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Courtney and Ashley Paris featured on ESPN women’s sports special

Mel Bracht — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:55:50 +0000

In March, ESPN is celebrating Women’s History Month by sharing inspirational stories of young female athletes through a cross-platform initiative, culminating with a one-hour special, “Her Story” at 7 p.m. March 27 on ESPN. The special will include an interview with OU basketball stars Courtney and Ashley Paris, daughters of former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Bubba Paris.

Focusing on female athletes between the ages of 13-24, this month-long effort will kick off Sunday with an investigation into young girls and the underreporting of concussions by reporter Peter Keating (Outside the Lines, 8 a.m.). A series of vignettes, airing multiple times across ESPN’s networks, will also begin Sunday.

Other stories on “Her Story,” hosted by Hannah Storm, include:

— Teenage surfing phenom Bethany Hamilton, who returned to her sport with a vengeance after a shark attack in 2003. Despite losing her left arm, Hamilton has continued to rise in the rankings and become one of the world’s top surfers.

— Twenty years ago, the Women’s Sports Foundation released a study that determined Hispanic girls had far lower participation in sports than other ethnicities. Few studies have updated that premise. Shelley Smith looks at some of the barriers to participation as well as success stories, proving that with the right amount of family and school support, Hispanic girls may just prove to be sport’s fastest growing demographic.

— The rebirth of roller derby, which made a comeback due to a grassroots revival in Austin, Texas. This resurgence has led to more than 200 amateur, all-female roller derby leagues across the country.

— A feature on Shoni Schimmel, a Native American teenager in Oregon who is among the top high school hoops players in the country but must deal with cultural bias and personal challenges as she heads towards her senior year.

— In addition, fans will be encouraged to post inspirational clips about themselves, a teammate, a coach or a team on ESPN.com’s dedicated Her Story page. The winning clip will be included in the special.

The March 23 issue of ESPN The Magazine cover story will focus on WNBA star Candace Parker, accompanied by an in-depth look at concussions in young girls.

OU’s Lendy Holmes learns from Deion Sanders on NFL Network show

Mel Bracht — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:55:19 +0000

Five prospects, one dream. “Under Armour Presents Prime U” debuts at 8 p.m. Wednesday on NFL Network (Cox 252), chronicling the journey of NFL hopefuls training under the tutelage of NFL Network analyst and eight-time Pro Bowler Deion Sanders.

Produced by NFL Films, the 60-minute program goes inside Sanders’ training camp in Irving, Texas, for a look at how the legendary cornerback imparts his knowledge of the game and life as a professional football player to the next generation.

“Prime U isn’t the normal training process that you get from a standard training facility,” Sanders said. “It’s not just about training physically, but also developing a healthy spiritual and psychological makeup. From family to finances, Prime U works to ensure that these young men have all the tools in place for a successful life and career in the NFL and beyond.”

With nine NFL hopefuls in attendance at Prime U, the program follows defensive backs Lendy Holmes (Oklahoma), Darius Butler (Connecticut), Emmanuel Cook (South Carolina), Captain Munnerlyn (South Carolina) and Lyndell Sargeant (Penn

State) through the NFL Scouting Combine as they prepare for draft day.

Did Stacey Dales pull a Trev Alberts?

Mel Bracht — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:13:10 +0000

The Stacey Dales saga brought to memory Trev Alberts and his departure from ESPN. Alberts, a former Nebraska All-American defensive end, was fired by the network in 2005 after he failed to show up for a studio show. His huge ego apparently got the best of him. He had several discussions with ESPN management, noting his displeasure with his role on the “College GameDay” second team, working with Mark May and host Rece Davis. Alberts, who joined ESPN’s studio show in 2002 after five years in a similar role at CNN/SI, felt he wasn’t giving him the respect he deserved. He since has resurfaced as an CBS College Sports Network, going from the most respected sports network with 98 million homes to one in about a quarter of those homes. Cox Communications carries it in Tulsa, but not in Oklahoma City.

After six years with ESPN, Dales, a two-time All-America women’s basketball player, apparently though she deserved more respect from the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.” While some of her colleagues flew first class, she was stuck back in coach. Negotiations for a new three-year contract hit an impasse in December over the travel provision. I have to wonder how many of the network’s sideline reporters fly first class. I doubt too many. It will be interesting to see which network Dales resurfaces and if she is flying first class for them.

