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Sports Agenda for Monday (12/3/12)

Big Story:
The Heat keep winning at home. The college football season is going bowling and the Orange Bowl once again got hosed. And the Dolphins are a lot like a recent quote from Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel.

Quote of the Day:
"The one thing people can hopefully try to take away, I guess, is the relationships they have with people. I know when it happened, I was sitting and, in my head, thinking what I could have done differently. When you ask someone how they are doing, do you really mean it? When you answer someone back how you are doing, are you really telling the truth? We live in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook, and that's fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in front of us. Hopefully, people can learn from this and try to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than what they are revealing on a day-to-day basis." – Chiefs quarterback Brady Quinn after the death of his teammate in a murder/suicide

College Football:
At this point, I feel really bad for the Orange Bowl.
The once powerful game has been reduced to being arguably the worst BCS game each year.
Now, it could very well be a good game between Northern Illinois and Florida State.
N. Illinois has a great quarterback who if he put up his stats at a school like FSU would win the Heisman Trophy.
But, let's also be somewhat realistic here…
Schools like FSU schedule directional schools (N. Illinois, W. Michigan, E. Michigan, etc.) for easy victories.
The worst part is that a Louisville vs. FSU matchup would have been great.
Louisville recruits the heck out of S. Florida and it would have been fun to watch Miami's own Teddy Bridgewater take on FSU.
But, the Orange Bowl was forced to pick N. Illinois due to BCS rules.
Good for Northern Illinois, bad for the Orange Bowl, bad for FSU, good for the MAC (their first BCS bid ever)
It really turns the light on the Big East's failures too.
If the Big East champion had been ranked ahead of N. Illinois, none of this would have happened.
Luckily, the Big East loses its punch in the new playoff system in just one more season.
I haven't seen the spread on this one, but I will take FSU by -9 in this one.

BCS National Championship Game:
Also coming to Miami are the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Two schools that are almost mirrors of each other.
Strong defense, just enough offense to get through.
That said, I don't think Notre Dame stands a chance.
The Irish haven't seen an offensive line like Alabama.
Georgia had a great front seven and the Alabama offensive line blew them out in the second half of the SEC Championship game.
And, as much as I hate to say it, Nick Saban is a big game coach who has been there and done that.
Alabama is going for it's third BCS championship in four years. Bama is used to the circus.
Notre Dame hasn't been on this stage since the late 1980's.
Advantage: Alabama

Miami Dolphins:
I referenced Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel earlier and here's why…
When Mizzou finished 5-7 this season, fans were highly ticked off. Pinkel was happy about that. Why?
As he said, when he first got to Mizzou, if the team played a good team close, fans were happy and said good job.
I couldn't help but think that watching the Fins and Patriots yesterday.
Don't get me wrong, Miami played well, but I heard Dolphins fans saying at least we kept it close.
It takes a while to change the culture of the fans, but it can be done. Look at Mizzou.
Looking at the numbers, Tannehill impressed getting the team into the end zone in the first half, and the defense picked off Tom Brady.
Not bad, I just wished Tannehill had more targets on the outside to hit.
A game-changing receiver and this is a completely different game.
But man, do you think Wes Welker just loves playing the Dolphins or what?
12 catches for 103 yards and 1 touchdown. Not a bad game their boss.
It was also nice to see the Dolphins defense show up for the game with 4 sacks while the Fins offensive line only gave up 3.
Miami is getting there, but they're still at least a year or two away from competing for a playoff spot.
But at least the train is on the tracks and finally going forward.

That's it for today, more on the bowl games in the coming weeks!

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