January 2008 Archives

Totally forgot to tell you. But last night after leaving a bar, we turned right and proceeded to walk across the street. Mind you there were two other people doing the same thing just to the left of us.

Pedaling towards us (yes they were on bikes) two cops (affectionately named Ace and Gary by one of my co-workers) skid to a stop and surround us.

"Where you from?"
"New York."
"Well did you know that each year we have at least two people killed by cars and that people who are walking around this area just step out onto the street and subject themselves to possible harm and the law around here crossing the street without the right of way is a first degree misdemeanor and the fine is 150 dollars?"

Jaw drops. We just stare. Long awkward pause. Cop number 2 shifts to the other side of his bike seat.

Step aside and just re-evaluate the situation: The streets are empty and there are no cars. Here is a cop, on a bike, wearing his helmet, with his "buddy" tailing along. Two people just did the exact same thing and we were stopped. And possibly fined.

Mentally I ask: "Do you accept debit cards?"

Ace says: "I'm going to consider this a warning. But this is a very serious offense." We nod our law breaking heads and break through the bike gang to finish crossing the street.

As we walk away, Gary says: "Which way is the traffic signal to go?"

Note: I fully understand A&G were just trying to be protective and abide the law. It's just funny to a couple of kids who live in NYC because we cross the street everyday dodging crazy cab drivers and mad buses.

Morning!

Last night we tried to hit up some of the spots our dear friend and fellow co-worker John Walters gave to us. The area as a whole can be a little overwhelming when trying to figure out where to go. To make it simple: we are staying in Tempe, the game is in Glendale, Media Center/Radio Row is in Phoenix, and the night life is all in Scottsdale. Talk about spreading the good stuff out as far as you can! Apparently the good place to go is Scottsdale. I'm hoping that because it was a Wednesday night people are starting the week off slow because to be honest there wasn't much going on at all. It didn't look like the Super Bowl was in town, but like I said the week is young.

We enjoyed dinner at Pink Taco, which was next to the 944 Village that opens up today. The village (according to the website) is: The week of January 31 to February 3, 944 will transform four acres of the Scottsdale Waterfront at Stetson Canal into the event headquarters for Super Bowl week with an action-packed itinerary of top-notch events. The village will consist of a festival-like environment from day into night, which includes a mini Las Vegas Strip, live music, food vendors, charity fundraisers, art displays, fashion shows, and world-class DJs. This tented city will become the Mecca of PGA/Super Bowl commerce during the daytime hours, offering a multitude of culinary delights, musical entertainment, sports and celebrity meet-and- greets and autograph sessions, designed to attract young and old to downtown Scottsdale.

So today we are headed there. Matt Leinart is hosting the DIRECTV Celebrity Beach Bowl which is always fun and a guranteed competitive game with cheating from both sides! (You might recall Steve-O from last year was the ref and was officially kicked out due to a little too much boozing!) Then tonight Gregg is headed over to the MADDEN BOWL party. I looked on the list of attendees and did not see reigning two-time champ Alex Smith on there. But the list includes:
Plaxico Burress, Laurence Maroney, Kellen Winslow, Patrick Willis, Chad Johnson, Shawne Merriman, Jason Witten, and then other guys hanging out are: Ben Roethlisberger, Donnie Edwards, Luis Castillo, Antonio Gates, Derek Anderson and Tony Paker. The list goes on and on...

I on the other hand and am headed to a 50 Cent party. All I know is Ping Pong is supposed to be involved. Yesssss!

Hey guys...

Yesterday we shot another Fantasy Video from the Media Center. While we were doing that Brett Farve, Mike Ditka, Warren Dunn, Chad Johnson, Adrian Peterson plus many more were all out making the rounds at Radio Row.

At one point I was on the phone trying to get information on an event and a guy waves me over. I walk over and on his computer is a picture of me and his radio co-host from last year!! So we did a little talking on his show for a bit and then I helped introduce Charles Godfrey, a Draft Pick for next year, onto the program.

Check out this video where we asked the athletes themselves if they play Fantasy Football.
"ELLIS HOBBS, CHANNEL 7 NEWS."

Just wanted to tip the cap to whomever that inspired programmer at HBO Signature is. Tonight they aired back-to-back The Last King of Scotland followed by Braveheart . So that's the Last King of Scotland followed by the First King of Scotland. So to speak.

I was really hoping the next film up would be Trainspotting , but no such luck. You wonder who would win in a fracas between William Wallace and Begbie, though, don't ya?

Have you ever watched the video of Tracy Morgan being interviewed on a local news show in Texas.? If not for pure enjoyment, you should watch it. It gives new definition to what a ladies man really is.

And then there is the players definition of what makes a ladies man. I asked some guys at Media Day and got great answers. One funny thing was how the two teams interpreted the question. All of the Patriots would automatically say a name. The Giants on the other hand would laugh, smile, look away and say: "I can't get anyone in trouble." Take away from that what you want.

But first watch the video and hear who the boys have to say is the biggest ladies man.

WOW.

Just so you know ladies, those Giants have a way with words. You've been warned.

Media day... (I can think of a few other things to call it but so be it)

I have one year under my belt with how this thing works. Covering Super Bowl XLI in Miami was a first. And as they say, you never forget your first. Which in the scheme of things isn't really much when compared to the Berman's of the sports world. Yet all you need is one, and forever more you've got a reference on how things work.

Reflecting back on Miami, this year brings some similarities and refreshingly enough, some nice surprises. Last night our crew met for dinner in hopes of a chance to discuss our game plan going into today's media spectacle. What was a simple meal hoping to generate ideas turned into a long conversation about ____________ and a slight argument with our waitress over the price of wine. Apparently our version of a certain Sonoma Coast bottle and her interpretation of a distinctly different Sonoma Coast bottle cost an extra 35 bucks. Consider it noted. And for the curious, this might be a place to skip when visiting the greater Phoenix area.

Moving on... we accomplished little at the dinner yet we did finally come to a few conclusions: no swarming the booths, no slugging around step stools, and no annoyingly common and predictable questions. Avoid the obvious. Immediately Belichick, Coughlin, Brady, Manning, Strahan, Welker, Moss, Burress were out of the plan. Our proposal was to grab the fun guys, hand them a mic and let 'em rip. Initiate a conversation that led to us learning about their teammates, hear about the funny jokes, get the scoop behind the locker room pranks, and perhaps a little slip of a secret or two.

We arrived at the University of Phoenix Stadium and parked. Victory was short as we reached the entrance (along with a handful of other naive credential holding reporters) and were told it was the wrong spot. Sweet. Upon reaching the desired and real entrance a familiar vision flashed before me. The security line, the try-not-to-be-obvious-and-fail-miserably-as-you-check-out-the-who's-who-of-the-line, the wait, the cue that signals the massive cattle call down to the field, even the muffins on the catering table were the same from last year.

The athletes are even similar. This years class can easily be lumped into two groups: Pats/Colts. Giants/Bears. The favorite versus the underdog, the QB people wanted to see win vs the QB who's path to the big game was rocky and often doubted, the explosive offense versus the dominant defense, the team ready to take care of business whereas the other team was happy just to be invited to the office party.

Upon first glance you might not think they are similar. Then again maybe you find them to be exactly the same. I found them to be predictable. Now I'll give you one guess on who was more fun to interview. Times up.

Once for a hockey interview, I had to ask some of the guys who they would pick if they were stranded on an island. After today, I know which team I would pick. The Giants are fun. They are fearless. They are enjoying all of this. The sheer magnitude of it all is not lost on them nor does it scare them. It excites them. The Pats aren't scared. They aren't worried. They are just kind of ________. Don't take this observation the wrong way. I am in no way taking a swipe at what could be one of, and in some minds the, greatest NFL team ever. I'm just saying that when you 're in my position and competing against thousands of journalists from all over the world, some who think it is a good idea to dress up as brides and crazy magicians mind you, it's invigorating to be with a team who still finds humor in it all. The unit that lives up to the larger then life hype of the game through words, their own emotions and a harmless dose of teasing (on each other).

We have some great videos out on all of it. My favorite questions to ask that got the best answers were "Who has the best car?", "Who is the biggest ladies man?" and "Who does the best pranks?" Ohhhh the answers we got. Look for our video. Classic.

(I'll try to link it as soon as it is up. In the meantime, it is 1:20 am ET and I'm beat. Night.)

I once spent $5 for a ticket to a U2 concert.

That was back in December of 1987. The band was filming its concert movie, Rattle and Hum , near the end of "The Joshua Tree" tour. They were playing two shows on consecutive nights at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. It was a few days before Christmas, and Bono and the gang just wanted a packed house, so the tickets were offered at that reduced rate.

$5 for a ticket to see U2 live.

I mention that because last Friday night I paid $16 to see a U2 concert movie. But you know what? It was worth it. If you have one o' them IMAX theaters in your hometown, and they're showing this film, and you think that U2 is the greatest band to have come along in the past quarter-century (as I do), then you have to see this movie. I've seen U2 in concert five times, but I've never had as good a seat as I had for this show.

The 3-D effect, to paraphrase Emmitt Smith, "blowed my mind". The concert footage was taken from shows in Argentina and Brazil, I believe, stadium shows, and some of the scenes are surreal. When the camera is positioned right behind a few of the gals on their boyfriends' shoulders, you feel as if you are there. You want to throw something at the girl so that she'll get down so you can see (I think that's how I got in trouble with the lady seated five rows in front of me, but that's a different story).

Sure, there were a few songs I could have done without ("Bullet the Blue Sky", "The Fly") and a few that I wished they had played ("All Because of You", "Running To Stand Still"), but all in all it was an amazing show. And it didn't take me an hour to get out of the parking lot afterward.

Well worth seeing.

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I'm in New York City this week, and not in my hometown of Phoenix, and that has me bummed. You just cannot imagine what Phoenix must be like this week. Annually, the most happening week of the year is the FBR (formerly Phoenix) Open. Fellow native Tempean Rick Neuheisel once told me that the party at the Bird's Nest in Scottsdale on the Saturday night of the open is the best night in town all year long. It's all cougars and future cougars and cheetahs (cougars who carry on multiple dalliances....my own blossary term there). Anyway, it's a jungle out there.

And that is taking place this weekend.

Now, you pair the FBR Open with the Super Bowl, with a Snoop Dogg party and a Victoria's Secret party and a hip-hop block party being hosted by Dan Majerle (Thunder Dan is apparently pretty fly) that will have '90s rappers Digital Underground, Tone-Loc and Young MC (what, was Naughty By Nature busy?) and it's gonna be crazy. I mean, this is the town where "You're with me, Leather" all began.

All I can say is that ESPN on-air personalities should carry a photo of Deadspin contributor A.J. Daulerio with them at all times, and be careful whom they text-message (and only do so from the privacy of a men's room stall).

And, as a public service, here are ten places I'd hit if I were in the Valley of the Sun this week:

Dos Gringos, Tempe (near ASU campus)
The Library, Tempe (near ASU campus)
Sugar Daddy's, Scottsdale
Martini Ranch, Scottsdale
Maloney's, Scottsdale
Sapporo, Scottsdale
Greasewood Flats, Cave Creek
Postino Wine Bar, Phoenix
The bars at D.C. Ranch, north Scottsdale
My parents' house (bottomless tray of lasagna, and it's within walking distance of Leinart's crib)
The Pink Taco, Scottsdale

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Also, two great Mexican restaurants, if you are out there: Frank & Lupe's in downtown Scottsdale is the quintessential madre-y-padre Mexican restaurant, while Los Dos Molinos in south Phoenix had dangerously yummy margaritas.

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Help me out here. I had the SC on mute last night and they were showing highlighst of the Mavericks-Grizzlies game. But there was one play, a loose ball play, in which a Mav player seemed to mug and perhaps even perform three martial arts moves on a Griz, with no other player in the vicinity, and the ref let it slide. The Griz was so apoplectic that he walked over to the ref with his arms outstretched as if to say, "I know there's favoritism in this league, but the last time I checked Michael Jordan does not play for the Mavericks."

What was that all about? Did someone else see this?

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Thought while watching ESPN's coverage of Supe Bowl XLII yesterday: How much Sean Salisbury is too much Sean Salisbury (and this coming from someone whom Salisbury has never shown his cell phone photos to)?

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My buddy Moe Cavanagh and her parents had me over for dinner last night. Great time, as always. Moe is married to actor Tom Cavanagh, who is in Canada right now filming. He reports that it was 39 below zero in Calgary yesterday. So, probably no Super Bowl in Calgary any time soon.

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My favorite part of the "State of the Union" address was when they'd pan over to the Bush twins, and Lauren was wearing that look that said, "I could be at Bungalow 8 right now."

The Northeast (our crew) and the rest of the world sports media has picked up and moved in to its new home for the next 9 days.

Scottsdale, Phoenix, Glendale, Tempe... take your city. They're all in it together when it comes to the hosting duties of the Super Bowl. We arrived late (eastern time) last night and here to greet us was Mother Nature doing her best performance of "I'm Going To Rain In A City That Never Rains... Ever." Thankfully it has all cleared up and while they say it should rain a bit more tonight, hopefully that is the end of that.

Arizona and I have never met before. Today, we both agreed it was long overdue. The second I saw palm trees I knew this would be a lasting friendship. Yet I still can't get over how you can be driving along on the highway, on totally flat land mind you, and out of nowhere a huge rock appears. I'm talking "Is that a mountain?" looking kind of rock. These things take time.

