After photographing the albino raccoon for Sunday’s outdoors story, I’ve added one more animal to a growing list of albino and/or strangely colored things that I’ve seen in person.

Here’s my latest count:

1. Albino ruby throat hummingbird (Manchester, Ga.) - It was solid white, and I actually got to hold it while the biologists banded its leg.
2. Albino bluebird (Columbus, Ga) - A really strange sight, considering its parents were normal bluebirds.
3. Piebald whitetail deer (Eufaula, Ala.) - I actually shot at it from a tree stand and missed. It was a stunning sight.
4. Albino corn snake (Fort Benning, Ga.) - I watched several of them hatching from their eggs, and they came out striking at everything in sight.
5. Melanistic spotted gar (LaGrange, Ga.) - It was solid black and looked like some kind of dinosaur.
5. Blonde mallard (northern Missouri) - I saw this bird during the snow goose conservation order. It really stood out among the normal mallards.
6. Albino raccoon (Cordova, Tenn.) - Super cool, especially sitting right next to a regular raccoon.

Since Sunday’s column on the yellow bass problem at Herb Parsons Lake in Fayette County, I’ve gotten several calls and e-mails from people wondering what is the best way to catch yellow bass.

It’s been my experience that anyone with a hook in the water at Herb Parsons has a chance to catch a yellow bass. But there are ways to increase your chances.

Right now, the yellows are spawning just like everything else. You’re most likely to find them around some kind of cover. For example, I caught more than 30 one evening last week while fishing around the pilings of the old fishing pier on the main body of the lake. Almost all of the fish were suspended in about 4 feet of water and clinging tightly to the old wooded pilings.

I was using Jiffy Jigs for bait, and the color didn’t seem to matter. But with the water stained right now, I’d stick with bright colors like hot pink, chartreuse or electric blue. If you can’t find Jiffy Jigs, any old jig will do as long as it’s no larger than 1/16th of an ounce.

As the water temperature rises and the spawn comes to an end, the yellow bass will begin schooling in the deeper water on the lower end of the lake. Sometimes you can actually see them chasing bait along the surface during the evening hours.

These are the times when you have a chance to catch insane numbers of fish on one trip. They’ll hit the same jigs we just talked about. They’ll also hit small crankbaits like the Bitsy Pond Minnow from Strike King and almost any kind of live bait you put in front of them (especially red worms and live minnows).

A lot of e-mailers also want to know if Herb Parsons will actually follow through with my idea for a yellow bass tournament. I can’t answer that question for sure. That is totally up to them.

But if they decide to do it, I’ll be the first one to pay my entry fee.

John Calipari’s new contract, as we wrote about yesterday, is a significant development in every way. Though it’s never wise to get into absolute predictions with regard to coaching tenures, the sheer numbers involved in this deal — essentially, he’ll make $3.35 million per year — will make it very difficult for Calipari to leave Memphis any time soon. Simply put, he’s now priced himself out of all but a few jobs. It would take one of those mega-blockbuster contracts — probably from an NBA team — to pull him away.

Even at that, let’s just say an NBA team next week offered Calipari a contract worth $5 million per year. How much of the total contract would be guaranteed if he got fired after three years? He’s got $16.75 million guaranteed if he stays at Memphis for five years, and really, it’s even more than that because the deal will pretty much roll over every year. Plus, he lives in a state with no income tax, and from what I understand, the annuity part of his deal is also an advantageous tax situation.

And, of course, the other part of that hypothetical situation is that an NBA owner would have to be willing to spend that kind of money on Calipari, which is probably less likely given the track record of college coaches in the NBA.

The significance of this deal cannot be overstated. When you’re paying your college basketball coach this amount of money — and only Billy Donovan, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams are in the same pay grade — it’s an amazing commitment by the school and especially the boosters. I had heard rumblings before the NCAA Tournament that R.C. Johnson was meeting with boosters to look at ways to sweeten Calipari’s deal, and obviously they came up big in a major way.

And I don’t think anybody could make a serious case that it’s not money well spent. There is no coach in the country who means more to his program than Calipari. At the same time, Memphis has been very good to Calipari, and not just financially. He’s been able to establish a brand here; for potential recruits and fans on a national scale, “Memphis basketball” has certain connotations that are beneficial to him both as a coach and a personality. Calipari is also in a situation where he can win big if he’s able to recruit — and all indications, at this point, are that recruiting is not being hurt at all by being in Conference USA. If Calipari stays at Memphis for 10 more years, he walks into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Other notes:

– They re-finished the floor at the Finch Center, and it looks amazing. The new floor also includes the new college 3-point line, which will be an interesting development to keep an eye on.

– After talking briefly with Wesley Witherspoon and his mother yesterday, I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t commit to Memphis this week. Shocked.

– Departure date for China is set for May 26 with a return for June 2 or 3rd. The problem is, how many players will Calipari be able to take? Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey are no-gos. The incoming recruits can’t go. Memphis may actually end up bringing along a few players from other C-USA teams to fill out the roster for the three exhibition games against the Chinese national team.

– Nothing official yet, but Andy Allison and Shyrone Chatman are pretty much set to go to UMass with Derek Kellogg. Memphis is basically operating right now with a three-man staff in John Calipari, John Robic and Rod Strickland. With Calipari and Strickland hosting Witherspoon’s on-campus visit, the Tigers only had one representative out on the road this weekend. Robic went to Akron to see the King James AAU Tournament.

– There has been a lot of chatter on Internet message boards about the status of Hashim Bailey, who was injured fairly early in the season and did not play at all after that. Just informed speculation here, but I don’t expect Bailey to be on the roster next year. There was a reference on Zagsblog this week to Bailey possibly transferring to Marist or UMass. I’d say the odds of something like that are pretty good, though I’m not sure Bailey is good enough to play for UMass.

