Many may recall Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona, when the famous “Helmet Catch” led to the Giants’ 17-14 victory, the only loss on 2007 New England’s record. In more recent history, the Giants also won 24-20 over the Patriots back in Week 9. Now with a chance to get back at New York, the Patriots seek revenge in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

A lot about this playoff  looks similar to the one four years ago. Once again, the New England Patriots (13-3 in the regular season) took the AFC’s No. 1 seed (though Green Bay had the best record this time around) and made their way through two playoff games to punch their ticket.

Once again, the New York Giants (9-7) just slid into the playoffs, and then proceeded to knock off everyone in their path. In the NFC title game, Lawrence Tynes again kicked the game-winning field goal in overtime on the road to win another date with the Patriots.

The only injury to report is Rob Gronkowski, tight end for New England. He suffered a high ankle sprain earlier in the week and was limited in practice Thursday. He remains questionable for Sunday’s game.

Both sides have high offensive strengths they need to establish early on. Rob Gronkowski is still questionable for the game (high ankle sprain), but each day his chance of starting looks better. The Pats’ offense was second in the league for passing offense, their primary attack, but second-to-last in pass defense. The Giants were fifth overall in pass offense, but 29th in pass defense. Both teams are not strong rushers as they finished in the bottom half in rushing offense (the Giants were last), so any rushing game that gets off the ground could make the difference.

This showdown looks to produce another close contest. New England loves to stay ahead. New York loves to come from behind. In each game they’ve played to make it and in their overall records. Stick around the whole game since you might miss something otherwise.

My prediction: Patriots 38, Giants 34.

They faced Caprock last Friday and came away with a 44-32 win over the Lady Longhorns.

Continuing their winning streak, the girls went up against Plainview this Tuesday night. Canyon added yet another win with a score of 44-30.

The Lady Eagles will travel to Frenship tomorrow. Freshmen begin at 4:30 p.m., JV at 7:30 p.m., and varsity at 6 p.m.

The Eagles faced Burkburnett Saturday morning and defeated them 13-6. They battled the Vernon Lions that afternoon and snuck out a win, 10-9.

“Those were two big wins for us,” Coach Aaron Fuller said.

Canyon will travel to Texas Tech this Saturday to play Abilene Wylie.

Nov. 18, Jay Paterno announced his father was diagnosed with lung cancer. The past 12 weeks, Paterno struggled with the disease as the public debate and the Sandusky proceedings continued outside his front doorstep as well as across the American public. Jan. 22, at 9:25 AM, Joe Paterno died of lung cancer. He was 85.

Does the last decade of his life and his involvement in the Sandusky scandal define his legacy? Or did the 61 years he poured into Penn State speak more about the man than his nine years of silence ever could soil?

 My earlier article stated that I believed the board of trustees was right to punish Paterno as they did. I said that his standards changed when he chose to walk on his own terms. Yet, more than half a century of work, loyalty and philanthropy for one school is very hard to ignore because of what came of it. His investment in the school, even during the time the alleged abuse occured, was nothing less than what he put in year after year before.

I do not devalue the alleged victims his silence harmed, but he helped far more people through his own work over his entire adult life. His legacy should be the Joe Paterno the college football community remembered before Nov. 9. Before the world knew of what he kept under wraps.

In his time as the head coach of the Nittany Lions, Paterno coached in 409 victories, more than any other coach in Division 1. Thousands of players got their opportunities to play under him and play their parts in what emerged as a storied, powerhouse program. More than 250 players who knew him as “Joe Pa” went on to play in the NFL. Many assistant coaches entered and left over time, but to keep one man in one place for careers longer than most coaches spoke volumes about the university’s trust in him and his leadership over their football program.

Paterno and his wife, Suzanne, also gave millions of dollars to Penn State for academic and athletic purposes. Paterno donated part of his annual salary plus millions more to the school and to the State College, PA community for projects, scholarships and trust funds among other causes. He gave his time as well as his money without fail and complaint to a school that gave him a place of influence over and importance to students who played for Penn State.

I said in my last article that his long time of contribution and his place in college football did not excuse him from his firing. I quoted a commentator when I repeated “The Sandusky scandal is his legacy now.” With a little more time and reflection, I believe he gave and gave in his time more than any mistake could ever take away.

Yes, he made a huge mistake. He was human. Every human, no matter how upright he may seem, will disappoint along the way. His mistakes don’t forfeit the millions he gave to his school and his community. They don’t take away the experiences the student-athletes under him had. They don’t take away the place Penn State still holds in college football history or their place in the air of elite schools. No human is perfect. But not every human fulfills their purpose the way Joe Paterno did.

