Leading Off

MPC COMPUTERS
Miami 21, Nevada 20 12/31/06 ? Larry Coker

MEINEKE CAR CARE
Boston College 25, Navy 24 12/30/06 ? Steve Aponavicius

CHAMPS SPORTS
Maryland 24, Purdue 7 12/29/06 ? Lance Ball

SUN
Oregon State 39, Missouri 38 12/29/06 ? Yvenson Bernard

MUSIC CITY
Kentucky 28, Clemson 20 12/29/06 ? Andre Woodson

MOTOR CITY
Central Michigan 31, Middle Tennessee State 14 12/26 /06 ? Jeff Quinn

HAWAII
Hawaii 41, Arizona State 24 12/24/06 ? Colt Brennan

EMERALD
Florida State 44, UCLA 27 12/27/06 ? Lorenzo Booker

INDEPENDENCE
Oklahoma State 34, Alabama 31 12/28/06 ? Bobby Reid

GERALD R. FORD
1913--2006
Even when his golf game had slipped and he no longer skied, Gerald Ford wondered whether he should have turned pro. Alone among our presidents, he was a genuine big-time athlete. After riding the bench for a couple of very good Michigan football teams, he came into his own as the Wolverines' MVP in 1934 and played center in two All-Star games, going against the Chicago Bears back when college kids played the pro champs. Professional football was in its relative infancy then, but this was during the Depression and the league offered real paychecks: $110 a game. Still, Ford passed up the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, choosing to become an assistant football coach and freshman boxing coach at Yale, where, a few years later, he attended law school. He often mused on the road not taken. "I've wondered if one year of playing pro ball might have been a good thing," he told SI's Michael Bamberger in 2005, for a story that appeared in The New Republic. "Good for the r�sum�."