NCAA TOURNAMENT-KEVIN WARE'S GRUESOME BROKEN LEG INSPIRES GRIEF

NCAA TOURNAMENT-KEVIN WARE'S GRUESOME BROKEN LEG INSPIRES GRIEF

As Kevin Ware lay in front of the Louisville bench screaming in anguish after breaking his leg in gruesome fashion during Sunday's game against Duke, one glance at the reaction of his teammates demonstrated how close the Cardinals are.

The four other Louisville players on the court crumpled to the ground and hid their tear-stained eyes in their hands or jerseys to keep from looking at Ware. Players on the Cardinals bench all recoiled in horror and several reportedly even appeared to vomit. And as medical staffers loaded Ware onto a stretcher and prepared to transport him to an Indianapolis hospital, even Louisville coach Rick Pitino had to wipe away tears.

Before Ware left the floor, he called his teammates over to him. CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson said he told the rest of the Louisville players, "Don't worry about me. I'll be OK. You guys go win this thing."

[Slideshow: Players, coaches react to Kevin Ware's gruesome injury]

Ware sustained the injury trying to defend a Tyler Thornton 3-pointer with 6:33 left in the first half Sunday's final Elite Eight game and Louisville leading Duke 21-20. CBS showed the replay twice when it happened, but the network made the appropriate decision not to air a close-up shot or to air it again during its halftime show.

We've included a video of the injury at the bottom of the post for those who want to see it, but frankly I recommend not scrolling down that far. It was horrific enough that one of the few athletes who has suffered a similar injury chose to lend his condolences on Twitter as Ware was being taken off the floor and Louisville fans in the stands were chanting his name.

"Watching Duke/ Louisville my heart goes out to Kevin Ware," tweeted ex-Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann.

The timing of the injury could not be worse for Louisville on multiple levels.

[Also: Sports world reacts to Ware's injury]

Ware, who had played sparingly behind Peyton Siva and Russ Smith during the regular season, has seen his role increase in March. He scored 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting in 25 minutes during Louisville's Sweet 16 win over Oregon on Friday.

It also had to be extremely difficult for Louisville to refocus on the game itself after such a heart-wrenching scene. The Cardinals briefly surrendered the lead to Duke, but they did recover to take a 35-32 edge into the half.

GOOGLE-CONTROVERSY WITH CESAR CHAVEZ DOODLE

GOOGLE-CONTROVERSY WITH CESAR CHAVEZ DOODLE
Google’s decision to mark Easter Sunday with a doodle of leftist icon Cesar Chavez atop its search engine angered some users in what they see as a snub of Jesus on the day Christians mark his resurrection.

Google defended the decision by saying it reserves the spot for historical figures and events, but a review of its past doodles shows it has never honored Jesus on Christmas or Easter, despite his historical and spiritual significance to billions around the world.

“I thought the Chavez-google thing was a hoax or an early April Fool's Day prank,” Fox News contributor Dana Perino tweeted. “ ... are they just going to leave that up there all day?”

The Daily Caller website also chimed in, noting the establishing ties between Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and the Obama administration.

“While Google frequently decorates its logo to celebrate various holidays and special events, it is unclear why the company chose specifically to honor Chavez’s birthday, instead of Easter Sunday,” the website read.

In 2011, President Obama proclaimed each March 31 to be designated Cesar Chavez Day in honor of the co-founder of the United Farm Workers union. The civil rights activist died in 1993 at age 66.

“Through boycotts and fasts, he led others on a path of nonviolence conceived in careful study of the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi and Mahatma Gandhi, and in the powerful example of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” the presidential proclamation said of the Arizona-born civil-rights leader.

Glenn Beck also noted the perceived slight in a message that retweeted at least 360-plus times.

“Cool for Google to not celebrate Easter but really?!!? Go to http://google.com,” Beck wrote. “HAPPY Caesar Chavez day everybody!”

Microsoft’s Bing, in contrast, featured brightly-colored Easter eggs on its main search page on Sunday. But Google, which last illustrated an Easter doodle in 2000, downplayed the controversy.

“We enjoy celebrating holidays at Google but, as you may imagine, it's difficult for us to choose which events to highlight on our site,” a Google spokesperson told the Washington Post on Sunday. “Sometimes for a given date, we feature an historical event or influential figure that we haven't in the past.”

The California-based Mexican Heritage Festival, however, praised the selection.

“Bravo Google for honoring Cesar, a man of faith and peace on this Easter Sunday,” the organization tweeted.

Others, meanwhile, took the opportunity to poke fun at the sometimes-surprising way Google alters its logo on its ubiquitous search engine.

“Google's Cesar Chavez doodle controversy: Much adoodle about nothing?” Karen Lopez asked.

Google has created more than 1,000 doodles since 1998, when the concept was born when company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin altered the logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.

“Doodles are the fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists,” a Google website reads.

The ideas for the doodles come from several sources, including Google users.

“The doodle selection process aims to celebrate interesting events and anniversaries that reflect Google's personality and love for innovation,” the website continues.