The Eagles’ perfect season seems to have caused other teams to scare and make purposeful fouls against some of Canyon’s core players. After the Monreal twins’ injuries Lombard said they had to change their mindset halfway through the district season.

“I definitely feel the girls have improved during the last month, “ Lombard said. “We are finding ways to win close games, which is a huge positive. Individually the girls are improving as we continue to work on fundamentals.”

Some of the improvements Lombard plans on working on are fouling less and keeping the other team off the free throw line.

“The PD game was a very physical game and I was proud of the way the girls competed,” Lombard said. “The inside play was sometimes like a war zone but I thought our girls handled it fine.”

Lombard said they executed their offense, played well defensively, and took care of the basketball in the end of the game against PD. He said 3-4A is one of the strongest districts in the state and anyone in the league can beat anyone on a given night.

“We can’t take it lightly anymore,” junior Kyndal Davis said. “We can’t take it as we’re automatically going to win.”

The lead Eagles scorer was senior Will Tolliver with 15 points. He led Canyon, along with senior Isaac Williams, defensively with a combined total of six steals.

The Eagles battle Hereford at home tonight.

“We feel very confident going into Friday’s game,” sophomore Dylan Douglass said. “We’re hoping to hold our place in the district standings.

Freshmen begin at 4:30 p.m., JV at 6 p.m. and varsity at 7:30 p.m.

Despite No. 3 Oklahoma State’s performance in their domination over rival Oklahoma and their resulting Big XII championship, their first since 1948, it was not enough to sway the human components of the BCS, the USA Today coaches’ and Harris polls. For the first time ever, two teams from the same conference will play each other for a national championship. No. 1 Louisiana State against No. 2 Alabama.

Elsewhere, the Sugar Bowl features No. 11 Virginia Tech and No. 13 Michigan. Virginia Tech lost 38-10 to Clemson in the Atlantic Coastal Conference title game. Michigan sat at home while in-state rival Michigan State played Wisconsin in the inaugural Big Ten title game. Kansas State, Boise State and even Michigan State were better choices for the game. But because teams often do not lose ground in the polls when they do not play, the Wolverines stood firm while the Spartans slid. Bittersweet picks for this season’s Sugar Bowl.

The bowl picks cleared me of all doubt that the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division 1 needs a playoff system like every other college sport in every other division. Their bowl selection process also needs someone to step in and say “Here’s who’s playing. You don’t like it, tough.”

FBS football is the only college sport without a championship tournament or playoff. First and second in the BCS polls play for the title. All other teams play or sit at home on the whim of the games’ committees. Every bowl game has a group of people to determine who they want the most out of all the available teams. BCS bowls get first pick, followed by everyone else. Bowl games with traditional prestige, such as the Cotton Bowl, have more weight to convince a higher-ranked BCS snub than the Independence Bowl or the Music City Bowl.

However, the main factor with many prominent bowls comes down to the teams that travel better or are closer to the site of the game. Which school has more fans that will show up? While deserving conference runners-up should beat out other teams, money should not be the determining factor that manipulates who flies and who lies.

For the national title game, there are 59 coaches who get votes in the USA Today poll. Alabama coach Nick Saban and LSU coach Les Miles both get votes. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy does not. My suggestion is to use the AP poll for that third rather than half of the coaches to determine the entire picture.

California-Los Angeles (UCLA), despite a 6-7 record, will play Illinois in a bowl game. Western Kentucky, who finished 7-5, will stay home for the bowl season. UCLA played in the Pac-12 title game, so my theory is that the NCAA saw no reason to bounce the runner up from an AQ league championship. WKU finished second in the Sun Belt Conference in their third year as an FBS team. Yet despite their turnaround from a 0-4 start, will have to wait until next September for another game.

The BCS gives automatic BCS bowl bids to the champions of the following conferences (2011 champions): the Big Ten (Wisconsin), the Big XII (Oklahoma State), the Big East (West Virginia), the ACC (Clemson), the SEC (LSU) and the Pac-12 (Oregon). While most of these teams deserve a place in the BCS bowls, West Virginia finished No. 23 in the polls with a 9-3 mark, well behind 10+ win teams. Yet because of their championship, they pushed out other BCS potentials with better credentials.

