Remember, I do not think the BCS is a good idea and I do not think their methodology for creating the BCS standings is a good one. Having said that, will all the knee-jerk critics of the BCS please stand up and admit that the BCS was kind and generous to the poor little outcast TCU football team when it ranked them 9th. If you watched TCU last night lose to a decent – but not great – Southern Miss team, you had to recognize that TCU would have been pounded into oblivion against a real Top-10 opponent in a bowl game. Their running attack is decent; their passing attack is marginal; their tackling is abysmal; their pass defense is ordinary. When they finish their season with one loss by beating SMU next week, they will have recorded two of their wins over Army and SMU – neither of which has won a game this season. Strength of schedule is VERY important in figuring out who belongs at the top of the rankings and in the top bowl games – if that is all we are going to get in terms of a finish to the college football season. The BCS tries to incorporate strength of schedule into its standings; give them credit for that.

I know that comparative scores don't prove anything but just for fun consider these three for just a moment:

LSU 59    Arizona 13
USC 45    Arizona 0
TCU 13    Arizona 10 (OT)

Fans better hope that strength of schedule continues to be important in college football rankings and maybe that it gets to be even more important than it is today. If it were to go away, why would Miami continue to schedule Florida as an out of conference opponent? They could put Florida International or Florida A&M on the schedule and duck a tough game. Temple, Rutgers, Duke, Vandy and UL-Monroe would become everyone's favorite out-of-conference opponent. This will put scheduling on the wrong road and headed in the wrong direction.

A final word about the TCU game last night: People who believe that conferences such as Conference USA are being disrespected by the BCS conferences need to look carefully at what a truly dispassionate group of people thought about TCU going into last night's game. The Las Vegas odds makers could not care one whit about BCS standings or conference stature; they just want to set a line that will bring in equal action on both sides of the ledger. Then made Southern Miss a 2.5 point favorite over the media darling Horned Frogs. That was not disrespect; that was a cold and calculated recognition that if they didn't put the line there, the smart money would have cleaned them.

On another college football note, why is Tommy Bowden rumored to be on his way out at Clemson? Expectations were not high for the team this year; I recall they were picked to be in the bottom half of the ACC in most pre-season analyses. They beat Florida State; they are 7-4 at the moment and will go to a bowl game. I agree that Tommy Bowden is not the best coach to burst onto the college football scene since Ara Parseghian, but if the alums think he is an underachieving stumblebum, then maybe they are demonstrating that the Clemson diploma they have hanging on their wall is not as indicative of academic excellence as they'd like to have you think.

There is a media blitz on to present Freddy Adu to the sports fans of America. I understand that MLS needs to put him out there and try to make him a celebrity in order to draw attention to the league. I understand that he is acknowledged to be a prodigy by the people who know soccer. I can see people getting caught up in the hyperbole of his emergence onto the sporting scene. But when I hear/read that Freddy Adu is just what the country has needed to take soccer to the next level in the US, I have to ask the sportscaster/sportswriter there to just take a deep breath and relax and put their brain back in gear. If Freddy Adu takes MLS to the “next level” in the US sporting firmament, he will get it to rise above ice fishing, roller derby and women's bowling. Here's when you can begin to believe that MLS is getting to be big in the US:

Someone will make a joke about changing the title of that 1930s movie classic to Nil Heard on the Western Front and more than half the audience will get it.

Arizona Cardinals' coach Dave McGinnis said that Emmitt Smith's condition had improved but that he was still questionable for this week's game against the Rams. What he did not say is that Smith is questionable for all of next season's games against whatever teams are on the Cards' schedule.

Commenting on the Keyshawn Johnson “deactivation” – isn't that what happened in Terminator 3 – the Rise of the Machines? – Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel had this observation:

“If you're winning, you're a free spirit. If you're losing, you're a malcontent who does not respect authority.”

If Mike Bianchi is correct, then I have to assume that Keyshawn Johnson could not read the standings and see that the Bucs were losing more than they were winning…

Actually, some of the Tampa Bay fans may be over-reacting to the Bucs' woes this year. Super Bowl champs are more likely to stink the year after their win than they are to repeat. Only seven teams have won two Super Bowls in a row. On ten occasions, the reigning Super Bowl champ did not make the playoffs in the following year. Now ponder for a moment the possibility that the Bucs do not make the playoffs at all. Warren Sapp is a free agent as of February; he will want a lot of money and he will be 32 at the beginning of next season. What will the Bucs do? Let me say this now before it happens:

If the Bucs don't get Sapp signed quickly, the team should be obligated to warn the FAA of a potential air-safety hazard. Jerry Jones and Danny Boy Snyder will be racing in their jets to get to Florida to try to abduct Sapp and get him signed before any other team can contact him. Tampa's airport could look like a military air show.

Scott Ostler had a very entertaining column in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle where he suggests the equivalent of “pre-nups” for athletes who are considering getting involved with young women in dating situations. I recommend it to your reading; you can find it through “The Pros” section of the website.

Finally, the Canadian Junior Football League has a team named the Victoria Rebels. I wonder if their offense is built around a power running game because their coach is named Matthew Blokker.

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

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