This might be the nicest, friendliest and happiest state I've ever been to. Hospitality is known to have been invented by the Southerners. Arizonians however have mastered it. Not one person allows you to walk by without a smile, a friendly hello or (as in never an occurrence in NYC) eye contact!! So far it seems as though citizens of the area, regardless of their feelings towards sports, have embraced this week and all it brings (good and bad) to the place they call home.

Pats got here on Sunday. Giants avoided a premature meeting in the airport and arrived here today. Every sportscaster has been giving their predictions since... the second Giants kicker L. Tynes made the field goal in OT against the Packers. It's just the beginning.

Folks, Media Day kicks off tomorrow and Gregg Rosenthal, Tom Curran and I will be there. With Bells On!

Hey...the downtown Phoenix area is kind of beat...if you're going out...Pats or Giants fan...a good place to go is in Scottsdale...Martini Ranch is going to be a hot spot. ... Try to get there early...I'll meet you there...

My favorite teacher died last week.

John R. Becker, a Jesuit priest, had spent the final 57 years of his time on earth teaching English to high school students. I had the good fortune to have Fr. Becker for sophomore English at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix, Arizona, during the 1981-82 school year.

Fr. Becker was, in a word, original. For example, if we students were speaking while he was trying to teach us, he never raised his voice. Instead, he lowered it. Earlier this month I was reading the comedian Steve Martin's memoir, Born Standing Up , and Martin wrote that he did the same exact thing when his audience had too many hecklers. It's an effective strategy.

If you read this blog often, you know that I have an uncommon love of puns and wordplay (my friend Steve Rushin, and our everlasting blogstalker, G.A., endure a similar affliction). No one person did more to cultivate that ardor than Fr. Becker. Someone would ask him if he wanted the homework collected, and he'd reply, "That'll make me feel like a firefly in the rain...de-lighted."

I'll admit, I was even denser then. There were puns like that he used daily that I probably didn't catch on to for months.

Fr. Becker, a lean man with a lively face and short brown hair, taught English the way Mr. Miyagi taught martial arts: through relentless repetition. Almost daily he'd pull out a typed essay or work of literature that had had all of the grammar excised. It was our job to decide where commas and semicolons and the like belonged. On the first day of class he handed us two books, "The Writer's Handbook", which he dubbed "The Brown Bible" (due to the color of its cover), and a vocabulary tome, "New Building Word Power". To this day I use them both, as do a lot of my classmates.

As I said, Fr. Becker was an original. He never got angry, which is not at all to say that he was a pushover. One day he was giving a lesson and a friend of mine, a student who would go on to the Air Force Academy, was trying to do homework for the next period's class. We've all been there, right? Well, Fr. Becker saw what my friend Matt was doing. Without ever breaking stride, or interrupting his train of thought verbally, Fr. Becker picked up all the books on Matt's desk--half-completed homework assignment included-- walked over to the classroom door, opened it, and threw them out onto the sidewalk.

It was masterful. And remember, this was before Mr. Hand in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High".

You learned in Fr. Becker's class, but you laughed, too. He understood that he had a roomful of 15 year-old boys who all talked a much better game, socially and intellectually, than they walked. He encouraged playfulness in writing and discussion, and he never judged. After a month or two in Fr. Becker's class, you felt comfortable saying just about anything.

It seems hard to fathom now, but as a 15 year-old I was afraid to write for our school paper because I felt I lacked the skill. It was Fr. Becker who would approach me after class and tell me that I was failing to take advantage of what skills I'd been given. Were it not for his prodding, I may never have had the nerve to write my first story for a school newspaper. In other words, Mom and Dad, you can blame Fr. Becker.

Fr. Becker, whose daily regimen included a post school-day bike ride up Central Avenue in Phoenix, died last Saturday. I'm somewhat relieved in knowing that since graduating a long time ago, I'd written him more than once to thank him for all he did for me. In fact, when my Brophy class staged its 20-year reunion in 2004, Fr. Becker was the one teacher whom we invited. And he showed up, too.

I am just one student. When I think about the fact that this man devoted his life to teaching young men English, that he had more than 56 years of classes (certainly more than one class per year; many times five or six) of students whose lives he impacted, I am struck by what a worthy life he lived.

So long, Fr. Becker. Have a dry weekend.

I wake up the other day to a text message from my little brother.
It says: "You haven't blogged in two weeks. Slacker."
Way to get motivation.
Bro.

He's right, like always. It could've been the post holiday chill mode we all seem to slink into. It could've been just wanting to sit back and watch to see who will play the Pats in the Super Bowl. Or lazy. Or frozen. Whatever.

It all stops on Sunday.

Flight out of Newark straight to Arizona and a full week of hitting up the parties, gathering the stories, interviews and hanging out at the Super Bowl. Expect a whole lot of blogging cause there's not a dull moment in sight.
Bro.

From OrlandoSentinel.com:

What business did Meyer have recruiting Moore's girlfriend to be a UF gymnast?

Meyer: "Say no more -- full ride!"

Click here to read the entire story about the ongoing investigation into Urban Meyer's recruiting tactics.

Blogstalker non pareil G.A. phoned this morning. "I just wanted to let you know that South Florida will be playing in South Bend in 2011," G.A., who covers the Bulls for the St. Petersburg Times , informed me. "If we both have the same jobs we do now, I don't know how happy either of us will be to see one another, but pencil in Nov. 19th of that year for a get-together."

Further ruminations on our new favorite philanthropist, Dr. Brilliant (see blog below):

--Wouldn't he be an ideal protagonist/sidekick in the next Austin Powers film?

--As G.A. posited, and fellow Johntourager Moose agreed, let's give it up to Dr. Brilliant for meeting the challenge that his surname posed. Can you imagine if he had just finished his education after high school, or even after only getting his masters degree. "Hey, Mr. Brilliant, why are you still teaching the fourth grade?"

--This has to be the best surname-to-status achievement since Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker a few years back.

TMZ.com, whose celeb stalkers first caught video of Tom Brady's right foot in a walking boot, followed up this morning with a shot of Brady from last night coming out of an establishment with Gisele Bundchen ...and Brady's wearing...pointy suede shoes.

So all the kneejerk, breathless reports that led Sportscenter and sportscasts and ignored the fact the kid was WALKING ON THE DESPERATELY INJURED FOOT can start to backpedal.

Was it news? Yeah. Lead news? Naaah.

My new favorite philanthropist works for Google.

Last Friday's New York Times Business section had a terrific piece about how Google (and you really should buy their stock!) is reserving 1% of its profit and equity to "make the world a better place". Anyway, Google is fielding suggestions from all over the world (mine: more Nickelback!) and they've placed a most able man in charge of this extraordinary task. His name:

Dr. Larry Brilliant. Seriously, that's his name. Dr. Brilliant .

(At bar)

Doctor (to woman): "Hi, I'm Brilliant."
Woman: "Of course you are. What do you do for a living?"
Doctor: "I'm a doctor."
Woman: "You're a brilliant doctor?"
Doctor: "Actually, I'm Dr. Brilliant."
Woman: "Buzz off, pal."

(I'm sure G.A. will come up with better dialogue than that.)

Anyway, you cannot go wrong with a Dr. Brilliant, can you? It's like having a spy named Incognito.

Dr. Brilliant instantly joins our All-Aptly Named Team, alongside Steve Jobs of Apple, Brian Cashman of the Yankees and field goal kicker Ryan Longwell.

AFC/NFC Championship Game Thoughts

1) Was it just me or did you see Eli Manning searching the crowd after the Giants won, all alone, and think of Cyril after the Cutters won the Little 500 in Breaking Away ?

2) I've mentioned this before, but one of my old high school coaches used to drum the phrase "somebody loses" into our heads. In other words, in football, you're a lot more apt to lose a game via mistakes than to win it. The Giants are winning because they're not losing. That is, few penalties and just one turnover (and that on a play that began with a Packer turnover) in the postseason. And that's why they're winning.

3) Will Sunday's games at last convince the people who build stadiums that comfort does not equal (is in fact, less than) pleasure? Sure, there are 70,000 or so fans who had to brave the arctic conditions on Sunday, but the rest of us (tens of millions of us) were clearly delighted to watch these games that transpired in weather you'll normally only see on TV in "Deadliest Catch: King Crabs". I mean, wasn't that awesome to watch? Why do people ever, ever, ever build domes? You could never capture the atmosphere that existed in Green Bay and New England on Sunday in the RCA Dome.

4) If you've never played outside in those temperatures, it's impossible to appreciate how amazing Chris Chambers' sideline catch for San Diego and Amani Toomer's diving catch for the Giants were. Laying your body out to catch a rock-hard football, knowing that the landing is going to be like hitting concrete...those were two outstanding catches.

5) Allow me to echo Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, CBS: It's not enough to tell us that Randy Moss only has one catch all afternoon. You need to explain why. Show the coverage on him.

6) Watching Laurence Maroney of the Pats this week and Marion Barber of Dallas last week. Realizing both played on the same team at Minnesota in 2003 and 2004. And wondering how the Golden Gophers never did better than one appearance in the Music City Bowl those two seasons.

7) Will someone tell me how the Giants "shocked" anyone by winning? All New York had done going into the contest was win nine consecutive road games. They had the better big-play receiver (Plaxico B-r-r-r-ess), the better running back (Brandon Jacobs) and the better defensive line. And they came within one blown coverage play against Randy Moss, you can argue, of upsetting the Pats in Week 17.
Shocked? Not even Shockey-ed.

8) Will Bill Simmons' "Ewing Theory" be renamed the "Tiki Theory" if New York wins the Super Bowl? By the way, Pats by 13? Seriously. I've already booked my flight to Vegas in support of Coughlin.

9) The Chargers showed up more than anyone thought they would. We may turn Norvelous into a blossary term yet (Norvelous, adj., "pleasantly surprising people after your entire career gave no one any reason to believe in your ability to do so"...used in a sentence: "Eli Manning was simply norvelous on Sunday" or "That was a norvelous piece Walters wrote on the Notre Dame game.")

10) I believe you (seriously) if you say you thought Tynes would hit the 47-yarder. I did. Really. The fact that it was so unlikely took all the pressure off him.

And finally...Something tells me the Dana Jacobson fiasco won't blow up quite as much as the Kelly Tilghman one did. Though I do hear that "Blue & Gold Illustrated" is considering putting a crucifix on its cover next week and asking Coach Weis to pose next to it.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is at his most revealing on Monday mornings when he does a weekly radio hit with WEEI in Boston.

During a 20-minute chat-em-up today, Brady acknowledged what CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman alluded to yesterday - a possible leg injury suffered during the game.

"There's always kind of bumps and bruises you're dealing with," he told hosts John Dennis and Gerry Callahan. "I'll be ready for the Super Bowl. I'd have to be on a stretcher to miss that."

Jokingly asked if the injury might "flare up before the Pro Bowl", Brady - who's not a big fan of the trip to Hawaii after a 20-game season, said, "Heh, heh, you can count on that. You can definitely count on that."

Brady also compared the modest playoff output of Randy Moss (two catches in two games) to the way opponents avoided pitching to Barry Bonds.

"Especially in the Jacksonville game, they just refused to let him catch the ball," Brady explained. "I told Phil Simms (CBS analyst) that this is sort of like Barry Bonds. A team can intentionally walk him three or four times then say, "Well, Barry Bonds didn't beat us."

Brady also left no doubt that he's in lockdown mode during the Super Bowl.

"There are plenty of distraction. Everyone is going to call and everyone is going to want to be there and involved and you almost have to be a concierge and organize things because everyone will come to you. The more you can shield yourself from that, the better. (For instance, you say) OK, I don't need to go out with my family on Thursday night even though they're all here and that's a wonderful thing to do. You're going to have months and months to do that after the season. You just really have got to focus on why you're going down to the game and it's not to enjoy Super Bowl festivities as a spectator. When were in Jacksonville (in 2004), I barely left my hotel room."

A few other nuggets...

Packers get the ball at their 26.

And Favre hangs one up, his sideline pass intended for Donald Driver intercepted by Corey Webster at the Packer 43, returned to the 34.

Unbelievable.

Ahmad Bradshaw runs twice.

Third and 5 at the 29.

Manning's pass for Steve Smith just this far out of Smith's reach.

Lawrence Tynes comes on for a 47-yard attempt.

This time, it's -- good.

Giants win.

Giants to the Super Bowl. How about that?

Two minutes to go, Giant ball, second and 15 at the Packer 47 -- Eli Manning to Steve Smith for 14.

Third and half a yard at the Packer 39. Ball is snapped at 1:18. Bradshaw to the left side for 8, to the 31.

First and 10, Manning to Smith for 11, to the 20.

First and 10, Bradshaw carries up the gut.

Four ticks on the clock. Ball on the Packer 18.

Lawrence Tynes, who was not asked all year to kick a game-winning field goal, comes on. 36-yard attempt.

The Packers call time out. To ice the kicker. In this weather, "icing" maybe has a different connotation.

The snap is high. The holder, punter Jeff Feagles, gets it down. But not in time, not really. Tynes misses, wide left.

Overtime. If you can believe it.

And the Packers win the toss. Green Bay will get the ball first in OT.

With 6:49 to go when they get the ball, Packers go three and out. The whole thing takes not even a minute off the clock.

