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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Its right there, in bold type, on the College Football Playoff website.Every Game Counts. Well, and sorry if this seems a little weird, truth is that maybe not quite every game. Maybe the game that does not count is a conference championship game, like Saturday nights Big Ten matchup of Penn State and Wisconsin, and try to explain that one.Because, in the very next paragraph, the playoff websites criteria go on to proclaim, The selection committee ranks the teams based on conference championships won . . .In other words, a conference championship is the key factor.Except when it isnt.Critics used to mock the people who run the college football bowl games because they paraded around looking like peacocks in all those brightly colored blazers with their oversize logos, spending fall weekends wining and dining athletic directors.Well, those guys look like Einstein compared to the clowns now in charge of the college playoff.They played the Big Ten championship game Saturday night at the dome in Indianapolis, and as game time approached, tickets could be had for less than $10, which should give you some idea of what the public thought of it.And about a dozen hours after the end of the game, Ohio State, which failed even to qualify for the conference title game, is expected to be chosen one of the four teams for the college playoff.The Big Ten champion will finish the season with a high place in the national rankings and a boost in its recruiting. It just will not be given a chance to play for the national championship, not be allowed a Cinderella champion like Texas Western in 1966 or a Villanova in 1985 in the NCAA basketball tournament.The consolation prize will be a trip to the Rose Bowl.Thats not bad.And, an argument can be made that Ohio State was the best team in the Big Ten this year, anyway, and maybe it was, although it lost to Penn State and beat Michigan only because of a few dunderhead plays by the Wolverines in critical spots. But the point is the Buckeyes did not even win their conference championship and they are going to get a chance to play for the national championship and the team(s) that finished ahead of them in the conference are not.You have to wonder what the geniuses who dreamed up the college playoff were thinking when, by design, they guaranteed a degree of controversy by setting up a four-team playoff among five power conferences. In other words, you know you are starting out by leaving out one of the conference champions. Period.Its a small step from there to leaving out another.The playoff, of course, was supposedly designed to eliminate the controversy that occurred in the past when the national champion was decided by a vote instead of, oh, say, an actual game. Which is how an undefeated Nebraska was selected over an undefeated Penn State in 1994 or several years when two groups of voters selected different teams as national champions, giving a little for everybody.A word, supposedly, appears in the previous paragraph because it would never pass a lie detector test. Lets face it, the playoff was set up to give a small group power and a bigger group money, because nothing much happens in college sports that does not really involve power and money.The five major conferences brought six bowls into their playoff orbit and only under pressure allowed one of the dozen spots to go to a school not a member of their cartel. But they certainly did not want one of the outliers getting super rich on the playoff, which is why they limited the playoff field to four teams and put the rest into a so-called Group of 6 bowl lineup which they controlled -- and, of course, sold for a huge sum to television.One interesting sidelight is that the people who run this sham championship arrangement, try as they might, could not fool everybody. Youd think, ordinarily, the championship game of the richest conference would be a huge magnet for fans, but since the fans realized it had so little to do with the national championship they smelled it for what it is.On Stubhub earlier in the week, there were more than 15,000 tickets available for the Penn State-Wisconsin matchup. As late as Saturday morning, more than 5,000 were still available, with sideline seats going for as little as, get this, $9.71.You can be sure that would not have been the case were the winner assured of going on to play for a bigger prize, but as it was, even Penn State and Wisconsin fans kept their wallets in their pockets because, since the meaning of the game was diminished, theyd prefer to save for, say, a trip to Pasadena instead of Indianapolis.Going into the game, the coaches, of course, tried to downplay the bigger picture by simply talking about the import of a conference championship -- huge, said Penn States James Franklin -- and deferring any questions about the playoff possibilities.But it didnt take a deep reading of Franklins comments to know how he felt.You could make a really good argument that the Big Ten, specifically the Big Ten East, may be the best conference in all of college football right now, Franklin said.He is probably right. The Big Ten is probably the best conference in college football right now, just a couple years after people were writing obituaries about the leagues weakness. Its just not a good enough conference, apparently, to allow its champion to play for the national title.--Ira Miller is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the National Football League for more than five decades and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He is a national columnist for The Sports Xchange. Cheap Air Max 720 Free Shipping . JOHNS, N. Air Max 720 Womens Australia . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach. http://www.wholesaleairmax720australia.com/ . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. Cheap Air Max 720 Wholesale . With his new coach and six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker watching him during an official match for the first time, Djokovic appeared tentative early against the Slovakian player, who often appeared content to keep the ball in play. Wholesale Air Max 720 .Y. - Jerome Samson scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the St. Owen Williams gave Leicester a European Champions Cup lifeline by kicking six penalties to floor Irish heavyweights Munster in dramatic fashion at Welford Road.The Welshmans winning 52-metre strike came a minute from time as Leicester triumphed 18-16 just a week after shipping 38 points against the same opponents.Munster hooker Niall Scannells 75th-minute try, which fly-half Tyler Bleyendaal converted, looked to have thwarted Leicester, but Williams struck after visiting flanker CJ Stander was penalised.It meant that Leicester ended Munsters 100 per cent Pool One record heading into the final two rounds of group fixtures next month.Leicester, European champions in 2001 and 