Dave Einsel - AP

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(Sports Network) Fresh off a statement victory, the 17th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies will attempt to carry the momentum into Thursday's Big 12 Conference clash with the Texas Longhorns.

In front of a raucous home crowd last weekend, the Aggies put forth a stellar defensive effort and knocked off mighty Nebraska by a 9-6 final. That win was the fifth in a row for A&M, which has obviously bounced back strong from a three-game losing streak. The club is 8-3 and will undoubtedly play in a strong non-BCS bowl, but a victory over Texas this weekend would obviously do wonders for the A&M program.

"The consequences of winning are the expectations get higher," said Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman after upsetting Nebraska. "We jumped over another hurdle and have taken another step. We still have another step to take."

It is hard to believe that Texas, which played in the national title game last season, has more losses than wins heading into this regular-season finale. At 5-6, the Longhorns need a victory just to become bowl eligible. Last weekend, the club was happy to step outside of Big 12 play to battle an inferior Florida Atlantic squad, as a 51-17 victory halted a four-game skid.

"Coaches, players, everybody - they've been so beaten down," says Texas coach Mack Brown of all the negative attention directed toward his players and coaches because of the disappointing season.

Texas owns a 75-36-5 series advantage over Texas A&M, which includes a 49-39 victory over the Aggies last season.

Texas A&M failed to score a single touchdown against Nebraska last weekend, and the offense managed to make good on just 2-of-13 third-down conversion attempts. Still, Cyrus Gray deserves a great deal of credit for the victory, as he ran the ball 26 times for 137 yards and caught nine passes for 65 yards.

"I would say extraordinary," said Sherman when asked to describe Gray's performance "With his catches and his runs and picking the holes. If he didn't play the game he did we wouldn't have been able to kick the field goals. Nothing he ever does surprises me. I'm not shocked looking at his stats."

Gray is the first Aggie running back in 20 years to have five straight 100- yard rushing games, and he has 396 rushing yards in the three games since fellow tailback Christine Michael broke his leg. A&M didn't commit a single turnover against Nebraska, key to the win.

Give plenty of credit to the swarming Texas A&M defense for holding a potent Nebraska offense to 306 total yards. The Cornhuskers are one of the best running teams in the nation, but they managed a mere 3.8 yards per carry against the Aggies. A&M came through with two big interceptions in that tilt.

Through 11 outings, the Aggies are generating 32.5 ppg and 455.0 total ypg. Ryan Tannehill, who has replaced the turnover-prone Jerrod Johnson as the club's quarterback, has completed 68.8 percent of his passes for 1,306 yards and 10 scores with only three interceptions. Gray has run for 810 yards and 10 touchdowns this season, while Jeff Fuller has 11 receiving scores. Fuller needs just 41 yards to reach the 1,000-yard plateau.

Defensively, A&M is limiting opponents to 20.6 ppg and 357.4 total ypg, numbers that have certainly improved significantly during the five game winning streak. The Aggies are tough against both means of attack, limiting foes to 3.3 rushing ypc and 9.6 yards per pass completion. With 20 takeaways and 25 sacks, A&M has certainly registered some impact plays. Michael Hodges leads the Aggies with 98 total tackles, while Von Fuller has 7.5 sacks to his credit.

Under coach Brown, Texas has seemingly always featured a high-powered offensive attack, but that clearly isn't the case this season. Sure, the 24.4 ppg and 384.6 total ypg are respectable, but strong performances against weak opposition have been offset by sluggish efforts against quality teams. Brown has stuck with Garrett Gilbert, and the quarterback has struggled mightily. Gilbert has thrown only nine touchdown passes with 15 interceptions and he has completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes, a far cry from what Colt McCoy was able to do last season. James Kirkendoll leads the Texas receivers with 45 catches for 655 yards and two scores, while Cody Johnson paces the backfield with 485 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

Opponents are scoring 23.6 ppg against Texas, which is allowing only 294.2 total ypg. Clearly, the defense has remained strong, yielding a mere 3.2 yards per carry on the ground and limiting passing yardage as well. Texas has committed 26 turnovers this season, and those giveaways have often put the defense in vulnerable positions. While the Longhorns have only posted 16 of their own takeaways, they have notched 29 sacks and continue to battle. Keep an eye on Sam Acho, as he has registered nine sacks.

Gilbert certainly needed a good performance against Florida Atlantic to boost his confidence, and the first-year starter threw for 263 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions while also running for 60 yards and a score. Kirkendoll finished with four catches for 123 yards and a touchdown, while Johnson ran for 124 yards and a score.

"I thought it would give him great confidence going into Thursday," said Brown of Johnson's heavy workload. "We've needed a back around here to carry the load."

Meanwhile, the Texas defense limited FAU to 298 total yards and came up with three takeaways.

Texas is a prideful group and will find a way to win this finale at home. Expect this contest to be decided in the final minute.

The Texas Longhorns sit 4-4 (2-3) after a roller coaster ride through the first nine weeks of their 2010 season, and there are just four games remaining on the schedule to achieve bowl-eligible status and climb their way up the Big 12 ladder to receive a bowl bid.

Nothing went right for the Horns this year.

Their sophomore quarterback Garrett Gilbert was supposed to demonstrate moments of stardom and hope of a BCS return in the near future.

This pro-style running game that Mack Brown and his staff spent all spring and summer preparing shows weakness in nearly every facet.

The small group of veterans has not continued down a path of consistent development, ultimately leaving the Longhorns’ faithful with much to desire.

Discipline on either side of the ball has led to countless penalties that stall drives on offense and extend them on defense.

There are no signs of play-makers on the offensive side of the football, and the defense can hardly shoulder the burdens from the offense.

The youth on this team, however, have been seeing plenty of time on the field, spelling some hope of a bright and amendable future.

But with an ugly eight games behind them, fixing the problems should be the sole focus of the program. Texas has four games left on the schedule, three in the Big 12, to foster some momentum and optimism for next season.

Nov. 6 at Kansas State

If there is any one team that has had Texas’ number of late, it is Kansas State. In the last two meetings between these programs in 2006 and 2007, the Wildcats have won 45-42 and 42-21 respectively.

Both rosters are different in virtually every aspect of the game, though the Wildcats are a much better offensive team. Transitive wisdom says that because Kansas State beat UCLA (31-22) and Iowa State (27-20), a couple of teams that laid the pain in Austin, Texas may be in for yet another rough outing in Manhattan.

Solid rushing teams have been the bane of this Texas defense, minus a strong showing against Nebraska. Another offensive sputter by the Longhorns this weekend may send Texas fans into riots.

Nov. 13 vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State

A truly under-performing Texas secondary will have their hands filled against the third-ranked Cowboys passing offense next weekend in Austin.

Oklahoma State has run into some bad luck against the Longhorns in recent years, including a couple of monumental breakdowns in 2005 and 2007 when Texas mounted monster comebacks.

The tables are turned, to say the least. Texas is no longer the offensive juggernaut of the past, and Oklahoma State seems to be firing on all cylinders scoring over 45 points a game.

At the rate the Texas offense is scoring, this one certainly does not look good for Mack Brown’s team.

Nov. 20 vs. Florida Atlantic*

A gimme may not be so much of a gimme anymore. What originally looked like a nice sigh of relief on the schedule may be the difference between a bowl-eligible season and a wasted one.

The Owls are scoring just over 17 points a game and are just 2-5 to date. They have upcoming match-ups with a 1-7 Western Kentucky squad and 2-6 Louisiana-Lafayette, not exactly the barn burners of the weekends.

Nevertheless, this late-season out of conference game will be a testament to how hard the Longhorns are willing to work to prove some sort of optimism heading into the final game of the year against their Aggie rivals.

Chalk this one up for a win, but it could be a lot closer than many expect.

Nov. 25 vs. Texas A&M

The final game of the year for Texas is never a walk-through.

The Aggies will go through a Big 12 gauntlet before the Thanksgiving night game against the Longhorns, facing off against Oklahoma, Baylor and Nebraska—all ranked teams. But whatever the outcome of that trio of games, be it 0-3 or 3-0, the Aggies will come to Austin like it is the last game of their lives.

Throw all statistics and projections out the window for this rivalry game, as they have hardly meant anything in the past few years. Last season’s game saw a 6-5 Aggies team host an undefeated Texas, with the underdogs pushing the eventual National Championship runners-up to their limit only to come up short in a 49-39 shootout.

The Aggies have shown to be the more explosive unit on offense in both phases of the game, and their defense has been able to hold their own.

The Longhorns’ home crowd may be able to stir up enough energy to help their struggling team, but it figures to be mighty close.

The Verdict

While it will not be pretty, the Longhorns should win three out of four, finishing the year 7-5 with a bowl bid and having something to play for in the postseason.

Expect some mix ups on both sides of the football as Mack Brown and his staff attempt to dissect their own problems and hopefully save the solution for next season.

Wisconsin Disappoints When Playing Ohio State in Football

Wisconsin should be able to threaten Ohio State’s No. 1 ranking today, but the Badgers have a problem. They disappoint on a consistent basis in really big, Big Ten games. Especially against Ohio State.

In 2007 the Badgers led 17-10 in the third quarter, but figured out a way to not score again. They also could not stop the Buckeyes as they gave up 28 unanswered points to lose 38-17. It was in 2008 that they could not make a stop to keep Ohio State from marching 88 yards late in the final quarter. The Badgers fell that day 20-17. Last year is not even worth mentioning.

So, will Wisconsin knock Ohio State out of the nation’s top spot? They could, but don’t make any plans around it.

Get the most news for Wisconsin and Ohio State at BigTenmatchups.com

Coaching Struggles

Rumors are floating that Minnesota will fire head coach Tim Brewster if the Gophers lose to Purdue today. Please, just go ahead and fire the man. If he wins today does the Gopher’s next game against Penn State become the do or die moment? What about the game with Ohio State? Which "next weekend" is for all the marbles when it comes to Brewster keeping his job or not?

When a school gets to the point where a coach has to win any single game to keep his position it is already time to pull the trigger.

Cam Newton Gives Auburn the Edge

Arkansas and Auburn meet today. Here is the question to pose if the Razorbacks go down today: Is Bobby Petrino just Houston Nutt without the personality? He scores lots of points (like Nutt), he is good for an occasional upset (like Nutt), but in tough games on the road he does not generate consistent success (like Nutt).

Today’s big SEC West game will come down to the ability of the two QBs to handle adversity. Razorback QB Ryan Mallett has shown he can be frustrated. Auburn’s Cam Newton will become a real Auburn folk hero, and the Heisman front runner, if he pulls off more magic against the Hogs today.

Want the most Auburn and Arkansas news? Click here for SECMatchups.com

Do Ole Miss Players Know They Lost to Jax State?

Speaking of Nutt, do you think at some point this week he let Jerrell Powe hear about his comments on how South Carolina “exposed” Alabama? More than once the Rebel defensive tackle decided to talk when he should have stopped. Really? Does a team that lost at home to Jacksonville State and Vanderbilt have any room to talk about any other team being “exposed”? Does he really think 'Bama won 19 straight because people just could not figure out the Tide’s offense and defense?

One last SEC note.  Mississippi State won’t beat Florida today, but the Gator fans will long for the solid play-calling they see from Bulldog head coach Dan Mullen.

SECMatchups.com has the latest, and most, news for SEC football

Why Does Texas A&M Not Like the Football?

Texas A&M is a hard team to figure out. They look good on defense and have a quarterback, Jerrod Johnson, who seems to have plenty of talent to lead a team to victory.

The Aggies have one major problem. They don’t seem to like the football very much. Through their first five games A&M has 18 turnovers. At the FBS level only a very bad New Mexico team has more. Despite this problem the Aggies have been in both games they lost this season (Oklahoma State and Arkansas).

While in the Big 12 it is necessary to mention the big game in league play today. Texas travels to Memorial Stadium today trying to avoid a third straight loss. Mack Brown and crew will be feeling the pain and hearing the second-guessing after the Huskers extract their payback for last year’s Big 12 championship game loss.

Big12matchups.com: The most Big 12 sports news online.

Pac-10 Has Light Slate This Weekend

Which Pac-10 games are you most interested in this weekend? The only one that looks like a contest is the pairing of Cal and Southern Cal. Arizona should rout Washington State. Oregon State and Washington might be competitive, but there is no real drama surrounding the contest.

Thursday night Oregon will be back in action against UCLA. Can the Bruins give the Ducks a go for it? It will be more interesting than people think.

Pac10matchups.com: The most news for Pac-10 football on the web.

Wake Me Up When the ACC Starts Playing Basketball

Have you looked at the ACC football schedule for this weekend? There is not even one game being played that attracts the attention of a college football fan living outside the states where the contests are being played.

Do you think anyone in Boston even knows the Eagles are playing Florida State today? In North Carolina there is much more interest this morning in the opening of basketball practices than anything that will happen on the gridiron today.

Forget giving grief to the WAC and Mountain West. It is time someone talked about dissolving the ACC in football before it bores all of us to death.

Get your ACC football and basketball news at ACCMatchups.com

On with the games today.

Julie Jacobson - AP

about 1 month ago: Wisconsin fan George Meredith of San Francisco, dances to music from a live band during a tailgate party for Badger fans before a college football game between Wisconsin and UNLV Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

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Ohio State at Wisconsin, 7 p.m.

Hahahhaha, yeah, people in my town like to drink. Unless you're saying this from somewhere in the state of Wisconsin, you're lying, deluded, or deeply unfamiliar with Wisconsinite drinking. Wisconsinite drinking is another thing entirely, a professional vocation, a statistical marvel, and experience not unlike being dosed with mescaline and thrown in an Navajo sweat lodge. You perspire. You arm-wrestle a woman from Waukegan who's on her ninth shot of absinthe. You see things. Horrible, horrible things. 

I got drunk one night in Milwaukee--a kind of epic, pants-burning bender and had to catch a 5 a.m. flight to Florida the next day. THIS WAS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE AND WILL BE FOREVER.  I don't care what happens from this point forward: dead loved ones, nukes, plague, hordes of locusts, nothing will feel worse than the aftereffects of Milwaukee's Best (Drinkers) looking at you and saying, "You know what would go well with that beer and whiskey? A Long Island iced Tea. That'd work great, fella...unless you're weak or somethin'."

I was like a football team that loses by 50 to a rival: poisoned, queasy unaware of my surroundings, and disoriented for the better part of a month. That is not an exaggeration: Wisconsin took a month off my life in a night.  

Lewis Black is not lying: Wisconsin has a federal grant for drinking, and the Hogwarts of the state's young booze wizards is Madison. I'm not even sure if this makes Wisconsin more likable, but it certainly makes them more fearsome. You still owe me a month of my life, Badgers, but mind your drunken hopping on the stands, because the last thing the state needs is another excuse to, you know, drink. 

LEAN: Ohio State. 

South Carolina at Kentucky, 6 p.m.

Randall Cobb's passion for cheesey biscuits may not be enough here to top South Carolina, but let's be optimists here. Kentucky remains an immensely likable team: a coach named Joker, proximity to racetracks, an underrated pregame tailgating environment, and the knowledge that even if the Wildcats don't manage to take advantage of the clearest letdown game in the recent history of letdown games, they'll still have basketball season waiting right around the corner. The inevitable probation and sanctions accompanying the employment of John Calipari will follow, but somehow the football team will end up taking them for the basketball program. How? If I knew then I'd be John Calipari, and therefore making way more cash than I make now doing this.

LEAN: Kentucky. 

Pittsburgh at Syracuse, 12 p.m.  

The Doug Marrone Death Machine cannot be stopped: one can only put a mustache in front of it and hope it respects it enough to slow down for a moment, salute, and then go back on its long job of killing the opposition in the Big East. The Orange are 4-1, and can frankly hang it up now and call this as much consistent success as they've had in the 21st century if they like. Given that this is the Big East, they would, but everyone else save West Virginia is doing the same thing. Therefore expect four quarters of "play not to lose" from both teams, but most especially from Pitt, the team that craves nothing more than a game decided by field goals and playcalling Jim Tressel refers to as "stodgy." If Dave Wannstedt were a swimmer, he'd have on a life preserver, water wings, nose clips, and scuba gear. Doug Marrone, being slightly bolder, wades boldly in the shallow end with only the protection of Delone Carter. (This is enough.) 

LEAN: Syracuse. 

Missouri at Texas A&M, 12 p.m.

Bill Byrne, the longtime AD for Texas A&M, quietly sends out one of the more inadvertently entertaining pieces of college football correspondence around every three months or so. I never fail to learn something when reading it. For instance, were you aware that the already surreal atmosphere in three-tiered Kyle Field really is bat country? 

Some of you who attended the Kansas State game discovered a few bat carcasses on the ramps and more residue along the concourses than usual.

Bat carcasses? Check. Strange mass genital squeezing? Check. Aggie QB Jerrod Johnson doing his best Brett Favre imitation by alternately throwing the Aggies into and out of the game? Positively charming, and without the melodrama of a retirement saga and mobile phone penis puppetry. The arcane cheers and yell leaders all worshipping an indifferent though adorable collie? It's a cult, but it's a very well-arranged cult, and certainly more rootable than the Mizzou Tigers, who are from, you know...Missouri, and have uniforms, their usual pass-wacky offense, and Gary Pinkel, a head coach who makes the stonefaced Jeff Tedford seem like a Latin American soccer announcer in comparison. 

LEAN: Appealingly Crazy Texan Cultists 

Iowa At Michigan, 3:30 p.m. 

The video game will be on an entirely different level of difficulty for Denard Robinson, as Iowa's ghosts are fast, agile, and will probably have figured out the trick that "HEY THE BALL IS GOING TO THE FAST GUY WHO DOESN'T TIE HIS SHOELACES." As likable as Denard Robinson's season-long caper involving the theft of thousands of yards from opposing defenses is, he'd be stealing from America this time, and as much as I like brazen scoundrel antics, these colors don't run, y'all. (Neither does the Michigan defense, a cast of walk-ons who stand like sad buoys in a sea of empty grass as wide receivers sail by them.) 

Lean: America. 

Texas at Nebraska, 3:30 p.m. 

Hating Nebraska is difficult, even when you and your favorite team perhaps ever were on the beatin' end of the biggest beating stick ever wielded in college football. I refer to the 1995 Florida Gators, a festive bunch whose youth ended when their leaders foolishly took them to war against the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Fiesta Bowl. They died like gentle English schoolboys on the fields of Flanders at the hands of Christian Peter and company, and as Tommy Frazier ran for his 38th touchdown on the night, you could hear the sound of Metallica's "One" warbling around in the background--

I'm sorry, the word Nebraska still evokes a kind of PTSD for me, especially when you see Taylor Martinez and Roy Helu running the zone read like some kind of horizontal I-form option. Still, sanity's got to have a word with phobias every now and then: Nebraska's played a weak slate of competition, Texas is extremely dangerous in coming off two straight losses, and Will Muschamp's scheming and the talent running it is far better than anything they've faced yet.

Unfortunately, the upset pick is made hard by Texas's iron-deficient offense. Eat a steak, Texas! Make it Bevo if you have to, which we really hope you don't have to, because he is a majestic animal. Hard times require hard measures, though, and if devouring the school mascot is what it takes to score some points, Mack Brown will do it (and appear five times on ESPN during BCS stumping time to tell everyone about it with a gubernatorial grin).

LEAN: Nebraska, the nicest place where you'll ever go to get your head kicked in repeatedly. 

California at USC, 3:30 p.m.

Did you know Jeff Tedford was the coach who recruited Lane Kiffin to Fresno State? And that he, more than anyone else, started the path that got Lane Kiffin three head coaching jobs as an adult? 

LEAN: USC. Blame the maker, not the spawn. 

Arkansas at Auburn, 3:30 p.m.

Cam Newton is redefining quarterbacks for Auburn fans, who after 30 years of nearly continuous slow dropback passers are now beholding the power of a human icebreaker let loose on the field. It can be irritating to watch the Gus Malzahn offense surround him with frippery, since a typical play runs like this: 

1. End-around fake
2. Fullback fake
3. Halfback fake
4. Pump fake
5. Draw fake
6. Rollout
7. Option fake 
8. Cam Newton says "F&$# this" and starts beating the crap out of people five yards at a time. 

The Big 12 has really lost a lot this of-fseason. Texas loses the BCS Championship game to Alabama, five of the first six players taken in the NFL Draft were from the Big 12, and they lost two schools in Nebraska and Colorado to other conferences (they will leave in 2011 and 2012). However, all schools are in tact for this season and are ready to go.

North Division

Champion—Nebraska

They were one second away from shaking up the BCS against Texas in the Big 12 title game, and are ready for some payback this season.

Ndamukong Suh did leave a big hole on the defensive line, but there are some great players ready to fill it. Bo Pelini has returned the black shirts to Lincoln. Jared Crick is an All-America candidate on the line as is cornerback Prince Amukamara.

This defense could be better overall compared to last season. Meanwhile the offense will have to improve, the Huskers were 99th in total offense last season. Eight starters return to the offense so hopefully they are more seasoned and improved.

Runner-Up—Missouri

The only school who can really challenge Nebraska in the North. The Tigers return 17 starters from an 8-5 team, including quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who can pitch the ball all over the field. The offense will have to score points because the defense will need time to gel. DE Aldon Smith has a chance to be a superstar but the pass defense has been torched the past two years. If Gabbert can find some solid receivers the Tigers can keep the scoreboard running.

Everyone Else

Iowa State

The offense returns nine starters from a 7-6 debut season under coach Paul Rhoads. Three year starters, QB Austen Arnaud and RB Alexander Robinson will lead the attack. The defense however must replace seven starters, which is never good, especially when you can't reload like the bigger schools. Another bowl game would be a nice result.

Kansas State

Running back Daniel Thomas could be the best back in the conference. Thomas led the Big 12 in rushing, and averaged more than five yards a carry. The rest of the offense leaves much to be desired. The defense is very thin so they have to stay healthy or else the season could be a disaster. If things fall right, a bowl game is a possibility.

Kansas

Legendary Nebraska quarterback is back in the Midwest. He was hired to help rebuild a Kansas team that started 5-0, and then lost its last seven, which got coach Mark Mangino the boot amidst allegations of player abuse.

Gill brings a good calming influence, and anyone who can win at Buffalo is a smart choice. It is going to be an uphill battle to start. Kansas is shy on talent and there isn't a proven playmaker on either side of the ball.

Colorado

Head coach Dan Hawkins was brought in from Boise State, and there were high hopes in Boulder. Four years later, Hawkins is 16-33 and not making friends. The Buffaloes were 104th in total offense last season, but with nine returning starters hopefully things will improve. There are no excuses left for Hawkins. If the Buffs don't at least make a bowl, count on a change.

South Division

Champion—Oklahoma

Boomer Sooner is back. After lofty expectations last season, the Sooners were bit by the injury bug and finished the season 8-5. Sam Bradford missed much of the year and plenty of young guys had to step in and play. That experience will pay off this season. QB Landry Jones surged late last season throwing for 418 yards in the Sun Bowl. RB DeMarco Murray is set to have a great year as in WR Ryan Broyles. DE Jeremy Beal and LB Travis Lewis are All-America candidates on defense. If the offensive line can gel, look for the Sooners' offense to soar. They just need to beat Texas.

Runner-Up—Texas

The Longhorns are not going to drop off anytime soon. Mack Brown can just pick the top talent out of Texas every year, and they are reloaded. So people may not know the faces on the field yet, but you will. QB Garrett Gilbert had to come in early in the BCS Championship game for the injured Colt McCoy, and showed signs of brilliance (around all the turnovers). Texas is going to have to find a running game to take some of the pressure off Gilbert. The defense will be up to its usual dominance, led this season by DE Sam Acho who led the team with 10 sacks last season. Texas will be in the conversation all season long.

Everyone Else

Texas A&M

Aggie QB Jerrod Johnson is fun to watch. He can throw a beautiful deep ball and he has the playmakers around him to keep the A&M offense as one of the best in the country. The defense on the other hand was 105th in the country last year, but looks to have improved coming out of the spring. LB Von Miller led the nation last season with 17 sacks, but he can't do it all by himself. If the Aggies stay healthy, it could be a fun season in College Station.

Texas Tech

The pirate is gone from Lubbock but former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville is now at the helm of the Red Raiders. Tuberville will not abandon the air raid offense, but there will be some more runs in the playbook, which is just fine with RB Baron Batch. New defense coordinator James Willis coached linebackers at Alabama, and is a disciple of Nick Saban and Will Mushamp so the defensive pressure will be turned up.

Oklahoma State

When you lose Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant, and Russell Okung from the offense you may have a little bit of drop off. However, since Bryant missed much of last year due to suspension the other receivers were able to grow. RB Kendall Hunter is still around and can bust the big play. The Cowboys only have three starters back on defense so coordinator Bill Young will have to work some magic.

Baylor

It all really rides on the success of Baylor QB Robert Griffin. For the Bears to get to their first bowl game in 15 years Griffin is going to have to prove his torn ACL is healed and can take the punishment this season. Griffin was hurt in the third game last season after a brilliant freshman year in which he passed for 2,091 yards and 15 touchdowns, and rushed for 843 yards and 13 scores. The time is going to have to be now for the Bears to go bowling.

Big 12 Champion—Oklahoma

Despite the fact that the Sooners could not contend for championship by mid-season last year, they showed heart and did not quit. After the 8-5 season last year, the Sooners are motivated and ready to prove that last season was just a bump in the road.

Tony Gutierrez - AP

8 months ago: Texas kicker Hunter Lawrence celebrates as he's lifted on the shoulders of teammates following their win in the NCAA college football Big 12 Conference championship game against Nebraska, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, in Arlington, Texas. Lawrence kicked a field goal with time expired to help Texas to their 13-12 win. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Sports writers have likened the Big 12 to a bad arranged marriage, but it's really been like an arranged mega-band, with all the attending craziness, drama, and bickering that you'd expect.

Well, the band is breaking up, but not before they embark on one last tour together.

THE BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD

First, a little bit of background is in order. The Big 12 came into existence following the demise of the Southwest Conference in 1995, after which Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor teamed up with the old Big 8 Conference to form a new 12-team league, split into two divisions--with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State joining the four Texas schools in the South and Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Missouri in the North.

With both Texas and Oklahoma mired in slumps, when the Big 12 launched in 1996 it was the North Division that was the powerhouse, where Kansas State was thriving under Bill Snyder, Colorado was nationally relevant, and Nebraska was one of college football's alpha dogs. But even then Texas' oversized influence was predominant. As part of its conditions for joining the league, UT insisted that partial qualifiers--long a staple of the Nebraska program under Tom Osborne--be nixed, and the league was headquartered in Dallas.

For the North, it was the beginning of a steady decline into mediocrity. After winning four of the first eight conference championship games, the North Division winner has lost six straight. And for Nebraska, the Big 12 would prove to be one long Texas nightmare. In the Big 12's inaugural season, the Longhorns spoiled the No. 3 Huskers' national title hopes with a shocking upset in the championship game, punctuated by James Brown's unforgettable "Roll Left" play.

It would only get worse. Two years later, the crown jewel of Mack Brown's debut season was Texas' 20-16 win over No. 7 Nebraska in Lincoln, snapping the Huskers' 47-game home winning streak. In 1999, Texas would knock off a No. 3-ranked Nebraska team for a second time before Nebraska picked up its first win over Texas in Big 12 play, in the '99 conference title game. And since then? Nothing but further misery for Big Red, as Texas has rattled off five consecutive wins--four of which the Longhorns won by a combined total of nine points. 

Even when the clock strikes zero and Nebraska thinks it has Texas beat, the punishment continues.

So yeah: When the Big 10 started looking for a twelfth team to add, Texas fans weren't all that surprised when Nebraska started jumping up and down and conspicuously waving its arms while screaming "Pick me! Pick me!"

Nebraska is gone, and with them broke Colorado (off to the Pac 10), but not before the band hits the road for one last tour.

THE BIG 12 FAREWELL TOUR

SEPTEMBER 04: UCLA at Kansas State, Missouri v. Illinois (St. Louis)

The conference kicks off the season this weekend with two interesting non-con games as Kansas State hosts UCLA and Missouri battles Illinois at the RCA Dome in St. Louis. After the Ron Prince fiasco, Kansas State brought back legendary Bill Snyder to stabilize the program, which means you know he's not happy about his team's opening week assignment, against a school you can find a map. The Wildcats weren't a very good offensive football team last year, and they return just five starters and no attractive candidates at QB. Look for K-State to slow games to a grind, and for tailback Daniel Thomas (1,290 yards and 11 TDs last year) to carry the ball as many times as his body can handle it.

Missouri is a good bet to run their record against Illinois in this neutral-field series to 6-0, as junior QB Blaine Gabbert looks to take a big step forward after a promising debut last season. Despite a rough summer of offseason news, Tigers fans have reasons to be optimistic, and Missouri represents the best bet to disrupt Nebraska's plans to win the North Division for the second-straight year.

SEPTEMBER 11: Florida State at Oklahoma, Colorado at Cal, Georgia Tech at Kansas, Iowa State at Iowa

*Oklahoma hosts Florida State for the teams' first meeting since the 2000 Orange Bowl, which the Sooners won to claim the BCS Championship. The Seminoles represent the lone challenge to OU on the non-conference schedule, but the Sooners are a ridiculous 66-2 in Norman since Bob Stoops took over.

*Colorado actually looks pretty good on paper, especially now that Tyler Hansen has been named the starter at QB. The Buffs visit to Cal will be a good measuring stick in the early going.

*Mark Mangino is out at Kansas. Turner Gill is in. The Jayhawks are green at the skill positions and may take a while to get going, as this is a team and program in transition.

