R-C Sports Notebook: Winter sports predictions

Time to weigh in with my preseason predictions. We'll revisit at the end of the year and you can all point and laugh ...

Boys' Basketball

Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. McQueen; 2. Hug; 3. Reno; 4. Spanish Springs. Sierra: 1. Manogue; 2. Douglas; 3. Damonte Ranch; 4. Galena.

Surprise team: Spanish Springs

Regional champion: Toss-up (I'll pencil in Douglas, just because the potential is there ...).

My thoughts: From where I'm sitting right now, Manogue and Douglas are the teams best set up to battle for the regional title. They're both quick, both deep and they both have the potential to defend very well. The Manogue-Douglas games should be fantastic with two very similar teams taking to the floor with very similar game plans. If Douglas gets over its growing pains quickly, expect the Tigers to have a breakout season (as of right now, they are not starting any seniors). The talent is there to make a run at the league or even the region title.

But, this season is shaping up early on to look a lot like the football season in the fall - no clear-cut favorite. You also get the feeling that on any given night in the Northern 4A, just about anyone has the potential to beat anyone else.

McQueen, from what I saw of them last week, has the potential for a huge year.

I really like what Spanish Springs has been building over the past several years, and its easy to forget they were regional semifinalists last year. The Sierra League is as wide-open as it gets. I could see the playoff spots going to any of six different teams. Carson is a bona fide playoff team, but I'm just not sure where to put Galena. I see Damonte Ranch having the potential to slip into the playoffs and you can't count Fallon out - expect them to improve as the year goes on.

Girls' Basketball

Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. Reno; 2. Spanish Springs; 3. Reed; 4. Hug. Sierra: 1. Galena; 2. Carson; 3. Manogue; 4. South Tahoe

Surprise team: South Tahoe

Regional champion: Reno

My thoughts: Reno is as deep as they come and looks to be the early favorite to repeat. Galena, though, has a ton of talent and great inside-outside combinations, so I expect those two to be in the title game and it should be a great one when we get down to it (although this past weekend's matchup sure seems to contradict that). Douglas is athletic, but still young and inexperienced. South Tahoe is senior-laden and talented. I like Douglas' athleticism to win out in that series, but time will tell. For now, I'lll go with the experience and slide the Vikings into that final playoff spot. They knocked off a great Spanish Springs team to open the year. That's not easy to do.

- I forgot to write about this last week, but it was so strange I figured I'd throw it in this week.

University of Cincinnati football coach Brian Kelly, fresh off of meeting with Notre Dame officials prior to the Big East Championship game against Pitt, had a unique way of trying to impress his suitors.

Kelly, cornered by a sideline reporter heading into the locker room for halftime trailing 31-17, threw his kicker, Jake Rogers, under the bus on national television after Rogers missed a 55-yard field goal in a blizzard on a slick field.

The kick fell well short, shanked to the right from the left hash, and Kelly said the kicker shouldn't have told him he thought he could make it if he couldn't. Said he could've taken another shot at the end zone with that time instead.

You're the coach, right? You're at practice every day. Aren't you the one who makes the decision what to do at the end of the half?

It'll be interesting to see how he explains Notre Dame's defense next year. "They told me they could stop the run, but they didn't. They should've told me they couldn't do it. We would've come up with a different game plan that way."

- From the department of redundancy department: CBS made no small matter about how the Dallas Cowboys passed out 3-D goggles to spectators at their new stadium during yesterday's game against the San Diego Chargers.

The Cowboys were broadcasting the game in 3-D on their immense high-def TV screen above the field.

Now think about this for a minute. What exactly is the point of 3-D when you've got the actual game going on right below the screen?

I was playing EA Sports NCAA Football 2004 on my Playstation the other day (Hey, I'm cheap ... I waited until I could find a system on EBay for $50 and have stuck with that ever since. I bought the game for a buck.), and had my starting middle linebacker go down holding his head after a solid hit at the line of scrimmage.

A few plays later, the injury report came back: He'd miss a week with ... a migraine headache. Who programmed headaches into the game as injuries? Particularly week-long ones?

I'd upgrade to NCAA 2010, but I'm afraid of losing players for the season with H1N1.

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Here are my picks for week 15:

Colts over Jaguars

Saints over Cowboys

Ravens over Bears

Patriots over Bills

Cardinals over Lions

Browns over Chiefs

Jets over Falcons

49ers over Eagles

Texans over Rams

Titans over Dolphins

Broncos over Raiders

Bengals over Chargers

Seahawks over Bucs

Packers over Steelers

Giants over Redskins

Tiebreaker: Vikings 21, Panthers 14

Last week: 10-6. Season: 137-71. Season Survivor: Out.

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State over Wyoming

St. Petersburg Bowl: Rutgers over Central Florida

R+L Carriers Bowl (These bowl names get lamer by the year: Southern Miss over Middle Tennessee

Las Vegas Bowl: BYU over Oregon State (I know, not likely, but my hope is that the Mountain West can show how under-rated it is)

Poinsettia Bowl: Utah over Cal (Same thinking as above)

Hawaii Bowl: Nevada over SMU

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (Lest only one pizza place gets its own bowl game: Ohio over Marshall (Seriously, call me the worst football fan in the world, but I totally thought these two were still in the MAC East together. That's how far Marshall has fallen off my radar.)

Meineke Car Care Bowl: Pitt over North Carolina (How can a top-10 caliber team like Pitt be playing in bowl named after the company that takes care of your car's exhaust system?)

Emerald Bowl: Boston College over USC (Hey, they Trojans are hurting right now.)

Music City Bowl: Clemson over Kentucky

Independence Bowl: Georgia over Texas A&M (Still mad at the Aggies for not finishing it off against Texas)

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin over Miami (Call me crazy, but I think the Badgers are really underrated this year)

EagleBank Bowl: UCLA over Temple (I was kind of pulling for Army to make it, because that might have been a better matchup.)

Humanitarian Bowl: Idaho over Bowling Green (Can't pick against the Vandals in their own state).

Holiday Bowl: Nebraska over Arizona (Probably the best defensive matchup of the bowl season)

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston over Air Force

Sun Bowl: Stanford over Oklahoma (Toby Gerhart against the Sooner defense will be great theater)

Texas Bowl: Navy over Missouri (I like the upset here. Navy's rushing attack can throw all kinds of wrinkles at you)

Insight Bowl: Minnesota over Iowa State

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Virginia Tech over Tennessee

Outback Bowl: Northwestern over Auburn (The Wildcats have been quietly building out there. I pick them for a big win)

Capital One Bowl: Penn State over LSU

Gator Bowl: West Virginia over Florida State

International: South Florida over Northern Illinois

Cotton Bowl: Ole' Miss over Oklahoma State

Papajohns.com Bowl (Because we know them much more for their Web site instead of their pizza): UConn over South Carolina

Liberty Bowl: East Carolina over Arkansas (I think the Pirates may have just enough for the huge upset)

Alamo Bowl: Texas Tech over Michigan State

GMAC Bowl: Central Michigan over Troy

Rose Bowl: Oregon over Ohio State

Sugar Bowl Florida over Cincinnati

Fiesta Bowl: TCU over Boise State

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech over Iowa

BCS Championship: Alabama 35, Texas 13