Die Allianz T-D-P » respect Bob [Arum] and Todd.

Conference championships matter. Head-to-head matters. Strength of schedule matters. Every game counts, though some seem to count more than others and good luck figuring out which ones count most.This and more is what the College Football Playoff selection committee sorts through to pick the four best teams in the country.If consistency, certainty and clear-cut criteria are what you crave, this may not be the sport for you. Yes, the goal posts move from season to season. That may be the way it is for awhile -- at least until the playoff grows up.Every year is going to be different, CFP executive director Bill Hancock said. Football seasons are like snowflakes, theyre all different. Next year well be standing here talking about some other way it fell out. And thats great.It worked out great Sunday for Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. Not so great if you root for Penn State.No. 1 Alabama (13-0) will face No. 4 Washington (12-1) in one semifinal and second-seeded Clemson (12-1) meets third-seeded Ohio State (11-1) in the other on Dec. 31.The committee stayed with the same top four it picked going into championship weekend, leaving out No. 5 Penn State (11-2) even though the Nittany Lions won the Big Ten title game and beat Ohio State earlier in the season.The Buckeyes are the first team to reach the playoff in its three-year history without winning their conference.Many questioned why Ohio State deserved a spot, especially over Penn State. Selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt made it clear that the 12-person committee did not.Ohio States three victories against top-10 teams (No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 6 Michigan) and only one loss, by three at Penn State, won the day over the Nittany Lions. Penn State lost to Pitt and Michigan (by 39) before closing the season with nine straight victories.Several times, Hocutt cited Penn States noncompetitive loss and Ohio States strong nonconference victory at Oklahoma.So the key is to play a difficult nonconference schedule?Well, maybe not.The final spot came down to Penn State (11-2) and Pac-12 champion Washington.The Huskies only loss was to 10th-ranked Southern California and its nonconference schedule featured FCS Portland State, Rutgers and Idaho. Penn State played Pitt, Temple and Kent State out of conference.I think because of Washingtons strength of schedule, their margin for error was very slim, Hocutt said. I think our discussions and our decision would have been much easier if Washington would have had a stronger strength of schedule this college football season.You could say Washington benefited because it did not play a difficult nonconference opponent. But you can also say that if Penn State beat Pitt it would have benefited from playing a difficult nonconference schedule.Hocutt said the committee dug deep into the Huskies and Nittany Lions.As we looked at those key statistics from an offensive standpoint, from a defensive standpoint, from starting field position differential, the edge was to Washington, Hocutt said. You look at turnover margin, Washington ranks first in the country in turnover margin compared to Penn State, ranking 50.If there is a pattern to be found in the committees work over three years it may be this simple: For the most part, the teams are ranked by the number in the loss column.No two-loss team has made the playoff. Even a close head-to-head win over Ohio State and a conference title was not enough for Penn State to overcome two losses.Maybe next season will be different.In many ways the College Football Playoff is no different than the Bowl Championship Series, a highly subjective system that relied on poll voters to pick the top two teams. The one crucial difference, though, is enormous. Four instead of two makes the CFP better than the BCS.What could provide more consistency, more objectivity while removing much of the subjectivity, is bigger playoff. Eight teams, with five automatic qualifying Power Five conference champions, the best team from the Group of Five and two wild cards. Fewer debates, plus it could put some juice back into championship weekend, which has become a little anticlimactic.It would also bring Cinderella into college footballs postseason, providing an opportunity for a non-Power Five team to win a meaningful postseason game and an underdog conference championship game winner to move on and play for the national title.Sounds interesting, but it is not happening anytime soon.Hancock said expansion of the playoff is not up for consideration by the conference commissioners. The CFP is in year three of a 12-year television deal with ESPN.Clemson coach Dabo Swinney cautioned that more postseason would lessen the value of the regular season and that adding another round would require eliminating other games.I dont think you can go past 15 games in college football, said Swinney, whose did just that last season and lost to Alabama in the national championship game. Something would have to give.Ohio States Urban Meyer said he empathizes with Penn State and would not mind seeing a system that rewards all conference champions.Im not sure theres an easy answer, said Meyer, who has won two BCS championships and the first College Football Playoff. I think were heading in the right direction.---Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twittre.com/ralphDrussoAP---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.orgCheap Nike Shoes Australia . McCarthy, a player who played some games in the second tier for Wigan at the start of this season, would go on to shine inside Evertons midfield, outplaying the man he was brought in to replace, on one of the grandest stages in English football. On Saturday, it was fitting that Manchester Uniteds most recent dagger into the chest was delivered by Frenchman Yohan Cabaye, a wonderfully gifted central midfielder who put on an outstanding effort for Newcastle at Old Trafford. 