For those of you who don't know (and why would most of you), the University of Idaho and Boise State University are bitter football rivals. The University of Colorado has reportedly hired Boise State coach Dan Hawkins to replace Gary Barnett. Colorado's AD, Mike Bohn, who is hiring Dan Hawkins is the former AD at the University of Idaho.

Is Tejada on his way to the Southside?

One of the many great things about college basketball, you get great match-ups at any time in the season. Today we get to see #1 Duke vs. #2 Texas. The Blue Devils have greatly underwhelmed me this year, so I have to go with Texas as my pick to win.

The brilliance of FIFA! Just in case FIFA needed something extra to attract viewers to the World Cup pairings draw, soccer expert, Heidi Klum, was hostess for the live event.

Having failed to signed free agent Rafael Furcal, the Cubs have traded for Juan Pierre ( a player that the World Series Champion White Sox were rumored to be interested in). Pierre will take over the lead-off spot, but maybe more importantly for most Cubs fans he will play center field, meaning that the "Corey Patterson era" should finally be over on the North Side.

Lovie Smith the NFC Coach of the Year (Tony Dungy looks like the runaway choice in the AFC)?
It looks like I may have been right about Lovie, as seen from this K-Line article I wrote back in January, 2004. Now, just so you realize that while I am bragging a little, there are plenty of sport predictions I have been wrong about. Even in this article about Lovie Smith, I was excited about the possibility of Terry Shea as the Bears' offensive coordinator- Yuck!!
How about some love for Lovie and Jerry?

THE K-LINE

The morning after the Chicago Bears formally announced St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith as the Bears’ new head coach, I received an e-mail from a friend, who was upset that the Bears simply chose the “cheaper” alternative- a common lament in this sports town. He said that the Bears were too cheap to pay the $3-$4 million per year needed to hire Nick Saban from LSU or someone like my friend’s personal choice, Dan Reeves, the former Atlanta Falcons head coach. Many in the local media likewise blasted the Lovie Smith hire and seized the opportunity to rip mercilessly on Bears GM Jerry Angelo. The criticism was that the choice of Lovie Smith was made because either the Bears were unwilling to pay the big bucks or Jerry Angelo was unwilling to yield personnel control to the head coach. Well, everyone should just take a chill- pill! Here’s one person who likes the choice of Lovie Smith and likewise supports Jerry Angelo and the job he has done as the Bears’ GM. Alright, admittedly, I’m partially kissing up, and I’m hoping that both Lovie and Jerry Angelo remember my thoughtful and well reasoned support when The K-Line requests a sideline media pass for Bears games. Hey, I have to do something- I’m still upset I didn’t receive a press pass to the Super Bowl!

Granted it would have been, if nothing else, exciting if the Bears ignored fiscal responsibility and hired a high profile coach. Even I was hoping that that the Bears would have at least checked to see if Jimmy Johnson was interested at all in becoming the Bears’ new coach. Or, what about hiring Mike Ditka as coach and Mike Singletary as the defensive coordinator/head coach-in-training. Unfortunately, hiring a high profile former NFL head coach or college head coach is far from a guaranteed road to the Super Bowl, or even a more modest goal like beating the Packers. For every example of it working, there is another example proving to be a failure. It was only two seasons ago that the Redskins opened up owner Dan Synder’s bank vault to lure a high profile college coach, Steve Spurrier, from the University of Florida with a salary of $5 million a year ...Okay, that didn’t exactly work out for the Redskins. Nor would hiring a former head coach like Dan Reeves or Jim Fassel have guaranteed success for the Bears. Several years ago, the Carolina Panthers hired George Seifert, hoping he would repeat the success he had with the San Francisco 49ers where he won two Super Bowl as a head coach. The result- he was fired after coaching the Carolina Panthers to a 1-15 record. The Carolina Panthers replaced Seifert with John Fox, at that time a little known defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. In two years, John Fox has taken that 1-15 team to the Super Bowl.

My point is simple- there is no one way to insure success when hiring a head coach. So, don’t automatically despair over the Bears’ future because they didn’t hire someone who was a college or pro head coach. Let’s look at the route taken by the four teams in this past weekend conference championship games: Philadelphia, Carolina, New England, and Indianapolis. Philadelphia’s head coach, Andy Reid, was an offensive assistant coach with the Packers. As already stated, John Fox was a defensive coordinator with the Giants. New England’s Bill Belicheck was a former head coach with the Cleveland Browns, but was serving as a defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells at the time he was hired by the Patriots. The Colts’ top man, Tony Dungy was a head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Everyone points to the great job Bill Parcells did with the Cowboys. But you can be just as successful by hiring a defensive coordinator to be your head coach, as happened with the great job former defensive coordinator, Marvin Lewis did with the Cincinnati Bengals this year.

