Springtime doesn't always mean there will be plenty of University of Memphis sports coverage, what with football and men's basketball seasons being dormant. Yet today, our Phil Stukenborg goes to work and shakes all of that up.

First off, he has news of a defensive back from Missouri who plans to transfer to Justin Fuente's football team. And then he looks at the U of M golf team, which begins play today in the NCAA regional in Bowling Green, Ky. And then there's his U of M notebook, which leads with the baseball team traveling to struggling Houston.

Phil Stukenborg doin' work, people.

In case you missed it last week, the Associated Press moved a story highlighting the rebirth of the United States Football League. In it, the AP listed a group of potential home cities for new teams. Memphis, of course, was on that list.

So in Saturday's Commercial Appeal, I reported on the story. I quoted Steve Ehrhart, the executive director of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl and former general manager of the Memphis Showboats, who said he didn't feel as if the new group had demonstrated its legitimacy in terms of owning the rights to the USFL's name. A city official wasn't aware of conversations with the local government and the USFL, which would seem to be important considering the city owns the venue in which the new league would presumably play. I reached out to Jaime Cuadra, who is in charge of the new league, but he didn't respond to an email.

Until Sunday.

Cuadra responded to my email by saying that the league has been in contact with local business leaders as well as Mayor A C Wharton, and that he's "excited about the progress."

And as for the concerns Ehrhart mentioned, here's what Cuadra said:

Yes EndZone Sports purchased the rights to the trade name and trademark of the USFL aka United States Football League. We did not purchase all of the Intellectual Property Rights to the league just the right to the name and Logo. Team Logos and Nicknames and the memorabilia that makes up the history of the league is owned my many others including some of the former owners. We have spoken to several of the previous owners including Randy Vataha and Bill Tatham and have received well wishes on the project.

What Mr Ehrhart does not understand is that the USFL mark went abandoned many years ago because it was renewed and they were not in commercial use. Therefore they were available to the general public. One has to be actively conducting business under those names to retain them and keep them live. This was not the case.

That's probably about all you care about a squabble over rights, so we'll end it there. Plus, to be fair to Ehrhart, he doesn't intend to start a quarrel. He was just honestly answering a question with his feeling that he wasn't sure if the rights were owned.

So will there be a team in Memphis? I followed up with Cuadra and next thing I know I had an email from Fred Biletnikoff. He said he's been in contact with Wharton, who referred him to J. W. Gibson, a businessman and former Shelby County commissioner, as well as Ehrhart and Greater Memphis Chamber director of economic development Ernest Strickland.

Obviously, the USFL folks are trying. We'll keep trying to see if they get anywhere.

My wife grabbed the Sports page a few moments ago and said "it's weird not seeing all the Grizzlies stuff in here." I agree. Yet with the departure of the city's NBA franchise from daily presence in the newspaper comes an opportunity to highlight plenty of other things.

Like, say, high school sports. There will be a lot of that in the paper the next few days. Spring Fling, the TSSAA's spring high school sports championships, starts next week in Murfreesboro, and we're sending what seems like half the staff up there. In the meantime, our John Varlas worked the Houston-White Station regional semifinal soccer match Tuesday night and saw quite the comeback.

Here's a roundup and road map for all the postseason tournaments heading into next week's Spring Fling.

AutoZone Park has a jazzy new video board that measures 60 feet by 60 feet. We've written about it.

Here is a video that shows the entire construction, boiled down to 30 seconds.

By now, you've read our season wrapups from Ronald Tillery and Geoff Calkins.

For an outside perspective, we go to Robert Mays, writing on Grantland.com, who takes a look at the Grizzlies and opines what should be done to help the team.

He sees a problem with three big contracts -- Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol -- and suggests one might need to go.

A year ago, Marc Gasol was a surprising story with a small price tag. Now, he's set to make almost $14 million in 2013. Randolph rode his strong second half of 2011 to a $71 million extension that would have him making $17.8 million in the final year before his player option. (At $16.5 million, it's safe to say he's picking that up.) That number is only exceeded by the $19.3 million owed to Rudy Gay in the final year of his deal that was inked in 2010. Two years from now, the trio would make a combined $50 million. That's a good chunk of money for a core that got outplayed by Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans two days ago.

Randolph might deserve the benefit of the doubt coming off the serious knee injury, but the excuses for Gay have all but disappeared. Memphis' highest-paid player took two shots in the fourth quarter of Game 7, the second of which was a 30-footer with the Grizzlies down 11 inside 20 seconds to go. Gay is and will be paid like a superstar, and at this point, it still doesn't feel like he's done much to warrant it.

The decision will be if and how Memphis decides to shake up its roster. The Grizzlies have pleasant surprise Tony Allen locked up through next year, but since Memphis has been trying to deal O.J. Mayo every season for the past 12 or so, it would appear that he might be gone as a restricted free agent. Mike Conley is signed until about 2030. It's clear that they have to do something, which might include looking to deal one of those three big price tags. Because right now, standing pat just doesn't seem to be an option.

What do you think? Should the Griz open up some flexibility by dealing one of the big three?

Need a handy guide to what the Grizzlies have in front of them in the personnel department this offseason? Geoff Calkins is here to help. Plenty of questions and answers about expiring contracts and, yes, money. That's what it'll come down to, after all.

Speaking of money, billionaire owner Michael Heisley tells our Ron Tillery that he wasn't disappointed in the season in the least. And he reserved his strongest words for a defense of Lionel Hollins. Also by Tillery this morning, the Griz discuss what they need to acquire, how they need to change their team this offseason.

On the same day as his Whitehaven teammates Mark Dodson and Gerald Perry announced their college choices, offensive lineman Vincent Hunter said he's currently open but that his own decision isn't far off.

The playoffs are over, at least in Memphis, so the Morning Menu returns. The Playoff Menu is on ice until next time.

The Clippers' bench jumpstarted a 12-2 spurt at the start of the fourth quarter that forced the frantic Grizzlies into increasingly terrible shot selection. By game's end, Memphis was an icy 32.5 percent from the field, and missed too many free throws in the stretch.

While the Clips' Chris Paul finished with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals, and Nick Young added 13 points off a Los Angeles bench that had a 41-11 scoring edge, the Griz got little offense from anywhere.

Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol scored 19 and 18 points respectively. But the Griz' supposed best outside shooters - O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley - were a combined 3-of-24.

The Clippers also held a 46-44 advantage on the boards, largely due to the rebounding of reserves Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans, who grabbed 10 and 9 boards respectively.

In a game that had 16 lead changes, the team simply play the hardest the longest won and moved on.

END OF THIRD

GRIZ 56, CLIPPERS 55

Forcing five turnovers and pressuring the Clippers into 7-of-17 third quarter field goalshooting, it look like the Grizzlies finally got some momentum by getting some transition baskets.

The Clippers clamped down on the Griz inside game, but Gay had 10 of the Grizzlies' third quarter points. He got more aggressive, muscling his way to the basket on drives.

Now with the season in balance with 12 minutes left, this game will come down to who has more heart.