After placing your prop bet on how many times Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning yells "Omaha" (27.5 times) during Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday, enjoy the final football game of the season and get ready for the final push of the college basketball season and the start of baseball.
We will see how big of a mistake it was to put the Super Bowl in a cold-weather climate. It looks like the NFL will catch a break without any bad weather, it will just be cold. In the age of "Build a new stadium, you get a Super Bowl," this will probably be the last for the New York area. The game is actually being played in New Jersey.
The sport's biggest game moves to Glendale, Ariz., next year with much nicer weather and better atmosphere. At least us sportswriters can wear some shorts and take the golf clubs.
College basketball will take over in February and March and any number of teams can win the national championship, which will be held in Jerry Jones' palace in Arlington, Texas.
Arizona looks like the team to beat, as they improved to 21-0 on the season with a road win at Stanford on Wednesday, despite making just 18 field goals. Syracuse, with its stingy zone defense, sits second in the nation at 19-0 and Wichita State is the last unbeaten team at 21-0. You earn bonus points if you can tell me where Wichita State is located and what conference it plays in. The Shockers are a great story, but many don't think they have the ability to beat the best teams in the nation, come tournament time. There have been a number of Cinderella schools in the past 10 years and Wichita State s hoping to be the next.
I will go full circle here and go back to Omaha, where the best men's college basketball player resides. Creighton's Doug McDermott is averaging 25 points a game and shoots 44 percent from the 3-point line and 90 percent from the free throw line. McDermott, a two-time All-American, gave up his scholarship this year and is playing as a walk on as a fifth-year senior. I guess it does help when your father is the coach of the team. If you get a chance, watch him play.
Arizona, Florida, San Diego State and Michigan State are my choices for the Final Four. Connecticut and Notre Dame, former Big East rivals, will play for the women's national championship.
When college basketball ends, Major League Baseball takes over. It was nice to see the New York Yankees go on another wild spending spree in an attempt to chase down the Boston Red Sox, the World Series champions.
It's amazing what you can spend when Alex Rodriguez is suspended for the season. You are welcome, Masahiro Tanaka. Apparently, New York didn't want Robinson Cano because it gave the money to the Japanese pitcher that went 24-0 last year.
For years, replay in baseball was put on the back burner but after a number of missed calls recently, the top people in the league have buckled and replay is here.
In the upcoming season, MLB managers will have one instant replay challenge during the first six innings, and another one in the last three if the first challenge is upheld.
This allows managers to challenge up to two calls a game and if a manger wishes to save his first challenge, he will have it in later innings. The umpires may also use the instant replay in the seventh inning or greater. This is supposed to add another strategic element to the game that limits the use of instant replay and changes to the game but also gives the MLB umpires the ability to make correct calls.
Will the new replay rules prevent managers from running on the field and going ballistic on umpires? Hopefully not, because that is still a great part of the game. There is nothing better than a 60-year-old man running on to the field and arguing a call that for the most part is meaningless. If you have free time, type in Earl Weaver, sit back and enjoy.
Lastly, if there are any out there who can help with my Cubs let me know. I have a feeling it's going to be a long year. Might as well add to the second hundred years of misery.
Winnemucca Publishing sports editor Tony Erquiaga can be reached by email at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