*From Phil Steele we learn that Iowa State has gone 14 straight quarters without scoring a touchdown versus in-state rival Iowa, a streak that should end this year. On the heels of a successful debut season under Paul Rhoads that saw Iowa State finish 7-6, including a bowl win over Minnesota, the Cyclones return four linemen who started all 13 games last year, along with QB Austen Arnauld and senior back Alexander Robinson. Expect Iowa State to field its best offense since 2005.

SEPTEMBER 18: Texas at Texas Tech, Baylor at TCU, Nebraska at Washington

*The band just won't be the same without Mike Leach, but the music might be crisper. Certainly the defense will be. The Longhorns are loaded once again, but Lubbock is the Bermuda Triangle of college football, and with gobs of offensive talent returning, Texas Tech will be explosive on offense once again.

*All hail the return of Robert Griffin, tragically lost to an ACL tear early last season, before which he was looking an awful lot like Vince Young, except for a much better passer as a true freshman than VY was as either a redshirt freshman or sophomore. He'll need to be brilliant against TCU, who are national title contenders behind Andy Dalton and a tough, experienced defense.

*If Nebraska is going to stumble before their showdown with Texas, it's the Huskies who have the best shot of breaking through Bo Pelini's defense. The good news for the Huskers is that they return starters up and down the depth chart. The bad news is that this includes quarterback. Speaking of which, Coach Pelini: how is the quarterback competition coming along?

Okay then. Sorry I asked.

SEPTEMBER 25: Oklahoma at Cincinnati, UCLA vs Texas

Both the Sooners and Longhorns should be solid favorites, but the Bearcats and Bruins could represent trap games as the Big 12 South rivals eye the Red River Shootout a week later. Longhorns fans desperately want this one, however: the last time UCLA visited Austin was the infamous Rout 66, arguably the worst loss in Texas program history, as UCLA emasculated John Mackovic's Longhorns 66-3. In Austin. Oh God, I'm going to vomit.

OCTOBER 02: Oklahoma vs Texas (Cotton Bowl)

*It's incredible to think about considering the two coaches' places in October 2004, but heading into the 2010 Red River Shootout Bob Stoops now finds himself in a similar position to that of Mack Brown after the Sooners defeated the Longhorns for a fifth straight season. Like Brown, Stoops--given his overall track record--may not be on the "hot seat," but he's now dealing with an increasingly frustrated fan base that's beginning to wonder about his ability to win the big ones and is more than a little disappointed that two of the past five seasons at OU have been eight-win campaigns. The natives will not be happy if Stoops loses for the fifth time in six years to Mack Brown and Texas.

OCTOBER 09: Texas A&M vs Arkansas (Jerryworld), Colorado at Missouri

*Since the start of the Big 12, the Aggies are a pathetic 3-17 in non-conference games against BCS opponents, including a humiliating 47-19 depantsing to Ryan Mallett and Arkansas last year. Nevertheless, Aggie fans are genuinely excited heading into 2010, with a promising young defensive coordinator in Tim DeRuyter (hired from Air Force where he spent three years in charge of an excellent Falcons defense) and an army of skill position talent--including preseason First Team Big 12 QB Jerrod Johnson, all three of their top pass catchers from a year ago, and a pair of quality tailbacks in Christine Michael and Cyrus Gray (both of whom went over 750 yards last year).

*In Columbia, Colorado and Missouri square off for a critical North Division battle, the winner of whom will be in position to challenge Nebraska for the North Division crown.

OCTOBER 16: Texas at Nebraska

*If both the Huskers and Longhorns make it to this game undefeated, circle it on your calendar as the must-see game of the entire 2010 college football season. Nebraska is 1-8 against Texas since the launch of the Big 12 and Huskers nation wants this win very, very badly. Though the two teams could find themselves in a rematch in the Big 12 Championship Game in December, this is the last time the two teams are guaranteed to take the stage together. Don't miss it.

OCTOBER 23: Oklahoma at Missouri

*If the Sooners get through the Red River Shootout, road trips to Columbia and College Station represent the best two shots at derailing the Sooners in the regular season. Bob Stoops has been near-unbeatable in Norman, but he's 33-14 on the road, including a 1-3 effort last year without Sam Bradford.

OCTOBER 30: Texas Tech at Texas A&M, Missouri at Nebraska

*It won't be the same without El Capitan, but raise your glasses and toast it with me: Once in a while, a pirate can beat a soldier, you know?

NOVEMBER 06: Oklahoma at Texas A&M

*The Sooners have won seven straight versus the Aggies, including a 65-10 throttling in Norman last year in which Landry Jones torched the hapless A&M defense for 392 yards through the air.

NOVEMBER 13: Texas Tech at Oklahoma

*The home team has won six straight in the series, but Tech looks like a team that should begin to peak in November, making an upset an outside possibility, especially if the Sooners' offense fails to click.

NOVEMBER 20: Nebraska at Texas A&M

*If the Huskers get this far without a loss, a home date with Colorado to close the season makes this road trip to College Station the more dangerous remaining regular season date.

NOVEMBER 25: Texas A&M at Texas

*Stuff yourself on turkey and then settle in for what should be some entertaining Thanksgiving evening football. Jerrod Johnson and the Aggies were the only offense to crack Will Muschamp's defense a season ago.

NOVEMBER 26: Colorado at Nebraska

*If the Buffaloes steal a road win in Columbia, this could be for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.

NOVEMBER 27: Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Kansas vs Missouri (Kansas City)

*The Sooners and Tigers figure to be heavy favorites, but this pair of rivalry games seems rarely to result in a blowout.

DECEMBER 04: Big 12 Championship Game (Jerryworld)

*The band's last show could be its most exciting and anticipated yet. And if the college football gods are paying attention, it will feature Texas and Nebraska.

Current commentary celebrating the stay of execution the now 10-team Big 12 received from a gracious and benevolent University of Texas is more than a little hard to swallow.

In order for the idea to actually be true, there are certain premises that must be believed:

First, that the Longhorns were loyally committed to the Big 12 and were surprised by expansion plans of other conferences that sought to obtain members of the Big 12.

Second, that the money that Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe “found” at the eleventh hour is not ransom money paid by ABC-ESPN to keep Fox Sports’ college football lineup at the bottom looking up.

Third, that Texas A&M’s apparent readiness to join the SEC instead of following the Longhorns in-tow out west did not factor in the Longhorns' decision to stay.

Last, that Texas politicians actually stayed out of the biggest story of the year.

None of which is true.

Let’s Dance

It is not a knock on UT that the powers-that-be in the administration had the foresight to anticipate the possibility of change and position themselves accordingly.

But let us not pretend that the potential demise of the Big 12 was not driven — first and foremost — by the ambition of the Texas Longhorns.

And that process began months ago.

We know from emails journalists obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that the top brass in Austin both initiated and explored the possibility of membership in both the Big Ten and Pac-10 Conferences.

The Big 12 became vulnerable the moment Texas decided there might be other pastures to roam.

Every bit of energy and worry spent the last several months on realignment flowered from the seeds Texas planted in the minds of Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott and Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delaney.

Colorado departing for the Pac-10 is a non-story in the big picture of college football, and Nebraska’s bolt for the Big Ten — while a headline and shrewd Big Ten move — disappeared quickly in the news cycle in favor of where Texas would ultimately end up.

No, every bit of the wholesale reshaping of the college football landscape has its birth in the decision Texas made months ago to dance with someone else.

Buried Treasure

The key to the Longhorns' decision to remain in the Big 12 are the gold coins Beebe found in his closet at the last possible minute.

Buried underneath the arguments Beebe had made for days — hurts recruiting, marginalizes power position, makes the middle part of the country a fly-over zone, etc. — he discovered a treasure chest labeled:

ESPN’s Counterinsurgency Fund.

For all the time we have spent on where a university might land, the why was always the money.

Yet, in those debates and projections, very little time has been spent on where — exactly — that money was going to come from.

The banks of college TV revenue are the broadcast companies, and there are only a handful of them dispersing funds across the land.

The move of Texas and its cousins to the Pac-10 would have made the Pac-16 Network — sponsored in large part by Fox — a major player on the national level, and that shift of power would have come at the expense of ABC-ESPN, which currently owns the rights to the Big 12’s biggest games.

Someone at ESPN looked at a map and realized that Fox — also a partner in the Big Ten Network — would essentially be pushing ESPN into an all-or-bust situation in the southeast part of the country.

ABC-ESPN was not ready for ready for major college football realignment, and they proved it by leaving their current Big 12 deal as is — not forcing a renegotiation based on the absence of Colorado and Nebraska — and pledging new monies to bolster the revenues in the next package so that the payout for Big 12 teams is more on par with other major conferences.

It was at that point that Texas remembered its home address and came back to the Big 12 table.

ABC-ESPN had to make a move that kept them in the driver’s seat of college football television.

Gig ‘Em

The sudden appearance of ESPN and its checkbook and the very last minute is odd and should be questioned.

If the money is there now, why was it not there weeks ago?

The only difference is that weeks ago the Texas A&M Aggies were a foregone conclusion to follow Texas wherever the Longhorns wanted to go.

In finding a home of their own — the SEC — the Aggies did much more than prove to everyone that the time had come for the Longhorns to stop making decisions on A&M’s behalf.

The moment of pause the SEC offer gave Texas was just the crack in the door the ESPN folks needed to walk into the room.

Without the SEC offer — and the political will to accept it — Texas is a Pac-10 team right now.

The advantage Texas held over its Big 12 South rivals — recruiting, political support, academic prestige — would all have been maintained in a move to the Pac-10 that included Texas A&M.

Sans the Aggies, each one of those was affected.

It is one thing to travel to California to support your son for a bowl game; it is another entirely to get there for a conference matchup in mid-September.

Texas Head Coach Mack Brown said as much to an ESPN reporter this morning, describing the concerns he was hearing from athletes and their families about playing much of their schedule two time zones away.

Having grown up in Texas and watching the Longhorns since the days of Bill Boy Bryant, I know there will never be an admittance by most UT Fans that A&M’s breakaway caught them all by surprise.

No one — from either Texas or the Pac-10 — considered the possibility when masterminding the acquisition in recent months, otherwise the political pressure that Texas tried to apply to A&M in the last few days would have been a campaign that started months ago.

And it is also why — against all contrary evidence — you hear the Longhorns talking today about how committed they always were to the success of the Big 12.

In offering Texas A&M a seat at the SEC table, commissioner Mike Slive accomplished two things that should not be overlooked:

First, he gave the Aggies a vision of themselves outside the grip of the University of Texas, and did so in a way that appealed to all supportive columns of the Aggie Family both on and off the field.

Secondly, he showed that any plans other conferences might have in constructing mega-alliances, the SEC can step in at any time and mess with them.

As the new Big 12 still has the same old problems, this is only the first round.  It will be interesting to see what lessons were learned when the dissolution of the Big 12 resurfaces when the TV contract is up.

If it even makes it that far.

There are no guarantees that the TV deal saving the league is done, and the rebellion by Texas A&M could influence decision makers in Lubbock and Stillwater — homes of Texas Tech and Oklahoma State — to flex a little muscle of their own.

“Why play fourth or fifth fiddle in the Big 12 when the Mountain West looks close to getting BCS credibility?” they might say.  “Sure seems like a more equitable idea.”

One thing, however, that the Aggies will remember is the support they received from the SEC, and how good sunlight out of the Longhorn shadow feels.

There’s Two Types of Politics in Texas: Religion and Football

When the Pac-10 issued its first invitation to Colorado, I wrote that the move was a play by the conference to keep from being forced from taking Baylor as part of the package that included Texas, Texas Tech, OU, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.

I still think it was.

The move gave cover to the Longhorns, who could in turn tell politicos, “Look, we fixed the Tech problem, but we cannot do anything about Baylor.  There’s no more room at the inn.”

However, as the Aggies grew more and more intrigued by the SEC offer, and appeared ready to make the jump, the old hands that put Baylor in the Big 12 in the first place — over TCU — smelled blood in the water.

With five spots once again available, Texas was told to go back to the Pac-10 with a bag that included Baylor.

While not much of a force on the playing field, the same cannot be said for Baylor of the field, particularly if those are the fields of medicine, law or politics.

Made politically powerful by its association with the Baptist church — and their voting blocs that historically deliver — Baylor University has long been an unheralded player in Texas politics. 

Their alumni base is both affluent and influential, and has a history of getting what it wants.

Texas Football rules most things in the state of Texas, but when the game moves off the field and into the legislature, conference standings do little to tell you where most dynamic playmakers do their thing.

What affect the Baylor lobby had on the University of Texas’ decision to come back to the table with the Big 12 we may never know, but we should not dismiss it.  By itself, we could do so, but it light of everything else we saw take place, it was yet one more point of pressure applied to the wink-and-nod deal Texas put together with the Pac-10.

Lyndon Johnson once said that politicians in Texas are only quiet when, “they’re dead or up to no good.”

Here’s betting the Longhorns wish the former were true.

Whatever the endgame Texas sought, the scene did not goes as they had scripted. 

While many fans and conference commissioners will take a sigh of relief that the college football world did not get turned on its ear, it is important for all of us to note that such upheavel occurred in spite of the Texas Longhorns, not because of them.

Jeb Williamson covers Ole Miss Football as a Featured Columnist for the Bleacher Report.  He appreciates and welcomes all comments.  Click here for a list of his other articles.

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            Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe may want to change the Big 12 to the “Mack 10,” because Texas is the only reason he’s keeping his job.

            ESPN reported early Monday that Texas’ move to make a Nitro Pac-15 was “imminent.”

Six hours later, the story completely inverted. The Longhorns’ decision to stay out of the Pac-10 took center stage, pushing the World Cup to the back-burner of news wires.

            If you are a Big 12 fan, grab a vuvuzela and start the celebration. 

            And though it might be hard to do, Sooner, Aggie and other Big 12 schools should send Thank You cards to Austin. By strongly considering joining Colorado’s trip out west, Texas earned the conference a boat load of money, making them the richest people on a boat since T-Pain.

            Just look at their new television deal. Before 2010, the Big 12’s annual contract paid $78 million per year to be split amongst the 12 teams. The new agreement, however, pays more $200 million, with Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech all slated to get at least $20 million each per year.

            Mack Brown can now add a top hat and monocle to his typical game-day vest so he can look like the Monopoly Man.

            Classy.

            But this deal came out of nowhere. There were no talks of a new television deal before today, and the threat of losing those big teams spurred a major network (FOX, most likely) to pony up the cash. Since Texas led the pack’s decision, their long wavering forced the TV network’s hand, bringing the wheelbarrows of Benjamin’s back to the Big 12.

            Texas also gets the cherry on top. According to Orangebloods.com, the Longhorns will now get their own television network, which is projected to score between $3 and $5 million that goes straight into the university’s pockets.

            Hey, now they can afford to recruit a backup quarterback!

            The benefits don’t end there. With Nebraska and Colorado officially jumping ship to bring the total of inappropriately named conferences to three, the Big 12 is due around $10 million from both schools in buyout penalties. This money will be split amongst the 10 remaining schools.

            With the debt some of the conference’s schools are in, this acts as a huge bailout.

            Except in this one, no one saves Chrysler.

            Some have argued that the loss of the Denver and Nebraska markets will cost the league in revenue. But Big 12 league officials have squashed those fears immediately, showing that it hasn’t hurt their negotiating power. The other seven schools will all receive between $14 and $17 million per year, doubling their current income from television deals.

            Sounds like a win-win for everyone right?

            Except the Pac-10. They make out about as well as Robert Green will when he returns to England.

            The conference that looked like it would be a mega league now is scrambling. It needed Texas and Co. and it failed.

It’s clear Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott only offered Colorado in order to lure the Texas and Oklahoma schools to join. He wanted access to the massive television market from those states, and wound up getting Denver.

A city that cares about teams not named “Broncos” as much Mike Holmgren as cares about dieting.

According to Chip Brown of Orangbloods.com, during the negotiations for a new television contract, the Big 12 gave every team a value of how much they impact the conference’s revenue.

            Colorado’s value? 0%

            If this were a kickball game, the Pac-10 just picked the kid with no legs.

First.

            With revenue sharing, the Pac-10’s members have to split some of their already small slice of the conference’s $58 million television contract with the Buffs. Colorado couldn’t even afford to pay ex-head coach Dan Hawkins’ buyout in 2009, and with the buyout penalty on top of that, the school’s budget looks like Enron’s.

            And that’s not all. Missing out on Texas and Oklahoma means missing out on tons of recruiting possibilities. Those two states churn out some of the best players in the nation, and without conference ties in the state, the Pac-10 remains an outsider looking in at a gold mine.

            On the flip side of that, the Big 12 makes out like bandits. They protect their recruiting base, and by trimming the fat of Colorado and Nebraska, there’s more talent to spread across the 10 remaining schools, which could bring more teams to national prominence.

            All of this started, and ended, with Texas. They were the driving force behind the Pac-10’s expansion plans, and now that they can’t have the Longhorns, they likely will settle for a school like Utah to balance out the conference.

            Yes, the Utes have been exceptional lately, but even the Mormons know Texas is the Mecca of college football.

            However, they might not know much about actual Mecca.

            The ‘Horns also drove many teams to stay, and the Big 12 wins on all levels. They only had to sacrifice one valuable team and a conference championship game in order to get a television contract that rivals the deals of the Big 10 and SEC.

            The only person who could be upset with that kind of money is Latrell Sprewell, because he has a family to feed.

In case you haven't heard the breaking news by now, here it is. USC got hammered by the NCAA and will have around twenty scholarships taken away. USC will also receive a two year postseason ban. 

Lane Kiffin, I don't know what to say. I feel bad you're in a very rough spot recruiting now. Most would have a big hit in recruits from a lack of scholarships to offer. Now what do you say to a recruit when your trying to convince them to come to USC.

As of now six out of seven of USC's recruits committed for the 2011 class are from California. The one not from California is from Nevada. 

Lane I hope you can keep a few of these kids. Yet you're going to have to go to them now and say we are going to do everything we can to win games. Unfortunately it won't do us any good in your first two years because we are ineligible from the BCS bowls and even the Humanitarian Bowl.

Best of luck USC you are going to need it over these next two years. So how does this and realignment affect the other 15 teams. Here's an in-depth look at each team's recruiting after everything goes into place.

Arizona: I really feel bad for Arizona in realignment because its going to hurt. Right now Arizona has four commits for 2011. Jabral Johnson a three star prospect OLB is Arizona's top commit so far. The question is how will recruiting be affected by the Big 12 South's teams coming over? OU, A&M and UT wont go and take any recruits from Arizona, but recruits knowing they have to play them might. TTU and OSU will probably try to go over and steal some of Arizona's players though to add on to the normal three star prospects they get in Texas and Oklahoma. Arizona's Grade- D

Arizona State- With Erickson soon to be gone in my opinion, new competition and 1 recruit for 2011. Expansion seems to put Arizona State as the new Washington State. Grade- F

California- California has always been second to USC in recruiting. Now with USC's decline in scholarships, California could make a run for some higher rated recruits but I don't think they'll land many unless they can win consistently. Recruiting should look normal for California given the circumstances. Grade, C.

Colorado: Get rid of Dan Hawkins then we can talk. Colorado always gets recruits around Denver and even when they get top guys they don't turn out well (Darrell Scott). Hawkins is holding Colorado back as of now. A few scholarships were also taken from Colorado. Recruiting will remain bad with the move. Grade, D.

Oklahoma: Bob Stoops had his first success recruiting in California in 2010 by picking up some top tier guys—Tony Jefferson, Brennan Clay and Roy Finch. The Move for OU will turn out great for Stoops and his staff. OU has always been able to get top guys in Oklahoma and Texas. Now you add in the fact that Stoops is going to go right after the guys who usually commit USC. Stoops is in recruiting heaven and can't wait for the move to the Pac-16. Grade, A+.

Oklahoma State: Gundy and his staff have done a good job lately in grabbing some steals from Texas and OU—most recently the commitment of Hershel Sims out of Abilene for 2011. The move to the Pac-16 shouldn't massively change recruiting for the Pokes except maybe some guys from Arizona. Grade, B-.

Oregon: I like Chip Kelly, I really do, but Oregon is very confusing. They have a great run last year to the Rose Bowl and the Pac-10 title. The thing that sticks out to me with the Oregon program right now though is discipline. Starting QB Jeremiah Masoli has gotten the iron boot and isn't part of the program. Star RB LaMichael James is suspended game one and numerous other offenses have hurt the program. For 2011 Oregon only has two mid level recruits, that's not what to expect out of the reigning Pac-10 Champions. With OU and UT battling Oregon for recruits now it looks like this could hurt Oregon more than help them. Grade, B.

Oregon State: Mike Riley has thrived on picking up two and three star guys and turning them into great players. Riley has always gotten guys across the Pacific coast and that shouldn't change at all. Oregon State seems to get better every year and so has their recruiting. Grade, B+.

Stanford: I envy Jim Harbaugh truly. Who could've said five years ago that Stanford is legitimate and has a Top 15 recruiting class? Harbaugh has guys coming from California, New Jersey, Texas and Oregon. He has put a great deal of effort into recruiting and expansion won't hurt his efforts. Grade, A-.

Texas: Mack Brown and Muschamp will strive in recruiting again. USC will help them get a few top guys. However, Muschamp is about to be stripped of 95% of his recruiting due to a new NCAA rule towards head coaches in waiting. That shouldn't do much to Texas though. 2011 they already have a full class basically in twenty commits. Grade, A+.

Texas A&M: A&M is always second to UT and OU. I hate saying that because Aggie fans don't like that one bit, but it's true. Sherman has done a good job getting guys that the powers miss out on. A&M seems to be on the rise and a move west shouldn't affect them much since the number of guys in Texas is so great. A&M should continue what they've done for years. Grade, B. 

Texas Tech: This is tricky. Tubberville is known to be a good recruiter and most likely will try and stake some claim on the west coast due to the move. Will he do it? I believe he will. Tech's recruiting should be good but not great. Grade, B. 

UCLA: Neuheisel better hurry if he's gonna try and take over LA in these next two years. This is his best chance to steal as many guys as possible from USC. As of now UCLA has no commits for 2011 which isn't a good sign but I think USC's sanctions could help them. Grade, B+.

Washington: Sarkisian is a very good coach who did a great job in his first year with a mediocre program in Washington. Sarkisian has ties to LA and he will go right for those top guys starting today. Washington is on the rise—take note of that. The USC sanctions are a huge help for Washington and I really like the way the team is moving in all directions. Grade, A. 

Washington State School of the Blind: Lets face it I can't name a player on the team, their head coach, where the university is and if the football team exists. All I know is that they lost every game last year and I would play Div-3 ball before I played for Washington State. Grade, F-.

Hope everyone enjoyed this. Leave any feedback below!!!

The manifesto children are not to worry about me. Not until I creep up and hit them over the head with a piece of two-by-four

So I have just got back from Victoria to see how things are progressing at campaign HQ and I have a few observations. Firstly. My desk. Seriously? I've seen smack dealers at Glastonbury operating out of plusher shitters than my "office". And when I put word about that I was not impressed, the other accommodation opportunity offered me by Dougie Alexander's strutting young spunk was the wireless password for a branch of Giraffe cafe in King's Cross. This is not remotely working for me.

What I suspect has happened is the frank tone of my first briefing (and the private one I sent you midweek, puckishly entitled: "Your campaign team eat the donkey dick") has put a few noses out of joint. Well, yes I'm going to give you tough advice. That is how I roll. My rule of thumb is: if you don't want to know about the tumour, don't ask to see the doctor. If you come to my suburban bondage establishment, I will knock you about and call you bad names. That's just the service I provide.

But please reassure the minions and old timers that I will be unobtrusive while I keep an eye on things. I will be crouching the other side of an invisible line, behind an imaginary Chinese wall inside a transparent box wearing a different hat, running a computer simulation of the current situation from behind an informal desk fellating a made-up banana. They are not to worry about me. Not until I creep up in the dead of night and hit them over the head with a piece of two-by-four with a single six-inch nail sticking out of it.

Anyway, on the themes you are starting to hit this week. I have some notes:

Optimism: Talking to the manifesto children in the war room, they are all very excited about optimism. I don't know where they found it but now they've opened the pot they want to smear it over everything. The New Britain. An Internet. A train like those we have seen on our holidays, that goes. A knowledge-based carbon-fibre tennis-racket economy. A windmill. A new dawn. Give our nuclear subs to the French. My take is – yeah, fine. Maybe. But remember your key attributes: not JFK skipping through the flowers spraying Clinton juice all over everyone. No – the glowering maniac in the boarded-up house who, if we're lucky, people might just about believe is the only one who can remember where the bank statements are kept. That's the core strategy.

Staying on: Re your Woman's Hour "I'll keep going" in the event of not securing a majority. It's obviously good to look permanent. The rock of ages. Continents move, elections come and go, majorities grow and wither, but you, the rock of ages, hard, impervious, massive, underlying, difficult to get tent pegs into, you remain.

That can obviously play well. But with the promise to stick around whatever happens, you need to avoid the whiff of the junta. We want people to think of you as a trustworthy if slightly cranky old professor they can go to in times of trouble. Like white-bearded Mr Shorofsky in Fame. We don't want the public to think that to get you out of No 10, Cracker is going to have to be called out of retirement to reason with you through a locked door as you squat on the cabinet table with no trousers on, Maggie Darling as a hostage, and a borrowed Glock 17 pointed at your own nuts issuing demands for a Government of National Unity. So careful how we play that one.

Clegg: This week's media angle has been: Clegg the kingmaker. Yeah, right. This guy couldn't make a king out of a two-piece Duplo "Make a King" kit without putting the arse on the head.

Also. In regard to Clegg, one good thing about you is that you do look like a person. We should keep pushing this. You don't have the Clegg/Osborne wipe-down plastic surface look. That lemon up the bum, orange in the mouth look the public so love to hate. Let's keep hitting that.

Regards to you, Malcolm.

 And now the real chaos descends, more upsets and bid stealing happen almost every hour and the big boys are nervous. As of this 4p EST posting, Houston has stolen a potential at-large bid in C-USA but UTEP will not get locked out. Miami and Minnesota continue their bid to party crash as they pull more upsets in their respective tourneys. I will post my final predictions on who is in and out tomorrow at about 5p EDT.

Atlantic Coast
Conference Class-Power
Locks: Duke, Maryland, Clemson
Playing Their Way In Florida State, Georgia Tech
Playing Their Way Out: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech
Skinny on the ACC: The only way this number increases is if Miami-FL wins the ACC title which would be the only way that the last place Canes would claim any kind of postseason play. The Deacons and Hokies chances get smaller and smaller with every mid-major upset. See Houston & St. Marys bid stealing that push UTEP & Gonzaga into at-large spots. Georgia Tech needs but to win later today to feel safe. I have Florida State in for now but both are really sweating, this number could rise or fall depending on what happens tonight.
Atlantic Coast Conference Championships: Mar 11-14; Greensboro Coliseum; Greensboro, NC
Projected Bids: 5

Atlantic Ten
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock: Temple, Xavier, Richmond
Hopin' & Wishin': Rhode Island
The A-10 Spec is: I think with the number of upsets going on and bids being stolen, Rhode Island needed to make a stronger case. The Rams got thumped by Temple and I think that might be the final straw. This league will send only 3 teams.
Atlantic 10 Conference Championship: March 12-14 Boardwalk Hall; Atlantic City, NJ
Projected Bids: 3

Big East
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Georgetown, Pitt, Marquette, Louisville
Playing Their Way In Notre Dame
Big East Skinny: West Virginia continues to campaign hard for a #1 seed of its own and should they beat G-Town tonight, I think that they get it. Notre Dame shouldn’t be sweating their bid chances but they might be with all the upsets going on. I still have 8 teams going here.
Big East Championship: Georgetown vs West Virginia 9p (ESPN) Madison Square Garden, New York City
Projected bids: 8

Big Ten
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois
Playing their way In: Minnesota
The word on the Big Ten is: Minnesota is making things really interesting, I think that if they get to Sunday, they will get a bid. I had 4 coming out of this conference ten days ago, now there could be as many as 6. Illinois tries to make things real
Big Ten Championships: Mar 11-14 Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Projected Bids: 5

Big 12
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kansas, Texas, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Baylor
Playing Their Way In Oklahoma State
Hopin & Wishin’ Missouri
Skinny from the heartland: Mizzou is really sweating now with Houston stealing a bid and ACC teams like NC State still in the fight. They are the only team here that is worried about their bid, Kansas and Kansas State are fighting for nothing more than mastery of their increasingly heated rivalry.Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship: Kansas State vs. Kansas 6p (ESPN) Sprint Center Kansas City, Mo
Projected Bids: 7

Colonial
Conference Class-Small
In: Old Dominion
Colonial Spec: Old Dominion will be a handful for any team that they face in the first round. This is the only team coming out of this conference
Colonial Athletic Association Champions: Old Dominion
Projected Bids: 1

Conference USA
Conference Class-Major
Lock: UTEP
Hoping and Wishin’: UAB, Memphis
Oh Say Can You C-USA Spec: Houston crashes the party! The Cougars won a thrilling shootout with UTEP and snags an unlikely bid, their first since 1992. UTEP will get an at-large bid much to the chagrin of the big boy conferences
Conference USA Champions: Houston
Projected Bids: 2

Horizon
Conference Class-Mid Major
In: Butler
Spec on The Horizon: Butler smashed Wright State to win the Horizon title and is in line for a high seed. Why do I get the feeling that the selection committee will give Butler the shaft (again) and either put them against another mid major or give them an 8 seed to keep them away from the sweet 16?
Horizon League Champions: Butler
Projected Bids: 1

Ivy
Conference Class-Small
In: Cornell
Spec on the Ivy Vine: Cornell gets the first guaranteed invite as they clinched the Ivy Group title Friday, they will be the only team coming out of this conference
Ivy Group Champion: Cornell
Projected Bids: 1


Missouri Valley
Conference Class-Mid Major
In: Northern Iowa
Hoping & Wishin’ Wichita State
Missouri Valley Skinny: It’s a sweet repeat for the Panthers who used a steady second half surge to hold off the Shockers. The big boy conferences breathe a bit easier; this is likely a one bid league.
Missouri Valley Mens Basketball Tournament Champions: Northern Iowa
Projected Bids: 1


Mountain West
Conference Class-Major
Lock: BYU, New Mexico, UNLV, San Diego St
Spec from the Mountains: The Rebels and Aztecs have quieted any talk of being on the bubble with their respective upsets of the top two teams in the conference. I have both these teams in as well as BYU and New Mexico.
Conoco Mountain West Championship San Diego State vs UNLV 7p Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas
Projected Bids: 4


Pacific 10
Conference Class-Power
Lock: California
Playing Their Way In Washington
Playing Their Way Out: Arizona State
Spec from the left coast: Cal is in and Im pretty sure that Washington will be too, though the Huskies might feel a little safer if they win the Pac-10 title this evening
Pacific Life Pac-10 Championship: Washington vs California 6p (CBS) Staples Center, Los Angeles
Projected Bids: 2



Southeastern
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
Playing Their Way In Florida, Mississippi St .
Spec is Down South: Maybe I spoke to soon about the Florida-Mississippi St game not being a de facto play-in game. With Houston winning the C-USA title and UTEP taking an at-large bid off the board, the Bulldogs may have seriously damaged the Gators hopes. UK made sure that no one questions their #1 seed as they brutally housed Tennessee. The Vols have no worries about their tourney chances though they might get sent out West.
SEC Championship Mar 11-14, Sommet Center Nashville
Projected Bids: 5


Western Athletic
Conference Class- Major
Lock: Utah State
Hopin & Wishin’: New Mexico State
Spec on the WAC: The WAC championship is a battle of the Aggies, as Utah State and New Mexico State battle for the title. This league is really a one-bid, I seriously doubt that Utah State could make a serious case for an at-large bid if they lose tonight.
Western Athletic Conference Championship: New Mexico State vs Utah State 10p (ESPN2) Lawlor Events Center; Reno, NV
Projected Bids: 1

West Coast
Conference Class- Mid Major
In: St. Mary’s
Lock: Gonzaga
West Coast Spec: The big boy conferences are cursing St. Mary’s, their stunning rout of Gonzaga means that they won’t have to hope and wish for a bid. That also means that the Bulldogs will take an at-large bid off the table, you are out of your mind if you think that Gonzaga is getting left out of the tournament.
West Coast Conference Champions: St. Mary’s
Projected Bids: 2



There are others in the mix to be sure. The champions from the following conferences get an automatic bid (projected winners in parentheses/actual winners in bold ) : Amer. East (Vermont) , Atlantic Sun (Belmont/East Tennessee State), Big South (Coastal Carolina/Winthrop), Big Sky (Northern Colorado/ Montana) Big West (Cal Santa-Barbara), MAC (Akron) , MAAC (Siena), MEAC (Morgan State), Northeast (Quinnipiac/ Robert Morris ), Ohio Valley (Murray St.), Patriot (Lehigh), Southern (Appalachian State/ Wofford ), Southland (Sam Houston State), Sun Belt (North Texas), Summit (Oakland), and SWAC (Arkansas-Pine Bluff)

Conference Breakdown
ACC-5
A-Ten-3
Big East-8
Big Ten-5
Big XII-7
C-USA-2
Colonial-1
Horizon-1
Ivy-1
Missouri Valley-1
Mountain West-4
Pac-10-2
SEC-5
WAC-1
WCC-2
Small Conferences-17
Total-65


Keep in mind that this is just spec, these are merely projections and we haven't even brought up the possibility of upsets. But those never happen, right?
 

