Original ABC Wide World of Sports announcer Bill Flemming, also known for broadcasting college football, golf, and Olympic events, died last Friday of prostate cancer. He was 80.

Before sports fans were watching televised football games all weekend long -- and then watching on-going highlights on ESPN -- they were listening to Fleming's Sunday afternoon run-down of the previous day's games. He offered fans a glimpse into matches from other regions, and he traveled all over these same regions if it meant capturing a story. He announced 11 Olympics and more than 600 Wide World of Sports events. He once shuttled from hurling in Ireland to car racing in Santa Monica, California, to a parachuting contest in Bavaria, all in just one month.

Named Norman Flemming on the day he was born in 1926, this man grew up in the Chicago area, moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan as a high school student, and was a member of Ann Arbor High School's state championship football team in 1943. He was also co-captain of the basketball team. He came by athletics naturally. Speech, his eventual college major, was another love. In 1949, he won a campus-wide speech contest and landed the grand prize: a summer job at WUOM, the campus radio station. He worked his way up to sports director. And then his career took off.

Jack Nicholson has been serving up a steady stream of cheer for cancer patients at the Cedars-Sinai Los Angeles hospital.

The Hollywood icon and Oscar winner has been visiting terminal patients and cheering them up with jokes, card games, and behind-the-scenes stories about his career.

Nicholson's next career move comes in the form of a movie called The Bucket List. He plays a dying man in the film and began spending time at the hospital to research his role. But once his film finished, Nicholson kept visiting. He was that touched and moved by the patients.

Hospital staff say the actor's visits do wonders for the patient spirits. The only down side is for Nicholson who finds it hard to leave, knowing he may have seen some of his new friends for the last time.

Vincent Rennich, veteran casino worker and non-smoker, is suing the Atlantic City Tropicana Casino and Resort because he claims a quarter-century of inhaling secondhand smoke gave him lung cancer. And if that's not enough to make this man upset, getting fired seals the deal.

"They threw me under the bus," Rennich said yesterday, the day after a supervisor told him he was terminated from his job. "How can you fire a guy with lung cancer who's suing you? Maybe they don't realize the ramifications. Or maybe they're heartless. Or maybe all of the above."

Tropicana officials say that Rennich was not singled out in any way, that he was just one of many let go due to a restructuring of the company. Since last January, more than 200 people have been laid off.

Rennich, 49 and a table games supervisor, has been a vocal advocate of a total smoking ban in Altantic City's 11 casinos. He has been speaking out on behalf of everyone working on the casino floors, and for himself personally.

Rennich had a third of his right lung removed in September 2005 and sees a doctor every three months to ensure his cancer does not reappear. Now that he's been fired, his health insurance will lapse in 30 days, leaving him with a monthly payment of $800 in medical bills.

Atlantic City was slated to ban all casino smoking this past January. But fierce opposition from the casino industry, predicting an estimated revenue loss of 20 percent and job losses of more than 3,400, led to a compromise. And now, effective April 15, smoking will be restricted to no more than 25 percent of the gambling floor.

Rennich is not happy about this -- or his cancer or his termination. And while he is not sure what his next step will be, he says he is definitely not backing down from his anti-smoking platform.

As evidence mounts, it's becoming more and more clear that chemo brain, a mental fogginess that can result from chemotherapy, is a real concern and not just a convenient excuse cancer patients use to explain away their flighty and forgetful tendencies. It seems the brain really can suffer cognitive damage from the poisonous drugs that fight off deadly cancer cells. And sometimes, this damage is present years after treatment.

Add to chemo brain the normal aging process as well as brain conditions such as mild cognitive impairment and even schizophrenia and the brain might not stand a chance of ever remembering anything. Unless we buy into the new concept of mental training -- somewhat like physical fitness training -- in which case we may be able to bring back a level of sharpness to our lives.

Research suggests this type of training may delay mental decline. And Betty Hall, 85, who is taking a brain fitness class at her senior living complex in Illinois, says brain-enhancing activities are definitely helping her.

Hall is participating in an eight-week program where she spends one hour per day, five days per week using a computer to match words and listen for details in stories. She says it's helping her remember where she places her keys and her grocery lists -- and it's even helping her in her bridge club.

"I've won four times out of the last five at bridge club, and I think the players are going to shoot me because I keep remembering the cards people have," she said. "It's much easier for me to concentrate . . . and I brag about it everywhere I go."

