And there are a couple of very good reasons to expect such a matchup:
1) The Lakers have played a marquee Christmas Day game every year since the shortened 1998 season.
2) TV executives love those Kobe vs. Shaq grudge matches, real or imagined. After Shaq was traded to Miami, the Lakers and the Heat played three consecutive Christmas Days, 2004 to 2006.
Hey, in the spirit of what the NHL has done with outdoor games the last couple of years, how about the Lakers and Cavs playing over a portable court at the Rose Bowl -- the first part of a holiday tripleheader: NBA game on Christmas, Rose Bowl football game Jan. 1 and the BCS title game Jan. 7?
Or maybe just stick to that original idea?
-- Mike Hiserman
Photo: Cleveland's LeBron James, left, and Lakers' Kobe Bryant battle for a rebound during a game on Jan. 27, 2008. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
Cry if you want, Mountain West Conference, but college football's Bowl Championship Series isn't going away anytime soon.
That seemed to be the message from the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee after a teleconference this week. It scuttled the Mountain West's proposal for an eight-team playoff, with committee Chairman David Frohnmayer issuing a statement afterward that said there was "no overall support" for the plan outside the MWC.
Frohnmayer, the outgoing University of Oregon president, said this latest attempt at changing college football's postseason carried familiar elements of proposals -- even President Obama wants a playoff -- that failed in the past.
"In the last six years, I've read pundits, heard the pronouncements of broadcasters and collected several cubic feet of e-mail printouts from advocates of an NFL-style playoff system," he said in his statement. "Even those that go beyond sound bite certitude share two intertwined and fatal deficiencies: they disrespect our academic calendars and they utterly lack a business plan."
He told USA Today: "They'd wreck the Rose Bowl, which is the most storied bowl in American history. To say it would be a quarterfinal destination is ridiculous."
The next BCS national title game will be played Jan. 7, 2010 at the Rose Bowl, six days after the annual Rose Bowl game.
Mitch Dorger, who will turn 63 in September, said today he will step down as the Rose Bowl's chief executive officer after the bowl hosts this season's Bowl Championship Series national title game on Jan. 7, 2010.
"It seems like a good time to do it," Dorger said.
The Rose Bowl will host its traditional game on Jan.1 this season and then the BCS title game a week later. Dorger said a search committee has been retained to find his successor.
Dorger has spent a decade as the game's CEO and helped usher the Rose Bowl through the complicated and controversial era of the BCS, which began in 1998.
"I've always been a believer of changing out people to keep the energy of the organization fresh," Dorger said. "I think it will be good for the organization."
The Rose Bowl, the Granddaddy of college football bowl games, is moving to cable.
The venerable bowl game's switch to ESPN, starting in 2011, became inevitable last year when ESPN outbid Fox for the next four-year cycle of the Bowl Championship Series package. That put all BCS bowl games under the same network umbrella.
In the current four-year cycle, which ends this season, Fox owns broadcast rights to the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls while the Rose Bowl maintained a separate contract with ABC that runs through the 2013 season.
The Rose Bowl will host two games this year on ABC, the Jan.1 game and the BCS national title game Jan. 7.
Starting in 2011, parent Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN, takes over coverage of all four BCS games.
“Having all BCS matchups on one home, especially within ESPN’s year-round college football environment, is the very best scenario,” John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president for programming and acquisitions, said in a released statement. “Fans will welcome ESPN's all-encompassing approach, and the additional opportunities and value resulting from our multi-platform presentation will benefit the college football community and our business partners.”
-- Chris Dufresne
Photo: The Rose Bowl. Credit: Los Angeles Times archives
College football games that seem spellbinding in May don't always turn out that way in September or October, but here are 10 games I am AT THIS MOMENT most looking forward to in 2009:
10: (Sept. 5) Georgia at Oklahoma State. For years the Bulldogs wouldn't leave the state to play a non-conference game and now, a year after winning handily at Arizona State, Georgia is taking UGA to Stillwater? This is so un-SEC like, but we love it.
9: (Sept 12) UCLA at Tennessee. Possible pre-game conversation between coaches:
Rick Neuheisel: "What did you think of that test they make you take on the NCAA rules before you can become a head coach?"
The release of next season's bowl schedule is terrific news for Texas Congressman Joe Barton because the number of bowls will remain fixed at 34.
No new Twitter Bowl, sorry. Apparently, they couldn't round up 140 characters willing to pony up the cash.