Cheers from up here in the Cheap Seats!!!
Final Projections Tomorrow
 

With two days of action left before the bracket is revealed, the at-large picture is starting to clear up a little. Still, there are going to be many anxious Bubble Watch teams sweating it out. That includes one team who I had pegged as safe after Thursday's action. 

If a team's name appears as a link, click it to visit that school's SB Nation blog for more coverage and analysis.

Promoted Up From Bubble Watch

Georgia Tech leaves Bubble Watch after they held off Maryland, 69-64 (recap), to advance to the ACC semifinals. They'll face, 11th seed N.C. State, a team they beat by two at home on February 6. If they lose, they could be right back in this post tomorrow.

Games Still To Play

Several teams still have their fate in their own hands. Five Bubble Watch teams can end any drama and rest easy tonight by claiming their conference crowns this evening. Four can move on to Sunday championship games.

Conference Championship Games

California, who should be in as an at-large knocked off UCLA, 85-72 (recap) in their Pac-10 semifinal. The Golden Bears will face "Last Four In" team Washington in Saturday's final (6 p.m. ET, CBS). The Huskies defeated Stanford, 79-64 (recap), to stay in the hunt. This will be the rubber match of the season series, as both won at home during the regular season.

San Diego State looks a bit safer now, even if I still have them as a "Last Four In" team after their 72-69 win over New Mexico (recap) in the Mountain West semifinals Friday. The Aztecs face host UNLV for the title Saturday (7 p.m. ET, Versus). If this was last year, Steve Fisher's team would probably feel better about their chances, as they went 3-0 against the Rebels, and grabbed two wins at Thomas & Mack. This season, the two split, with each defending their home court.

Conference USA should be a one-bid league as UTEP bounced host Tulsa, 75-61 (recap), in the semis. The problem for the Miners is that they must face Houston in Saturday's final (11:30 a.m., CBS). The Cougars were the only conference team to beat UTEP in the regular season, winning by seven at home. However, the Miners did beat Tom Penders' team at the Haskins Center.

Utah State defeated fourth-seeded Louisiana Tech, 85-55 (recap) to move on to the WAC Final. There they won't have to play two seed Nevada on their home floor. The Wolfpack fell to third-seeded New Mexico State, a team who split the season series with Utah State. The Logan Aggies won by 18 at home to close the regular season. The rubber match will be at 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2).

Just Above The Last Four In

Illinois opened up a lead on Wisconsin and held on to grab a 58-54 Big Ten semifinal win (recap). That gives the Illini a season series win over the Badgers. Illinois will next try to beat Ohio State for the first time this season in the semifinals (1:30 p.m. ET, CBS).

Last Four In

Rhode Island completely burst St. Louis' bubble in Friday's Atlantic 10 quarterfinals, 63-47 (recap). The Rams next play top seed Temple (1 p.m. ET, CBS College Sports). The Owls won both regular season meetings, following up a four-point overtime win in Kingston with a 22-point triumph in Philadelphia.

First Four Out

Minnesota is very close to booking their ticket after they topped Michigan State in the Big Ten quarterfinals, 72-67 in overtime (recap). The Gophers really need to beat Purdue in today's semifinal though (4 p.m. ET, CBS). The Boilermakers won both meetings, but only won at Williams Arena by one on February 24, the night they lost Robbie Hummel for the season.

Mississippi State likely needs to win the SEC Tournament to make the field, even after they knocked off Florida in Friday's quarterfinals, 75-69 (recap). The Bulldogs became the first West Division team to beat one of the top four from the East with that victory. They'll need to repeat that feat twice to dance. Vanderbilt is up first in the semifinals (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS).

Waiting For Selection Sunday

This next group of teams can only watch and wait, as their fate is out of their hands.

In Good Shape

Louisville should be in even though they lost to Cincinnati in the Big East Second Round Wednesday.

Wake Forest should also hold on to a spot even though they were slammed by Miami in the ACC Opening Round Thursday.

Last Four In

Florida will have to sweat it out after their loss to Mississippi State Friday. The fact they came back to avoid a blowout against the Bulldogs helps.

So much for promoting Virginia Tech out of Bubble Watch. The Hokies drop back down after they fell to Miami, 70-65, in their ACC Quarterfinal Friday (recap). 

First Four Out

Mississippi really needed to beat Tennessee in the SEC quarterfinals to have a chance, but they fell 76-65 (recap).

Keep an eye on William & Mary, even though they lost to Old Dominion in the Colonial Athletic Association final Monday. They have enough quality wins to make a solid case, but some headscratching losses may keep them out.

Next Four Out

UAB is likely on the outside looking in after they failed to beat Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA Quarterfinals Thursday.

Arizona State looks to be out of the running after they lost their Pac-10 Quarterfinal to Stanford.

Seton Hall and South Florida are both likely finished after they lost Big East Second Round games Wednesday.

Likely Out

Charlotte is off the board after they lost to Massachusetts at home in the Atlantic 10 Opening Round Tuesday.

Cincinnati had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Dion Dixon couldn't hold on to the ball and Da'Sean Butler banked in a three when time expired to give West Virginia a 54-51 win in the Big East Quarterfinals Thursday, bursting the Bearcats bubble.

Dayton once again couldn't close out a close game, as they fell to Xavier, 78-73 (recap), in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals Friday. That was a fatal loss for the Flyers.

Memphis, like UAB, is finished, as they lost their Conference USA Quarterfinal against Houston. 

Wichita State lost their chance when they fell to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley final Sunday..

 Remember, the upsets never happen? Well don’t tell that to Wake Forest and Mizzou, two teams who now are seriously sweating their tourney chances after embarrassing losses to supposedly outclassed teams in their respective conference tourneys. This post will cover the games up to 8p EST Friday, with another post to cover the Saturday games and the final Spec sheet with who I think will make the tournament.

Atlantic Coast
Conference Class-Power
Locks: Duke, Maryland, Clemson
Playing Their Way In Florida State, Georgia Tech
Playing Their Way Out: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech
Skinny on the ACC: Duke is more or less yawning their way through this, Georgia Tech and Florida State are safe. Wake Forest and Virginia Tech are in all kinds of trouble as both took an ill-timed loss to Miami, I have reduced the number of teams coming out of this conference as I’m not sold on Virginia Tech making it with their weak numbers.
Atlantic Coast Conference Championships: Mar 11-14; Greensboro Coliseum; Greensboro, NC
Projected Bids: 5

Atlantic Ten
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock: Temple, Xavier, Richmond
Playing their way in: Dayton, Rhode Island
The A-10 Spec is: Temple is totally safe, and the Billikens are out. Rhode Island has played their way back in and if the Flyers hang on for the upset, they are still in good shape for a bid, but may need to get to the A-10 finals. Xavier is safe win or lose, but Richmond had better not lose to lowly UMass.
Atlantic 10 Conference Championship: March 12-14 Boardwalk Hall; Atlantic City, NJ
Projected Bids: 4

Big East
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Georgetown, Pitt, Marquette, Louisville
Playing Their Way In Notre Dame
Big East Skinny: What little chance the Bearcats had of making the tourney ended with DeSean Butler’s buzzer beating bank shot. Syracuse may still get a #1 seed but the committee will likely punish them for their opening game loss albeit to Georgetown and send them west. If the Mountaineers win the Big East tourney I think they not Duke gets a #1 seed. I think that the Irish are safe, but getting to the finals wouldn’t hurt at all.
Big East Championship Tournament: Mar 9-13 Madison Square Garden, New York City
Projected bids: 8

Big Ten
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois
Playing their way In: Minnesota
The word on the Big Ten is: Illinois outslugged Wisconsin and I think that’s enough to get them in. Minnesota is still on the fence but still needs to win a couple more to make it in. Ohio State is still angling for a #1 seed but needed an answered prayer to dodge a pesky Michigan team that is going nowhere but home.
Big Ten Championships: Mar 11-14 Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Projected Bids: 5

Big 12
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kansas, Texas, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Baylor
Playing Their Way In Oklahoma State
Hopin & Wishin’ Missouri
Skinny from the heartland: Mizzou is still safe for the time being but had better hope that a mutt team like Miami or Houston doesnt steal a bid or the Tigers may be on the outs. Kansas is trying to give away its rightful #1 seed but should be good regardless.

Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship: Mar 10-13 Sprint Center Kansas City, Mo
Projected Bids: 7

Colonial
Conference Class-Small
In: Old Dominion
Colonial Spec: Old Dominion will be a handful for any team that they face in the first round. This is the only team coming out of this conference
Colonial Athletic Association Champions: Old Dominion
Projected Bids: 1

Conference USA
Conference Class-Major
Lock: UTEP
Hoping and Wishin’: UAB, Memphis
Oh Say Can You C-USA Spec: Both UAB and Memphis took damaging losses in their C-USA tourney openers and unless UTEP loses in a Saturday morning finale, there is only one team coming out of this league.
Conference USA Championships: Mar 10-13 Bank of Oklahoma Center Tulsa, OK
Projected Bids: 1

Horizon
Conference Class-Mid Major
In: Butler
Spec on The Horizon: Butler smashed Wright State to win the Horizon title and is in line for a high seed. Why do I get the feeling that the selection committee will give Butler the shaft (again)and either put them against another mid major or give them an 8 seed to keep them away from the sweet 16?
Horizon League Champions: Butler
Projected Bids: 1

Ivy
Conference Class-Small
In: Cornell
Spec on the Ivy Vine: Cornell gets the first guaranteed invite as they clinched the Ivy Group title Friday, they will be the only team coming out of this conference
Ivy Group Champion: Cornell
Projected Bids: 1


Missouri Valley
Conference Class-Mid Major
In: Northern Iowa
Hoping & Wishin’ Wichita State
Missouri Valley Skinny: It’s a sweet repeat for the Panthers who used a steady second half surge to hold off the Shockers. The big boy conferences breathe a bit easier; this is likely a one bid league.
Missouri Valley Mens Basketball Tournament Champions: Northern Iowa
Projected Bids: 1


Mountain West
Conference Class-Major
Lock: BYU, New Mexico, UNLV, San Diego St
Spec from the Mountains: The Aztecs tried to give away their bid, but survived a nail biter over Colorado State. I think that all four teams that are left in the MWC tourney are good to go.
Conoco Mountain West Championship Mar 9-13 Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas
Projected Bids: 4


Pacific 10
Conference Class-Power
Lock: California
Playing Their Way In Washington
Playing Their Way Out: Arizona State
Spec from the left coast: Cal has done nothing to damage their chances, but Arizona State is pretty much finished after getting beaten by Stanford. As long as Washington doesn’t stumble tonight they will get that 2nd bid from this league.
Pacific Life Pac-10 Championships: Mar 10-13 Staples Center, Los Angeles
Projected Bids: 2



Southeastern
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kentucky , Vanderbilt , Tennessee
Playing Their Way In Florida , Mississippi St .
Spec is Down South: With the number of teams taking bad losses, the SEC benefits greatly. I now have both the Gators and Bulldogs both making the tourney now, so their matchup tonight is not a de facto play-in game.
SEC Championship Mar 11-14, Sommet Center Nashville
Projected Bids: 5


Western Athletic
Conference Class- Major
Lock: Utah State
Playing Their Way Out: New Mexico State , La. Tech
Spec on the WAC: This might be a one bid, because even though the Utah State Aggies have 22 wins and are leading the WAC, their numbers are so-so at best. If the New Mexico State Aggies or La. Tech steals the bid, Utah State could be on the outs.
Western Athletic Conference Championships: Mar 11-13 Lawlor Events Center; Reno, NV
Projected Bids: 1

West Coast
Conference Class- Mid Major
In: St. Mary’s
Lock: Gonzaga
West Coast Spec: The big boy conferences are cursing St. Mary’s, their stunning rout of Gonzaga means that they won’t have to hope and wish for a bid. That also means that the Bulldogs will take an at-large bid off the table, you are out of your mind if you think that Gonzaga is getting left out of the tournament.
West Coast Conference Champions: St. Mary’s
Projected Bids: 2



There are others in the mix to be sure. The champions from the following conferences get an automatic bid (projected winners in parentheses/actual winners in bold ) : Amer. East (Vermont) , Atlantic Sun (Belmont/East Tennessee State) , Big South (Coastal Carolina/Winthrop), Big Sky (Northern Colorado/ Montana) , Big West (Pacific), MAC (Akron) , MAAC (Siena), MEAC (Morgan State), Northeast (Quinnipiac/ Robert Morris ), Ohio Valley (Murray St.), Patriot (Lehigh), Southern (Appalachian State/ Wofford ), Southland (Sam Houston State), Sun Belt (North Texas), Summit (Oakland), and SWAC (Arkansas-Pine Bluff)

Conference Breakdown
ACC-5
A-Ten -4
Big East-8
Big Ten-5
Big XII-7
C-USA-1
Colonial-1
Horizon-1
Ivy-1
Missouri Valley-1
Mountain West-4
Pac-10-2
SEC-5
WAC-1
WCC-2
Small Conferences-17
Total-65


Keep in mind that this is just spec, these are merely projections and we haven't even brought up the possibility of upsets. But those never happen, right?

Next Spec Sheet March 13

Cheers from up here in the Cheap Seats!
 

 Before I get into the spec today, today is my daughter Jasmyne's 2nd Birthday...my my how time flies.
All is pretty quiet for today’s update, though I have updated some of the info on the smaller conference winners. I was deeply disappointed that Quinnipiac lost in the NEC final and the "Nippers" were denied their first NCAA bid That makes my smaller conference projection that much more scattershot. More updates will be posted tomorrow when the real moving and shaking gets done today.

Atlantic Coast
Conference Class-Power
Locks: Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland, Clemson
Playing Their Way In Florida State. Virginia Tech
Playing Their Way Out: Georgia Tech
Skinny on the ACC: If Georgia Tech can beat UNC for the third time this year, they should be safe but given the inconsistent play of both teams nothing is guaranteed. Clemson & Florida State really has to just avoid taking a loss to not have to worry about their tourney chances.
Atlantic Coast Conference Championships: Mar 11-14; Greensboro Coliseum; Greensboro, NC
Projected Bids: 6

Atlantic Ten
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock: Temple , Xavier, Richmond
Playing their way out: Saint Louis, Dayton, Rhode Island
The A-10 Spec is: Temple, X and Richmond need only to win their opening round games in Atlantic City to feel totally safe. If Saint Louis gets to the A-10 semis they will get that 4th seed. Charlotte got beat Tuesday and is finished. The Billikens, Flyers and Rams need to get another win to improve their chances. But I only have four teams coming out of this conference so something has to give.
Atlantic 10 Conference Championship: March 12-14 Boardwalk Hall; Atlantic City, NJ
Projected Bids: 4

Big East
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Syracuse , Villanova , West Virginia , Georgetown , Pitt, Marquette , Louisville
Playing Their Way In Cincy, Notre Dame
Big East Skinny: Notre Dame is likely going having snuffed out any chances that Seton Hall once had, Syracuse might have cost itself a top seed with its fall from ahead loss to G-Town. Cincy continues to be the lop-eared mutt in the tourney, bullying Louisville on the boards to send the Cards home early, though Im still thinking that if they knock off West Virginia that they will get an invite.
Big East Championship Tournament: Mar 9-13 Madison Square Garden, New York City
Projected bids: 8

Big Ten
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Michigan State , Purdue , Wisconsin , Ohio State
Playing their way In: Illinois
Playing Their Way Out: Minnesota
The word on the Big Ten is: Ive taken some heat recently about my uncertainty about Illinois, I will give them their due IF they beat Wisconsin…but that’s not a given. Minnesota is still on the list but needs to get all the way to Sunday to get a real shot at earning a berth.
Big Ten Championships: Mar 11-14 Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Projected Bids: 4

Big 12
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kansas , Texas , Kansas State , Texas A&M, Baylor
Playing Their Way In Oklahoma State
Hopin & Wishin’ Missouri
Skinny from the heartland: I had 7 teams coming out here, but suddenly Mizzou’s once safe status is in jeopardy after taking a nasty beating from Nebraska.
Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship: Mar 10-13 Sprint Center Kansas City, Mo
Projected Bids: 7

Colonial
Conference Class-Small
In: Old Dominion
Colonial Spec: Old Dominion will be a handful for any team that they face in the first round. This is the only team coming out of this conference
Colonial Athletic Association Champions: Old Dominion
Projected Bids: 1

Conference USA
Conference Class-Major
Lock: UTEP
Hoping and Wishin’: Marshall , UAB, Memphis
Oh Say Can You C-USA Spec: With UNI winning the MVC im shifting numbers in projections. Im liking Memphis making a hard charge down the stretch to stay on UTEP’s heels. If the Tigers get to Saturday and the finals, win or lose I see them getting a bid. UAB is pretty much in the same boat so you may see a virtual play-in game for a bid in the C-USA semifinals if UAB and Memphis.
Conference USA Championships: Mar 10-13 Bank of Oklahoma Center Tulsa, OK
Projected Bids: 2

Horizon
Conference Class-Mid Major
In: Butler
Spec on The Horizon: Butler smashed Wright State to win the Horizon title and is in line for a high seed. Why do I get the feeling that the selection committee will give Butler the shaft (again)and either put them against another mid major or give them an 8 seed to keep them away from the sweet 16?
Horizon League Champions: Butler
Projected Bids: 1

Ivy
Conference Class-Small
In: Cornell
Spec on the Ivy Vine: Cornell gets the first guaranteed invite as they clinched the Ivy Group title Friday, they will be the only team coming out of this conference
Ivy Group Champion: Cornell
Projected Bids: 1


Missouri Valley
Conference Class-Mid Major
In: Northern Iowa
Hoping & Wishin’ Wichita State
Missouri Valley Skinny: It’s a sweet repeat for the Panthers who used a steady second half surge to hold off the Shockers. The big boy conferences breathe a bit easier; this is likely a one bid league.
Missouri Valley Mens Basketball Tournament Champions: Northern Iowa
Projected Bids: 1


Mountain West
Conference Class-Major
Lock: BYU, New Mexico
Playing Their Way In UNLV, San Diego St
Spec from the Mountains: I still have 4 teams coming out of this deep conference. Though the Aztecs really need to get to the MWC semis to feel safe about their chances. As long as UNLV doesn't take a first round pratfall they will get their invite.
Conoco Mountain West Championship Mar 9-13 Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas
Projected Bids: 4


Pacific 10
Conference Class-Power
Lock: California
Playing Their Way In Arizona State
Playing Their Way Out: Washington
Spec from the left coast: Cal is the top dog here, but the Pac-10 tourney is wide open. I can see a couple teams coming out but that’s about it here. Im projecting Cal and Arizona State netting bids, and while Washington has the chops may need to get to the semis or the finals to get a real shot.
Pacific Life Pac-10 Championships: Mar 10-13 Staples Center, Los Angeles
Projected Bids: 2



Southeastern
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kentucky , Vanderbilt , Tennessee
Playing Their Way In Florida , Mississippi St .
Spec is Down South: Florida blew a chance to solidify their tourney chances as they fell at Kentucky. The Gators may need to get to the SEC semis to feel really good about their chances. If the Gators fall in the SEC 1st round or lose to Mississippi State in the SEC quarters, they might be on the wrong side of the cut line.
SEC Championship Mar 11-14, Sommet Center Nashville
Projected Bids: 4


Western Athletic
Conference Class- Major
Lock: Utah State
Playing Their Way Out: New Mexico State , La. Tech
Spec on the WAC: This might be a one bid, because even though the Utah State Aggies have 22 wins and are leading the WAC, their numbers are so-so at best. If the New Mexico State Aggies or La. Tech steals the bid, Utah State could be on the outs.
Western Athletic Conference Championships: Mar 11-13 Lawlor Events Center; Reno, NV
Projected Bids: 1

West Coast
Conference Class- Mid Major
In: St. Mary’s
Lock: Gonzaga
West Coast Spec: The big boy conferences are cursing St. Mary’s, their stunning rout of Gonzaga means that they won’t have to hope and wish for a bid. That also means that the Bulldogs will take an at-large bid off the table, you are out of your mind if you think that Gonzaga is getting left out of the tournament.
West Coast Conference Basketball Champions: St. Mary’s
Projected Bids: 2



There are others in the mix to be sure. The champions from the following conferences get an automatic bid (projected winners in parentheses/actual winners in bold ) : Amer. East (Vermont) , Atlantic Sun (Belmont/East Tennessee State) , Big South (Coastal Carolina/Winthrop), Big Sky (Northern Colorado/ Montana) , Big West (Pacific), MAC (Kent State) , MAAC (Siena), MEAC (Morgan State), Northeast (Quinnipiac/ Robert Morris ), Ohio Valley (Murray St.), Patriot (Lehigh), Southern (Appalachian State/ Wofford ), Southland (Sam Houston State), Sun Belt (North Texas), Summit (Oakland), and SWAC (Jackson State)

Conference Breakdown
ACC-6
A-Ten -4
Big East-8
Big Ten-4
Big XII-7
C-USA-2
Colonial-1
Horizon-1
Ivy-1
Missouri Valley-1
Mountain West-4
Pac-10-2
SEC-4
WAC-3
WCC-2
Small Conferences-17
Total-65


Keep in mind that this is just spec, these are merely projections and we haven't even brought up the possibility of upsets. But those never happen, right?

Next Spec Sheet March 12
 

Cheers from up here in the Cheap Seats!

 Call it the calm before the storm, the Colonial Finals between Old Dominion and William & Mary and the West Coast final between Gonzaga and St. Mary’s is tonight. Then a host of smaller conference finals will be contested for the next couple days as the major conferences start their opening rounds. As Ive said before, this is a hoop junkies nirvana. This is without question the best sports week of the year. I know people talk about bowl games and the drama of the baseball playoffs and the NFL’s road to the Super Bowl but for the sheer volume of games and the taut drama. Nothing beats championship week. For the next seven days the wall to wall basketball cannot be matched. And think this is the prelude to the real tournament…whats not to love???

Atlantic Coast
Conference Class-Power
Locks: Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland, Clemson
Playing Their Way In Florida State. Virginia Tech
Playing Their Way Out: Georgia Tech
Skinny on the ACC: Duke gets the top seed and after brutally housing North Carolina Saturday is in no danger of missing the tourney, and are shooting for a #1 seed. Wake is tottering badly but still is in line for a bid providing that they don’t lose to Miami or badly lose to Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech has really stumbled badly and if they lose to UNC in the ACC opening round they might get the boot. I only have 6 teams coming out of this conference, not 7 as some would want you to believe.
Atlantic Coast Conference Championships: Mar 11-14; Greensboro Coliseum; Greensboro, NC
Projected Bids: 6

Atlantic Ten
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock: Temple , Xavier, Richmond
Playing their way out: Saint Louis , Dayton , Rhode Island , Charlotte
The A-10 Spec is: Temple, X and Richmond need only to win their opening round games in Atlantic City to feel totally safe. If Saint Louis gets to the A-10 semis they will get that 4th seed. The Rams, Flyers and 49ers have really stumbled down the stretch and need to make some serious noise on the boardwalk to have a real shot. But 4 is the most I see coming out here.
Atlantic 10 Conference Championship: First Round tonight on Campus Sites, March 12-14 Boardwalk Hall; Atlantic City, NJ
Projected Bids: 4

Big East
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Syracuse , Villanova , West Virginia , Georgetown , Pitt, Marquette , Louisville
Playing Their Way In UConn, Notre Dame
Big East Skinny: Any questions that folks had about Louisville being tourney worthy evaporated as they knocked off the then top ranked Orange at an emotional closing of Freedom Hall. Im still looking at 9 teams coming out of this conference, but Im still real shaky on UConn & Notre Dame, if the Irish lose in their first game after earning a first round bye they won’t go. UConn faces an even steeper climb; they need to win at least two games to solidify their chances.
Big East Championship Tournament: Mar 9-13 Madison Square Garden, New York City
Projected bids: 9

Big Ten
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Michigan State , Purdue , Wisconsin , Ohio State
Playing their way In: Illinois
Playing Their Way Out: Minnesota
The word on the Big Ten is: The lock teams are just that. Illinois is fading fast and faces an interesting rematch against a Wisconsin team that housed them in their own crib. If the Illini get another housing, they are not going anywhere but home for an NIT first round game. Minnesota is needing to win two games to even get back into the conversation.
Big Ten Championships: Mar 11-14 Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Projected Bids: 4

Big 12
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kansas , Texas , Kansas State , Texas A&M, Baylor
Playing Their Way In Missouri , Oklahoma State
Skinny from the heartland: This conference is sending 7 teams...give a good argument against any of the teams listed. Mizzou and Oklahoma St. have to only guard against a bad first round loss in Kansas City next week and they are good.
Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship: Mar 11-14 Sprint Center Kansas City, Mo
Projected Bids: 7

Colonial
Conference Class-Small
Playing Their Way In: Old Dominion, Northeastern, William & Mary
Colonial Spec: Im seeing only one team coming out of this conference, and Old Dominion is the favorite in the Colonial final. But William & Mary has the chops enough to knock off the Monarchs and steal the bid. This is the matchup that the hoop junkies love, two teams with one bid at stake.
Colonial Athletic Association Championship: William & Mary vs. Old Dominion 7p (ESPN)
Projected Bids: 1




Conference USA
Conference Class-Major
Lock: UTEP
Hoping and Wishin’: Marshall , UAB, Memphis
Oh Say Can You C-USA Spec: With UNI winning the MVC im shifting numbers in projections. Im liking Memphis making a hard charge down the stretch to stay on UTEP’s heels. If the Tigers get to Saturday and the finals, win or lose I see them getting a bid. UAB is pretty much in the same boat so you may see a virtual play-in game for a bid in the C-USA semifinals if UAB and Memphis.
Conference USA Championships: Mar 10-13 BOK Center Tulsa, OK
Projected Bids: 2

Horizon
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock: Butler
Hoping & Wishing
Spec on The Horizon: Butler & Wright State will clash for the Horizon Title and the big boy conferences are hoping Butler makes it 20 straight conference wins with a title win. Butler will not be kept on the outside win or lose and are shooting for a possible three or four seed.
Speedway Horizon League Championship: Wright State at Butler
Projected Bids: 1

Ivy
Conference Class-Small
In: Cornell
Spec on the Ivy Vine: Cornell gets the first guaranteed invite as they clinched the Ivy Group title Friday, they will be the only team coming out of this conference
Ivy Group Champion: Cornell
Projected Bids: 1


Missouri Valley
Conference Class-Mid Major
In: Northern Iowa
Hoping & Wishin’ Wichita State
Missouri Valley Skinny: It’s a sweet repeat for the Panthers who used a steady second half surge to hold off the Shockers. The big boy conferences breathe a bit easier, this is likely a one bid league.
Missouri Valley Mens Basketball Tournament Champions: Northern Iowa
Projected Bids: 1


Mountain West
Conference Class-Major
Lock: BYU, New Mexico
Playing Their Way In UNLV, San Diego St
Spec from the Mountains: I still have 4 teams coming out of this deep conference. Though the Aztecs really need to get to the MWC semis to feel safe about their chances. As long as UNLV doesn't take a first round pratfall they will get their invite.
Conoco Mountain West Championship Mar 9-13 Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas
Projected Bids: 4


Pacific 10
Conference Class-Power
Lock: California
Playing Their Way In Arizona State
Playing Their Way Out: Washington
Spec from the left coast: Cal is the top dog here, but the Pac-10 tourney is wide open. I can see a couple teams coming out but that’s about it here. Im projecting Cal and Arizona State netting bids, and while Washington has the chops may need to get to the semis or the finals to get a real shot.
Pacific Life Pac-10 Championships: Mar 10-13 Staples Center, Los Angeles
Projected Bids: 2



Southeastern
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kentucky , Vanderbilt , Tennessee
Playing Their Way In Florida , Mississippi St .
Spec is Down South: Florida blew a chance to solidify their tourney chances as they fell at Kentucky. The Gators may need to get to the SEC semis to feel really good about their chances. If the Gators fall in the SEC 1st round or lose to Mississippi State in the SEC quarters, they might be on the wrong side of the cut line.
SEC Championship Mar 10-14, Sommet Center Nashville
Projected Bids: 4


Western Athletic
Conference Class- Major
Lock: Utah State
Playing Their Way Out: New Mexico State , La. Tech
Spec on the WAC: This might be a one bid, because even though the Utah State Aggies have 22 wins and are leading the WAC, their numbers are so-so at best. If the New Mexico State Aggies or La. Tech steals the bid, Utah State could be on the outs.
Western Athletic Conference Championships: Mar 11-13 Lawlor Events Center; Reno, NV
Projected Bids: 1

West Coast
Conference Class- Mid Major
Lock: Gonzaga
Playing Their Way out: St. Mary’s
West Coast Spec: The big boys conferences are rooting hard for Gonzaga, if St. Mary’s pulls the upset, the selection committee will not leave the 11th ranked Bulldogs on the sideline.
West Coast Conference Basketball Championship: St. Mary’s vs Gonzaga 9p Tonight (ESPN)
Projected Bids: 1



There are others in the mix to be sure. The champions from the following conferences get an automatic bid (projected winners in parentheses/actual winners in bold ) : Amer. East (Vermont) , Atlantic Sun (Belmont/East Tennessee State) , Big South (Coastal Carolina/Winthrop), Big Sky (Northern Colorado) , Big West (Pacific), MAC (Kent State) , MAAC (Siena), MEAC (Morgan State), Northeast (Quinnipiac), Ohio Valley (Murray St.), Patriot (Lehigh), Southern (Appalachian State), Southland (Sam Houston State), Sun Belt (North Texas), Summit (Oakland), and SWAC (Jackson State)

Conference Breakdown
ACC-6
A-Ten -4
Big East-9
Big Ten-4
Big XII-7
C-USA-2
Colonial-1
Horizon-1
Ivy-1
Missouri Valley-1
Mountain West-4
Pac-10-2
SEC-4
WAC-3
WCC-1
Small Conferences-17
Total-65


Keep in mind that this is just spec, these are merely projections and we haven't even brought up the possibility of upsets. But those never happen, right?