– Nothing is really happening yet on the Tigers’ schedule for next season, but Calipari would LOVE to put together a Kansas-Memphis rematch of the national championship game as the big opener to the college basketball season. Put it on ESPN and give the sport a made-for-TV event to start the season. How about Saturday, Nov. 8 in St. Louis as a lead-in to Alabama at LSU, which certainly will be the College GameNight broadcast? I could also see a potential Memphis-Louisville game in New York, as it seems Rick Pitino would actually be agreeable to that. I highly doubt Memphis will be in any sort of holiday tournament next season, but a Louisville or Kansas game would be a great addition to an already very difficult non-conference schedule.

– Memphis won’t have anybody coming into FedExForum next season as good as Tennessee or Georgetown, but Ohio State and Syracuse could/should both be top 25 teams. And don’t forget about Cincinnati. The Bearcats’ returning roster stacks up very well, and I wouldn’t be shocked at all if they’re a top-25 team heading into Memphis next season.

Earlier this week, Allan Ranson of Strike King Lure Company sent me a picture of a “strange-looking bluegill” that was caught in California on one of Strike King’s swim baits.

The “bluegill” was actually a green sunfish - and it was easily the biggest one I’ve ever seen. It measured more than 11 inches and weighed exactly 2 pounds.

It would have been the new California state record if the angler had gone through all of the proper channels to certify it. Instead, he just took some photos and released it back into his pond.

That happens a lot these days. People catch fish they don’t recognize, and they fail to realize they have a chance to enter their names in the record book.

If you’re fishing in the Mid-South, I would suggest that you familiarize yourself with the records for your respective state.

You can find them at these links:

Arkansas

Mississippi

Tennessee

Hernando’s Ricky Robertson may only stand 5-foot-10, but that did not hinder him as he recently high jumped 7-foot-3. The jump was the best outdoor performance to date for a high school athlete.

I know the floods have caused some real problems in parts of Arkansas, and I really feel for the folks who live and hunt in those areas.

But the truth is, many other areas needed the water after a long, dry summer in 2007.

One of the places that needed it most was Herb Parsons Lake in Fayette County. The state-managed lake was far below normal pool for much of last year, and one of its boat launches was unusable at one point.

The lake is back near full pool now, and the environment over there seems very healthy.

The vegetation that grew up around the shorelines while the water was down is all flooded now and playing host to a wide variety of minnows and predator fish.

As the vegetation breaks down it will supply food for the organisms at the bottom of the food chain, and that will be good for everything that swims in the lake.

Areas that were 2 feet deep last year are now 7-8 feet deep and easily navigable with a boat. Wading birds like blue herrons (pictured here) were walking bare shorelines last year. But now they’re hunting from wood piles and log jams near the original shoreline of the lake.

Let’s just hope we don’t have another long, dry summer that allows the lake to fall into bad shape again.

I hope we keep getting rain - just in moderation, for a change.

Disclaimer: We do not endorse gambling on sports. This information is merely intended for entertainment purposes only.

A friend passed along early odds on the 2009 NCAA basketball championship from Sportsbook.com. I don’t have a date for when these odds were posted, but obviously they’ll change significantly as rosters fluctuatedue to the NBA Draft, recruiting, etc.

Here are the numbers that stood out as good value bets and bad value bets.

RUN TO THE WINDOWS:
Arizona (75-1): This is an incredibly juicy number. Brandon Jennings is the best incoming freshman in the country, and the suspicion is that Chase Budinger will withdraw from the draft. The Wildcats still have Jordan Hill, and that’s a very good nucleus. Plus, the Pac 10 will be a bit down next year and it’s wide open for Arizona to grab a high seed if you believe the Wildcats will play better under Lute Olson than they did under Kevin O’Neill.

Florida (60-1): I don’t think Florida will have enough to win it all, especially after Marreese Speights unexpectedly entered the draft. But you can’t discount Billy Donovan, and you’ll never be able to get 60-1 on the Gators once the season starts.

Louisville (20-1): This is a bona fide top-10 preseason team, and if you can get 20-1 on that kind of team, take it.

Notre Dame (30-1): Everybody’s got Notre Dame in the top 10, some as high as No. 3. Not sure if I quite buy that, but they do bring back all the key pieces from a very good team.

Oklahoma (50-1): Tremendous value in this team. You’ve got Blake Griffin coming back, and he could be the No. 1 overall pick in 2009. You’ve still got his brother, Taylor Griffin, and you’re adding a stud perimeter scorer in Willie Warren. The only important player they lose is Longar Longar.

STAY AWAY
Duke (10-1): The roster is still flawed, and the odds are terrible.

Davidson (50-1): There is no way Davidson wins a national championship next year. At 150 or 200-1, it might be worth a flyer, but not at 50-1.

Indiana (100-1): You can’t make a high enough number for me to take Indiana. Total rebuild job.

Kansas (20-1): Not looking like a repeat champion given the significant personnel losses.

Memphis (18-1): My take on the Tigers last year was that something would have to go wrong for them not to make the Final Four. Next year, a lot of things will have to go right. They’ll be very good, but I’d pass at 18-1.

North Carolina (6-1): A terrible bet, especially not knowing anything about who’s leaving for the NBA.

Pittsburgh (20-1): The Sweet 16 seems to be the ceiling for Pitt until it recruits more skill.

Tennessee (20-1): At 40-1, the Vols would be worth a look, but the value just isn’t there knowing how much roster turnover they’ll have to overcome.

UCLA (20-1): Even if Mbah a Moute comes back, the Bruins’ starting lineup won’t scare anyone.