This is perfect for Barton's ingenius suggestion, made at those recent sitting-room-only congressional hearings on the BCS, that you could use all 34 bowls as part of a massive, NCAA Tournament-like playoff for college football. You know, the one where they hold the title game NO LATER than Easter Sunday so as to not extend the season into the third semester (summer).
First, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert compares teamwork to socialism. Now Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas compares college football's Bowl Championship Series to communism.
At last January's Rose Bowl game between USC and Penn State, Nittany Lions Coach Joe Paterno refused to give a pre-game interview to ABC or to allow an open post-game locker room. Both actions were required either by contract (the ABC interview) or BCS rules (open locker room).
Boy, are Paterno and Penn State in big trouble! My colleague Chris Dufresne, who is covering the exciting BCS meetings in Pasadena, sent on this statement:
"The Tournament of Roses met and discussed this matter with the members of the Rose Bowl Management Committee (RBMC). Based on these discussions, the RBMC determined that these violations occurred, and then approved appropriate responsive actions. These matters will be addressed by the Tournament of Roses with Penn State. Details of those actions will remain private."
Wow, that's tough. Nearly six months after the rules were broken someone at the Rose Bowl noticed there was no Paterno ABC interview and that hundreds of media members were barred from the Penn State locker room. How much sleuthing did that take?
The Amgen Tour of California is moving from the Rose Bowl to San Diego County tonight, getting ready for the final stage that will end in Escondido. But first will come a climb up more than 5,000 feet at Palomar Mountain, and some race officials were getting word Saturday evening that nearly 3,000 people are camping out at the top of the mountain where there is still plenty of snow left after last week's storms.
Lance Armstrong, who said that Saturday's crowds estimated around Pasadena at 70,000 were "nothing short of amazing," said he was looking forward to Sunday's stage. "I have good memories of the place," Armstrong said. "It will be a good test."
Because of the threat of winter weather, the Tour of California hasn't had a true mountaintop climb, and racers had been calling for one if organizers want this U.S. event to be considered one of the best in the world.
Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Slipstream, who finished fifth at last year's Tour de France, said Saturday that it was time to quit wondering when the Tour of California would become a great race.
"I don't think this race is given the credit it deserves," Vande Velde said. "It has been a world-class race since Day 1. I don't know what needs to happen for it to become a great race because it is a great race. Look at the names that are coming. Just riding in the group is a guy like Carlos Sastre and he just won the Tour de France. "
On New Year's Day, while discussing the top college football team, ESPN's assortment of anchors and analysts dismissed the Trojans because the "hiccup" or "misstep" (their words) against Oregon State made it an open-and-shut case.
It was a different story today as ESPN's "Outside the Lines: First Report," which aired at noon, made the case for USC being worthy of a title.
The report examined the "impact of USC's dominance in becoming the first team ever to win three consecutive Rose Bowls." Those words are from the press release.
Thursday's casual dismissal of USC because of that "hiccup" was head-shakingly silly from the start. The two teams playing for the BCS championship, Florida and Oklahoma, also had "hiccups" and "missteps" that apparently automatically didn't disqualify them from the championship game.
Want to argue that the Pac-10 wasn't as good as the Big 12 and the SEC? Well, OK, but then how do you explain the Pac-10's finishing the bowl season 5-0?
Want to argue that USC's humdrum midseason skein of inexplicably undecisive wins hurt the case? Fine. But Thursday, ESPN's broadcasters and panelists had one reason, one only, for why USC coach Pete Carroll shouldn't complain about anything.
The Oregon State loss. Again, just to point it out, Florida lost at home to Mississippi. Oklahoma lost at a neutral site to Texas. USC lost at Oregon State. "Hiccups" and "missteps" apparently only disqualify one team. Explain that one. Here is what ESPN had to say last night -- Chris Fowler, Leo Corso, Kirk Herbstreit.
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: USC quarterback Mark Sanchez is interviewed by ESPN's John Saunders after the Rose Bowl game. Saunders was not among those last night who dismissed USC as worthy of being national champion. Credit: Harry How / Getty Images
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With the NBA playoffs approaching, Lakers tickets are this month's hot item. USC Trojans tickets are also in high demand, as the NCAA football season starts up again.
On New Year's Day, while discussing the top college football team, ESPN's assortment of anchors and analysts dismissed the Trojans because the "hiccup" or "misstep" (their words) against Oregon State made it an open-and-shut case. 
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