Next Spec Sheet Wednesday
 

Cheers From The Cheap Seats!

'Lucky' Lance Corporal Glenton refused to return to Afghanistan and was branded a coward and a malingerer

The word I keep coming across in relation to Lance Corporal Joe Glenton is "lucky". Glenton, 27, who refused to return to Afghanistan, and went absent without leave for two years, speaking out against the war, has been demoted and sentenced to nine months.

Nine months was also the amount of time between Glenton's first tour of Afghanistan and when he was ordered back, despite government guidelines of an 18-month gap. Despite also Glenton admitting to losing faith in the conflict, feeling "guilty and useless", having nightmares about dead serviceman in coffins and generally showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. After this, Glenton was intimidated, bullied, branded a "coward" and "malingerer", which, strangely enough, is the point when he went Awol.

The "lucky" bit? That's because, as related with lip-smacking relish all over the internet, in the olden days Glenton would have been shot for desertion. No namby-pamby concern for a soldier's state of mind then – just a blindfold and a volley of bullets from a firing squad. "Lucky" Joe Glenton indeed!

Is this the best we can do when our soldiers fall to pieces and run away – not shoot them any more, as we did in their hundreds during the First World War? Indeed, while Glenton's loss of faith in the conflict doubtless contributed to his distress, this was not the whole story. Even if Glenton had been pro-war, surely his mental fragility would have remained a concern? So would a pro-war Glenton have received a more sympathetic hearing? Does "cowardice" conveniently transform into PTSD when the sufferer is on-message?

The army has to be tough on soldiers going Awol and no one is forced to sign up. However, could young men such as Glenton seriously be expected to know how they are going to handle war? And, if they can't, even if not on the frontline, how are they "cowards"? My grandfather survived Dunkirk, but did he? PTSD was not diagnosed then, but he returned, by all accounts, "a changed man" with what were then termed "bad nerves" and died in his 40s of a heart attack. Bloody malingerer, eh? And, you wonder, has battle shock changed so much since then? Or do we have sympathy for the distress of servicemen only when the footage is soaked in sepia and broadcast on the History channel?

Certainly it is unjust that, in some quarters, Glenton seems to have been cast almost as a joke figure – the British services answer to Mash's Corporal Klinger, who donned dresses and feigned madness to get himself discharged. Or a born-again hippie, placing flowers in the ends of rifles. What a crock. Pro-war, anti-war, the fact is that Glenton felt himself unravelling, appealed for help and received insults and a bollocking instead.

Are we in danger of regressing to a culture of white feathers – with nothing but scorn and judgment for those who "can't hack it", for whatever reason, in the war zone? Are our "brave boys" only adored when they are brave by military criteria? Indeed, while the outpourings of grief at Wootton Bassett for the fallen heroes are undeniably moving, one has to wonder, what is the point if people who don't die physically, but who fall mentally and emotionally, are treated so shabbily?

This is the tragedy of Glenton's sentencing. Some feel that he has been made an example of because of his anti-war beliefs. However, isn't he also an example to other servicemen, of what to expect if they dare to succumb to mental fragility? So, sure, Glenton was "luckier" than those deserters who used to be stood against walls and shot, but, by allegedly enlightened 21st century standards, is this anywhere near "lucky" enough?

Separated fathers have a right to know who's living with their children

I once interviewed Sara Payne, a brave, dignified woman, who was determined that her daughter Sarah's murder by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000 would not be in vain. Last week, she got her wish, with the announcement that, following a successful pilot, Sarah's Law, the child sex offender disclosure scheme modelled on Megan's Law in the US, is to be introduced nationally.

However, it emerged during the pilot that one of the largest groups applying for disclosures were separated fathers, raising concerns about their former partners' new (sometimes live-in) lovers. This at first seems an abuse of the scheme, not to mention disturbing – what purer expression of the controlling male than trying to exert power over former partners' future relationships?

Having said that, who wouldn't want to check up on people who were in daily proximity with their children? Don't we already have checks for other circumstances? Recently, I filled out a CRB form to help at my daughter's school, de rigueur for anything to do with children now. Yet anyone could form a relationship with a separated parent, even move in, and, most of the time, there are no checks at all.

Please be clear: no one is jumping up and down, screaming: "Everyone in the world is a paedophile." However, if such checks occur routinely in schools, then it doesn't seem such a crazy leap to suggest that people could also be cleared, CRB-style, to live in the same homes as young children. Paranoid, controlling or vengeful some of those dads may have been, but they had a salient point – why is it reasonable to check people rigorously in one area of life, but not another?

Laugh at Essex Girls and you insult all women

Ewag, the Essex Women's Advisory Group (the acronym is on purpose), has been set up to help young women overcome Essex Girl stereotypes. Instead of the public perception of hair-tossing bimbos, teetering in wine bars, looking for John Terry, Ewag wants to remind the world of inspirational Essex Girls ranging from the Olympics champion Sally Gunnell to Dame Maggie Smith. Bravo to that.

But Essex Girl jokes were never mere harmless fun; rather, they were the misogynist answer to the thick Paddy jokes that used to do the rounds. That said, is this really only an Essex problem?

It seems to me that, these days, girls everywhere are depicted as brain-dead drunken slappers. It's rare to see a media image of a group of girls who are not preparing to have sex in a Burger King doorway at 4am. So virulent is this media construct of British maidenhood that even the Oxbridge types only make the headlines when they go in for a spot of ironic glamour modelling.

Perhaps Ewag should take comfort in the fact that this isn't just a county thing. Essex Girl stereotyping has been going national for some time.

By Rob Maguire for Art Threat—a blog covering political art and cultural policy.

Tadamon, a Montreal-based collective that works in solidarity with struggles for self-determination, equality and justice in the Middle East, has spearheaded a call from Montreal artists to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid. The following is an open letter they released on February 25.

Today, a broad spectrum of Montreal artists are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and supporting the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. Last winter, the Israeli state launched a violent military assault on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, leaving over 1400 Palestinians dead, including over 300 children. Despite the official end of military operations, the blockade continues to this day, with devastating consequences for Gaza’s residents.

Over 60 years from the beginning of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from historic Palestine through Israel’s creation, Montreal artists are united in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

Montreal artists are now joining this international campaign to concretely protest the Israeli state’s ongoing denial of the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties, as stipulated in and protected by international law, as well as Israel’s ongoing occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and Gaza, which also constitutes a violation of international law and multiple United Nations resolutions.

Palestinian citizens face an entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation, resembling the defeated apartheid system in South Africa. A matrix of Israeli-only roads, electrified fences, and over 500 military checkpoints and roadblocks erase freedom of movement for Palestinians. Israel’s apartheid wall, which was condemned by the International Court of Justice in 2004, cuts through Palestinian lands, further annexing Palestinian territory and surrounding Palestinian communities with electrified barbed wire fences and a concrete barrier soaring eight meters high.

Gaza remains under siege. Israel continues to impose collective punishment on the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza, who still face chronic shortages of electricity, fuel, food and basic necessities as the campaign of military violence executed by the apartheid state of Israel endures. UN officials recently observed that the "situation has deteriorated into a full-fledged emergency because of the cut-off of vital supplies for Palestinians." As a result of Israeli actions, Gaza has become a giant prison.

The global movement against Israeli apartheid, supported by a large majority of Palestinian civil society, is not targeted at individual Israelis but at Israeli institutions that are complicit in maintaining the multi-tiered Israeli system of oppression against the Palestinian people.

In fact, the Palestinian civil society BDS call, launched by over 170 Palestinian organisations in 2005, explicitly appeals to conscientious Israelis, urging them to support international efforts to bring about Israel’s compliance with international law and fundamental human rights, essential elements for a justice-based peace in the region. The present appeal is also rooted in an active engagement with many progressive Israeli artists and activists who are working on a daily basis for peace and justice while supporting the growing global movement in opposition to Israeli apartheid.

During the first and second intifadas, Israel invaded, ransacked, and even closed down cinemas, theatres and cultural centers in the occupied territories. These deliberate attempts to stifle the Palestinian cultural voice have failed and will continue to fail. Around the world, the call for BDS is growing and is strongly rooted in the historic international solidarity movement against apartheid in South Africa.

In keeping with Nelson Mandela’s declaration that "our freedom [in South Africa] is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians," we believe that international solidarity is critical to liberating Palestinians from Israeli colonialism and apartheid. This struggle will continue until all Palestinians are granted their basic human rights, including the right of return for all Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora.

Today, a diverse array of artists in Montreal, from filmmakers, musicians and dancers to poets, authors and painters, are joining the international movement against Israeli apartheid. On the streets, in concert halls, in words and in song, we commit to fighting against apartheid and call upon all artists and cultural producers across the country and around the world to adopt a similar position in this global struggle.

To add your support to this letter or to present questions or suggestions please write to info@tadamon.ca

1: Aidan Girt, musician, 1-Speed Bike
2: Alexander Moskos, musician, AIDS Wolf
3: Chole Lum, musician, AIDS Wolf
4: Yannick Desranleau, musician, AIDS Wolf
5: Esmeralda Súmar Jara, Amérythmes
6: Karen Lliana Lemus, Amérythmes
7: Ronald Lemus, Amérythmes
8: José Sermeno Rosales, Amérythmes
9: Daviyd Yisrael, Amérythmes
10: Pierre Allard, Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, ATSA
11: Annie Roy, Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, ATSA
12: Hamid Nach, musician, Bambara Trans
13: Kattam Laraki-Côté, percussionist, Bambara Trans
14: Iqi Balam, singer, Banda de Gaza
15: Owain Lawson, musician, Black Feelings
16: Brian Mitchell, musician, Black Feelings
17: Kyle Fostner, musician, Black Feelings
18: James Di Salvio, Bran Van 3000
19: Bronwen Agnew, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
20: Maire White, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
21: Skyla Mody, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
22: Annabelle Rivard, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
23: Veronica Post, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
24: Sonja Engmann, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
25: Cathy Inouye, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
26: Anne Gorry, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
27: Andrea Miller-Nesbitt, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
28: Joseph Boulos, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
29: Matt Corks, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
30: Florence Richer, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
31: Maggie Schreiner, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
32: Jon Boles, musician, Clues
33: Ben Borden, musician, Clues
34: Brendan Reed, musician, Clues
35: Don Wilkie, co-founder, Constellation Records
36: Ian Ilavsky, co-founder, Constellation Records
37: Tyler Megarry, DJ Backdoor
38: Robyn Maynard, DJ Dirtyboots
39: Kevin Moon, DJ Moonstarr
40: Vladimir López, DJ Palosanto
41: Scott Clyke, DJ Scott C
42: Mike Lai, DJ Static
43: Mado Lamotte, Drag Queen Diva
44: Nader Hasan, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
45: Nick Kuepfer, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
46: Aidan Jeffery, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
47: Amine Benbachir, Elby & Woods
48: Jordan McKenzie, musician, Elfin Saddle
49: Emi Honda, musician, Elfin Saddle
50: Deeqa Ibrahim, singer, Empress Deeqa
51: Normand Raymond, musician, Ensemble Acalanto
52: Carmen Pavez, musician, Ensemble Acalanto
53: Rafael Azocar, musician/composer, Ensemble Acalanto
54: Rebecca Foon, musician, Esmerine
55: Jean-Sébastien Truchy, musician, Fly Pan Am
56: Lisa Gamble, Gambletron
57: Emilie Mouchous, electronic musician, Gamackrr
58: Sub Roy, musician, Grand Trine
59: Zayid Al-Baghdadi, musician, Hazaj Ensemble
60: Fadi Halawi, musician, Hazaj Ensemble
61: Michael Farsky, musician, Homosexual Cops
62: Joel Janis, singer, Jahnice +
63: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, artist, Jerusalem in My Heart
64: Lubo Alexandrov, musician, Kaba Horo
65: Erik Hove, saxophonist, Kaba Horo
66: Zibz Black Current, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
67: Matin Heslop, contrabass, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
68: Ron G. vocalist, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
69: Katalyst, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
70: Adam Kinner, saxophonist, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
71: Mohamed Mehdi, guitar/voice, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
72: Jordan Peters, guitar, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
73: Fabrice Koffy, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
74: Gordon Allen, musician, L’Envers
75: Simon Leduc, musician, Le Descente du Coude
76: Fanny Bloom, La Patère Rose
77: Kilojoules, La Patère Rose
78: Roboto, La Patère Rose
79: Simon D., Léopard et Moi
80: Lynne T., Lesbians on Ecstasy
81: Bernie Bankrupt, Lesbians on Ecstasy
82: Mathieu Farhoud-Dionne, rapper, Chafiik, Loco Locass
83: Geneviève Beaulieu, musician, Menace Ruine
84: Steve Lamothe, musician, Menace Ruine
85: Fred Savard, musician, Metis Yeti
86: Matthew Jacob Lederman, musician, Moondata LABprojects
87: Nantali Indongo, Nomadic Massive
88: Modibo Keita, Nomadic Massive
89: Diegal Leger, Nomadic Massive
90: Nicolás Palacios-Hardy, Nomadic Massive
91: Lou Piensa, Nomadic Massive
92: Ralph Joseph, Nomadic Massive
93: Meryem Saci, Nomadic Massive
94: Vox Sambou, Nomadic Massive
95: Jason Selman, Nomadic Massive / Kalmunity Vibe Collective
96: Sébastien Fournier, musician, Panopticon Eyelids
97: Félix Morel, musician, Panopticon Eyelids
98: Nicolas Basque, guitar/voice, Plants and Animals
99: Matthew Woodley, percussionist, Plants and Animals
100: David Bryant, musician, Set Fire to Flames
101: Thierry Amar, musician, Silver Mt. Zion
102: Sophie Trudeau, musician, Silver Mt. Zion
103: Mohamed Masmoudi, musician, Sokoun Trio
104: Greg Napier, musician, Special Noise
105: Jeff Simmons, musician, Special Noise
106: Edward Lee, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
107: Reyrey Castonguay, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
108: Machaulay Culkin, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
109: Amanda Oliver, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
110: Rochelle Ross, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
111: Tasha Zamudio, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
112: Kerri Flannigan, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
113: Jessie Stein, singer/guitar, The Luyas
114: Yassin Alsalman, musician, the Narcicyst
115: Gern F., singer/guitar, The United Steel Workers of Montreal
116: Martin Cesar, musician, Think About Life
117: Greg Napier, musician, Think About Life
118: Caila Thompson-Hannant, musician, Think About Life
119: Graham Van Pelt, musician, Think About Life
120: Andrea deBruijn, poet, Throw Poetry Collective
121: Alessandra Naccarato, poet, Throw Poetry Collective
122: Merrill Garbus, musician, Tune-Yards
123: Sundus Abdul Hadi, visual artist
124: Jean-Marc Abela, filmmaker
125: Faiz Abhuani, Artivistic collective
126: Paul Ahmarani, actor
127: Mitchell Akiyama, electronic musician, intr. version recordings
128: Patrick Alonso, photographer
129: Hala Alsalman, filmmaker
130: Tito Alvarado, poet, Proyecto Cultural Sur
131: David Arancibia, pianist
132: Sabrien Amrov, photographer
133: Fortner Anderson, poet
134: Tasha Anestopoulos, DJ
135: Daniel Anez, pianist
136: David Arancibia, pianist
137: Amelie Ares, artist
138: Shahrzad Arshadi, artist/photographer
139: Nedaa Asbah, musician
140: Natali Asbah, violinist
141: Maroupi Asbah, violinist
142: Jon Asencio, musician/performance artist
143: Martine Audet, poet
144: Mila Aung-Thwin, Eye Steel Film
145: François Avard, author
146: Shira Avni, filmmaker
147: Magali Babin, electronic music composer
148: Gina Badger, visual artist
149: Rebecca Bain, musician
150: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, filmmaker
151: Kate Bass, visual artist
152: Philippe Battikha, musician
153: Mireya Bayancela, comedian
154: Jonathan Belisle, Transmedia StoryTeller
155: Nabila Ben Youssef, comedian
156: Kamal Benkirane, writer/editor
157: Serge Bérard, writer
158: Patricia Bergeron, film producer
159: David Bernans, author
160: Isabelle Bernier, artist
161: Josué Bertolino, documentary filmmaker
162: Santiago Bertolino, documentary filmmaker
163: Mark Berube, singer, The Patriotic Few
164: Kawtare Bihya, artist
165: Eli Bissonnette, founder Dare to Care Records
166: Pierre-Guy Blanchard, percussionist
167: Julien Boisvert, filmmaker
168: Michel Bonneau, musician
169: Rana Bose, writer
170: Marie Boti, director, Productions Multi-Monde
171: Magda Boukanan, pianist
172: Bachir Boumediene, Eye Steel Film
173: Arnaud Bouquet, documentary filmmaker
174: Marie Brassard, actress/theatre performer
175: Derek Broad, designer
176: Richard Brouillette, filmmaker
177: Marion Brunelle, jazz singer
178: Alexia Bürger, comedian
179: Chris Burns, musician
180: Louise Burns, artist
181: Peter Burton, musician, executive director of Suoni per il Popolo festival
182: Antoine Bustros, pianist/composer
183: César Càceres, visual artist
184: Philippe Cadieux, visual artist
185: Michel Campeau, photographer
186: Olivier Campo, Bar Populaire
187: Daniel Canty, writer/filmmaker
188: Paul Cargnello, singer/songwriter
189: Boban Chaldovich, filmmaker
190: Vincent Champagne, filmmaker
191: Mazen Chamseddine, graphic artist/architect
192: Yung Chang, filmmaker, Up the Yangtze
193: Sarah Charland-Faucher, filmmaker
194: Elsa Charpentier, artist
195: Julie Châteauvert, Dare-Dare art gallery
196: Ghada Chehade, poet
197: Geneviève Chicoine, artist
198: Shayla Chilliak, musician
199: Jordan Christoff, musician
200: Stefan Christoff, pianist/photographer
201: Jacob Cino, music producer/DJ
202: Moe Clark, poet
203: Andrea-Jane Cornell, sound artist
204: Michel F Côté, musician
205: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, filmmaker
206: Mateo Creux, pianist
207: Jean Michel Cropsal, painter
208: Daniel Cross, filmmaker, founder of Eye Steel Film
209: Vincenzo D’Alto, photographer
210: Amy Darwish, artist/dancer
211: Noémie da Silva, photographer
212: Marie Davidson, singer, Les momies de Palerme
213: Mary Ellen Davis, documentary filmmaker
214: Luke Dawson, artist
215: Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, literary translator
216: Étienne de Massy, artist
217: Sylvie de Morais, comedian
218: Lhasa de Sela, singer
219: Julie Delorme, DJ/CKUT host
220: Sophie Deraspe, filmmaker, Les Signes Vitaux
221: Jean Derome, jazz musician
222: Nathalie Derome, interdisciplinary artist
223: Marcelle Deschênes, composer/multimedia artist
224: Robert Deschênes, artist
225: Richard Desjardins, artist
226: Denys Desjardins, filmmaker
227: Keiko Devaux, pianist, the Acorn/People for Audio
228: Omar Dewachi, musician
229: Benoît Dhennin, photographer
230: Nathalie Dion, artist, Zazalie Z
231: Xarah Dion, musician, Ample collective
232: Dominique Lebeau, Domlebo, musician
233: Kim Doré, poet/editor
234: Julie Doucet, comic artist
235: Robyn Dru Germanese, artist
236: Frédéric Dubois, cultural worker
237: Bruno Dubuc, filmmaker
238: Martin Duckworth, documentary filmmaker
239: Philippe Ducros, theatre director, Hotel Motel
240: Katie Earle, artist
241: Marlene Edoyan, filmmaker, Multi-Monde Productions
242: Will Eizlini, musician
243: Hassan El Hadi, musician/singer
244: Majdi El Omari, filmmaker
245: Darren Ell, photographer
246: Nirah Elyza Shirazipour, filmmaker, Eyes Infinite Films
247: Yves Engler, author
248: Bérenger Enselme, Bar Populaire
249: Claudia Espinosa, photographer
250: Tony Ezzy, musician
251: Julie Faubert, visual artist
252: David Fennario, playwright
253: Javier Fernàndez-Rial, pianist
254: Carlos Ferrand, filmmaker
255: Ian Ferrier, poet
256: Riley Fleck, percussionist
257: Arwen Fleming, musician
258: Lindsay Foran, visual artist
259: Andrew Forster, artist
260: Tammy Forsythe, choreographer
261: James Franze, musician
262: Kandis Friesen, visual artist
263: Fanny-Pierre Galarneau, graffiti artist, Aïshaaglyphics
264: Carmen Garcia, film producer
265: Francisco Garcia, artist
266: Brett Gaylor, filmmaker, RIP! A Remix Manifesto
267: Chloé Germain-Thérien, filmmaker/illustrator
268: Christine Ghawi, musician/actress/winner of Gemini Award
269: Olivier Gianolla, painter
270: Peter Gibson, visual artist, Roadsworth
271: Serge Giguère, filmmaker
272: Yan Giguère, artist
273: Dan Gillean, visual artist, Fiver
274: Jason Gillingham, artist
275: Miriam Ginestier, DJ/artistic director of Studio 303
276: Michel Giroux, filmmaker
277: Ernest Godin, producer/filmmaker, Kondololé films
278: Anne Golden, video artist
279: Malcolm Goldstein, violinist/composer
280: Amber Goodwyn, singer, Nightwood
281: Ashley Gould, DJ
282: Janna Graham, sound artist
283: Étienne Grenier, sound artist
284: Neil Griffith, musician
285: Steve Guimond, artistic director of festival Suoni per il Popolo
286: Alexandra Guité, filmmaker
287: Freda Guttman, artist
288: Malcolm Guy, documentary filmmaker, Productions Multi-Monde
289: Tamara Abdul Hadi, photographer
290: Rawi Hage, author
291: Linda Dawn Hammond, photographer
292: Katy Hanna, artist
293: Shannon Harris, documentary filmmaker
294: Tim Hecker, electronic musician
295: Dorothy Henault, documentary filmmaker
296: Anne Henderson, documentary filmmaker
297: Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, contemporary dancer
298: Magnus Isacsson, documentary filmmaker
299: Yuki Isami, musician
300: Naledi Jackson, visual artist
301: Yohan Jager, pianist
302: Stéphane Jaques, theatre director
303: Jocelyn Jean, artist
304: Rodrigue Jean, artist
305: Sandra Jeppesen, poet/professor
306: David Jhave Johnston, poet
307: Sophie Jodoin, visual artist
308: Norsola Johnson, musician
309: Nicole Jolicoeur, artist
310: Sawssan Kaddoura, visual artist
311: Stephan Kazemi, designer
312: Kaie Kellough, poet
313: Arshad Khan, documentary filmmaker
314: Nika Khanjani, filmmaker
315: Maya Khankhoje, writer
316: Valerie Khayat, poet/singer
317: Catherine Kidd, poet
318: Sergeo Kirby, cinema producer, Loaded Pictures
319: Courtney Kirkby, sound artist
320: Aysegul Koc, filmmaker
321: Nick Kuepfer, musician
322: Devlin Kuyek, author
323: Sylvain L’Espérance, cinéaste
324: Danièle Lacourse, cinéaste
325: Stéphane Lahoud, cinéaste
326: Jean-Sébastien Lalumière, cinéaste
327: Ève Lamont, documentary filmmaker
328: Noam Lapid, visual artist
329: Chantale Laplante, composer
330: Rodolphe-Yves Lapointe, artist
331: Monique Laramée, multidisciplinary artist
332: Graham Latham, musician
333: Hugo Latulippe, cinéaste
334: Brian Allen Lipson, musician
335: Klervi Thienpont Lavallée, actress
336: Franck Le Flaguais, artist
337: Sophie Le-Phat Ho, Artivistic collective
338: François Leandre, visual artist
339: Michel Lefebvre, artist/multimedia editor
340: Vincent Lemieux, artist/DJ
341: Jean-François Lessard, writer/composer
342: Anna Leventhal, writer
343: JJ Levine, photographer
344: Mika Lillit Lior, choreographer/dancer
345: Sarah Linhares, singer
346: Paul Litherland, artist
347: Amy Lockhart, filmmaker/artist
348: Guillermo Lopez, cinema editor
349: Jacinthe Loranger, visual artist
350: Ehab Lotayef, poet
351: Lousnak, singer/multidisciplinary artist
352: Caytee Lush, poet
353: Kit Malo, artist
354: Khalid M’Seffar, radio host/DJ
355: Jessica MacCormack, multidisciplinary artist
356: Emmanuel Madan, sound artist
357: Rob Maguire, editor ArtThreat.net
358: Claude Maheu, musician
359: Hernán Maria, musician
360: Omar Majeed, filmmaker, Taqwacore – the Birth of Punk Islam
361: Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier, filmmaker, Multi-Monde productions
362: Natalie Marshik, artist
363: Billy Mavreas, visual artist
364: Valerian Mazataud, photographer
365: Kirsten McCrea, artist, Papirmasse
366: Taliesin McEnaney, theatre artist
367: Catherine McInnis, artist
368: Meek, electronic musician
369: Feroz Mehdi, filmmaker/activist
370: Elany Mejia, musician
371: Amy Miller, documentary filmmaker
372: Jeff Miller, writer
373: Claude Mongrain, sculptor
374: Émilie Monnet, singer, Odaya
375: Evan Montpellier, musician
376: Vincent Moon, filmmaker
377: Allison Moore, artist
378: Katie Moore, singer/songwriter
379: Jean-Guy Moreau, artist/comedian
380: Dominic Morissette, filmmaker/photographer
381: Nadia Moss, visual artist/musician
382: Krista Muir, musician, Lederhosen Lucil
383: Mehdi Nabti, musician
384: Tyler Nadeau, photographer
385: Dimitri Nasrallah, author
386: Rawane Nassif, filmmaker
387: Pamela Navarrete, artist
388: Norman Nawrocki, musician/author
389: Joshua Noiseux, photographer
390: Kelly Nunes, DJ
391: Alexis O’Hara, multidisciplinary artist
392: Sean O’Hara, founder Alien 8 Recordings
393: Sarah Pagé, musician
394: Cléo Palacio-Quintin, musician/composer
395: Catherine Pappas, documentary filmmaker
396: Marie-Hélène Parant, artist
397: Richard Reed Parry, musician, Bell Orchestre
398: Alain Pelletier, multidisciplinary artist
399: Yann Perreau, singer/songwriter
400: Sara Peters, poet
401: Pierre Petiote, artist
402: Mauro Pezzente, musician, founder Casa del Popolo
403: Alisha Piercy, artist/writer
404: Pierre-Emmanuel Poizat, musician
405: Carole Poliquin, filmmaker
406: Janet Ponce, singer/author/composer
407: Jeannette Pope, filmmaker
408: Rozenn Potin, filmmaker
409: Levana Prud’homme, dancer
410: Jean-François Poupart, writer/professor
411: Thea Pratt, artist
412: Alain G. Pratte, photographer
413: Kern Prophete, hip-hop artist
414: Jesse Purcell, artist, Just Seeds
415: Nelly-Eve Rajotte, artist
416: Anne Ramsden, artist
417: Nada Raphael, documentary photographer
418: Louis Rastelli, author
419: Antonella Ravello, photographer
420: Coire Ready Langham, circus artist
421: Fred Reed, writer
422: Victor Regalado, artist
423: Monique Régimbald-Zieber, artist
424: Alain Reno, illustrator
425: Gisela Restrepo, artist
426: Gerard Reyes, dancer
427: Andrea Rideout, theatre artist
428: Coco Riot, artist
429: Matana Roberts, saxophonist
430: Antoine Rouleau, photographer
431: Guilaine Royer, cultural worker
432: Daïchi Saïto, filmmaker
433: Trish Salah, poet
434: Babak Salari, photographer
435: Samian, hip-hop artist
436: Miriam Sampaio, multidisciplinary artist
437: Marjolaine Samson, artist
438: Julian Samuel, artist/writer
439: Ariel Santana, artist
440: Claire Savoie, artist
441: Dorothy Saykaly, contemporary dancer
442: Patti Schmidt, radio host/cultural commentator
443: Anita Schoepp, artist/musician
444: Nadia Seboussi, artist
445: Fran Sendbuehler, graphic artist
446: Marcel Sévigny, author
447: Sam Shalabi, musician/composer
448: Nik Barry-Shaw, writer
449: Eric Shragge, author/professor
450: Bridget Simpson, musician
451: Michelle Smith, documentary filmmaker, Productions Multi-Monde
452: Prem Sooriyakumar, filmmaker
453: Jennifer Spiegel, writer
454: Laurel Sprengelmeyer, artist, Little Scream
455: Darlene St. Georges, art educator
456: Alexandre St-Onge, sound artist/musician
457: Allison Staton, photographer
458: Victoria Stanton, performance artist
459: Gab Perry Stensson, artist
460: Martha Stiegman, documentary filmmaker/author
461: Kiva Stimac, visual artist, founder Casa del Popolo
462: Brett Story, filmmaker
463: John W. Stuart, graphic designer/writer
464: Caroline Tagny, graphic artist
465: Roger Tellier-Craig, musician
466: Vincent Tinguely, poet/writer
467: Juan Toro, musician
468: Tanya Tree, documentary filmmaker
469: Benoît Tremblay, artist
470: Philippe Tremblay-Berberi, filmmaker
471: Gisèle Trudel, artist, Ælab
472: Svetla Turnin, executive director of Cinema Politica
473: André Turpin, cinéaste
474: Armand Vaillancourt, painter/sculptor
475: Rufo Valencia, writer/poet
476: Sylvie Van Brabant, filmmaker
477: Niek van de Steeg, artist
478: Francis Van Den Heuvel, filmmaker
479: Rahul Varma, theatre director, Teesri Duniya Theatre
480: Chris Vaughn, violinist, Free Benny Meanz
481: Adrian Vedady, jazz musician
482: Felipe Verdugo, pianist
483: Sebastián Verdugo, pianist
484: Stefan Verna, documentary filmmaker
485: Gilles Vigneault, artist
486: Sam Vipond, musician
487: Tamara Vukov, filmmaker/academic
488: Shannon Walsh, documentary filmmaker
489: Francesca Waltzing, artist
490: Erin Weisgerber, sound artist
491: David Widgington, journalist/filmmaker
492: Ezra Winton, founder Cinema Politica
493: Britt Wray, artist
494: Gary Worsley, founder Alien 8 Recordings
495: Dexter X, filmmaker/musician
496: Eileen Young, visual artist
497: Karen Young, singer/songwriter
498: Kevin Yuen Kit Lo, graphic designer
499: Michael Zaidan, filmmaker
500: Kim Zombik, singer

