CFB Saturday 11/29 (Very) Quickie

It is the final regular-season college football game for many teams -- certainly the ones not playing in conference title games next week. Most notably, it could be the final game of the regular season for Oklahoma, if they lose at Oklahoma State.

But if Oklahoma wins, we set up a clusterfrack to end all clusterfracks. (h/t: BSG) The expectation is that the strength of that kind of win would vault OU over Texas and to the Big 12 title game repping the South. The 8 p.m. game means that the politicking will be condensed -- but no less brutal. Again, if Oklahoma loses at OSU, the entire debate is moot and both Oklahoma and Texas go home miserable.

Meanwhile, at 3:30, Alabama and Florida have to take care of business against their in-state rivals, to set up next week's playoff/play-in showdown in the SEC CG. If either loses, all bets are off. This is the under-the-radar BCS-obliterating scenario.

Finally, at 7 tonight, Oregon and Oregon State play their most meaningful Civil War game ever. If Oregon State wins, they go to the Rose Bowl -- relegating USC to a BCS at-large bid (not necessarily a bad thing, if you like great match-ups in your BCS bowls, although the Rose takes a massive hit... imagine USC in the Sugar against the Bama-Florida runner-up). Also, it removes any remaining BCS title-game legitimacy from USC; if they can't win their own conference title, how can they deserve the national-title game? If Oregon State loses, USC goes to the Rose Bowl for a (cliche-alert) "classic" match-up with Penn State. It also gives USC that "we're a conference champ" legitimacy.

Meanwhile, tip your cap to Boise State, which finished an unbeaten 12-0 season by destroying WAC rival Fresno State. This ain't Ball State: Boise State is a BCS Top 10 team and, as such, have earned a BCS at-large bid. I'm not holding my breath that they will be selected ahead of USC (if Oregon beats Oregon St); the Alabama-Florida runner-up or the Texas-Oklahoma runner-up. (Utah is already a lock and Ohio State is next in line.)

This is going to be a travesty: Any team that finishes in the BCS Top 10 should get an automatic at-large bid, even if another non-BCS team is ahead of it, as is the case this season. Personally, I think that if an ACC or Big East champ (or both) isn't in the Top 12, they should forfeit their spot -- if not their BCS payout. Think Boise State would play in a BCS bowl for free, giving its money to the ACC champ? Absolutely.

Lane Kiffin is going to Tennessee, ramping up the coaching star power in the SEC even more. I think he will find that the recruiting is more brutally competitive than anywhere he has ever been; this is no gift-wrapped USC recruiting situation. Also, it's not like Phil Fulmer is leaving the cupboard stocked.

Blake Griffin is the best player in college basketball -- no offense to my preseason POY Stephen Curry. Griffin had 18 and 21 under a very bright spotlight -- the NIT championship game against a very very good Purdue team (probably the best team in the Big Ten.)

Meanwhile, Tennessee over Georgetown in a Sweet 16-quality match-up of teams. (Meanwhile, Gonzaga totally routed tournaments spoiler Maryland, as you kind of expected would happen as soon as the Terps knocked off tourney favorite Michigan St.)

NBA Last Night: 43 for Dwyane Wade in a Heat win over the Suns. Wade is SO back this season... Kobe scored a season-high 35 and the Lakers romped... again. At 13-1, is it too early to be talking about 72 wins? At this pace, they would finish with 76... AI: Team-high 17 off the bench in a Pistons W.

LeBron on Barkley: "He's stupid" to criticize LeBron for stringing along Cleveland fans by talking about 2010. Of the things that Sir Charles is, stupid isn't one of them. To the LeBron-slurpers out there, note the overly defensive reaction to even the slightest bit of public criticism.

-- D.S.

Friday 11/28 (Very) Quickie

Alas, those poor Lions -- can't even catch a break on Thanksgiving. (Did Chris Johnson just wrap up NFL Rookie of the Year with yesterday's performance?)

What a comeback week for Donovan McNabb on "short rest" -- it's like all will be forgotten about that whole "benching" stuff, right, Philly fans? 27/39 for 260 yards with 4 TDs and 0 INTs, a 121.7 QB Rating.

The Cowboys needed a game like that. (Although watch those injury reports about DeMarcus Ware and Marion Barber.)

Texas crushes Texas A&M: Despite the dominant "45-35" campaign theme in the stands, it won't help their BCS chances, particularly when Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State. (Computer formulas don't watch TV.) But I think that yesterday's 4-TD, 300-yard, command performance by Colt McCoy should put him back in front of the Heisman race. (Notice how in addition to all but KO'ing Texas Tech's BCS chances, the loss to Oklahama buried Graham Harrell on Heisman watch lists.)

Independent of my Florida biases, I remain torn about how to resolve a 3-way tie in the Big 12 South beyond insisting that coaches reveal their ballots. If you believe in a playoff system, you cannot pick Oklahoma ahead of Texas, no matter what each did against the common opponent, Texas Tech. You must believe in the integrity of head-to-head.

