Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Great news this week, even more exciting than the inaugural Big Ten and Pac-12 conference championship games, was the announcement that Wayne Weaver is selling Jacksonville’s Jaguars.

This is something that is long overdue. Plopping an NFL football team in Jacksonville  made about as much sense as using computers to determine the major college football national champion.

Not that we have anything against Jacksonville itself, which is a fine city with many bridges and confusing turnoffs, but the NFL’s territorial agreement allowed Weaver to designate Orlando as the Jaguars’ secondary TV market. You may have noticed over the past decade and a half that we’ve been tranquilized on Sunday afternoons by a large number of televised wakes featuring the Jaguars while more interesting games were blocked.

Thinking that any rational human being would spend $760 million for the Jaguars, then agree to leave them in Jacksonville, never really seemed in the equation until auto parts billionaire Shahid Khan apparently committed to keeping the Jags on the Atlantic Coast, according to Weaver.

Fortunately, there is no fine print in the sales agreement that requires Khan to ignore enticing offers from other locales across the nation, Los Angeles in particular, so we’re reasonably optimistic that in a couple of years, the Jaguars will go prowling off into the night, leaving our local NFL TV market relatively pristine again.

Really, why is Orlando designated by any NFL team as its secondary market? The population here is transient. I’d wager that you’ll find more Steelers, Packers and Cowboys fans roaming the area than those of the native NFL teams.

The Bucs have a modest fan base here, but not many seem interested in going to Ray-Jay to watch a game. Miami once was the dominant NFL player in Florida, with a huge statewide fan base, but it has slid so far in popularity in Central Florida that you can hardly find a store that sells Fins merchandise.

So, why were we stuck watching Jacksonville at Cleveland a couple of weeks ago, rather than, you know, an interesting game?

The Jags hung up a 5.8 Nielsen TV rating against Baltimore a few weeks ago that stands as one of the lowest ever for a Monday Night football game. And, they do it again this Monday against San Diego. We can’t get enough of these guys.

So, anyway, Shahid, when they hand you the keys, don’t be afraid to heed the words of a successful 19th Century entrepreneur named Horace Greeley, who advised, “Go west, young man, and please take your football team with you.”

The Mighty News-Gazette Divine Nine:

No. 1: The Pack. No. 2: The Niners. No. 3: The Saints. No. 4: Bayou Bengals. No. 5: Timmy T. No. 6: Roll Tide. No. 7: Urban. No. 8: Horace Greeley. No. 9: Moving vans.

To the picks:

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (-3): No Big 12 championship game this year, but this one is just as good. Cowboys by 2.

Southern Miss at Houston (-17): The Conference USA title game becomes a showcase for Cougars QB Case Keenum, who may need a shoulder replacement after throwing for about 2 million yards this season. Cougars by 10.

Va. Tech (-4.5) vs. Clemson at Charlotte: The ACC championship game, which has consistently been a dud since its inception. This one should live up to expectations. Hokies by 7.

Michigan State vs. Wisconsin (-7.5) at Indianapolis: The Big Ten split its teams into Legends and Leaders divisions. Really? What, east and west was too hard to understand? Badgers by 10.

Georgia vs. LSU (-10) at Atlanta: The SEC championship game. No one is giving the Dawgs a chance, which may be a mistake. Tigers by 3.

The paid professionals:

Oakland at Miami (-3): First, the Fins couldn’t win. Now, they can’t lose. Except for this one. Raidas by 3.

Carolina at Tampa Bay (-1.5): Don’t worry, good tickets still are available. Bucs by 2.

San Diego (-3) at Jacksonville: I can’t believe the person who scheduled this for prime time still has a job. Bolts by 2.

Atlanta at Houston (-1): The Texans are playing T.J. Yates at QB. Sounds like a western-themed restaurant. Falcons by 3.

Denver (-1.5) at Minnesota: Well, at this point, do you dare go against Timmy T? Broncos by 3.

Brian “Big Man” McBride’s Super Sniffer Upset Special: Raiders by 3.

Petey “The Gators Are Going To Win” Covino says: “I can’t wait for the Gators to arrive at the Gator Bowl. And, the basketball team played Syracuse Friday.”

Ken “Young” Jackson, frantically blogging at phoulballs.blogspot.com, says: Sooners by 3 in “That Settles That” Upset Special.

Last week: Phlying Phillie (8-2, 91-39) phlamed Phlailing Phoggey (7-3, 84-46).