwuasor was arraigned Monday on felony drug and weapons charges, Tucson police announced Tuesday.

Onwuasor, 20, was set to be a junior on the UA football team this season. His name is no longer on the team's online roster, a move that in the past has been associated with players who have left or were kicked off the team. He played in 12 games in 2012 as a safety and special teams player, recording 36 tackles.

Onwuasor faces charges of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphenalia and possession of a deadly weapon during commission of a felony drug offense. A TPD news release says a gun and drugs were found in Onwuasor's apartment near Wetmore and First Avenue in late June.

Strangely, the search of his apartment came in connection with a home invasion on Tucson's west side from April. That investigation had gone cold until TPD was contacted by police in Beverly Hills, who said they discovered information from a separate incident that was connected to the home invasion near Pima College's Main Campus.

TPD says the home invasion case remains open, and at this time have not implicated Onwuasor in it.

The UA-ASU rivalry never dies. In fact, it just keeps forming new tentacles and plotlines.

The latest comes via Twitter, where Arizona men's basketball coach Sean Miller announced today the launching of the UA's official Twitter account @APlayersProgram.

Miller's tweet went up about 11 a.m. Tuesday, and by 4 p.m. the account already had more than 2,400 followers. To put that into perspective, ASU's men's hoops Twitter page had 2,761 followers. And was formed in June 2011.

"A Player's Program" has been the unofficial mantra of the UA hoops squad under Miller, who is a regular tweeter and uses that statement as a hashtag when talking about current, future and former Wildcats.

Why the men's basketball team wasn't on Twitter beforehand, like UA's baseball, softball, football and various other teams already were, that's beyond me. Whatever the reason, expect UA to quickly surpass ASU on the follower list. Heck, depending on when you're reading this it might have already happened.

FC Tucson, the little semi-pro team that could (and has, and will continue to do), is playing their final game of the season tomorrow — and, for that matter, the final game at their current field, before they move into their new digs next season.

And for tomorrow's game, they want you, Tucson, to join in and help give them their very first sellout game of the season.

From FC Tucson:

“This has been a fantastic season of accomplishments for our growing and passionate fan base. We went over 1,000 fans twice this season and now, we want to challenge our community to come out for one final summer celebration and be a part of our first official sell-out of 1,200 fans,” said FC Tucson Chief Business Officer Chris Keeney. “These players have fallen in love with Tucson and it would be tremendous to send them back to their collegiate or professional careers with a massive home field advantage and a standing ovation when the match ends. It’s also the last hurrah at Field 5 because we will open next season at our new stadium which will be an epic event as well.”

Added FC Tucson Head Coach Rick Schantz: “Revenge is on all of our minds. When we lost to BYU in Provo on July 4, they had their biggest home crowd of the season and it was clear their players fed off that energy. We want to return the favor and show the Cougars just how difficult it is to play against us in Tucson, Arizona.”
In addition to “Pack The House” Night, July 20 is also “Fan Appreciation Night.” In addition to FC Tucson’s match with BYU, fans can also expect the following:

· Chapman Tucson Champions League Men's Over 45 Final
· adidas water bottle giveaway to first 250 fans.
· Tucson Adult Soccer League Night.
· $3 hot dogs.
· Hero Appreciation: Military and first responders get in for $10.
· Frost gelato bites to the first 100 fans.
· TMC Mini-Balls.
· Team Posters.
· Raffle for team-autographed soccer balls.
· Post-match autographs.
· Halftime appearance by new University of Arizona women’s head soccer coach Tony Amato.

If you've support FC Tucson this season, or if you're wondering what all the fuss is about, head to tomorrow's game and check it out — and if you're so inclined, it wouldn't hurt to look up the FC Tucson supporters, the Cactus Pricks, while you're at it.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, the one "Arizona" pro team that appears to be doing it right, according to our sports columnist, unveiled a new mascot yesterday in time for the post-All-Star-Game home stand: a luchador.

• Jon Willey/Arizona Diamondbacks
• The D-Backs Luchador

Why yes, that is a masked Mexican wrestler. According to the release the D-Backs sent along with this photo, he's apparently directly related to the original D-Backs lucha libre mask promotion from last year (which I don't have around me, unfortunately):

The Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) have introduced the D-backs Luchador as an official mascot of the team. The popularity of last year’s Lucha Libre mask, which was later followed by a Lucha Libre match, inspired the creation of the Luchador character and this year the mascot features a new look. In addition, the D-backs will give away 20,000 Luchador masks, courtesy of Circle K and Univision Arizona, as fans enter Chase Field next Saturday, July 27.

