Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 48

(KtnJiai WW II IN MY OPINION PLAYER HATERS The Tony Romo-Jessica Simpson love story is taking even more abuse at wwwruinromocom The founders of the Web site are imploring fans to your team to victory by letting Tony Romo know the love of his life is in the also offering a downloadable picture of Simpson with instructions on how to cut out the eyes tape it to a popsicle stick easy and come away with a Jessica mask-on-a-stick AMESports Celeste Williams 817-390-7697 cxwillictmswstctr-telegramcom SPOTLIGHT Uniform appeal NEWS TO KNOW OKTVTChannel 11 will air Cowboys Return to Greatness at 7 Dec 28 Hail of Fame defensive tackle Randy White and broadcasters Babe Laufenberg Gina Miller Bill Jones Steve Dennis and Chuck Fisher discuss whether 2007 will stand as the best season ever Though there many great matchups this bowl season there is still a reason to watch: aesthetics College football uniforms have been getting steadily worse over the years but there are teams out there that sport a classic clean design Luckily some of those teams are playing each other Here are the top five uniform bowl games and the winners: BCS national title: LSU vs Ohio State This game might be disputed as the true national championship but in the UCS (Uniform Championship Series) the top uniform game Ohio scarlet-black-silver combination is strong and the silver buckeye stickers makes each one unique purple and gold is utilized well especially when wearing the white jerseys The helmet is a little busy with type and a logo but it has a certain charm Winner: Ohio State 0FSN Southwest will televise Class 5A football state title games Euless Trinity vs Converse Jud-son (Division I) at 2 and Pflugerville vs Katy (Division II) at 7 LOCAL NETWORKS COME THROUGH AGAIN FOR FOOTBALL FANS Happy Saturday: Class 5A high school title games on FSN Southwest and Cowboys-Carolina on KDFI27 This time it will be painless Trust me OK then trust KDFI Channel 27 For the second time in 24 days the Little Network That Could has stepped up and eased the minds of local viewers fearful of missing a Cowboys game carried by the NFL Network Fans without the NFL Network can spare themselves a lot of angst by knowing that the Cowboys-Panthers game Saturday night will be made available free of charge in its entirety on KDFI coverage area is almost 100 said Andy Alexander vice president of programmingresearch for KDFI fully distributed" So fully distributed in fact that a whopping 46 percent of the FIUT (households using television) on the evening of Nov 29 were tuned into KDFI for the NFL Network feed of Cowboys-Packers the first of two late-season NFL Network games featuring the Cowboys It'll be the drill for the last one: Catch the KDFI pregame show with KDFWChannel Mike Doocy at 6:30 pm followed by the NFL Network game feed with Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth at 7 pm followed by a Doocy postgame wrapup think be less confusion this time around because we had the game on Nov Alexander said watched us They know what to The hardheadedness continues between the NFL and what Jerry Jones calls ie Time Warner Comcast and Cablevision And who loses as long as there is no resolution? The customer of course High school doubleheader: FSN Southwest remains committed to Texas high school football This was the first year that the network aired a 10-game regular-season package Now for the second year in a row both Class 5A Division I and Division II championship games will be televised Saturday from the Alarnodome: Euless Trinity vs Converse Judson at 2 pm Pflugerville vs Katy at 7 pm The network will produce nonstop coverage from the floor of the Alarnodome beginning with a 1 pm pregame show still a goal of FSN Southwest and general manager Jon Heidtke in particular to someday have all title games all classes all divisions played at a common venue be able to have just blowout coverage over maybe a two-week said Ramon Alvarez FSN Southwest PR director Additionally for now a tape-delayed telecast of the Class 4A Division II title game between Highland Park and Lake Travis will be shown at 1 pm Sunday Houston Bowl: This week KDFI secured rights to televise the Dec 28 Texas Bowl (TCU vs Houston) 7 pm another NFL Network simulcast Unlike Cowboys games on KDFI there will be no pregame show produced locally Alamo Bowl: Texas vs Penn State A8M improved its previous style by adding maroon and gray striping on the pants and a gray border on the numbers Penn uniforms are the epitome of simple: Stripe down the middle of the helmet plain navy blue jerseys and white pants In newfangled era of strange swooshes of color and striping all over the place minimalism should be applauded Winner: Penn State 0Joe knee-replacement surgery this month was actually his second procedure this off-season according to Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne Ind News-Senti-nel he had three Steinbrenners taken off his Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs UCLA This is more of a helmet showdown reversed out in a navy blue oval with the double stripe on white is clean cursive on solid gold with a gray face mask is cleaner powder blue jerseys with shoulder stripes and gold pants screams West Coast jersey and pants have triple striping on the shoulders and down the legs They are solid but not spectacular Winner: UCLA I Mike Flynt the 59-B year-old grandfather who just finished his long-delayed senior season of college football at Sul Ross State is the newest client of LeBron athlete management company Holiday Bowl: Texas vs Arizona State Texas and