It’s the new year and that only means one thing in college football, the big BCS Bowl games are coming.

That’s right and we’re kicking off the new year with the 2011 Fiesta Bowl. This year we have the Connecticut Huskies taking on perennial college football powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The Connecticut Huskies beat South Florida 19-16 in Tampa, Fla., on Dave Teggart’s last-second, 52-yard field goal. That kick gave UConn the Big East title and the league’s automatic berth in the BCS. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) selects participants for the four major bowl games — Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose — along with the national championship game.

The UConn players and coaches gathered at their on-campus home, the Burton Family Football Complex, to watch the BCS Selection Show in the team meeting room.

There was some speculation that the Orange Bowl, which picked ahead of the Fiesta, might take the Huskies to pit them against Virginia Tech. But the Orange Bowl did as most expected and chose to invite Stanford instead of Uconn, leaving the Fiesta Bowl for the Huskies against the Oklahoma Sooners.

This is UConn’s fifth appearance in a bowl, but the Huskies have gone bowling four years in a row now. The program only completed its move up to Division I-A, now called the Football Bowl Subdivision, in 2003. This is, of course, UConn’s first appearance in a BCS bowl.

UConn is the fourth team in the history of the BCS, which was…

It’s offense vs. defense for the Rose Bowl this year.

The TCU Horned Frogs will head to Pasadena to participate in the 2011 Rose Bowl and will face the de facto Big 10 champion Wisconsin Badgers.

The TCU Horned Frogs finished the regular season a perfect 12-0, including an 8-0 record within the Mountain West Conference. The Rose Bowl appearance for the Horned Frogs will mark their second consecutive BCS appearance as TCU appeared in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, losing 17-10 to the Boise State Broncos.

TCU will face a one-loss Wisconsin Badgers team, whose only loss came against Michigan State in October. The Badgers get the nod over the Spartans, who like the Badgers and Ohio State Buckeyes finished 7-1 in the Big 10, by virtue of being the highest ranked Big 10 BCS school.

The Horned Frog’s top-ranked defense which allowed only 11.4 points per game this season will be put to the test. Wisconsin averages 43.3 points per game, fourth best in the country.

The Badgers on the other hand have scored over 70 points in a game on three occasions this year and are led by their running game, averaging 247 yards per game on the ground.

The third-ranked Horned Frogs (12-0), having posted their second consecutive undefeated regular season, will be making their first appearance in the Rose Bowl. TCU is tied for the nation’s second-longest current winning streak at 12 in a row and is one of three undefeated teams this season.

It’s the first time TCU has played in a bowl game with the two teams…

And I think Tim Duncan will agree.

While it’s still early to pick the contenders for the Most Valuable Player award this 2010 NBA basketball season, the title generally goes to star performers on top teams. But if a team is too much of a team—like one when near-equals fill roles and share responsibilities—then it gets hard to distinguish one valuable piece from another.

In the NBA, this might stem from the Michael Jordan era, when Jordan won five MVP awards as a transcendant talent not just on the planet but within his own locker room. That might seem backwards, but the drop down from Jordan as the Chicago Bulls’ best player to Scottie Pippen as its No. 2—and then the drop from Pippen down to the rest of their Bulls teammates was big, too—kept Jordan head, shoulders, elbows, waist and kneecaps above his mates.

In terms of a gold-silver-bronze Olympic podium, most of the Chicago players from the two three-peat teams were an inch from the floor, Pippen was a foot or two higher and Jordan was high enough to experience vertigo. A similar disparity sometimes was evident in the selections of MVPs such as Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Bob McAdoo, early Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Allen Iverson and of course, in each of the past two seasons, LeBron James.

But there have been plenty of MVPs who have come from deep…

He could, because he’s the only dude who was able to defeat the reigning lightweight champion.

Frankie Edgar has only experienced defeat once in his professional career coming to his title defense in UFC 125: Resolution. The current UFC Lightweight Champion was given a wrestling lesson then for three rounds en route to dropping a clear unanimous judges’ decision.

Frank Edgar followed up that loss with five consecutive wins, including back-to-back wins over BJ Penn to win and successfully defend the 155-lb title. That is the good news.

The bad news is Edgar’s lone professional loss came at the hands of number one contender Gray Maynard, and during those five fights since getting bullied by Maynard, Edgar doesn’t appear to have changed his game in any way to prevent deja vu. Oh yes, Edgar will face his nemesis once again on Saturday night with his title on the line.

