WASHINGTON -- After the millions of ballots from fans around the country were tabulated, Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy missed out on being the NLs starter in the All-Star Game by the a mere 88 votes.The final tally was 3,013,407 for Chicagos Ben Zobrist and 3,013,319 for Murphy, the NL batting average leader.Murphy insisted he wasnt disappointed. Rather, he was thankful to be headed to the All-Star Game for a second time.Being an All-Star is humbling. Im excited for it, Murphy said Tuesday night. Ben Zobrist is the starter. It sounds like hes having a fantastic year and is well deserving.Murphy signed a three-year deal in January with Washington after starring for the rival New York Mets in the 2015 playoffs. He is batting .349 with 14 homers and 56 RBI for the NL East-leading Nationals.He will be joined in San Diego next week by teammates Stephen Strasburg, Wilson Ramos and Bryce Harper.It should be a lot of fun, Murphy said. Hopefully we can get home-field advantage in the World Series.Murphy made the NL squad in 2014 and got one at-bat. Thats not what he remembers most about the event.My biggest takeaway was there were a lot of good players there, he said. The thing I want to take away the most this time is that its an opportunity with four days off away from baseball to pour back into my family. Because once we get done with this, we hopefully go through October.Air Max Canada Online . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. Air Max Wholesale Free Shipping . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. http://www.airmaxwholesalecanada.com/ . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Air Max Canada Cheap . The 18-year-old American had five birdies in her bogey-free round for a 17-under total of 196. Lee held the overnight lead but mixed three birdies with two bogeys for a 70. Air Max Canada Sale . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season.The bowl schedule is complete, all the way from the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17 to the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 9.Already, were circling some of the matchups that jump out at us, games that feature compelling storylines and the potential to be fourth-quarter thrillers.But what if there were no bowl tie-ins and we could put together any postseason matchups we wanted this season?Weve taken the liberty of doing just that and have come up with our 10 dream bowl matchups. The only qualifier was that teams had to be bowl-eligible this season. And since Ill be covering all 10, the sites will all be in tropical locations, including the last four on the Hawaiian Islands.So here goes:Alabama vs. Michigan: If were genuinely sticking to the best four teams mantra, then Alabama and Michigan both belong in that group -- and what a donnybrook we would have on our hands. In any era, Alabama vs. Michigan is one of those games that just stokes emotions. Theyre two of the Goliaths in college football and have met only four times, with Alabama rolling 41-14 in the most recent meeting in 2012. Of course, what really makes this such a tasty matchup is the Jim Harbaugh-Nick Saban factor. Harbaugh took Saban to task during the offseason after Saban railed on satellite camps. Harbaugh even suggested that Saban was being hypocritical. Saban had no interest in engaging in a war of words and said, I dont really care what he thinks or tweets. Neither is going to suit up, but it sure would be entertaining to see them on opposite sidelines.Louisville vs. Washington State: Would we even need a clock in this game? The first team to 100 points wins. The Cardinals average 45.3 points per game and the Cougars 40.3 points per game. The quarterback matchup would also be a dandy. Louisvilles Lamar Jackson, the Heisman Trophy front-runner, is averaging 410.7 yards of total offense per game and has accounted for 51 touchdowns. Washington States Luke Falk is fourth nationally with 4,204 passing yards and tied for fifth with 37 touchdown passes. Just be sure to carve out about five hours to watch it, because the two teams average a combined 42.6 pass attempts per game. The other subplot is Mike Leach vs. Bobby Petrino, two of the best and most creative offensive minds in football going at it.Ohio State vs. Penn State: Lets settle the whole debate and let em play again. A novel idea, huh? Two teams lining up and playing each other to see whos best? That allegedly happened on Oct. 22 in Happy Valley with Penn State winning. The Nittany Lions also won the Big Ten championship, but the College Football Playoff selection committee deemed that Ohio State, with one fewer loss, had a more impressive resume and was thus the better team. The Buckeyes are legit and probably should be in the playoff even though they didnt win their own division. But the way the Nittany Lions played down the stretch with their nine straight wins and the way they charged back in the second half against Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game cant be denied. So lets make this rematch happen, and well be sure to leave a front-row seat for Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.Georgia vs. Miami: The Mark Richt Bowl is a natural. The Hurricanes were 8-4 in his first season back at his alma mater and recovered from a