Relive the BCS championship game; more Designated Reads

• Service Journalism. The great Dan Rubenstein retroactively inserts some drama into this year’s national title game — by combining it with the heart-rending power of Apollo 13. 

• Elsewhere in Carolinadom. Take a virtual tour of Clemson’s new indoor facility. We see lots of spaces for a potential live tiger habitat expansion in there.

• “The NCAA: Where you can legitimately criticize a school for using money from TV networks to buy health insurance for athletes.” The Bylaw Blog looks at Ohio State’s use of Student Assistance Fund money.

• Coach-hirin’ season! Rocky Long’s contract with San Diego State has been, um, elongated … Oregon makes Scott Frost’s promotion official … and Kansas State shares our confidence that Bill Snyder will live forever and coach forever and a day.

• Recruiting tidbits, grudgingly dispensed.  When we get interested in recruiting: When Notre Dame poaches a punter from Harvard … when Cal coaches recruit in minivans … and when Alabama sells running back recruits on fewer carries.

• Tweet of the day. South Carolina blog Garnet and Black Attack notices a familiar and heretofore unnoticed presence in our social media sphere:

@trig89 who shot the couch—
Stephen Garcia (@CheeseWheeler_1) February 01, 2013

Welcome back, King of Bros. You were dearly missed.