Photo by Filippo Minelli.

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Tags: apartheid, BDS Movement, Boycott, Canada, israel, Middle East, Montreal, occupation, Palestine

The invites are starting to go out, Kent State and Cornell are the first teams to clinch automatic bids and now the games get more fast and furious. Most of the bigger conferences begin to fight it out for their invites and the intensity will ramp up. This is the beginning of the best week of the year in basketball. I will begin to list conference tourney dates and sites where applicable in lieu of key games.
 
Atlantic Coast
Conference Class-Power
Locks: Duke, Wake Forest , Maryland
Playing Their Way In  Georgia Tech, Clemson , Florida State
Playing Their Way Out: Virginia Tech
Skinny on the ACC: Maryland is now the top dog in the ACC, having defeated Duke. Wake has faded badly and is now in real danger of playing their way out, they will need to win at least one game in the ACC tourney to be safe. Clemson on the other hand has worked their way to bulletproof status.   Florida State is pretty much safe, but not quite bulletproof as long as they don’t take a stupid loss in the first round of the ACC tourney they should be good. Georgia Tech needs to win a couple games in the Greensboro and Virginia Tech needs to get to at least Saturday (ACC Semis). Im not real sold on six teams going but I sure won’t speculate that seven teams get in…don’t believe that hype.
Key Games: North Carolina at Duke Saturday 9p ESPN So what if this isnt the usual clash of the titans, its always a fun game to watch
Projected Bids: 6
 
Atlantic Ten
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock:  Temple , Xavier, Richmond
Playing their way out: Saint Louis ,  Dayton , Rhode Island , Charlotte
The A-10 Spec is:  Suddenly the A-10 contenders thinned out in a hurry, Saint Louis and Charlotte are needing deep runs in the A-10 tourney now. Dayton blew a golden chance to really improve their profile but lost in Richmond . Rhode Island smashed Charlotte and looks more like that 4th team that could come out of this conference. Barring a bad loss between now and the A-10 semis, I like the Rams chances here
Key Games: Charlotte at Rhode Island Wednesday 7p(A-10 regional TV)  Both these teams are desperate for a win and the loser all but needs to win the A-10 tourney to get an invite
Projected Bids: 4
 
Big East
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Syracuse , Villanova , West Virginia , Georgetown , Pitt, Marquette , Louisville
Playing Their Way In UConn, Notre Dame
Playing Their Way Out: Cincinnati
Big East Skinny: Im gonna take a flyer here and say that both Marquette and Louisville are safe. I think that they have done enough to warrant their inclusion as long as neither take bad first game losses in NYC I think that they are safe. I think UConn have are a bona fide tourney team, but Im not sure that Notre Dame is. But I do think that the selection committee will take them both. I wish that I could say the same about my alma mater, Cincinnati . The Bearcats keep getting chance after chance to get a statement win but continue to waste these chances and have all but toasted their chances at making the tourney
Key Game: Syracuse at Louisville Saturday 2p (ESPN) Louisville closes down historic Freedom Hall and looks to do it in style upsetting the top ranked Orange .
Projected bids: 9           
 
Big Ten
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Michigan State , Purdue , Wisconsin , Ohio State
Playing their way In: Illinois
Playing Their Way Out: Minnesota
The word on the Big Ten is: The Bucks have clinched no worse than a share of the regular season crown, Michigan State needs only a win over Michigan to gain a share and Purdue can also claim a share of the Big Ten title with a win. Im still not sold on Illinois being a tourney team. They need not flame out in Indy early or they might get left on the wrong side of the cut line.
Big Ten Championships: Mar 11-14 Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Projected Bids: 4
 
Big 12
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kansas , Texas , Kansas State , Texas A&M, Baylor
Playing Their Way In Missouri , Oklahoma State
 Skinny from the heartland: This conference is sending 7 teams...give a good argument against any of the teams listed. Mizzou and Oklahoma St. have to only guard against a bad first round loss in Kansas City next week and they are good.
Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship: Mar 11-14 Sprint Center Kansas City, Mo
Projected Bids: 7
 
Colonial
Conference Class-Small
Playing Their Way In: Old Dominion, Northeastern, William & Mary
Colonial Spec: Its Old Dominions tourney to lose, but the CAA always has its share of thrillers , Northeastern is the one team that could steal a bid but they and William & Mary would need to get to the final to have a real shot.
Colonial Athletic Association Championship: March 5-8 Richmond Coliseum, Richmond VA
Projected Bids: 1
 
 
 
 
Conference USA
Conference Class-Major
Lock: UTEP
Playing Their Way In: Marshall , UAB, Memphis
Playing Their Way Out: Tulsa
Oh Say Can You C-USA Spec: UTEP may very well be the only team coming out of this conference though, if Memphis or UAB can steal the C-USA tourney, the selection committee will not leave the Miners home. But as of right now, I only have this as a one-bid conference
Conference USA Championships: Mar 10-13 BOK Center Tulsa, OK 
Projected Bids: 1
 
Horizon
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock:  Butler
Spec on The Horizon: Butler completed an unbeaten league schedule and is the heavy favorite to win here, the big boy conferences want nothing to do with Butler but are rooting hard for them to win, as they have made more than enough bones to get an at-large if they get upset at Hinkle.
Speedway Horizon League Championship: Mar 2 First Round at Higher Seeded Campus  Sites, Second Round March 5 at Hinkle Fieldhouse,  Semifinals Mar 6th at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Finals at Higher Seed
Projected Bids: 1
 
Ivy
Conference Class-Small
Playing Their Way In: Cornell
Playing Their Way Out Princeton , Harvard
Spec on the Ivy Vine: Cornell gets the first guaranteed invite as they clinched the Ivy Group title Friday, they will be the only team coming out of this conference
Ivy Group Champion: Cornell
Projected Bids: 1
 
 
Missouri Valley
Conference Class-Mid Major
Lock:  Northern Iowa
Playing Their Way In Wichita State
Playing Their Way Out:  Illinois State
Missouri Valley Skinny:  UNI won the regular season title outright and has the #1 seed, this makes them the team to beat. The Shockers and Redbirds are not to be taken lightly, they will be tough outs and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they stole the title and the Panthers take an at-large bid.
State Farm Missouri Valley Mens Basketball Tournament aka “Arch Madness”: Mar 4-7 Scottrade Center , St. Louis
Projected Bids: 2
 
 
Mountain West
Conference Class-Major
Lock: BYU, New Mexico
Playing Their Way In UNLV, San Diego St
Spec from the Mountains: I still have 4 teams coming out of this deep conference. Though the Aztecs really need to get to the MWC semis to feel safe about their chances. As long as UNLV doesn't take a first round pratfall they will get their invite.
Conoco Mountain West Championship Mar 9-13 Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas
Projected Bids: 4
 
 
Pacific 10
Conference Class-Power
Lock:  California
Playing Their Way In Arizona State
Playing Their Way Out: Washington
Spec from the left coast: Suddenly the wonks started realizing that the Pac-10 while weaker than usual, is not a one bid league. Im hearing that suddenly Washington & Arizona State both are in line to snare bids. I'm not too sold on the Huskies just yet. As long as they don't take an early loss in LA, they will move up in stature. But we will hold off on giving the Pac-10 more than 2 bids just yet.
Pacific Life Pac-10 Championships: Mar 10-13 Staples Center, Los Angeles
Projected Bids: 2
 
 
 
Southeastern
Conference Class-Power
Lock: Kentucky , Vanderbilt , Tennessee
Playing Their Way In Florida , Mississippi St .
Playing Their Way Out: Ole Miss
Spec is Down South: Im still debating on who the 4th team coming from his conference will be. I can't be really sold on the Gators, Bulldogs or Rebels since they all have way too many flaws to be legit. But I'm sure that this conference sends 4 teams. Kentucky is a bona fide lock for a #1 seed.
SEC Championship Mar 10-14, Sommet Center Nashville 
Projected Bids: 4
 
 
Western Athletic
Conference Class- Major
Lock: Utah State
 Playing Their Way Out: New Mexico State , La. Tech
Spec on the WAC: This might be a one bid, because even though the Utah State Aggies have 22 wins and are leading the WAC, their numbers are so-so at best. If the New Mexico State Aggies or La. Tech steals the bid, Utah State could be on the outs.
Western Athletic Conference Championships: Mar 11-13 Lawlor Events Center; Reno, NV
Projected Bids: 1
 
West Coast
Conference Class- Mid Major
Lock:  Gonzaga
Playing Their Way out: St. Mary’s
West Coast Spec:  The Bulldogs are the team to beat here, and unless St. Mary’s gets to the final and puts a mammoth scare or beats Gonzaga, this is a one bid league.
West Coast Conference Basketball Championships: March 5-8 Orleans Arena, Las Vegas
Projected Bids: 1
 
 
 
There are others in the mix to be sure. The champions from the following conferences get an automatic bid (projected winners in parentheses/actual winners in bold ) : Amer. East (Vermont) , Atlantic Sun (Belmont) , Big South (Coastal Carolina),  Big Sky (Northern Colorado) , Big West (Pacific), MAC (Akron/Kent State) , MAAC (Siena), MEAC (Morgan State), Northeast (Quinnipiac), Ohio Valley (Murray St.), Patriot (Lehigh), Southern (Charleston), Southland (Sam Houston State), Sun Belt (North Texas), Summit (Oakland), and SWAC (Jackson State)
 
Conference Breakdown
ACC-6
A-Ten -4
Big East-9
Big Ten-4
Big XII-7
C-USA-1
Colonial-1
Horizon-1
Ivy-1
Missouri Valley-1
Mountain West-4
Pac-10-2
SEC-4
WAC-3
WCC-1
Small Conferences-16
Total-65
 
 
Keep in mind that this is just spec, these are merely projections and we haven't even brought up the possibility of upsets. But those never happen, right?
 
 
Next Spec Sheet March 8 or 9

Cheers From The Cheap Seats!!!

Which nominee is less gay than you'd think? They annoyed their London hotel minders by inviting a different girl to their suite (and sometimes more than one) on a film junket. (Popbitch)

Based on the dudes nominated, I've narrowed it down to George Clooney (kinda likely), Stanley Tucci (sort of likely) or Colin Firth (the opposite of likely)?

Which nominee's plastic surgery is the subject of much laughter at this week's pre-Oscar parties? (Popbitch)

There was another blind item a little while ago about an Oscar nominee getting the Heidi Montag special, and everyone pointed towards Maggie Gyllenhaal's corner. However, I'm not sure it's Maggie since homegirl still looks a mess.

Which nominee spent part of the 90s as a smacked-out recluse, enjoying heroin-fueled threesomes with a film director and actress? (Popbitch)

Any of them but Precious.

This actress has had interesting relationships with more than one celebrity. Now, though, she appears to be getting much more serious about her hunt for a long-term mate. Meeting her requirements isn’t easy. Whenever she receives an offer to be fixed up on a date, the first thing she asks is “How much money does he make?” She refuses to go out with anyone who makes less money than she does. Considering that she is probably one of the 50 highest-paid actresses in the world, the number of men who fit into that category must be quite small. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the second question she asks is “How tall is he?” (Blind Gossip)

Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson or Jennifer Aniston (you can throw a Match.com sponsored side eye at that one) ?

This A list female television actress on a fairly hit network show finished a photo shoot in the past few days for a magazine. The shoot was supposed to only last about two hours. It ended up taking seven because our actress kept taking breaks to smoke meth. When she got back each time they had to reapply all her makeup again. The actress wanted the clothes from the shoot and the magazine was happy to comply. The stink on them was horrible. (CDAN)

Well, in Mischa Barton's head she's an A-list actress on a hit show, so I'll go with her! Or maybe Ellen Pompeo?

The Great State of Texas is blessed with an abundance of quite a few things to enjoy.  Beautiful landscapes of all kinds, from plains to hills. Beautiful lakes and rivers to float on and cool off on those hot summer days.  But most of all, the Lonestar State is blessed with a multitude of great football programs, each with their own unique identity, style and fans.

Like the State itself, college football in Texas has in recent years been ruled and led by the folks down in Austin. 

The University of Texas Longhorns have been a dominant force for the past decade or so and don’t seem to be taking their foot off of the gas just yet. 

Mack Brown has built a program that annually dominates both on the field and in offseason recruiting, having for the most part, their pick of any high school players that the State of Texas has to offer. 

They may lose a few recruits here and there to their neighbors to the north, Oklahoma or their neighbors to the east, LSU, but for all intents and purposes, Brown assembles his team as he likes each year.

2010 was no exception, with the Longhorns turning in another top five recruiting class.

But are the Longhorns the best team in Texas right now?  The answer is probably yes, but I’d like to make a case for several other Texas programs and then let the fans debate to decide.

In the mix will be the aforementioned Longhorns, the Aggies of Texas A&M,  the Leach-less Red Raiders of Texas Tech, The Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University and the Cougars of Houston.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

Everyone knows the firepower that the Longhorns bring to the field each and every year.  Mack Brown reloads his offense each year without a hitch.  Replacing Vince Young with Colt McCoy and now following that with a kid that many think could surpass even those two guys, Garrett Gilbert , Brown seems to have a quarterback factory that just keeps popping these talented products out. 

Brown also helps these young quarterbacks develop and succeed by surrounding them with top-tier wide receivers and serviceable running backs. 

While the Big 12 is not known for its pass defense, Texas exploits them with a multitude of talent and a precision offense that is really second to none.

With the high-powered offense in Austin, it is very easy to overlook the defense, but in the words of ESPN’s Lee Corso, “not so fast my friend.”

Texas, led by maniac defensive coordinator and coach in waiting Will Muschamp , has speed and athleticism to rival anyone in the country. 

The defense flies to the ball like mad-men, taking on the attitude and personality of Muschamp and his “go get ‘em” philosophy. 

In conclusion, it is really easy to make a case for the Longhorns being the best team in Texas.  The more difficult part is making a case for anyone else, but I’ll try.

TEXAS A&M

At this point last year, I wouldn’t have even included the Aggies in this article.  They were coming off of a bad season and didn’t look like there was going to be improvement.

However, Jerrod Johnson blossomed into not only a good quarterback, but a borderline great one. 

The Aggies gave the Longhorns the fight of their lives which was remarkable considering that the teams were at completely different ends of the spectrum in preseason talks.

A&M’s offense looks to build on that momentum going into 2010, and all signs point to improvement as Johnson continues to grow and mature as the Aggies’ leader.

Coach Mike Sherman should have his defense at a respectable enough level this season to compete in the Big 12 and maybe even shock a few people along the way.

A&M will be super competitive this year, especially against their in-state rivals, which is why I put them in the conversation for the best team in Texas in 2010.

TEXAS TECH

There is no doubt that Red Raider fans are anxious for the season to start, if for no other reason than just getting this offseason behind them. 

In case you were under a rock for the past six months, the Texas Tech football program came to near implosion when former Head Coach Mike Leach was accused of abusing a player who was unable to practice due to a concussion.

Following several days of chaos in Lubbock and the eventual firing of Leach, the Red Raiders hired former Auburn Head Coach Tommy Tuberville  to try to turn the program back in the right direction.

No one can argue the fact that Leach turned that team into a respectable program and for the most part did things the right way.  To compete in one of the toughest conferences with inferior talent each year is something to brag about.   The hiring of Tuberville will help Texas Tech bring in some of that missing talent needed to get to the top of the Big 12.

Although it will take a few years for Tuberville to get his style of players into the system, don’t be surprised if Texas Tech comes out throwing haymakers in 2010.  With practically nothing to lose and everything to gain, the Red Raiders will be a dangerous team in the Big 12. 

TCU

I know, I know, TCU just lost to Boise State so how could I mention them in a conversation about the best teams in Texas?   Well the answer to that is simple—Gary Patterson.

Although TCU did not finish what they started last year, they are slowly but surely building themselves up to the level of the top 25 caliber teams each and every season. 

It would have been nice for them to finish off Boise State and prove that they belong in the top 10, but they just didn’t do it when they needed to.

Quarterback Andy Dalton carries much of the blame for that loss.  He didn’t play up to his capabilities at all, and they still were just a play or two away from winning that game.

Dalton comes back this season with a chip on his shoulder and the bitter taste of defeat to drive him to play his best and lead the team.

Gary Patterson is one of the most underrated coaches in America and he will undoubtedly have his team fired up and ready to play this season. 

Its hard to make the argument that the Horned Frogs are the best team in the State of Texas simply because no one will play them!

Texas Tech recently backed out of an agreement to play the Frogs, A&M would rather play in-state powerhouse Sam Houston State as their non-conference game, and Texas, well they have nothing to gain and everything to lose by scheduling TCU.

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

The Cougars of Houston are a frustrating team on the brink of greatness. 

On any given Saturday, the Cougars can beat any of the previously mentioned Texas teams.  However, you never know what you’re going to get from these guys.

Kevin Sumlin’s squad goes from elite to terrible in the blink of an eye, but shows flashes of greatness that let you know that they are not to be taken lightly.

Following the high of back-to-back victories over Big 12 Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, the Cougars fell back to Earth when they gave up 58 points and lost to UTEP.

Then they showed another spark as they beat SEC Mississippi State, but then finished the season with two disappointing losses to East Carolina and Air Force.

Nonetheless, Sumlin is building a program down in Houston and is quickly establishing the University of Houston as Quarterback U. 

In a state where quarterback talent is everywhere, the Cougars will continue to reload and shock the college football world. 

There only issue is consistency. 

CONCLUSION

Now it's time for the fans to decide.  I've made a case for each team, but the real fans of each program will have more arguments.  So lets hear it fans!  Is your team the best in Texas?

Tamara Rose parks her sled dog team at the community center in Fairbanks, Alaska. The UC Davis veterinary school graduate will take off Saturday with 16 dogs on the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome.

There's an Aggie in the Iditarod.

Tamara Rose, a veterinarian who studied at UC Davis, is one of 22 rookie mushers for this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which has its ceremonial start Saturday in Anchorage, Alaska.

Rose, 47, is excited by the prospect of adventure and solitude racing along the Yukon River, over the rough Alaska Range and along the dramatic Norton Sound.

"You can have these crazy blizzards out there," she said.

"My goal is to finish with healthy dogs and a happy musher," she said by phone from Alaska, where she's preparing for the start of the event, which is expected to draw 71 racers.

She hopes to cover the more than 1,000 miles between Anchorage and Nome in about 12 days.

Last year's winner, Lance Mackey, finished in nine days, 21 hours, 38 minutes and 46 seconds. He won $69,000 and a truck.

This year's prize package has yet to be determined.

Rose will start the race with 16 dogs. Mushers can retire dogs during the race and send them home from checkpoints, but must finish with five dogs.

"People always ask, 'How do you remember the names?' " she said. "Shoot, my grandmother had 11 kids."

Rose has been racing sled dogs for three years.

She started with dogs that came from a friend's large litter and has learned from other racers.

Veterinarian and UC Davis instructor Denae Wagner wasn't entirely surprised that her former student was competing in the Iditarod.

"It's such a big thing to tackle, but her personality and desire to do things – it's not a surprise from that standpoint," Wagner said.

After finishing UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2002, Rose worked as a large-animal veterinarian in Marin County before opting for the more open and affordable spaces of Alaska.

She has been racing for about three years and has experience at 50 and 60 degrees below zero.

Oddly, temperatures around freezing are too warm to be optimal for the dogs, which run better at minus 10 degrees to 0 degrees, she said.

The dogs are bred more for endurance and speed than for brute strength, she said.

The hard thing, she said, is to stop them. They even keep running when mushers fall asleep.

There are stations along the route where mushers stop and rest their teams, but many will try to push as far as they can.

Sleds are equipped with GPS devices, but they only tell officials where the sleds are. Mushers must depend on trail markers to avoid becoming lost.

Updates depend on motorized crews following the race, including camera crews who sometimes post themselves at locations prone to sled crashes.

Tamara Rose parks her sled dog team at the community center in Fairbanks, Alaska. The UC Davis veterinary school graduate will take off Saturday with 16 dogs on the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome.

There's an Aggie in the Iditarod.

Tamara Rose, a veterinarian who studied at UC Davis, is one of 22 rookie mushers for this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which has its ceremonial start Saturday in Anchorage, Alaska.

Rose, 47, is excited by the prospect of adventure and solitude racing along the Yukon River, over the rough Alaska Range and along the dramatic Norton Sound.

"You can have these crazy blizzards out there," she said.

"My goal is to finish with healthy dogs and a happy musher," she said by phone from Alaska, where she's preparing for the start of the event, which is expected to draw 71 racers.

She hopes to cover the more than 1,000 miles between Anchorage and Nome in about 12 days.

Last year's winner, Lance Mackey, finished in nine days, 21 hours, 38 minutes and 46 seconds. He won $69,000 and a truck.

This year's prize package has yet to be determined.

Rose will start the race with 16 dogs. Mushers can retire dogs during the race and send them home from checkpoints, but must finish with five dogs.

"People always ask, 'How do you remember the names?' " she said. "Shoot, my grandmother had 11 kids."

Rose has been racing sled dogs for three years.

She started with dogs that came from a friend's large litter and has learned from other racers.

Veterinarian and UC Davis instructor Denae Wagner wasn't entirely surprised that her former student was competing in the Iditarod.

"It's such a big thing to tackle, but her personality and desire to do things – it's not a surprise from that standpoint," Wagner said.

After finishing UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2002, Rose worked as a large-animal veterinarian in Marin County before opting for the more open and affordable spaces of Alaska.

She has been racing for about three years and has experience at 50 and 60 degrees below zero.

Oddly, temperatures around freezing are too warm to be optimal for the dogs, which run better at minus 10 degrees to 0 degrees, she said.

The dogs are bred more for endurance and speed than for brute strength, she said.

The hard thing, she said, is to stop them. They even keep running when mushers fall asleep.

There are stations along the route where mushers stop and rest their teams, but many will try to push as far as they can.

Sleds are equipped with GPS devices, but they only tell officials where the sleds are. Mushers must depend on trail markers to avoid becoming lost.

Updates depend on motorized crews following the race, including camera crews who sometimes post themselves at locations prone to sled crashes.

Tamara Rose parks her sled dog team at the community center in Fairbanks, Alaska. The UC Davis veterinary school graduate will take off Saturday with 16 dogs on the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome.

There's an Aggie in the Iditarod.

Tamara Rose, a veterinarian who studied at UC Davis, is one of 22 rookie mushers for this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which has its ceremonial start Saturday in Anchorage, Alaska.

Rose, 47, is excited by the prospect of adventure and solitude racing along the Yukon River, over the rough Alaska Range and along the dramatic Norton Sound.

"You can have these crazy blizzards out there," she said.

"My goal is to finish with healthy dogs and a happy musher," she said by phone from Alaska, where she's preparing for the start of the event, which is expected to draw 71 racers.

She hopes to cover the more than 1,000 miles between Anchorage and Nome in about 12 days.

Last year's winner, Lance Mackey, finished in nine days, 21 hours, 38 minutes and 46 seconds. He won $69,000 and a truck.

This year's prize package has yet to be determined.

Rose will start the race with 16 dogs. Mushers can retire dogs during the race and send them home from checkpoints, but must finish with five dogs.

"People always ask, 'How do you remember the names?' " she said. "Shoot, my grandmother had 11 kids."

Rose has been racing sled dogs for three years.

She started with dogs that came from a friend's large litter and has learned from other racers.

Veterinarian and UC Davis instructor Denae Wagner wasn't entirely surprised that her former student was competing in the Iditarod.

"It's such a big thing to tackle, but her personality and desire to do things – it's not a surprise from that standpoint," Wagner said.

After finishing UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2002, Rose worked as a large-animal veterinarian in Marin County before opting for the more open and affordable spaces of Alaska.

She has been racing for about three years and has experience at 50 and 60 degrees below zero.

Oddly, temperatures around freezing are too warm to be optimal for the dogs, which run better at minus 10 degrees to 0 degrees, she said.

The dogs are bred more for endurance and speed than for brute strength, she said.

The hard thing, she said, is to stop them. They even keep running when mushers fall asleep.

There are stations along the route where mushers stop and rest their teams, but many will try to push as far as they can.

Sleds are equipped with GPS devices, but they only tell officials where the sleds are. Mushers must depend on trail markers to avoid becoming lost.

Updates depend on motorized crews following the race, including camera crews who sometimes post themselves at locations prone to sled crashes.

Arianna Huffington's 2010 achievement awards blend the worlds of politics and entertainment.

A sampling:

Huffington: It's time again for our annual mashup of this year's noteworthy achievements in the worlds of politics and entertainment. Best Sex Scene: Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried in Jennifer's Body Worst: John Edwards and Rielle Hunter in their homemade tape. Best Dancing: Michael Jackson shows he still has it. The Worst: Tom DeLay shows he never had it on Dancing With the Stars. Best Accent: Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in Invictus Worst: Orly Taitz as herself in Birther. Best Parent/Child Relationship: Maggie Gyllenhaal and her son Buddy in Crazy Heart Worst: Mackenzie Phillips and her sex partner dad John in WTF? [sic] Best Use of a Foreign Location: Rome, as seen in Julia Roberts' Duplicity Worst: Argentina, as seen in Mark Sanford's Duplicity. ...

Read all award winners here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sacramento State's Ronald Brookins was named the Big Sky Conference Indoor Men's Track Athlete of the Meet, it was announced Tuesday.