four-game losing streak during the middle of the season. The Bulldogs were 7-5 in Kirby Smarts first season as head coach and lost to rivals Florida, Georgia Tech and Tennessee. Georgia fired Richt for a lot less than that. He averaged 10 wins over the course of his 15-year tenure at Georgia (but went 10 years without a championship) and was sent packing at the close of the 2015 season -- yes, a season that ended with 10 wins. The heats not on Smart -- yet. He needs some time to get his recruits on board. But imagine the drama if these two teams were to meet up this postseason. Colorado vs. Tennessee: The Buffaloes were champions of the Pac-12 South. The Vols were champions of Life. So, somethings got to give, right? Seriously, the two coaches are perhaps forever intertwined. Butch Jones turned down an offer from Colorado following the 2012 season to take the Tennessee job, which cleared the way for the Buffs to hire Mike MacIntyre. Earlier in the week, then-Denver Broncos quarterbackk Peyton Manning, as a favor to John Elway, had sent Jones a text selling him on the Buffs, but Jones would be hired a few days later by Mannings alma mater, Tennessee.dddddddddddd Jones, whose Vols ended the regular season with a loss to Vanderbilt, will enter the 2017 season squarely on the hot seat. MacIntyre, named last week as the Walter Camp Coach of the Year, is coming off the Buffs first 10-win season since 2001. Fate can be a funny thing sometimes.Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia: The Russell Athletic Bowl had a chance to make this happen and whiffed. A Backyard Brawl reunion would have been great. Its another one of those intense rivalries, two schools separated by 75 miles, that was lost to conference alignment when West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012 and Pitt joined the ACC a year later. The two teams faced each other 104 times between 1895 and 2011 and have a four-year renewal of the series set for 2022-25. But why wait that long? There have been some memorable games in this rivalry, one of the most notable being Pitt ruining West Virginias chances of playing for a national championship in 2007. The Panthers were huge underdogs that day and shocked the No. 2 Mountaineers 13-9 in the regular-season finale.Oklahoma vs. USC: Sometimes you go to a football game and a tennis match breaks out. Actually, it happens pretty frequently in the Big 12. How cool would it be to see the explosive offenses at Oklahoma and USC trading blows? The two defensive coordinators might not be giddy about it, but any game that features Baker Mayfield, Dede Westbrook, Samaje Perine, Sam Darnold, Adoree Jackson, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ronald Jones II is going to be one of those back-and-forth affairs that makes the postseason even more festive. Whats more, theyre two of the hottest teams in college football right now. Oklahoma has won nine in row and USC eight in a row. Be sure and loosen up the old neck for this one.Florida State vs. LSU: Weve heard so much about Jimbo Fisher and LSU the past two years that we thought wed pair the two once and for all. No, LSU isnt looking for a head coach again. The Tigers have their man, Ed Orgeron, and are glad to have him. But Fisher was a coach LSU coveted a year ago when it looked like Les Miles might get fired and again this year after the Tigers did fire Miles and were trying to decide which direction they were going. Fisher, who was an assistant at LSU under Nick Saban, is happy at Florida State, and Orgeron has his dream job at LSU. Even though all of the coaching chatter is over, FSU-LSU sounds like an inviting matchup on the field. Plus, whos not up for a duel of LSUs Hold That Tiger and FSUs War Chant all game from the bands?San Diego State vs. Vanderbilt: Not all of the best players in college football play at Alabama, Ohio State, USC or any of the blue bloods. So weve set up a matchup that features one of the best offensive players in the country and one of the best defensive players in the country, two guys who probably didnt get the love they deserved. San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey is averaging 155.2 rushing yards per game, which ranks second nationally. He needs 108 yards in the bowl game to break Ron Daynes NCAA career rushing record of 6,397 yards. Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham would be one of the reasons Pumphrey didnt break that record. Cunningham leads the SEC with 119 total tackles and is third with 16.5 tackles for loss. He has made one big play after another for the Commodores. Texas A&M vs. TCU: Its always fun to see a quarterback get a shot at his old team, so well call this the Kenny Trill Hill Bowl. Hill started his career at Texas A&M, and what a start it was. He threw for 511 yards in his first start against South Carolina in 2014. But it was downhill after that in College Station, and Hill was replaced by freshman Kyle Allen by midseason and wound up transferring. Hill won the job in the preseason this year at TCU and passed for 3,062 yards with 15 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. He would go up against another transfer quarterback, Trevor Knight, who threw 16 touchdowns and ran for 10 more this season for the Aggies after starting his career at Oklahoma. ' ' '