Punt to the Giant 37, 5:53 to play.

Three running plays. First down at the 48. 4:43 to go.

An incomplete pass. Brandon Jacobs carries for 2. Third and 8 at midfield -- and Manning is sacked by Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila. Who either had incredible reaction time or was off the line early. No call.

The Packers get the ball on the punt at their own 17. 2:48 to go.

With Brett Favre in charge.

Incomplete pass. False start, back to the 12. Incomplete pass.

Third and 15 at the 12: pass underneath to Donald Lee, for 5 yards. Not nearly enough.

That was hardly a legendary performance by the legend.

Giants call time out. 2:30 to go.

Fumble upon fumble on the punt return -- R.W. McQuarters stripped of the ball, the Giants' Domenik Hixon finally falling on it at the Green Bay 48.

And then ...

And then ...

And then ...

Ahmad Bradshaw runs for a 48-yard touchdown, and a ticket to the Super Bowl.

Wait. Flag.

Giants' guard Chris Snee is called for holding, the replay showing him clearly dragging Packer defensive tackle Ryan Pickett to the ground.

No touchdown.

Instead, it's Giant ball at their own 43.

Two minutes to go ...

Crazy sequence to start the fourth.

Third and 10 at midfield, Brett Favre to a leaping Donald Driver across the middle for 20 yards.

On the next play, Favre's gunslinger self makes an appearance. He throws deep for Koren Robinson. The ball is intercepted by McQuarters, who pulls a Marlon McCree -- remember last year's San Diego-New England playoffs?

On the runback, McQuarters is stripped by Packers' running back Ryan Grant, the ball tumbling directly to Green Bay offensive lineman Mark Tauscher, who falls on it at the Giant 19.

So it's still, somehow, Green Bay ball. And four plays later, Mason Crosby boots a 37-yard field goal.

Tie game, 20-20, with 11:46 to go.

Third and 3 for the Giants, ball on the Packer 48. Eli Manning finds Plaxico Burress on the sideline for 10 yards, to the 38. Clutch.

On the next play, Packer safety Nick Collins runs into Ahmad Bradshaw. Head first. Fortunately, Collins gets up.

Third and 5 for the Giants, ball on the Packer 33. Manning doesn't like what he sees. Time out, leaving New York with just one and nine more minutes to play.

Trying again. Third and 5 at the 33 -- and there's pass interference, on Amani Toomer.

Third and 15 at the 43 -- and a pass to Bradshaw turns into a nine-yard gain.

A field goal from the 34 -- 51 yards. No way. Not in this weather. So it's fourth and 6 and the Giants go for it. And the Packers' Charles Woodson get called for pass interference, Manning throwing for Toomer.

First down, Giants, at the 28. Manning goes for it all. But Packer corner Al Harris steps in front of a ball for Burress in the end zone.

Third and 7 at the 25. Manning throws wide.

Tynes comes on for a 43-yard field goal attempt. Wide left, 6:49 to go.

Still 20-20.

Two big penalties on the Giants' opening drive against the Packers -- both on third down -- and the Giants capitalize to go up, 13-10, on a 1-yard Brandon Jacobs touchdown run.

After which he fakes the Lambeau Leap.

He draws boos. Surprise.

The first major penalty: Al Harris intercepts Eli Manning at the Packer 46. Oops. Harris tagged for illegal contact.

The second: Manning throws incomplete. But free safety Nick Collins is nailed for roughing the passer. That's 15 big yards.

An 18-yard Manning to Burress play sets up the Jacobs touchdown -- and when it's going right, it's going right. Three plays after the Burress catch, Jacobs, pushing for the goal, fumbles. But the Giants' Kevin Boss recovers. Three plays after that, Jacobs scores.

A 49-yard return by Tramon Williams puts the Packers back in business, at the Packer 39.

Third down at the New York 27, the Pack comes up short -- and now it's the Giants' turn for a stupid penalty, cornerback Sam Madison called for unnecessary roughness.

So it's first and 10 at the 12 -- and Favre finds Donald Lee wide open in the back of the end zone. 17-13, Packers.

This just in from the Wilborns, the California Packer fans, in section 107: "An insanely cold experience we are proud to be a part of. Go Pack go!"

The Fox broadcast of the game shows three young women, Packer fans, in yellow bikini tops. Now *that* has to be an insanely cold experience.

Again, though, you've got to give the Giants credit.

Manning airs it out down the sideline, to Toomer, a catch, complete, at the 12-yard line. The Packers challenge. Overruled. Pass complete.

So now it's first and 10 at the other 12.

Eight yards, Manning to Toomer.

And a four-yard Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown run. 20-17, Giants.

Burress at the end of three, and this obviously doesn't count a 30-something yard drop late in the second quarter: 10 catches, 140 yards.

Weather report at the start of the fourth quarter: temperature minus-3, winds out of the west at 12 mph, wind chill minus-24.

The Wilborn family, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.: Nathan, Cary, Todd and Brady. Along with Bailey Lipschutz.

Out there in section 107, corner of the end zone.

Packer fans.

Go figure.

"Wearing every warm piece of clothing we own," is the report.

Plus: "Being from SoCal, we no longer think 60 degrees is cold."

Weather factoids at the start of the second half: temperature minus -3, wind out of the west at 10 mph, wind chill minus-20.

Mike and John Maile are still out there, their Giants down four at the half.

Mike reports: "We have two inches of ice on our seat and if you don't chug your beer, it freezes before you get to your seat. No joke! What happened to global warming?"

To the University of Wisconsin marching band, the halftime entertainment.

What must it feel like to wrap your lips around a trumpet in this weather?

Yikes.

Packers start the second quarter with an incomplete pass on third down, Brett Favre to James Jones.

If you're counting: that makes three offensive series for the Packers, no points and little forward progress, Favre 5 for 8 for 20 yards, Ryan Grant three carries for all of seven yards.

Big play on the next series for the Giants, a 16-yard catch and run by Plaxico Burress, who fumbles going down -- the ball going out of bounds, the Giants getting the ball at the Packer 17.

Another Tynes field goal makes it 6-0 Giants with 11:46 to go in the quarter, this one from 37 yards.

On the kickoff, the Packers' Koren Robinson sees the ball go right through his hands. Again, the balls must feel like cement blocks. The Packers recover, at their own 10.

So what does Brett Favre do? 90 yards down the right sideline, touchdown, to Donald Driver, who has no trouble holding on, kicking up snow as he goes while outrunning three guys -- Corey Webster, who had an angle, as well as Gibil Wilson and James Butler.

The pass marks the longest completed pass in Packer post-season history. And now the crowd is alive: "Go, Pack, go!"

It's the 18th consecutive playoff game Favre has thrown a TD pass. That extends his own NFL record.

The crowd, they announce in the press box, is the largest in Lambeau history: paid attendance of 72,740. Who knew there were that many astronaut diapers for sale in all of Wisconsin? What are these people planning to do for a bathroom break? No way you brave removal of any of the layers, is there?

The Giants get the ball back and on third down, Packer safety Atari Bigby makes a highlight-reel hit on Plaxico Burresss. Pro that he is, though -- Burress holds on for a first down.

Another third-down play: Amani Toomer can't hold on.

The Packers get the ball back at their own 22, move it to the Giants' 44. Favre goes deep for Ruvell Martin. He's no Donald Driver. The ball goes through his hands.

Giants start at their 7. They go nowhere. Jeff Feagles has to punt from the end zone. I mean, what can you expect? A 37-yard punt. Packers get the ball, with plenty of time before half, at the Giants' 47.

Green Bay appears to go three and out, squandering the opportunity -- but an illegal contact penalty on Giant rookie Michael Johnson, trying to cover Driver, gives the Packers a fresh set of downs.

Two plays later, Favre finds Driver for 20 yards, to the New York 21. Three plays later, Mason Crosby boots a 36-yard field goal. 10-6, Packers.

Give the Giants credit. They do not lay down. Eli Manning goes for it long down the right side, and Burress hauls it in, a 32-yard play, good to the Packer 36.

Manning goes for it again -- but, almost at the goal line, Burress can not hold on.

No way Tynes can kick a 50-ish yard field goal. So the Giants go for it on 4th and 8, the ball on the 34.

Sack, by A.J. Hawk, and the Packers get the ball with five seconds to go.

Do the Packers go for it? No. Favre kneels.

And it's a race to get off the field. 'Cuz it's stupid cold out there.

Packers' first drive stalls, Giants take over and Eli Manning comes out smokin' hot: 5 for 8 for 54 yards, seemingly under control every yard of the way, a 14-yard, 71-play drive ending in a 29-yard Lawrence Tynes field goal.

Impressive.

But as the Chargers proved earlier, you gotta believe that field goals are likely not going to get it done today.

Second Packer drive ends in a three-and-out, a third-down Brett Favre to Koren Robinson swing pass going for a loss of one yard. Murmurs arise from the crowd.

Packers' defense holds after Amani Toomer drops a gimme, a sure first down. The ball must feel like a brick.

Weather report at the end of the first, start of the second quarter: Temperature now officially minus-2, winds out of the west at 14 mph, wind chill minus-21.

This is now officially the second-coldest home game in Packer history.

Game-time temperature: minus-1.

Winds from the west, 12 mph.

Wind chill: minus-23.

The coldest, of course, the 1967 Ice Bowl, when the temperature was minus-13, wind chill minus-46.

At the 1981 AFC championship game in Cincinnati, the temperature was minus-9, the wind chill minus-59.

Or series of lines.

Yahoo! Sports' Michael Silver, immediately to my right in the warmth of the press box, looking out onto the field: "Where's global warming now?"

ESPN's John Clayton, three down to my left: "In Cabo. With Jessica Simpson."

As noted earlier, Mike Maile, a 25-year-old New York City paramedic, and his dad, John, 55, a Long Island businessman, hard-core Giants fans, are toughing it out among the pack (so to speak) cramming onto the metal benches in the stands here at Lambeau Field.

Here's their report from section 124, about the 20-yard line.

"The Giants have never lost an NFC championship game!" Mike exults, and that's true -- New York is 3-0 in NFC title games, defeating Minnesota in 2000, San Francisco in 1990 and Washington in 1986.

The game hasn't yet begun -- kickoff is still 20-some minutes away -- and Mike notes, "And we are freezing even with 10 hand warmers."

Even so: would have loved to have seen the Chargers at full strength.

Kudos to the Patriots.

18-0.

Historic.

Surprise Packer star running back Ryan Grant is among the Green Bay players, many of them key skill players, not wearing sleeves as the two teams go through pre-game warmups.

Quarterback Brett Favre, sensibly, is wearing a white long-sleeved undershirt under his green and gold Packer jersey.

The Giants are in their white jerseys and familiar gray pants.

Completely useless statistic, or maybe not: the Giants are 6-0 this season when wearing those white jerseys.

Current temperature: minus-1, winds from the west at 8 mph, wind chill of minus-17. Game time is about a half-hour away; sunset was officially at 4:44 p.m. local time so it's sure to get even colder.

Playing on bad knees that are clearly impacting some of his throws, Philip Rivers has shown great resolve in this game. I agree with the call to punt there on third-and-10 with 9:13 left.

Antonio Cromartie just laid in the reeds on a third-and-goal for the Pats at the Chargers 2. When Brady went through reads to the right and left, he came back to Benjamin Watson under the goalposts and Cromartie sprung up to make the pick.

This just out from the ever-helpful Packer PR staff:

No. 1: The "Ice Bowl," Dec. 31, 1967, temperature minus-13, wind chill minus-46, Packers 21-17 over Dallas.

2. Dec. 26, 1993, temperature zero, wind chill minus -22, Packers 28-0 over the Los Angeles Raiders.

3. Dec. 22, 1990, temperature 2, wind chill minus-35, Detroit 24-17 over Green Bay.

4. Jan. 12, 1997, temperature 3, wind chill minus-17, Packers 30-13 over Carolina.

5. Nov. 28, 1976, temperature 6, wind chill minus-19, Chicago 16-10 over Green Bay.

6. Dec. 20, 1992, temperature 8, wind chill minus-15, Packers 28-13 over the Los Angeles Rams.

Games No. 1 and 4, of course, were playoff games.

Down on the field here at Lambeau, the tarp is off. The grounds crew is even now shoveling snow off the south end zone. Current temperature: minus-1, wind chill minus-18.

The difficulty the elements are posing can be seen on the two sidelines. On San Diego's side, there is almost always a crowd of 4 or 5 in front of the heaters and most of the players are in parkas. On the Patriots side, there are few no players in fronbt of the blowers and precious few wearing parkas.

Nate Kaeding just snuck in a 40-yard field goal to make it 14-9 as we head for halftime in the AFC Championship.

While the Chargers can feel good about staying within hailing distance, this stat points to New England having more reason to feel blissful.

They're 15-1 in playoff games when leading at halfime. Of course, the 1 was last year's AFC Championship, so...

Philip Rivers just threw a panic pick to Ellis Hobbs to squelch a Chargers drive and San Diego is in trouble right now.

The Asante Samuel interception was set up by a Mike Vrabel pressure. The main pressure he applied? His foot. Vrabel, blocked on the play, swung his foot out and actually had Rivers going down with the move when he made the throw to Chris Chambers that Samuel stepped in front of.

It's a bad non-call by the officials and should have been a 15-yard penalty.