Doritos ad tops ratings for Super Bowl commercials

Mel Bracht — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:47:55 +0000

What was your favorite Super Bowl ad Sunday night?

Mine was the office worker throwing the crystal ball at the vending machine in the free Doritos ad.

It turns out USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter agreed with me, ranking it No. 1 in ratings by 288 volunteer reviewers. The reviewers used hand-held meters to register how much they liked or disliked an ad.

Here are the Ad Meter’s top five ads:

The top five ads and final ratings are:

1. Frito-Lay Doritos. Crystal ball sees free Doritos, 8.46

2. Anheuser-Busch Budweiser. Clydesdale’s romance with circus horse, 8.42

3. Anheuser-Busch Budweiser. A Clydesdale can fetch, 8.26

4. Bridgestone. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head take a drive, 7.83

5. Frito-Lay Doritos. Superpowers of Doritos’ crunch, 7.79

Holmes on Leno: Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes of the Pittsburgh Steelers will appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” at 10:35 p.m. Thursday. In one of the most thrilling finishes to a Super Bowl, Holmes lifted the Steelers to their sixth NFL title win last Sunday. With only 35 seconds left, Holmes snagged a 6-yard touchdown catch deep in the right corner of the end zone finalizing the 27-23 Steelers victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

ESPN personalities favor Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII

Mel Bracht — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:25:57 +0000

ESPN on-air personalities have offered their predictions for Super Bowl XLIII. Of the 29 ESPN picks, 22 chose the Steelers, while just seven selected the Cardinals as the anticipated winner.

I’m going with the Cardinals, 24-21.

Here are ESPN personalities picks:

PICKING STEELERS:

Chris Berman, host of Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown: 27-17, “Big Ben once again stands tall in the pocket like John Wayne on the Ponderosa.”

Mike Ditka, Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown analyst: 24-21, “The defense and special teams will prevail.”

John Anderson, SportsCenter anchor: 34-17, “Arizona makes it to the final two only to get blown out. Wait. Where have I seen this result before? Oh yes, Sen. John McCain (R) Arizona.”

Merril Hoge, NFL Live, NFL Matchup and NFL PrimeTime analyst: 24-17, “The Cardinals are playing all phases of football better than the Steelers, but the Steelers are just too strong and too consistent on defense and they pose too many concerns on offense for the Cards to handle for 60 minutes.”

Colin Cowherd, host of ESPN Radio’s The Herd: 31-21, “The better defense beats the better offense and what in the world is Arizona even doing here?”

Todd McShay, NFL Draft analyst and director of College Scouting for ESPN Scouts Inc.: 27-24, “The Cardinals are a scary team right now. They’re coaching staff is familiar with the Steelers’ version of the 3-4 defense, quarterback Kurt Warner can pick up the blitz effectively and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is the ultimate pass-catching weapon. However, the Steelers will take away Arizona’s run game and eventually will find a way to get pressure on Warner. On the other side of the ball, Willie Parker will be the difference, as he provides much-needed balance for the Steelers’ offense.”

Ron Jaworski, Monday Night Football and NFL Matchup analyst: 21-20, “I like the matchup of Heath Miller and Adrian Wilson in man-to-man coverage. Miller will be the difference maker.”

Erik Kuselias, ESPN Radio host: 20-13, “Like my dad always said: Don’t confuse what you WANT to happen with what WILL happen.”

Chris Mortensen, NFL senior analyst: 27-23, “I admit I have waffled on the winner. In the end, Big Ben finds a way.”

Skip Bayless, First Take and 1st and 10 commentator: 27-17, “This is the NFL’s best defense vs. the worst defense ever to make it to a Super Bowl. Pittsburgh’s defense will be antidote enough for Arizona’s explosive offense, and Pittsburgh’s average offense will feel like it’s at a picnic after dealing with such a brutal schedule, including Baltimore three times.”

Jay Crawford, First Take and 1st and 10 co-host: 20-10, “Pittsburgh’s defense doesn’t completely shutdown Warner and Fitzgerald but they do enough to win.”