The D-backs Luchador speaks both fluent Spanish and English and represents a character that you would find at a Lucha Libre match.

Now, that's some stilted PR writing ("represents a character you would find at a match?" C'mon guys, way to suspend belief. El Santo was a national hero that was buried in his mask, for God's sake) for what seems to be an otherwise cool mascot — and even cooler, the guy apparently wrestles for a lucha libre promotion out of Glendale, so he's not just some cut Hispanic dude who they paid to wear tights, he's the real deal.

My hope? He hurricanranas D-Baxter the Bobcat out of the damn stadium and becomes the official, full-time D-Backs mascot.

Ka'Deem Carey, let's hope you were watching ESPN this morning.

If so, Arizona's star running back would have seen how college football's top-tier superstar, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, addressed the myriad of off-the-field issues he's run into since being the first-ever freshman to win the Heisman Trophy last season.

Or, depending on how you interpreted his 6 1/2-minute live interview during the SEC Media Day, managed to keep things murky despite saying a whole bunch.

Manziel, who has been a lightning rod of controversy since being named college football's top player in December, was reportedly made to leave an elite quarterback camp hosted by Peyton and Eli Manning over the weekend. Speculation has run rampant as to why this happened, leading many to suspect the underage (but supposedly notorious party hound) Manziel was kicked out because he was too hungover to participate.

According to Manziel, though, it was a mutual decision as a result of him missing a morning meeting because he "overslept" due to his phone (and, presumably, an alarm app) dying on him.

Suuuuuuuuure.

Manziel, dressed (!) nattily in a dark blue blazer, blue-and-white checked shirt and a (different shade of) blue-and-white striped tie, along with a sharp white pocket square, said "absolutely not" when asked by ESPN's Joe Tessitore if he was hungover. But then, when asked if he had drank alcohol the night before, the 20-year-old then quickly cut off that line of questioning by saying "I'm not going to go into details about what happened."

Translation: he was pleading the Fifth, because admitting to underage drinking on national television, in case you didn't know, wouldn't be good for one's image.

Nevertheless, I applaud Manziel for speaking publicly about everything that's happened with him in the last seven months. Though he still came off as a bit of a jerk — noting that he believes that, because of his Heisman win, he's on a higher pedestal than all other college players will do that — he still manned up.

Carey, who himself has had a scandalous offseason complete with allegations of domestic abuse (which have since been dismissed), traffic violations and an infamous "do you know who I am" incident that got him kicked out of McKale Center, has maintained media silence throughout. He's being held back from the Pac-12 Conference Media Day on July 26, and my guess is his widespread interview access during training camp will be quite limited.

If Carey does come forward to speak about the offseason, though, it might make sense for him to study Manziel's interview.

Reporting on the 'commitment' of a high school kid to a college is far down on my list of noteworthy news items, especially considering my personal recollection of being able to commit to something at age 17 was limited to whether I'd get the Chicken or Steak Soft Taco at Taco Bell.

That being said, the level of interest in a prospective new addition to the University of Arizona football team seems to become that much higher for everyone when said athlete has some sort of lineage.

Thus, I am blogging about the announcement yesterday — during an incredibly pretentious high school athlete showcase known as 'The Opening' — that highly regarded prep defensive back Naijiel Hale plans to play for the Wildcats in 2014.

Why is this important? Because he's a four-star-rated prospect? Well, sort of.

It's most noteworthy, apparently, because Hale is the son of moderately well-known 90's rapper Nate Dogg. Hence, Hale's Twitter handle of @YoungNateDogg. Creative.

I'm sure word that the son of the man best known for a little ditty called Regulate has Weekly editor Dan Gibson all in a tizzy, but that's because he has a rather unhealthy obsession with rap music (not to mention Juggalos). [Note from web producer David Mendez: This is an office that gleefully discussed going to the Kings of the Mic tour at AVA. Watch your step, Pedersen.]

Nate Dogg died in 2011 at age 41 from complications resulting from numerous strokes he had over the last four years of his life. His son, who plays for highly touted St. John Bosco Prep in Bellflower, Calif., is the fourth so-called 'four star' athlete the UA has gotten a commitment from for next season, though none of those are binding until the official signing day next February. Lots more can happen between now and then, and probably will.

Hale joins a growing list of celebrity siblings to come to the UA of late, including Trey Griffey, son of baseball legend Ken Griffey Jr. (though Trey is a football player who redshirted in 2012 as a freshman) and noted German pop music sensation David Hasselhoff's daughter Taylor Ann Hasselhoff.

Who's next? Maybe offspring of the Backstreet Boys or NKOTB?