Matt Holthe's Fleeting Thoughts

Going by this week's BCS standings, here's the "who have you played" game for the undefeated teams in the BCS... #1 Oregon - beat New Mexico (0-8), Tennessee (2-6), FCS team Portland St (2-6), Arizona St (4-4), Stanford (7-1), Washington St (1-8), UCLA (3-5), and USC (5-3). Combined W-L of 24-41 (37%). One signature win. Non-conference W-L 4-20 (17%). #2 Auburn - beat Arkansas St (3-5), Miss St (7-2), Clemson (4-4), South Carolina (6-2), La Monroe (4-4), Kentucky (4-5), Arkansas (6-2), LSU (7-1), Mississippi (3-5). Combined W-L of 44-30 (59%). Four signature wins. Non-conference W-L 11-13 (46%). #3 TCU - beat Oregon St (4-3), FCS team Tenn Tech (4-4), Baylor (7-2), SMU (5-4), Colorado St (3-6), Wyoming (2-7), BYU (3-5), Air Force (5-4), UNLV (1-7). Combined W-L of 34-42 (45%). One signature win. Non-conference W-L 20-13 (61%). #4 Boise St - beat Virginia Tech (6-2), Wyoming (2-7), Oregon St (4-3), New Mexico St (2-6), Toledo (6-3), San Jose St (1-8), La Tech (3-5). Co...

As a follow-up to my Will I Reach Platinum post, I am currently at 50 segments. I am getting 4 more this week, and that puts me up to 54. I have a chance at 2-4 more, but I'm not sure about anything beyond that. So, I decided to buy a flight to Denver. That gets me 4 more segments, so I'm up to 58 guaranteed and just need that "chance" to come through with at least 2 more segments. Will buying the flight be worth it? There's some things that you can't put a price on when comparing Platinum and Gold - earlier boarding (most times; sometimes they let Platinum and Gold board at the same time), preferred seating choices, higher in the queue for upgrades and standby, etc. But let's look at the things I can put a price on. First, every flight up to Chicago gets me 500 miles if I'm Gold and 1,000 miles if I'm Platinum. In 2011, it would take me (most likely) 15 trips to get the 60 segments to get back up to Platinum. (I might do it in 1-2 less with extra...