Sports 2000

Six major conferences within Division I-A football are guaranteed a place in one of five Bowl Championship Series games each January. Teams from other Division I-A conferences may qualify if they play well enough. Each Sunday, I’ll project who will play in the BCS games. The team with the best conference record gets the automatic berth. No attempt to predict future games will be made. All projections are based on a “what would happen if the season ended now” theory. Starting in mid-October, I’ll use the BCS standings to break any ties among conference leaders. Until then, I’ll use the most recent Associated Press poll.

Southeastern: #1 Georgia (1-0)

The Bulldogs handled Georgia Southern, 45-21, Saturday but lost another lineman to a season-ending injury. Georgia hosts Central Michigan (1-0) this week.

Big 10: #2 Ohio State (1-0)

The Buckeyes crushed Youngstown State, 43-0, but lost All-American running back Chris Wells to a leg injury. X-rays were negative and more testing will be done Monday. Wells won’t be needed Saturday against Ohio (0-1) but OSU will want to rely on him next week at #3 USC.

Pacific 10: #3 Southern California (1-0)

The Trojans traveled across the country and smashed Virginia, 52-7. USC looked strong and used a lot of players against the Cavaliers. USC is off Saturday and has two weeks to prepare for Ohio State’s visit Sept. 13.

Big 12: #4 Oklahoma (1-0)

The Sooners unsurprisingly throttled Chattanooga, 57-2, after leading 50-0 at halftime. Oklahoma’s next opponent, Cincinnati (1-0), is a bit better but the Sooners could easily start the year with five consecutive wins.

Big East: #8 West Virginia (1-0)

The Mountaineers began the post-Rich Rodriguez era in earnest Saturday with a 48-21 thumping of Villanova. WVU hosts East Carolina (1-0) this week. The Pirates upset #17 Virginia Tech last week, 27-22.

Atlantic Coast: #23 Wake Forest (1-0)

At least, the Demon Deacons won. They crunched Baylor on the road, 41-13, Thursday. However, conference kingpin Virginia Tech was surprised by East Carolina and title contenders Virginia and Clemson were soundly beaten. Not hard to put Wake Forest in the ACC’s spot this week.

Mountain West: #16 Brigham Young (1-0)

The Cougars dispatched Northern Iowa, 41-17, Saturday. They are also fortunate the ACC champion is ranked 23rd this week. BYU is 16th and normally only the top 12 teams would be considered for an at-large bid. However, since Wake Forest is below them, the Cougars qualify for a BCS game with a top-16 ranking. Realistically, BYU needs to be in the top 12 in December to get a place. The Cougars travel to Washington (0-1) Saturday.

With seven teams claiming automatic berths this week, there are three at-large positions available. To qualify for consideration, teams must have at least nine wins and be in the top 12 of the final BCS standings. No more than two teams from any conference may be in the BCS. No conference may have more than one at-large pick. Clemson is ninth at the moment but after its loss Saturday to #24 Alabama, 34-10, Clemson will sink next week. I’ve removed the Tigers from the top 12 and moved each trailing team one spot. Therefore, there are seven eligible at-large teams this week, understanding no team has nine wins yet:

#5 Florida (1-0, SEC)
#6 Missouri (1-0, Big 12)
#7 Louisiana State (1-0, SEC)
#9 Auburn (1-0, SEC)
#10 Texas (1-0, Big 12)
#11 Texas Tech (1-0, Big 12)
#12 Wisconsin (1-0, Big 10)

The BCS Championship Game is Jan. 8, 2009. The Fiesta Bowl is Jan. 5. The Sugar Bowl is Jan. 2. The Orange and Rose bowls are set for New Year’s Day. The championship game pits the top two teams in the final BCS standings. The other bowls have one or two “anchor” teams as described below:

Rose: Big 10 vs. Pac-10
Orange: ACC
Sugar: SEC
Fiesta: Big 12

The Big East champ is guaranteed a spot in either the Orange, Sugar or Fiesta but floats among the three. Based on these standings, Georgia and Ohio State would play for the BCS crown. The Sugar Bowl, having lost its anchor team, gets to choose a replacement. Bowl officials may select who they want among the eligibles and I think they’ll want LSU. The game is held in New Orleans and officials will want the reigning national champion from Baton Rouge. Since two SEC teams are now in the BCS, Florida and Auburn are no longer eligible.

The Rose Bowl lost the second-ranked anchor so it chooses a replacement next. The Tournament of Roses Committee–which organizes the world-famous parade and game on New Year’s Day–wants a Big 10/Pac-10 whenever possible. Wisconsin is on the board so the Badgers will be chosen. The fact that tens of thousands of fans traveled from Madison to Pasadena the last few years their team was in the Rose Bowl certainly helps.

