Disney has announced the 2010 Pro Soccer Classic, to take place at the newly-rechristened ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World on February 25 and 27. Tickets will go on-sale in the next few days at Ticketmaster, at $13.50 per day (the typical daily admission cost for WWoS).

Major League Soccer sides Houston Dynamo, FC Dallas and Toronto FC are three of the teams competing. A fourth one will be announced soon, but it is rumored to be Red Bull New York.

While we are at this, it would be great to get the Orlando Soccer Supporters back up and strengthened.

UCF mens basketball couldn’t get the job done. They got beat by Jacksonville, 61-51, in the title game of the UCF Holiday Classic.

UCF only shot 33% for the game, including a pathetic 25% in the second half.

UCF finishes their non-conference schedule next Tuesday at #16 Ole Miss. Conference USA play for the men begins next Saturday, January 9, as they host Rice.

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Friends, Campbell’s Soup is holding a fundraiser through their Chunky brand called “Click for Cans“. Each week, fans come in and select one team from the week’s NFL matchups. (During bye weeks, teams on bye are randomly matched up, so each team has 17 matchups in the season.) The winning teams of each matchup will receive donations of Campbell’s Chunky soup at their local food banks.

Here’s the incredible part: the Jacksonville Jaguars are currently 16-o, including a week 7 bye matchup against Denver.

Say what you want about Jacksonville’s football dedication, but they have some of the most generous fans in the league.

Please help a good cause and vote for the Jacksonville Jaguars both this week 17, and into the coming playoffs. The top 8 teams (4 in AFC, 4 in NFC) in the matchup season wins will go into a playoff bracket for even larger donations. (Neither the Bucs nor the Dolphins are still in the running for the “playoffs”.)

The Orlando Titans have also announced their first public in-arena practice.

On New Year’s Day, they will have their first practice event in Amway Arena. The practice will be from 11am until 12:30pm, after which will be a player meet-and-greet until 1pm.

Season tickets can be picked up during the event, and some merchandise will be available. Admission and parking are free. Use Lot 3, at Parramore and Concord (north side of the Arena).

The Orlando Titans have signed an agreement with Bright House Networks to air at least two games, including their season opener January 8 against Philadelphia, on Bright House Sports Network.

That means if you’re not willing to put up with being overcharged and underserviced with Bright House, and you’re either on DirecTV, Dish Network, Comcast or AT&T U-verse (or Verizon FiOS in Polk County), you’re stuck with radio on 1080 the Team.

You can tell I don’t like Bright House. Bad personal experiences.

ATTENTION ORLANDO PREDATORS SEASON TICKET HOLDERS!!!

I know many of you have been losing patience with the new ownership of the Predators over the status of your season ticket deposits, but we finally have an update!

According to the official Predators blog, Inside the Jungle, all ticketholders with money paid into their accounts for 2009 season tickets will have 20% added to their account toward the purchase of 2010 season tickets. You will receive details in the mail from Ticketmaster in the next few weeks, and be contacted by a ticket rep shortly thereafter.

Hopefully, most of you will come back.

The UCF mens basketball team was victorious in the early round of the UCF Holiday Classic, crushing Liberty, 82-58.

Isaac Sosa and A.J. Tyler had 13 points each, and A.J. Rompza added 12 points and 5 assists. Keith Clanton had 7 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists.

UCF will face Jacksonville in the title game tomorrow at 7pm, after the Dolphins beat Buffalo in the matinee, 71-63.

Before that, the losing teams, Liberty and Buffalo, will face off at 4:30pm. You can get a ticket good for both games starting at $5.

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CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL UPDATE

Miami struck very early, but have fallen silent for the rest of the first half. At halftime, Wisconsin leads the Hurricanes, 17-7.

The womens basketball team were embarassed by #3 Notre Dame, 85-52.

Emma Cannon had 12 points, and scored her 1,000th UCF career point early in the game. D’Nay Daniels had 10 points. Rebounds were close (33-31 Notre Dame) but we were -19 on turnover margin (36-17), and they had 21 steals to our 9. Aisha Patrick coughed up the ball 8 times by herself. We were also outshot 50%-43%.

The UCF women finish their preseason at 3-6, and begin the defense of their Conference USA title next Friday, January 8, at Marshall.

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The UCF Holiday Classic in mens basketball is underway at UCF Arena, and I will have scores later tonight. I may also review the Champs Sports Bowl if I feel up to it.

Bowl fever started early for us with UCF in the St. Pete Bowl, but it’s just getting warmed up as far as Orlando is concerned!

For the first time ever, four BCS-ranked teams will go bowling in the City Beautiful. It begins tomorrow with the Champs Sports Bowl, with the #15 Miami Hurricanes taking on the #25 Wisconsin Badgers. Then comes our New Year’s Day tradition, the Capital One Bowl, with the #12 LSU Tigers in a catfight with the #13 Penn State Nittany Lions.

Tickets for the Champs Sports Bowl are still available at Ticketmaster in the $25, $40 and $60 price ranges. The $60 tickets are on the sideline in the 200 level, while the others are all 300 level. The same tickets for the Capital One Bowl are also available at Ticketmaster, but at the $45, $60 and $80 price ranges in the same areas. Lower bowl tickets are available at StubHub starting at $48 for the Capital One Bowl.

If you are an alumnus of any of these schools, you can head to Ticketmaster’s College Bowl Mania page to find tickets specifically in your school’s sections. School section tickets are $60 for the Champs Sports Bowl and $80 for the Capital One Bowl.

This week is the UCF Holiday Classic for mens basketball.

The action gets started tomorrow, Tuesday, December 29, as Buffalo faces Jacksonville at 4:30pm, then UCF takes on Liberty at 7:00pm. Then the losing teams will face each other Wednesday at 4:30pm, while the winning teams will face off at 7:00pm Wednesday.

Admission for each day ranges from $5 (upper deck end) to $35 (club seats), and includes both games on that day. Courtside seats are sold out.

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And the action tomorrow starts early with the womens basketball team hosting #3 Notre Dame (10-0). Certainly Emma Cannon and the girls are looking to put a feather in their cap by knocking off one of the top teams in the country right now.

That game begins at Noon tomorrow, and is $5 for adults, $2 for children, FREE for UCF students (with student ID), general admission. Also, if you buy a ticket for the UCF Holiday Classic, you get into the women’s game for free.

Parking is $5 per day at Garage D.

These people who are comparing Urban Meyer’s “flip-flop” decision to Brett Favre’s first “retirement” are fools.

Brett Favre decided to retire in March 2008. He initially had a chance of heart, then said, “No, I’m retired. Go on without me.” Then, four months later, when the Green Bay Packers were getting ready for training camp, he decided to return, and begged the Packers to throw out all their plans and just plug him right back in. (While the Packers are 0-2 against Favre since then, I doubt they have many regrets going with Aaron Rodgers, especially after this season.)

This is nothing like that. Urban Meyer was given a choice by his doctors: leave of absence, or outright retirement. Initially he chose retirement, but decided before any official announcement to instead go on leave. He didn’t take any amount of time that would force the Gators to change any plans they would have made for life without him. (Indeed, they likely didn’t even start making plans yet. They probably begged him to reconsider; likely because Charlie Strong refused to spurn Louisville.)

Urban Meyer like Brett Favre? As Chad Ochocinco would say, “Child please.”