Without LT and Gates, the problems for the Chargers when they get down low is major. Gates is deadly on both fades and quick stop patterns while Tomlinson is terrific leaking into space inside the 10.

Those weren't options for the Chargers on their last drive, the second one that ended with a Nate Kaeding field goal.

Because of his body type, Chargers backup running back Michael Turner would seem a good candidate to run between the tackles. But that's the strength of the New England run defense. Get to the edges as LT would and you can make cutback plays.

We'll see if they get after that.

Meanwhile, Philip Rivers is making plays for the Chargers.

So said my buddy to the left, Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News, of the Randy Moss reverse. On that key play in New England's scoring drive, the aggressive Chargers linebackers weren't fooled but Moss did a tremendous job as a runner to make the play work.

It's absurdly cold here in Green Bay. The current temperature is zero, wind chill minus-17, the flags at the south end of Lambeau Field fluttering briskly in the breeze.

Keep in mind: the sun is out right now. Game time is still three hours away.

It's so cold that it stung merely to take my hands out of my gloves for the few seconds it took to fish my car keys out of my pocket. Afterward, it took a good 20 minutes for my hands to feel normal.

The grounds crew here at Lambeau is apparently pumping heated air onto the turf through five massive heaters, the tarp billowing to and fro, anchored down by 10 automobiles.

Among those brave enough to be out there today: Mike Maile, 25, a New York city paramedic who traveled to Green Bay with his dad, John, 55, a Long Island businessman. Father and son, Giants fans, spent $300 on thermal underwear in New York before flying out. This morning, they invested another $350 in hunting gear and hats.

Mike Maile reports he has on three (3) pair of ski socks, two (2) pair of thermal pants, blue jeans, a thermal suit, a hunting suit, four (4) thermal shirts, hat, scarf, facemask and, of course, a Giants' jacket and a Giants' jersey.

More from Maile boys as the game goes on. Assuming Mike's fingers aren't frozen and he can send text messages.

Let us all wish them -- and everyone out there in the brutal conditions -- the warmest of wishes. Emphasis on warm.

A poor throw by Tom Brady just resulted in a Quentin Jammer interception and then Vince WIlfork got nabbed for a 15-yard facemask and the Chargers are in business.

So far, the SD offense is non-threatening but New England's is even worse.

It's not a good deal for New England if Michael Turner is in the game. Brilliant as LT is, Turner is the best backup in the league.

Gates is back in the game and split out wide to the left on this third down play. Adalius Thomas flashes in off the left beating Marcus McNeill and flushing Rivers forward into the arms of Junior Seau.

The wind is modest and it looks like New England is about to take to the air because San Diego is giving nothing on the ground to Laurence Maroney so far.

On the Pats first drive, Tom Brady matched his incompletion output of last week with a pair of misfires - one to Kyle Brady, one to Randy Moss...neither one was close.

Aside from a good jawing session between Richard Seymour and Marcus McNeill, there hasn't been much in the way of trash talking.

Richard Seymour got marginally held and spun into the kicker Mike Scifres drawing a flag getting a repunt for the Bolts.

Big bullet dodge there.

FOXBOROURGH, Massachusetts - Chargers tight end Antonio Gates isn't moving limberly out there. As for Philip Rivers, he looks OK...dropping back with speed and driving into the ball despite the reported torn ACL.

LT looks fine.

Saw Juno the other night. Pretty good--Michael Cera is still playing George-Michael Bluth, but who cares, he's adorable-- but as I was watching, a thought occurred to me: Nothing said comic gold in 2007 like "unplanned pregnancy".

Juno. Knocked Up. . The entire previous season of "Scrubs". Tom Brady. I mean, who knew that one-night stands with consequences had so much comic potential. Answer: not anyone who ever sat through Fools Rush In .

Anyway, I blame/credit this all to the best non-HBO show of the past decade. Yes, "Gilmore Girls". Those Palladinos made it possible to wring heart-warming humor out of what "The Scarlet Letter" scenario, and now everyone is doing it. So much so, in fact, that it may be time to do a parody of the genre. Hence, the title of this blog entry. Though I'm not sure if it should be that or the following:

There Will Not Be Blood

You decide.

Meanwhile, sad news out of L.A. is that Sam the Butcher died on Thursday. Now who will deliver the meat to Alice?

Randy Moss has spoken twice today in the Patriots locker room about the Broward County injunction for a restraining order filed against him.

He claims extortion. The woman, Rachelle Washington, claims personal injury. Moss says he's known her for 11 years and that they are (were?) friends.

Mike Reiss of The Boston Globe, the planet's fastest transcriber (among other things) has the full body of Moss' statements in his Reiss' Piece blog.

Somebody's going to look like *&$% when this thing is hashed out. Moss if he A) actually did something and B) refused to own up to it and colored his accuser a liar after assaulting her...or Washington if she's trying to wring money from Moss over what he called an "accident."

Sadly for Moss, if he is wholly without blame in this, you don't get back the headlines, radio talk, bandwidth and TV time of January 16.

I just read in Rolling Stone that Led Zeppelin is considering the possibility, given the success of their Dec. 10 gig, of adding additional shows (you're shocked, too, aren't you?). My favorite part of the story is when bassist John Paul Jones gets all Murray on us and announces, "There is a band meeting in January."

It makes you wonder: "A violin bow to play the guitar? That's crazy, John Paul"..."Robert, I've been meaning to tell you, it's spelled 'cashmere'. And why would you write a song about a sweater?"

In my utopian dream world, Led Zeppelin would open for Crazy Dogggz next summer.

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Just finished reading Esquire's special "What I've Learned" issue. I'm going to do more on this later, but here's my personal "What I've Learned" from this past week: If you're a spillaholic like me, your beveraged of leisure should be club soda. After all, what do you put on a stain? Club soda. So if you spill club soda, there's nothing to worry about. Besides, the hangovers are not nearly as bad.

Did you have Eli and not Peyton Manning moving on to a conference championship game?

The prospective Super Bowl story lines are tantalizing, though, aren't they?

New England-Green Bay? Favrelous vs. Tom Brady. Mr. Sportsman of the Year vs. Mr. Perfection who, it should be noted, is undefeated since becoming a dad. This is what Roger Goodell is saying extra Hail Marys for this week.

New England-New York? No city loathes Darth Hoodie more than New York, and the Giants gave the Pats all they could handle in Week 17. Great matchup in the desert.

San Diego (we can dream)-New York? The "So How'd That Draft Day Trade Back in '03 Work Out For You" Bowl. As we all debated whether the Mannings should have manipulated the Chargers into giving Big Blue the first pick in the draft to snare Eli, we now see that both teams turned out faring pretty well (even though one is built on the league's best rusher and the other on its best front four).

San Diego-Green Bay? Least sexy of the four, but it'll be a rematch of a Week 3 Green Bay blowout of SD back at Lambeau.

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You've been watching too much football this weekend IF....you think Fox is airing a show on Sunday night about the first female Supreme Court justice now being a Terminator.

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The University of Florida has lost not one but two assistant coaches in the past week: running backs coach Stanley Drayton to Tennessee and safeties coach John "Doc" Holliday to West Virginia. Drayton will be the recruiting coordinator in Knoxville while Holliday will be in charge of saloon brawls and shootouts....which really isn't that far of a stretch in major college football in 2008.

Anyway, what's going on in Gainesville? Urban Meyer loses two coaches from his staff, and neither are leaving to become head coaches? Whassup with that?

Bad, bad intentional grounding penalty taken by Tony Romo on that last drive to back Dallas up and lead to a third-and-20 on which Justin Tuck got a pressure that caused Romo's bomb to the end zone to fall incomplete.

The Giants are taking over at their own 4 with 9:27 left. They lead by 4. Eli Manning is going to write a chapter in his book. A dramatic one. In the next 9:27.

The determination and explosiveness of Marion Barber and whether or not the Giants can contain him will be the deciding factor in this game. As the half wore on, it got harder and harder for them to do so and I think the second half is going to be even worse.

Eli has to be mistake-free for New York to win. Mistake. Free.

Or else both Mannings bite the dust.

He took the heat early in the year when the Chargers were losing.

Arrogant. Stubborn. Condescending. Just plain mean.

Chargers general manager AJ Smith was all of those and worse to large swaths of football-watching America when the Chargers were 1-3 in Norv Turner's first four games.

Mean, stubborn A.J. messed everything up by failing to get along with Marty Schottenheimer and now the Chargers were going to pay.

Well, they didn't. And even if Smith may be all those things, the fact they advanced to the AFC Championship today is testimony to his GM-genius.

The Chargers closed the game with Billy Volek playing quarterback, Michael Turner and Darren Sproles at running back and Chris Chambers as their leading receiver.

Smith had the foresight to get Volek away from the Titans last year after Volek was becoming a cancer in Tennessee. He had the patience to hold on to Turner instead of dealing him last offseason when he knows that Turner's as good as gone when he becomes a free agent in two months. And he went out and got Chambers this season when the Chargers WR corps was in disrepair.

So while all the men who made plays of consequence get their glory today, remember the guy who put this group together is the one who made this possible.

IRVING - A hellacious commute from the outskirts of Boston to Irving, Texas got us here in time to watch what could be a very dark day in Cowboys history.

The Giants are already up 7-0 thanks to woeful tackling by the Boys. Brandon Jacobs is running with impunity and the Cowboys are getting heat on Cabana Boy Romo.

And there goes Marion Barber for 36 yards....all right, we won't start grave-dancing yet.

First down, before the two-minute warning: San Diego's Michael Turner, run of one.

Second down, Turner, again running (of course), this time to the right. Gain of fie. Time out, Indy.

Third and four at the 13. Super-loud. Chargers try to run it again, Turner up the gut. Indy's Bob Sanders makes the tackle, gain of one. Time out, Indy.

1:42 to go as San Diego's Mike Scifres punts it away, standing at his goal line. The ball officially goes 66 yards -- informally, 80 -- taken at the Indy 20 by Indy's T.J. Rushing, tackled at the 32.

1:30 to go, first and 10, Indy.

Pass to Devin Aromashodu, middle of hte field for five yards and a lot of time.

Second down, Manning pressured, throws it away.

Third down, Marlon McCree clocks Reggie Wayne as the ball gets there. And Wayne stays down. The injury costs Indy its last time out.

Fourth and five at the 37, 1:03. No Reggie Wayne. And Manning's pass for Dallas Clark bounces off Clark's hands.

The Billy Volek-led Chargers -- off to New England.

And Chase Bushor, 12 years old, picked the score almost just right. He picked 27-23. It's 28-24, sports fans.

Colts start at their own 23. Marvin Harrison is not in the game.

Gain of 14.

Gain of 11.

Gain of 13.

Gain of five.

Manning tries for the end zone, or a pass interference penalty, throwing for Devin Aromashodu. Nothing.

Third and five at the San Diego 34: Manning tries for the end zone or a penalty again, to Reggie Wayne. Nothing.

Fourth and five, still at the 34, 3:02 to go. San Diego calls time out.

Manning finds Dallas Clark open for 16 yards and the first down. A facemask penalty on the Chargers' Shaun Phillips puts the ball at the San Diego 9.

First and goal: two yards, on

Second down: incomplete pass at the goal line, intended for Addai.

Third down: incomplete, Addai dropping it at the 2.

Fourth: Manning hit as he throws, the ball falling incomplete, intended for Addai.

Two minutes, one second to go. Chargers 28, Colts 24. San Diego with the ball at its 7.

The Colts still have three time outs. The Chargers need a first down to ice this one away.

First Charger play with Billy Volek at quarterback: a handoff to Michael Turner

Second and 8, as Rivers jogs back onto the sideline: Darren Sproles off the left side.

Third and 7, ball on the 23. Volek has to throw, and does -- low, too low for Antonio Gates. The Chargers' Mike Scifres punts it away, his usual booming kick, down to the 22 -- but it's returned by Indy's T.J. Rushing back to the Indy 44.

For a moment, it's surprisingly quiet in the RCA Dome -- quiet enough that you could hear the slap of ball on hand as Charger defensive back Quentin Jammer knocks down a Peyton Manning second-down pass to Marvin Harrison.

The quiet lasts one play -- long enough for Indy rookie Anthony Gonzalez to catch a Manning deep ball and sidestep down the line for 55 yards and the apparent go-ahead score. The Chargers challenge, saying Gonzo had been pushed out of bounds. Replay shows him in bounds and the touchdown stands. 24-21 Indy, 10:07 to go.

Three plays, 56 yards, 43 seconds on that drive. Again with the "We Will Rock You" on the speakers.

Volek comes back out at quarterback. Still no Rivers. Or LT. The Chargers are going to win with Billy Volek at quarterback?

Third and four at the Chargers' 43 -- and the Colts are called for a 15-yard facemask penalty.

A screen pass, Volek to Legedu Naanee, goes for 27 yards, to the Indy 15. Legedu Naanee?!

Michael Turner on the next play, off the right side, gain of nine on the run. For one up the middle on the next play, and a first down.

First and goal at the 5. Turner for four, to the 1.

Second and goal -- touchdown, Volek on the quarterback sneak. Billy Volek for Heisman, or something!

Eight plays, 78 yards, 5:17 off the clock.

Chargers, 28-24, 4:50 to go.

Three straight penalties to start the quarter -- a lame pass interference call on San Diego's Clinton Hart, an apparent make-up personal foul call of 15 yards against the Colts, a defensive holding call on the Chargers' Drayton Florence.