The Fiesta Bowl, with its game time furthest after the Rose Bowl, chooses next. Oklahoma, from the Big 12, is already in the game so there’s no reason to pick a Big 12 opponent for a rematch. The best team remaining is West Virginia, the Big East champion. The game would be a rematch of last year’s Sugar Bowl, won by the Mountaineers, 48-21. Pitting teams in consecutive bowls is not optimal but it’s the best option this week.

The Sugar Bowl selects next. The chance to take the highly-ranked team available, featuring one of last year’s Heisman Trophy finalists at quarterback is too much to resist. Missouri, with signal caller Chase Daniel, goes to New Orleans. That pick means Big 12 mates Texas and Texas Tech are off the board. Brigham Young, the last team remaining, is left for the Orange Bowl. Therefore, the BCS projections for Sept. 1 are as follow:

Championship-Georgia vs. Ohio State
Rose-USC vs. Wisconsin
Orange-BYU vs. Wake Forest
Sugar-LSU vs. Missouri
Fiesta-Oklahoma vs. West Virginia

Have you seen some poor officiating during the college football games today? if you watched one contest, you probably saw a few questionable decisions. I’m sure the players know–deep down–if the officials were right. If there were playing tennis or golf, I’d be obligated to announce the mistake and correct it.

Baseball, on the other hand, is a game founded on stealing signs and deceiving others. You probably heard about the New England Patriots videotaping opposing coaches during games and stealing their signals. Of course, other teams are mad about the ploy. They didn’t think of it. I don’t listen to Jim Rome, the sports-talk radio host, very often but I have to give him credit for coining the phrase “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”

Good sportsmanship is considered a weakness. Think about it. If your favorite player called a violation on himself in the championship game and his team lost the title as a result, would you say he was an honest guy? Or would you say he was a chump who cost you a title?

George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, has a “ring or bust” mentality. As Tiger Woods said, second sucks. Every year, there is one winner. Everyone else is a loser. One day, I want to be a winner. Unless you know someone playing in the local youth league, you likely require winners and losers in the only sporting events you follow.

It’s Labor Day weekend. A lot of people will head to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Biloxi, Shreveport, Monte Carlo, Melbourne and other places to play poker. I’ll relay a couple of personal stories from recent tournaments. May you fare better soon.

I got psyched out at one poker tournament. I had a good start and increased my chip stack from 5,000 at the beginning to 7,500 after 30 minutes. A handful of players busted early and another table broke to fill the open seats. The player who came to my table loved to talk. He called a raise with Jack-Six offsuit and busted a player with two pair. He said Jack-Six is his favorite hand.

I had about 4,500 chips left with the blinds 200-400 and a 25 ante. I was dealt Ace-Queen in middle position. I raised to 2,000. Five times the big blind was a large raise for the table but I had lost a large pot earlier when my AQ ran into pocket queens. There were about 1,000 chips in the pot so I wanted to win the hand right away.

Mr. Mouth was the big blind. He took a few minutes to think and muttered about my being pot-committed. He called. The flop was 3-5-7 rainbow. He acted first and went all-in immediately. I didn’t think he even looked at the board before he pushed.

I thought for several minutes. I have never thought so long about one play during a game. I thought he had Jack-Six (or some similar hand) and had decided to go all-in after the flop no matter what in hopes of bluffing me. The other possibility was that he had a Three, Five, or Seven. In which case, I was a three-to-one underdog. I called and showed AQ. He showed Three-Deuce, for a pair. The turn and river cards were useless and I busted.

My brother was at a nearby table and saw the hand. He said later he put me on Ace-Queen or Ace-King so I should have folded to the all-in bet. Oh well, another learning experience. Sometimes, I think I love poker more than politics. There are lots of people who dabble in the game while they maintain day jobs in other fields. At least the average professional player doesn’t mind too many amateurs in tournaments.

Another time, I placed 17th in a tournament. It was the third time I squeaked into the money at the Crystal Casino, a Los Angeles-area club. I was unhappy with my final hand though. With the blinds 2,000-4,000 and antes 400, a player in early position raised to 12,000. Another player called. The player to my left in the small blind went-all for 25,000.

In the big blind, I had Ace-Jack. I should have folded. For some reason, I assumed the other players had Tens or Eights or Ace-Ten, hands I could beat. I was wrong.

The original raiser went all-in for 40,000. The second player folded. The original raiser showed the black Aces. The small blind had Ace-King of hearts. After a flop of Deuce-Five-Five with two hearts, I was nearly dead. A heart on the river cracked the Aces and busted me.

I’d played pretty well for four hours before making a bad decision. I need to remember to make each decision as calmly as possible.