Tipsheet

A Sister Team and BSC Bargaining

Before Army and Navy take the field for their 106th meeting in Philadelphia today (on CBS at 2:30), two sisters--Morgan and Katherine Kitchen-- will lead the Midshipmen onto the field:

The Kitchens Morgan is a junior at the academy, Katherine a freshman, or plebe -- have directed the brigade when it marched on the field before Navy football games at home in Annapolis this season and will do it one last time on Saturday at the annual Army-Navy contest in Philadelphia.

Using signal flags, the Kitchens stand in the upper deck on opposite sides of the stadium and lead the brigade through a series of traditional formations that include saluting the opposing team and performing a cheer-in-unison for the Midshipmen.

"We're kind of like traffic lights," said Katherine Kitchen with a laugh.

They're the first sister team to wave the flags at the Naval Academy, and they follow in the footsteps of their brother, Reed, who performed the same duties as a senior last year.

Judging by the Texas-Colorado game right now, this ain't likely (nor was it ever likely), but it's interesting: What would happen if both Texas and USC lost today? Hey, don't get mad at me, Chaos. I don't write the columns that predict USC's demise; I just link them and cross my fingers.

Preston, in all his wisdom, picked Georgia over LSU today for the SEC Championship, 29-22. That puts Preston on the list of my favorite Vols, right next to Peyton Manning (it's a very short list).