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BCS Championship Preview: In Tebow We TrustJanuary 8

BCS Championship Game
Florida Gators vs Oklahoma Sooners

Miami, FL
Thursday 8 PM FOX

Line: Florida -4 (open -3)

Overview

This will be the last college football game of the 2008 season and it should be a good one. The Florida Gators, champions of the SEC, meet the Oklahoma Sooners, champions of the Big 12 for 2008 BCS Championship. Both schools will be going for their second BCS title and one of these coaches will be the first coach to win two BCS Championships.

I thought about doing keys for each team, but then I realized they are pretty much the same. Yesterday, I proposed three questions for both Florida and Oklahoma to answer if they want to win Thursday night. The two biggest by far I think are how well Sam Bradford plays coming off the Heisman Banquet circuit and how in sync Florida's offense is with OC Dan Mullen having pulled double duty the last month after accepting the Miss State head job.

Game Keys:

1. Sam Bradford vs Tim Tebow

The last two Heisman winners square off for the BCS Championship and their play will go a long way to determining their team's sucess. Both offenses revolve around their QBs making plays. The track record for Heisman winners in bowl games is pretty poor a

Josh Howard for Andrea Bargnani?Today

While going through my morning ritual of reading up on basketball blogs, I came across a trade rumor that stuck out at me.

Hoopsworld.com is reporting that the Dallas Mavericks and the Toronto Raptors are in discussions to swap Josh Howard for former first pick Andrea Bargnani.

In all, the discussions around the trade would include the Mavericks sending Howard and either DaSagna (had to check three times how to spell that) Diop or Antoine Wright in exchange for Bargnani and Anthony Parker of the Raptors.

If Diop were to be included in the trade, the Raptors would have to include somebody else to balance the trade salary cap wise. My best estimate is that the trade would be Wright and Howard for Bargnani and Parker.

Outside of Nowitzki, Howard is the Mavericks' most tradeable asset, and because of his questionable off the court issues and a sub-Howardesque performance this year, he is the most likely to be prematurely moved.

I am very skeptical of this trade from the Mavericks' point of view. I believe the trade sounds as if the Mavericks are quickly jumping on making a move for the sake of making a move—never a good idea in professional sports. Do they really want to move a young former all-star for a poor man’s Dirk Nowitzki to line up opposite...Dirk Nowitzki?

Combining Bargnani with Nowitzki would bring you two seven-foot soft and poor defenders in your startin

Stephen Jones Big Ups Big NathanToday

Ah, some sense at last. In his most recent Rolling Maul (well worth a read for many reasons, primarily it seems something to argue with your PC screen about) the esteemed Sunday Times Rugby correspondent has highlighted Big Nathan’s possible usefulness as a Lions tourist:

Nathan Hines (Perpignan)

He has had his injury problems, he has had his moody periods—notably when he decided to retire from Scotland, although in the dire reign of Matt Williams as coach this was seen as compulsory, not disloyal.

Hines, however, is hardcore. Someone has to stand opposite Bakkies Botha on tour and give back in kind everything Bakkies dishes out, in deed or word. At present, Hines seems to be the leading candidate to out-Bakkies Bakkies. He is big, tough and uncompromising, and if you can become a hero in a tough place like Perpignan then you have it all going for you.

You can read the full article here.

Breaking News: Cleveland Browns Hire Eric Mangini As Head CoachToday

NFL's Adam Schefter is reporting that today, January 7th, 2009, former New England Patriots defensive coordinator and New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini has been hired as the head football coach of the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns had fired former coach Romeo Crennel after he led the team to a disappointing 24-40 record over four seasons.

Mangini has become the first free agent head coach to be hired in 2009, and obviously this also takes him off the market for any team interested in him as a potential coordinator or coach.

Mangini had been fired from the New York Jets after his team completed a monumental collapse at the end of the 2008 season. After sitting at 8-3 following their win over the previously undefeated Titans, the Jets would lose four of their final five games and miss the playoffs. After the season, Jets players began talking to the media expressing dislike of Mangini's coaching practices, and reporting that he favored Brett Favre over other players.

The Cleveland Browns have now hired two former Patriot assistants as coaches in a row. Since the team has reportedly been interested in New England GM Scott Pioli for their own front office, the bad blood between Mangini and the Patriots may make that more difficult.

Details of the signing and contract are not available yet, but stay tuned with NFL.com and NFL Network, as Schefter himself and other reporters will soon be covering this story.

New York: A Disgrace To Baseball?Today

Both the New York Yankees and Mets have been big spenders this off-season.

The Yankees signed CC Sabathia to a seven-year deal worth $161 million. They signed Mark Teixeira to an eight-year deal worth $180 million. They also bolstered their rotation by signing A.J. Burnett to a five-year worth $82.5 million.

The Yanks didn't stop there. They signed Sergio Mitre to a one-year deal, traded for Nick Swisher, and re-signed Chien-Ming Wang and Damaso Marte. I honestly don't know where they are going to put them all. They already have plenty of talented players from last year and now they are bringing in more.

Typical Yanks.

The Mets also have been active this offseason. They signed Francisco Rodriguez to a three-year deal, acquired J.J. Putz through a trade, and Derek Lowe is on their radar.

Once all of these transactions happened, fans of other teams immediately decided that this was unfair.

Teams shouldn't be able to buy anyone they want, especially at ridiculous prices (Look at the price the Yanks paid for Burnett). Obviously, the Yankees are the favorites to win the American League East.

Since I am a Phillies fan, all I will say about the Mets is that it will be an interesting year.

What many people don't realize is:

(A) Since there is no salary cap teams can do whatever they want

(B) They only think that way because their own teams don't have the money.

First of all money has nothing to