(Now, by that logic, you should put Texas Tech ahead of Texas and Oklahoma ahead of Texas Tech, but I'm going under the assumption that because Texas Tech lost so badly to Oklahoma, they are no longer in the discussion and it is simply between Oklahoma and Texas. OU fans need to keep Texas Tech top-of-mind for voters; Texas fans are hammering head-to-head. It's a fascinating political campaign that they all say they aren't willing to be engaged in, yet both sides are. Wild stuff. Someone's going home unhappy. Wouldn't it be wild if OK St beat Oklahoma and Texas lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with Texas Tech, making the Big 12 South a relatively clean finish? Texas is going all-in on the "head-to-head" thing. If OU loses to OK St, Texas is finished anyway; I guess that's why they are hammering their case in the event of a 3-way tie. They should be, by the way; it's good strategy -- and it works.)

Today in CFB: Boise State hosts rival Fresno and is trying to clinch that 12-0 record. This ain't Ball State. The Broncos are in the BCS Top 10 -- the fact that they will not be included in one of the 4 BCS at-large spots because there happens to be a higher-ranked non-BCS team (Utah) is a joke.

Meanwhile, even with virtually nothing on the line, think West Virginia wants a little payback at Pitt for the way the Panthers obliterated WVU's all-but-assured BCS title-game chances a year ago?

CBB: Maryland upsets Michigan State, and it's fun to be in D.C. to enjoy the vibe on this one. It reminds me of when I was a kid. Meanwhile, so much for that "big" UNC-MSU game. And maybe folks were sleeping on the Terps a little bit.

Fantastic triple-header this afternoon, if all you want to do is sit on the couch recovering from last night: Georgetown-Tennessee at 1:30... Oklahoma-Purdue at 3:30... Maryland-Gonzaga at 5:30 (replacing Michigan St-Gonzaga). Here's your chance to get a look at some great teams and some great players, including Blake Griffin against arguably the best team in the Big Ten. And I have Gonzaga in my Final Four (as long as they're not in the same region as Louisville); it would probably help for me to watch them live.

I love that Allen Iverson skipped practice on Thanksgiving -- like the Pistons didn't know THAT was inevitably going to happen.

I'm glad I didn't cut into my Thanksgiving dinner to go to the Verizon Center to watch the "new-look" Wizards get pasted by the Magic. That said: Dwight Howard is one of those player I would like to see play in person, and his 26-and-14 night leading Orlando backs that up.

-- D.S.

Thursday 11/27 (Very) Quickie Thanksgiving

There seems to be this debate whether the Lions "deserve" a Thanksgiving game, which is as stupid of an argument as arguing that November doesn't "deserve" Thanksgiving.

Traditions are sort of like that. And, for my money, if one time a year, everyone focuses on the Lions and Detroit, it's a very cool thing -- whether the team is good or not.

I love the NBA Christmas Day games idea. And every year, they cherry pick the very best match-ups to entice people to watch. And while that is great in its own right, that is simply its own tradition.

I root for the Lions today -- even under seemingly the worst conditions in the history of the Lions on Thanksgiving -- winless and playing the once-beaten, playoff-bound Titans.

Of all of my "fairweather" tendencies, this is one of my favorites -- and probably the most accepted. On Thanksgiving, we're all Lions fans -- no matter how well or badly the team is doing.

Meanwhile...

OK, UNC will get my vote this week as the No. 1 team in the country, after they dismantled a very good (perhaps not Top 10 good...but very good nonetheless) Notre Dame team.

What will the unsealed BALCO testimony say?

Big win for the Magic last night heading into a game vs. the revived (?!) Wizards tonight in D.C. I won't be at the game -- pesky T'giving family dinner! -- but we'll find a way to have it on in the background. After being a draft-night doubter, I've got JaVale McGee Mania!

CFB Top 25 Today: All eyes on Texas. They wanted to play this rivalry game on Thanksgiving night for maximum exposure, and now they'll get it. Texas needs a very convincing win to hold off Oklahoma, although the Longhorns are in a rough spot:

If Oklahoma loses, Texas loses the Big 12 South outright to TX Tech; if OU wins, they likely carry the momentum into the BCS-ranking tie-breaker ahead of the Longhorns, who will then be passed by the Alabama-Florida winner from their extra 13th game (provided Bama and UF both win their rivalry games this weekend).

Must-See Ad: And you won't be able to miss it on TV. I'm not the biggest LeBron fan, but the "chalk" part of his schtick I kind of like -- though it's a bit "self-messianic," don't you think? Anyway: Watch this ad.

This year, I'm especially thankful for the healthy birth of my second kid, the health and happiness of my first kid and the saintly patience of my wife.

And, more than ever, I am thankful to you for continuing to offer me your time, attention and conversation through this blog. Here's to another great year ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

-- D.S.

Wednesday 11/26 A.M. Quickie:Thanks, BCS, Lions, Quinn, ND, Curry, More

Although I will be blogging all (long) weekend long, today is my last SN column of the week. So it is a mash-up of the usual mid-week CBB/NBA/obligatory Ball St football game on ESPN and a weekend preview. For those of you not planning to check in on the blog tomorrow through Sunday, this covers everything.

LeBron in NYC as NY-tastic as expected: What I don't get is why Cavs fans haven't revolted that he keeps offering up quotes that stoke the discussion of him leaving. I guess they're all so petrified he WILL leave (got news for you...) that they are afraid to say anything.

Ball State goes 12-0: One win away from the perfect season that earns them a Motor City Bowl bid. No controversy there!

Is Lane Kiffin headed to Tennessee?

