Die Macht » his all-American hero works.

Ohio State held firm at second in the College Football Playoff rankings, putting the Buckeyes in position to become the first team to be selected to the final four without winning its conference.The second-to-last rankings were released Tuesday night and Alabama was No. 1, followed by Ohio State, Clemson and Washington. The Crimson Tide, Tigers and Huskies all play conference championship games this weekend and presumably would be in good shape to make the playoff if they win. The final rankings and playoff pairings will be released Sunday.Unbeaten Alabama is probably in good shape to make the playoff even if it loses to Florida in the Southeastern Conference title game SaturdayMichigan dropped to five after losing to Ohio State. Wisconsin was sixth and Penn State was seventh. The Badgers and Nittany Lions will play for the Big Ten title in Indianapolis on Saturday.---HUSKIES vs. WOLVERINESAssuming the Buckeyes are a lock, and it looks good for them, and Clemson doesnt get upset by Virginia Tech in the ACC title game, the debate for the committee when it gathers in Texas on Saturday night to watch games and discuss the only rankings that matter will be Pac-12 or Big Ten.Can Michigan, or maybe the Big Ten champion with two losses, edge a Washington team that would finish 12-1 by beating Colorado Friday night in the Pac-12 title game?There is a small separation between these two teams, selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said of Michigan and Washington. At one point Hocutt added that the difference between the Wolverines and Huskies was razor thin.It looks like not only does the committee not mind putting one Big Ten team without a conference championship in the playoff, but it is also comfortable with two. Michigan at 10-2 has victories against both Penn State and Wisconsin.PENN STATES PLIGHTA Wisconsin victory in the Big Ten title game would eliminate the controversy. The Badgers lost to Ohio State during the regular seasonPenn State fans, however, are already cranking up the complaints. The Nittany Lions beat Ohio State in October. Add a Big Ten title and Penn State is bound to feel slighted.Conference titles and head-to-head results are essentially used by the committee like tiebreakers when teams are very close. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are not in the committees eyes. At least not yet.The selection committee recognizes the head-to-head win, but in this particular case, it hasnt been the distinguishing point in our evaluation of those two teams, he said.SUGAR BOWLAssuming Alabama is in the playoff, the Southeastern Conference sends its next highest ranked team to the Sugar Bowl to face the Big 12 champion, which will be decided when No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 10 Oklahoma State play in Norman on Saturday.No. 14 Auburn is that SEC team right now. Florida is 15th, so a good performance -- even in a loss -- against the Crimson Tide might get the Gators to New Orleans on a two-game losing streak. A Florida loss would leave every SEC team other than Alabama with at least four losses.But the contract with the Sugar says the SEC gets the spot mediocre or not.ORANGE BOWLLouisville beat Florida State by 43 points in September, but the Cardinals have stumbled down the stretch and now the Seminoles are 12th and the Cardinal are 13th.If that order holds -- and there is no reason to think it wont because neither is playing -- and Clemson goes to the playoff as the ACC champion, then Florida State will represent the conference in the Orange Bowl.Hocutt said Florida State has played one of the toughest schedules in the country while Louisville has beaten only one team with a winning record (Florida State). He said the Seminoles are playing better lately.GROUP OF FIVEThe highest-ranked conference champion from outside the Power Five is getting a Cotton Bowl bid and at this point it looks as if it will be No. 17 Western Michigan if the unbeaten Broncos defeat Ohio in the Mid-American Conference championship game Friday night.The next highest ranked Group of Five team is No. 19 Navy (9-2), which will play Temple for the American Athletic Conference championship on Saturday at home.Dont consider WMU a lock. Hocutt said the committee is still concerned about the Broncos weak schedule. But it looks promising for coach P.J. Flecks team.---Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP--More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 Vapormax Plus Australia . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Vapormax Sale Australia . Any real chance at payback wont come until the playoff. Still, Pittsburgh knows its taut 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night is a pretty good place to start laying the groundwork. "They are a very good defensive team," Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. http://www.salenikeshoesaustralia.com/air-max-90-clearance/max-90-white-cheap.html . The 17-year-old native of Marystown, N.L., pulled out of Skate Canada International last month in Saint John, N.B., with the same problem. Yeezy 350 V2 For Sale Australia . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. Vapormax Flyknit Australia . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Finn Bálor?is billed at just a hair below 6-feet tall and 190 pounds. When he speaks, there is no disguising his thick Irish accent. He doesnt fit the mold of the typical WWE superstar of any era, and yet, on his first night on the main roster, Bálor pinned the United States champion?Rusev?in a four-way match in his debut. Then he defeated the longtime heir apparent to?John Cenas?mantle as the top guy of the company,?Roman Reigns, in a No. 1 contenders match for the newly christened top title of the brand, the WWE?Universal Championship.If you were to bring this potential scenario up to your friends or any knowledgeable wrestling fan 10 -- nay, even five years ago -- youd be mocked for being an indie wrestling fan with a bit too much imagination. What Bálor accomplished on his first night in the company is the type of welcome mat youd expect for a Cena- or Reigns-type of wrestler: big, strong, born and bred in America, with a look you can slap on posters from here to China. Bálor, while having a sharp look and a defined