Okla St a spot short; Mich St, Boise St miss BCS (AP)

While Alabama prepares to play for the BCS championship, the Oklahoma State Cowboys can only wonder how they would match up with the SEC's best.

Oklahoma State finished No. 3 in the final BCS standings Sunday night, missing out on the title game thanks to a loss at Iowa State last month.

"You just want everything for the players. They wanted to play in that game and they believe they could have won that game," Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said.

The Cowboys were one of a handful of top teams settling for less this weekend. Michigan State narrowly missed out on a Rose Bowl trip by losing in the Big Ten title game, then fell all the way to the Outback Bowl. Boise State, which finished No. 7 in the final BCS standings, is going to the MAACO Bowl. Kansas State was one spot behind Boise State but is headed to the Cotton Bowl after being passed over by the BCS.

"We understand why certain programs are picked at certain places," Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis said. "You don't beg for respect, you earn it."

Oklahoma State was hoping its 44-10 win over Oklahoma on Saturday night would be enough to push the Cowboys past the idle Crimson Tide and into the No. 2 spot. Instead, Alabama held on to set up an all-Southeastern Conference BCS title game against LSU. The SEC is now guaranteed its sixth consecutive BCS championship.

Burns Hargis, Oklahoma State's president, offered his critique of the outcome. The Cowboys were ahead of the Crimson Tide in the computer rankings but trailed in the Harris and coaches' polls, which also play a role in the BCS rankings.

"I think there's some bias toward the SEC right now, and I think some of it is deserved just because of their winning the national championship so much recently," Hargis said. "I'm sure there was some negative effect there."

Oklahoma State will play Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl.

Michigan State narrowly missed a BCS bid for a second consecutive season. Last year, the Spartans tied Wisconsin and Ohio State for the Big Ten title, but the other two teams went to BCS bowls and Michigan State went to the Capital One Bowl.

This weekend was even more excruciating. The Spartans lost to Wisconsin 42-39 in the Big Ten title game, and now they'll face Georgia in the Outback Bowl. Meanwhile, in-state rival Michigan, a team Michigan State finished ahead of and beat during the Big Ten season, is going to the Sugar Bowl.

The Spartans have three losses to Michigan's two, although Michigan State's final loss came in the conference title game the Wolverines didn't qualify for.

"That's how the BCS works," Spartans receiver B.J. Cunningham said. "That's the system. It's not fair. Life isn't fair, but that's how it is."

The BCS bowls did not have the option of picking Michigan State because the Spartans didn't finish in the top 14 of the BCS rankings.

For Boise State, any shot at a national championship slipped away when the Broncos lost by a point to TCU last month. With no at-large berth forthcoming from the BCS, Boise State will face Arizona State in the MAACO Bowl.

TCU could have snagged an automatic bid to a BCS bowl if it had finished in the top 16 of the BCS standings. Instead, the Horned Frogs were at No. 18 and will play Louisiana Tech in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Kansas State could have received an at-large bid to the BCS but was left out. The Sugar Bowl took Virginia Tech and Michigan, who were 11th and 13th in the BCS rankings. Now Kansas State will take on Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. The Razorbacks were ranked No. 6 in the BCS, the highest team not to receive a bid to one of those coveted bowls. Arkansas couldn't be selected because the SEC already had two participants with LSU and Alabama.

That was good news for the Cotton Bowl, which was happy to snap up the Razorbacks and Wildcats.

"Kansas State vs. Arkansas is a blockbuster matchup for us," Baker said. "This is exciting. Few bowls have a matchup that is as intriguing as our game."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_bcs_left_out

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PFT: Angry Reid defends Jackson's effort

AP

When the Ravens moved to Baltimore in 1996, the decided to conduct their training camp at nearby McDaniel College, in Westminster, Maryland.

This year, the lockout caused the Ravens to decide to move camp to the team?s facility.? They?ve decided to stay put for training camp in 2012.

