BC-AP Sports Preview.

 BC-AP Sports Preview

Some of the stories the AP is covering Monday. A full Sports Digest will be sent about 3 p.m. All times EST.

— NEW ORLEANS—No. 1 LSU plays No. 2 Alabama for the BSC national title, a rematch of a tough regular-season game pitting two teams from the same division of the SEC. Game starts 8:30 p.m.

— NEW ORLEANS—Voters for the AP Top 25 select the nation’s No. 1 team after the BCS championship, with the chance that the winner on the field might not be No. 1 in the poll.

— NEW ORLEANS—Over the next six months, those who oversee the much-maligned Bowl Championship Series will talk about a new way to crown a national champion.

— NEW YORK—In a year in which no candidate seems certain for election, Barry Larkin appears to stand the strongest chance when baseball’s Hall of Fame announces its latest vote. Announcement 3 p.m.
— DENVER—He kneels in prayer at times when many players would be pounding their chest. Tim Tebow is doing it his way—mixing religion with sports, and winning with a style experts insist cannot work for long.
— EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—With Aaron Rodgers and the NFL’s highest scoring offense on tap, the New York Giants’ defense could not have found a better time to start playing its best football.
— SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Few would have thought that the 49ers team that opened the Jim Harbaugh era with an exhibition dud at New Orleans would be hosting the Saints five months later in a playoff game.
— KAPALUA, Hawaii—Steve Stricker leads by five shots going into the final round of the Tournament of Championship, the season opener on the PGA Tour. Round to end about 8:30 p.m.
— COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Columbus Blue Jackets, with the worst record in the NHL, fire coach Scott Arniel. He is replaced on an interim basis by assistant Todd Richards.
— NEW YORK—The AP releases its latest rankings in men’s and women’s college basketball.
— What was supposed to be the toughest part of a condensed NBA schedule hasn’t been tough at all. Teams are 6-0 when playing their third game in three nights. Players say it’s not so bad.
— LONDON—Police smuggle a fake bomb into Olympic Park in a security test, overshadowing a Cabinet meeting at the park marking 200 days until the games begin.

— ZURICH—Lionel Messi is set to be honored as soccer’s best player for a third straight year at FIFA’s annual awards gala. His coach, Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola, is expected to win the coaching award.

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