SPORTS UPDATE 1/10/13

College Football: Kentucky governor Steve Beshear announced this morning a $110 million measure that will allow for the renovation and upgrade to Commonwealth Stadium and the Nutter Football training facility on the University of Kentucky campus.   The renovation will include luxury suites, club seating, a multi purpose recruiting room and renovation of the press facilities. The renovation has a targeted completion date of July, 2015.

Notre Dame is mourning the loss of former All-America guard Mirko Jurkovic.  He passed away Wednesday at the age of 42 after battling colon cancer.  Jurkovic played defensive tackle on the 1988 Fighting Irish team that won the national championship before later switching to offensive guard.  Funeral services will be held Saturday.

College Basketball: Top 25 action this evening has 3^rd ranked Arizona at Oregon, 8^th ranked Gonzaga host St. Mary’s and 18^th ranked Michigan State is at Iowa.

High School Basketball:   The Kentucky High School Athletics Association has announced the start times for the Boys Sweet 16 semifinals and finals. The semifinals will begin March 9^th at 6:30 pm Hopkinsville time in Rupp Arena, with the final set for March 10^th at 1 pm.

The rearranging of the semi final and final games is due to a scheduling conflict with Kentucky’s game with Florida March 9^th. The Boys Sweet 16 will begin March 6^th.

Hopkinsville is ranked 11^th in the latest Bluegrass Preps.com Boys poll which has Ballard ranked number one. Bowling Green is 4^th and Owensboro Catholic is 8^th in the Girls poll which has Marion County ranked 1^st.

Our next high school broadcast is tomorrow night as Christian County hosts Hopkinsville at 7:30, with a ceremony to honor former Christian County coach Lyle Dunbar to take place around 7:15, on Newstalk 95.3 FM/1230 AM WHOP and online at whopam.com.

NFL: Former linebacker Junior Seau likely suffered from a debilitating brain disease brought on by repeated hits to the head at the time of his suicide last year.  ABC News is reporting a team of scientists reached that conclusion after analyzing brain tissue of the 43-year-old football great. 

After his death, Seau's family donated his brain to the National Institutes of Health, which is studying the effects of traumatic brain injury.  Researchers found cellular changes in the tissue that are consistent with a degenerative disease known as CTE.  Seau's family said he suffered from bouts of depression prior to his suicide last May.