Joseph Addai comes back in the game. He catches the ball on the fourth play. No penalty.

Manning's third-down pass to Reggie Wayne: incomplete. No penalty.

The Chargers get a break on the punt, the Colts' Ramon Guzman carrying the ball just over the goal line for a touchback and Charger ball at the 20.

And it's Billy Volek at quarterback for San Diego. When was the last time he won a game for the Tennesee Titans? Charger fans say, yikes.

Rivers: his right knee is being evaluated, it's announced.

Seems fine but heads off, accompanied by Charger staff, as San Diego kicks off to start the fourth.

No one seems to have any idea what's up.

Bruised knee.

Expected to return.

So why didn't he play the entire third quarter?

First Charter play from scrimmage of the second half:a run, of course. But not to LaDainian Tomlinson.

To Michael Turner.

LT is on the sideline. In uniform.

No matter.

Chargers, behind Turner, drive. And then it's Rivers to Chris Chamber down the left sideline, Rivers leading Chambers perfectly -- wow, perfectly -- with the ball. 30-yard score, Chargers 14-10, 11:33 to go in the third -- and this place suddenly gets a lot quieter.

The Colts come right back down the field, two passes setting up five runs and then -- a tipped pass, and a San Diego interception, Manning's second of the game, San Diego's Eric Weddle falling down with the ball at the Charger 2

Manning: 20 of 25, and the two picks. 20 of 25, and Indianapolis has only 10 points.

Super-loud as Chargers try to get something going. Still no LT. He's on the sideline, at the 45. Not holding his helmet.

Turner goes for one to the left. Turner goes for three up the center, Indianapolis' Bob Sanders, the NFL's defensive player of the year, staggered on the play. Third and six at the 6 -- and Rivers misfires. Scrambling, he has Darren Sproles open in the right flat but throws just behind him.

A great punt by Mike Scifres out of the back of the end zone. Indy takes over at midfield -- and goes no huddle, Manning, always so smart, catching the Chargers in a defensive shuffle for a five-yard penalty and a first down, the Charger coaches going berserk about the call.

An apparent Reggie Wayne touchdown from the nine is called back to the 2, Colts coach Tony Dungy throwing his red challenge flag after watching the replay on the west-side jumbo screen. After review, it's called a touchdown. Colts, 17-14.

Sanders, it is just announced, has a shoulder problem; Joseph Addai is out with either a head or hand injury (it's so loud none of us in the press box could hear). If you're New England, aren't you just loving this? LT on the sideline; Sanders,bobbled; Addai, out.

Chargers get the ball back. Sanders is on the field. It is crazy loud. On third and 9 at the 27, the Chargers take a delay of game, making it third and 14.

And Rivers responds -- finding Chris Chambers for 22, to the 44.

And so, as the quarter ends, does Darren Sproles -- for a touchdown, on a beautifully set-up screen pass to the left side. 56 yards. San Diego 21, Indy 17.

What a game. One quarter to go.

Of course the first play of the second quarter, a third-down play by the Chargers, is a pass -- for a first down, Philip Rivers to Vincent Jackson

Another third down and it's so loud the Chargers can't get the play off. Still third down, now third and eight -- and if the Chargers get that play off, it's just barely. Rivers, scrambling, finds Buster Davis across the middle for 18.

Rivers to Gates, wide open, for 23 to the Indy 21. How Gates is doing this on a broken toe -- mystery.

A tackle by Indy's Tyjuan Hagler on Tomlinson keeps LT to only four on what could have been a score, the right side of the field wide open.

With 9:41 to go, the Chargers take their third, and final, time out of the half. Twice now on this series the Chargers have been unable, apparently because of the crowd noise, to run the play they want.

So what happens on the next play? False start on San Diego.

Tomlinson makes most of it back on the next play but now he -- Tomlinson and Marvin Harrison in the same game? fumbles while going down. The Chargers, however, recover the ball. Only to produce, on the next play, another false start. It is loud in here.

Third and eight from the 14 -- and a beautiful pass for a touchdown to the deep left corner of the end zone, Vincent Jackson going up high to grab the ball over Antoine Bethea.

Ten plays, 78 yards, 7:16 off the clock -- authoritative.

Rivers at this point in the game: 6 for 7.

Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps we have a ballgame. "Will come down to wire," Chase Bushor says. His dad, along with Dave and Lori Sykes, longtime Charger fans, say the fans here are the "loudest crowd ever witnessed by these Charger fans."

Oh, and Tom Brady still rules. Brady completed his first 16 passes yesterday; Manning only his first 14 today. No. 15 goes straight to San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman, who can't quite find the handle, giving Adam Vinatieri the chance to kick a 47-yard field goal. 10-7, Colts, with 5:10 to go.

And what do you know? The first play of the ensuring Charger series can't be a handoff to LT. He's not on the field. It's a pass, for three yards to Brandon Manumaleuna. The next play is a run, though -- but to Michael Turner, for six. The third down play? Another run, again to Turner, for 19 yards.

LT dances on the sideline -- was he hurt, even if slightly, on the fumble during the last sequence? -- as the Chargers keep driving.

Third and nine on the 31, Tomlinson back in -- but the pass goes the other way, to Chris Chambers. Incomplete.

Nate Kaeding's 48-yard field goal try? It bonks off the right upright. No good.

But wait -- unsportsmanlike penalty after the attempt on Indy's Bob Sanders, slapping Kaeding on the helmet. Taunting. Not smart. Not what you expect of these Colts.

Indianapolis ball at the 24, 1:46 to go. Manning to Dallas Clark for 10. To Clark for 30. To Gonzalez for eight for a diving catch, the grab confirmed by replay. A second-down run play by Addai makes it third and one. Time out, Indy. Another Addai rush gets first down. Another time out. Thirty seconds to go. Setting up for another Vinatieri try -- or more?

Sideline pass to Wayne falls incomplete.

And then -- and then -- and then --

Manning is picked off by Antonio Cromartie at the 11, who appears to run it back 89 yards for a score, and what would be a 14-10 San Diego lead.

But wait.

A holding penalty on Eric Weddle during the runback? No Charger score. It sure looks from up here in the press box like Weddle was the holdee, not the holder. But that's the call ...

The Chargers kneel -- and that's the half.

What a half. Great game -- so far.

San Diego has defeated Indianapolis the last two times the teams have met. The Colts run out onto the field today to the sounds of the The Who: "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Maybe that should be: "Won't Get Schooled Again?"

Let us see what we shall see.

Colts win the toss, elect to receive.

First Indy drive, and it's a good one::

San Diego's Shawne Merriman drops Peyton Manning on second down, setting up third and 11; Colts make up nine on a flare pass to Joseph Addai; Indy goes for it on fourth down, makes it easily on a slant to Reggie Wayne on the left side for eight. Two plays later, Indy scores, Manning to Dallas Clark for 25 yards, San Diego safety Clinton Hart falling down just as Manning -- about to be hit in the backfield -- delivers the ball.

Music selection blaring over the dome speakers: Queen's "We Will Rock You."

First Chargers play, predictably: a handoff to LaDainian Tomlinson. Also predictably: goes nowhere.

Before the second San Diego play, Antonio Gates reports in. Second Chargers play, also predictably: handoff to Tomlinson. Gain of three.

And then it gets interesting, Rivers to Vincent Jackson, finding a seam down the left side for 21 yards.

And then, after a good-looking screen pass to LT, Rivers throws across the field to Buster Davis. Not enough on the ball, though -- and Indy's Kelvin Hayden intercepts at the Colts 24. San Diego challenges, contending Hayden was juggling the ball as he was going out of bounds. To no avail.

Second Colts drive, and it's a good one, too -- a series of first downs, and a sweet-lookng pass across the middle to Marvin Harrison. Who fumbles, improbably, at the San Diego 23, hit by Antonio Cromartie. San Diego's Marlon McCree recovers.

The fumble is Harrison's first at home since 2003, only the ninth of his all-world career. Chase Bushor says, "Momentum just shifted."

Manning at this point: 11 for 11.

Chargers take over. First play -- handoff to Tomlinson, for one yard. Second play: handoff to Tomlinson, gain of four.

You think the third-down play might be a pass?

Snowing outside. Ugh.

Not that it matters inside the RCA Dome. For you historians, this is the last game at the dome -- the Colts move next year to the new stadium under construction about a block away.

Colts receiver Marvin Harrison, out for 10 weeks because of a knee injury, just jogged onto the field tuo a roar of applause.

Chargers tight end Antonio Gates is in uniform and on the field during warm-ups.

Under the stadium, I saw Philip Rivers, the Charger quarterback, walking out to for the warm-up. He bounced a football on the concrete walkway, the way you would bounce a basketball. For those looking for an omen: it bounced right back up to him. No wobbles.

The Indianapolis strategy today is obviously going to be the same as Tennessee's last week: make Rivers, not LaDainian Tomllinson, win the game for San Diego. For what it's worth: Rivers did not appear the least bit nervous.

This blog today is going to include guest commentary from 12-year-old Chase Bushor of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., a manic Chargers fan. After his Chargers defeated Tennessee last week, Chase -- all by himself, undirected by adults -- scoured StubHub for tickets to today's game. He announced to his father, Ed, that he could score seats. What else could be done but get on a plane and get to Indy?

I vote that the Northwestern business school admit Chase now. Why wait? Obviously we have here an entrepreneur in the making.

Thus, attired in powder-blue Charger gear and traveling with friends Dave and Lori Sykes of Del Mar -- Dave, in classic San Diego style, wearing shorts and flip-flops -- they made the trek Saturday from SD to Indy. We met on their connecting flight from Dallas.

Chase says: "... Chargers, 27-23, with Rivers winning it in last minutes with drive for touchdown."

We're at the end of the third quarter.

The quarterback is 23 for 24 for 194 yards and three touchdowns. The running back has 15 carries for 111 yards. Offensively, the only stoppage the Patriots experienced came when Jacksonville held them to a field goal attempt which they missed.

And it hasn't felt like a dominant performace because...well...why? Because the Jags haven't had their lunch money stolen? It's a helluva standard the Patriots are at when we - me, you, all of us - are thinking, "uh-oh...this could be the night" just because it's 14-14 at the break against an 12-5 team.

The Patriots are going to start dialing up blitzes now. And Garrard almost beat them anyway on that third-and-11, laying it out perfectly for Dennis Northcutt at the goal line but Northcutt short-armed it with James Sanders bearing down.

New England got away with illegal contact as Randall Gay tugged the jersey of Northcutt just before the ball was released.

21-17. Jags have yet to force a New England punt.

The play the Pats just used is a variation on the direct snap play they've run in the past with Kevin Faulk.

It's a play New England used to score a two-point conversion in the Super Bowl against Carolina. The shotgun snap goes directly to Faulk while Brady mimes the ball going over his head.

This time, he faked the handoff to Faulk and pretended to carry out the second half of the play.

Half the Jax defense bit and Wes Welker, working out of the slot, was left wide open for the touchdown.

Brady is an absurd 19 for 20 so far.

When the Patriots jumped on top 14-7 after the David Garrard fumble, it seemed New England would likely kick in the afterburners. But the Jags' 95-yard drive to tie it at 14 was a remarkable showing.

A few impressions...

* The Patriots aren't getting near enough pressure on Garrard and Garrard is doing exactly what he has to in order to keep the Jags offense moving. Take the simple throw and let the receivers do the work. The Jags running game hasn't been overwhelming but New England's putting a lot of effort into slowing it down. Linebacker Junior Seau has been slow to react in coverage it seems because he's afraid of chasing a receiver and finding the ball's in the hand of Jones-Drew.

* Randy Moss hasn't been taken out of the game but he hasn't had much offense directed his way either. He's been in combo routes mostly and Rashean Mathis has stayed close enough to cause Brady to look elsewhere. Expect New England to try a shot deep to Moss early in the third.

* It will be interesting to see if Stephen Gostkowski's miss begets more.

* Gritty performance so far by Jags DT John Henderson who had a bad hammy coming into the game but has been his usual disruptive self in the first half, demanding double teams.

The 95-yard touchdown drive just completed was a real tribute to the patience and decision-making of David Garrard. On the drive, Garrard went 5 for 5 and every throw except the touchdown went to either a running back or tight end. The TD went to Ernest Wilford who outmuscled Asante Samuel on an in-out route where he was afforded a ton of time.

Color me impressed.

Laurence Maroney scored it. Track it back to Ty Warren creating the turnover. It's 14-7 New England.

Ty Warren just overpowered Maurice Williams, driving the Jags guard into David Garrard and then knocking the ball loose where it was recovered by Mike Vrabel.

The shootout is about to begin and the Jags may be out of bullets.

Is it too early to say it's over?

Benjamin Watson just showed the kind of matchup problem the Jags are going to have defensively. On first-and-goal from the Jags' 3, the Pats big tight end merely was too quick for Jags safety Sammy Knight. Afforded a ton of time, Tom Brady just directed Watson where he wanted to go and hit the eye of the needle with a pass Knight never saw.

Jax came out of the chutes precisely the way it needed to. Attack. Attack. Attack.

Great playcall on the fourth-and-1, by Dirk Koetter to get the 34-yard gain and set up the touchdown from David Garrard to Matt Jones.

The evidence of Garrard being down on the touchdown pass? Not conclusive enough.