Will we get clarity in the BCS this weekend? Not likely. (Although I'm finally no longer worried about Florida winning out but missing out on a BCS title-game bid. The secret is the BCS points that come with winning a 13th game that Texas -- and possibly Oklahoma -- likely won't be playing.)

I love Thanksgiving NFL. It is, by far, my favorite NFL tradition of the season -- my favorite NFL game of the season -- and, at least for one day, I become a big Lions fan. They could use it.

CBB Last Night: Yeah, ND over Texas was the Game of the Night, but I think that Stephen Curry-held-to-zero-points storyline is the most interesting. Of course, by double-teaming Curry -- seemingly even when he sat on the bench -- Loyola earned itself a 30-point loss. Great strategy! You might as well let Curry get his 35 or 40 or 60 and play D on the REST of the team.

Wiz win! Wiz win! (And win big!) I'm starting the season from scratch. 2-10? No: 1-0! (My Thanksgiving weekend will be spent in D.C., and I'm looking forward to Wiz immersion... and maybe even hitting up a Caps game, which I haven't done since I was a teenager.)

Finally: I lead today's SN column with what I'm thankful for in sports this year (by month, even!) What are you thankful for from the sports year? Leave 'em in the Comments. Good way to end the week.

-- D.S.

Tuesday 11/25 A.M. Quickie:LeBron, McNabb, Rockets, Cuse, Tiger, More

You know what I'm sick of? All the whining about all the LeBron-to-the-Knicks talk. Yes, two more years of it might seem endless, but at least now the discussion has some substance:

The Knicks cleared the 2010 cap room last week; tonight, LeBron plays at the Garden. I mean: If you're not going to talk about it NOW, when ARE you going to talk about it?

Today's SN column lays out the case: If your team isn't a contender, basically all you have to fall back on is the future -- what your team MIGHT do or COULD do.

"Wait 'til next year" is a tried-and-true component of the sports-fan ideal. In this case, "Wait 'til TWO years from now!" is simply an extension of that.

Meanwhile, Andy Reid starting Donovan McNabb on Thursday simply means that Kevin Kolb sucks too much to take the job from hi. It doesn't mean that McNabb won't be ejected from Philly this offseason.

Last night, I watched Florida get worked over by Syracuse. The Gators play zero defense, and their offense -- basically limited to tons of 3s and subsequent attempts after those 3s miss the mark -- is missing both size and athletes. We're such a long way from 2 years ago.

(Meanwhile, given that UConn obliterated Wisconsin by the Badgers' ranking -- 19 -- why are they not given more consideration for No. 1? I'm still waiting for the on-court result from UNC that would justify a No. 1 ranking, let alone a unanimous No. 1 ranking. There appears to be no analoge to college football's "resume ranking" -- what you did on the field/court this season is what matters. UNC has proven nothing; let me see what happens after the Maui tournament is over.)

I'm a sucker for college football awards season -- not just the Heisman, but the other awards, like the ones for positional excellence, and even the Maxwell, which is sort of the "poor man's Heisman." If you're asking me if I think Tim Tebow is a better all-around player than both Graham Harrell and Colt McCoy -- his fellow Maxwell finalists -- I'd say yes. Not sure how Sam Bradford and/or Michael Crabtree and/or Percy Harvin didn't make the Maxwell finalist list.

Meanwhile, some of the positional awards are very compelling: Andre Smith or Michael Oher for the Outland? Michael Crabtree or Jeremy Maclin for the Biletnikoff? (I'm stunned that Percy Harvin didn't make the Biletnikoff finalist list -- he might be the most talented player in the country, regardless of position. Did the Biletnikoff folks not like he can run the ball, too?)

Complete SN column here. More later.

-- D.S.

Obamaball: Sunday Hoops Over Church?

Can you blame him? I know a lot of folks who had a near-spiritual connection to their weekly Sunday morning run.

Coaches Poll Must Reveal Individual Ballots One Week Early To Avoid BCS Shenanigans

Demand the AFCA release all coaches' individual Top 25 ballots for next week's poll, when it will matter just as much as in the final week of the season.

The Coaches' Top 25 poll has always been a little sketchy.

Coaches have agendas and vendettas. They are hopelessly conflicted. Some coaches don't even fill out the ballot themselves. No reasonable fan thinks that the coaches actually watch enough games on a Saturday to know who to rank and where to rank them.

Most appallingly, there is almost no transparency: The coaches who vote insist that only their final ballot of the season -- the one that impacts the direct selection of the BCS Top 2 -- be revealed to the public. In other years, that is offensively opaque, but we as fans deal with it.

This season, that is a problem. A huge problem. A Big 12-sized problem.

Because provided that the Big 12's Big 3 -- Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech -- all win out, there will be a 3-way tie for the Big 12 South, triggering a tiebreaking process that ends with the winner of the Big 12 South being determined by BCS ranking -- one-third of that from the Coaches' poll.

Effectively (and not to diminish Missouri's role in the Big 12 title game): One-half of the national championship pairing could very well be determined by next weekend's vote.

Unfortunately, under current Coaches' Poll guidelines, we will never know whether some coaches tank one team or another to help a buddy -- or hurt a rival.

The point is: There is no transparency, and it will taint whatever the result might be. (We can all disagree on a playoff system, but the point of last week's post about an Obamafied playoff is that, at the very least, we get more transparency in the system.)

That's why -- in the event the 3-way-tie scenario is engaged -- the American Football Coaches Association (which administers the Coaches' Poll) must reveal how coaches voted in next week's poll, and not merely the season-ending poll a week later.

