12/9    I've heard a lot of talk about stuff like "Cal got jobbed" and
        stuff about football.  What happened?
        \_ Cal football has had a great season, 10 wins, 1 loss, and that
           loss to top-ranked USC in LA by 6 points. Cal is ranked 4th in
           the country currently by both the sportswriters and the coaches.
           Traditionally, the Pac-10 champion (Cal is in the Pac-10, a
           conference of 10 west coast schools) goes to the Rose Bowl to play
           a final game on Jan 1. The Rose Bowl is part of a 4-bowl coalition
           called the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). This year the top two
           teams from college football will play in the BCS championship game
           in Miami in the Orange Bowl. Thus Cal could go to the Rose Bowl, a
           goal of long desire for Cal fans (who haven't been since 1959).
           The Rose Bowl also wanted Cal to preserve its traditional matchup.
           However, Cal was not selected by the BCS because in the final BCS
           rankings (involving computer, coaches, and sportswriters polls),
           Texas barely passed Cal, and Texas got an automatic BCS bid because
           of their final 4th-place finish. Thus Cal was left out of the BCS.
           Many feel that the extra votes that Texas got in the last week
           that made the difference were the result of Texas allies among the
           sportswriters and coaches, and also the Texas coach's campaign for
           votes vs. Cal's non-campaigning and non-running-up-the-score.