Non-AQ leagues can only send their champion to a BCS game if they finish in the top 12 outright or in the top 16 and ahead of other champions of AQ leagues. One surprising stat is that non-AQ teams are 5-2 in the BCS, all against AQ league champions.

Overall, the system of giving bowls the power to choose who they want to play is bogus. They choose based on their own interests rather than on who deserves the better games more. The process to determine the national champion needs to switch to a playoff bracket like every other college sport and division. Even if it were only four teams to begin with, that would be a satisfactory start to let deserving teams prove why they deserve to play for the crystal football.

“District this year is going to be very tough,” head coach Joe Lombard said. “Many teams will play aggressive, and it’s going to be a dogfight.”

Lombard said fans will see a team that plays hard and plays together with a great team chemistry. In addition, they are working to perfect skills.

 “We are going to have to work on offense and ball handling,” Lombard said. “We had great defense in the Tournament of Champions.”

In the tournament, the team had a major loss when sisters and seniors Shayla and Shawna Monreal suffered identical knee injuries. Shawna injured her left knee during the semifinals, and Shayla injured her left knee the next day in the championship match against Spearman.

“My heart breaks for them, because we are best friends and they are irreplaceable,” senior Morgan Dean said. “Everyone on the team has stepped up, and we all just have to remain faithful.”

Dean said that she has a positive outlook on the upcoming Randall game.

“It is going to be a tough game, and we are going to have to work hard,” Dean said. “But it’s nothing that we can’t handle.”

The team will face Randall tonight at home with freshmen playing at 4:30 p.m., JV at 7:30 p.m. and varsity at 6 p.m.

The top three teams and top ten individuals moved on to the state cross country meet last Saturday in Austin. Junior Mesa Allison represented the Canyon boys down south with his sixth place regional finish.

I was excited that I actually made it, but I didn’t do as well as I wanted to at regionals,” Allison said. “Going into state I was trying to redeem myself, but that didn’t really work out so well.”

Allison finished 29^th place and said he thought he did well, but that he just didn’t meet his goals.

“Mesa placed well, there is room for him to do a lot better in the future and could possibly be on the podium next year,” boys cross country coach Wes Kirton said.

The trustees, however, did talk with each other about Paterno’s future with Penn State. Hours after Paterno’s retirement speech, they elected to fire him and PSU president Graham Spanier. Their reasoning: even if Paterno had no idea what was going on, he should have kept a better eye on things. Since he knew, he did all he had to by legal definition, but not all within his power.

The Penn State trustees were well within their minds and rights to oust the university president and longtime head football coach. The actual charges came against a different man, yes, but both knew for nine years about the crimes. They only did what would not land them in prison. They failed to seek true justice. Both now pay for it, and Paterno’s 61-year legacy now shines with what little this stain doesn’t cover. As several casual commentators put it, “The Sandusky scandal is his legacy now.”

I personally respect Joe Paterno and appreciate all he has done for college football and for Penn State University. I’ll still follow Penn State sports. I consider Penn State even more now because of this. I agree with the board because of their reason behind their decision. Joe Paterno, though he did not commit a crime worth an arrest, in a way covered for Sandusky when he heard and only issued a quiet boot to the former defensive coordinator. Sandusky awaits trial at the moment. He denied his crimes and stands innocent until proven guilty, but that does not excuse Paterno.

Earlier that day, Paterno announced his retirement at the end of the season. He wanted to leave on his own terms in light of the allegations. He should have resigned on the spot given his role in the scandal. It doesn’t matter that the Nebraska game was the last home game for the Nittany Lions this season or that it would have broken the record for the most games any head coach played in college football. Special occasions cannot call for special exceptions in these matters where those in position to act need to act fast.

There are many people who believe Paterno should have had the rest of the season as he planned. At the very least, the last home game of the season. They believe he should have gone out as the man who did so much for them in his 61 years with the university. The trustees shouldn’t have forced him out amid such a disgrace. As much as he has helped the Penn State program mature into a contender over time, everything changes over time. Paterno showed in his inaction and his approach that his values changed. The man who took the podium was not the man from the 30 years as head coach before this mess began.

There really was no middle ground. Either the board of trustees let Paterno leave how he wanted or how they thought was best for Penn State. Joe Pa’s decisions showed he was too interested in Joe Pa and not the school that gave him a job and a place to call home for the majority of his life. I love him and still hold a great respect for him, but this is the one place I do not stand with him. While his actions are forgivable, the board had to issue punishment. They were wise in how they carried out that end. If Joe Paterno ever was Penn State, he isn’t now.