Arizona State share the underrated look of text above the number on the front strength is in its helmets The burnt orange Longhorn logo on solid white with a white face mask is one of the all-time greats The Sun helmet logo a Clark Gable-esque devil wielding a pitchfork is a little silly but the maroon and gold color scheme and uncluttered design keep the uniform respectable Winner: Texas BOur NFL knockout pool pick for Week 16 is New England which will end win streak at 1 For the fourth week in a row the Patriots are favored by more than 20 points RAY BUCK 817-390-7760 Capital One Bowl: Michigan vs Florida Michigan has the total package: Helmets (the much imitated wing) color scheme (maize and blue) and sharp numbers Nice accent on the pants with the on the left thigh blue and orange colors could be cause for concern but being in Florida it gets away with being loud The blue script on orange is a plus They also have a nice touch in the Gator logo on the left collar Winner: Michigan HAPPENING ONLINE Cowboys stadium update See stadium workers handle the glass panels plus see previous stadium updates at wwwstar-telegramcom cowboysstadium JONATHAN PAPELBON I BAD DOG pet makes chew toy of Series-clinching baseball The Worst: Sun Bowl South Florida vs Oregon: Battle of the Green teams South Florida sports a lethal combo of green and gold and weak design that has the feel of an XFL squad heavy metal look is slightly better but depend on which one of the 19 variations they wear Loser: South Florida Michael Currie NFL insider Boasting a 10-3 season record this season Charean Williams predicts the outcomes of the games See her picks at wwwstar-telegramcom cowboys bulldog Boss jumped up one day on the counter and snatched it He likes rawhide He tore that thing to pieces Nobody knows that keep left of it" Papelbon told a similar tale to the New England Sports Network but with a slightly different ending saying he threw what was left of the ball in the trash The Associated Press The World Series ball is gone and Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon has an excuse: My dog ate it what the pitcher insists happened to the souvenir from the final out of sweep this year plays with baseballs like they are his Papelbon told the Hattiesburg (Miss) American about his NHL INSIDER GAME PLAN SIMON STILL NOT OUT AFTER 8 STRIKES 1 TRACEY MYERS tlmyersfasrar telegram com Moving up NHL holiday plans The league comes under fire for its scheduling but it got this one right On Christmas Eve and Day the league is pretty much shut down No games no practices nothing It gives players and coaches a chance to spend a little quality time with family the whole point to this time of year it? Moving down Chicago Blackhawks December been kind to the Windy City kids who have lost six of eight this month That included a 3-1 loss to the Sabres on a night when Buffalo native Patrick Kane had more than 500 friends and family members in the building figure all this out for himself Those around him going to convince the guy that the issues need attention Simon needs a lot of things right now What he need is more excuses for his inexcusable behavior Cowboys 214 953 1500 Mavericks: 214 747 6287 Stars: 214 467 8277 Brahmas: 817 336 4423 Chris Simon has been given enough chances but he still behave himself He could have been one of the NHL's best feel-good stories' a guy struggles with teenage addictions is rescued by a mentor who eventually becomes his coach and goes on to become one of the league's best That could have been the legacy of Chris Simon Instead the New York forward chose another path He made bad decisions He chose to break the rules Repeatedly Simon was suspended for 30 games Wednesday after his ugly stomp on Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu this past weekend It was the eighth yes eighth suspension of his career and the longest one the league has doled out for an on-ice incident Arguably it should have been the final straw Nevertheless the 35-year-old will miss most of the season and will lose $292683 in pay Once again it was a choice Simon made I what happened: Ru-ut! and teammate-' racial slur directed at Mike Grier in 1997 One game for a cross-check to Peter throat in 2000 Two games for elbowing Anders Eriksson in 2001 Two games for cross-checking and punching Ruslan Fe-dotenko in 2004 Iwo games for kneeing Sergei Zubov in 2004 25 games for the Hollweg situation And now this Islanders coach Ted Nolan told I he Associated Press on Wednesday that the suspension was Really The only thing here excessive is the chances Simon keeps getting to come bac and mess up again Nolan should be commended for helping a younger Simon oveicome alcohol problems But ultimately you can't save those who don't want to be saved Simon continues to misbehave and die Islanders continue to work damage control 'I he damage however is becoming too great Simon has a problem that extends past the rink He nePds help But he needs to FRIDAY TVRADIO Tim Jackman weie jawing at each othei by the benches Simon skates over hooks Ruutu's right leg and causes him to tall then Simon stomps on the i ight side of Ruutu's ankle befoie stepping onto the bench Ugl) Despicable Intentional Keep in mind Simon wasn't long removed from a 25-game suspension foi hitting Ryan I lollweg in the face with a stick in Maich In that game you could aigue he was leading to check on him I his time no sue whining Andfoi those who aie ready to apologize lor him here's the ugly suspension list live pieseason games foi swinging his suck at Dennis Vial in 1991 1 hree lines for an alleged TRACEY MYERS 817-390-7760.