What's the departure of Tom Dimitroff mean for the Patriots? Scott Pioli, the Sporting News Executive of the Year, is going to have a busier offseason than he may have anticipated.

Dimitroff was the Patriots Director of College Scouting before being hired Saturday by the Falcons as the club's new GM.

For Dimitroff, it's a good deal if (and only if) deposed GM and still team president Rich McKay is able to keep his hands out of the soup. McKay is more than half the reason the Falcons are in the position they're in ("Background check? For Vick? Why? Just re-sign him.")

Dimitroff having learned the personnel side of the business from the best NFL exec the salary cap era's known, he's more than well-equipped to begin the retooling.

Given that Dimitroff is now a Falcons employee, he'll be out of the Pats offices early next week, one would expect. We'll put our ear to the ground to find out who will be in line to replace Dimitroff.

Last week, as the Jaguars jubilantly walked from the field to their locker room at Heinz Field, someone (presumably a Jaguar) bellowed, "That's another 20 grand, thank you!"

That's the sum that each player on the losing teams this weekend will get for merely participating in the Divisional Playoffs.

The winners? They get $37.5K for advancing. And when you get to the Super Bowl, the loser gets an additional 40K while the winner pockets 78 thousand.

Nice work if you can get it.

How do you go up 14-0, as the Seahawks did, then just turtle for the next 35 minutes or so, getting outscored 35-3?

I'm not sure either. But Seattle has confirmed that it is a pure-dee embarrassment on the road today in snowy Green Bay.

The Seattle running game, presumed to be a problem entering the game, has come through as advertised. With the third quarter nearing its end, Shaun Alexander's carried 8 times for 11 yards and Maurice Morris has gone twice for a loss of 1.

The field conditions are the worst I've seen since the Snow Bowl between New England and Oakland in January of 2002. That, coincidentally, was also a Divisional Playoff game.

There was a controversial call in that game. I can't remember what it was. Anyone?

The Ravens spent Tuesday interviewing John Harbaugh and league sources tell NBCSports.com that the initial round of interviews in Baltimore is done.

The six guys the Ravens had in - Harbaugh, Colts quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell, Cowboys offensive line coach Tony Sparano, Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and holdover defensive coordinator Rex Ryan -- will be the group they choose from.

So who will be the guy? Look at it this way. Sparano's ticketed to be the head man for the Dolphins once their dog-and-pony show is complete. Ryan's not a good fit given the fact he's been there so long and the Ravens need a culture change. So that means it's between Caldwell, Schottenheimer, Garrett and Harbaugh.

Garrett, for whatever reason, has the biggest buzz around him. But the declining production of the Dallas offense at a time it should be building to a crescendo should be setting off alarms about his candidacy. He's spent one year as a coordinator. What he's got going for him is surface stuff. He's a former Cowboys backup and played in the league. He looks good on the sidelines. He's Princeton-educated. And the chance still exists that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will make it very hard for Garrett to leave, offering him an ascendancy clause when Wade Phillips is done. And that time could come sooner than you think. After the final game of the season,

Tuesday morning. We're all tired. I'm seated by an electrical outlet in the Delta terminal of the airport in New Orleans, where the sound barrier is being shattered by the booming voice of ESPN's Trevor Matich . He's either doing a radio interview or he just really loves discussing last night's football game with his wife. Either way, you can hear him all the way in Slidell.

Not that anyone is going to tell Matich to ADJUST the VOLUME of his VOICE. Have you seen the size of that guy?

Something tells me that Will McDonough gives quieter airport radio interviews.

Wouldn't it be cool if I knew what call-in show Matich was doing? "Hi, yeah, this is JW. First-time, on-time. Weren't you wearing that same all-black outfit on the sidelines last night?"

It's 2:37 a.m.

Just finished writing the national championship game column. Now all that remains is the annual "Siesta Bowl", the post-BCS game day in which I sleep or sleepwalk (or both) through the day...week...month...winter.

Amanda Beard was at the game tonight. No, not the Duke All-American basketball player. That's Alana Beard. I wonder if they know one another.

Was reading back on some of the posts tonight (and all the comments!) and I think I have a new blossary term for us. It's to describe a situation in which a quarterback begins doing improv in the hopes of being seen by a talent scout from Saturday Night Live . That's right, this ploy would be known as Intentional Groundling .

Goodnight, everybody!

Ohio State gets all busted up on the 4th-down play. (Clearing his throat) "Um, Terrelle, we think you might have been able to manufacture a first down on your own on that play."

Will it hurt even more if Ohio State loses to a team with a coach named Bo on its sideline? And if LSU goes back up by 21, will Bo Pelini hand his headse to Les Miles and say, "I can still catch the late flight to Omaha if I leave now?"

I wonder.

Boeckman had Hartline on that play and he just waited too long. Earlier this week I told my buddy Austin Murphy that Todd Boeckman was the most important player in this game. Because if he simply managed the game, the Buckeyes might win. But if plays such as that 4th-and-8 happen, they'd be in trouble.

What are the longer odds, Hester fumbling or Ohio State coming back? We may just need to see one in order to see the other.

Adding insult to injury, I missed "How I Melt Your Mother" tonight.

Cameron Heyward just batted down Matt Flynn's 3rd-down pass. This not only gives the Buckeyes one last chance, but worse, it's going to hurt Patrick Fisher's 60-yard per punt average this evening. Even after the delay of game on LSU penalty, it won't be any longer than 45 yards.

Fisher: "Pssst, Coach Miles. Can we run about three or four more delay of game penalties?"

Okay, kids, I'm headed down to the field to pull a Chris Jessie. Thank y'all for reading.

If you're seated at home you probably think that this stadium is filled to capacity. Actually, the entire upper deck is being impersonated by Frank Caliendo. The man has talent.

Ohio State is making this interesting. That 4th down touchdown pass just had to happen. Now, it's 4th-and-8 from the LSU 35. Gotta go, Buckeyes. Young Mr. Boeckman has made some nice plays this half. Let's see if he has another one in him.

Oh, by the way, Terrelle Pryor, the latest Vince Young/Michael Vick, is sitting at home trying to decide between Ohio State and Michigan. So it's almost as if the Buckeyes are auditioning for him.

By the way, did you see that Michael Vick is being transferred to Kansas. Does that mean he has to sit out of jail for a year? Or at least from his new prison football team?

4th-and-8 still (OSU called a timeout; I'll let that one go). If you're LSU, do you bring the blitz. I do.

Someday you'll be able to tell your children, and parole officer, that you saw the most outstanding BCS championship game in terms of punting...EVER!

Tonight we have had the two longest punts--63 yards by Ryan "No, No" Pretorious of Ohio State, and 62 yards, by Patrick Fisher of LSU--in BCS history. We've also had a roughing the kicker penalty that may turn out to be the biggest play in this game. Oh, and Ray Guy streaked across the field during a commercial break. Wait. What was that? Oh....some guy streaked across the field during a commercial break.

Still, a fine game, punting-wise.

The press box announcer just announced that at the end of the 3rd quarter they're going to come by and pick up our interview request forms. Here's who I jotted down:

1) James Laurinaitis
2) "The Shoebomber"
3) Those three North Carolina football players who were allegedly sexually assaulted
4) Pakistani president Musharraf (oh wait, Lara Logan beat me to him...damn her)
5) A vampire, any vampire (or Anne Rice, who lives here)
6) The 4th Golden Girl from the left

If you thought Ohio State fans were mad, you should see them now. Burger King just announced that when they return home, the Whopper will have been taken away.

Jewels from my buddy Tupelo:

Hey, Jamarcus Russell...Bill Cosby called and wants his sweater back. And he thinks you are a bad role model. So there.

Trinity just won the Pontiac Game-Changing Performance of the Year! Maybe with the money, they can hire a receptionist to answer the phone at the athletic department.

I love the LSU player names. I'd show up just for role call. Especially if Murray from 'Flight of the Conchords' was in charge.

Hey, I know LSU is good, but Ohio State is looking as if they'll give up as many points to the Tigers tonight as Mississippi State did in its opener.

Hello Trinity: We need that Pontiac Game-Changing Performance Trophy back. And the moolah. Malcolm Jenkins just picked off a Matt Flynn slant-in and nearly took it to the chateau. He stepped out on the 11. Suddenly, it's interesting again. Tressel is playing it conservative and handing it off to Wells.

Oh boy, on 3rd-and-1 from the 2, Ohio State hands off to Wells and LOSES 3.

4th-and-4 from the 5....AND HE HITS IT! Boeckman to Robiskie.

Cue Dr. Frankenstein: " It's ALIVE! It's ALIVE!"

31-17, LSU, with 1:38 to play in the3rd.

I never thought I'd type this about a BCS bowl game, but this game is flying by.

...and LSU's pass falls incomplete. Wasted timeout. Please, someone explain that logic to me.

And a HUGE break for the Tigers. Ohio State's Austin Spitler, on 4th down, broke through the blockers and had a clear shot at LSU putnter Patrick Fisher. Somehow he missed the football--Spitler nailed Fisher above the knee--and Fisher got off a 62-yard punt despite the personal foul.

On the next play Ohio State committed yet another personal foul.

That's five personal fouls against the Buckeyes. Isn't that LSU's job?

Flynn just passed to Early Doucet who, despite not having a terrific angle, broke the tackles of Anderson Russell and Shaun Lane at the 5-yard line. Doucet waltzed into the end zone.

14 plays, 80 yards, 5:56.

Give the assist to Spitler.

It's 31-10, LSU. The Buckeyes do not look anything like the nation's No. 1 defense tonight. Only James Laurinaitis does. Oh well, at least Greg Oden and Mike Conley, Jr., never turned pro and hoops season will be good.

LSU hasn't looked this solid since the Virginia Tech game. That was four months ago.

Jacob Hester is not on LSU's kickoff team now. I guess Les Miles wants to save him.

Trinity "15-lateral" University of San Antonio was just named the winner of that Pontiac Game-Changing Performance Award. I was rooting for them. Weren't you? Think about it. That $100,000 prize is probably more than the school's athletic budget. Or at least close. Whereas Auburn probably spends that much in toilet paper removal from Toomer's Corner.

James Laurinaitis: a game-high ten tackles thus far. You knew he'd come to play.

The early MVP of this game may be LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, who is calling a masterful, keep 'em off balance game. Hester one play, then a keeper to Perrilloux the next, then a quick out to Doucet, then a pitch to Holliday. Of course it does help to have weapons like that.

It's 3rd-and-one at the 50. Big play. OSU needs a stop. Flynn keeps for 3. If LSU goes up 31-10 on the first drive of the 2nd half, would the Buckeyes recover?

Matt Flynn was just flagged for intentional grounding. That's LSU's first penalty of the night.

On 3rd-and-23, Les Miles calls timeout....violating my sacrosanct rule of never burning a second-half timeout until there are less than five minutes remaining in the game. We'll see if this comes back to catch the Tigers by the tail.

So, Ohio State scores first on a long run and then commences to implode from then on. Where have we seen this before?

Chris Wells has 119 first-half yards (I said he'd need to get 20 for Ohio State to win; what do I know?) but Ohio State's No. 1 ranked defense has failed to stop LSU since the Tigers' very first series. The Tigers have punted just once.

Three things OSU must do in the second half (besides score 15 points):

1. Put pressure on Flynn or Perrilloux
2. Go back to Chris Wells
3. Run a play that somehow goes out of control, forcing Kirk Barton and Alex Boone into the Fox sideline booth where Urban Meyer is sitting. Mayhem ensues.

Todd Boeckman, I've seen, has missed the open receiver at least three times thus far. Yes, it's easier to see who is open from the press box than from ground-level--and Marlon Favorite is not bearing down on me--but a big difference in the game now is that Boeckman is not finding the open man, nor creating plays. And Flynn is.

This game has for some reason turned LSU's way ever since Steltz went out. On the next play LSU blocked the field goal attempt (it was still 10-10 at the time) and they've been running downhill ever since.

A.J. Trapasso, punting from the 37-yard line (line of scrimmage), just boomed a kick that went into the end zone on the second bounce. 63 yards. Whoa.

LSU is running out the clock on the half and OSU isn't trying to stop them.

It'll be 24-10, LSU, at the half.

At halftime last January the score was Florida 34, Ohio State 14. And LSU will receive the second-half kickoff.

LSU has already scored 17 points--and punted just once--in the first half.

Ohio State has given up more than 17 points (28) only once in a game all season long. That was the loss to Illinois.

Big play for LSU. Harry Coleman blitzed and got a great shot on Boeckman just as he released a fade pattern. It was a good throw still, but Chevis Jackson made a great play on the ball to wrest it from the Buckeye wideout. And he returned it 34 yards.

Matt Flynn just found TE Richard Dickson (who is Dick's son: Dick Dickson is his dad) on a reverse pass. Great play, down to the 1. On his 3rd bang into the line, Hester scores.

24-10, Tigers.

LSU definitely has its Mojeaux back.

The Tigers are not winning the line of scrimmage battle. Well, that's not why they're winning. They're up because Flynn has been deadly accurate (10-14 so far for two TDs) and because OSU has blown a few coverages.

