Sports

Let us now ponder the exquisite status of Tiger Woods, who has clawed back to the top of the charts thereby to proclaim, with the help of his Nike mouthpiece, that his ragged and raw past few years never really happened because — ta-da –– as his ad says: "Winning takes care of everything."

And yes, indeed, he is No. 1 in the rankings again. And, too, he has a beautiful new girlfriend, although, of course, I will not mention her name here, so as not to be a member of what he calls the "stalkerazzi."

University of Louisville fans have had a lot to cheer about lately — and not just basketball.

Monday's big victory by Louisville's men's basketball team over Michigan is just the latest success for the school and for an athletic department that is quickly becoming one of the country's most admired.

In January, the football team upset fourth-ranked Florida to win the Sugar Bowl, and coach Charlie Strong turned down a lucrative offer from the University of Tennessee to continue rebuilding the Louisville program.

Tonight, there's a chance for a rare double in NCAA Division I college basketball.

As we reported earlier, if the University of Louisville scores a victory in the women's championship game, it will be only the second school to capture both the men's and women's titles in the same year.

In an essay for Sports Blog Nation, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn reflects on his path from college basketball player to poet. "What basketball and poetry have in common," he writes, "is that they each provide opportunities to be better than yourself — opportunities for transcendence."

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. If you're like most Americans, you probably have some debt, and that's a bummer, but how do you think you'd feel if you were in debt because of a guy who beat you? Later, we are going to talk about what might be the hidden cost of domestic abuse. That's financial abuse. We'll have that eye-opening conversation in just a few minutes.

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Good morning, I'm David Greene.

With Louisville's victory over Michigan last night to win the NCAA tournament, it's time to make good on some promises. Louisville players have suggestions for their coach, Rick Pitino, who pledged to get a tattoo if they won. Player Shane Bohannon thinks his name should be tattooed on Pitino's body. Another player suggests the lower back is the best location. Pitino's family seems too stunned to make suggestions. One son said, he would have killed us if we got a tattoo.

By beating Michigan 82-76 Monday night in Atlanta, Louisville won this year's Division I men's basketball championship.

In winning:

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

On a Tuesday, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Steve Inskeep is on a reporting trip this week in Venezuela. I'm David Greene in Washington.

The University of Louisville are the new champions of men's college basketball. They beat the University of Michigan Wolverines 82-to-76 last night in Atlanta. For the Cardinals, this victory was the finale to a post season that involved overcoming so many deficits.

Here's NPR's Mike Pesca.

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Native American pride is being splashed across Indian country, especially in Oregon on lawn signs saying: Rez Girls Rock and You've been Schimmeled. Two dynamic sisters, Shoni and Jude Schimmel, have helped power the underdog Louisville Cardinals to the women's NCAA championship game. They go up against Connecticut tomorrow night. The Schimmel sisters grew up on the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon, and they thrill their fans with a style of play known as rez ball.

Louisville player Luke Hancock isn't the most talented on the team, but his leadership played a key role keeping everyone focused after a devastating injury to teammate Kevin Ware. The Louisville Cardinals play the Michigan Wolverines in Monday night's NCAA men's college basketball finals.