2014: Harder to Breathe

English: Baltimore Ravens Training Camp August 20, 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Athletes who get paid millions in team salaries and endorsement contracts, then go out in public and protest police brutality should know one thing:  They are not LeBron James, whose influence and celebrity status transcend the basketball court.

Athletes who abuse the women and children in their lives, and otherwise break the law, should expect their employers to come down hard on them in fines and suspensions.  Well, sometimes, depending on how valuable you are to the team and how competent the investigation was.

Whatever happened to Michael Sam?

Just because the World Cup was a huge hit on TV, that doesn't mean soccer has arrived in America yet.

NBC will be televising the Olympic games through 2032.  In other words, FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!!!  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Bird enthusiasts want the Minnesota Vikings to put a special film on the glass in their new football stadium, so our flighty friends won't suffer as many concussions outside as the players do inside.  Why does this sound like a Windex TV commercial?

Donald Sterling no longer owns the Los Angeles Clippers, thanks to his unrepentant bigotry being caught on tape by his mistress.  Who's to say there aren't other Sterlings out there, only they're smart enough to keep their racism to themselves?

Bud Selig is retiring as Major League Baseball commissioner.  Time for a checklist of his accomplishments.  Labor peace?  Records forever altered by steroid use?  Rich teams getting richer through lengthy TV contracts?  More playoffs?  Making the All Star Game a grudge match for a World Series advantage?  Interleague play?  Being more beloved by owners than players and fans?  Check and double check.

Stephen A. Smith, Bill Simmons and other sports media hosts who make a living out of saying stupid things on the air sometimes goes too far and get suspended.  Is it too much to ask to think before you speak?

Mo'ne Davis made a big splash as a 13-year old girl who pitched in the Little League World Series.  Let's hope her newfound celebrity status doesn't affect her future college eligibility.

Becky Hammon is now an assistant coach for the NBA San Antonio Spurs, following a long career in the WNBA.  This shouldn't be a big deal, but it is.

Rory McElroy is the number one golfer in the world, and is getting better.  Tiger Woods, because of injuries and related things, is sinking slowly into the sunset.

Maybe someday, Johnny Manziel will become the stellar NFL quarterback everyone thought he'd be.  They said the same thing about Tim Tebow, and look where he is now--on ESPN as a football analyst.

The Federal Communication Commission ruled that "Redskins" is not obscene enough to ban it from TV, and have also refused to take away the license of one of Washington NFL owner Dan Snyder's radio stations.  By any other name, the Redskins will continue to be a dysfunctional franchise as long as Snyder owns it.

We say goodbye to . . .  Tony Gwynn, Jean Beliveau, Ralph Kiner, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Gilles Tremblay, Pat Quinn, Alvin Dark, Orlando Thomas.

The 2014 Owljock Bowl Guide

English: The Rose Bowl stadium before the 2009 Rose Bowl game. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once more, what has become an annual tradition (just like, say, fruitcake), we bring you our list of college football bowl games you can watch or ignore at your peril this holiday season.

Nearly 40 games will be played between December 20 and January 12, 2015, spanning the North American continent from Hawaii to the Bahamas (both of which are on islands).  Four of them are new this year, and there are several that have added, changed or dropped sponsors.

This is the first season of the College Football Playoff, which replaces the late and unlamented Bowl Championship Series.  The format for the playoff is for a committee to choose four schools with winning football records, shoehorn them into two existing bowls on New Year's Day, then have the winners duke it out in a new championship game a week later at a neutral site.

The four CFP schools, by order of ranking, are:  Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State.  But even this system isn't perfect.  Institutions of higher learning such as Baylor, Texas Christian and Mississippi State started hollering about being left out of the CFP.  So naturally college football pundits are wondering how long it will be before the playoff resembles the NCAA Men's basketball tournament.

With that, here's this year's Bowl Guide.  It contains the name of the bowl, where it is, matchups, who televises them, and a brief description of what the title sponsor sells or represents.  Good luck to all the teams, and good luck to you for figuring all this out.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl:  Nevada vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (New Orleans, LA 12/20)  ESPN  
Shipping firm.