One clinical professor of neurology says brain health programs will explode over the next few years because of the stunning findings on this front. One study shows relatively short training regimens, lasting just five or six weeks, improve functioning for as long as five years. And booster sessions help advance these gains. Study participants says their everyday tasks, like managing finances, are much easier after mental workouts. Another study of the computer software Hall uses shows the program shaves an average 10 years off the mental age of users.

Not all mental training is alike, and different cognitive difficulties may call for different training protocols. But the simple fact that I can work out my brain like I can work out my body gives me hope that I can possibly reverse the effects of chemotherapy on my own foggy brain, that I can one day not worry anymore that I might find my check book in the refrigerator and my cell phone in my sock drawer. Bring on the workouts!

Thanks to Bev, my brainy friend, for this story tip!

It's been reported that procrastination is on the rise. Not only that, but it makes people poorer, fatter, and unhappier too.

It took 10 years of research when it was projected to take only five years -- procrastination at its best -- to come to this conclusion. And now Canadian industrial psychologist and University of Calgary professor Piers Steel is talking about his giant 30-page study that appears in this month's Psychological Bulletin.

Something must be done about this problem, says Steel, who reveals 26 percent of the American public consider themselves chronic procrastinators. This is up from five percent in 1978 and is likely due to the tempting diversions facing us in this day and age -- TVs, cell phones, video games, iPods, the Internet, and Blackberries.

It's no surprise with such temptations that a quarter of Americans say they procrastinate. When it comes to the sexes, men are worse than women -- about 54 out of 100 chronic procrastinators are men -- and the young are more like to procrastinate than the old. Three out of four college students consider themselves procrastinators. And it seems perfectionists procrastinate less because they don't like to delay.

Steel says procrastination wastes time. And it's costly too.

"The U.S. gross national product would probably rise by $50 billion if the icon and sound that notifies people of new e-mail suddenly disappear," he said.

Steel found a delay in filing taxes on average costs a person $400 a year. Last-minute Christmas shopping with credit cards was five times higher in 1999 than in 1991. Clearly, procrastination is expensive.

Procrastination also has physical and emotional costs. Procrastinators tend to be less healthy, less wealthy, and less happy. They are also harder to heal of their problems than alcoholics.

Steel, who plans to one day compare the procrastination practices in various countries and cultures, says his field has benefits. The more he knows about the problem, the less he indulges in delay tactics. He did, however, acknowledge that his study was completed five years late. But what he likes about this study is this -- "If you take a day off from it, you can always say it's field research."

It is the truest spirit of giving in a story told the day after the most celebrated day of giving in a season of giving, where lives intersect in unexpected ways that remind us of the best in who we are as human beings.

A brother and sister, 15-year-old Stephanie and 18-year-old Kevin Hudon, are both facing cancer. Stephanie's bone cancer has spread to her lungs and her brother is currently undergoing chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

A teacher at the high school both Stephanie and Kevin attend, Christine Monahan, had been spearheading a fundraiser to financially help the family through this overwhelming time. Last month, Nathan Burditt, a student who attends the same high school, spent 34 hours in line to buy the coveted and hard-to-come-by PlayStation 3. Monahan said she was kidding when she suggested to Burditt that he donate the newly-acquired gaming system to a raffle to help the Hudon family.

But Burditt took her seriously and donated the popular PlayStation 3. The PlayStation 3, one of the it gaming systems this year, attracted $21,000 dollars in raffle ticket sales. Before the PlayStation 3, Monahan had expected to raise $500 dollars during the raffle. Ticket buyers to the raffle, knowing of Burditt's unselfish act of compassionate charity, wrote his name, not their own, on the raffle tickets they bought. Because of this, Burditt won back the PlayStation 3 he had donated.

The simple acts of kindness for a brother and sister struggling to survive cancer made national news. Enter comedic actor Adam Sandler. Upon hearing about Stephanie and Kevin, Sandler sent a PlayStation 3 loaded with games, signed DVDs, jerseys and an autographed Longest Yard poster to them to help make their Christmas a little more joyful.

Meanwhile, Burditt, who has won the PlayStation 3 in the raffle he donated it to, wanted to turn around and sell it to make even more money for the Hudon family. Everyone is telling the young man he has done so much more than anyone ever expected from any one person that he should keep it now. The raffle ticket buyers wanted him to own it after he so willingly gave it up to help someone he did not even know. It is reported that Monahan is keeping the gaming system boxed at her house until Burditt makes a decision on whether he will accept it for himself, or to what purpose he intends on using it to help again.