Chris Wells of Ohio State is running like a big man thus far. His backup, as you may know, is Maurice Wells, who owns the Florida prep rushing record for singl-game yardage (429 yards). So we'd be remiss if we went an entire game without gushering over an All-Wells Team:

6) Dana (high school teammate of mine who played in the NFL)
5.) Maurice
4) Bubba
3) Dawn
2) H.G.
1) Chris "Beanie"

Ryan Perrilloux just came in for one play, and ran an option left. RP was nearly wrapped up, but he got it to Keiland Williams, who was then hit after he went out of bounds. 25-yard play. RP then took a bow and left the game.

Ohio State just got flagged for a facemask after a nice catch by Byrd. That's three penalties on Ohio State, none on the nation's 2nd-most penalized team. With Ohio State teetering, Flynn calls' a nice play (audible?), a quick seam route to tight end Richard Dickson who scores untouched.

It's 10-10, early in the second quarter. The Tigers are wisely using Jacob Hester as a jab, then taking their big punches at opportune moments. That's what I'd do. Oh, and if you think those Ohio State safeties are enjoying tackling Hester when he bursts past the Buckeye D-line, you'd be...not right.

Chris Wells just ABUSED Chevis Jackson in the open field. Wells got around left end and Jackson, a corner, came up to tackle him. Wells' stiff-arm turned into a takedown that James Laurinaitis' dad would be proud of. Wells gained an extra ten or twelve yards after that contact.

Brian Robiskie just caught a nice pass for the Buckeyes, put the ball in one hand (yes, like a loaf of bread) and made a big gain. Robiskie's dad, Terry, was the first 1,000-yard rusher in LSU history. So there's a little family conflict tonight.

Craig Steltz, LSU's tough guy leading tackler, interception leader, All-American and golden-boy hair god, is hurt. Just from the way they are working on his upper right shoulder, I'd guess (emphasize, only a guess) it's a stinger. On the play before he came out, Steltz was holding his right arm as if it were a wounded, useless limb. He tried to run over to the left sideline in help coverage but was nowhere close. On the play Todd Boeckman floated a sweet flag route pass to Robiskie, who bobbled it.

Missed opportunity. Because on the next play LSU's Ricky Jean-Francois blocked Ryan Pretorius' field-goal try.

Still 10-10. LSU is running effectively. It IS fun to watch Heser run though, no? The guy goes from looking as if he's walking from his car to the gas station attendant to all of a sudden having an absolute motor. The young man RUNS HARD. And he listens to Elvis.

Trindon Holliday just made his first carry. You might as well try to tackle a greased jackrabbit. Holliday for nine.

Mid-second quarter observation: This game doesn't blow.

Second mid-second quarter observation: Ohio State linebacker Marcus Freeman is not starring in The Bucket List , now playing at a theater near you. Matt Flynn just found Brandon LaFell for a 10-yard TD pass. James Laurinaitis put a good lick on Flynn as he released the ball, but Flynn held his ground and made the pass he had to. Nice play.

LSU 17, Ohio State 10.

And Trindon Holliday and Ryan Perrilloux have both really only gotten one play apiece so far.

Beanie Wells' 65-yard touchdown run is the longest run from scrimmage in BCS Championship Game "history", which equals ten years. The previous longest run was by LSU's Justin Vincent, 64 yards but no TD, in the 2004 Sugar Bowl.

Things that have never happened in a BCS bowl game: A blocked field goal for a touchdown, a fumble returned for a touchdown, a halftime performance by Right Said Fred, a defensive two-point play on a PAT, and a safety.

Les Miles is employing a steady diet of Jacob Hester on LSU's second series. Hester has fumbled three times in his entire life. Keith Jackson would have been so bored calling his games (Fumbuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhl!")

Roger Clemens just called a press conference where he's going to air the phone call message that Scott Van Pelt left for that chick he met in the bar. Well, that just seems unnecessary and cruel.

See how I did that? Ohio State, LSU and Rocky all in one.

It's early, but Ohio State's touchdown on the game's fourth play has expunged all the butterflies. The Buckeyes have confidence, while LSU looks dazed. As if they took a first-round punch to the nose. On first down Jacob Hester was undercut by Marcus Freeman for a gain of three. On second down Early Doucet dropped a screen pass. And on third down the ball was snapped over Matt Flynn's head for an 14-yard loss.

Earlier today I saw a T-shirt that read, "Les Miles is going to feel what it's like to coach at Michigan." Perhaps it was worded better than that.

Ohio State running back Brandon Saine just lined up as an H-back, went out on a flare pattern, and caught a pass for about a 45-yard gain. No one was within ten yards of him when he caught the ball. Coach Tressel has been doing his homework.

Ryan Pretorius, 25-yard field goal.

10-0, Ohio State, with 9:12 to play in the first quarter.

FYI, about 90 minutes ago I visited the media dining room. The server asked, "Jambalaya or pasta?"

"Can I just defer 'til the second half?"

LSU just kicked off. How cool is it that Jacob Hester, the LSU tailback, is on the Tiger kicking unit. I just love Hester. He's the heart of LSU.

Chris Wells....GONE!!!!!!

Take that, team speed. 65 yards, virtually untouched. Between the tackles. Where was Ali Highsmith? Sorry, Craig Steltz, you're not going to catch him.

7-0, Ohio State, and just as important, no game-ending injuries.

Minutes before kickoff. The press box announcer just issued the standard, "A reminder, this is a working press box. No cheering is allowed."

One day I'd like to watch the game from the cheering press box, where no working is allowed. Oh, and I want them to serve hot fudge sundaes.

What I'd like to see. Ohio State kicks off to LSU, Trindon Holliday returns it for a touchdown, and the Buckeyes, out of habit, dogpile him in the end zone.

Les Miles mentioned last week that his LSU Tigers had played in the first game of the football season, a 45-0 beatdown of Mississippi State on August 30. And here they are this evening, playing in the last game of the season on January 7. My, how 131 days can just fly by.

JaMarcus Russell is standing on the LSU sideline, wearing the main prop from "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Troy Smith is standing on the Ohio State sideline. Would anyone mind if these two are allowed to enter the game in the second half in relief?

The press box is located in the red zone. That is, we are surrounded on all side by the noisy Ohio State fans. The Buckeyes represent about one-third of the arena. You have to credit them for that. On the other hand, have you ever spent January in Dayton? Exactly.

Tonight the culmination of the 2007 College Football season comes to a decisive end. The national champion will be crowned and we can all walk away with the knowledge of one team ruling on top of the polls. Finally.

Ohio State? LSU? LSU? Ohio State? Take your pick. 50-50 says you are right.

Now some feel this game is a let down, not the *real* championship game, perhaps even boring. A dull ending to what was a never ending turbulent season with more flip flopping of the rankings then on the campaign trails.

Well sorry to disappoint you. But this is what we've got. Two teams, whether they deserve to be in New Orleans or not, fighting for one last game. I read an article stating the Buckeyes were banned from entering the downtown casinos in order for them to stay focused. I get that. Of course you don't send your boys down there and say: "Hey go nuts! Run over to the craps table and gamble all you got. Have a few Hurricanes and then I'll see you at the team meeting at 9 am tomorrow!"

But .. come on .. this is the game these kids have been playing for all season. This is it. Ohio State needs to get over what happened last year. If they come out thinking this one is all about redemption and showing the world they deserve to be here, well then Tressel and Co. might want to talk to Hawaii. I'm pretty sure June Jones and Colt Brennan tried the same thing. They psyched themselves up and sometimes that equation equals an embarrassing loss. They took on the rest of the country, the negative opinions and all the doubts INSTEAD of taking on Georgia. In the end, they lost to both.

These boys, OSU and LSU, need to go out (game, bars.. in that order) and have fun. They know why they are there and frankly at this point it does not matter how they got there. They are blindly aware of what is at stake. But at the end of the day/weekend/season, what it comes down to is this is a one time deal. ENJOY IT. And that goes for all the college fans out there who feel like this isn't the real game. TOO BAD. It is what it is and all you've got. This is the game the BCS gave us. Deal with it.

Regardless of the system...
Regardless of USC...
Regardless of Georgia...

This games business is between Ohio State and LSU.

Still not satisfied?

Well this is America and we love our TV, so you've got options.
If you don't like the game, here's a look at what else is on:

American Gladiators on NBC
How I Met Your Mother on CBS
Law & Order on TNT
Dance War: Bruno vs Carrie Ann on ABC
Critic's Choice Awards on VH1
SportsCenter Special on ESPN
Good East on Food Network

There you go.
After tonight it's all over.
Finally.

Sunday night. My crew (or, considering the locale, should I say "krewe"?) announced they were staying in to work. But it's New Orleans and, if you don't have work to do (or, like me, are procrastinating), you cannot stay in your room. That would be like going to a movie and keeping your eyes closed.

So I wandered outside, beyond the din and reverie of Bourbon Street. A block south I came upon a swanky bar and dining area, the Rib Room. It's adjoined to the Omni Hotel. The Titan-Charger game still had a quarter remaining, so I decided to catch it there.

A few minutes later a sixtyish looking, white-haired gent in a cream-colored suit walked in. He was accompanied by a stunning raven-haired woman. The man stood at the corner of the bar and inspected a gaggle of scarlet-clad drinkers to his right. "Who in here is an Ohio State fan?" the man inquired in a southern drawl. They looked at him, unsure of what he was planning to do. Then the man looked at the bartender. "Their drinks are on me."

And that is how I made the acquaintance of Al and Melanie Bordelon of Metairie, La. A finer couple you could not meet. "What are you drinking, John?" Al asked after we'd spoken for a few minutes, and the next thing you know Al was buying me a Bombay martini. A few minutes and a hushed whisper to Melanie later, Al was inviting me to dinner with Melanie, their daughter and son-in-law (the latter two being LSU alums).

It only took a few minutes--and a Bombay martini--and Al and Melanie and I were old friends. They told me that they would watch tonight's game from their home, just as they did when LSU won the '03 national title in the Superdome. "That night," Al, an attorney, told me, "we vowed that if LSU won we'd all jump in the pool. And so we did."

"Oh, it was cold," Melanie said with a sparkle in her eye, "but it was fun."

The Bordelons are a well-heeled couple, but they were not immune to Hurricane Katrina. Their ground floor absorbed 18 inches of water and they had to rent a home 100 miles away for three months before returning. "When we came back," Al said, "we could only live on the second floor. We cooked all our meals on a hot plate and did the dishes in our laundry sink.

"And we had our dad, who was 93, with us and Melanie took care of him," Al said, putting his arm around his wife.

Melanie looked me dead in the eye.

"I love this city," she said. "The way I look at it, this region has been around millions of years. There have been terrible storms before, and there will be more in the future. And when that happens, people will rebuild. I'll never leave this place."

I hope tonight's game between LSU and Ohio State is memorable. But I know that I won't soon forget the hour I shared with Al and Melanie last night at the Rib Room. Southern hospitality? It's alive and well.

Before my first visit to New Orleans in December of 1992, I knew little of Cajun and/or Creole cuisine. The depth of my understanding revolved around a bit that David Letterman would do on his old NBC "Late NIght" program. Letterman would mention to Paul that he'd visited K-Paul's, the restaurant owned by burgeoning, blackening chef Paul Prudhomme. Paul would inquire as to what Dave had ordered. And Dave would reply, "The nitro-burning prawns."

That's when Paul would gently remind Dave that it was Paul Prudhomme, the Creole chef, and not Don Prudhomme, the dragster-driving legend. And Dave would pretend to be oblivious to the correction, which was just good comedy.
All of which is to say, I know as much about Cajun cooking as Letterman does (or pretends to know). But my good friend Mark Beech, writer-reporter at Sports Illustrated , is a certified foodie (he informed me that Prudhomme invented blackening, by the way). And so all this past week I've hitched my appetite to Beech's wagon for dinner. Often we have been joined by Austin Murphy, a man who generously lays his (credit) card on the table. Here then, is a cursory gustatory tour of the past week in the Big Easy, the only place I've dined all year. As you'll see, the quality of the grub keeps rising (rating: one to five stars):

Tuesday : Lucky Dog hot dog cart on the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse Streets(**). By the time the Sugar Bowl had let out and my story had been filed, restaurants were closed. Beech had eaten dinner but I was famished. So I hit the Lucky Dog cart, where $4.75 will earn you a satisfying chili dog. It might not be the epicure for what ails ya', but after midnight any sustenance you can draw from something not served in a hand-grenade shaped container is a plus here.

Wednesday Cafe Bon Ton (****). Beech and Austin ordered the house specialty, crawfish etouffee. I wanted to be original, so I ordered shrimp etouffee. "The crawfish is tastier," our waitress, Pat, informed us. Who am I to question? I made it three of a kind...and Pat, being the typical hospitable southerner she is, went back to the kitchen later and found me a cup of shrimp etouffee so that I could see how correct she was.

Thursday Dick and Jenny's (****) This joint is a few miles away from the Quarter, in a rather dilapidated stretch along Tchoupitoulas (just like it sounds) Street. But man, was it yummy. I had some catfish with shrimp and spinach. The chocolate chip cookie sundae is suitable for one, if that one is an offensive lineman for Ohio State.

Friday Cochon (*****) I loved that a restaurant whose name translates to "pig" is operated by a chef named Link. Donald Link operates one of the hottest new restaurants in town and it specializes in the other white meat. Austin was moved to recite Samuel L.Jackson's anti-swine screed from "Pulp Fiction", but we all had us some pigtastic dinners. Ham hocks for me. And the alligator appetizer put my tummy in a death roll of delight. And the velvet cake for dessert? Gustatory heaven!