Scott Van Pelt, SportsCenter anchor: 30-20, “I think Arizona will score some…I don’t think they will win though.”

Russell Baxter, NFL research coordinator: 40-23, “Pittsburgh’s ability to win games on both offense and defense is the key and while Arizona has been very opportunistic throughout the playoffs, they must get takeaways to slow down an offense, which is something you can’t count on every game. The Steelers’ defense has been consistent throughout the season (they could come up with a defensive score and a safety here) will ultimately be the difference in the second half.”

Jemele Hill, ESPN.com Page 2 writer and 1st and 10 commentator: 27-23, “This is not a comfortable pick for me. Arizona reminds me a lot of how last year’s Giants transformed. And the most dangerous team is always the one with the least expectations. But I just can’t see them bettering Pittsburgh’s defense.”

Mike Golic, NFL Live analyst and co-host of ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning: 31-21, “I’m going with the Steelers. I just think overall they are the better team.”

Mike Greenberg, co-host of ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning and SportsCenter anchor: 27-15, “The Steelers defense is one of the greatest of all time and they will prove it one more time by shutting down a very good, but not great, Arizona offense.”

Steve Levy, SportsCenter anchor: 31-24, “The Cardinals have the best looking helmet in the NFL, but it’s not good enough to beat the best defense in the NFL. Two weeks between games gives the Steelers playmakers the advantage.”

Tom Jackson, Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown analyst: 21-17, “Because defense wins championships!”

Trey Wingo, NFL Live and NFL PrimeTime host: 28-20, “The Steelers pressure will do what no one has been able to do all post-season – get to Kurt Warner.”

Trent Dilfer, NFL Live analyst: 33-18, “The Steelers jump to an early lead and put their offense in the short-field position all day long.”

Marcellus Wiley, NFL Live analyst: 37-14, “They have the best defense and when you start to name all of the weapons on offense like Parker, Holmes and Roethlisberger, it’s just too much, so they win the game in the big fashion.”

Mike Tirico, Monday Night Football play by play commentator: 26-20, “The Steelers running game will control the second half and bring the team a sixth championship.”

PICKING CARDINALS:

Keyshawn Johnson, Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown analyst: 31-17, “Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley is in a groove calling the right play at the right time. He’ll make the right adjustments against the Pittsburgh D.”

Mark Schlereth, ESPN NFL Live and NFL PrimeTime analyst and three-time Super Bowl champion: 27-24, “Ken Whisenhunt’s familiarity with the Pittsburgh defensive personnel allows Kurt Warner to have a big day through the air.”

Cris Carter, Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown analyst: 23-20, “Larry Fitzgerald is in what great athletes consider “the Zone!” Fantastic finish to what has been a very unusual year.”

Sal Paolantonio, Correspondent: 27-21, “This is a bad matchup for the Steelers’ defense. Kurt Warner’s quick release will diffuse the effectiveness of the Steelers zone blitz. And Larry Fitzgerald’s constant pre-snap motion, speed and leaping ability will occupy the attention of Troy Polamalu, who then won’t able to attack the line of scrimmage with the same ferocity.”

Emmitt Smith, Monday Night Countdown analyst and three-time Super Bowl champion: 34-28, “I’m going with an upset. The ‘difference makers’ for this ball club are the reason for the win and they are: Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Coach Ken Whisenhunt and Kurt Warner.”

Steve Young, Monday Night Countdown analyst and three-time Super Bowl champion: 35-31, “Kurt Warner cements his place in Canton, Ohio. He’ll be remembered as one of the best all-time greatest quarterbacks in playoff history.”

Stuart Scott, SportsCenter anchor: 27-24, “The Cardinals win in the first overtime game in Super Bowl history.”

John Madden: Cardinals deserve to be in Super Bowl

Mel Bracht — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:54:02 +0000

With John Madden calling the Super Bowl, viewers should expect solid analysis for the year’s most-watch football game, at least nationally. In Oklahoma City, it won’t beat out the BCS national championship game, which earned a 51.7 rating on KOCO-5. NBC will air the game at 5 p.m. Sunday.