?We?ve had long, serious discussions about this decision, and, when all is said and done, we believe we can better prepare for the season by holding training camp here as opposed to McDaniel College or any other facility away from here,? Ravens president Dick Cass said in a release issued by the team. ?We wanted to let the officials at McDaniel and at the hotel [Best Western] know as soon as we made the decision.?

The move, which Cass said wasn?t influenced by financial considerations, apparently is a product of the new labor deal.

?In 1996, Westminster was the best place for us to have training camp,? G.M. Ozzie Newsome said. ?How teams conduct training camp today is vastly different.? Our football needs and requirements are different.? The absence of two-a-days, how much space we need for the players and the meetings, the limited number of practices allowed by the new CBA, the importance of having an indoor field when the summer storms come ? all of that and more football-influenced factors, had me recommend to [owner] Steve [Bisciotti] and Dick that we hold camp here.?

Bisciotti apparently wrestled with the move.? ?From a football and team point of view, it?s an easy decision,? Bisciotti said.? ?Personally, this is difficult.? Some of my best memories as a kid are my family?s visits to the Colts? training camp in Westminster.? Part of my devotion to the game and the players who made it great and are heroes to many of us, started on those visits.

?We completely understand that this takes away an important part of our connection with our fans. I regret that,? Bisciotti added.? ?Hopefully, we can find other ways to continue this outreach.? We?ll have more to say on this as we develop these programs.?

It?ll be interesting to see whether other teams follow suit, abandoning the traditional training camp experience for the facility to which the players report to work throughout the year.? The reasons articulated by the Ravens should apply to every team that currently has an off-site camp.? Time will tell whether more and more of them come to that same conclusion.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/02/andy-reid-upset-with-nfl-networks-coverage/related

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Obama Tells Tribal Leaders 'You've Got a President Who's Got Your Back' (ABC News)

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Wife: US official accused in Chile has Alzheimer's (Providence Journal)

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World-traveling sea turtle comes home

When Johnny Vasco de Gama showed up in the Netherlands three years ago, he was a nameless, frigid sea turtle with little chance of surviving much longer in the icy waters of the North Sea. But now, this accidental world traveler is back in the United States and will soon be released into the warm waters his species calls home.

The turtle, dubbed "Johnny" by rescuers in the Netherlands, had "Vasco de Gama" appended to his name in Portugal, where marine biologists at the ocean theme park Zoomarine nursed him back to health. The turtle is a Kemp's ridley sea turtle, a critically endangered species and the rarest of all sea turtles. For that reason, an international team of conservationists has worked hard to bring Johnny back to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

On Tuesday, Johnny arrived at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., where staff checked him out and placed him in a holding tank in preparation to release him into the Gulf.

No one knows exactly how Johnny made it all the way to the Netherlands, thousands of miles from his home territory in the Gulf of Mexico and along the eastern coast of the U.S. According to Mote Marine Lab, the turtle likely got caught in cold currents and became "cold-stunned," a condition that can shut down turtles' organs and even kill the animals. In that state, Johnny may have drifted hundreds or thousands of miles before being found in November 2008.

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Once rescued, Johnny was stabilized by Rotterdam Zoo employees and then sent to the aquarium Ocean?rio de Lisboa in Portugal the following summer. The aquarium, in turn, sent the turtle to Zoomarine for rehabilitation.

After an international process of permit-getting and transport-organizing, Johnny the turtle made it back to the U.S. side of the pond in considerably greater style than his outbound journey: He flew in a specially adapted plane donated by the Portuguese airline TAP.

At Mote Marine Lab, Johnny underwent a veterinary exam on Tuesday and is now on medical hold to be sure that he's ready for release back into the wild. As soon as he's cleared, Johnny will be set free in southwest Florida waters.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2011 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45499517/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Colon Cancer Prognosis Worse for the Obese, Type 2 Diabetics (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Dec. 2 (HealthDay News) -- People who have been diagnosed with colon cancer have a poorer prognosis if they're obese or have type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.