At the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships last weekend in Bozeman, Mont., Brookins set a Brick Breeden Fieldhouse record time of 7.28 seconds to win the 55-meter hurdles. That time also set a Sacramento State record and met the NCAA provisional standard.

UC Davis women win Lexus Classic golf

Amy Simanton, Alice Kim and Demi Runas each shot 2-over-par 74s to finish in the top 10 as the 23rd-ranked UC Davis women's golf team captured its second title of the season with a two-shot victory at the Lexus Classic in Fresno.

Simanton tied for second, Kim finished fifth, and Runas tied for ninth.

Sacramento State's Julie Shutler tied for sixth, and the Hornets finished 10th. Cristina Corpus of San Jose State won by three shots over Simanton and two other players.

• Grant Rappleye tied for sixth as the Sac State men placed sixth at the Braveheart Classic in Beaumont. Tarquin MacManus of first-place Arizona was the medalist.

• Austin Graham of UC Davis tied for eighth, and the Aggies finished 11th at the USC Collegiate Invitational in Westlake Village. Eugene Wong of champion Oregon won by one shot.

Nevada will host Cal in football

The Nevada football team will open the 2010 season with three consecutive home games, including Cal's first appearance at Mackay Stadium on Sept. 18.

The Wolf Pack will host Eastern Washington in a Thursday-night season opener Sept. 2 and Colorado State on Sept. 11.

– Bee Sports staff, Associated Press

Pull up a chair and sit down at the breakfast buffet, a daily assortment of all the freshest newsworthy college hoops stories on the net. To make a submission, contact me via email or twitter.

• 1. If Saturday's Syracuse-Villanova showdown isn't the most anticipated college basketball game of the season, it has to be very close to the top. More than 34,000 fans will pack the Carrier Dome tonight to witness a game with monumental Big East and national implications. Syracuse can all but lock up the conference title and a No. 1 seed with a victory, while Villanova can gain a share of first place and re-enter the No. 1 seed conversation.

• 2. Sunday's Michigan State-Purdue game already had Big Ten title implications, but Robbie Hummel's torn ACL makes it that much bigger for the Boilermakers. If Purdue is going to convince the NCAA tournament selection committee that its worthy of a No. 1 seed, it must show that it can beat elite teams like Michigan State without its injured star. 

• 3. The Mountain West gets its showcase game Saturday afternoon when 26-3 BYU and 26-3 New Mexico square off in Provo with first place in the conference and perhaps a top-four seeding in the NCAA tournament at stake. Biggest game in conference history? You won't get much argument from BYU coach Dave Rose. "You will have a hard time finding a matchup this Saturday with two teams who have (combined for) 52 wins," Rose said.

• 4. What is typically a raucous atmosphere at the Cintas Center should be even more jacked up for Sunday's first-place showdown between Xavier and Richmond after coach Chris Mack went on a messageboard to ask his fans to be at their loudest. Said Mack on Friday, "It's some of your most passionate fans, and they're going to get the word out. So what better way than to go on there and ask them to rock the arena on Sunday?"

• 5. The last time Kentucky visited Tennessee, guard Jodie Meeks erupted for 54 points in a performance as memorable as any from last season. Meeks is gone, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe have arrived, and Kentucky will surely be on upset alert, knowing that the Vols will be even more inspired than they were in upsetting top-ranked Kansas in this building a couple months ago. 

• 6. Bubble games don't get any bigger or more meaningful than Sunday's Louisville-UConn clash in Storrs. The Huskies need a win to continue their late-season surge and remain on track for an at-large bid, while the Cardinals are also only a win or two away from locking up a bid, but they're in the midst of as difficult a final stretch as any team in the nation.

• 7. If Kansas State is going to give itself a chance to make a case for a No. 1 seed with a win at Kansas next week, it has to beat visiting Missouri first on Saturday. That's no easy task because the surging Tigers have won five of six and have plenty of motivation, needing a victory to gain the inside track for second place in the Big 12 and a first-round bye in the conference tournament.  

• 8. Cal hasn't won a Pac-10 title in 50 years to the day. Arizona State has never finished atop the Pac-10. Thus, even in its watered-down state, the conference will deliver a truly big game Saturday afternoon in Berkeley when the first-place Bears and second-place Sun Devils battle for control of the Pac-10 race. A win for Cal would clinch at least a share of the conference title, while an Arizona State win would vault the Sun Devils ahead by a half game.

• 9. Since Texas' free fall from the top of the rankings began last month, the Longhorns have yet to beat anyone of consequence. Saturday's road test at Texas A&M gives them another chance to halt their slide, but Donald Sloan and the defensive-minded Aggies are not easy to beat at home. Wrote Sloan in a recent team-wide text message: "Our defense is kind of like the sun. If our defense shows up, all the stars disappear."

• 10. You know it's a big day in the Big 12 when top-ranked Kansas going on the road against a fired-up bubble team is no better than the third best conference game of the day. This is a no-lose game for the Cowboys: Either they pull the massive upset and punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament, or they lose a game everyone expects them to and remain on the bubble.  

It’s all Rick Barnes’ fault.

Late-February. National Signing Day is over. Mack Brown’s proprietary Head Start Program has the coaching staff focused on the back half of the 2011 class. Baseball is still four months from Omaha (thankfully). Basketball? Too painful to even talk about. “Four out of 10” describes our free throw shooting and our winning percentage over a solid month. That No. 1 ranking sure was fun while it lasted.

So what do Horns fans do for fun and relaxation while waiting for Barnes’ teaching moments to produce some consistent, watchable play? We watch the 40th replay of Colt McCoy’s triumphant final drive on our commemorative 2010 Rose Bowl DVD We discuss/invent conspiracy theories about college football conference realignments, complete with not-so-subtle reminders to our Big 12 rivals that we are the smartest, richest, most watched, most revered, best endowed college-football-playing university in the country. Basketball is for commoners. We excel at America’s richest sport. We are the Joneses!

One week ago, the esteemed purveyors of Barking Carnival assented to the publication of my Pelican Brief, Being Bill Powers ( http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2010/02/15/being-bill-powers/ ) , which provided a theoretical framework for how the president of The University might view the opportunity to align Longhorn Athletics with another conference for reasons that supersede athletics. The hypothetical conclusion supported a move to the Big 10, provided that the nation’s second most prestigious conference in terms of academics (nod here to the Ivies) would also welcome the four most worthy Big 12 castaways in the burnt orange lifeboat: A&M, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri.

In a move best described as Kiperesque, today’s contribution to the Interwebs revises my earlier hypothesis in acceptance of the fact that the best, most logical decisions are rarely made. While standing firmly behind the premise that Bill Powers will provide visionary leadership from The Tower, I’m beating a hasty retreat from the assumption that he will be successful in convincing Big 10 leaders to serve their own best interests. Instead, it will be the PAC 10 that seizes the opportunity to land Texas on acceptable terms.

The only forecast that counts is your last.

How Important Decisions Are Made

Shelby Carter told a great story about how executive decisions are made to his undergraduate marketing class 20-something years ago. Whether Carter was more motivated to lecture 500+ Texas greeks and dweebs out of concern for America’s future or for the pleasure of telling stories of his business conquests is irrelevant. The co-founder of SynOptics and Vital-Signs and partner at Austin Ventures had some serious skins on the wall and fascinating stories of how they got there.

Carter was the head of marketing at Xerox in the 1970s at the time they debuted a highly irreverent ad campaign for its time: Brother Dominic. You know the one, with the monk, tasked to make 500 copies of a document he had just meticulously hand-scribed, who finds help in a Xerox 9200 copier and knowingly smiles when the head of his order declares, “It’s a miracle!”

As Carter told the story, that campaign was actually killed in the cradle by the Xerox CEO, whose wife, a devout Catholic, happened to find the concept of the campaign distasteful, if not sacrilegious, when she heard about it from her husband. The CEO told Carter he needed to go in another direction, but Carter persisted and asked to take the CEO and his wife to dinner. By the time dessert had been served, Carter had saved the Brother Dominic campaign, which proceeded to make advertising history.

Lesson learned? Almost killing a stroke of creative genius is both illogical and reasonable at the same time. Humans make important decisions. Humans also make a lot of mistakes. Sometimes you have the opportunity to correct those mistakes, and sometimes you don’t.

The Big 10 Will Fail to Seize a Transformational Opportunity

The thesis of Being Bill Powers centered on academic research as both the draw for Texas to the Big 10 and the transformational opportunity for the Big 10 superconference. As prestigious as they may be, the Big 10 universities reside in a region that has suffered more economic hardship than most, and they are underperforming the coasts in terms of university R&D investments per capita. In the short term, a 12th  team delivers a conference championship game and perhaps another media market to the cable package. In the long term, the state of Michigan’s economic misfortune is going to seriously drag on the competitiveness of its universities.

Texas and a few more flagship universities from heartland states could join the Big 10 and wage an effective long-term campaign to shift federal R&D investments more to the middle of the U.S., where the cost of doing business is lower and the need for sustainable economic stimulus is greater. More universities, more markets, bigger brands, better athletics, and 50 percent more U.S. Senators working together to save a region from an economic abyss, using university R&D investments as a critical measuring stick.

Unfortunately, there are too many humans for a visionary leader to convince along the way. Humans tend to be the last to recognize their own problems. From what I’m reading, there is too much talk from the Big 10 about how great it is to be the Big 10.

(Cue the Jim Mora voiceover…) Kansas? You want us to let in Kansas? And Nebraska? How many people live in Nebraska? What kind of academics do they have in Nebraska? Are you kidding me? Nebraska?

That’s right, Nebraska. Forbes estimates that the Cornhuskers have th e fourth most valuable football program, one slot behind Nittany Lions and four ahead of the Buckeyes. And how about Kansas basketball? Is there a more dedicated, educated fan base anywhere? Have you visited Phog Allen Fieldhouse? Truth be told, the value of a cable network increases proportionately to the number of insomniac eyeballs watching replays of conference basketball games and ordering Snuggies and Magic Bullet food choppers during the commercials. Kansas has 60-year-old grandmothers from Garden City who will watch the Hawkeyes play the Gophers at 2am because her acid reflux is keeping her awake and she’s scouting teams three-weeks out on the Jayhawks schedule. Gophers fans would rather watch Murder She Wrote .

Only a Big 10 attitude will keep the Big 10 from leading the superconference M&A frenzy. That, or a few well placed bridge trolls. For example, take a closer look at just one…

“Not Without Iowa State”

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is one of my all-time favorites. He is moderately conservative, fiscally responsible, independently thinking, and entertainingly outspoken. He was the Senator who famously suggested that AIG executives should practice seppuku rather than accept taxpayer-funded bonuses. He is also the Senate Finance Committee member who, as chair when the Republicans had control, threatened to remove the tax exemptions of universities that harbor researchers without holding them accountable for conflicts-of-interest between research activities and consulting activities. He has criticized university endowments for hoarding capital in investments rather than spending it for the benefit of students and, of greatest concern, has threatened to tax university athletic departments for engaging in commercial interests inconsistent with their nonprofit missions. Senator Grassley understands the business of universities, and he’s not always been a fan.

http://chronicle.com/article/Sen-Grassley-Speaks-on/1011/ http://chronicle.com/article/Commercialization-in-College/44238/

Were the Big 10 to bypass Iowa State in favor of Texas and, heaven forbid, Nebraska, everyone outside the state of Iowa would understand and accept the rationale as just and reasonable. The Big 10 already has the Hawkeyes. The state of Iowa is a small TV market. The Cyclones have never been all that competitive and do not have a strong athletics brand. Adding Iowa State would dilute the Big 10’s per share payout.

All of that would make sense to anyone other than a five-term Iowa Senator seeking a sixth in 2010 and facing strong competition in both the primary and, if fortunate to pass that test, the general election in November. This is the one guy who harbors the roadmap to the soft spots in the university’s financial underbelly. He has the knowledge at hand, the will to use it, and nothing to lose politically. Perhaps the Big 10 leaders see Iowa State as “Baylor 2010.” Perhaps an intimate knowledge of Senator Grassley has been a large reason why the Big 10 has been slow to act.

The fact that universities are nonprofit organizations chartered to educate, expand knowledge, and generally serve society is lost on many college football fans and most sportswriters. Don’t let Jerry Jones desensitize you to the differences between pro sports and college sports just because you paid $9 for a cold draft at the Big 12 championship game. If the universities make revenue maximization the end-game, they will soon find themselves paying corporate income taxes on those profits . Seriously, how many Longhorn fans thought that $5 million gift from DeLoss Dodds to university academics was a generous act? It’s called thinking ahead and seeing the big picture. If/when Senator Grassley starts poking around Belmont Hall, Dodds will show him a check stub.

Core Principles to Visualize How the Game Is Being Played

Strategically placed quotes from Dodds to the contrary, Texas is actively courting Big 10 and PAC 10 suitors. To be clear, this is pure conjecture, but it would be negligent for Bill Powers not to investigate opportunities and plan for contingencies. Following are some core principles to reference when reading the latest news and quotes on the subject:

• Powers will be the decision maker at The University of Texas, but unlike the Jerry Jones types, he will manage the process such that key constituents not only accept the decision, but based on their personal interactions with The University’s President, believe that they were a key influencer in the decision. Dodds will be a key influencer, as will Mack Brown and Rick Barnes and every other coach who the athletic department takes pains to treat as equals. Joe Jamail, Red McCombs, Tom Hicks, and the major university boosters (who are not just athletics boosters) will have input, as will brand expert Roy Spence of GSD&M. Legislators will have their say. Influential faculty will have their voices heard and respected. Powers would meet and listen to the drum majors of the Longhorn Band if they asked and scheduled an appointment. None will be dismissed as unimportant. Powers knows that The University has stakeholders, not shareholders, and we number in the hundreds of thousands .

• Powers will be a careful steward of The University’s brand. srr50 got it right, and his thoughts are hereby incorporated by reference. (http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2010/02/18/for-texas-its-all-about-protecting-the-brand-name/ ) But the Texas brand extends beyond athletics, and it is rooted in academics. The best deal for the Texas brand is not necessarily the deal with the most cash . It matters the company you keep. We’re Texas. We don’t play Thursday night football because our student athletes would miss two days of classes. We don’t pay street agents. We don’t put O’Reilly Auto Parts decals on our coaches’ sweaters. We don’t make athletes eat their own puke, or slap them when they miss a tackle, or threaten to send them back to the ghetto where their brother was shot, or any other “best practice” from the Bill Snyder coaching tree. We’re Texas.

• Texas will have two suitors that will keep an invitation on the table until Powers makes the decision. Texas is the only five-star program on the board. (Apologies to the Domers, but your R&D enterprise is quite small relative to the Big 10 universities and Texas). Sticking to my earlier forecast, expect Colorado to make the first move by jumping to the PAC 10, thereby breaking the seal of the Big 12. From there, Texas will get to play it out like Jackson Jeffcoat or Jordan Hicks. The decision will be made on Texas’ timeframe, and it will have demands .

• Texas A&M will go with Texas. College Station and its No. 1 booster, Governor Perry, will even be consulted on the decision. Sorry to say this, Horns fans, but Texas needs A&M for a lot more than politics and athletics . Accept it and move on.

• Texas Tech will be looked after as well. The fact that the state of Texas only has two flagship research universities has actually been harmful to Texas and Texas A&M. Look at California, where the state’s university system has FIVE universities with larger R&D budgets than either Texas or Texas A&M (and only two play PAC 10 football). In the state legislature, California universities don’t tear each other down, they build each other up, and the money flows. (Perhaps too much so in the state of California, but Texas has a long way to go before it suffers from excess.)
• Texas Tech is one of the “potential Tier-1” universities under Proposition 4.http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Texas_Proposition_4_(2009) Texas Tech is the only “candidate” already in a BCS conference, and it would not help the prestige of its brand to be relegated to the WAC. Therefore, expect Texas to include Texas Tech as well as Texas A&M in talks with the PAC 10. Whereas the Red Raiders are a non-starter in discussions with the Big 10, at least that can be explained away with geography. On the other hand, it would be a slap in the face to the Red Raiders to have Longhorns and Aggies waving down at them on their Southwest flights to PAC 10 conference matchups and not include them.

• Scheduling is an important bargaining chip in negotiations. The primary reason I’ve scoffed at the notion of Texas joining a 12-team PAC 10 or a 14-team Big 10 is that its travel burdens would be greater than its conference peers. This has nothing to do with the cost of travel, but rather the inconvenience of it. Texas has student athletes who go to class and compete on bell curves with students who all graduated high school in the top 10 percent. Yes, they have a lot of support, but if going to class were a nonissue, the football team wouldn’t lose four players on the two-deep to grades during the second week of fall camp.
• 
  Texas will want schedules heavily weighted towards intra-division games with at least five Big 12 schools in its division. If its final destination is the Big 10, expect Texas and A&M to join Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas in a west division that includes Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. If the PAC 10 prevails, look for Texas and A&M to cohabitate an east division with Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas Tech, and the two Arizonas.

• Oklahoma will not make the next step with Texas. Yes, DeLoss Dodds and Donnie Duncan get along just fine, but Oklahoma belongs in the SEC. Oklahoma to the Big 10 is a non-starter, and including the Sooners in an expanded PAC 10 would mean bumping Texas Tech. From a competitive standpoint, a west division with Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas means a drastic reduction in championships for at least one spoiled fanbase. Both universities are better served by making the Red River Rivalry a non-conference soiree , with a rematch in a BCS bowl game a realistic possibility.

Burnt Orange Order

Alas, it is time for my revised forecast of where the dust will settle and where Horns fans will plan fall weekend getaways. For the sake of assimilated credibility, readers should note that bloggers who have called Austin home are experts in seeing the future and explaining how complex decisions affecting millions of lives are made.

Colorado will be invited to join the PAC 10 first. Texas will engage in dual-track negotiations with the Big 10 and PAC 10 and deny everything to the public. Senator Grassley will engage in saber-rattling, let it be known that Iowa State deserves a spot, any spot, in a superconference, and gain a critical 15 points in the polls. The Big 10 will insist on expanding east as well as west. The PAC 10 will be more amenable to Texas’ scheduling demands and will ultimately emerge as the big winner. Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech will join Arizona and Arizona State in the east division of the PAC 10 . Oklahoma will find refuge in the SEC, and seeing the risk of a permanent impairment to his investment, Boone Pickens will cut a deal to ensure that Oklahoma State tags along. The Big 10 will eventually accept Missouri, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Rutgers to join its version of a superconference, but with junior status on academic affairs and certain revenue distributions. The remainder of the Big 12, Baylor and Kansas State, will latch on to the WAC or Mountain West or Conference USA.

And there you have it. Until next week.

Thoughts?

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Aired: February 2010

Culture war is not a term we hear that often anymore because, well, the crucial center of American politics is sick and tired of the very idea of culture war.

But author and professor James Davison Hunter's concept still best explains where we are today in American politics, where the vast center of America is stuck in a tug-of-war between two deeply competing visions of reality.

Cultural power, explains Hunter, is the power to "name reality." Culture is mostly created in urban centers and spread to the periphery, e.g., Harvard Law School decides that gay marriage is a basic human right, which spreads through judges until it runs smack up into the one source of cultural power in America that is not controlled by urbane centers -- the American people.

We are by far the most democratic system on earth. A certain form of Euro-liberalism may capture the universities, reinforced by its dominant control over government money, influencing the media and Hollywood. In Europe, the political leaders of the parties respond to this complex of cultural power mostly by submission to it -- it's easier. And then voters are deprived of choice. Where elite political leaders cooperate to end the culture war by giving in, voters do not get to choose between competing visions.

But in America, unlike Europe or Canada, leaders can spring up from nowhere, develop their own financial base, form a counter-academy through think tanks and a counter-media with talk radio and Fox News, and finally swarm into primaries to unseat party bosses who try to be an echo, not a choice. The ironic net result of this freedom and democracy is the continuation of a culture war that the majority of Americans don't especially like. . . .

But the culture war dynamic has spread from social issues to economics, health care and taxes. These are becoming questions not just of practical policies and politics, but of cultural identity. . . .

Do we want to be like Europe? Cosmopolitan, dominated by academic elites, creating the comfort of consensus by shutting down opposition, internationalized, pacifist and dependent, rich but socialist? Or is there something in this thing called America too precious to be lost to government control and the promise of cradle-to-grave safety that comes at the price of liberty and responsibility?

America is a land divided against itself, stuck between two visions of our future, our identity, our very soul.

Ask Evan Bayh: The center will not hold.

Yesterday they were powers on offense, conference headliners, New Year’s bowl participants—and in some cases—among college football’s elite. 

Today, they’re left for dead—preyed upon by the best of the best.

So what happened?  The issues can often be drilled down to one coach and his tenure, which resulted in the derailing of the program, at least for now.

Top Ten Struggling College Football Programs and the Coaches Who Derailed Them

10. Kansas State —Ron Prince

Remember when purple was in? Me neither. 

From 1997-2003, the Wildcats rattled off 11-win campaigns in six of the seven seasons during that span.  Many out there forget how good this program was under Bill Snyder— well… during his first tenure. Kansas State earned a bowl berth in 11 straight seasons, and while K-State struggled under Snyder in 2004 and 2005, the program saw no turnaround under Ron Prince. Actually, it was more of an “about face”.

Just like that, it was déjà vu all over again—and the job was Snyder’s for a second time.

The Numbers: Wildcats under Bill Snyder’s first tenure (136-68-1) vs. Ron Prince (17-20)

9. Tennessee – Lane Kiffin

Not many coaches get props for being the newly hired coach, plus derailing it before, during and after he arrived, but Kiffin is well, how should we say...special?

During his mini-tenure, Kiffin managed to get Vols nation all riled up during the preseason, keep the team close against Tebow and Florida, get into hot water with his recruiting tactics and just overall alienate himself from ‘the Good Ol’ Boys’. 

And oh yeah, then he bolted for his “dream job” in southern California. 

Here you go, Derek Dooley—good luck.

The Numbers: Lane Kiffin (7-6 in one season—plus countless messes to be cleaned up)

8. West Virginia —Bill Stewart

Many may argue this one—saying that Bill Stewart has done a fine job during his brief tenure at West Virginia. But dive in a little deeper, and one will see just how well Rich Rod’s system translated to the Big East—and the type of teams that were consistently in the title hunt year-in and year-out.

During four of his last five seasons with the Mountaineers, Rodriguez was at the top of the conference—including double-digit win totals over his last three seasons (2005-2007).

Meanwhile, Stewart has posted back-to-back four-loss campaigns – pushing West Virginia back in the pack of arguably the weakest of the power conferences.

The Numbers: WVU under Rich Rodriguez—60 wins in 7 seasons (with only 3 in year one)

7. Syracuse —Greg Robinson

OK, so the ‘Cuse hasn’t been considered an elite program in recent memory—but the boys in orange did manage to win over 100 games in 14 seasons under Paul Pasqualoni.  And while there wasn’t a consistent flux of McNabb-Harrison combos walking onto the field of the Carrier Dome, it still far exceeds the team’s performance under Greg Robinson.

Try a ten-spot of W’s under Robinson—who has lugged his struggles over to the maize and blue’s defense.

Heck, Doug Marrone almost halved Robinson’s total in his first season as coach (2009 – 4-8) 

The Numbers:  Syracuse under Paul Pasqualoni (107-59) vs. Greg Robinson (10-37)

6. Texas A&M —Dennis Franchione

Under R.C. Slocum (1989-2002), the Aggies had zero losing seasons.  During Franchione’s tenure, the 12th man at A&M went from a roar as big as Texas to hearing a pin drop.  Now, Mike Sherman’s in charge, and after a 10-15 start—there’s still plenty of room for improvement—though there were moments of promise and hope in 2009 (e.g. versus the rival Longhorns).

The Numbers: The Aggies under R.C. Slocum (123-47-2) vs. Dennis Franchione (32-28)

5. Hawaii —Greg McMackin

Sure, Hawaii isn't a major football powerhouse, but they have become known for prolific offenses. That is, until McMackin took over for the departed June Jones. Last season, Hawaii ranked 89th in scoring offense. That’s hardly paradise, kids.

On top of this, McMackin further alienated the Warrior faithful with a slur, directed at Notre Dame. Good call, coach—that’s a fan base that you certainly want to tick off.

The Numbers: Hawaii under June Jones (75-41) vs. Greg McMackin (12-13)

4. Michigan —Rich Rodriguez

Sure, Rich Rod is only in his third season at Michigan, but three years of trying to fit a round peg in a square hole doesn't cut it.

Three conference wins in two seasons? That simply won’t get it done when coaching one of the most historic programs in college football. 

In fact, if Rodriguez doesn't beat Ohio State this year, he won’t get the same time that Carr had to drive the program.

The Numbers: Michigan under Lloyd Carr (122-40) vs. Rich Rodriguez (8-16)

3. Colorado —Dan Hawkins

Raise your hand if you know the last time the Buffaloes finished a season ranked in the AP poll.  That’s what we thought—try 2002. 

In fact, those days of Kordell “Slash” Stewart seem like ages ago, don’t they? That’s because they are.

Yes, the days of Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett are gone in Colorado—replaced by Hawkins, who became more known for the playing time of his son than the team’s actual performance on the field.

The Numbers: Neuheisel and Barnett at Colorado (82-53) vs. Dan Hawkins (16-33)

2. Nebraska —Bill Callahan

The ‘Huskers were at the top of college football—scratch that, they WERE college football through the mid 90’s—posting three undefeated seasons in ’94, ’95 and ’97.

The ‘blackshirts’ posted dominating performance after dominating performance, both under Tom Osborne and Frank Solich.

It wasn’t until Bill Callahan took over that the team started to slide to the middle of the pack in the Big 12 conference…and while Bo Pelini has injected some life into Middle America, this program still has a ways to go.

The Numbers: 255 wins under Osborne, 58-19 under Solich and 27-22 under Callahan

1. Louisville —Steve Kragthorpe

We won’t say he derailed the program. He put the program into a head-on collision with Syracuse for Big East cellar-dwelling domination.  Period.

Kragthorpe managed to morph a great quarterback school into one that is known simply for their jersey logos—The Ville. Shouldn't anything with "The" in front of it have something to be proud of? Ask Ohio State—they would answer with an emphatic YES…

The Numbers: John L. Smith 41-21 (‘98-‘02), Bobby Petrino 40-9 (‘03-‘06), Kragthorpe 15-21

As always, the Hervé Léger show was packed with pretty young things wearing skin-tight bandage dresses. Those things are pretty unforgiving, so we were impressed to see Jessica Szohr sharing a box of chocolates with a newly brunette Melissa George — in the front row, and therefore in view of the whole world. Three cheers for publicly consuming solid food! We were also relieved to see that Szohr's usually ratty-looking extensions actually looked quite nicely groomed.

Also well groomed: One Tree Hill's Sophia Bush, who arrived in a very sparkly frock, leading her boyfriend (and co-star) Austin Nichols by the hand. "She looks great," we overheard him say to a reporter, and we're inclined to agree, although we feel less sure about his suspenders. Sophia got the best spot in celebrity row — right smack in the middle — and she certainly has earned it, as she's been to every Hervé Léger show ever, and a few of Max Azria's others to boot. Sophia was flanked by Mad Men's Alison Brie — who went to nearly each show that occurred today, and yet never looked anything but perky and chipper — and the very beautiful-in-person Maggie Q, whom you may remember as being beautiful-on-screen in Mission Impossible III. We also spied Tinsley Mortimer, looking petite in a hot-pink bandage dress; the ubiquitous Leigh Lezark; the lovely Maggie Rizer; and actress Alexis Dziena, whom the reporters largely ignored, perhaps because they didn't want to have to talk about how terrible her movie When in Rome probably is.

We also spotted, on the way out of the show, Whitney's sudden friend Samantha from The City. We didn't notice her earlier because, as she complained very loudly, she was given fifth-row seats because the invites were sent to her in her capacity as a Bergdorf employee, instead of her capacity as a semi-minor character on an MTV reality show. Samantha also complained — at similarly high volume — about being expected to make an appearance elsewhere later, loudly announced she needed a drink (it was 3:45 p.m.), and bitched about a person she'd spoken to earlier who then went and tweeted their entire conversation. One would think that a woman who was so peevish that her "celebrity" status was overlooked when on the topic of her seating assignments would be flattered that her thoughts were considered tweet-worthy, but goodness knows, Fashion Week is full of contradictions.

Read more posts by The Fug Girls

Filed Under: new york fugging city, alexis dziena, alison brie, austin nichols, fall 2010, herve leger, jessica zohr, leigh lezark, maggie q, melissa george, new york fashion week fall 2010, sophia bush, tinsley mortimer

I will repost the Super Bowl Preview Tomorrow, but as promised here is the latest spec, hot off the presses 
The movin and shaking is going on in earnest barely a week into February a few teams have solidified their status while others have seen their chances take serious hits. 