As soon as the Bears fired Dick Jauron, Lovie Smith was announced as one of the top candidates for the job. Other teams had also shown interest in him. His defense may have been more responsible for the St. Louis Rams success the past few years than the Rams’ offense. The thing that impresses me the most is that he had solid defenses on a team that passed more often that it ran the ball and often turned the ball over. Hopefully he will hire an offensive coordinator, like Terry Shea, who will bring some imagination to the offensive game plans and as a result who will be light years ahead of John “Screen Pass” Shopp! Terry Shea has recently worked with Pro Bowl caliber quarterback Trent Green as Kansas City’s quarterback coach. By the way, John Shoop has just become Tampa Bay’s quarterback coach, so watch Tampa Bay’s offense quickly sink to the depths of depression!...I expect the Bears to be improved next year under Lovie Smith and in the playoffs within two years. Now, if only Bret Favre would retire from Green Bay!

The Detroit Lions hire Dick Jauron as interim head coach! Is everyone in Chicago still laughing?

Here's the White Sox free agent report thus far:
http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/hot_stove/y2005/free_agent_tracker.jsp?teamAct=cha

BREAKING NEWS!!! And more importantly, great news for White Sox fans! Paul Konerko has resigned with the Sox. If reports are true, Paulie turned down more money from the Orioles to stay on the South Side. Good for Paulie! With the signing of Thome and Konerko, Frank Thomas will probably not be back with the Sox, unless he is willing to take on a much reduced role and a much reduced salary. Here's the story from the White Sox:

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051130&content_id=1274138&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws

Apparently B-baller Ruben Patterson and his agent have learned nothing from the Terrell Owens situation: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2241985

In case you were wondering what happens to college cheerleaders after graduation (no, this is not a joke about Carolina Panthers cheerleaders), according to an article in November 28th's New York Times, they become drug company sales reps! You got to love this line from the article: "Anyone who has seen the parade of sales representatives through a doctor's waiting room has probably noticed that they are frequently female and invariably good looking. Less recognized is the fact that a good many are recruited from the cheerleader ranks." So next time your doctor presribes Prevacid for you, you might what to inquire if it is because the Prevacid sales rep is a former University of Kentucky cheerleader.

On this cold late November morning, just remember this- the WHITE SOX are still WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!!!

This week's K-Line Top 5 College Basketball ranking:

1. UConn
2. Texas
3. DUKE
4. Louisville
5. Gonzaga

Honorable Mention: Bucknell

The Detroit Lions have fired head coach Mariucci. While I can understand firing the head coach, how can Matt Millen, who hired the last two head coaches keep his job? Isn't he as much to blame as the head coach, if not more?
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2239336

The White Sox have traded Aaron Rowand and two minor leaguers for Jim Thome.

My good friend, who for purposes of his blog goes by the moniker "HM", has much more on the T. O. Arbitration ruling. Check his blog at www.hoopramblings.blogspot.com. Like him, I am ecstatic that the arbitrator upheld the decision. It is encouraging to see a coach win out over a malcontent player, which is why I applaud the Portland Trailblazers suspension of Ruben Patterson for "mouthing-off" to his coach about a lack of playing time. For those of you out there, and I know there are plenty, who dislike T.O.'s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, you have to love this ruling. Not only was Rosenhaus not able to renegotiate T.O.'s contract, but his player-client has lost money. Since T.O. is "playing" under his old contract, negotiated by T.O.'s former agent, Rosenhaus has not made a penny from representing T.O., unless he has negotiated some endorsement deals for T.O. that I am not aware of. Actually, T.O.'s former agent, at least in theory, may have a cause of action against Rosenhaus for costing him money. T.O. has lost about $800,000 durign his suspension and his previous agent is now out about 3% of that $800,000. Most NFL agents out there will always align with the NFLPA and root for a players' interest, but a good number of them are elated that Drew Rosenhaus got his you know what handed to him.

Good news! An arbitratior has upheld the Eagles' suspension of Terrel Owens. More on this soon: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2234459

I feel awful for having neglected my throngs of readers the past few days. But I am confident that each have been keeping abreast of current developments involving Carolina Panthers cheerleaders, Terrell Owens coupled with my fellow Duke Law graduate, Drew Rosenhaus. For now, I simply offer you today's special birthday girls:
1) Vanessa Angel http://www.mrskin.com/Stars/00179/Vanessa_Angel.htm; and Brittany Murphy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005261/

It is okay to be a fan of both the Cubs and the White Sox, at least if you are a celebrity:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/zwecker/cst-ftr-zp07.html

One of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood, in my humble opinion, has found another way to stay in the public eye: http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/va/20051107/113137611400.html