Gildan New Mexico Bowl:  Utah State vs. Texas-El Paso  (Albuquerque, NM  12/20)  ESPN
Active wear.

Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl:  Utah vs. Colorado State  (Las Vegas, NV  12/20)  ABC
Auto products.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl:  Western Michigan vs. Air Force  (Boise, ID  12/20)  ESPN

Raycom Media Camellia Bowl:  South Alabama vs. Bowling Green (Montgomery, AL  12/20)  ESPN
Broadcasting company.  First season.

Miami Beach Bowl:  BYU vs. Memphis  (Miami, FL  12/22)  ESPN
First season.  Played at Marlins Park, home of baseball's Miami Marlins.

Boca Raton Bowl:  Marshall vs. Northern Illinois  (Boca Raton, FL  12/23)  ESPN
First season.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl:  Navy vs. San Diego State  (San Diego, CA  12/23)  ESPN
Financial services.

Popeyes Bahamas Bowl:  Central Michigan vs. Western Kentucky  (Nassau, Bahamas  12/24)
ESPN
Chicken restaurant chain.  First season.

Hawaii Bowl:  Fresno State vs. Rice  (Honolulu, HW  12/24)  ESPN

Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl:  Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech  (Dallas, TX  12/26)  ESPN
Chicken restaurant chain.  Played at Cotton Bowl Stadium.

Quick Lane Bowl:  Rutgers vs. North Carolina  (Detroit, MI  12/26)  ESPN
Auto care shops.  Formerly Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl.

Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl:  North Carolina State vs. Central Florida  (St. Petersburg, FL  12/26)  ESPN
Digital currency.

Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman:  Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech  (Annapolis, MD  12/27)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

Hyundai Sun Bowl:  Arizona State vs. Duke  (El Paso, TX  12/27)  CBS
Automobile manufacturer.

Duck Commander Independence Bowl:  Miami vs. South Carolina  (Shreveport, LA  12/27)  ABC
Duck call manufacturer, owned by the guys from TV's "Duck Dynasty".

New Era Pinstripe Bowl:  Boston College vs. Penn State  (Bronx, NY  12/27)  ESPN
Sports apparel.  Played at Yankee Stadium.

National University Holiday Bowl:  Nebraska vs. USC  (San Diego, CA  12/27)  ESPN
Private, online college.

Auto Zone Liberty Bowl:  Texas A&M vs. West Virginia  (Memphis, TN  12/29)  ESPN
Auto parts stores.

Russell Athletic Bowl:  Oklahoma vs. Clemson  (Orlando, FL  12/29)  ESPN
Active wear.

AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl:  Arkansas vs. Texas  (Houston, TX  12/29)  ESPN
Nutritional supplements.

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl:  Notre Dame vs. Louisiana State  (Nashville, TN  12/30)  ESPN
Financial services.

Belk Bowl:  Georgia vs. Louisville  (Charlotte, NC  12/30)  ESPN
Department stores based in the South.

Foster Farms Bowl:  Maryland vs. Stanford  (Santa Clara, CA  12/30)  ESPN
West Coast-based poultry firm.  Formerly Fight Hunger Bowl.

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl:  Mississippi vs. Texas Christian  (Atlanta, GA  12/31)  ESPN
Chicken restaurant chain.

Vizio Fiesta Bowl:  Boise State vs. Arizona  (Glendale, AZ  12/31)  ESPN
Consumer electronics.

Capital One Orange Bowl:  Mississippi State vs. Georgia Tech  (Miami Gardens, FL  12/31)  ESPN
Financial services.

Outback Bowl:  Auburn vs. Wisconsin  (Tampa, FL  1/1/15)  ESPN2
Steak restaurant chain.

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic:  Michigan State vs. Baylor  (Arlington, TX  1/1/15)  ESPN
Tires and blimps.

