Say What?
NCAA tournament to adopt football playoff format?
The weekly release of preliminary rankings by the College Football Playoff Committee has created so much publicity for the sport that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee is considering following suit. Instead of keeping its seedings secret until Selection Sunday, it’s considering unveiling early information in weeks leading up to the 68-team tournament.
Sarkisian sounds comfortable with loss to Bruins
Bill Parcells famously said, “You are what your record says you are.” But Southern Cal’s head coach, Steve Sarkisian, was claiming, “We’re better than we played,” after his team lost its third game in a row to cross-town rival UCLA, 38-20. He sounded almost comfortable with the performance, attributing the loss to “mistakes . . . that we haven’t made at some positions in more than a month.” And he admitted the coaching position made its share of mistakes. “We need to coach better and we need to play better, in-game,” he said. Alumni are restless, even though this is his first season at Troy and the team is 7-4 and headed for a bowl. BruinsNation attributed this quote to “the Trojans beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News.”
From @InsideUSC: “A leader of men would not be losing to this UCLA team like this.”
Reign of Troy blared its postgame headline: “Embarrassing loss should make Steve Sarkisian’s seat hot.”
Buffalo snowed in, Bills snowed out of practice
On to colder subjects: When Buffalo Bills tight end Scott Chandler scored a touchdown against the New York Jets at the dome away from home, Detroit’s Ford Field, his celebratory dance was a pantomime of shoveling snow. That was a tribute to Buffalo, which was so thoroughly buried by six feet of snow that the Bills were unable to practice during the week. They had to transfer their home game to Detroit, a change of venue that seemed to inspire them more than it did the Jets. Buffalo/Detroit won 38-3. Afterward, Chandler said, “I broke two shovels this week. One was mine and one was my neighbor’s. I’ve got to go to Home Depot tomorrow and get two more.”
NHL star Johnson bankrupt at 27
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson is an eight-year veteran in the National Hockey League and has a $30.5 million contract, but that didn’t keep him from landing in bankruptcy court. Johnson said his finances fell apart under the management of his parents. He said he used his contract for collateral for unconventional loans he did not authorize. His filings in federal court showed he owned more than $12 million, while he reported assets of less than $10 million.