Atlantic Coast 
(Conference Class-Power) 
Solid: Duke, Maryland, Virginia 
Work to do: North Carolina, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Georgia Tech 
Skinny on the ACC: No one but Duke is doing anything here to improve their standing, and Georgia Tech needs to get above .500 to get back on the Solid line. Carolina is in serious trouble. 
Key Game: Duke at Boston College Saturday 2p The Golden Eagles can get a serious look if they knock off the Dukies in Chestnut Hill 
Projected Bids: 5 

Atlantic Ten 
Conference Class-Mid Major 
Solid: Temple, Xavier 
Work to do: Dayton, Rhode Island, Charlotte, Richmond 
The A-10 Spec is: Temple is nationally ranked and looking like it, Xavier pounded through a softer part of the schedule and after a tricky roadie at UMass, have a pair of much tougher road dates at Dayton and an intriguing non-con at Florida. The working teams can improve their status with wins this week 
Key Games: Xavier at Dayton Saturday Noon This is a heated rivalry with the schools less than 45 mins from one another, the Flyers are super tough at home and the Muskies are a big target at 8-1 in the A-10 
Temple at Richmond Saturday 2p The Spiders could get a huge boost if they knock off the nationally ranked Owls 
Projected Bids: 3 

Big East 
Conference Class-Power 
Solid: Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Georgetown, Pitt 
Work to do: Cincy, South Florida Louisville, Notre Dame, UConn 
Big East Skinny: Of the Solids, Pitts 4 losses in 5 games is troubling, but they are still safe for now a loss to Seton Hall puts them off the solid list. UConn is in all kinds of trouble as its frightening slide is getting them close to being booted off the list all together, South Florida added its name to the growing list of Big East teams that are doing the kind of work to solidify their chances. Their Wednesday upset of top ten G’Town is proving that their defeat of Pitt was no fluke. Notre Dame gets closer to being safe barring a late slide. Louisville is far from safe as beating UConn doesn’t carry the weight its used to. Cincy is getting itself in trouble with getting housed in South Bend and Syracuse will do them worse if they arent careful 
Key Game: Seton Hall at Pitt Saturday 6p After a rough road stretch, the Panthers return to the Oakland Zoo but the Hall can be problematic. 
Projected bids: 8 

Big Ten 
Conference Class-Power 
Solid: Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio State 
Work to do: Illinois, Minnesota 
The word on the Big Ten is: What ever doubts the critics had on Wisconsin, they quieted them by housing Michigan State in front of a deliriously happy home crowd in Madison, but there still is a 3 team log jam at 7-3 with Purdue a ½ game back of that group. Minnesota is teetering on the verge of being out 
Key Game: Michigan State at Illinois Saturday 9p (ESPN) The Illini keep yelling “What about us?” Catching a Michigan State team coming off a loss might not be an easy task but if done will get them more consideration 
Projected Bids: 5 

Big 12 
Conference Class-Power 
Solid: Kansas, Texas, Kansas State, Baylor 
Work to do: Oklahoma State, Missouri, Texas A&M, 
Skinny from the heartland: Much ado was made about Kansas getting taken to OT by a middling Colorado, the fact will remain that Kansas will be the prize buck to bolster a teams tourney hopes from now till selection Sunday. New to the solid neighborhood is Baylor whose national ranking make them good candidates as long as they maintain their solid pace. 
Key Game: Texas A&M at Baylor Saturday 4p The Aggies want to be included on the solid line and Baylor wants to prove that they belong, a win is big for either. 
Projected Bids: 5 

Conference USA 
Conference Class-Major 
Solid: None 
Work to do: Tulsa, UAB, UTEP, Memphis 
Oh Say Can You C-USA Spec: Memphis upended UAB and knocked the Blazers from the top C-USA spot, this sets up a showdown between UTEP and Tulsa in El Paso with the winner solidifying their tourney chances. Memphis is still a dangerous dark horse here. 
Key Game: Tulsa at UTEP Saturday 10p A critical game for the C-USA lead, both teams are 7-1 in conference 
Projected Bids: 1 


Horizon 
Conference Class-Mid Major 
Solid: Butler 
Work to do: Wright State, Cleveland State 
Spec on The Horizon: Butler toyed with Detroit and this league is starting to look like a one-bid 
Key Game: Wright State at Butler Saturday 8:05p (ESPN2) Its win now to bring Butler back to the pack or have to go through Hinkle for a NCAA bid, the Raiders are trying to slow down the Bulldogs who if they win here are virtually bulletproof. 
Projected Bids: 1 

IVY 
Conference Class-Small 
Solid: Cornell 
Work To Do: Princeton 
Spec on the Ivy Vine: Cornell is getting that bulletproof look about them, Princeton has two cellar dweller to keep from tripping over before a potential battle of unbeatens next week with ranked Cornell 
Key Game: Princeton at Darmouth Saturday 7p Princeton has a super short turnaround from a tough battle with Harvard last night 
Projected Bids: 1 


Missouri Valley 
Conference Class-Mid Major 
Solid: Northern Iowa 
Work to do: Wichita State, Illinois State 
Missouri Valley Skinny: Northern Iowa continues to be the class of this league, holding off a tough Shockers squad and strengthening its hold on the MVC lead. Wichita State must bounce back from this loss 
Key Game: Drake at Illinois State Saturday 8p If Illinois State wants to get clear of a three team morass in 4th they need to beat the Bulldogs 
Projected Bids: 2 


Mountain West 
Conference Class-Major 
Solid: BYU, New Mexico 
Work to do: UNLV 
Spec from the Mountains: UNLV is edging close to solid status and a win against BYU at the Thomas & Mack will aid that endeavor. New Mexico for the most part is pretty safe though a potential pitfall against a decent but unremarkable San Diego State team looms. 
Key Game: BYU at UNLV Saturday 4p The Rebels look to really stamp their tourney worthiness against the MWC leading & ranked Cougars 
Projected Bids: 2 


Pacific 10 
Conference Class-Power 
Solid: Arizona State 
Work to do: Cal, Arizona, UCLA, Washington, 
Spec from the left coast: Someones has got to take control of this conference! Arizona State has the best overall record here and have moved to the Solid line but its shaky at best. There are 4 teams at 6-4 and all of them have warts. 
Key Games: Cal at UCLA 4p Saturday (CBS) A battle of so-so Bears & Bruins is for a share of the Pac-10 lead Arizona State at Washington Saturday 10:30p (FoxSports) The Sun Devils are right now the king of a very small hill and the Huskies are trying to make a late run 
Projected Bids: 3 



Southeastern 
Conference Class-Power 
Solid: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi State 
Work to do: South Carolina, Florida, Ole Miss, 
Spec is Down South: The Wildcats looked almost bored in thumping Ole Miss and the Rebels now fall to the working column. Vandy & Tennessee look pretty safe and Mississippi State is ok for now but they need continue winning to quiet doubters 
Key Game: Mississippi State at Florida Saturday 1:30p Both these teams need a resume building win 
Projected Bids: 6 


Western Athletic 
Conference Class- Major 
Solid: None 
Work to do: La. Tech, New Mexico State, Utah State 
Spec on the WAC: Utah State roared out to a big lead and coasted home to a big win Wednesday, now they need to prove that they are ready to hold on to the top WAC slot. Both La. Tech and New Mexico State are eyeing one another past dates with San Jose State 
Key Game: Nevada at Utah State 10:05 Saturday (ESPNU) The Aggies are atop the WAC and the Wolfpack are trying to get in a quality win. 
Projected Bids: 2 

West Coast 
Conference Class- Mid Major 
Solid: Gonzaga 
Work to do: St. Mary’s, Portland 
West Coast Spec: The Bulldogs (I refuse to call them the Zags) thrashed the Pilots and are prepping for a deep March run. St. Mary’s has hit 20 wins, but had better not get the lookaheads to Gonzaga or lest they trip over a San Francisco team that has already knocked off Gonzaga. 
Key Game: Gonzaga at Memphis Saturday 4p (ESPN2) This is more a trap game for Gonzaga than a resume builder now. 
Projected Bids: 1 

There are others in the mix to be sure. Teams from the always dangerous Colonial and Big South always are in the mix and can send multiple teams. Of course the champions from the following conferences get an automatic bid: Amer. East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big West, MAC, MAAC, MEAC, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt, Summit, and SWAC 

Since this is still early spec, nothing here is solid and we haven't even brought up the possibility of upsets. But those never happen, right? 

Next Spec Sheet 2/8 Cheers from the Cheap Seats!

So Will Muschamp’s body of work is out there now, and recruits have responded. This is the best defensive class we’ve signed since 2002 and the best front seven we’ve signed maybe ever. The offensive class was very good, but it wasn’t up to the level of the defense.

We had a lot of good stuff go our way this year. Pete Carroll jumped to the NFL with its higher paychecks for both coaches and players, and Urban Meyer briefly decided that he cared about his family. So that helped with Jeffcoat and Hicks.

Les Miles continues to be an albatross at LSU, and Bob Stoops and OU were paid back this year for at least some of their many past transgressions. Didn’t hurt that we’ve gone 25-2 the last two seasons.

In state, we have no competition except ourselves. We’ll still occasionally fuck some things up with lazy evaluations and poor work ethic, but we’re set to own this great state for the foreseeable future.

Out-of-state recruiting is about numbers and effort. If you go after two guys, don’t pack it in if they don’t commit. Instead, go after more guys.

Mack Brown has built up our in-state recruiting so well that we rarely hear ‘no’ from a player, but we also set it up to where we pretty much only offer guys who will say ‘yes.’

You can’t be afraid of rejection in recruiting. And don’t start recruiting guys in September. Get on them early like the rest of the football powers do.

That’s what Muschamp and Applewhite bring to the table. Neither of them would be considered closers per se, but they like recruiting and work hard at it.

Here are their official bios from TexasSports.

Aaron Benson LB Cedar Hill

You know we recruited well when this guy is only considered the third best linebacker in the class. He’s smaller than both Hicks and Jackson, and he’ll probably need to put on a little weight before he’s ready to contribute. Or not.

He’s played at the highest level of Texas high school football for one of the premier programs, so it’s not like he’s coming from Claude. The spread has made DFW high school football pretty faggoty, but Benson is a throwback.

Taylor Bible DT Denton Guyer

Bible looked as good as any defensive tackle in the nation as a junior and reminded me of Damione Lewis and Cedric Woodward at that level. He could play sideline to sideline and also rush the quarterback. Great quickness and explosion.

Then he put on too much weight over the offseason and looked like a different player. When he loses the weight, he will be great again.

And I have no doubts that he will lose the weight. Muschamp doesn’t seem to me like a coach who makes requests. He makes demands. Like SailorRipley.

Carrington Byndom DB Lufkin

First guy from Lufkin to be offered by Stanford since McKinner Dixon. He broke his thumb as a senior, and I think he had a lingering injury as a junior as well.

Texas offered him early so his offer sheet isn’t as good as some others. The corners in this class need to be hits because we lose both Browns and possibly Aaron Williams after this season.

DeMarco Cobbs Ath Tulsa (OK) Central

Tried to commit to Texas in the spring, but the coaches wouldn’t accept it until he visited. Later committed to Tennessee and dropped off the Texas radar. Publicly. Got back to talking with the coaches and switched (back) to Texas.

Probably saved him a later trip to USC. He played quarterback in high school, but Texas will give him a shot first at safety. When it was reported that he ran a 4.76 40, stupid Texas fans freaked out. ‘OMG! He’s two sloe!’

There was a similar freakout a few years ago when it was mistakenly reported that Earl Thomas ran an 11.4 100m Trust your eyes, people. Cobbs is fast, and he was offered by everyone.

DeAires Cotton DT Alief Taylor

An honest-to-goodness two technique. And you thought the position had gone the way of the dinosaurs and our running game.

Cotton is a big, strong guy who will control a gap for you on defense, spill a lot of stuff to the outside but will probably not give you too much as far as a pass rush. He’s not going to put up big numbers, but our linebackers will love him.

His film doesn’t wow you, but OU and Nebraska both offered. That’s three ‘buts’ so we’ll probably need to keep him away from candy and nuts.

Greg Daniels DE Houston St. Pius X

No one knew who this guy was when he committed at one of the Texas junior days. Then Gerry Hamilton actually went to a spring practice at Pius X.

Turns out the guy had put on about 30 pounds over the offseason, is a leader both on and off the field and has his picture in the dictionary under the word ‘upside.’ (I looked at Urban Dictionary and couldn’t find it.) He also has a size 28 shoe, and his dad is 8’10”. Not really.

But he’s a big and raw athlete (similar to Tevin Mims last year) who might eventually grow into a defensive tackle. I’ve not seen enough of him to tell if he can get after the QB from the edge in a 4-3, but he’s another versatile guy who can play as a 3-4 end.

Mike Davis WR Dallas Skyline

We tried to screw this one up. Davis came in for a junior day but left without an offer. Instead we decided to accept the commitment from a Mormon whom everyone knew would jump to BYU at some point. Which he did about three months later.

Davis proceeds to pistol whip opponents his senior season, but Texas still doesn’t pay him any interest. Finally word is passed to the Texas coaches that maybe they should give Davis a call.

They do, fences are mended and he commits. Recruiting is hard, imo. Davis is a pretty complete receiver at this point. He has great hands and body control, and he runs good routes.

He’s not a burner, but what would that get him in our offense anyway? Oh, and he blocks. He’ll be in the mix at receiver next year.

Ashton Dorsey DT Tyler John Tyler

Great first step, and he can rush the passer from the tackle spot. Has two older brothers who played college ball at Tulane and A&M so he has the bloodlines.

A pretty good comparison would be to Lamarr Houston. He may be a bit undersized, but he makes up for it with quickness and motor.

Dominic Espinosa OL Cedar Park

Rivals lists him as 6’4”, but he’s closer to 6’2”. Played tackle as a junior before moving to center as a senior. He’ll either be a center or guard at Texas. Originally from California so he probably prefers Chipotle to Taco Cabana.

Really aggressive player, but we’ll fix that shit quick with a combined program of estrogen injections and sensitivity training. Crapshoot with the offensive line at this point.

John Harris WR Garland Naaman Forest

A dude named ‘John’ from the Metroplex who played QB his senior season but will play receiver for Texas? Sign. Him. Up.

Bobby Kennedy likes big receivers from the Metroplex who don’t actually play receiver. Some work out, some don’t. Like most things in recruiting. Harris had a solid offer list so we’ll see what he can do after he redshirts.

Jordan Hicks LB West Chester (OH) Lakota West

This is the best linebacker Texas has signed since Derrick Johnson, and he’s as good as anyone in the country. Dude threw a sweatervest and a pair of jorts on a burning couch by signing with Texas.

No matter. His family is making the move with him to Austin. We got on him early and stayed on him. We didn’t give him some stupid fucking timetable either.

Trey Hopkins OL Galena Park North Shore

Cerebral. Cerebral enough to question what we’re doing on the o-line? Maybe. Also athletic. Athletic enough to make up for what we’re doing on the o-line? Maybe. Played tackle in high school but will move inside at Texas.

Oscar Giles sometimes has trouble finding his assigned high schools in the Houston area or getting actual film, but we got our shit together and offered. Very good athlete who needs to get bigger and stronger, and that’s why God invented redshirts.

Bryant Jackson DB Sulphur Springs

Despite his height and frame, Gerry Hamilton says he has the hips to play corner. Tall and thin, but he has a nose for the ball. Had a combined 10 interceptions his sophomore and junior years.

Also played receiver and returned kicks so you’re looking at a tall athlete who can play either safety or corner. Let’s call him a poor man’s Gary Baxter.

Tevin Jackson LB Garland

Maybe the most underrated guy in the class. Was listed as around 200 pounds after his junior year, but when the spring evaluation period rolled around, it was found that he was actually closer to 230.

Great at blitzing and pressing. Big dude with a great frame who can run. And he’s an inside guy. His coach moved him outside for a playoff game his junior year, and he struggled.

I’m not saying he can’t play outside, but we’re looking at a Mike who will be 6’3” 250 in a couple of years without sacrificing speed.

Plays downhill like a rolling ball of butcher knives. Obviously, he needs to get better in pass coverage, but we no longer use that as an excuse to keep future NFL players off the field.

Jackson Jeffcoat DE Plano West

When you’re that good, people start looking for warts. There are none. His dad played for Arizona State and the Cowboys and isn’t named Shante Carver.

He uses his hands better than a grifter. Great hands allow him to keep bigger offensive linemen off him so he’ll still play early despite being a little light right now.

The dude’s never even gone through an offseason program before because of basketball. It’s ridiculous how he’s going to fill out. And he was able to dominate in a read and react defense in high school.

Texas sold him on playing the Buck position so we’ll see how well he plays in space. Wart!

Chris Jones WR Dangerfield

He reminds me of a smaller Reggie McNeal. Now when I said this on Orangebloods, I was met with a chorus of ‘Ur an Aggie! I h8 u!’ And that was just from Trips Right, imo. So let me expound.

McNeal would be in the NFL today if he had played safety or receiver in college instead of QB. He was a fantastic prospect. He just had no wiggle, and neither does Jones.

Jones is plenty fast though, but he played 2A ball so he’s probably never run a proper route in his life.

Case McCoy QB Graham

His brother roomed with Jordan Shipley in college, his dad roomed with Jordan Shipley’s dad in college and one day he will room with Jordan Shipley’s brother in college. Jordan Shipley was also in ‘Animal House’ with Kevin Bacon.

Probably even lighter than Colt was as a freshman. I was a bit surprised that Texas offered, but I was more surprised that he accepted.

It’s one thing to follow your brother, but the same position? Already enrolled so he’ll battle with Connor Wood to see who will transfer first back up Gilbert.

Adrian Phillips Ath Garland

Started at quarterback and cornerback as a junior and wide receiver and safety as a senior. So yeah, he’s an athlete.

He was district MVP his senior year as an athlete. Will be a defensive back at Texas, and I’m guessing safety because he’s already around 200 pounds.

Solidly built and a big hitter. I like the idea of having two former quarterbacks (Phillips and Cobbs) at safety.

William Russ K Shreveport (LA) Evangel Christian

Our kicking problems are solved! Or not. We’ve had approximately 74 kickers under Brown, and I can’t really remember any of them kicking the ball in the end zone on kickoffs. So that leads me to believe that we are coaching them not to.

I was never coached not to end a sentence in a preposition. So take it with a grain of salt.

Or are you still holding out hope that Trevor Gerland is going to change our punt game because he’s such a great athlete?

Traylon Shead RB Cayuga

Ran for more yards than any Texas high school player other than Kenneth Hall, who occasionally posts on this site as SLXpress. He’s a big back, and that’s two years in a row we’ve taken a guy who will fail in our current system.

Most guys will fail in our current system so maybe there is something to the noise about putting Gilbert under center more. Shead is big, strong and has excellent body lean.

His coach compares him to Adrian Peterson (whom he coached), but I think Cedric Benson might be a better comparison because he doesn’t have the off the charts athleticism.

Darius Terrell WR DeSoto

Stay away from Aggie equestrians, Darius. Oh, and you’re going to play flex tight end for us. He’s about 6′2″ 220 and runs probably a 4.7 or so. But he’s strong, has great hands, will block and has the testicular fortitude to meet the challenge.

Adrian White DB DeSoto

Practices like Tarzan, plays like Jane. Maybe that’s a bit unfair. But in two games against Skyline Mike Davis caught 39 passes for 900 yards and 15 TDs. Or something.

They weren’t all against White, but some of them were. And they’re the ones writing it off. He had offers from Florida, North Carolina, TCU and Nebraska (that once again means something). Those schools know defense, often times in the Biblical sense.

He’s already enrolled so he gets to battle with Eryon Barnett to replace the Browns at one of the corner spots in 2011.

Darius White WR Fort Worth Dunbar

Runs like a cross between good Roy Williams and an American Saddlebred.

There was supposedly a name tag fiasco at one of the junior days that caused him to sour on Texas, and it didn’t help that his stepdad was pushing OU. But his girlfriend will be attending Texas, and pussy trumps fake dad.

White wrecked shit as a junior, but he had a tough senior season because Dunbar didn’t have anyone who could get him the ball. He should play as a freshman unless we decide to start John Chiles and Philip Payne because they’re seniors.

Reggie Wilson DE Haltom City

T.I.A. Hooray. Committed so early that he’s almost a forgotten man at this point. TCU made some noise about hiring his high school’s S&C coach, but it wasn’t enough to sway him. Finished his high school career with about 60 TFLs.

Dedfischer says he has a big ass. I call that a solid base.

Relentless player with explosion and strength. Ridiculous upside. Has no peers against the run at his position.

Connor Wood QB Houston Second Baptist

He’s a very good athlete who can dunk a basketball. What? ChrisApplewhite can’t.

Played for a private school where he was probably bigger than his offensive linemen while throwing to skill position players named Zander. Throws well on the run and can probably give us something in the run game.

________________

This article was written by HenryJames of Barking Carnival

Follow Barking Carnival on Twitter: @BarkingCarnival

It’s signing day and the class of 25 seems to be complete.

Traylon Shead has a nice feature up over at the Statesman . He sounds like a back who has both the talent to play well at this level, and the physical intelligence (like Tre Newton) to make the right cut at the right speed. However, he’s behind Newton, Cody Johnson, Fozzy Whittaker, Vondrell McGee, and Chris Whaley, whom Major Applewhite claimed to be looking better after cutting some weight.

I actually like what I’m hearing about Shead and his abilities more than several of those options and it seems that he is physically ready, so it’s possible he plays as a freshman. If we hear about some of those guys rocking spring drills though it’s likely the staff will keep him off the field.

GhostofBigRoy has kicked off his great recruiting spotlight series wasting no time in getting to Jackson Jeffcoat and Jordan Hicks .

Because he can take on linemen so well at a low weight, it sounds like Jeffcoat may take on more of a Sergio Kindle role on the defense as a stand-up rusher and DE/LB hybrid. But again, he probably already is more skilled than Kindle as a pass-rusher. We might see him used on the strongside with Alex Okafor coming off the edge at RE. All in 2 years though since Sam Acho and Eddie Jones probably aren’t giving up the 2 starting spots this year.

Hicks probably won’t play as a freshman unless the coaches decide to use him on Special Teams or in particular pass-rush packages. It’s hard to see exactly where he projects since he excels as a blitzer and in coverage. If he can add the necessary strength and maintain the speed and agility he might make for a middle linebacker but it’s still a good bet he ends up at WLB and cracks the 2-deep in his sophomore year when Keenan Robinson is on his way out.

Another Statesman article on early enrollment details Gideon’s rise. Connor Wood, Case McCoy and Adrian White are the early enrollments this year.

The quarterbacks are a no-brainer, particularly McCoy, who is about as small as his brother coming in. While White is not one of the higher ranked DBs coming in, there’s a chance to crack the depth chart at Corner. After the starting 3 of Curtis Brown, Chykie Brown and Aaron Williams there isn’t much else in the way except Eryon Barnett and the other incoming freshman, none of whom are enrolling until the summer. White has the short-area speed you would like to see from a zone-corner or a robber safety like Thomas played last year.

As most of us now know, the Aggies lost prize linebacker Corey Nelson as well as another top player they tried to poach from Louisiana, potentially the dirtiest state for recruiting in the country.

Will check in later with the Mack Brown press conference when we get to hear Mack’s vision for all these guys.

_________________

This article was written by Nickel Rover of Barking Carnival

Follow Barking Carnival on Twitter: @BarkingCarnival

Y

Yes, we all expected AVATAR and THE HURT LOCKER to have good showings for this morning's Oscar nomination announcements (they are both tied at 9 nominations each) and we were not surprised when the names George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep were intoned at the 5:30am ceremony in Los Angeles. And yes, even the six nods for PRECIOUS (including well-deserved nominations for Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, director Lee Daniels and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher) and multiple kudos to the actors, writers and director of UP IN THE AIR were in keeping with expectations. But it wouldn't be the Oscars with some surprises and snubs.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the naming of Maggie Gylenhaal for her sensitive performance as the nurturing girlfriend of aging boozer country rocker Jeff Bridges in CRAZY HEART. Gylenhaal, who is enjoying her first nomination ever, was not included in any of the previous awards shows, including the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. However, she more than anchors the film with her deep and sensitive portrayal of a woman who has been wronged in the past by men but who takes a chance on opening her heart yet again to the alcoholic drifter played by Jeff Bridges.

So, how do you nominated the two key performances in a film like CRAZY HEART and then don't nominate the film for Best Picture or the director or screenwriter for their special humanistic touch? If the idea of expanding the Best Picture category to 10 films instead of the usual 5 was meant to expand the playing field, it did  do that somewhat, allowing such individual works as UP, DISTRICT 9, AN EDUCATION and the Coen Brothers' A SERIOUS MAN a chance to be in the winners' circle. And there was even room for THE BLIND SIDE, an inspirational weepie that has made a gazillion dollars at the box office and that gives screen veteran Sandra Bullock a chance at Oscar gold. Films that were rumored to be on the expanded 10-film Best Picture list that surprisingly did not make the cut included the box office blockbusters STAR TREK, SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE HANGOVER, the critics' darling WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE and one of the auspicious directorial debuts of the year, Tom Ford's homoerotic A SINGLE MAN (although the film's lead Colin Firth was included in the Best Actor race).

While most of the nominated actors and actresses in both the lead and supporting categories have already been in the running for previous awards, there are a few noticeable snubs. Robert Downey Jr. who nabbed a Golden Globe for his feisty reinvention of SHERLOCK HOLMES did not make the cut. The same was true for actors Viggo Mortenson, whose appearance in the apocalyptic THE ROAD was praised by critics but suffered anemic box office, and Michael Stahlberg, who gave such a winning performance as a modern-day Job lost in the wilds of 1960s Jewish suburbia in the Coen Brothers' A SERIOUS MAN. A longshot who also did not her his name announced this morning was Anthony Mackie, who was highly praised for his riveting performance in the Iraq War drama THE HURT LOCKER (for which his co-star Jeremy Renner received a Best Actor nod)

The Coens also did not make the final list in the Best Director race, although their original screenplay for A SERIOUS MAN was nominated. Also conspicuously absent from the final directorial count was Clint Eastwood for INVICTUS and Lone Scherfig for AN EDUCATION. While a woman was nominated in this category that has been traditionally stingy to female directors (Kathryn Bigelow, who is the odds-on favorite to win for her work on THE HURT LOCKER), two other prominent women did not make the cut, specifically Nancy Meyers for the sex comedy IT'S COMPLICATED and Nora Ephron for the enjoyable JULIE AND JULIA (both films starring the wildly prolific Meryl Streep). Aside from the possibility of a first-time historic win for a woman director, Lee Daniels becomes only the second African-American director to ever be nominated, for his work on PRECIOUS.

Several acting performances by women that seemed to be shoo-ins for Oscar recognition were also not announced this morning.  English actress Abbie Cornish who played the female love interest in director Jane Campion's costume drama BRIGHT STAR, did not make the cut. Neither did Emily Blunt in another historical drama, THE YOUNG VICTORIA. A longshot nom was predicted for French actress Melanie Laurent for her work as the Jewish cinema owner in Nazi-occupied Paris in Quentin Tarantino's imaginative World War II re-do, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. Another French actress, and former Oscar winner, Marion Cotillard, did not make the list for her performance in the musical NINE....fine work done in by the film's disasterous box office performance.

Another deserving performance that was ignored was that given by Samantha Morton as a woman who is told that her soldier husband has been killed in Iraq in the drama THE  MESSENGER (which did score noms for Woody Harrelson for Best Supporting Actor and director Oren Moverman and company for Best Screenplay). A nomination for Zoe Saladana for her heartfelt performance in AVATAR would have made it clear that the film was not just a digital effects extravanganza, but was given true life by the contributions of its actors. But alas, it was not to be..........

Sandy Mandelberger, Awards Watch Editor

Capitol Hill

Hunter Gatherers

What does good food, good wine and a whole lot of passive aggression equal? A night that began like any other for a straight-laced couple ends with insecurities, infidelities and illicit activities.

Jan. 21 to Feb. 8

7:30 p.m.

$12–18

The Little Theatre

Mad Rad (21+)

Mad Rad and Neumos have reconciled their differences for the night with a free show. Supporting are Macklemore, Breakfast Mountain and DJ Darwin.

Jan. 21

8 p.m.

Neumos

Moulin Rouge sing-along (21+)

Sing along with Portland’s Wanderlust Circus, the Royal Tease Burlesque and Baz Luhrmann’s eccentric remake of the classic love story. Lower ticket prices go to those in costume.

Jan. 21

8 p.m.

$5-8

Re-bar

Alastair Edmonstone

Edmonstone will play Messiaen’s notoriously challenging Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus.

Jan. 22

7:30 p.m.

$8-12

Seattle University, Pigott Auditorium

Pure Cirkus Roadshow (21+)

The Cirkus is a Vaudevillian mix of burlesque, cabaret, traveling freak show, and pyrotechnics. The controversial production promises to be an unforgettable evening.

Jan. 22

8 p.m.

$10-20

Neumos

JT Stewart and Deborah Woodard

Join a pair of local poets as they share new work.

Jan. 25

7 p.m.

Richard Hugo House

Feral Children CD Release Party!

Celebrate Feral Children’s latest release with the band, John Atkins and Jabon.

Jan. 27

8 p.m.

$8 adv.

Neumos

Jorge Enrique Gonzalez-Pacheco

Gonzalez-Pacheco will read poetry in Spanish from Under the Light of My Blood. Lonnie Tristan Renteria will follow with the English translation.

Jan. 27

5:30 p.m.

Seattle University, Wyckoff Auditorium

Ballard

The Map as Art

Katharine Harmon, a local author who lives in Magnolia, will be at the Ballard library showing slides from her new book, The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography. The book showcases work from 350 international artists who have incorporated maps into their art.

Thursday, Jan. 21

6:30 p.m.

Seattle Public Library: Ballard Branch

5614 22nd Ave. NW.

Gritty, aggressive sound with searing vocals (21+)

The Tractor Tavern has teamed up with KBCS 91.3 FM to bring you a night of (you guessed it) gritty, aggressive sounds with searing vocals. On the line-up is AA Bondy (the ex-lead singer for Verbena), Fences and Willy Mason.

Saturday, Jan. 23

9:30 p.m.

$10 adv., $12 day of show

Tractor Tavern

5213 Ballard Ave. NW.

Fremont

Round Trip Birthday Bash! (21+)

Is your birthday in January? If so, head over to the Nectar LOounge and have the cover charge waived. There will be live music by Sambatuque and Samba Assim, as well as salsa dancers and a DJ. As if this weren’t enough reason to go, Paris, Truth Awakening, and TubaLuba will also be making appearances.