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The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country.Miguel Cotto the promoter has been busy with his promotional company signing young Puerto Rican boxing talent and making a foray into concert promoting.Cotto the future Hall of Fame boxer has been a lot less busy.At 35, Cotto is in the twilight of his career, during which he came out of the 2000 Olympics to become one of the sports biggest and most exciting stars as well as the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight divisions (junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight).In recent years, however, Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) has picked his spots to fight. He boxed only once in 2013 (following a 10-month layoff), once in 2014 (when he knocked out Sergio Martinez to win the middleweight crown) and twice in 2015, returning from a year layoff to stop Daniel Geale in a middleweight title defense and then losing a decision and the title to Canelo Alvarez in their huge fight in November 2015.Since then there has been much discussion about Cottos next move. He and promoter Roc Nation Sports talked at length about a fight in the second half of this year. There were negotiations with Mexican star Juan Manuel Marquez, also a four-division titleholder, for a major pay-per-view fight, but Marquez is a smaller man and they could not agree on a catch weight acceptable to both fighters.Then there were conversations with HBO about a fight with former junior welterweight titlist and welterweight contender Lamont Peterson on Dec. 3 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. But nothing was ever finalized with one issue being that the date was too close to the Nov. 19 fight Roc Nation Sports is co-promoting between its other star fighter, Andre Ward, and unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev.So for the first time since his 2001 pro debut, Cotto will go through a calendar year without a ring appearance.We have had several conversations with Roc Nation about where Miguel is at and what he wants to do. Everything is good but with different circumstances he decided not to fight in 2016, Bryan Perez, a Miguel Cotto Promotions executive and Cottos close friend, told ESPN. We had different conversations about fighting in December but we decided not to fight and do it in the first part of 2017, between February or March.According to Perez, Cottos next fight will be the last one of the three-fight deal he signed with Roc Nation Sports in March 2015. While many have speculated that would likely be the final fight of Cottos career -- he has said he is looking ahead to life after the boxing ring -- Perez said it probably wont be.The next fight is the last fight on the agreement we signed in 2015 but Miguel feels healthy and good and wants to continue fighting, Perez said. He has the last word and will decide what to do and what his plan will be but he says he wants to continue to fight and to explore facing the best names out there and getting the best guarantee (in terms of money). He will fight twice in 2017.Although Cotto won the middleweight titlle, he fought below the division limit of 160 in all three of his title fights (155 and 153 twice).dddddddddddd The mid-to-low 150s is where he intends to fight next.He will be comfortable fighting below 160, but whatever opportunities pop up and whatever fight is the best guarantee and benefits his career he will consider, Perez said. We will wait to see.Obviously, he is not going to go to welterweight.Perez said Peterson (34-3-1, 17 KOs), 32, of Washington, D.C., remains a possible opponent. Peterson has not fought since last October.Lamont Peterson is a former world champion, a great fighter and it would be a great fight but not a pay-per-view fight. But I think its a fight that could get done, Perez said, adding that even though Peterson is aligned with adviser Al Haymon it would not prevent a deal being made with Roc Nation Sports, which is owned by music star Jay Z, a longtime rival of Haymons.A far more intriguing bout would be against former welterweight and junior welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley Jr. (33-2-1, 13 KOs), 33, of Palm Springs, California. Bradley has voiced interest in moving up to face Cotto.Thats one of the fights Tim would like before he is done with his career, Monica Bradley, his wife and manager told ESPN in August when he re-signed with promoter Top Rank.Said Perez: Bradley is a huge fight, a great fight to make. Its a great fight for the fans, a good style fight. Miguel is always willing to fight the best and if Bradley is there and available and we can agree on terms, we are more than happy to put them in the ring.That fight would entail Cottos camp co-promoting with Top Rank, which promoted Cotto for most of his career until he left to sign with Roc Nation Sports after saying he would never leave the company. It was a move that deeply disappointed Top Rank president Todd duBoef, who recruited Cotto out of the Olympics and grew very close to him through the years.We ended our business relationship with Top Rank but if theres a fight we can work on together we will work together, no problem, Perez said. We had a great relationship with Top Rank and we like and respect Bob [Arum] and Todd. I think Bradley would be a huge fight and a great fight.When asked for his view of the possible fight, duBoef was not overly enthusiastic and not anxious to go down that road. But he said he would acquiesce to his fighter.If its a fight that Tim Bradley and Monica want, I would discuss it, duBoef said.Regardless of when Cotto returns, at what weight and against which opponent, he will be back soon training with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach and looking for the biggest fight that can be made.This is the first time he had a layoff like this, Perez said. But at this point in his career its good for him. Hes been moving around in the gym to maintain his condition but its good for him to get the rest. But he is ready to fight again. ' ' '