Now, that's a little like asking the banking industry to write its own bailout plan -- the AFCA's interest is in placating its coaching fraternity, not in a fair process. It is a trade association, not an independent polling group. (Where-oh-where is the Nate Silver-538.com of college football?)

That's why it wasn't able to insist on weekly transparency of coaches' ballots (the coaches scuttled that idea quickly), and that's why it shouldn't be part of the BCS process.

But it is, and fans and the media should insist -- demand -- that coaches' full ballots be revealed next week. If coaches wanted to be a part of this BCS process -- and all voting coaches opted into it -- they should be prepared to back up their ballot every week, and especially next week.

Given that both ESPN and USA Today are sponsors of the Coaches' Poll, it is their journalistic obligation to pressure the poll to reveal individual coaching ballots next week. (Let's set aside, for now, that their sponsorship enables this opaque ridiculousness to continue every season.)

We all suspect that shenanigans go on when it comes to the coaches poll -- a coach's first priority is to his program, not poll integrity. (See Jim Tressell's ludicrous 2006 abdication of his responsibility to the integrity of the sport, by not picking between Florida and Michigan.)

The only way we know for sure that some buddy of Mack Brown's -- as Pete Thamel suggested in today's NY Times -- doesn't rank Oklahoma, say, 20th in order to assure that Texas finishes ahead of OU (or vice versa in the case of Oklahoma) is to open the ballots up NEXT WEEK.

There are CFB sports-media voices with a hell of a lot more power than mine -- Wetzel, Thamel, Forde, Herbstreit, Mandel, Posnanski, Barnhart -- that can put the pressure on the AFCA to commit to releasing the ballots next week.

Any coach who doesn't like that is free to resign from the poll; that's as tell-tale of a sign as any that they were never going to take it as seriously as the fans, media and players do.

(In fact, the ideal would be that we pressure the AFCA to release the ballots AFTER the poll comes out next Sunday, so we can see just how tainted some ballots were. But I'd sooner push the transparency argument now, before it's too late, to get the most accurate and responsible result possible.)

By the way, if Oklahoma loses at OK St next week and makes this debate moot, the coaches are free to keep their ballots hidden from view, as usual. I'm only talking about this in the event that the 3-way-tie/BCS-tiebreaker situation is triggered.

(And, of course, a Missouri win in the Big 12 title game or an SEC implosion of one form or another changes things drastically. But we can only deal with the issue at hand.)

I'm not arguing for this to expose coaches who vote in the poll as unworthy of the responsibility -- even though I suspect many are. That's for another day.

But if this is the system we've got to deal withh, all I want is a little accountability -- a little transparency -- within the current structure to ensure the integrity of a process with little of it to begin with.

Demand the AFCA release all coaches' individual ballots for next week's poll, when it will matter just as much as --- perhaps more than -- the final week of the season.

It's a sketchy enough system as it is. Don't let the coaches get away with robbing fans and the sport of understanding how and why one team is advancing while another is staying home.

-- D.S.

Monday 11/24 A.M. Quickie:BCS, Favre, McNabb, T.O., Turner, More

You think picking the BCS 1-2 is a problem? Try picking the champ of the Big 12 South.

It's a mess, and it could totally screw up not just the Big 12 title picture, but the entire BCS title picture -- given that Texas and Oklahoma both still have substantial BCS ranking leads over Florida. That's the lead of today's SN column.

(And, yes, as a Florida fan I am freaked: I am NOT taking it for granted that beating FSU next week and Alabama a week later will ensure Florida is one of the Top 2 in the BCS. The computers absolutely hate Florida, and it is crushing their BCS hopes right now.)

Meanwhile, I compliment Brett Favre in the column. Yes, without even retching. The Jets are the NFL's hottest team, arguably the best team in the AFC (now that they have beaten the previous best-in-the-AFC and last season's best-in-the-AFC in back-to-back weeks, both on the road). I even surprise myself by linking "Favre" and "MVP" in the same sentence. Ugh. I hate myself.

Otherwise, is Donovan McNabb done in Philadelphia? Sure feels like it... T.O. is hitting his stride just in time for the annual Thanksgiving game... Michael Turner may be the Fantasy Player of the Year... Matt Forte is the latest Greatest Rookie RB Ever (Have we ever had a rookie RB class this good or this deep? I can't remember one.)... Matt Cassel isn't better than Tom Brady, but he certainly deserves to be a starter in the NFL, which he won't be when Brady comes back.

Fire Charlie Weis. Today. Do you need to wait for USC to hang 60 on Notre Dame to do it? Why? I guess it makes it that much easier. This guy is one of the worst big-school college football coaches of the last 20 years. When Josh McRoberts - d'oh McDaniels leaves the Pats to go be a head coach for another NFL team, that O.C. job in New England will be a nice soft landing spot for Weis.

CBB Weekend: Memphis ain't what they were last year, but let's not forget that Xavier is arguably the best "mid-major" program in the country over the last decade. (Yes, that includes Gonzaga.) And what the hell is wrong with USC? Oh, right: Tim Floyd is still the coach... Meanwhile, Blake Griffin jumps ahead of Stephen Curry on my POY ballot.

