Those of you in Vegas this Friday night take note. With an invitation to the Stardust Invitational tournament again this year, my appearance in the contest is this Friday night at 9PM Pacific Time. The event takes place at the Stardust sports book. There is no admission charge. Seats tend to go rather quickly and you may wish to arrive early. John Kelly and Seat Williams broadcast it on KDWN radio. KDWN has a booming signal throughout the western US and the broadcast is carried on KDWN.com as well. While you single guys are probably better served to quickly move on to the Hard Rock, Palms, or Mandalay Bay immediately following the event, the contest itself is a good time. I’ll be down in the sports book early, but won’t be able to hang out for too long afterwards, as I’ll have a flight to catch. Come on out and say hello.

When it serves their purpose, administrators in college football talk of their hallowed educational mission as though they have some higher purpose. But when you get right down to it, the deciding factor in almost every decision is money. Money to build facilities, money for the AD to hire his cronies as assistants, money, money, money. This quest for cash interferes with what could be some nice natural rivalries.

The St. Petersburg Times last week ran a lengthy story on all the steps that Central Florida has taken to try to launch a football rivalry with South Florida, and all the steps that South Florida administrators have taken to keep them at arms length. Last Saturday’s game was the first time the two schools have met as 1-A opponents. South Florida is now in the Big East, so they play for a BCS bid, so I guess they’ve won their war over Central Florida. But wouldn’t it be in the best interest of college athletics for these schools, whose Orlando and Tampa campuses are 96 miles apart, to have a natural rivalry? Probably, but greedy administrators more concerned with cash than college tradition have kept that from happening.

There are plenty of schools that figure to have a spirited local rivalry that rarely play. Last Friday night’s UTEP/Houston game was the first time that these two programs in the same state have met since 1948, and it took the admission of UTEP into Conference USA to make that happen. The Navy/Maryland game was the first time those clubs have met since 1966. The series was stopped due to fan violence at the games, but wouldn’t things have settled down by about the mid-80’s or so?

Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I think the 4th quarter of a college football game should start within 3 hours of the game’s starting time. You won’t get much in the way of golf expertise in this space, but after the US Open I thought Jason Gore was going to be the next Jean van de Velde. Obviously Gore’s 84 on Sunday in the US Open was far less dramatic than van de Velde’s blowing of a 3-shot lead on the 17th hole, but I figured that would be the last we’d see of the big man. Thrilled to be wrong about that, as Gore notched three victories in short order down in the minors to earn his PGA Tour Card, and then got the win at the PGA Tour’s 84 Lumber Classic this past weekend. Outstanding work by a terrific ambassador for the sport, who had every excuse to crumble after his devastating Sunday at Pinehurst. Don’t miss the big games at Vegas5.com this weekend, where I team with ASA, Nelly’s Sportsline, Tom Stryker, and Al McMordie on college and pro football.

Let’s take a look at a college game. Troy State lost a lot of talent off of their decent team from last season. Their offense, which was no prize last year, is terrible this season. They can’t run the ball at all, going for only 65 yards on the ground against Cal Poly (Cal Poly!), 26 against UAB, and 74 yards against Missouri. That means they can’t take advantage of the South Carolina run defense that gave up 238 yards against Georgia and 338 to Alabama. Having lost defensive coordinator Vic Koenig to Clemson, Troy has given up 974 yards the past two weeks to UAB and Missouri. Look for Spurrier to get the Gamecocks offense revved up as they bounce back from their Alabama skewering and cover a big number here. Go with South Carolina.

Coaching’s a tough profession. Chris Palmer was fired as the offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans this week. The offense of the 0-2 Texans has been atrocious thus far, but Palmer had the poor fortune to draw last season’s #1 and #2 defenses in the first two weeks losses at Buffalo and at home against Pittsburgh. Had the schedule been kinder, it is doubtful that the Texans would have done so poorly, and Palmer would likely still be employed. To be fair to the Texans brass, they looked bad during the preseason as well, and the bye week this week gives them an opportunity for a change with a reasonable opportunity for success.

Speaking of schedules, how about the NFL’s love note to Al Davis in the form of the Raiders schedule? The Silver & Black’s opening three weeks see them catching the Super Bowl Champ, a red hot Chiefs team, and the Super Bowl loser in their first three weeks. Having to play non-divisional road games against the two Super Bowl participants is vicious. Raiders have played two very sound games, though they are 0-2 after tough contests against the Patriots and the red-hot Chiefs. The schedule maker continues to do them no favors here (non-divisional road games against both Super Bowl teams in the season’s first three weeks?) but the Raiders can compete. Look for this number to rise after the Eagles rampage over the Niners. Also, Raiders bettors have already lost two tough ones and may be hesitant to step in here. Take the big points with the Raiders.

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Have a great weekend. Good luck and be careful.