In a conference call this week, Madden, play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and studio analyst Cris Collinsworth talked about the game. Here are a few of their comments:

MADDEN ON UNPREDICTABILITY IN THE NFL: “The NFL should stand for ‘Never Figure League.’ The minute you think you know what’s going to happen, you realize you don’t know a thing. Here we are with Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl. That’s the great thing about the NFL. You don’t have a vote. People ask if this is a good thing for NBC? It doesn’t make a difference. The teams that play the best at this time earn the right to play in the Super Bowl, and both of these teams earned that right. They both deserve to be here.

MADDEN ON THE GAP BETWEEN SUPER BOWL WINNERS AND LOSERS: “The greatest gap in sports is between the winner and the loser of the Super Bowl. The winner has confetti, parades, rings, the whole thing. The loser puts his head down and goes to his house.”

MICHAELS ON THE CARDINALS: “I’m struck by the fact that the Arizona Cardinals have become a major story. Everybody’s talking about them, and I’m very excited about this matchup because we know about the Steelers, They have great tradition. In total contrast, nobody could have anticipated the Cardinals in the Super Bowl. There’s a tremendous air of mystery about this Super Bowl now. We know about the Kurt Warner story and Larry Fitzgerald has become a megastar almost as fast as anybody that I can recall. I can’t wait; this is going to be a lot of fun.”

MICHAELS ON WHO WILL WIN SUPER BOWL XLIII: “We can look at a hundred different things and you can say, ‘OK here’s what has to happen in a game for this team to win,’ but the beautiful thing about sports and about football is that you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

COLLINSWORTH ON SUPER BOWL XLIII MATCHUP: “If you had said at the beginning of the playoffs that it would be a Pittsburgh-Arizona Super Bowl, a lot of people would have thought it wasn’t the best matchup for NBC or the Super Bowl, but now you look at what the Cardinals team has done, in particular offensively against tremendous defenses, there is an opportunity to see one of the best against one of the best. We all know about the Pittsburgh Steelers defense and what they’ve done.”

COLLINSWORTH ON THE STEELERS’ DEFENSE: “They have the opportunity to make Kurt Warner look really bad. If you play against Pittsburgh and Dick LeBeau’s defense, they are that good. You can throw five interceptions against them every easily.”

COLLINSWORTH ON KURT WARNER: “If you can take the MVP vote at the end of the year instead of at the end of the regular season, he may well be MVP because of what he’s done with this football team. Being around that team, you understand how significant he is to that team. This was a team with no path, direction or experience, and they constantly turned to him and what a job he’s done. Fitzgerald has made the plays on the other end, but no one would deny that without Kurt Warner, who has this knowledge and experience of the playoffs, they would not be here.”

Sooners lose to Jesus

Mel Bracht — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:45:53 +0000

A few readers agreed with my column that Fox Sports went gushing about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, particularly for his off-the-field activities, during its telecast of the BCS national championship game. My colleagues also forwarded me a few items they had run across:

A text from Kerrie Green of Norman:

Seriously? Did they just say he lived in a leper colony? Who can beat Jesus? … On the way into the stadium, he prayed with the prostitutes; during the game he fed the crowd with only 2 hot dogs and 1 beer.

Today: Tebow is skipping his senior year and ascending directly into Heaven.

From Mark Boren, who has a batchelor’s degree and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from OU:

“Do you know Tim Tebow is a wonderful person? Did you hear the speach he gave after the loss to Ole Miss? He said…. Let’s listen to Tim Tebow’s speech since I just can’t talk about it enough.” … This was not the game for the national championship. This was the build up Tim Tebow night.

Bob and Judy Henry:

I read your article about the FOX announcers. Here’s the deal. Mr. Brennaman made those mistakes for the benefit of the OU fans. They felt like they were listening to Bob Barry.

From Sportingpress.com:

MIAMI (SP) — Shortly after leading the Florida Gators to a national championship with a 24-14 win over Oklahoma, junior quarterback Tim Tebow announced that he would skip his senior season and ascend directly into heaven.

Tebow entered the press room to wild applause. A reporter for a 24- hour cable sports network burst into tears when the 2007 Heisman winner entered the room. Another threw a pair of boxer shorts on the podium. Tebow smiled at the gesture and several sports reporters fainted.

“Sorry I’m late,” Tebow began. “There was a six-year-old boy with cancer in row 54 and I had to make my way through the crowd to heal him.”