NBA: Who saw T'wolves over Pistons in Detroit coming?... Look at Shaq's rookie numbers and then revisit your expectations for Greg Oden, who Shaq ate up on Saturday... The Lakers put 8 players in double-figures last night and are the best team in the league, unquestionably.

Myron Rolle was down to Florida State and Florida, and picked FSU, which disappointed me. Then he said it was because of FSU's academics, which shocked me (as it would shock anyone, certainly in comparison to UF). But he has made the most of the experience and parlayed it into a Rhodes Scholarship -- he has taken a football-first school and single-handedly said "No way," and I would argue that if you combine on-field and off-field, Rolle is the greatest player in the history of FSU's football program, including Charlie Ward, Deion Sanders and Derrick Brooks. Any of 'em. Rolle is as good of a player as anyone who has ever suited up for FSU, and he is certainly the finest student to ever compete in athletics for the school, too.

Is it too late to put Rolle on your Heisman ballot? Wouldn't it be amazing if he swooped in and won the award? Hmm... that might be my new campaign....

Complete SN column here. More later. I wrote a post last night about the Big 12's BCS mess, and it's coming at noon ET.

-- D.S.

Sunday 11/23 (Not-So-Very) Quickie:Big 12 Gahhh!, BCS Jockeying, Rhodes Rolle

Well, what the hell do we do about the Big 12 now?

Granted, Oklahoma could lose to Oklahoma State. That would put Texas Tech -- the team Oklahoma just beat by 100 -- back in the Big 12 South driver's seat.

Or, if Oklahoma beats OK St, they could lose to Missouri in the Big 12 title game. That might actually put Texas back in the BCS driver's seat -- despite not winning its own conference division.

(I would imagine that Mack Brown is in full spin mode this morning.)

The thing we can all agree on is that the Big 12's Nth-stage tiebreaker system -- the three teams' BCS rankings -- is the most absurd thing ever.

Yes: Coaches from non-Big 12 conferences should be voting on the Big 12 South -- by far, the heavyweight of college football -- to determine its champ. Or the Harris Poll. Frankly, I trust the computers on this one WAY more than the humans.

At the very least, it would be nice if the Big 12 convened the coaches from the 3 teams to hammer out a more reasonable way to pick between them -- maybe let the Big 12 Coaches decide, or a combination of Big 12 coaches and computer polls.

The fact is: It is an intractable problem, even if Oklahoma loses next week -- and especially if the Big 12 South champ loses to Missouri in 2 weeks.

Here's one thought: What if we've all been wrong about the Big 12 -- that they are all great teams, but none of them are a Top 2 team? What if the NCG should be the Alabama-Florida winner versus... Utah?

I pride myself on clever ideas for solving weird sports problems; I'm willing to admit I'm at a loss here. Make your own suggestions through the Comments.

(Sort of makes you glad for the situation in the SEC, where -- as long as Bama and Florida win their rivalry games next week -- the winner of the SEC CG goes to the national title game. My nightmare is that for some reason, the BCS title game does not include this game's winner. And, as Bama has a lock on the NCG if they win the SEC CG, you know what I'm talking about here.)

Sneak-peek of my BlogPoll ballot: (1) Oklahoma; (2) Alabama; (3) Florida; (4) Texas; (5) Utah; (6) USC; (7) Texas Tech; (8) Boise St.; (9) Penn St.; (10) Ohio St.

(This is a little unfair to Texas; if the Longhorns got to play Texas Tech in Austin instead of Lubbock, they might have beaten them -- although not nearly the way Oklahoma beat them. And I'm sure Texas fans are frustrated into rage right now, saying: "BUT WE BEAT OKLAHOMA!!!")

Myron Rolle won that Rhodes Scholarship: Let's take a minute from the CFB craziness to celebrate that. What a wonderful story.

In all the Big 12 mayhem, one BCS thing we know for sure: Utah will be a part of it. This isn't just a non-BCS team riding a soft schedule to an unbeaten season (Ball St, even Boise St to a lesser extent); this is one of the best teams in the country, just like they were in 2004.

I feel bad for Boise St -- they are one of the Top 10 teams in the country, but have virtually no shot at a BCS bowl that they deserve. Right now, the 4 at-large teams look like:

(1) Utah;

(2) a 2nd team from the Big 12 (presuming one Big 12 team is in the BCS title game);

(3) the Alabama-Florida loser (presuming the winner is automatically included in the BCS title game, there is no way the Sugar Bowl doesn't take the SEC runner-up, presuming that a 1-loss Bama or 2-loss Florida are both still in the Top 10);

(4) USC (presuming Oregon St wins the Pac-10 next week). If Oregon St loses and USC sneaks into the Rose Bowl, Ohio State would be the 4th at-large BCS bid.

NBA Match-Up of the Day: Shaq destroyed Greg Oden. O'Neal had 19 and 17 -- you have to believe he was motivated to school the young kid -- and Oden had 5 points and 5 fouls and 1 rebound in 14 minutes.

CBB Star of the Day: Blake Griffin -- 35 pts, 21 reb... and Oklahoma had way more trouble with Gardner-Webb than they did with Texas Tech.

The BCS standings later today will be so intriguing.

-- D.S.

College Football Saturday Live-Blog

What Oklahoma is doing to Texas Tech right now is absurd. It will be very hard for me to not rank Oklahoma as my No. 1 team on my BlogPoll ballot tomorrow. (BTW: Charlie Weis should be fired tomorrow.)

