That is quite a habit to have to break

A choice between the sacred and the secular is not a decision for a nun, so Mother Shaun Vergauwan and Sister Mary Richards will not be making the trip to the Final Four this weekend in Detroit, the Meriden Record-Journal reported.

They were invited by Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun, who for two decades has had a special relationship with the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist.

Vergauwan and Richards were in St. Petersburg, Fla., when the Huskies went all the way in the NCAA tournament in 1999, Calhoun’s first national championship.

They were also in San Antonio five years later when Connecticut was on its way to winning it all again.

This time, they’ll be watching the games and praying for Calhoun’s team in Meriden, Conn., when Connecticut plays Michigan State.

Vergauwan and Richards will remain in Meriden to receive a visit from Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is traveling from the Vatican to speak at Boston College.

Two sisters from the Franciscan order worked for Tauran in Rome, including Sister Catherine Mary Clarke, who worked in the Vatican library, so he’ll be stopping by Meriden as well.

“I hope the Cardinal likes basketball,” Richards said.

Trivia question

Who was the last NBA player to win consecutive MVP awards?

Who needs clothes?

A pole vault champion jogged naked through Paris in a desperate bid to attract sponsorship. Romain Mesnil filmed himself running through the streets of the French capital to advertise his plight, according to a story in the Daily Express.

The 31-year-old, who won a silver medal at the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan, must find new financial support after his contract with Nike ended last year.

The muscular athlete blamed the deepening global recession, saying, “It was probably for budgetary and strategic reasons. It’s the crisis.”

He added: “In my mind, it was an opportunity to do something funny.

“I am not ready to do anything to get a sponsor. We’re doing this and we will see what happens.”

And running naked through the streets of Paris wasn’t “anything?”

Trivia answer

Phoenix’s Steve Nash, in 2005 and 2006.

And finally

Pastemagazine.com ranked the quality of the fight songs from the Final Four teams, saying Michigan State was fourth.

“With its swervy brass intro, the Spartans’ fight song sounds alarmingly like “Looney Toons” theme music. Then it settles into a stomping rhythm that could be played by a 2-year-old child, or the drummer for AC/DC. Then people clap and chant. Then, after a big “wooo!,” the song wraps up with an incoherent roller-coaster of melody that makes the listener feel as though he has had eight too many Natural Lights and awakened in the gutters of East Lansing. The rare song that literally induces nausea,” the magazine said.

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broderick.turner@latimes.com