What do a bunch of computers know anyway?

? Foresight is 20/20

Former Washington State football coach Jim Walden received some belated vindication this week when Florida whipped Ohio State in every phase of the National Championship game.

He was publicly skewered when at the end of the regular season he was the lone voter in the Harris Poll — one of the many variables that comprise the fallible BCS — to vote one-loss Florida ahead of undefeated Ohio State.

At the time he explained that Ohio State seemed to have a free pass, noting that other than Texas and Michigan, they had played a fairly weak schedule and he didn't think the Big Ten was not that strong overall. He also noted that Florida had played a brutal schedule in a much tougher conference and he simply thought they were the better team. Turned out he was right.

? BCS busters

If Boise State did nothing other than swing a huge ax to the BCS tree in hopes of someday falling the flawed system, this season will be deemed a success in my book. Am I the only person out there that wouldn't love to see the Gators and Broncos play a game this Monday night?

If only there was a playoff. We'd be treated to a ball game with innovative, spread out, wide open offenses that seem to have broken the mold of winning with defense and a strong running game. A game pitting a big conference power against… well, against Boise State. I won't cast a hypothetical guess at the outcome, but I'm quite certain it would be a thoroughly entertaining game that came down to the wire.

But alas, we're left to ponder a moot point, and wait for the greatest tournament in sports, The Final Four, where 64 college basketball teams will determine a national championship on actual hardwood, not in some computer.

? Make your vote count

Someone should strip the voting privileges of the baseball writer from Chicago who recently turned in an empty Hall of Fame ballot as a form of protest. Give his ballot to a deserving baseball writer that would do their job and not act as if this was life and death stuff. Last I checked, it was still called America's pastime.

The voter's reasoning was twofold. He didn't want to vote on any players until he knows more about baseball's tainted 'steroid era', and he also didn't want Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn to be unanimous selections (why, I've no idea).

Although I think it's pretty weak, I can at least see where he's coming from on the steroid issue. But to not vote for Gwynn and Ripken — two unequivocal Hall of Fame players and exemplary ambassadors for the game — borders on baseball blasphemy. Perhaps he's lost perspective, and needs to realize he's a sportswriter, whose job it is to cast a ballot for players worthy of induction into Canton, and nothing more.

? In the zone

Clark Fork senior forward Cameron Jeffres was in that utopian place that anyone who has played a sport or done an activity refers to as 'the zone.' It's fleeting, exhilarating and rare, and even tougher to describe. In short, it's when your so locked in you can do no wrong.

Jeffres poured in 20 points in the last four minutes of the second quarter as the Cats beat Lakeside last Friday, draining five 3-pointers and nailing a rare four-point play at the buzzer to cap the binge. To put that in perspective, if he'd kept that scoring pace up for an entire game, he'd score 160 points.

I can still remember watching Michael Jordan shrug his shoulders, hold his hands palms skyward and shake his head as if to say 'I can't explain it' as he stuck his fifth consecutive 3-pointer against the Trail Blazers in the playoffs. To varying degrees, most anyone who has played much basketball has had such moments, when everything that leaves your fingertips somehow seems to find the bottom of the net. I'm sure Jeffres can relate.

? Crystal ball is back

Most every time I've made predictions in print, I end up looking like the village idiot. I just couldn't let my lasting legacy be the mid-summer prediction that the Mariners would make the playoffs — ouch. I had written a column that was supposed to run in the Sunday paper two weeks ago, but the Coeur d'Alene Press nixed it at the 11th hour. Since I turned out to be right for maybe the first time ever, I decided to share my football predictions with you as they appeared in said column, albeit after the fact.

?Boise State 44, Oklahoma 38 — Being a homer has made me look bad before, but I really feel this one. BSU is unwittingly carrying the torch for not just their entire state and conference, but every good football team out there not from BCS royalty. A win would hasten the long-overdue demolition of the BCS — but that's for another column. A loss and all of the slick, fast-talking pundits will be carping things like "see I told you, Boise State would be nothing more than a .500 team if they played in a power conference."

?Florida 30, Ohio State 24

While I could care less who wins this game, which absurdly comes nearly two months after each team's last game, I'll take a stab anyway. I'll base my pick on the fact that overall the Big Ten is maybe the fifth best conference in the country this year. For some odd reason, the Buckeyes have been put on a pedestal.

?Eagles 20, Ravens 17 in the SuperBowl

I love how the Eagles' Jeff Garcia plays. He's a great athlete who scrambles, makes plays, keeps the chains moving, and seems to find a way to win. Of course the same can be said for the Ravens' Steve McNair. While not the most glamorous SuperBowl, last I checked, glamour teams usually end up watching this game from the comfort of their sofas.

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