2002, still have it all to do in their quest for a last-eight place, but fly-half Williams 100 per cent kicking accuracy relieved pressure on both the Tigers squad and rugby director Richard Cockerill as the home side prevailed.Tigers have lost only one of their last 34 European games at Welford Road,, and despite seeing England centre Manu Tuilagi sin-binned for the second successive game - this time following a shoulder charge on Munsters Rory Scannell - they ultimately delivered.Williams clincher followed Munster full-back Simon Zebos sin-binning for a late challenge on Tigers wing Adam Thompstone 12 minutes earlier.And, while Leicester themselves ended the game a man down when skipper Tom Youngs received a yellow card, the visitors could ultimately find no way back, although three Bleyendaal penalties ensured they headed for home with a losing bonus point.And it kept Munster just two points behind group leaders Glasgow with a game in and, with Leicester holding third spot, a further three points behind.Leicester showed three changes from the side crushed in Limerick last weekend, with centre Jack Roberts, prop Pat Cilliers and flanker Luke Hamilton all starting, while Williams switched to number 10 instead of an injured Freddie Burns.Bleyendaal, who kicked 18 points to underpin Tigers downfall at Thomond Park, opened his account with a 10th-minute strike after Leicester full-back George Worth was penalised for a late challenge on his opposite number Zebo.ddddddddddddLeicester just could not get going, being guilty of spilling possession that undermined any attacking consistency, and when Munster mounted a first sustained spell of pressure, the Tigers infringed and a second Bleyendaal penalty made it 6-0.The stakes were huge for Leicester, but they initially performed like a team riddled with nerves, and Munster missed a strong chance to move further ahead when Bleyendaal drifted an angled penalty attempt wide.But there was no end to Leicesters frustration, and as Tom Youngs remonstrated with Munster players, Tuilagi was yellow-carded by French referee Pascal Gauzere following a reckless challenge on his opposite number Rory Scannell.As so often happens, though, it galvanised the team temporarily reduced to 14 men, and Leicester opened their account through a Williams penalty six minutes before the break while Tuilagi was still off.Williams then tied things up with a second penalty, only for Bleyendaal to miss a second successive chance after Roberts infringed, and a tense opening 40 minutes ended all-square.Bleyendaal and Williams exchanged penalties within 10 minutes of the restart, and while the game might have been short on true attacking class, intensity levels were high-octane as Leicester unquestionably went up a level after half-time.Roberts then broke from inside his own 22, and after play went through several pairs of hands, Leicester gained a penalty after Munster prop John Ryan infringed, and Williams fourth successful penalty put Tigers ahead for the first time.Zebo was then punished for taking out Thompstone after the Leicester player had kicked ahead, and Williams once again accepted his opportunity, before the late drama that saw him strike from inside his own half after Scannell crossed to thwart Munsters victory hopes. ' ' 'ad five batsmen stumped. India had never beaten England until then. With Mankad at the fore, they won by an innings and eight runs. Among the other protagonists was Pankaj Roy, who is part-owner of the second-highest opening stand in Test cricket, and Polly Umrigar, one of the greats of Indian cricket.And so was Mankad. John Woodcock wrote he was Indias first great allrounder. In the ensuing tour of England, when he took a five-for and hit 184 at Lords, Mankad was in the middle of 18 of the 24 hours the match lasted. He was 35 at the time.First series win overseasThey batted too slow.They were a little desperate.It was pretty dismal.India were in Dunedin. Frigid conditions overhead and a soggy pitch underfoot. Youve seen this story before. Your stomach is already churning at having to relive another horror of a Test match overseas. After all, those comments above paint the team in fairly grim light. Except in 1968, things were a little different.It was Ajit Wadekar, who struck twin fifties, who said, They batted too slow and couldnt execute their strokes easily.It was Erapalli Prasanna, who took six wickets in the second innings, who said, They were a little desperate. Most of their batsmen tried to score fast in order to set a stiff target, but failed.It was New Zealands Bruce Murray who said, It was pretty dismal. Many of us had never played such sustained and good spin bowling.And it was India who were celebrating a win by five wickets. Their first one overseas. Ramakant Desai had to put aside a fractured jaw to help pull it off. That was in late February. By early March, they had moved on to a first series win overseas. One that showcased their bouncebackability too. New Zealand had made them follow-on and beat them in the second Test. India responded by winning the third and the fourth, and were toasting a 3-1 victory. Wadekar and Prasanna were integral to that outcome with 328 runs at an average of 46.85 and 24 wickets at an average of 18.79 respectively.First time at No. 1What did you expect would happen after three back-to-back series wins overseas? New Zealand were spun out. West Indies were humbled. And England were blown away -- both in their own and then in Indian conditions. Ajit Wadekar became the first captain from his country to have led a No. 1-ranked team. And he had a bit of fun in the process.Before the first Test of the series in the Caribbean, India had never enjoyed the privilege of a first-innings lead against West Indies. Having secured one that amounted to 170 runs, which in those days was more than enough, Wadekar strutted into the West Indies dressing-room and loudly proclaimed: Hey Garry [Sobers], West Indies have to follow-on. They were stunned into silence.Fade to black. Open at The Ovals Balcony. Wadekar beaming at a sea of Indian supporters having just led India to their first Test win in England. He had gone to sleep after being dismissed in the chase of 173. I was nudged awake by Ken Barrington, the England manager, who told me that we had won. I said to him that I always knew wed win.India returned home to a ticker-tape parade. We went from the airport to Brabourne stadium, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar recalled in 2011, and some of those cheers still echo inside my head even today. He had taken eight wickets in the match at The Oval -- many with his Mill Reef quicker ball, named after a derby winning horse from that summer.When England came to India in 1972-73 and were beaten 2-1, Chandra outdid himself with eight wickets in an innings. With a final tally of 35 over five games, he had become one of Indias finest match-winners and in the process cemented their place as the No. 1 team in the world. ' ' '