Sarni's Scrolls: CFP Playoffs Made for TV

The committee picked the teams that will look the prettiest on TV.

The College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 1:

■ Michigan vs. Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

■ Washington vs. Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

Major brands. TV ratings grabbers. The sacred SEC.

Welcome, Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide, one-loss SEC champion, how can we have a legitimate playoff without you?

Too bad, Florida State, undefeated Power 5 champion but it's only the inferior ACC, so sorry your quarterback got hurt.

ESPN, which signed a 10-year deal to become the exclusive rights-holder of SEC football, couldn't be more excited... but it was not all smiles Sunday on the set of ESPN's College Football Playoff special. There were some truth-tellers.

"This is a travesty to the sport," said ESPN's Booger McFarland. "One team has a loss, and that's Alabama. One doesn't in Florida State... They might as well have built a runway. It's a beauty pageant."

Bravo, Booger.

Tipping their caps to the 13-person committee: Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway, Greg McElroy.

"They put in the four best teams said McElroy, who played at Alabama.

The know-it-all committee said FSU was not the same team after Jordan Travis broke his leg.

Still resilient FSU kept winning, adjusting, playing great defense...doesn't defense win championships?

Travis tweeted: "I thought results matter. 13-0."

Perfedtion

Former quarterback and ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III said he "agreed 100% with Travis." You don't punish them for losing their quarterback.

What happens if the Alabama or the Texas quarterback gets hurt in practice this month?

FSU is not happy, of course, and State Senator Corey Simon, who played for the Seminoles, is calling for a lawsuit. Gov. Ron DeSantis is mad too.

Meanwhile, FSU goes to the Orange Bowl to play two-time defending champion Georgia, which may be better than every team in the CFP Invitational.

Go Noles! Make it 14-0.

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Florida State's undefeated women's soccer team didn't have to answer to some highfalutin committee.

The Noles earned their way into Monday's College Cup championship match against Stanford in Cary, N.C., with their play on the field.

FSU (20-0-1) vs. Stanford (20-0-4) will be the first NCAA Division I women’s championship game between unbeaten teams. Tied with three women’s soccer championship titles, Florida State and Stanford rank behind North Carolina as the second-most successful teams in the competition.

Jenn Hildreth (play-by-play), former US Women’s National Team midfielder Lori Lindsey (analyst), and Marion Crowder (field analyst) will call match (6, ESPN).
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Welcome to Cooperstown

Jim Leyland was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in a vote by the Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee on Sunday.

"I'm touched, I'm humbled... I can't thank baseball enough," said Leyland, 79, on the MLB Network.

One of baseball's true characters, Leyland received 15 votes from the 16-member committee (he needed 15). None of the other eight candidates were elected.

Leyland won the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins. He also managed the Pirates, Rockies and Tigers.

Harold McReynolds, analyst for the MLB Network, said: "You watched him manage and you thought that's a Hall of Fame manager."

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San Francisco 49ers 42, Philadelphia 19.

"As dominant a performance as we've seen among elite teams in the league," said Fox analyst Greg Olsen on the telecast. "The 49ers are playing as well if not better than anyone in the NFL."

Sunday's resounding win at Lincoln Financial Field puts the now healthy 49ers (9-3) squarely in the chase for home-field advantage and a first-round bye. They merely having to match the Eagles' (10-2) regular-season record.

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ETC.

■ NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals Monday: Celtics (-4.5) at Pacers (7:30, TNT); Pelicans at Kings (-4.5) (10, TNT)... Tuesday: Knicks at Bucks, (7:30, TNT); Suns at Lakers, (10, TNT).

■ MLS Cup semifinals: Columbus 3, Cincinnati 2; LAFC 2, Houston 0. The final is Saturday (4, Apple)

■ ESPN's Jeff Passan reports on The Shohei Ohtani Sweepstakes: Mets, Red Sox, Rangers have moved on. Dodgers, Angels, Cubs, Blue Jays remain. Giants unclear.

■  At this point in the season, the UConn women's  has lost three basketball games, the most this early since the 1982-83 season.

■ USC freshman JuJu Watkins has played seven games, scored 30+ points in five of them.

■ Mikeala Shiffrin took her 40th World Cup podium in the giant slalom, one shy of Ted Ligety's American record.

■ Washington-Oregon achieved 9.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched Pac-12 championship game by over three million (2014 Arizona-Oregon. 6M).

■ FCS quarterfinalists: North Dakota State, South Dakota State, South Dakota, Villanova, Albany, Idaho, Montana, Furman.

■ Almost half the NFL teams are weighing whether to fire their coach, according to the 'Boston Globe's" Ben Volin.

■ NFL Commissioner reportedly wants the "Tush Push" banned.

■ Cowboys' 41-35 win over Seahawks on Thursday Night was first NFL game with 75-plus points and no punts.

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■ Simone Biles vs. Taylor Swift at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night. Biles is married to Packers' safety Jonathan Owens.

■ The Paris Olympics are 236 days away.

■ Jason Sudeikis broke out his "Ted Lasso" dance at the Iowa-Bowling Green women’s game. Sudeikis, who is from Kansas, attended the UConn-Kansas men's game with former Husky star Sue Bird.

■ KISS performed its farewell show at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

■ Lifetime will air its first holiday movie with a sex scene. Jana Kramer and Adam Senn star in "A Cowboy Christmas Romance", debuting on Saturday.

■ The "House of Dragons" Season 2 trailer promises "many will die"... "there's no war so bloody as war between dragons."

■ Emma Stone hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the fifth time this weekend... Bowen Yang does a great George Santos.

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THEY SAID IT

■ "You need a Kim Mulkey in your life. I'm going to say that today, tomorrow next year until I die." -- Angel Reese, who returned to the LSU basketball team over the weekend.

■ "She was very sweet, very humble, which was refreshing and amazing. And obviously, we all look up to her, one of the greatest female athletes in the world. To meet her in person and see how she was, was incredible.” -- USWNT's Trinity Rodman on meeting Serena Williams after friendly match against China in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.

■ "He's going to win a bucket of Grand Slams, and what I mean by that is in double figures." -- Tennis coach Rick Macci on Carlos Alcaraz.

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Jim Sarni, BC Class of '69, is a former sportswriter for The Boston Globe and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He resides in Fort Lauderdale and watches a lot of television. If you have a comment or an opinion, we'd love to hear from you Jksarni@aol.com