“I want to start by saying that playing quarterback for the University of Florida, winning two national championships, has been a great honor. There has been some speculation about my future and I want to clear that up right now,” he continued.

“Don’t go, Tim!” a reporter shouted from the back of the room.

“After much consideration, I have decided to skip my senior season at the University of Florida and ascend directly into Heaven,” Tebow announced. Upon making the announcement, Tebow was bathed in a

blinding white light and vanished.

In response to the news, ESPN announced they will have a month-long tribute to Tebow. ESPN2 will now be known as ESPN-TEBOW and will feature Tebow highlights (including home videos of Tebow’s childhood), re-airings of past interviews, Tebow-centric analysis by ESPN air personalities, a Tebow quiz show and a reality show to find the “most Tebow-like” person in America. “He wasn’t just the greatest player in college football history,” said a college football writer at the press conference, tears streaming down his face. “He might have been the greatest person to ever walk on earth.”

Charles Davis about calling BCS championship game

Mel Bracht — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:29:03 +0000

Charles Davis, who will be the analyst on Fox Sports’ broadcast of the BCS national championship game, should give the Sooners a fair shake in the broadcast. He is well familiar with Oklahoma. His wife, the former Lisa Hales, grew up in the Oklahoma City area. He is a close friend of Ron Thulin, who has worked in the klahoma City media off and on for years, including hosting an afternoon talk show for the now defunct Jox 930.

In a recent interview, I asked Davis is he was excited about calling the game.

“I’m pumped beyond belief. I’m like that way for most of my assignments. But it’s a national championship game, what more can you ask for. This will be my third and it’s the last one I will be doing for Fox. Next year the championship games goes to ESPN/ABC because the Rose Bowl is the championship game. I still will do BCS games for Fox, but this is my last national championship game. I’m excited. Let’s be honest about it: Florida-Oklahoma. How could you not be excited.”

Do you think the offenses will be the story of the game.

“Yes. What Oklahoma is doing. Who has the thesaurus for it? How can you really adequately describe it? The best way I can put it, I was doing Arena Football with Dan (Hicks) when NBC took over the Arena package and tried to take it national for awhile. We’re doing a San Jose-Atlanta game, probably the third or fourth game in our first year. In the middle of the third quarter, the score was creeping into the 60s, and poor Dan had said touchdown about 8,000 times or so it felt to him. We went to a commercial break and he looked at me and said, ‘You’ve been doing these games for a number of years,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, Dan, I’m a pretty good veteran of Arena Football.’ He had this look on his face, I can’t even describe it. Grieved is about the best way I could put it, and he said, ‘Is it like this every week?’ And I just looked at him, and I said, ‘No, it’s not.’ And he went, ‘Oh, good.’ And I said, ‘Usually by now we’re into the 70s,’ and he said, ‘That’s it.’ And that was the last game he did. He called (director) Tommy Roy and said, ‘You’ve got to get me out of this.’ When I watch Oklahoma play, I always think of Dan Hicks and think, ‘Is it like this every week?’ And for Oklahoma, the answer is yeah. Five straight over 60. I know everyone wants to get in to ‘Is it the defenses?’ I just tend to focus on what they’re doing.”

CBS analyst Gary Danielson has criticized defense in the Big 12 defenses, saying Big 12 stats are like pesos, they are worthless. Do you agree with his criticism?

“I understand where Gary is coming from, and I’m never going to dispute a fellow analyst. It’s not my job. But I think we are searching for answers about these offenses, almost to the point that we’re taking credit away from them. They’re all in uncharted territory. We don’t have a touchstone that says, ‘We’ve seen this before and this is why.’ We’re not sure. So in a sense we’re trying to devalue the offense by sayings, ‘Maybe the defense isn’t that good.’ Maybe, but at the same time, are we sure? What we’re seeing right now is the future is here. We’re in George Allen territory. The future is now and these offenses are just tuned up and rolling like you wouldn’t believe. It would be nice to see them play a bunch of teams that were defensively oriented, like an SEC schedule, but it’s not going to happen, so we’ll find out Jan. 8.”

