The Oklahoma Sooners are the National Champions in college football this year. They beat everyone they played for a record of 13-0. I always wanted to be undefeated myself, and I have a plan to live vicariously through the football team of a university in a town I have never seen in person. It's really more rational than it sounds. Let me explain.

You see, I always pick favorite football teams at the beginning of the year. My mother and father met at Kansas State University as undergraduates, and my grandfather was a professor there. The football team has been pretty good the past few years, so rooting for the Kansas State Wildcats is like rooting for my parents.

My grandfather and grandmother went to the University of Nebraska as undergrads, and my great-grandmother lived in Lincoln, Nebraska until she passed on. Nebraska has been notorious for great football since before I was born, so rooting for the Nebraska Cornhuskers is like rooting for my grandparents.

I went to the University of New Mexico, and I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. UNM is known for mediocre football, but they are good for a surprise good game or two. Rooting for the New Mexico Lobos is like rooting for myself.

My oldest brother and his wife went to the University of Missouri as undergrads. My dad got his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. A cousin of mine studied at Iowa State. A buddy of mine went to the University of Texas. With the exception of my alma mater, every school I've mentioned is a Big 12 school. I decided I could root for any Big 12 team I want, and Oklahoma is a Big 12 team! Do you see how it's all beginning to fall into place?

I rooted against Oklahoma when they played Kansas State twice and Nebraska once. Each time, the Sooners came out on top. I decided if my teams couldn't beat them, I better join them! I hopped on the Sooner bandwagon for their quest at an undefeated season.

There are no playoff games in college football, just one big game at the end. Since Oklahoma was the only team without a loss, they were invited to the championship game, but there were a handful of teams that had only lost once. Using a computer system which calculates statistics we will never understand, officials decided Florida State would be the other team. I still want a playoff consisting of the four top teams, but the league has yet to call me to discuss the subject.

So as I watched Oklahoma beat Florida State at the Orange Bowl for the national championship, I saw what it was like to never lose, to always come through in the end, to make the big plays, to rise to the occasion. Ah, if only I was undefeated.

But wait! If I live vicariously through the football team of a university in a town I have never seen in person, I would be undefeated! That's back where I started! My plan came true! I am undefeated! I haven't lost all year! A complete winner! I'm #1! I'm #1! I'm #1!

. . . . and now college football is over. The undefeated season is part of history now, only to be discussed between myself and others on the team.

The goal posts are now turning into backboards, and the fields are changing into hardwood courts. The cycle continues from sport to sport as I search for the next miracle, the next Cinderella story, the next climactic finish.

Still thinking I can win them all.

Chris Jungle was always told to go long when he played football.