Florida takes care of business. Ohio State takes care of business. If Ole Miss beats LSU at LSU, does that make Florida's 1-point loss to them less of a nasty mark -- or does it make Florida's blowout win over LSU less of an impressive feat? Man, remember when UNC was supposed to be good this season? Poor Vandy: In Tennessee's worst season ever, the Dores still can't win.

Currently watching Florida work over The Citadel. Unfortunately, anything but a blowout will negatively affect Florida's perception among voters. So: Blowout away! 35 points in the first 16 minutes is a good start. They need to probably go 60+ while shutting Citadel out.

Obama's CFB Playoff? Curtis: No We Can't

Well, as long as the New York Times was going to reject my Obama-CFB Playoff op-ed, I'm glad they published one by my friend Bryan Curtis, one of the very best sports columnists in America.

(We have two distinct takes: Curtis dislikes the playoff idea generally; I want to borrow Obama's "open-source" campaign tactics to implement one.)

-- D.S.

Saturday CFB Picks and Viewing Guide

Viewing Guide:
1:30 Florida-Citadel (Game Plan)
8:00 TexasTech-Oklahoma (ABC)

Wasn't able to post predictions for today's games yesterday. Here you go:

(2) Texas Tech over @(5) Oklahoma
(4) Florida over Citadel
(7) Utah over (14) BYU
(8) Penn State over (15) Michigan St.
(9) Boise St over Nevada
(10) Ohio St over Michigan
(16) TCU over Air Force
(17) Ball St over C. Michigan -- Locked Wednesday
Ole Miss over @(18) LSU
(19) Cincinnati over (20) Pitt
(21) Oregon St over @Arizona
(22) UNC over NC St
Georgia Tech over (23) Miami -- Locked Thursday
(25) Maryland over Florida St

Saturday 11/22 (Very) Quickie

As first pronounced yesterday, the Knicks are SO getting LeBron in 2010. There couldn't be a bigger done-deal in the NBA. Cleveland fans are going to HATE the next 2 days -- and 2 years.

Otherwise, it's all lead-up to Oklahoma-Texas Tech.

More later

-- D.S.

Gilbert Arenas: Losing "For The Better"

"I don't want to see them struggle, but if this is one of those years where we don't make the playoffs or we finish in last place... that's what happened to San Antonio and that's how they got Tim Duncan and look at them now... and that's for the better." -- Gilbert Arenas

You all know how I feel about this, and I'd react even if it wasn't from my favorite NBA player about my favorite NBA team:

I am a vocal proponent of the idea of tanking for draft position, under two conditions: (1) You weren't going to make the playoffs anyway, and (2) there is a transcendent talent available to you.

Unfortunately, the Wizards only qualify for (1), and Arenas' argument is undercut by his ignorance that there isn't a Tim Duncan or LeBron James in the 2009 draft pool. There isn't even a Derrick Rose, who -- for now -- seems pretty tank-worthy.

On the contrary, the draft class doesn't look quite as bad as the last time the Wizards drafted No. 1 overall (2001 -- Kwame Brown...ugh), but it is pretty unspectacular. A quick glance at DraftExpress tells the story: Ricky Rubio? Blake Griffin? DeMar DeRozan? BJ Mullens?

Not a single player in the draft class is transcendent in the way that Duncan or LeBron were -- maybe DeRozan, but shoot-first NBA swingmen aren't exactly hard to acquire. (Um, and the Wiz happen to have Caron Butler at the position.) Rubio plays Arenas' position; Griffin is undersized -- at best, the next Carlos Boozer. Maybe that's worth it.

If there was a game-changing center like Greg Oden or Tim Duncan available, then yes. The Wizards are desperate for a super-center, or at least a rebound-maniac power forward. But BJ Mullens? Yeah: Whoopee.

There is also the perfectly reasonable chance that the Wizards could end up with the league's worst record (OKC will have a say about that) and still not get the No. 1 pick. (And if OKC gets the first pick, there goes Griffin off the board.)

Arenas wasn't wrong on the theory; he was simply very wrong on the reality of the 2009 draft pool.

But does it matter? The Wizards are in for a terrible season, a Lottery season.

Is it really so wrong to look ahead to next year after watching 10 percent of the season fly by with just 1 win, to try to look for the silver lining in a disappointing Lottery year?

It might offend you that he did it 3 weeks into the season, but he's not wrong. Just ask Cavs fans if they regret tanking the season to be in a position to draft LeBron. Who could?

-- D.S.

LeBron to the New York Knicks a Done Deal

LeBron James to the New York Knicks is a done deal. They got rid of Jamal Crawford. They got rid of Zach Randolph. All they needed to land LeBron was the cap room, and now they've got it. Damn, he's going to look good in a Knicks uni. (And I say that as a hater of both LeBron and the Knicks.) It's a "when" not an "if" - and the "when" is Summer 2010. -- D.S.

Total Rumor: Chiefs and Vikings Like Vick?

So I get a lot of tips from readers -- most of the time it's a link to something interesting, but sometimes someone sends me a first-hand (or Nth-hand) story. One I got today was from a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy (etc... the chain of evidence seemed plausible to me) who claims Michael Vick told him directly that:

The Chiefs and Vikings have contacted Vick's agent about playing for them when he gets out of prison.

