Jerry Palm always wanted to be involved with sports, but wasn't blessed with natural athletic ability. So he found other ways to be involved in the games.

For instance, despite his lack of athleticism, he was a four-year all-American on the gridiron at Purdue. Actually, he played Alto Sax in Purdue's All-American Marching Band. He also spent 16 years as a baseball umpire and refereed basketball for eight years, so he developed the thick skin you need in this gig.

In 1994, though, he found his calling. He used his computer skills to start tracking the Ratings Percentage Index and shared it with the masses on this new thing called the Internet. Eventually, that evolved into CollegeRPI.com, and he became one of the most well-known experts on the RPI and the NCAA tournament selection process. He is a pioneer in what is now the cottage industry of bracket projections.

When the Bowl Championship Series began in 1998, he started CollegeBCS.com to bring some transparency (and a measure of sanity) into the world of the BCS. He is now considered the foremost authority on that system as well.

But Palm doesn't just sit in his basement and put the "geek" in sports geek. He gets out to the games, too. He has covered the NCAA tournament, some conference tournaments, several BCS bowls, and Notre Dame football. He was also one of the first writers to live blog games.

He frequently appears on TV and radio, and his writing has been in USA Today, The Sporting News, CSTV.com, and now, of course, at CBSSports.com.

Palm lives in Northwest Indiana, which is next to Chicago, governed by Indianapolis, and ignored by both.