Sarni's Scrolls: JMU needs to go bowling

By Jim Sarni

James Madison is having a moment.

■ The Dukes' football team is 9-0 and ranked No. 21 in the AP poll. Next: UConn.

■ The men's basketball team stunned No. 4 Michigan State 79-76 in overtime.

■ The men's soccer team upset No. 1 UCF last week.

James Madison is ineligible for a bowl game as a school in its second year transitioning team from the Championship Subdivision to the Bowl Subdivision. The Dukes can play in the postseason if there are not enough 6-6 teams to fill the available 82 spots in the bowl lineup.

JMU is appealing for the second time to the NCAA to reduce the transition period. The first appeal failed.

It's a stupid rule, and hopefully the Dukes will play in the postseason.

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The CFP top four remain the same: Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, FSU.
ESPN's Rece Davis made a rather embarrassing mistake when speaking with CFP chair Boo Corrigan after the reveal. Davis asked Corrigan about dealing with potentially having to rank five undefeated Power 5 champions.

The only problem? That's not a scenario that is possible.
Only four of the major conferences currently have teams that are still undefeated; all of the Big 12 teams have a loss.
Corrigan either didn't catch the blunder or let it go.
Davis might have been mixed up by the fact that there are still five remaining Power 5 unbeaten. However, Ohio State and Michigan play each other.

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Billie Jean King, Annika Sorenstam and Lyn St. James are being honored in Gainbridge's inaugural Parity Week, where 180 women will compete for $13 million.

The series of coordinating events across tennis, golf and motorsports are dedicating to empowering women.

■ Billie Jean King Cup: 12 nations compete in Seville, Spain, on indoor hard courts at Estadio de La Cartuja from Nov. 7-12.

■ ANNIKA: LPGA Tour players at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla from Nov. 9-12.

■ WIMNA's "Women with Drive III summit: Co-chaired by Lyn St. James at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 7-8.

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Super Bowl Odds at the halfway mark:

Chiefs +490

Eagles +500

49ers +600

Ravens +850

Cowboys +1100

Dolphins +1200

Bengals +1400

Lions +1500

Bills +1500

Jaguars +2000

Week 10: Weak national games... only two teams with winning records. Cowboys (5-3), Bills (5-4).

■ TNF: Panthers (1-7) at Bears (2-7)

■ Germany: Colts (4-5) at Patriots (2-7)

■ Sunday: Giants (2-7) at Cowboys (5-3)

■ SNF: Jets (4-4) at Raiders (4-5)

■ MNF: Broncos (3-5) at Bills (5-4)

Byes: Chiefs, Eagles, Dolphins.

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Sports betting in the U.S. continues to grow as more states legalize the practice.

Playmaker houses a slew of popular sports media brands. It also operates a paid media division.

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We all know about the Curse of the Bambino and the Curse of the Billy Goat.

Do you know about the Curse of the Colonel?

Baseball's strangest curse involves Japan's Hanshin Tigers, who play in the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League.

KFC founder Colonel Sanders placed a hex on the team 38 years ago after rowdy Hanshin fans threw a storefront statue of the famous Kentucky chicken man -- the Japanese love fried chicken -- into Osaka's Dōtonbori Canal to celebrate the team's unlikely Central League pennant.

‌The Colonel was believed to be angry about this and cursed the team as punishment — a hex that took on a life of its own over the last several decades.
Anyway... on Sunday, the Tigers beat the Orix Buffaloes, 7-1 in Game 7 of the Japan Series.
The curse was over... fans jumped into the canal to celebrate.
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ETC.
■ The NFL did not flex out of the Vikings-Broncos SNF game on Nov. 19. Both teams have played well in recent weeks.
■ NBA's first night In-Season Tournament ratings on ESPN were solid but not spectacular... Knicks-Bucks (1.644M), Mavericks-Nuggets (1.796M).
■ Amazon reports Black Friday ads have sold out.
■ Saudi Arabia is talking to IMG about taking over tennis tournaments in Miami and Madrid. Building a sports empire.
■ The United Soccer League has tapped CBS as the first of two media rights providers for 2024.
■ The CW added to its growing sports portfolio plucking NXT, WWE's development series, from USA Network for five years.
■ The Biden Administration joins the college athletes debate with White House officials meeting with former CFB players and advocates to discuss why student-athletes deserve safety standards.
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■ Peyton Manning joins Luke Bryan in hosting the CMA Awards on Wednesday (8 p.m., ABC).
■ Patrick Dempsey is "People's" Sexiest Man Alive." At No. 57. Travis Kelce is one of the men featured in the story.
■ The James Brown Award: Jeff DeForrest and Mike Lubitz are The Hardest Working Men in the Streaming Business, bringing their unique blend of sports, food talk, gambling and crazy fun to four platforms daily --The Defo Show and The Lunchbox on South Florida Live, the newly-launched Tony Bruno Sports Network and No Filter. Take a bow.

■ The excellent comedy-drama "The Bear" has been renewed for Season 3 by FX.
■ James Corden will return to talk via new weekly SiriusXM interview show, starting in early 2024.
■ "SNL" schedule: Timothee Chalamet and musical guest Boygenius (Nov. 11); Jason Momoa and musical guest and hockey fan Tate McRae (Nov. 18).
■ A new spin on "Prison Break" -- a big hit on Fox -- is in the works at Hulu.
■ CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche, who speaks both Arabic and English, has the most charming accent.
■ Shake Shack will offer free chicken sandwiches if a football player celebrates a touchdown with a Chicken Dance on Sunday.
■ Happy National Cappuccino Day. For dogs, Happy Puppuccino Day.

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THEY SAID IT

■ "We're all here today because we lost Craig. But I've reflected on this. You know, Craig has lost us and he's lost our community. It's a really special place to be." -- Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio on Craig Counsell, who left to take the managerial job with the Chicago Cubs.

■ "I think I would still be at this level no matter if I would've came here or not." -- LeBron James on the four years he played with the Miami Heat and its impact on his career.

■ "Before I was chair, I was rooting for chaos. Now that I'm chair, not as much." -- CFP chair Boo Corrigan

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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. Jksarni@aol.com