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, I believe each of us holds the secret wish that we could make the cancer go away. But we know we cannot, and yet we want to do everything we can do for them. Easing the journey, with a donation of time or money is one way, as is filling the life of a cancer patient with as much joy and laughter as possible, and if it distracts them from the current reality, all the better. Burditt, Monahan and Sandler did just that for Stephanie and Kevin Hudon of Manchester.

Bruins rookie Phil Kessel is surviving testicular cancer. And the 19-year-old former University of Minnesota player, drafted in the first round this year, is talking about his shocking diagnosis and the surgery from which he is currently recovering.

Kessel, who is expected to rest for two weeks before returning to the ice, found a lump in his testicle and went immediately to his team internist, Dr. David Judge. Judge examined him, referred him for an ultrasound, and learned with Kessel that the lump was in fact cancer -- embryonal testicular cancer.

Both Judge and Kessel are happy to report that the cancer was localized to the right testicle -- which was removed during surgery -- and had not spread. Kessel, therefore, has a very low liklihood of recurrence.

Kessel, who has five goals and four assists in 27 games this season, says about his diagnosis, "I couldn't believe it. It was tough. I had a hard time with it."

Kessel thinks cancer will help him gain perspective on life. And he plans to speak out about his experience so others may benefit.

"If you're not feeling well go get checked out and make sure you're all right," he says. Getting checked out is what saved him -- and he hopes others will follow suit.

Kessel is the second Boston athlete to be diagnosed with cancer this year. Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester was diagnosed with lymphoma in August. With chemotherapy behind him, he is currently cancer-free. And so is Kessel.

Lamar Hunt, the man who owned the Kansas City Chiefs and coined the term Super Bowl, died Wednesday night of complications from prostate cancer. He was 74.

Hunt had been battling cancer for several years. But he learned just before Thanksgiving while hospitalized for a collapsed lung that his cancer had spread.

A founder of the American Football League and driving force behind the AFL-NFL merger, Hunt grew up in Dallas and attended a private boys' prep school where he served as captain of the football team. He loved sports -- and earned the nickname Games -- and went on to play college football. While he didn't excel much as an athlete, he did soar to great heights as an owner and promoter of teams in professional football, basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer, and bowling.

Hunt's achievements are plentiful. He started the first organized effort at a pro tennis tour, helped bring pro soccer to the United States, owned Hunt Sports Group which manages Major League Soccer franchises in Dallas, Kansas City, and Columbus, Ohio, and was the last remaining original owner of the Chicago Bulls basketball franchise,

Inducted into eight halls of fame, Hunt is clearly one accomplished man.

Of his influence in the world in football, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says, "you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody that's made a bigger contribution (to the NFL) than Lamar Hunt."

Hunt is survived by wife Norma, children Lamar Jr., Sharron Munson, Clark, and Daniel; and 13 grandchildren.

Few will argue the entertainment and interactive appeal of video games for a global legion of game players. Ben Sawyer of the Games for Health Project is simply planning to take video games in a new direction of greater purpose that retains all that's best in present day video games. He's not out to reinvent the wheel -- he is looking to design one of the hubs with a focus on health topics.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with the games industry needing to stand up and be apologetic about anything," insists Digital Mill president and game developer and co-director of the Games for Health Project Sawyer. "We are not doing this because game developers have a little PR problem that needs fixing. My goal is to get the industry to do this because it makes sense and it's a smart, cool thing to do, period."

What Sawyer has in mind runs along the line of HopeLab's Re-Mission, a challenging, 3D video game with 20 levels that takes the player on a journey through the bodies of young patients with different kinds of cancer. Players control a nanobot named Roxxi who destroys cancer cells, battles bacterial infections, and manages realistic, life- threatening side effects associated with the disease.

Sawyer blogs the Games for Health Project. As stated on the blog, the goal of the project is to "help foster and support a community of researchers, developers, and users of applications in game technologies and with game development talent to create new ways in playing a greater role in helping to organize and accelerate the adoption of computer games for a variety of challenges facing the world today."

In September, the Games for Health Project will hold its annual conference in Baltimore Maryland. For more details, visit the Games for Health Project blog. Fascinating stuff in innovative applications.

When children diagnosed with cancer undergo radiation treatments at the Hospital for Sick Children and Princess Margaret Hospital it can be scary -- the unknown is scary at any age. Traditionally, to help make a child more comfortable, they are given a plush animal as a radiation buddy.

