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It's the big finale, the Championship Game of the NCAA Football season which will rack up huge TV ratings in the US. Unfortunately it will be well after midnight GMT by the time the game really gets going so only the diehards will be watching from the UK. Or those following James Jack's excellent tips... or both! Follow him on Twitter @materialista27 . And a reminder that if or look back at his archive of previews on his dedicated College Bowl site . --------------- Discover BCS National Championship Game Monday January 7th, 20:00 ET (01:00 GMT) Sunlife Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida (1)Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. (2)Alabama Crimson Tide The BCS National Championship Game was created as a stand-alone game in 2007, replacing the rotation which took place between the four BCS Bowls. (Fiesta, Rose, Orange, Sugar) Since its inception, it has been won by a team from the SEC with two wins each for Florida and Alabama, and one each for Auburn and LSU. The game is s...

Just a few more College Bowl games to go to complete the season. Here's another preview by James Jack, @materialista27 . And a reminder that if any previews aren't posted here, you should be able to find them on his dedicated College Bowl site . --------------- BBVA Compass Bowl Saturday January 5th, 12:00 CST (18:00 GMT) Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Ole Miss Rebels The BBVA Compass Bowl was originally created as the Birmingham Bowl in 2006 and has also been sponsored by Papa John's Pizza in its short history. The Bowl initially had a tie-in with the Conference-USA but they decided to rip that up in 2008 and signed a deal with the Big East and the SEC. It currently matches the 6th team from the Big East with the 9th team from the SEC, however in recent years, it appears to have become the Pittsburgh Bowl as this will be their third straight appearance, splitting the last two with SMU. Should this game follow that trend, Pittsburgh ...

It's a week late and the BBC are no longer covering it, but the 2012 Welsh National will finally be run at Chepstow this weekend. Making his debut on this site with the preview is Ben Homans, @blue_bajan , a young blogger who is very keen on National Hunt racing. Read more on his blog . --------------------- The Welsh National is a race which can sometimes find the horses at the top of the market out and it will be interesting to see how the ground is after a few races at Chepstow early raceday. With the re-scheduled meeting taking place now, it has seen a shake-up in the overall line up. Looking at previous big race updates - We see value has been somewhat of an error and age. Bobs Worth and Long Run being overlooked because of the value of the SP and Hello Bud, a mighty age of 14 only just too good for our selection in Join Together. Hopefully we can find a genuine winner of this gruelling 3m 5f race! Across The Bay who heads the weights looks to have a likeable profile, w...

One of the first big races of the calendar year is traditionally the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown with quite a decent honour roll as you'll read below. Welcome back astute judge Mark Rowntree, @uptheirons007 , with his analysis of the race. Read more of his work on his blog . ------------------- The Tolworth Hurdle – Grade One (now known as the 32Red Novices' Hurdle) Sandown Park race on the opening weekend of 2013, with their feature event the long established Tolworth Hurdle. The Grade 1 event run over 2m110yds has been won by some very good horses in the past 15 years, including French Holly (1998), Monsignor (2000), Thisthatandtother (2003), Marcel (2005), Noland (2006), Minella Class (2011) and Captain Conan (2012). In the five runnings since 2006, the race has been dominated by Messrs Nicholls and Henderson. The former landing the runnings between 2006 & 2008, with the latter landing the race the last two years in 2011 and 2012 after abandonments due to frost in bo...

Now it gets serious in the NFL, we are into the knockout games. There'll be a few previews floating around this weekend, I've gone with a recent addition to the blog contributors list, Simon Baird, @sbaird80 , and his short, sharp look at each of the four games. --------------- NFL Wildcard Round Preview by Simon Baird This weekend see the wildcard card round of the NFL playoffs. It also is the first time in history that 3 rookie quarterbacks are starting for their respective teams not to mention the other two second year quarterbacks taking part. There are two standout teams playing in this round with the others fighting to make it to the next round. Let’s take a look at the games in detail. AFC Cincinnati Bengals v Houston Texans This game is replay of the wildcard round from last season where the Texans were easily able to deal with the Bengals on their home turf. There are a few interesting difference this year however. The Texans have been on a slide of...

College Bowl season continues, we're on the home straight now, not many left.. Here's another preview by James Jack, @materialista27 . Read more of his work on his dedicated College Bowl site . --------------- Outback Bowl Tuesday January 1st, 13:00 ET (18:00 GMT) Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida (10)South Carolina Gamecocks vs. (18)Michigan Wolverines The Outback Bowl was created in 1977 as the Hall of Fame Bowl and was initially played in Alabama until it was discontinued in 1986 and a new Hall of Fame Bowl was instituted in Tampa under the same name. Outback Steakhouse began its sponsorship in 1995 and the Bowl gained its current title. The bowl invites the third team from the Big Ten to face the third pick from the SEC. As the Outback Bowl shares the third pick of the SEC with the Cotton Bowl, a team from the SEC East division is always selected for the Outback Bowl and a team from the West division heads to Arlington, as happened last year. The Outback Bo...

College Bowl season continues, we're on the home straight now, not too many left.. Here's another preview by James Jack, @materialista27 . Read more of his work on his dedicated College Bowl site . --------------- TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl Tuesday January 1st, 12:00 ET (17:00 GMT) Everbank Field, Jacksonville, Florida Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. (20)Northwestern Wildcats The Gator Bowl has been played continuously since 1946 in Florida and with the exception of 1994, it has been played in the city of Jackosnville. This bowl was the first in history to be televised nationally and it comes with a $2.5m payout for each team involved. The Gator Bowl features the 6th team from the SEC and the 4th team from the Big-Ten depending on BCS eligibility. Last year's game was known as either the Traitor Bowl or the Savior Bowl depending on your allegiance, I prefer to call it the Urban Meyer Bowl as it featured his previous team the Florida Gators and his new team, those...

College Bowl season continues, we're on the home straight now, not so many left.. Here's another preview by James Jack, @materialista27 . Read more of his work on his dedicated College Bowl site . --------------- Heart of Dallas Bowl Tuesday January 1st, 11:00 CST (17:00 GMT) Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas Purdue Boilermakers vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys The Heart of Dallas Bowl is one of the newest Bowls of the season, first played in January 2011, after the Cotton Bowl game moved to Cowboys Stadium. The Cotton Bowl opened in 1930 and hosted the Cotton Bowl in 1937 and every subsequent year until 2009. The Cotton Bowl stadium was also used to host games at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and played host to the best game of the tournament and arguably the best goal. This year's game features the 7th team from the Big-Ten and the 8th team from the Big-12, however next year's game will replace the Big-12 team with a school from Conference-USA, like it did last year. Pu...

New Year's Day in Australia traditionally means a plethora of race meetings scattered across the country, and none starting too early for those bearing a mild hangover from the night before. Plus, we have the added bonus of plentiful sunshine, none of this ridiculous endless bloody rain we have in the UK at the moment (can you tell this weather is giving me the shits?) Perth Cup day is a massive one in the West, often with temps around the 40C mark, which gets a bit uncomfortable, especially with a packed, drunken crowd. This year it will only be 33C, perfect Perth drinking weather, just stay in the shade! Drafted in for a preview of this special occasion is the blogger known as @BrisburghPhil . You can read more of his work on his racing blog , or football ratings on his A-League blog . --------------------- PERTH CUP PREVIEW 2013 Always a great way to bring in the New Year for any self-respecting racing fan. Somewhat of a pity that we no longer get to see a 3200m marathon, f...