Brent Musburger proposes eight-team playoff

Mel Bracht — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:30:19 +0000

In my interview this week with ABC sportscaster Brent Musburger, I asked him for his opinion on whether college football should go to a playoff. He offered a proposal for an eight-team playoff. Here are his thoughts:

Musburger: If we’re going to got to a playoff, two things have to happen for me. You have to keep a meaningful regular season, that’s No. 1. No. 2, the bowls and the sites have to be involved in the end game.

I would choose the six BCS conference champions. You have to win your conference championship to qualify. That helps enhance the regular season. Then I would choose the top-rated non-BCS conference champion, which would be Utah, and I would leave one at-large berth open, and this year that at-large berth would go to a team in the Big 12 South.

I would take the four top-rated teams and give those schools a home game. The four losers in the quarterfinals I would send to the bowl pool, so that they are free to go. I would play the two semifinals on New Year’s Day. I would have the bowls bid it out much like they do for Super Bowl sites, then I would go one week later, like we do now, and play the championship game.

Who are you voting for as the Heisman winner?

I can not remember a tougher year for me to pick No. 1. I normally have No. 1 identified. Even what I heard about Graham Harrell playing with as many breaks as he had in those two fingers, and the amount of surgery, I can’t eliminate him coming in, and he doesn’t have a game left. Sam Bradford is the one who gets the stage the last time. There’s no question my vote will go to a Big 12 quarterback. I suppose that’s a little unfair to Tim Tebow, but I haven’t seen him in person since early in the year and I’ve got an enormous amount of respect for him. I guess if he were to play like Superman against Alabama, you would have to include him in there. As of this moment, it will be a Big 12 quarterback. It’s hard for me. These guys have been so special for us all year long. I hate to say I would walk away from it and not vote, but it is very tough for me to separate these guys. I think they are all special.

CBS sportscasters bash Big 12

Mel Bracht — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:34:54 +0000

Gary Danielson

A few years back when he worked for ABC, Gary Danielson covered the Big 12 Conference and enthusiastically talked up teams in the conference. Now, in his third season with CBS, he has become a Big 12 basher. He and play-by-play partner, Verne Lundquist, took several shots at the league in a conference call Tuesday afternoon to promote CBS’ telecast of the Southeastern Conference championship: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 2 Florida at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Danielson said the Big 12 statistics are overrated because of a lack of defense in the conference.

Danielson: “I’ve got to say the stats in the Big 12 are like pesos to me, they’re just not worth much. Everybody has stats there. It’s 300 pecos for a half gallon of milk.”

Lundquist: “I understand the point. I watched the game with half of America on Saturday night, Oklahoma State- Oklahoma, and I don’t know which was more noticeable. The great offensive show by both teams or the total lack of defense by both teams. I understand the fascination with quarterbacks and let’s not take anything from (Graham) Harrell, (Sam) Bradford and (Colt) McCoy, they are terrific. But those aren’t exactly defensive juggernauts that are going out on the plains of the Midwest every week.”

Danielson rated the SEC ahead of the Big 12 because it has better defensive players.

Danielson: “They have better defensive lineman, more NFL linebackers. Go check out the draft the last 15 years and find out where the NFL players (came from). The NFL doesn’t draft guys that have nice uniforms or come from a conference that is highly rated in the BCS. They go and look at these players that they think are good athletes to play in the NFL. There are more NFL-ready bodies in this league than any other league at this frame of time. Right now, there is a deficiency of quarterbacks in this league.”

Danielson said he would like to see Oklahoma and Texas play in the Big 12 championship game, even though that isn’t possible.

Danielson: “In a perfect world if G.D. was in charge of things, they should have asked Missouri to step aside. This clearly is a once in a lifetime thing with them being ranked 2 and 3, 2 and 4 or 3 and 4, or whatever, everybody knows that one of these teams should be playing in the (BCS) championship and I wish like the commissioner in baseball, the commissioner of the Big 12 should have said for the good of the conference, let’s let them replay this thing in the Big 12 championship.”

Both Danielson and Lundquist played up Florida quarterback Tim Tebow’s chances of winning his second consecutive Heisman Trophy if he plays well against Alabama.

Danielson: “I don’t think he’s going to win it unless he has a marquis performance Saturday against Alabama. He is going to have put on a show.”