SportsMyriad is one week into its existence, and I’m keeping it in “soft-launch” mode for another day or two. The idea here is to do mostly original content, and that takes time to bring to fruition. When you’re still catching up on household things like paying taxes and trying to finish up an expense report for a former employer, that content doesn’t just spring up. And while you can’t tell from looking at it, I have put a lot of time into the “design” here.

Once I’m up to speed, you’ll still likely a get a weekday morning roundup. Like so …

NEWS

– Soccer: Sure, the big game had a couple of controversial calls each way, but Chelsea looked outstanding in winning at Old Trafford to leapfrog Manchester United and take first place in the Premier League with five games to play. Arsenal is still just three points back.

The lead also changed hands in Germany, with Bayern Munich beating Schalke. (AFP)

– Tennis: Andy Roddick took his first win at a “Masters 1000” tournament, the most recent name for the not-quite-majors, since 2006, beating Rafael Nadal in the semis and rolling past Tomas Berdych in the final. In an era dominated by Nadal and Roger Federer, Roddick should get full credit for trying everything he can to break the stranglehold. He even raised some money for Chilean earthquake relief over the weekend. The women’s winner in Key Biscayne: Kim Clijsters, who wiped out Venus Williams. (USA TODAY’s Weekly Net Post, a great roundup of the tennis scene)

– Cycling: Fabian Cancellara powered away from Tom Boonen for an epic win in the Tour of Flanders. Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and Tyler Farrar all finished with the lead pack. AP says Lance was thrilled with his ride, but is anyone concerned that Lance had no teammates there? (VeloNews)

– Curling: Rough going for Pete Fenson and the USA so far at the World Championships. (USOC)

– Rowing: Cambridge shocks Oxford to win the Boat Race. (Telegraph)

THOUGHTS

– College basketball: Mike and Mike this morning were all over two stories, both affecting me as a loyal fan of my hometown and alma mater’s teams. First was Donovan McNabb to the Redskins, about which I have no useful comment. The second: NorthJersey.com reports, in an anonymously sourced story curiously buried on their site, that the New Jersey Nets’ incoming owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, is prepared to offer Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski between $12M and $15M per year to be coach and maybe GM.

A few reasons why Coach K would be unlikely to move:

1. He doesn’t need the money. If you’re a pro football player with 5-10 years of peak earning potential, then yes, you go to the highest bidder. If you’ve been coaching for more than 30 years and can go another 5-10, you’ve already accumulated enough money to do pretty much anything you want to do.

2. He loves where he is. Durham is his family home. He works with Duke’s business school. He loves being part of a campus setting.

3. He’s healthy where he is. This is a guy who has been through hip replacement already. Want to put him through 82 games (plus preseason and playoffs) of flying all over the country?

4. He has already won at the “highest level”? Even if you consider the NBA a higher “level” than college basketball — debatable, considering how different the jobs are — Coach K has already won at what he would consider a higher level than that. The patriotic West Point guy coached Team USA to an Olympic gold medal that recent history has shown is no sure thing. Once you’ve done that with pro players, what’s the point of trying to prove you can do that in the NBA?

Dick Vitale, who may love Duke even more than this two-time graduate does, quickly dismissed the idea. He won’t be alone.

And speaking of great 30-year runs … happy anniversary, R.E.M.

Update: Didn’t take long to get the official Coach K denial of interest.