That is just one of several intriguing matchups and fun fights on Saturday night. Chris Leben faces Brian Stann in what should be a good ol’ fashioned slugfest. Brandon Vera stands squarely at a career crossroad, and ferocious striker Thiago Silva stands ready to try and prevent “The Truth” from turning around his recent run of misfortune. Marcus Davis and Jeremy Stephens may very well throw down the gauntlet for Fight of the Year. And the “New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni returns to the middleweight division to face upstart Hawaiian tough guy Brad Tavares.

Edgar is a smallish, ultra-quick lightweight who makes his living with constant movement and short bursts of fistic activity, all the while maintaining great balance so that he can either defend a takedown or take the action to the canvas, if the situation calls for it. It is a style designed to win on the judges’ cards, not necessarily one that will finish many fights. To wit…

We’re asking because the way the East is set up right now, betting on the Magic means choosing them over the trio of Boston and Miami.

The Orlando Magic shook up their roster this 2010 NBA basketball season, but just how much will it affect their ability to contend in the Eastern Conference? Currently the Magic are one of the legitimate threats in the East, the question is whether or not they truly have what it takes to get past the Miami Heat and/or the Los Angeles Lakers in a seven-game series.

According to the Bodog Sportsbook, the Orlando Magic have 10/1 odds of winning the NBA championship. For futures for the rest of the league and more, get your NBA betting lines at Bodog.

General manager Otis Smith attempted to address some of the questions concerning his second-tier team this week with a pair of blockbuster trades that sent Magicregulars Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter packing in exchange for a variety of big name contributors that help expand the depth of the Orlando roster.

We all know the Miami Heat are loaded to the brim with talent. Over the course of the past several seasons the Magic have established a more traditional core leading to a similar result, NBA dominance.

Unfortunately the Magic have recently started to struggle in the 2010-11 season (having won just four of their last 10) and Smith decided to pull the trigger on a pair of reparation deals before it was too late. Over the weekend the Magic sent highly-paid but…

This was the weekend that sorted it out. The one that showed us Tom Brady isn’t competing with Michael Vick anymore.

That’s right, he’s not just carving out an MVP application this 2010 NFL football season; he’s competing with himself, circa 2007. He’s competing with history. That’s how good Tom Brady is right now, so good that we have to wonder if he’s actually playing better football now than in his record-setting season from three years ago.

It might sound preposterous at first glance, when you consider Tom Brady threw for 50 touchdowns against only eight interceptions, and engineered the second perfect regular season in NFL history. It also included a passer rating of 117.2 – a mark that is second all time only to Peyton Manning’s 121.1 in 2004. Pressed against his current stats (34 touchdowns vs. four interceptions, and a passer rating hovering around 109), the numbers might not reflect Brady having the greatest season of his lifetime.

But when you step back and absorb the larger picture, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest Brady is playing better now than at any other time in his NFL career with the New England Patriots. First, there is the record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception – dating back to Oct. 17. Formerly owned by Bernie Kosar at 308, Brady shattered the mark during Sunday’s 34-3 win against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, and has pushed the streak to 319 and counting. That alone makes him this week’s biggest winner.

Most fans can’t grasp what an astronomical feat that is – that it could easily end on a ball that gets tipped at the line of scrimmage, or when a wideout falls down, or the quarterback is hit while throwing. Someone slips, or runs the wrong route, it’s over. A Hail Mary interception at halftime or the end of a game, and it’s…

LeBron James thinks contraction could help the NBA.

Calling the league “watered down,” LeBron James told reporters before Thursday night’s game in Phoenix that the NBA was more popular in the 1980s because there were fewer teams and thus more stars on the top squads.

The two-time reigning league MVP has been widely criticized for joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami this 2010 NBA basketball season, but defended his decision by saying the league would be more popular if there were more teams with multiple All-Stars.

“How can it be bad for basketball when you have guys who want to win playing on the same team?” the Miami Heat star said. “Hopefully, the league can figure out one way where it can go back to the ’80s where you had three or four All-Stars, three or four superstars, three or four Hall of Famers on the same team. The league was great. It wasn’t as watered down as it is.”

Miami defeated the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in one of the season’s marquee games on Christmas Day.

James has complained about scheduling games on Christmas, saying players should be able to spend time with their families, and said the league could have more high-profile games like that during the season if there were fewer teams, as in the ’80s.