Now Toronto hospitals have something more to help in the way of an animated interactive CD-ROM that shows what will be happening during radiation treatment.

Called Radiation for Kids, it is also written to ease concerns of parents about what their child will be facing in treatment by providing a glossary of medical terms and tips on how to talk to their child about cancer.

In Radiation for Kids, a child creates an animated character and follows it on a virtual tour into treatment. The program is written with different levels of age-related information, puzzles and games so that young children and teens can both benefit from Radiation for Kids.

According to the children and parents who have viewed Radiation for Kids, the information provided does lift fear and gives everyone a sense of confidence in what lies ahead. For information about obtaining a copy of the CD, visit the CBC News feature on Radiation for Kids.

I am not a huge sports fan. But just about everyone in my family is. So I have absorbed quite a bit of knowledge about sports -- and primarily college basketball -- because all sorts of facts and stats and stories float around at family gatherings. I don't pay much attention but I guess it soaks in anyway -- because there have been times when I have rattled off information that shocks even the most fanatical of family members.

But something about basketball has actually peaked my interest and has caused me to look and listen a bit more closely. It's called Coaches vs. Cancer®. Coaches vs. Cancer teams up the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches in the fight against cancer. Basketball coaches from all over participate in a variety of events and activities and fundraisers -- and they hope to emerge victorious over a disease that is claiming too many lives. Many hours and much effort go into the game plan for beating cancer.  There is the Basket Ball -- a black tie affair that features a night of dancing, dinner, celebrity appearances and an auction -- and golf tournaments and tip-off breakfasts and even regular season games where funds are raised to benefit the cause. The program has raised more than $25 million since it first started in 1993 and the match-up is still going strong. Now this is something I can cheer about.

You have just been told you need surgery. You have questions. Here's one you might not think to ask the surgeon. Do you play video games? Beth Israel Medical Center researchers asked and what they discovered is surgeons who play video games prior to surgery made less mistakes. During a laparoscopic surgical training course, surgeons who played video games before the laparoscopic surgery training exercise completed the procedure an average of 11 seconds faster with less error than the surgeons who did not play video games.

Dr. James Rosser, lead investigator of the study is quoted as saying, "Performing laparoscopic surgery is like trying to tie your shoe laces with three-foot-long chopsticks while watching on a TV screen." Laparoscopic surgical procedures are commonly performed for uterus or colon surgeries. Rosser has been playing video games for over thirty years. He wanted to minimize the number of surgical errors made by surgeons and developed the Top Gun Laparoscopic Surgery Skill and Suturing Program, and took his cue from the flight simulator training pilots use.

Tiger, Auburn University Southeastern Raptor Center's 26-year-old golden eagle, has been diagnosed with skin cancer. According to veterinarians, the golden eagle's squamous cell carcinoma skin cancer tumor, located on her leg, has been removed several times and grows back just months after each operation. This type of cancer is rare in raptors making treatment and prognosis uncertain. If Tiger cannot make her pre-game flights this coming fall, there are other eagles who can fill in for her until she recovers. Tiger, also known as War Eagle VI, made her first pre-game flight in the fall of 2000. She has brought national attention to Auburn and wildlife conservation through those flights and her appearance at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The eagles are a part of the Raptor Center's wildlife conservation educational efforts, both in school classrooms and at the new Edgar B. Carter Amphitheater on the AU College of Veterinary Medicine campus.

The Environmental Protection Agency has created the SunWise School Program and SunWise Kids, as an environmental and health education program offering teaching tools for schools, communities and kids in learning about sun safety. From building shade structures to sun protection advice, the program is designed to appeal to kids.

The SunWise Kids website lets kids know the skin cancer risks caused by too much sun exposure and how to protect themselves from sun damage. Kids will find a trivia game and action steps to take to be sun safe. There is the Survivor's Challenge and SunWise Action Steps. In addition, there is a UV Index scale that allows kids to learn more about each UV level. The SunWise Kids website resource includes an educational area on the ozone layer that explains how we got to where we are in the increased dangers of sun exposure.

If a school joins the SunWise Program and orders a UV meter, they will receive the SunWise toolkit that includes activities and a UV sensitive Frisbee that changes color when exposed to the sun. With the meter kids can measure how much UV radiation reaches their town. Kids can enter the UV information on the SunWise web site. Then they can look at the data and compare UV numbers with the National Weather Service's UV Index. For more information, go to SunWise Kids.

Photo credit: Coastline Adventures. If you fancy hats, a cool place to shop for hats.