Now, this isn't much of a stretch: Despite Tyler Thigpen's fairly remarkable play recently, both teams could use a solution at QB. (Perhaps KC reached out to Vick's team before Thigpen heated up.) There are a couple other teams that could use Vick, too (especially if they want to have a "Wildcat specialist" QB!) Just felt obligated to pass along this totally unfounded, Nth-hand story.

Take it with your own brand of skepticism, but a team's interest in Vick is worth debating among that team's fans, whether or not it's true now -- for QB-weak teams you have to believe it'll be true eventually. So: Would you want YOUR QB-depleted team to pursue Michael Vick?

-- D.S.

New BCS Deal Stifles College Football Playoff Hopes; BCS Can Still Be Improved

Consider this a follow-up to yesterday's blueprint for change. Stipulating to the realities that the BCS system is in place for at least another half-decade, here are a few positive changes we can make to the current system.

Despite Barack Obama throwing his weight around, don't expect a college football playoff before the end of the BCS contract in 2013, if then. (Yes, really: If then. Make no assumptions.)

There is, however, the opportunity to remedy two significant issues with the BCS system: Who gets included and who picks them.

(1) Implode the "Big Six + Notre Dame" cabal and include any school that cracks the Top 10, regardless of conference affiliation. That both Utah and Boise State could both run the table and both end up in the Top 8, let alone the Top 12 (BCS cut-off ranking), yet one be excluded from a BCS bowl seems the height of ridiculousness.

Allow any team in the Top 10 automatic inclusion in a BCS bowl, regardless of conference affiliation -- even if that means the Big 12 gets 4 spots. (You can already hear the ACC and Big East crying foul -- buy them off by guaranteeing them BCS-sized payouts, even if neither league places a team in the Top 10. As for Notre Dame, shut them out and dare them to gripe.)

(2) Implode the current ranking system: The coaches have a hopeless conflict-of-interest. No one can still say who, exactly, the Harris poll voters are -- and what their qualifications are. The computers are a mish-mash of formulas. There is absurdly little transparency across all of them. Meanwhile, the activist AP poll -- which pulled itself out of the BCS because it didn't want to "make news" -- continues to... make news, by naming its own champ.

The solution: Create one, big, open-to-anyone national poll, and put the selection of the Top 10/BCS teams in the hands of the fans -- and anyone else who wants to participate. (At the very minimum, put the selection of the Top 2 -- the two teams playing for the title -- in the hands of the fans.)

The Obama campaign and the realities of social media have finally illuminated the pathway to having a national Fan Poll to determine the Top 10. This is something that I have been publicly promoting since at least 1997 -- it is entirely feasible, and the sheer scale ensures that no single constituency can impact the overall outcome. Trust the fans -- they know better than the self-proclaimed experts. (As a microcosm, just look at the BlogPoll -- when fans take Top 25 ballotting seriously, you get a very efficient outcome.)

You can sense that much of the current fan frustration about the BCS comes from a lack of a playoff, yes, but also from this lack of transparency, this lack of openness, this lack of control. My two minor suggestions to the current system help to remedy those concerns.

Sorry, Mr. President. Sorry, critics. Sorry, fans. You will not see a college football playoff for at least half-a-decade. But however naive you find my suggestions, it can't possibly be more naive than bellowing about a playoff when the nearest playoff will come halfway through the next decade.

What you can demand is a new openness in your current and flawed BCS system. And that's as good of a place to start as any.

-- D.S.

Friday 11/21 A.M. Quickie:Texas Tech, Michigan, Giants, Lakers, More

"Playoff-ish": You all know that's my catch-all description for any college football game where both teams have national-title aspirations. I'd say Texas Tech-Oklahoma qualifies, and it leads today's SN column.

Picks come out later today, but I'm inclined to pick Texas Tech, even with the game in Norman. Tech's offense is playing at a higher level than anyone else -- even Oklahoma. And its defense might be the best in the Big 12 -- which is sort of relative, given how porous those defenses are.

(That said: It IS college football, which has an Occam's Razor of sorts: Whatever the biggest clusterf--k situation can be, usually happens. So even if Texas Tech beats Oklahoma, watch them lose to Missouri in the Big 12 title game.)

Meanwhile, Texas Tech's hoops team put up 167 on a college named "East Central." While it's fun to see such a pinball score, Pat Knight's team won by 50+, meaning that the 90-point second half was probably the worst exhibition of sportsmanship of 2008. What a d'bag.

That eye-popping total might just eclipse UCLA's choke-job in NYC against Michigan. I love Ben Howland and I'm almost always bullish on UCLA (see last year's November-to-March prediction they would win the national title), but their greatest strength -- defense -- means that their games will almost always be close, and close means the opponent has a puncher's chance.

The Lakers are unstoppable. The Pistons with AI aren't as much of a threat to the Celtics as the Nuggets with Billups (or, by extension) the Pistons with Billups.

I'm unmoved by Hank Steinbrenner's deadline for CC Sabathia to accept the Yankees' absurd offer. I'm a little more intrigued by the Nationals' interest in Mark Teixeira -- and the Maryland native's interest in the Nats.

(Speaking of DC baseball, I grew up on Thomas Boswell -- the guy is a baseball-columnist institution. But his support of Ryan Howard over Albert Pujols for NL MVP -- his argument -- was his tipping-point moment of his irrelevancy. Posnanski gave him what I would label a sympathetic evisceration.)

