• Master these award categories for baseball . . .
  The 2009 Major League Baseball awards, in a perfect world:

• Clearing up misconceptions about Roth IRAs
  Question: I'm 23 and have been making a point of saving money in a savings account. I've been told that a savings account isn't good for my future and that I should invest in a Roth instead. But I don't want to choose anything risky. Would I lose money if I invest in a Roth?

• Northwestern in a state of euphoria, Notre Dame in a state of dismay
  One program knows what to do with an opportunity, the other does not. However you want to write it, that was the story Saturday.

• Bears' season on the line Sunday as tough stretch looms
  Welcome to Round One of the NFL playoffs between the Bears and the Cardinals.

• When it comes to Yankees and New York, there's a lot to hate
  Now that the Yankees are back on top, I can settle into a more natural state of dark hatred and enthusiastic loathing for them. All is right with the world.

• Complacency becomes Florida Gators' biggest foe before Alabama game
  The Florida Gators might have one more cupcake left on their schedule.

• Stanford's Harbaugh wins X's and O's battle against Oregon
  Jim Harbaugh did not want to admit it. But in Stanford's 51-42 upset of Oregon on Saturday, he totally outcoached Oregon's first-year guy, Chip Kelly.

• Defense sets up Texas to succeed
  Offensive records fell. Passing stats glittered.

• Former Texas Longhorn earns a fresh start with 49ers
  San Francisco 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown always knew he could do what he did last week. All he needed was a chance.

• UCLA's quarterback carousel continues
  PASADENA, Calif. - The UCLA quarterback carousel spins this season out of necessity. It rotates because of a shattered jaw, a rung bell and the occasional scattered arm and the scattered mind.

• USC wins ugly, but that's pretty to these Trojans
  Style points aren't in style anymore in college football.

• Let's not deify Dolphins' Ted Ginn after one game
  Ted Ginn Jr. was a hot topic around the Dolphins last week because he had one great game, and that apparently returned him to everyone's good graces.

• Credit Randy Shannon for Miami's rise
  MIAMI - What a lot of people can't figure out today is how Virginia ever won three games this season. The closest thing to an answer is that they weren't playing anybody like Miami those days.

• Air Force takes flight against Army
  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Army coach Rich Ellerson devised a simple defensive plan.

• Questions abound for Minnesota
  I could write a column about the Minnesota Gophers playing pathetically in a must-win, should-win game against a lousy team. Or I could just write: Ibid.

• Michigan State should follow Cousins' lead
  EAST LANSING, Mich. - Kirk Cousins doesn't seem like the kind of guy who tells teammates to jump on his back, but apparently he did that last week. That's the thing about Cousins, though. He doesn't always seem to be what he is.

• Bill Snyder is making it look too easy at Kansas State
  Maybe this was all inevitable, Kansas State's emergence as the only team capable of seizing control of the embarrassingly mediocre Big 12 North.

• Big 12's promise starts with taking care of business early in basketball
  As always, the final weeks of college basketball's regular season will bring a daily inspection of bracket projections, bubble talk and all the stuff that we love about the stretching exercises for the March Madness sprint.

• Random evidence of a cluttered mind . . .
  People voted to elect a new city of Miami mayor Tuesday. Results were surprising, but you know what they say about politics being all about the timing.

• Seahawks still in high-stakes competition
  For the slumping, snakebitten Seahawks, the only thing scarcer than victories is sympathy.

• Rangers' continued postseason drought eats at veteran Michael Young
  Even if he had been so inclined, Michael Young simply couldn't make himself watch the New York Yankees celebrate world championship No. 27 on Wednesday night.

• Selfishness is no longer a problem for these Dallas Cowboys
  Despite what you might have heard elsewhere, there's a positive vibe in the Cowboys' locker room these days.

• Jason Taylor feeling at home with Dolphins again
  The strange part, the fun part, the part he never expected to say is how it feels sometimes like he never left. Let's start there. Jason Taylor works 15 minutes from home again. He attends his kids' ballgames again. He has in-season dates with his wife again.

• Eagles' McNabb has a message
  Every word that comes out of Donovan McNabb's mouth for public consumption is deliberate. Everything he says has meaning, a purpose, and an intended audience.

• Eagles' chances in NFC East begin with the Cowboys
  One week after the big two-part grudge match against New York - and just days after the Phillies' dismissal from the World Series - the Eagles face the NFL equivalent of those Damned Yankees.