Pretty much everybody in the know expects Evans, the McDonald’s All-American guard from Philadelphia, to pick Memphis tomorrow when he announces his college choice. All you have to do is read the story I wrote in today’s Commercial Appeal quoting his brother or this one from the Philadelphia Daily News to get a sense of where the kid appears to be leaning.

But how about this one today, from a live ESPN.com chat with Evans and a couple other high school prospects playing in the Jordan Brand All-American Game on Saturday?

Willie (Portland, OR): Tyreke, Kemba, Drew, and Ed, which NBA players did you watch/idolize growing up?

Tyreke Evans: (12:50 PM ET ) I watched Penny Hardaway when he was coming up, how he played and how he got a lot of assists.

Too much.

It’s being reported that Derrick Rose will declare for the NBA draft. I can’t say I blame him since he’ll be the 1st or 2nd pick.

As painful as it was last Monday night for Tigers fans we should realize that we just watched the Tigers have a very, very special season. I don’t want to sound too obvious but if you play in the last game of the season then you had a great year. In the end, seeing my new granddaughter come to life last Friday and spending a couple of days playing on the floor with my 4-year-old grandson made me put things in perspective.
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On Monday night, Pete Aviotti Jr., invited me to join him for the monthly meeting of the Whitehaven Wildlife Gourmet Club. This is a club that was founded in 1965.

They meet on the second Monday of every month at the Boiling Point restaurant in Southaven and enjoy a variety of wild game dishes.

This month, they had frog legs for the opening course and boiled crawfish for the main course.

Man, I think I could eat that particular meal every night.

Frog legs are great - and no, they don’t taste the least bit like chicken. They taste exactly like frog legs.

Crawfish are a lot of work for a little bite of meat. But it’s certainly worth the effort.

In addition to talking with Pete, the special assistant to Mayor Willie Herenton, I chatted with local conservation officer Andy Tweed, Avery Outdoors pro-staffer David Carrington and several new folks who were just as welcoming as they could be.

There’s nothing like being in a room full of people with similar interests - and when you add good food to the mix, it makes for a fantastic night.