Tuesday, November 3, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 3
K-State leader in Big 12 bowl race
Nebraska may not receive Alliance bid
By Brandon Krisztal
Kansan sportswriter
With the release of the latest Bowl Championship Series and the various Top 25 polls, the bowl picture is shaping up nicely for the Big 12 Conference.
The national championship will be decided in
the Bowl Championship Series Alliance which includes the Fiesta, Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls. From the Big 12, Kansas State has the inside track to compete in one of the Alliance Bowls.
Nebraska had been in the same company, but
the Cornhuskers loss to Texas Saturday hurt their chances of playing in an Alliance Bowl.
According to traditional bowl standards, and with the addition of so many bowls in the last few years, a team with six or more wins would most likely get a bowl bid.
"The season is still so open, but I think the Big
12 has six or seven teams that will receive strong consideration," said Bill Brady, director of marketing and operations for the Cotton Bowl.
The new BCS rankings were released yesterday. Ohio State and Tennessee jumped ahead of last week's No.1 team, UCLA. Kansas State is still ranked fourth, which means if the bowls were played tomorrow, the Wildcats would not get a shot at the national championship game at the Fiesta Bowl.
The new system provides a chance to have a national championship game in which the No. 1 team plays No.2. However, because there is no playoff system, this year four undefeated teams could play in bowl games.
Brady said he liked the new system and said a plavoff would not be good for college football.
"The BCS is good for college football," he said. "Playoffs would transform the college game and make it a minor league version of the NFL."
Brady added that eliminating bowl games would dramatically decrease the sizable payouts that teams receive for participating in a bowl game.
The four Alliance Bowls have a payout of more than $8 million per team. The higher rated bowls not in the Alliance, like the Cotton Bowl, have a payout of more than $2 million dollars.
The Big 12 has a contract with the Cotton, Alamo, Insight.com, Holiday and, most recently, the Independence Bowls. Bo Carter, Big 12 director of media relations, said the Big 12 was extremely pleased with the conference's bowl prospects this season as well as how well it has fared in the past.
"Playoffs would transform the college game and make it a minor league version of the NFL."
Bill Brady Cotton Bowl director of operations
"We've got a shot to get two more teams in the BCS this year," he said. "The first two years we were the only conference to have two teams in the Alliance which increased the payout by $16 million, and we've had 19 teams in bowl games over the last three years."
There are five Big 12 teams in the Top 25 — Kansas State (4), Texas A&M (7), Nebraska (14), Missouri (18) and Texas (20), and Colorado and Texas Tech have six wins each. All have legitimate shots at receiving a bowl bid. Nebraska's loss to Texas hurts the conference's chance of having two teams in the BCS. Even though Texas A&M is seventh in the BCS poll, the loser of the Big 12 Championship on Dec. 5 automatically plays an SEC team in the Cotton Bowl.
Ohio State moves back into No.1 spot
UCLA's close call was Ohio State's and Tennessee's big gain in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Ohio State and Tennessee were first and second in the latest series standings released yesterday. UCLA dropped from first to third place after a 28-24 win against Stanford.
The standings are based on a point system calculated by using The Associated Press' media poll, the coaches' poll, three computer rankings,
The Associated Press
strength-of-schedule and number of losses They will determine who plays in the Fiesta Bowl with the national title on the line.
The final standings will be released on Dec. 6, and the toon two teams will play in Tempe, Ariz. Jan. 4.
The Buckeyes (8-0), ranked No. 1 in the AP and coaches' polls, moved from second to first place with 3.71 total points — 1 point for poll average; 1.75 points for computer rank average; 0.96 for strength-of schedule and zero for losses.
Tennessee (7-0), moved from third to second with 5.70 points —2.5 for poll average; 2.92 for
computer average; 0.28 for strength-of-schedule and zero for losses. The Vols have the seventh-toughest schedule, while the Buckeyes' schedule is rated 24th.
The Bruins (7-0), who were first last week with 3.05 points, had 6.62 points. Their poll average fell from 2 to 3.5 points and their computer average slipped from 1 to 3 points. UCLA's strength-of-schedule went from touchest to third touchest.