Friday, Jan. 22

8 p.m.

$5

Nectar Lounge

412 N. 36th St.

Fictitious, Dice, and Twerk Ethics (21+)

ToST Lounge proudly presents a new breed of hip-hop. Hosting the three hip-hop groups Fictitious, Dice, and Twerk Ethics, all of which play live music over their beats or improvise heavily, ToST looks to help the music connect with the crowd.

Friday, Jan. 22

9 p.m.

$5 adv., $7 day of show

ToST Lounge

513 N. 36th St.

Wallingford

Maggie Growls

Maggie Kuhn was the founder of the Gray Panthers, an organization dedicated to bringing about social and economic justice for all people. The film Maggie Growls is a look at Kuhn’s life and her work with the Panthers. The film is part of the “Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies” series.

Friday, Jan. 22

7 p.m.

Donations accepted

Keystone Congregational United Chruch of Christ

5019 Keystone Place N.

Thaddillac and Roxbury Pound (21+)

The Seamonster hosts two bands in one night. Thaddeus Turner, the brains behind Thaddillac, has just completed his debut album and will be at the lounge to share some of its tunes. The last time Roxbury Pound played, the house was filled to capacity. Why shouldn’t it be? There’s no cover charge.

Saturday, Jan. 23

10:30 p.m.

Seamonster Lounge

2202 N. 45th St.

Downtown

Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar

Gibbard and Farrar are on tour to promote their new album One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur, which was written with lyrics evoking Jack Kerouac’s novel Big Sur. The book was an inspiration to both artists.

Sunday, Jan. 24

7 p.m.

$24 adv., $28 day of show

Showbox at the Market

1426 First Ave.

Phoenix

Phoenix is on tour to promote their critically acclaimed album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

Saturday, Jan. 23

8 p.m.

$24 adv., $26 day of show

Showbox SoDo

1700 First Ave. S.

AFI

AFI performs, supporting their September 2009 album Crash Love.

Friday, Jan. 22

7 p.m.

$24 adv., $26 day of show

Showbox SoDo

1700 First Ave. S.

Xanadu

This musical takes place in California circa 1980 and follows a girl named Kira who travels to Earth to help a struggling artist.

Tuesday, Jan. 19 to Sunday, Jan. 24

2 and 8 p.m.

$20-75

The Paramount Theatre

911 Pine St.

Gabriel Iglesias

Often seen sporting a Hawaiian shirt, Iglesias is best known for his self-deprecating joke that he is “fluffy,” not fat.

Saturday, Jan. 23

7 p.m.

$34.50

The Moore Theatre

1932 Second Ave.

The Builders and the Butchers (21+)

These indie rockers were Alaska natives who relocated to Portland to start their band and escape the sub-zero temperatures. Blue Giant and Y La Bamba will also play.

Thursday, Jan. 21

8 p.m.

$10 adv.

The Crocodile

2200 Second Ave.

Early Music Discovery: Nordic Ballads

This Nordic trio, Ulv, features singers Agnethe Christensen and Lena Susanne Norin, as well as vielle artist Elizabeth Gaver.

Sunday, Jan. 24

1 p.m.

$10, $5 students

Town Hall Seattle

Seneca Street and Eighth Avenue

Steve Earle

Earle is touring to promote his upcoming album Townes, the follow-up to his Grammy-winning album Washington Square Serenade. Hayes Carll is the special guest.

Friday, Jan. 22

8 p.m.

$30.50-35.50

The Moore Theatre

1932 Second Ave.

University Disrict

ASUW Workshops

This experimental tour gives students a look at the various opportunities in the UW student government. Registration is available online at exco.org/workshops.

Thursday, Jan. 21

5 p.m.

HUB

Tiny Vipers with Crystal Hell Pool: Musical Performance

Tiny Vipers is Jesy Fortino, a musician living in Seattle whose folk music draws inspiration from both country and avant-garde sources.

Friday, Jan. 22

7 p.m.

$8 students/members, $10 general admission

Henry Auditorium

25th Annual Artifact Identification Day

Bring your unidentified objects to the Burke Museum to learn about where they came from and the stories behind them. A limit of three items per visitor is requested because of the event’s popularity.

Saturday, Jan. 23

1 p.m.

Burke Museum

UW Winter Powwow

Come join in on music, food and entertainment hosted by the ASUW American Indian Student Commission.

Saturday, Jan. 23

1 p.m.

HUB Ballroom

Reach reporters Ashleen Aguilar, Robert Frankel, Kristen Steenbeeke & Weekender Editor Ivan Vukovic at weekender@dailyuw.com.

1. David Schuster Smacks Down NOM’s Brian Brown
2. Maggie Gallagher Admits NOM Infiltrated New Hampshire
3. Gallagher’s NOM Looks In The Mirror, Calls Karger Names

Games You Need to Watch

(5) Syracuse vs. (9) West Virginia, Noon Saturday on ESPN

The last time the Orange went to Morgantown, the 'Cuse received one of its worst road beatings since a disastrous 39 point beat-down to DePaul in 2006. That West Virginian beat-down came at a time when Andy Rautins had a bum knee, Wes Johnson was still an Iowa State Cyclone, and the Mountaineers still didn't really have a point guard.

Some things don't change.

That point guard play could and likely will be the deciding factor between the Mountaineers continuing to slide through the rankings and WVU legitimizing itself after disappointing losses on the road.

The two man rotation coach Bob Huggins has used throughout this season just hasn't worked. Truck Bryant and Joe Mazzulla haven't been the reliable floor generals West Virginia needs to run its forward dominated lineup.

It's been so bad at times that Huggins has started FIVE forwards. Playing so many forwards doesn't always work out so well.

When West Virginia faced an extremely physical Purdue team, the Mountaineers turned the ball over on 30 percent of their possessions, the highest rate of the season.

At time, wingman Da'Sean Butler has pulled an Evan Turner and played lead the Mountaineers as a point-forward. That really won't fly against a trapping zone that capitalizes on poor point guard play.

Luckily for West Virginia, if you don't have a solid, experienced floor general, the easiest way to beat the zone is find open looks from three, bury them, and if you don't, offensive rebound the air out of the ball.

Looking up and down Huggins' roster, shooters are abound. Six players have attempted at least two three-pointers per game and at any one time, Huggins can put four or even five shooters on the floor.

When those shots don't fall, West Virginia ranks FIRST in the national in offensive rebounding. As good as the Syracuse zone has been, rebounding has still been an issue. 

My pick: West Virginia 76, Syracuse 70

(11) Georgetown at (4) Villanova, Noon Sunday on ESPN360

Scottie Reynolds has been REALLY GOOD this year. Sneaky good in fact.  Austin Freeman for Georgetown has also been REALLY GOOD lately. His emergence hasn't been quite so sneaky. Exploding for 28 points in one half on national television against Connecticut loudly declared Freeman's dark-horse candidacy in the Big East Player of the Year race.

Freeman's the main reason the Georgetown offense is running at high efficiency, and that potent offense should stop Villanova's unbeaten streak through the league.

Although Villanova's defense has been, well to be nice, mediocre. The Wildcats have knocked off a handful of teams highly efficient offenses—Mississippi, Marquette (twice), Maryland, and Louisville.

The one game 'Nova lost? Temple, who's ranked 130th in offensive efficiency.

The difference between the wins and one loss? Tempo.

Jay Wright's stable of guards ran like heck (except against Marquette) in those wins; the offense stayed great and the defense wasn't terrible. Temple made Villanova guard the Owls for 25 or 30 seconds each possession and the Wildcats frequently broke down.

That's how the Georgetown offense breeds baskets and that's how the Hoyas will win Sunday.

My pick: Georgetown 69, Villanova 65

Mid-Major Matchup of the Weekend

Dayton at Xavier, 11:00 A.M. Saturday on ESPN2

After Xavier took down Charlotte on its homecourt during the week, coach Chris Mack asked his Twitter followers to be even louder and more boisterous for the next team to come to town—the A-10 favorites, Dayton Flyers.

This is a pivotal game for the Musketeers. In a sense, it's almost a must-win if X wants to go dancing this season. Losses piled up in the nonconference slate and Mack's team doesn't have a marquee win.

Generally, when top guard Jordan Crawford plays poorly, Xavier loses. He can't have the 4-for-20 or 6-for-19 shooting days that haunted him in the Old Spice Classic losses.

Crawford has been finding his role within the offense as Mack said in Orlando that Crawford has the green light on any shot that's within the offense. When the shooting guard started shooting shots Mack disapproved of, Mack benched him. Crawford has since responded by being much more efficient, but Xavier still hasn't been able to beat the best teams it's played.

Dayton has the athletes to potentially stop Crawford, but the Flyers don't have the brute size to contend with Xavier's trees in the post. Combine that with the homecourt advantage that stunned Cincinnati and Xavier could have a statement win.

My pick: Xavier 66, Dayton 58

The Upset You Shouldn't be Surprise About

(15) Connecticut at Michigan, 1:30 Sunday on CBS

The Huskies might be the worst 15th ranked team in awhile (and by awhile I clearly mean November) because that's when the Wolverines held down that same spot. Seven losses later and John Beilein's team must win this game to keep its tournament hopes alive.

The Crisler Arena isn't exactly the toughest place to play, but right now the Huskies don't look like they can win anywhere. The half-court offense is pretty putrid (check out the 3:30 mark of the video for Jim Calhoun testiness about his offense).

Matt Norlander of the College Hoops Journal had all the right to question Calhoun's offense. The Huskies scored just .9 points per possession and frankly, that's not going to beat anyone in the Big East (except DePaul and Rutgers).

Michigan might not be a Big East team, but if Connecticut converts like it has been, the Wolverines should get that much needed win.

My pick: Michigan 73, Connecticut 64

The Best of the Rest

(23) Mississippi at (10) Tennessee, 1:30 Saturday on ESPN360

The Volunteers avoided a letdown against Auburn after defeating top ranked Kansas, and now Bruce Pearl's team plays in front of his incredibly supportive home crowd again.

(18) Georgia Tech at (13) North Carolina, 2:00 Saturday on ESPN

Both teams are close to hitting the panic button. If UNC blows Georgia Tech out or GTech manages to upset the Tar Heels, it will be time for the loser to hit the drawing board.

Texas A&M at (1) Texas, 6:00 Saturday on ESPNU

The Aggies shouldn't stand in the way of the Longhorns pursuit of perfection. TAMU's first game against a quality opponent without Derrick Roland ended in disaster against Kansas State.

(2) Kentucky at Auburn, 4:00 Saturday on ESPN360

The Tigers couldn't beat a six-man Volunteers squad. What do you think will happen when the first six players in Kentucky's rotation are better than anyone Auburn has?

For more updates on college basketball, follow @JamesonFleming and @BR_CollegeBBall on Twitter.

DGenerate Films, the New York-based film distro group, carried out their own end-of-decade film poll and recently announced the results:

1. In the Mood for Love (花样年华)
Wong Kar-wai’s dreamy meditation on nostalgia. Maybe Maggie Cheung’s best role ever.

2. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (铁西区)
Wang Bing’s seven-hour documentary methodically traces the fate of China’s northeast Rust Belt.

3. Platform (站台)
Jia Zhangke’s second film kicked off the decade, making a strong statement that the 2000’s would not belong to the Fifth Generation.

4. Yi Yi (一一)
Edward Yang’s Taipei family drama is touching and lovely.

5. Still Life (三峡好人)
Jia Zhangke’s fictional film has the beauty of slowly unrolling Chinese scroll, but is set in the industrial mire of post-dam Three Gorges.

6. Devils on the Doorstep (鬼子来了)
Jiang Wen’s black and white film of farmers caught in the middle of the Japanese invasion stars himself and has a stunning ending

7. (TIE)
Oxhide (牛皮)
Liu Jiayin’s pseudo-doc puts you in the same room with a working class family and keeps you there brilliantly, often uncomfortably

Summer Palace (颐和园)
Lou Ye’s masterpiece is sex and youth set against the backdrop of 1989 in Beijing.

The World (世界)
Jia Zhangke’s film was lauded all over the world and even the Chinese government signed off on it.

10. (TIE)
Blind Shaft (盲井)
Li Yang’s neo-realist film about con artists in mining country is tragically all too real.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙)
Ang Lee’s film won an Oscar. Everyone knows it.

The big surprise here is the lack of films from Taiwanese directors. The late Edward Yang’s brilliant Yiyi made the list but where was Tsai Ming-liang’s amazing Wandering Cloud (porn, watermelons ...

DGenerate Films, the New York-based film distro group, carried out their own end-of-decade film poll and recently announced the results:

1. In the Mood for Love (花样年华)
Wong Kar-wai’s dreamy meditation on nostalgia. Maybe Maggie Cheung’s best role ever.

2. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (铁西区)
Wang Bing’s seven-hour documentary methodically traces the fate of China’s northeast Rust Belt.

3. Platform (站台)
Jia Zhangke’s second film kicked off the decade, making a strong statement that the 2000’s would not belong to the Fifth Generation.

4. Yi Yi (一一)
Edward Yang’s Taipei family drama is touching and lovely.

5. Still Life (三峡好人)
Jia Zhangke’s fictional film has the beauty of slowly unrolling Chinese scroll, but is set in the industrial mire of post-dam Three Gorges.

6. Devils on the Doorstep (鬼子来了)
Jiang Wen’s black and white film of farmers caught in the middle of the Japanese invasion stars himself and has a stunning ending

7. (TIE)
Oxhide (牛皮)
Liu Jiayin’s pseudo-doc puts you in the same room with a working class family and keeps you there brilliantly, often uncomfortably

Summer Palace (颐和园)
Lou Ye’s masterpiece is sex and youth set against the backdrop of 1989 in Beijing.

The World (世界)
Jia Zhangke’s film was lauded all over the world and even the Chinese government signed off on it.

10. (TIE)
Blind Shaft (盲井)
Li Yang’s neo-realist film about con artists in mining country is tragically all too real.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙)
Ang Lee’s film won an Oscar. Everyone knows it.

The big surprise here is the lack of films from Taiwanese directors. The late Edward Yang’s brilliant Yiyi made the list but where was Tsai Ming-liang’s amazing Wandering Cloud (porn, watermelons ...

The former prime minister's recent comment about trust in politics was a jaw-dropping bit of revisionism on at least two important counts

Good to see the BBC fighting back against its many self-interested media detractors in this morning's Guardian. Despite its many maddening faults it remains a national treasure and, far from being a drain on the economy, generates £7.6bn a year for the British economy.

That said, one of the high points of the Christmas broadcasting season was the sound of crime writer-peer PD James grilling a stumbling Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, about the corporation's shortcomings, not least its top-heavy and overpaid management structure. You can find the original interview here.

Clearly James, who used to be a BBC governor, is not one of those older women – she's 89 – whom the Beeb is gagging to re-hire; not because Harriet Harman says they should, but because it's seriously stupid not to have older women around the building. The country is awash with older widows – whoops, I meant women – and they deserve some on-air representation.

But James, a widow for nearly 50 years, was not the only golden oldie in evidence during the festive season. Apart from all those old films and sitcom re-runs, there was Shirley Williams, guest-editing Radio 4's Today programme along with James and affable David Hockney, most of whose energy seemed to be devoted to denouncing the smoking ban.

Williams is sometimes described as the Labour politician who could have been the left's answer to Margaret Thatcher. Wrongly, I think, not tough enough, unlike Barbara Castle; not decisive enough either. But that's not my point today.

The former sweetheart of the Labour moderates (later SDP moderates) thrust herself forward to interview all sorts of Great and Good types who were probably smitten by the famous charms of her youth, plus one who was too young to have been at Oxford at the time: Sir John Major.

The former PM is a decent man who did not deserve all the abuse he got in those pre-blogging days, when the worst a chap suffered in the stocks was Spitting Image (quite bad enough). What's more, he keeps his mouth shut most of the time, unlike some ex-tenants of No 10 we could name, couldn't we Ted and Maggie?

That said, Major's interview about trust was a jaw-dropping bit of revisionism on at least two important counts. Encouraged by Shirl the Pearl, to whom this sort of piety comes naturally, I fear, he said that the key to restoring trust in parliament is the "reassertion of the independence of mind" among backbench MPs.

Since 1997 when Labour MPs were first issued with pagers and the degrading daily "line to take" on current issues they had been reduced to parroting slogans and bullying by the whips, Major appeared to suggest. Select committees should have more power, draft bills should be pre-published for wider parliamentary and public scrutiny before being enacted.

That last already happens under Labour reforms. But Major's memory plays him false. I too think that backbench MPs should reclaim more power to hold the executive to better account, though there are downsides. Listening to Major you would think he had completely forgotten the humiliating period when the eight or so "whipless" Tory Euro-sceptics held the balance of power in the 1992-97 parliament (Major's majority had only been only 21 to start with) and ran his regime ragged.

It's the kind of shambles we can expect if – a big if – Nick Clegg, Williams and co get their way and voters deliver a hung parliament on 6 May. If backstairs deals are your idea of greater accountability, good luck.

As it happens Dr Philip Cowley and his team at Nottingham University have repeatedly demolished the myth that Labour MPs have been supine since 1997. Quite the reverse; they have rebelled in ever-increasing numbers more than in any parliament since 1945 and forced changes on government policy despite the seemingly revolt-proof character of Tony Blair's majorities.

As for parliamentary procedural reforms which weakened backbench power, Major should know because the Jopling report (1994) which led to the routine timetabling of legislation (ie time limits) was introduced as part of the "modernisation" agenda on his watch – with the support of a Labour frontbench which rightly expected to be in power shortly.

The process has continued in the name of "family friendly" hours and other questionable cosmetics ever since.

My point here is not to harry Major, merely to remind him – and readers – that rascally manipulation of procedure did not start, as so many think, with Tony Blair's election. John Smith pulled out of "pairing" MPs – so that absentees could cancel each other out – because of perceived abuses under Major.

I could go on – and will. Major, encouraged by Williams, deplored the "black arts" of spin, though they were certainly around in his day – as they were in Cicero's. As Thatcher said when opposing candour over the role of M16 in 1979 she was taught by two future judges "never admit anything unless you have to; and then only for specific reasons and within defined limits".

We learned that from the release of the 1979 cabinet papers over Christmas – under the 30-year-rule. Labour's Jim Callaghan, then still in No 10, had ignored her advice and allowed publication of M16's wartime history. It does not smack of candour in the Tory years under which Major prospered, does it?

I do not make the point to warn you how awful a Cameron-led government may be: I leave that to the likes of Polly Toynbee and Peter Oborne to make your spine tingle about the crimes of one side or the other.

On the contrary, all governments have good points and bad ones, successes and failures, but they also have much in common: expediency and the sheer press of events, often make them act in the same way.

Major's killer point, as he saw it, was Iraq. In the mid-90s the Clinton administration had sounded him out about overthrowing Saddam Hussein, he revealed. He saw them off. When he inherited Thatcher's war to retake invaded Kuwait in 1990-91 he had kept his cabinet informed and always told them "less than I knew" about Saddam's weapons programmes. He had supported the 2003 invasion on the assumption that Blair had done the same.

He's now pretty cross about it, he says. I notice in today's Times both Brown and Blair camps are cross too about Blair's imminent evidence to the Chilcot inquiry: Blair because he thinks (rightly) that Brown messed up the timing of the inquiry and its public evidence-giving; Brown because he fears (rightly) that Blair may be tempted to be over-candid and offend some voters.

Personally, I hope he is. It's about time. One person who could benefit from a burst of frankness is Sir John Major.

He told Shirley Williams that he and Bush senior had not pressed on to Baghdad in 1991 because: a) it was illegal and b) they would have to occupy the country.

Both good points, but not the whole story. I remember Major telling the Commons soon after the ceasefire that he did not expect Saddam to last long in power. Indeed no, the Shia revolt in the south was supposed to put paid to him. But it didn't. It was suppressed with dreadful violence by agents the Sunni dictatorship while the west, the UN, the Sunni Arab world and its ex-Soviet allies looked on.

So the problem festered unresolved until the next time, as we all now know, with most top people convinced that Saddam was developing WMD because that's what he kept saying. The same sort of people who put down the Shia revolt in 1991 are behind the "resistance" to the Shia majority regime in Baghdad. That's hardly a secret either.

I don't blame Major for tweaking his version of events. We all do it, it's human nature. Tony Blair will do too when he gives evidence to Chilcot – but not as much as many of the hindsight merchants on his case.

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by Erich Schlegel - AP

about 1 month ago: Texas quarterback Colt McCoy (12) walks a victory lap after the Texas Longhorns beat Kansas 51-20 in the NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. McCoy also set a NCAA Division I record for most wins as a starting quarterback (43). (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

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Sorry Beef O'Brady, the bowl season really doesn't begin until December 26th.  After a week of mediocre (at best) bowls spread out over each night, your plate is about to get extremely full.  It can be hard to tell which match-ups of 6-6 teams are worth your time (all of them, obviously).  Of course, they even let teams with winning records play in bowl games as well, so you might even see one or two of those. Let's take a look at all of the games to be played and find out which ones are going to be tasty and which ones might be worth pushing to the side of your plate in the Holiday Season College Football Buffet (/throws confetti).

All times are Eastern.

GIVE ME A HEAPING HELPING

BCS National Championship: No. 1 Alabama v. No. 2 Texas (ABC, January 7, 8pm)

You don't go to war with the BCS Championship Game you want, you go to war with the BCS Championship Game available to you.  The name of the game here is "physical."  Alabama's practices have been physical.  Texas' D is getting ready for Bama's physical RBs.  Cue creepy old announcers talking about how physical the young men playing this game are. 

Fiesta Bowl: No. 6 Boise State v. No. 3 TCU (FOX, January 4, 8pm)

Two undefeated non-BCS teams qualify for BCS bowls and they're reward is to...play each other.  Bravo, BCS.  Every time we think you're reached the limit of stupidity, you find a way to top yourself.  Boise State's ability to win might come down to the availability of RB Austin Pettis, who's still in doubt.

I'LL HAVE A SCOOP OF THAT, PLEASE

Holiday Bowl: No. 22 Arizona v. No. 20 Nebraska (ESPN, December 20, 8pm)

There seems to be some question regarding Nebraska's motivation heading into the Holiday Bowl against Arizona. Don't expect Bo Pelini to let that happen.  The Wildcats are too busy worrying about Ndamukong Suh.

Rose Bowl: No. 8 Ohio State v. No. 7 Oregon (ABC,January 1, 5pm)

The last time these two met in the Rose Bowl?  1958.  Considering this is a BCS bowl game, it would be unwise to bet on the Buckeyes.  Seems like eternity since they've won one.

Sugar Bowl: No. 5 Florida v. No. 4 Cincinnati (FOX, January 1, 8pm)

Despite being undefeated, it's hard to know if Cincy will show up for this one.  Brian Kelly is already gone, their new coach isn't there yet and the guy in charge in this game is out the door as soon as it's over.  Florida fans can't be too excited for this consolation prize...then again, many of them won't be able to watch it anyway.  Tim Tebow's college career ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

I'LL TASTE IT FIRST...

Orange Bowl: No. 9 Georgia Tech v. No. 10 Iowa (FOX, January 5, 8pm)

Hey, remember this BCS game?  Me neither.  But Paul Johnson is a "genius" so you might want to see him at work.  Jacket fans are wary of talking smack against the Hawkeyes, however, lest they have to eat those words. 

Champs Sports Bowl: No. 24  Wisconsin v. No. 14 Miami (ESPN, December 29, 8pm)

Miami finish the regular season with the ACC's third-ranked offense with 413.5 yards per game and 31.7 points per game.  Whether or not Wisconsin's defense can shut them down will determine the outcome.  If the bowl logo is any indication, part of Orlando explodes when it's over. So that's something to look forward to.

Emerald Bowl: USC v. Boston College (ESPN, December 26, 8pm)

What the hell is USC doing here?  A disappointing season for the Trojans can be somewhat salvaged with a win.  It looks like Joe McKnight will be back in the line-up but there's still some uncertainty.  It certainly doesn't help that two other starters are already ineligible.

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston v. Air Force (ESPN, December 31, Noon)

You want offense?  Oh, you'll get offense.  We could realistically expect over 1,000 yards between these two. Air Force is ranks 3rd in the nation with 273.6 rushing yards per game and Houston can't stop the run. Even with the nation's number one pass defense, Air Force will have their hands full with Houston QB Case Keenum and the Cougars passing game, which ranks first in total yards, (581.2) passing yards, (460.5), touchdown passes (43), and leads the nation in points scored at 43.2 per game. Oh yes, there will be scoring.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl: No. 12 Virginia Tech v. Tennessee (ESPN, December 31, 7:30pm)

Tennessee returns to the postseason under first-year head coach Lane Kiffin. The Vols' solid finish (4-1) was sparked by the play of their often maligned quarterback, Jonathan Crompton.  He'll be going up against a Hokie defense that led the ACC in pass defense, pass efficiency defense, and scoring defense.

Sun Bowl: No. 19 Stanford v. Oklahoma (CBS, December 31, 2pm)

The bad news for Oklahoma...they finished 7-5 and have to consider this a dissappointment . The good news...it doesn't seem to be affecting recruiting.

Cotton Bowl: No. 21 Oklahoma State v. Mississippi (FOX, January 2, 2pm)

Some have dubbed this The Preseason Fraud Bowl. Then again, the ones lobing those accusations are the same ones dumb enough to have over-ranked them in the first place.

I'LL KEEP THAT IN MIND FOR THE NEXT TRIP

Meineke Car Care Bowl: North Carolina v. No. 17 Pittsburgh (ESPN, December 26, 4:30pm)

Pitt came within one win of representing the Big East in a BCS bowl.  Instead, they'll be here, entertaining an ACC team they should beat.  That spells trouble as the Panthers lost earlier this year to a sub-par NC State.  If nothing else, watch for Pitt RB Dion Lewis, who will be a Heisman candidate next year.

Music City Bowl: Kentucky v. Clemson (ESPN, December 27, 8:15pm)

I'm not even entirely sure anyone at Kentucky knows they're still playing football.  Clemson could sure use the bowl win to help prop up a weak recruiting season.

Capital One Bowl: No. 13 LSU v. No. 11 Penn State (ABC, January 1, 1pm)

LSU's offense is ranked 84th nationally in rushing and 99th in passing, which combines to make them 108th in total offense.  Not good, especially when you've got someone like DT Jared Odrick lining up against you.

Gator Bowl: Florida State v. No. 18 West Virginia (CBS, January 1, 1pm)

The Bobby Bowden Bowl. Jimbo Fisher might officially be the man at FSU but this game is all about Bobby Bowden.  West Virginia wants to end their own season on a high note but it won't be easy without players like Scootber Berry, who is ineligible.

Liberty Bowl: Arkansas v. East Carolina (ESPN, January 2, 5:30pm)

East Carolina is going for its first 10-win season since 1991.  They'll have their hands full with Razorback QB Ryan Mallett, who leads the nation's 10th ranked pass offense with 3,425 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Alamo Bowl: Michigan State v. Texas Tech (ESPN, January 2, 9pm)

Are you a matriculated student at Michigan State?  Can you catch a football?  Stay loose, the Spartans might just need you by the time this one starts.

I DON'T KNOW...SMELLS KINDA FUNNY...

Independence Bowl: Texas A&M v. Georgia (ESPN2, December 28, 5pm)

An intriguing match-up between a rebuilding Bulldog team and a young Aggie squad. The Bulldogs field the more stout defense of the two but youth could be served as well.

EagleBank Bowl: Temple v. UCLA (ESPN, December 29, 4:30pm)

Just as a reminder, we now live in a world where Temple and Rutgers are perennial bowl teams.  The end is most certainly nigh.

Texas Bowl: Missouri v. Navy (ESPN, December 31, 3:30pm)

Missouri is bringing a three game winning streak into their fifth consecutive bowl game appearance. Navy is bringing its most victories in three seasons to their academy-record 7th straight bowl game appearance. This game has all the criteria for an exciting, high-scoring offensive shootout.

Outback Bowl: Northwestern v. Auburn (ESPN, January 1, 11am)

Auburn has had a propensity for hitting big plays, and thus enjoys better offensive averages in many areas. Northwestern has been better at long, deliberate drives, playing keep-away from the defense.  That said, the Wildcats have their Fear-O-Meter set high.

Papajohns.com Bowl: South Carolina v. Connecticut (ESPN, January 2, 2pm)

South Carolina's Stephen Garcia has come a long way since last season.  Not everyone would have expected him to be here in this position...maybe even Steve Spurrier.

NO THANKS, PLATE'S FULL

Insight Bowl: Iowa State v. Minnesota (NFL Network, December 31, 6pm)

Minnesota's offensive output has been on the downward slope for the last couple years.  That doesn't necessarily mean they can't be successful however, especially in this game.  Iowa State, meanwhile, is probably just happy to be here.

GMAC Bowl: No. 25 Central Michigan v. Troy (ESPN, January 6, 7pm)

The Chippewas are the MAC champs for the third time in four seasons, and now they look to finish the season strong, though they'll be doing it without the coach who led them to their first national ranking.

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl: Marshall v. Ohio (ESPN, December 26, 1pm)

Neither team does any one thing particularly well, collectively ranking 78th (Marshall) and 98th (Ohio) in total offense.  Marshall wants to get off to a good start as new coach Doc Holiday prepares to take over and Ohio has been awful against the run, so the Herd should thunder all over this one.

Humanitarian Bowl: Bowling Green v. Idaho (ESPN, December 20, 4:30PM)

A bowl game so uninteresting and irrelevant that gamblers are using the eenie-meenie-minie-moe-method.

International Bowl: Northern Illinois v. South Florida (ESPN2, January 2, Noon)

South Florida started the year 5-0.  Now they're playing in Toronto to end the season.  As usual, the Bulls faded down the stretch.  Husky fans seem particularly good about this match-up and the experts actually seem to agree.