body, is not overly muscular or tall.In the history of the WWE, generally speaking, non-American and Canadian wrestlers have been shoehorned, at one point or another, into the role of the dastardly foreigner who believes his country of origin is astronomically better than the one hes in tonight. After mocking the red, white and blue, someone like a Cena or a Reigns would rush out from the back, barreling down to the ring in an attempt to stop the rapscallion from defaming the United States.With Bálor, the Irishman who made his name as Prince Devitt in Japan, Europe and many other locales outside of the United States, WWE didnt follow their typical path and bring him in as that kind of international heel. While the evil foreigner gimmick can still be seen to this day in the company --?The Shining Stars?arent going to let us forget Puerto Rico is so much better than the United States -- Bálor entered the scene as a full-on?good guy.After that one impressive night of a debut, hes set to take on?Seth Rollins?at SummerSlam for the grand prize of Raw, which still appears to be the flagship?show, post-brand split. Instead of giving Bálor a shillelagh or a leprechaun sidekick, WWE didnt simply shy away from Finns heritage -- but they also didnt make it his entire character.In his first few weeks on Raw, the WWE has highlighted and built upon Bálors well-established NXT character and its long-standing duality. The split personality of Finn Bálor is a take on his name: Finn representing the mythical Irish hunter-warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill and Balor which is Gaelic for Demon King.On one side, you have the leather jacket-wearing confident veteran from Japan, who can out-wrestle anyone he meets. His other personality, the one he only brings out for marquee matches -- the Demon King -- is sadistic, putting Bálor in a state where hell go through anything or anyone by any means necessary to win the match. The two personalities intertwine to bring us the kind of mythical character we dont see much of anymore in the WWE, outside of?Bray Wyatt?and the occasional appearance from?The Undertaker.From the colorful paint that dawns his body, to the spectacle of the performance he puts on during his entrance, the appearance of the Demon King, at least as it has been presented in the past in NXT, has been seen as a special event -- something Bálor only brings out when he needs it most against the greatest of foes.When it comes to comparable wrestlers in the WWE, the aforementioned Wyatt is a possible cautionary tale for Bálor. While the wordsmith Wyatt is a natural storyteller in and outside of the ring, his constant string of losing feuds over the years has weakened his appeal at the maain-event level.dddddddddddd He can spin a tale of fear and despair like no one else today in pro wrestling, but what are those words worth if he continually ends up looking at rafters against the superheroes he promises to break?What made the Demon King great in NXT is that Bálor won when he slipped into his dark character. Unlike Wyatt, where his entrance is usually the highlight for his character in his marquee matches, Bálor continually defeated the best NXT had to offer as the Demon King -- building a persona which fans knew they couldnt miss if a big bout was upcoming. It wasnt until the end of a blood feud against Samoa Joe inside a steel cage where the Demon King finally fell for the first time -- and it had to be to fulfill as significant a goal as establishing the new overlord of the NXT brand.For Bálor to become a big star as a face, the Demon King needs to be handled correctly. Sure, the facepaint and entrance is a sight to behold, and it seems almost certain that kids will flock to the merchandise stands at SummerSlam to buy Bálor merchandise. But if the demonic character loses every main-event match hes in, like Wyatt has done over the years, youll be left with a shiny exterior with no substance inside. Finn Bálor can lose close matches and come up short, but the Demon King -- the integral part of who Bálor is -- needs to be seen as a monster that can only be dethroned after a hellacious war of lost battles.Bálor is a passable talker on the mic, but hes no Wyatt or even a wisecracking?Enzo Amore. For him to succeed as the top face of Raw, he needs to be?placed in situations where he can tell a story the best -- inside the squared circle, in a wrestling match.If the WWE can build up the Demon King character, there is little doubt he can become an integral part of the company. Kids and teenagers are the main demographic theyve been trying to appeal to for the last decade, or more, and the artistic, twisted side of Bálor is visually stunning. He doesnt need to stand in the middle of the ring for 20 minutes, insulting his foes with forced catchphrases. All Bálor needs to do is be suave and confident as Finn, and when the Demon King awakes, hes able to become a force that is seemingly indestructible.Cena is beloved by the younger audience of the WWE. He has become one of the most visible and well-known athletes in the world, with his appearances all over every kind of media imaginable, in both a wrestling and nonwrestling role.Not every fan favorite needs to be John Cena.As weve seen with?Dean Ambroses?well-executed run so far on SmackDown Live, you can be a different kind of character and still be seen as the top guy.?For Cena, his all-American hero works. For Ambrose, his unpredictable, street tough personality fits. In Bálors case, the switch between the heroic in-ring technician and the demonic sovereign can become something amazing (and lucrative), if directed correctly.On Sunday night in Brooklyn, the lights will dim inside the Barclays Center and a thick white fog will overtake the entrance ramp. As Bálors music hits a crescendo, the Demon King will emerge from the smoke, his hands and body lifted to the sky as a bright, heavenly light illuminates him and his mirrored followers match his movements from the audience.The fans wont notice that hes a cruiserweight, nor that he is an Irishman who doesnt fit the mold of the prototypical WWE superhero.What theyll see in front of them is one of the greatest performers of his craft on the planet -- and if its done correctly, it could be the birth of a new superstar unlike any other in the WWE. ' ' '