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl:  Missouri vs. Minnesota  (Orlando, FL  1/1/15)  ABC
Chicken wing restaurant chain.  Formerly Capital One Bowl.

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual (CFP Semifinal):  Oregon vs. Florida State  (Pasadena, CA  1/1/15)  ESPN
Financial services.

Allstate Sugar Bowl (CFP Semifinal):  Alabama vs. Ohio State  (New Orleans, LA  1/1/15)  ESPN
Insurance and financial services.

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl:  Houston vs. Pittsburgh  (Fort Worth, TX  1/2)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

Taxslayer Bowl:  Iowa vs. Tennessee  (Jacksonville, FL  1/2)  ESPN
Online tax preparation.  Formerly Gator Bowl.

Valero Alamo Bowl:  Kansas State vs. UCLA  (San Antonio, TX  1/2)  ESPN
Energy company.

TicketCity Cactus Bowl:  Washington vs. Oklahoma State  (Tempe, AZ  1/2)  ESPN
Ticket reseller.  Formerly Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

Birmingham Bowl:  East Carolina vs. Florida  (Birmingham, AL  1/3)  ESPN or ESPN2
Formerly BBVA Compass Bowl.

GoDaddy Bowl:  Toledo vs. Arkansas State  (Mobile, AL  1/4)  ESPN
Domain names.

College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T.  (Arlington, TX  1/12)
ESPN
Communications giant.  Teams to be determined.

Gopher Football '14: Almost Golden

Goldy Gopher, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities mascot. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The University of Minnesota football program has been mediocre for so long that its remaining fans are the ones who know where to find the games on TV on Saturdays.  It's where the cartoons used to be.

Well, thanks to the kind of season the team has had, an 8-4 record that included five BIG Conference (our name for the ever-expanding Big Ten conference, which just added two schools this year), a lot more folks are waking up to the fact that coach Jerry Kill in his fourth year has finally fielded a competitive team.

The gophers finished 5-3 in the BIG's West division, tied for second with Nebraska.  They would have won the division outright had they beaten Wisconsin, but too little passing and too much Melvin Gordon (a Heisman Trophy candidate who ran for 151 yards) gave the Badgers a 34-24 win at Madison in the season-ender.

Signature road wins at Michigan and Nebraska (who were admittedly having down years) and competitive losses--meaning they didn't lay down and die--versus Ohio State and Wisconsin, plus bad losses at Texas Christian and Illinois typified the Gophers' progress on the field.  Kill's defense was the key to many of their victories, but the offense led by quarterback Mitch Leidner and backs David Cobb and Maxx Williams helped themselves out a lot.

Realistically, it's going to be tough to convince anyone outside of Minnesota that the Gophers really have turned the corner.  It's been since 1962 that they've played in a New Year's Day bowl game, something they have a better-than-average chance of doing this year.  But when the Gophers are suddenly contenders and Ohio State is the BIG's only hope of getting into the new College Football Playoff, you know the conference is having a bad year.

Another byproduct of decades of mediocre football is the effect on recruiting.  The University of Minnesota is not considered a destination school like Notre Dame, USC, Alabama or Ohio State.  That's why they don't get the blue-chip athletes to play for Goldy Gopher, even if they're from Minnesota.  And they don't have the massive practice facilities that other schools do.  The U's board of regents must have figured:  We gave you a new stadium.  What more do you want from us?  We have enough problems getting funding from the state.

Then there's Jerry Kill, whose success has led to the inevitable rumors of him taking off for a better job somewhere else.  Though he keeps denying it, Kill could very well be the next Lou Holtz, who hightailed it for Notre Dame after bringing the Gophers a little success in the mid-1980s.  Kill could take his entire staff, most of whom have been with him for decades, to his new school.  And the Gophers would have to start all over again.

So enjoy this respite from mediocrity, Gophers fans.  Sooner or later, there won't be a reason to set the alarm for Saturdays at 11 a.m.   You can watch videos of cartoons with your kids.