11/16 (Friday) Quickie

I'm no fan of Notre Dame, although I acknowledge that college football is better when Notre Dame is competitive.

I love Chip Kelly and what he has done at Oregon (equal parts the offense and the marketing), but -- again -- I find it hard to root for the Ducks.

I am intrigued by Kansas State, but had a hard time actually rooting for them. Then I read the lead WSJ story on them today and it finally clicked for me:

Kansas State is the ultimate evolution of my beloved 1995 Northwestern Wildcats: Not flashy, just solidly effective in all phases.

(It doesn't hurt that of all the teams in the country, only Kansas State fans might lay claim to Northwestern's title of "most historically mocked college football program.")

And so that clarifies things for me, at least as it relates to picking among college football's Big Three: I'm riding with K-State, because they remind me of my favorite team of all time.

More:

MLB: Cabrera tops Trout for AL MVP, as expected -- although it is kind of remarkable how overwhelming Cabrera's win was, almost like the BBWAA voters making a political statement about "those confounding stat-heads and their WARs." Isn't the real problem that we have allowed the BBWAA to "own" the "official" MLB awards?

Buster Posey wins NL MVP: Bet that's not his last.

CFB Weekend: Is it a trap game for Kansas State at Baylor? Yes. Is it a trap game for Oregon hosting Stanford? Not really. Is it a trap game for Notre Dame hosting Wake? No.

CFB Game of the Week: USC-UCLA for the Pac-12 South title? Eh. Does it really matter? The winner gets destroyed by Oregon anyway.

NFL: Anyone else think it's weird that recaps of the Bills' win over the Dolphins last night includes the idea that Miami was some kind of playoff contender? They were/are not.

NBA: With a win over the Spurs, is it finally time to take the (unbeaten!) Knicks seriously? No. The Knicks are fun when they are winning, but that's not the same as being a contender.

NASCAR: Brad Keselowski is your name to know. Barring a huge upset, he is going to be the Chase champ.

MLB Hot Stove: You don't really think that Bud Selig will pull a David Stern and revoke the Marlins' trade, do you? He already framed it as a reasonable baseball deal.

NHL: "Taking a break?" That's a euphemism for "If we don't get serious, the season is over."

Personal: Three months from today, I will turn 40. Anyone ever done P90X? I'm intrigued by the idea of spending the next 90 days whipping myself into some semblance of shape.

-- D.S.