“We had more (star) players on the team, which made almost every game anticipated, not just the Christmas Day game or the Halloween game, things like that,” James said. James also said it would be better for the league if some of the good players on bad teams were able to play for more successful teams.

“It’s not my job; I’m a player, but that is why the league was…”

Yeah, we saw this coming.

Mike Singletary was fired by the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night after two disappointing seasons, including a 5-10 showing this 2010 NFL football season for a franchise expected to win the NFC West.

The San Francisco 49ers made the announcement late Sunday upon returning to the Bay Area, several hours after San Francisco was eliminated from playoff contention with a 25-17 loss at St. Louis. Defensive line coach Jim Tomsula was promoted to interim coach and will run the team in next Sunday’s season finale at home against Arizona. He was to be formally introduced in a news conference Monday.

Team president and CEO Jed York addressed reporters in St. Louis after the Niners’ loss Sunday and was noncommittal about whether Mike Singletary would coach the final game, saying he planned to think about it. Singletary was told of his dismissal back at the team’s Santa Clara complex after the trip home.

“I want to thank Mike Singletary for the passion and effort that he brought to this organization,” York said in a statement. “He is a tremendous person for whom I will always have great respect.”

San Francisco began the year with high hopes of winning the West and reaching the postseason for the first time since 2002. Singletary finished with an 18-22 record in two-plus seasons.

“One of the greatest experiences of my life was having the opportunity to coach the San Francisco 49ers,” Singletary said in a statement. “What made it so special were the players. They were some of the most outstanding men I have ever been around in my…

It’s a huge NFC showdown this Monday.

Two of the NFC’s best will take center stage on Monday night at the Georgia Dome as the 12-2 Atlanta Falcons host the 10-4 New Orleans Saints with only two weeks left into the 2010 NFL football season. Atlanta won the Week 3 meeting between the teams, a 27-24 overtime victory at New Orleans.

In their last meeting, the Atlanta Falcons pounded the ball at the Saints in overtime, running it 11 of 13 times to get into field goal range. They were sending the Saints a message about what they thought of their run defense.

The New Orleans Saints will need to tighten up their run defense before arriving at the Georgia Dome because they can expect a heave dose of the run, especially after Baltimore plowed them for 208 yards last week. The Falcons like making that statement about being more physical and running the clock, keeping the dangerous Drew Brees off the field.

Falcons’ Matt Ryan has posted a 19-1 record at home. He was injured the last time the Saints came to town and left with a 26-23 victory. Ryan has been sharp late in the season. He completed 20 of 35 passes for 174 yards, two touchdowns and one interception against Seattle. He’s making teams pay on third downs. He was 7 of 9 passing on third down in the first half for 68 yards and two touchdowns against the Seahawks. He had his pinpoint passing touch at times. Right before the half, he read that the Seahawks were blitzing and had all four receivers running “go” routes. He found Michael Jenkins in the back of the endzone for the go-ahead touchdown pass.

Earlier this season, teams were targeting…

Will we see Brett Favre get overplayed, overmatched and ultimately outclassed by Michael Vick?

That’s right, Michael Vick and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles take on Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings Sunday night in Week 16 of the 2010 NFL football season as we enter the final two weeks before we dive into the playoffs.

The Philadelphia Eagles can clinch first place in the NFC East with a win and one can expect the Eagles will come out with intensity in front of their home crowd, especially if the Giants win their earlier matchup against Green Bay.

The Minnesota Vikings, on the other hand, have already been eliminated but can play spoiler for at least one more week. The Eagles have the NFL’s top-ranked offense and are coming off a miraculous comeback against the Giants, scoring 28 points in the final eight minutes to wipe away a 21-point deficit on the road. They have scored at least 26 points in seven straight games, so the Minnesota defense will face a tough task.

Michael Vick is an MVP candidate in his second season back from a prison sentence and suspension and first season as the Eagles’ starting quarterback. He’s 8-1 as a starter and has accounted for 3,368 total yards and 28 total touchdowns.

The Eagles have made a pair of roster moves Tuesday, placing safety Nate Allen on injured reserve and releasing tight end Garrett Mills. They filled those two spots on their 53-man roster by signing safety Jamar Wall and defensive tackle Jeff Owens from their practice squad.

Allen, the team’s starting free safety, suffered a ruptured…