Two new studies that looked at the impact that body-mass index (BMI) and a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes had on survival rates after a colon cancer diagnosis found that both factors influence whether or not someone survives colorectal cancer. In addition, both studies found that deaths from any cause, including heart disease, were also increased in those who were obese or had type 2 diabetes.

Results of the studies were published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"The message here is to avoid obesity and type 2 diabetes because they have negative health outcomes. We don't know for sure that losing weight or increasing physical activity will help, but we know they're good for trying to avoid other diseases, like cardiovascular disease, that can come up down the road," said Dr. Jeffrey Meyerhardt, author of an accompanying editorial in the same journal, and an associate professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

There are more than 1 million people who've survived a colon cancer diagnosis living in the United States, and mortality from colorectal cancer has gone down over the past two decades, according to background information in the studies.

And, while previous research has linked a higher BMI and type 2 diabetes to the development of colorectal cancer in the first place, it hasn't been clear how these factors influence the course of colorectal cancer once someone has been diagnosed.

The first study included 2,303 people involved in an ongoing study that began in 1992. Between that time and 2007, the study participants had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Follow-up continued through December 2008.

During the study, 851 people with colorectal cancer died. Of those, 380 died as a result of colorectal cancer, while 153 died of heart disease, according to the study. The remaining 318 people died of other causes.

The risk of all-cause mortality was 30 percent higher for people who were considered obese at the start of the study vs. those of a normal weight. The risk of dying from colorectal cancer was 35 percent higher, and the risk of dying from heart disease was 68 percent higher.

Meyerhardt explained that the researchers tried to adjust the data for important factors, such as physical activity, red meat intake (a known risk factor for colorectal cancer), family history and blood pressure levels. Even after adjusting the data, obesity increased the risk of dying.

"In and of itself, obesity does seem to have some effect," Meyerhardt said.

In the second study, researchers recruited 2,278 people who'd been diagnosed with non-metastatic colon or rectal cancer between 1992 and 2007. In this group, there were 842 deaths. Of those, 377 were from colorectal cancer and 152 were from heart disease, according to the study.

People with type 2 diabetes had a 53 percent higher risk of dying from any cause and a 29 percent higher risk of dying from colorectal cancer compared to people without type 2 diabetes. The risk of dying from heart disease was 2.16 times higher in people with type 2 diabetes and nearly four times higher in people with type 2 diabetes who used insulin, compared with people without type 2 diabetes, the study found.

"Insulin use in type 2 diabetes usually indicates longer-standing diabetes, which is usually associated with worse outcomes," Meyerhardt noted.

Obesity, elevated body-mass index and diabetes are associated with worse disease states across the board," said Dr. David Bernstein, chief of gastroenterology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. "But, we don't know if you lose weight if that risk will go down. I don't counsel patients who've been diagnosed with colorectal cancer to lose weight, because weight loss tends to be a worry in people undergoing cancer treatment anyway. I do counsel my patients that haven't been diagnosed with cancer to lose weight. The medical community needs to spend more time counseling prevention."

Meyerhardt added that it's also not clear from these studies whether or not obese people or those with type 2 diabetes would benefit from changes in the treatment they receive for colorectal cancer.

More information

Learn more about preventing colorectal cancer from the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weightloss/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111202/hl_hsn/coloncancerprognosisworsefortheobesetype2diabetics

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Tim McGraw wins ruling over recording career (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? Country music star Tim McGraw has won a court ruling in Nashville allowing him to keep recording while a lawsuit against him by Curb Records continues.

Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled Wednesday after a four-hour hearing that McGraw can sign with another record label.

Curb Records sought to prevent McGraw from recording or signing with another label until he fulfilled what Curb believed was his obligation for a fifth album.

McGraw is accused of breach of contract, and that trial is scheduled for July.

The performer and his wife, singer Faith Hill, were in court Wednesday. McGraw did not testify.

His attorneys argued that Curb is trying to put his career on hold. He's been under contract with Curb since 1997.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_en_mu/us_music_tim_mcgraw

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