How good is it to watch the Raiders/Niners game go into overtime because Sebastian Janikowski missed a 35 yard field goal to win the game with seconds to go? And Gruden ordered the field goal on 2nd and 3 at the Niners 17 yardline. What confidence he must have in his offense! And oh, by the way, Janikowski is 0-5 on field goals over 40 yards this year; he missed another one on Sunday. Nice first round pick.

Did anyone get to watch the Giants/Falcons? The only good thing about that game was that it was over in well under 3 hours. It was like a case of constipation; the only good thing was that it passed quickly. Now hear this; Ron Dayne is an overrated tub of goo.

If you saw Jax/Baltimore on Sunday nite, you saw a team self destruct. Mark Brunell and two different centers fumbled four snaps. There were 4 other fumbles and three INTs and a late game meaningless TD scored by Jax to make the score look much more respectable than it was. The Jaguars are in a tail-spin and it is going to take some kind of real leadership to get them on a positive path again. Baltimore has not scored a TD in its last two games and has won them both. That has not been done since 1923 against two teams that you have to look up in a book to name. One was from Racine. I don't think they are high on the NFL Expansion Committee's list of places to visit in the next 5 years…

Can anyone tell me what might have been going through Donovan McNabb's mind as he let fly the wounded mallard that was intercepted by Darrell Green to lose the game on Sunday? Calling that "ill-advised" would be politically correct speech run amok. What McNabb did was not a "rookie mistake"; it was not "the impetuousness of youth"; it was not something born of his "indomitable will to win". It was just plain paralyzingly stupid!

Brock Huard is not the answer at QB in Seattle. Unfortunately for Seahawk fans, neither is Jon Kitna. And Jim Zorn has not been heard from in a while.

Granted he was playing against the Cincinnati defense, but Eddie George ran the ball 36 times for 181 yards (5 yards per carry for those who forgot their calculators) and caught 3 passes for 33 yards. I'd say he earned his paycheck. But since the Titans only had 74 offensive plays all day, why didn't the braintrust of the Bumbles catch on that he was the "feature player of the day" and key on him? Or what is really frightening is that they may have done just that!

And the Jets must have had just a few flashes of déjà vu on Sunday when Vinnie had to leave the game early on with a pinched nerve in the neck and was replaced by Ray Lewis who got nothing going and the Jets lost for the first time this year. Pittsburgh improved to 2-3 and they get Cincy and Cleveland in the next two weeks and could actually make a brief showing in the "over .500 class" for a while. The Jets have a very different schedule; they get New England, Miami, Buffalo and Denver in the next 4 games and have to be offering up prayers for the speedy recovery of "My Cousin" Vinnie.

Keyshawn Johnson came up small again last night in the Bucs loss to the Vikings with his second fumble in two weeks. By the way, he had never fumbled in his entire NFL career prior to the Redskin game last week. Last nite's fumble led to a TD that put the Bucs in a hole. Someone hung the moniker "Me-shawn" on him; it is beginning to fit.

In NCAA football, FSU lost a game because a field goal sailed wide right as time expired. Haven't I seen that plot before?

Ball State ended their "nation's longest" losing streak beating Miami (Ohio) on Saturday so even if they are matched up with Bowling Green, it won't be as awful as it could have been. Pity…

Oklahoma clocked Texas in their "border war" on Saturday. Monday, the school was closed at the decree of OU President David Boren. He declared it a "snow day" since the team had scored TDs like snowflakes against the Longhorns. What might he do for an encore if the Sooners beat K-State and Nebraska in upcoming games?

ESPN reported that the hitters in the 3 through 6 positions for the Chicago White Sox were a combined 4 for 42 in the series that sent the Sox home very early. That is pathetic and is a bit unexpected since the White Sox were not at a loss for offense this season. However, the cosmic consistency was maintained when Bobby Bonds went 3 for 17 in his series. Nice to see that the "Mendoza line" is still a goal for Bobby. And to put icing on the cake, Bobby made the final out in all three games the Giants lost.

The Washington Post is reporting that the Wizards' pick from the second round this year, Michael Smith, is impressing folks at camp and will likely make the team. Excuse me. This is the only pick they had; it is the pick that MJ made; it is the guy that MJ said was a sleeper after he worked out with him. Unless the guy can't go to the basket on Christopher Reeve, this guy will have to make the team because if he doesn't, it makes MJ look like - a typical Wizards' front office boob.

The Clippers have cut two players from their training camp. Rocky Walls and Joe Vogel made early exits. Unless you are a blood relative of either one, you can't possibly know anything about their careers to date. Being an early cut from the Clippers camp could indicate that the player cannot make it in the CBA and ought to be looking at one of the foreign leagues that is a bit lower on the food chain. I wonder if either one had considered applying for a visa to work in Bhutan?

The exact diagnosis of Alonzo Mourning's problems is being kept private at Mourning's request but he says he will play this year. Various Internet rumors have ranged from kidney failure - which would not be discovered in a routine physical unless he chose that instant in time to pass out in the doctor's office - to HIV to some exotic infection contracted in Australia. Conspiracy theorists have speculated that he knew about this earlier on and that is why he left the Dream Team in Australia to fly back to the US; the birth of his child of course had nothing to do with it; it was just subterfuge. If Alonzo Mourning had been a jackass all his career, then maybe that kind of rumor-mongering would be a kind of cosmic payback. But Mourning is a good, hardworking guy who has never been a "felony waiting to happen". Here is one case where the best thing to do is wait and see how he recovers sufficiently to come back and play.

Buffalo State has just named Bob Filighera as women's ice hockey coach and assistant ice arena manager. Somehow, I don't remember Dean Smith being the assistant arena manager…

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...