Previously undefeated and #8-ranked Wichita State of the Missouri Valley Conference was stunned by New Mexico in a Las Vegas Classic semifinal Friday.

In the other semifinal, USC lost to Kansas State. This means the Trojans will face the Shockers — the angry Shockers — in the third-place game tomorrow. Not good.

Also tomorrow: a preview of the BCS National Championship Game, except in the wrong sport, as #3 Ohio State visits #5 Florida. The game is at 4pm on CBS. Michigan is very upset that they weren’t invited to play :) but will instead have to settle for challening #1 UCLA at 2:00 PM, also on CBS.

My plane just landed in Phoenix. The photo, of course, is a picture of Time's Person of the Year issue as it was meant to be seen. :) P.S. Troy won, 41-17. That's three consecutive bowl blowouts by margins of 24-plus. More importantly, I'm 3-0!

UPDATE: Becky’s flight, scheduled to land at 12:25 AM, is now expected in at 1:10 AM. Mine, due at 11:10 PM, landed 20 minutes late at 11:30 (having made up significant time en route, but still). I guess even Southwest is vulnerable to delays on busy travel days like this. Also: I wonder if a “Denver ripple effect” is at work?

Pertinent info: I was born in Denver but raised in New Mexico. So I have a connection to Denver.

There are some days I just feel life isn’t fair…as my hometown Nuggets lost 101-96 to the Sacramento Kings despite 22 points from newly acquired Allan Iverson.

It has not been a good night. Alas.

The Phoenix Suns (whom I’ve adopted as my NBA team) are going into overtime at home tied at 127 (!) against the Washington (DC) Wizards.

The Wizards are 13-12 coming in; the Suns are riding a franchise-record 15-game win streak and sit atop the Pacific Division in the Western Conference at 18-6.

UPDATE | 11:00p | Diaw just made a layup to make it 129-127.

UPDATE | 11:01 | 131-128, Suns leading.

UPDATE | 11:02 | The Wizards’ Jamison just missed a field goal.

UPDATE | 11:04 | 131-132, Wizards leading, after two patient field goals. Phoenix taking a timeout.

UPDATE | 11:07 | Nash just made a three! Now 134-134. He has 39 pts, 12 ast, 3 rebs.
*oops* Now 134-136.

UPDATE | 11:08 | Arenas, the Wizards’ top scorer with 54, (!) just made a three of his own to push the lead to five.

UPDATE | 11:10 | Stoudemire made two free throws to cut the deficit to three at 136-139 with 22.6 left in OT.

UPDATE | 11:12 | 136-141.

UPDATE | 11:16 | Nash makes another three, now has 42, and it’s 139-142. C’mon!

FINAL UPDATE | 11:18 | Finished at 139-144, so the winning streak is finished.

Initial thoughts: Can Phoenix defend? And Arenas is establishing himself…I’m pretty sure he had 60 the other night!

Apropos of Becky’s post from Midway Airport in Chicago, check out this family at Nashville Airport, keeping the Christmas spirit very much alive while waiting for their flight:

Heh. And you can’t really tell from the photo, but in addition to the festive parents, the girl is wearing a reindeer hat.

I’m posting this as I wait for boarding to begin, which should happen any minute now. Becky has a little longer to wait — her flight it scheduled to take off at 10:45 PM Eastern. I should arrive in Phoenix shortly before midnight MST; she should arrive shortly after.

P.S. Troy is beating Rice, 28-10 late in the first half. GO TROJANS!!! ;)

If you are traveling, here is hoping you get where you are going safe and sound. Three days till christmas. Do you have your shopping done?

I'm at the Nashville airport, with time to spare -- especially seeing as how my 8:20 flight has been delayed to 8:45 (that's 9:45 EST).

We got rear-ended on I-40 en route to Nashville to catch my flight to Phoenix. Everybody is okay, and it looks like Jay's truck will be able to continue the drive (though at the moment we're waiting for the police to arrive). Flight doesn't depart till 8:20 CST.

UPDATE, 5:25 PM EST (4:25 CST): We’re on the road again. :) Barring any further unexpected excitement, we should get to Nashville in plenty of time.

Arizona is now the fastest-growing state in America, surpassing Nevada. (Hat tip: Jay.)

Its population will be growing by two more, albeit temporarily, later tonight, as Becky and I fly in for the holidays. I arrive at 11:10 PM MST; Becky arrives at 12:25 AM MST.

Last evening, I decided to put my possibly unlucky Gonzaga t-shirt to the test by wearing it out to the sports bar where I watched the Duke-Gonzaga game. We already knew the t-shirt was lucky for bowling purposes, but it was 0-2 when I wore it during Zags games. So I decided to end the uncertainty. If the Zags beat Duke while I was wearing the shirt, we’d know it wasn’t really unlucky. On the other hand, if Duke won, I would have to avoid wearing the shirt ever again on Gonzaga game days.

One 61-54 loss later, it looks like I need a new Gonzaga t-shirt. I can still wear this one to bowling, on the day before or after a game, or on random days… but not when Gonzaga is playing. Oh well.

The Associated Press reports a defense attorney says prosecutors have dismissed rape charges against three Duke University lacrosse players, but charges of kidnapping and sexual offense still stand. Visit CNN for the latest.

HornyManatee.com

marginally NSFW??

Story here.

As Jay observed earlier this evening, “Mormons in Las Vegas is kind of a waste” — but that didn’t stop BYU from winning the Las Vegas Bowl in convincing fashion, 38-8 over Oregon. The Cougars, champions of the Mountain West, finish the season 11-2.

It was an undeniably ugly start to bowl season for the Pac-10. I expected the Ducks to lose — BYU is good — but to lose by 30? That ain’t pretty, no matter how you slice it. And alas, Arizona State vs. Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl probably won’t be much better. I’m going to end up rooting like hell for UCLA, of all teams, to prevent the conference from starting 0-3.

Anyway, the Ducks, so highly regarded in the preseason, finish 7-6, an above-.500 team only because of incompetent refs.

For some reason, the pick ‘em contest standings haven’t been updated yet (grumble, grumble… there’s only one game to update, and it’s been over for, like, 2 1/2 hours… what’s the holdup?), but I know it’s a 63-way tie for first place at 2-0, with 48 contestants at 1-1 and seven at 0-2.

Tomorrow: Rice vs. Troy in the New Orleans Bowl. Please, try to contain your excitement.

P.S. For what it’s worth, 73 contestants picked Rice; the other 45 picked Troy. If Rice wins, there will be a 39-way tie for first place; if Troy wins, it’ll be a 24-way tie.

P.P.S. Both of this year’s bowl games have been decided by margins of exactly 30 points. The Poinsettia Bowl was 37-7; the Las Vegas Bowl was 38-8. Hey New Orleans Bowl, do I hear 39-9?

If Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) run into each other at, like, the House Christmas party or something, it’s going to be awkward.

In a related story, Virgil Goode is a bigoted idiot.

Commenter CLT rightly scolds me for my blog-silence on the Great Denver Blizzard of 2006. Long story short, thousands have been stranded, at the airport and elsewhere, after two feet of snow crippled the region at the worst possible time for travellers, right before Christmas. The airport, closed since Wednesday, is expected to re-open around midday today (Friday). For the latest news, visit DenverPost.com or RockyMountainNews.com.