Looking ahead to Sunday: I am most intrigued by the Pats-Fins game, for a few reasons: (1) it has playoff implications; (2) they have one of the best rivalries in the NFL; (3) Miami revealed the "Wildcat" in their early-season clobbering of the Pats; will they go back to it again?

That said: I recognize that Giants-Cards is, on paper, the best match-up of the weekend. But since both teams are playoff locks, is it really bigger than Pats-Fins? Or even Titans-Jets, where the Titans look to continue their unbeaten season and the Jets are trying to stay one step ahead of the Pats-Fins winner?

Complete SN column here. More later.

-- D.S.

Carl Joseph and Myron Rolle

Have you ever heard of Carl Joseph? This might be some of the most dramatic sports footage I have ever seen. Meanwhile: you can hate FSU, but how can you hate Myron Rolle? Rhodes him!

(Speaking of wildly successful outliers, here's a very interesting Q&A Malcolm Gladwell did with ESPN the Mag. Hmm: Gladwell's next NYer piece is about college QBs?)

College Football Playoff? Yes We Can

The following was submitted -- and summarily rejected! -- as an Op-Ed piece off of Obama's interview on "60 Minutes" this past Sunday. It was meant for a wider, non-avid-sports-fan audience. On Monday, there were several clever reactions to Obama's interview (this one I particularly liked), but they were more along the lines of "I want to be your Playoff Czar!"; none really offered a new direction for discussion. That's what I was hoping to do here. I openly recognize that there are lots of holes to shoot in this, but consider the larger point of populism.

College Football Playoff? Yes We Can.

"We should be creating a [college football] playoff system. So I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit." -- President-elect Barack Obama on "60 Minutes," November 16

To: President-elect Obama
From: The Head of College Football Playoff Transition Team

Nothing needs more of the "change" you talk about than college football's system for determining a national champion.

Your support for a long-desired 8-team playoff system is achievable. However, the existing institutional inertia -- even resistance -- is substantial. To create a college football playoff, you will have to answer two key questions: Which schools are included? And who gets to
decide which teams make the playoff?

The answers lie in the same populist, "bottom-up" solutions you used so effectively on the campaign trail.

Let's review the existing system: The two top-ranked teams in the Bowl Championship Series ("BCS") play for the national title.

The BCS comprises the teams represented by the six "power" conferences who negotiated the original BCS deal: The SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, Big East and ACC, plus Notre Dame. Upon annual review, a lone representative of non-"power" teams may be allowed into the group,
with an unbeaten season (and some luck).

The system is, by its very definition, exclusionary. This season, two non-"power" teams -- Utah and Boise State -- are both undefeated and ranked in the Top 10 nationally. Only one will break through the class ceiling, and even then, there is no talk that either would be one of two teams selected to actually compete for the national title.

An even larger source of contention is the process to select the two teams that play for the national title. The top two teams are derived from a combination of two "human" polls (conducted among college football coaches and select outside experts) and the average of a
batch of rankings determined by computer algorithm. (Google, it ain't.)

The polling is opaque. Coaches are inherently biased. Experts can only watch so many games at once. Numbers baked into a computer program can never tell the whole story. Ultimately, sorting among half-a-dozen -- or more -- worthy contenders is perennially maddening to fans. The Associated Press thought so little of the BCS process that it removed its own poll of college football writers from the formula.

So how to bring the country together and deliver the playoff everyone wants? The solution is to "open-source" it.

It starts by curbing the current BCS cabal. Mandate a one-time opt-out of the current system for any school or conference interested in a playoff.

From there, create a pool of willing playoff participants. But it can't be based on the same old power-conference politics.

Open the playoff system to any team that wants to be a part of it. That allows any conscientious objectors to a playoff -- university presidents or conference commissioners -- to opt out, for any reason. Their teams will simply not be eligible to participate in the playoff. Left intact are the schools with a commitment to a playoff.

Next, we need a more structurally sound and sustainable system to determine the 8 playoff teams. For starters, eliminate the current bloated bureaucracy of ranking teams through a hazy mix of conflicted coaches, so-called experts and soulless computers.

Instead, tap into the renewable energy of the fans themselves. Replace the current convoluted ranking system with a nationalized "Fan Poll," open to any registered fan to submit their own Top 8 ballot. Give fans themselves the biggest stake in this new process and its outcome; trust their interest in taking it seriously. These results would create a self-fulfilling mandate -- what outraged coach or pundit could seriously disagree with a nation of fans weighing in?

If your campaign proved anything, Mr. President-elect, it was that the power of the Web to efficiently enable the actions of a massive collection of motivated, individual people. Harness that again: The sheer volume of participants will ensure that no single constituency will dominate; a free market of fans -- with limited, helpful regulation from your National Office of College Football Playoff -- will deliver the wisest, fairest, most transparent group of 8 playoff teams each season.

A college football playoff powered by populism inclusively puts the process in the hands of whoever wants to create the change they want: Whether you are a university trustee or a fan on the couch, only participate if you care to -- but, in the end, everyone choosing to take part is motivated by a vested interest in the best outcome possible for the sport.

After that, it's easy: Three rounds, three weeks, one champion: In a way you and the country might recognize, a "Champ We Can Believe In."

-- D.S.

(Update: Smart overview of the landscape from Josh Levin at Slate. Wilbon weighed in Tuesday.)