Sports Digest: Three VU runners earn academic honors

Pro football

MANNING SAYS HE HAS NO PLANS TO RETIRE: For all the things that are still up in the air, Peyton Manning is certain about this much: He isn't ready to retire yet.

"I have no plans on doing that," he said Tuesday.

Manning finds himself in a kind of limbo. The Super Bowl is being played in his town at the end of a season in which he didn't play even one minute. An iron man for 13 seasons, he's struggling to recover from three neck surgeries over the course of 19 months. A four-time MVP, he's one of the game's most recognizable faces. Yet it's his shadow and the question of whether Manning will ever play again that looms over the season's biggest game.

"My plan hasn't changed," he told reporters at a hotel after media day at Lucas Oil Stadium featuring the Giants and Patriots. "I'm on track with what the doctors have told me to do, and I'm doing that. I'm rehabbing hard."

CHICAGO ZOO WANTS COMPANY TO STOP USING CHIMPS IN TV ADS: A Chicago zoo is mounting a campaign to stop a company from airing a Super Bowl commercial featuring mischievous suit-and-tie wearing chimpanzees playing tricks on their human co-worker, saying all that monkey business proves deadly for the endangered species.

Lincoln Park Zoo officials fear images of the frolicking chimps broadcast worldwide do little to help conservation efforts, inaccurately portraying the animals as unthreatened and even as cuddly and harmless pets.

"If people see them that way they are less likely to try and conserve them," Steve Ross, assistant director of the zoo's Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, said of the commercial that shows chimps laughing at a 'Kick Me" sign on the human. "Individual chimps are being harmed and wild populations are being harmed by this frivolous use of an endangered species."

Ross said he and other animal welfare advocates have been complaining to CareerBuilder.com ever since the company started using chimps in Super Bowl commercials in 2005. But this year is different because he's armed with a Duke University study that he says supports his longtime claims: Commercialized chimps dressed as people -- even when running up big banana daiquiri bar tabs -- makes viewers less concerned about the plight of wild chimps.

CareerBuilder.com declined to comment on the study or any suggestion that the commercials put wild chimpanzees in danger.

Pro hockey

CANUCKS DOWN HAWKS IN OT: Daniel Sedin scored 3:37 into overtime to lift Vancouver past the Blackhawks 3-2 on Tuesday.

Jamal Mayers and Viktor Stalberg had goals for Chicago, and Corey Crawford made 30 saves. The Blackhawks have lost three straight.

College basketball

PURDUE CALUMET HOSTS FUNDRAISERS SATURDAY: In support of Coaches vs. Cancer, the Purdue Calumet men's and women's teams will donate a portion of the tickets sales from Saturday's games to the American Cancer Society. The Peregrines face Cardinal Stritch. The women's game is at 1 p.m., and the men's game will follow at 3. For details, go to www.cancer.org, or call (800) 227-2345.

College cross country

THREE VU RUNNERS EARN ACADEMIC HONORS: Valparaiso University cross country runners Jordan Piaskowy (Illiana Chrsitian), Joe Johnson and Claire Johnson earned Horizon League Academic All-League honors.

Johnson has a 3.994 GPA and is a double major in German and international economics plus cultural affairs. Joe Johnson, an accounting major, has a 3.711 GPA. Piaskowy, a civil engineering major, owns a 3.756 GPA.

Local bowling

GCA CHAMPIONSHIPS THIS MONTH: The Greater Calumet Area Championships will take place Feb. 12, 19 and 26 at Plaza Lanes, 8101 Kennedy Ave., in Highland. Cost is $20 per event, which includes team (four person) event, singles and doubles men's and women's divisions. There will be no separate women's team event. Bowlers will have a choice of competing in pin over average or scratch divisions, or both for an additional $10 per event. For details, or to make reservations for the tournament, call (219) 923-7240.

VALENTINE TOURNAMENT AT OLYMPIA: Olympia Lanes, 4150 Calumet Ave., Hammond, will hold a Valentine Female/Child Tournament on Feb. 12. Bowlers aged 3 to 12 may bowl with an adult female. Cost is $9 per bowler. Squad time is at 6:30 p.m. For details, (219) 933-6677.

Youth baseball

HESSVILLE LITTLE LEAGUE FINAL SIGN-UPS: Hessville Little League will hold its final two registration dates for the 2012 season at the Jean Shepherd Center, 3031 Mahoney Drive, Hammond. They are from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The league is open to boys ages 4-12, and girls ages 4-18. Boys must be 4 by April 30, 2012; girls must be 4 by Jan. 1, 2012. Children new to the league are required to present an original birth certificate at the time of registration. For details, call Kelly Woods at (219) 629-0461, Sharon Daniels at (219) 484-3126 or Mark Volkmann at (219) 845-5840.

Local gymnastics

CLASSES OFFERED AT VHS: Enrollment for the next session of general gymnastics classes for students aged 5 and older will be held from 5:30 to 6 p.m. today in the Valparaiso High School fieldhouse. There are classes available at 5:30 or 6:30 p.m. on Mondays or Tuesdays. There are six classes in the Monday session, starting Feb. 6, with a fee of $36. There are seven Tuesday classes at a cost of $42.

Around the horn

Purdue Calumet meets Holy Cross in men's and women's basketball action today. The women's game starts at 4 p.m., and the men's game follows at 6. Both games will be broadcast on www.rrsn.com. ... Danica Patrick will be guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500 via a partnership with Tommy Baldwin Racing. ... Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby is suffering from a soft tissue injury in his neck that could lead to neurological problems.