Wake-Up Call: Mark Sanchez, Drew Brees, Kobe Bryant, Pete Rose vs. Rickey Henderson

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First things first: Mark Sanchez will be -- or will not be -- entering the NFL draft. The USC quarterback apparently will announce his decision tomorrow.* Should he stay or should he go? If he stays, maybe he can lift his game a notch and compete with the passionate Tim Tebow for the Heisman this time around. Meanwhile, this might be a good time to note that the starting quarterbacks in this weekend’s AFC and NFC title games prove you can come from a smaller university than USC or Florida or Texas. Here are their colleges: Syracuse (Donovan McNabb), Miami of Ohio (Ben Roethlisberger), Northern Iowa (Kurt Warner) and Delaware (Joe Flacco). And if you don’t think Tebow is passionate, here is a reminder.

Run and hit: Drew Brees was on the Dan Patrick radio show this morning and talked about the Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson. Asked about running backs at age 30 and whether they can maintain their speed despite taking so many hits, Brees said, ‘If you’re talking about LT, that guy’s got a lot of years left in him.’ (LT turns 30 in June.) Brees’ baby boy is due tomorrow. And yes, Brees said he’s heard all the names -- ‘Cool’ Brees, ‘Summer’ Brees. ‘But I still think we can do better,’ he said. Any thoughts out there?

Run and shoot: Why I like watching Kobe Bryant: He drains a three-pointer with 27.4 seconds left in the game last night against the Houston Rockets. Watching him pull the Lakers out of the fire time after time can be exhilarating. And deflating when he comes up short. Here is a video of the game’s highlights.

Hit and run: The question came up here in the Sports department: Whom would you want as your leadoff hitter if you could choose anyone. Two names kept coming up as by far the best -- brand-new Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson and Pete Rose, who probably won’t ever be in the Hall of Fame because of his gambling. OK, and his lying about the gambling at first. But now you can help decide who would be the best leadoff guy. The poll closes Thursday morning at 9.

Last shot: If Carl Yastrzemski thinks Jim Rice deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, nothing more needs to be said.

-- Debbie Goffa

* Updated at 5:12 p.m.