The rest of the top 10 included Kansas State, in fourth place, followed by Florida, Florida State, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Penn State and Arizona.
Associated Press
Auction houses to sell McGwire, Sosa balls by season's beginning
Starting today with McGwire's 50th home run ball, auction houses will begin selling the collectibles that are expected to go for thousands of dollars. Christie's in New York will auction No. 50, valued at about $15,000.
ST. LOUISE — Just like they did this summer, several home run balls hit by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa soon will be going, going — gone.
An auction house will sell McGwire's first home run ball of the season, a grand slam, on Nov. 12. That ball is estimated to be valued at $10,000 to $12,000.
Though no date has been set, Creative Properties Management Group has contracted with the owners of home run balls 63, 64, 68, 69 and 70 — considered the crown jewel of sports memorabilia. The company also has Sosa's 64th and 66th home run balls.
Michael Barnes, managing partner of Creative Properties, said offers for each of the balls were in six figures.
No. 70 is the catch of the lot,
however.
"To be competitive, you need a bid above seven figures," Barnes said.
The $93,000 that actor Charlie Sheen paid for the ball that squirred between the legs of Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series is
regarded as the record for a single collectible baseball.
Creative Properties says it is
The record price for any sports collectible item: a Honus Wagner card sold in September 1996 by Christie's for $640,500. The item most likely to bring the biggest bid next week at Christie's another Wagner card with an estimated value between $350,000 and $450,000.
McGwire: His home un balls are being suctioned.
Creative Profielding a hundred calls a day, from the curious to collectors to corporations. A few have expressed interest in the possibility of buying the entire lineup of baseballs, though no figures have been discussed.
Only written offers are accepted. Bidders who stipulate that the balls will be put on public display at a museum or the Baseball Hall of Fame, may have the inside track. Barnes said.
The company has not decided whether the balls will be sold at auction or privately, or when.
Barnes said all the owners retained the right not to seil. He said he anticipated a sale no later than the start of the 1999 season.
Questionable health care plan causes ABC employees to strike
The Associated Press
ABC's radio operations, he said.
NEW YORK — More than 2,000 off-camera employees of ABC who work on such programs as Good Morning America and Monday Night Football walked off the job yesterday morning for a one-day strike regarding health benefits.
The strike disrupted ABC's morning television programming yesterday, resulting in faulty audio feeds and incorrect graphics during Good Morning America,union spokesman Tom Donahue said. The strike also would affect other TV shows and
However, network spokeswoman Julie Hoover said there were no disrupted feeds, adding, "There are incorrect graphics every day." ABC would continue regular programming, with managers filling in for strikers, she said.
"We have taken all necessary precautions to ensure that our telecasts will continue without interruption — and that includes Monday Night Football." Hoover said.
There were about 1,100 strikers in New York, 600 in Los Angeles, 300 in Washington, 150 in Chicago and 100 in San Francisco.
Donahue said. They included 75 members of the crew for last night's National Football League game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys.
The members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians
camera operators, desk assistants,
courriers and other off-camera employees
— stopped working at 5 a.m. EST yesterday because of unfair labor practices, Donahue said. Strikers planned to picket ABC's New York headquarters until this morning.
Workers were striking because ABC and its parent, the Walt Disney Co., were with
holding details of Disney's health care plan, Donahue said. ABC officials have demanded that the union members abandon their current health care coverage and enroll in Disney's plan, which has not been clearly defined to them, he said. He contended that the withholding of information was illegal
The union filed an unfair-labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on July 15, a union statement said.
The information requested by the union officials relates to what insurance companies pay doctors and hospitals under the Disney health plan. Hoover said.
ABC disclosed all the information it had on the health care plan and its benefits, but what the union wanted was the insurance companies' proprietary information, ABC said in a statement that also called the strike a sneak attack.
Hoover called the strike a "pretext" to pressure ABC at the bargaining table.
The health care plan has been the subject of negotiations since the union's ABC contract expired March 31, 1997. The union represents 12,000 workers nationwide and is part of the Communications Workers of America.
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