Major props to Lincoln ex Donald Narcisse on his recent selection for induction into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame. The honor is icing on the cake for one of the great success stories in Port Arthur football history. At 5-9, 170, and not blessed with blazing speed, Narcisse needed arm twisting from Lincoln football coach Richard “Dick” Williams to get an opportunity to play collegiately at Texas Southern, then signed on with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders as a free agent in 1987. Once he got his foot in the door, there was no stopping Narcisse in a 13-year career that left his name written all over Saskatchewan and CFL receiving records. Among his many accomplishments, the 45-year-old Narcisse was a CFL All-Star four times, was voted by fans the most popular Roughrider three times, helped his team win a Grey Cup in 1989 and was inducted into Saskatchewan’s Plaza of Honor three times. He’s currently living in the Houston area where he’s a loan officer for Liberty Mortgage . . . Speaking of Halls of Fame, John Randle’s election to the NFL Hall of Fame last week made him only the third former Houston schoolboy star accorded that honor. I would have thought there would have been more. Randle, who played at Aldine Eisenhower, was preceded into the HOF by Houston’s Mike Singletary (Worthing) and Darrell Green (Jones). What stands out about Randle, who played collegiately at Texas A&I;, is that he earned his shot with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent.

Fox 4’s Brooke Bentley has worked up a piece on Babe Zaharias for airing on the KBTV’s Monday night sportscast (around 9:50 p.m.) that sounds like must see TV. Among those Bentley interviewed for the piece was Chris Stroud when he was in town for the Bryan Jackson benefit. She also interviewed Zaharias Foundation president W.L. Pate Jr. in front of the Zaharias display at the Museum of the Gulf Coast and talked with a certain sports editor about the greatest female athlete of all time. Bentley, who really knows her sports, is doing the piece from the angle that many in her generation have no idea who Babe Zaharias was. Zaharias, incidentally, is the subject of a forthcoming book — Wonder Girl: The Sporting Life of Babe Zaharias — by Don Van Atta of the New York Times that will be released on her 100th birthday — June 26, 2011 . . . One of the week’s most discussed stories, at least on talk radio, was a report out of Lawrence, Kan., that the Big Ten has made overtures to the University of Texas, and that Texas is listening. UT officials, as they should, are playing it appropriately coy, but I’m guessing they are glad the story is out. Texas, if it moved to the Big Ten, would almost be a football doomsday scenario for a Big 12 full of paper tigers with little national cache. My guess is this is mostly about leverage with the Big 12 for UT, maybe involving its own statewide TV network. One interesting sidebar, if the Longhorns did leave, would be their games with Oklahoma and Texas A&M.; Given Texas’ preference for non-conference cupcakes, would it want to play those two outside the Big Ten schedule every year. You’d have to think their fan base would demand it.

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton’s decision to start the second half of the Super Bowl with an onside kick was the gutsiest call I’ve ever seen a coach make in a big game. Especially when you consider Saints kickoff man Thomas Morstead had never attempted an onside kick in a game. If the Colts had recovered, QB Peyton Manning would have been 40 yards away from giving his team an 11-point lead. Imagine the headlines if that had happened and Indy had gone on to win. The Saints’ boss would never have overcome the stigma of what would have been forever labeled the stupidest decision in football history. No guts, no glory as the saying goes . . . With the Colts again coming up short, some are starting to label them the Atlanta Braves of the NFL. Remember how the Braves, with pitching aces John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, totally dominated the National League for the better part of a decade, but won only one World Series? Manning, who is a pedestrian 9-9 in playoff games, has four MVP trophies and one championship ring. Maddux won four Cy Youngs and one championship ring. I think Manning is the best QB in NFL history, but unless he wins at least one more title it won’t go down that way . . . Nick Saban is a hero in Alabama after the Crimson Tide won the national championship, but he’s not nearly as highly regarded in Miami. Saban, of course, was part of the Dolphins’ decision to not sign Drew Brees when the Super Bowl MVP was on the free agent market four years ago. Imagine how different the fortunes of the Dolphins and Saints would have been, if Miami had signed Brees. Chalk it up as part of New Orleans’ destiny factor.

I’m told Jimmy Johnson has invited the TJ class of 1961 to his fabulous Key West digs for their 50th reunion this spring. Johnson’s latest commercial endeavor will certainly provide a juicy and no doubt humorous topic of conversation. If you haven’t heard, our guy JJ has signed on as the spokesman for a series of 15, 30 and 60-second TV spots extolling the virtues of male enhancement pill ExtenZe. According to the product’s promotional material, Johnson will be at the Daytona 500 today cheering on the ExtenZe sponsored No. 37 Ford. I could add another thought on the subject but it’s probably best to just move on . . . In case the Kansas City Chiefs egotistical new offensive coordinator Charley Weis shows Memorial ex Jamaal Charles the disrespect he’s gotten from other coaches along the way, he probably ought to paste the following quote from KC owner Clark Hunt in a position where he’ll see it often. Here’s what Hunt had to say about Jamaal last week. “I think for his size, he plays like a big player. I think one of the things we all learned about him this year was just how tough he was and how much heart he has. We knew he was fast and talented but he was able to carry a load that we didn’t expect he’d be able to carry. It’ll be exciting to see what he can do with 16 games next season.” . . . Must cutting line I’ve seen about the Peyton Manning interception that provided New Orleans’ clinching touchdown in the Super Bowl came from Jorge Arangure of ESPN The Magazine. Wrote Arangure: “I’m sure when Peyton Manning was growing up in New Orleans he always wanted to throw the TD pass that gave the Saints a Super Bowl win. Now he has.” Ouch.

After spending two years in the Southland Conference’s Louisiana-heavy East Division, and the past two years in the all-Texas West Division, Lamar has agreed to take up permanent residence in the East starting next season. Cardinal basketball coach Steve Roccaforte probably wishes the move had already been made, seeing as how the West is so dominant. Entering Saturday’s games, teams in the West owned a 17-4 edge over Eastern teams in conference play. The Cardinals were 2-3 vs. the West and 3-1 against the East . . . In case you haven’t been paying close attention to the big picture in college basketball yet, some of the biggest names are in danger of getting left out of the NCAA tourney. Heading the list is defending champion North Carolina, which was limping along at 13-11 entering the weekend. Others in trouble were 11-12 UCLA, 12-11 Arizona, 13-10 Oklahoma, 14-10 UConn and 15-9 Louisville. Count on the NCAA tournament committee to bail out at least a couple of that elite group with the usual strength of schedule BS . . . The Saints were the proverbial rising tide that lifts all boats. On the day after they took down Indy in Super Bowl XLIV, the New Orleans Times Picayune, with it’s banner headline “Amen!”, solid the most newspapers in its 173-year history. And at the adidas Group plant, which handles official Saints Super Bowl merchandise, 130,000 shirts were being shipped each day, compared to the typical 65,000 to 70,000 after football biggest game. Could there be a new “America’s Team?”

Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net.