Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

As a public service for our many sports fans who follow college football, it's time to inform you as to the myriad college bowl games that are on the horizon and offer my humble opinion of whom will come out on top, or is it who will come out on top? No matter.

Get out the chips and dip, make sure there are enough beverages on hand to get you through the cold weather, snuggle up in your favorite chair and have a look at what is sometimes called "Bowls Are Us."

• Dec. 20 - Four games get us started. Up first is the Eagle Bank in Washington, D.C. Navy will beat Wake Forest. The New Mexico Bowl follows with Fresno State my choice to beat Colorado State in Albuquerque and then it will be the Las Vegas Bowl with South Florida a tad better than Memphis.

Big money? Each team in the first two bowls get $750,000 each, the next two is a cool million.

• Dec. 21 - The lowest paying bowl is the New Orleans. The 5 p.m. kickoff matches Troy and Southern Mississippi. I like Troy. Only $325,000 per squad.

• Dec. 23 - It's Boise State against Texas Christian in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. I like Boise State.

• Dec. 24 - Hawaii hosts Notre Dame in the Hawaii Bowl. Each team gets $750,000. The Rainbows will bank their share and it will probably cost the Irish more than that to travel, stay, play and return home. If the Irish don't win, Charlie Weiss may get an early Christmas present, even though they say he's good to go for another season.

• Dec. 26 - Central Michigan hosts Florida Atlantic in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit, if anyone cares. I like the home team.

• Dec. 27 - Three more: West Virginia to beat North Carolina in the Meineke, Florida State to top Wisconsin in the Champs Sports and Cal to beat Miami in the Emerald. Quick, now, where is the Champ Sports played?

• Dec. 28 - The Independence Bowl is in Shreveport, La. La Tech hosts Northern Illinois. Go with Tech.

• Dec. 29 - Missouri to beat Northwestern in the Alamo and Rutgers to take down North Carolina State in the Papajohn's.com affair in Birmingham.

• Dec. 30 - Oregon will beat Oklahoma State in the Holiday Bowl, Air Force over Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl. Rice over Western Michigan in the Texas Bowl.

Dec. 31 - If you're not too burned out, five games New Year's Eve. Sun Bowl: Oregon State to beat Pitt. Music City Bowl: Boston College over Vanderbilt. Insight Bowl: Minnesota over Kansas. Chick-fil-A Bowl: Georgia Tech over LSU. Watch this one, as LSU meets Washington in the opener next fall.

• Jan. 1 - Remember when there were just four on this day? Now there are five. Iowa over South Carolina in the Outback, Georgia over Michigan State in the Capital One, Nebraska over Clemson in the Gator, USC over Penn State in the Rose (this could be the best of all) and Virginia Tech over Cincy in the Orange.

• Jan. 2 - Three more: Texas Tech to beat Ole Miss in the Cotton, East Carolina in an upset over Kentucky in the Liberty and Alabama to surprise Utah in the Sugar.

• Jan. 3 - Buffalo over U. Conn in the International Bowl in Toronto.

• Jan. 5 - Texas over Ohio State in the Fiesta.

• Jan. 6 - Ball State over Tulsa in the GMAC.

• The Big One - It's Jan 8 in Miami. It's the BCS title game and I like Oklahoma to beat Florida. I saw the Sooners in Husky Stadium in September and said they were going all the way. I haven't changed my mind.



Hoopla

Sequim and Port Angeles meet on the basketball court for the first time Dec. 19 with the Sequim girls taking on a good P.A. quad and the Sequim boys hosting a Port Angeles team that is trying to find some fire power early in the season.

A heads-up for fans: For the first time in many moons, these games will not be broadcast on Radio KONP. Fans better plan on being in the Rick Kaps Gym early for best seats.



Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.