Saturday Irene's (**********) This is the best meal I can remember having. Not just this week, maybe ever. Early Saturday evening I went for a run and when I passed this place by, on a quiet corner of the Quarter, something about it just looked right. I phoned Beech, who is a gamer and said he'd be willing to give it a shot.
Well, first we stopped at "Harry's On The Corner", a populuar bar with locals that is located one block away. And a woman in there wearing a fleur-de-lis broche told us we'd done well in our choice. And as I was walking there, I passed Harry Shearer on the street. A real life member of Spinal Tap, not to mention the voice of Rev. Lovejoy and Principal Skinner from "The Simpsons". A good omen.
Beech and I wound up waiting nearly two hours for our table, but it was worth it. You have to eat at this place. I had the crabmeat gratin (I've never ordered seconds on an appetizer....excluding chicken wings...but I nearly did on this) and then the duck. Followed by the best cheesecake you'll ever taste. Amazing!
My friend Chad Millman of ESPN the Mag used to go back to the kitchen after a good meal and shake the chef's hand. If Chad had eaten my meal, he might have hugged the chef from behind.

Sunday K-Paul's. It only seemed fitting to finish up at K-Paul's (*****), where I did look but was unable to find the nitro-burning prawns on the menu. Maybe it's a special. The service, as we've gotten accustomed to, was excellent. We ordered the fried green tomatoes, alligator snausage and then shared a chicken breast jumbalaya entree. The best part is that K-Paul's closes at 10 p.m. and we arrived at 10:04 p.m. and the hostess said, "I can seat you."
There's a t-shirt I've seen down here that reads: "Recover, Rebuild, Renew Orleans." If you're looking for a place to get away to for a few days that feels like a European city and where you can eat better than anywhere in the U.S. (and that has a casino, too), you should really visit here. There's no place like the Crescent City.

Morning of the BCS Championship Game, and I'll have lots of blogging for you all day. Here are some thoughts as we catch up from the weekend:

--I didn't see the Army All-American Bowl (couldn't remember who was televising it), but having read the reviews, Notre Dame is in terrific shape (barring any 11-hour, Justin Trattou-style decommits). Incoming Irish wideouts Michael Floyd and John "I'm 6-4, I'm white and I'm from Indiana, but I'm not Jeff Samardzija, okay?"Goodman combined to catch three touchdown passes against the nation's top prep talent.

Three TD catches. That's as many as Notre Dame's current crop of receivers had through the team's first six games last season. To be fair, the Irish receivers were less to blame for that famine than its offensive line and quarterbacks.

Floyd, according to observers, was the best player in the game outside of spead-option QB Terrelle Pryor, who has yet to decide where he will accept a scholarship (Michigan). I would be a little surprised if Floyd, a big body and a burner, is in the starting lineup versus San Diego State 243 days from now. But I'd be more surprised if he does not play that day and catch a touchdown pass.

--Dayne Crist threw one of the TD passes that Floyd caught, and it certainly does not look as if he's coming from southern California to South Bend to sit and watch Jimmy Clausen start for three seasons. Clausen is the incumbent, and he will have plently of weaponry at his disposal (tight end Kyle Rudolph is only the nation's No. 1 player at that position) in the coming years, but Crist already has an NFL build and a terrific arm. It'll be an interesting situation, the QB slotting, next season.

--Mishawaka native and offensive center Braxston Cave played in the Under Armour high school bowl in Orlando as opposed to the Army AA game in San Antonio (as opposed to almost all his incoming classmates). Cave also performed well, and it was noted that he took out de-commit Omar Hunter on one play. All of that is well and good, but I'm just wondering how long it will be--if ever--before I will hear or type the name "Braxston Cave" and not immediately have the melody of Springsteen's "Jackson Cage" floating through my head.

--Is Charlie Weis a good coach? I've heard that question a few times since arriving in New Orleans. Here is what I know. If the Irish, following a 3-9 season, really the ugliest season Notre Dame has put together in my lifetime and possibly yours, can keep every player who has verbally committed until signing day, that says a tremendous amount about the job these coaches are doing. Whether Weis (and his staff) are simply good recruiters and not good coaches is irrelevant. Recruiting is part of coaching--a huge part--and Lou Holtz won a national championship in large part because he had future NFLers such as Chris Zorich, Andy Heck, Todd Lyght, Pat Terrell, Rocket Ismail, Rickey Watters, etc.

You have to have the talent. That said, if a lot of coaches had the talent the Irish have grabbed the past two seasons, maybe they'd do even better. Who knows? But give Weis and Co. credit for attracting the talent and drawing them to a school where the workload is harder (the Irish team GPA for the first semester was above a 3.0, it was announced on Saturday), the town is not Boulder and the social life is not Gainesville.

--It may soon be time to compile an "All-Oh, NOW-They're-Good?" team of ex-Irish players who are better in the NFL than they were in South Bend. How about running back Ryan Grant, for example? Grant is leading the Packers into the playoffs (along with some dude named Favre) whereas he could not keep his starting job in South Bend ahead of Julius Jones (admittedly, JJ was great for the Irish; but I never saw Grant run with vision in a gold helmet the way he is doing at Lambeau Field...which, by the way, was designed as a replica of Notre Dame Stadium by former ND student Curly Lambeau).

Also on that list: How about defensive tackle Derek Landri, who on Saturday night ran down Ben Roethlisberger from behind in the Jaguars' win over the Steelers? Or safety Chinedum Ndukwe, who was solid at Notre Dame but did you see him starting for the Cincinnati Bengals? David Givens, anyone? Arnaz Battle?

If Ambrose Wooden makes an NFL roster next season, just please, hit me in the head with a mallet. Please.

Anyway, coming full circle, the point is that while recruiting is part of coaching, coaching is part of coaching, too. Weis and his staff now have the talent. And, yes, they're young. But this is a team that should win ten games in 2009 and 2010, and at least eight next season. Anything less, considering all the players who have pledged their college careers to the Irish, will be under-achieving.

--Kurt Menafee had the line of the weekend, discussing coaching changes with Jay "not Paul-Michael" Glazer on Fox's NFL Sunday. "Jay, if the Miami Dolphins hire Tony Sporano," Menefee asked, "where does that leave Silvio and Phil Leotardo?"

Clinging to life, and dead, of course. It's Paulie Walnuts we need to worry about, since he's still healthy. Considering how defensive Paulie is when anyone levels the mildest criticism his way, he's gotta be a defensive coordinator.

--One of the better Christmas gifts I received this year came from my brother Porge: a mix CD of tunes by The Dandy Warhols. "A long time ago/we used to be friends" is also swimming through my head these days.

--Caught the last half-hour of the series finale of "Extras" again. Let me reiterate:this is the best 90 minutes of TV I saw all year and, outside of "Once" perhaps, the best movie. Hilarious and touching at the same time. Andy Milman's moment of clarity near the end of the show is the best Op/Ed piece on celebrity you'll hear. It's a great love story, too. You'd be mental to miss this.

The rain comes down harder as the fourth quarter starts. One team goes on, one is done. Fifteen minutes of football.

Tone setter? On the first play of the fourth, San Diego linebacker Shaun Philips stands LenDale White straight up in the backfield. Loss of three.

The Titans try a field goal, from 38 yards. Incredibly, Rob Bironas misses.

LaDainian Tomlinson gets a 12-yard run.

Then comes a key San Diego third-down conversion, San Diego needing six yards, Philip Rivers to Brandon Manumaleuna for nine.

Another big third-down, Rivers to Chris Chambers for 39 yards -- Chambers so wide open deep down the field the play looks more pre-season than playoff.

On third and 10 from the 10, Rivers completes to LT, who is slammed down near the goal line. Is he over? It looks like he's just short. Which is what the refs call in real time.

To challenge or not? The play clock ticks down, down, down -- and finally the Chargers throw the red flag, asking for review. This could be critical, because if San Diego loses the challenge, it loses its final time out, and there are still nearly nine minutes to play.

They lose.

Fourth and goal from inside the 1.

The Chargers go for it. Offensive lineman Cory Withrow and Jeromey Clary report in eligible receivers. Fake-out. LT jumps across the pile, clearly crossing the goal-line plane, for six points.

The Titans challenge. Denied. They lose a time-out.

SD, 17-6, with 8:45 to go. And the boos from the stands at halftime now turn into shouts of, "LT! LT!" A sign in the stands reads, in red, white and blue, "LT for President!"

Twelve plays, 72 yards, 5:18 off the clock. By far the best drive of the day for either side.

The Titans get the ball, linebacker Shawne Merriman sacks quarterback Vince Young and -- what's this? The "Lights Out" dance.

Luis Castillo follows with another sack. The Titans punt.

Seven and a half to go, Chargers with all the momentum and the ball on their own 43.

LT gets the ball on second down, goes around the left side for 12 and, in a play that shows just how smart he is, falls down, inbounds, to keep the clock running.

Six to go. Michael Turner jams it up the middle for another 11 and another San Diego first down, to the Tennessee 34.

Titan defenders with their hands on their hips. Tired?

At 4:13, Tennessee takes a time-out. One left.

At 4:03, Tennessee takes its final time out.

Tennesse forces the punt.

A series of penalties forces the Titans deep into their end zone.

Young, trying to make a play, instead throws an interception, to Drayton Florence.

The Chargers get the ball back with 3:33 to go. A first down with just under two minutes to play seals the win.

I'm off to the locker rooms.

Weather update: no rain, ominous clouds at the start of the half, steady drizzle by the end of the third.

The Chargers open the half trying to find LT some running room.

But there's none to be had.

So Philip Rivers has to wing it.

He finds Chris Chambers down the middle for 19.

On another third down, he hits Vincent Jackson for 34 down the right sideline.

Back to Chambers on the left side for 19, and again for another 7, down to the Titans' 4.

On third down, the Chargers get only 2. The crowd boos when San Diego doesn't go for it on fourth -- but in this kind of game you need points, and Nate Kaeding boots through a 20-yarder.

Titans 6, Chargers 3, 9:41 to go in the third, and this disptach from the stat line: Tomlinson has only 10 yards rushing on 12 carries -- while Rivers has 180 yards passing.

The Titans do nothing, the Chargers get the ball back and start driving -- and then Tennessee's Albert Haynesworth gets stupid, jumping offside and then pushing Rivers down. All with no snap of the ball. 15 yards, down to the Tennessee 29. Stupid.

Two plays later, Rivers finds Jackson all alone at the 2, Jackson dances in and all of a sudden, it's 10-6, Chargers. The drive goes 78 yards in seven plays.

Whereupon the Titans come right back, driving to the San Diego 17 as the quarter ends, the key play on the drive a pretty Vince Young pass to Ben Troupe for 26 yards.

Stay tuned ...

The Titans are driving, driving, driving -- LenDale White with 48 yards on 10 carries early in the second quarter -- when Tennessee's Chris Brown, slammed by San Diego's Shawne Merriman, fumbles on the San Diego 11, the Chargers' Shaun Phillips recovering.

San Diego then gets two first downs, one on a pretty 31-yard Philip Rivers pass to Chris Chambers down the middle of the field, but can't get into the red zone.

With nine minutes to go in the second, after three offensive series, LT has 3 yards on five carries, the Titans' strategy obvious:

On defense, key on Tomlinson, make Rivers win the game.

On offense, run first, pass when necessary.

After holding the Titans deep in their territory, the Chargers get the ball at the Tennessee 43. Rivers throws deep for Chris Chambers, into the end zone -- but it's w-a-y underthrown, the Titans' Cortland Finnegan picking it off.

It's Rivers' first pick in 104 throws.

The Titans go three and out.

This hardly looks like playoff football.

Until Rivers finds a wide-open Vincent Jackson on a third-and-12 for 32, to the Tennessee 26.

Two plays later, Antonio Gates is hurt -- his left foot. In a class act, Tennessee's Keith Bulluck stands over Gates while the trainers look over Gates -- and rubs his shoulder for luck. The cart comes to wheel Gates off and while he walks to it himself -- that can't be good for San Diego's chances. Before he goes, Shawne Merriman wishes him luck, too.

A few minutes later, they announce in the press box that Gates' return is questionable.

In th meantime, the Chargers can't do anything after the long pass play. Nate Kaeding's wobbly field goal try from the 27 teeters off to the right. Chargers still scoreless.

The Titans get the ball with about three minutes to go and move to the Charger 26. Rob Bironas kicks a 43-yard field goal.

And the boos rain down on the Chargers -- who haven't won a playoff game since their Super Bowl season, 13 years ago.

Weather report: not good. The clouds settle in low and heavy over the stadium at kickoff.

Tennessee wins the toss and elects to receive -- then, on the first play from scrimmage, lines up in a Funky Left formation. Which resulted in an incomplete pass. Desperation from the get-go? Or a first instance of cleverness?

Of course Vince Young -- bothered by a thigh injury -- started. The question is: how long can he go? As it turns out: unclear.

On the Titans' first series, Young, scrambling on a busted third-down play, runs for 9, and a first down, and looks fine doing it.

Rob Bironas pushes through a 30-yard field goal to put the Titans ahead, 3-0.

At this point, 9:37 to go in the first, the Charger Girls are already soaked. The rain is not heavy but steady.

The Chargers' first offensive series goes nowhere, three and out, Philip Rivers sacked and fumbling on second down, LaDainian Tomlinson recovering.

The Titans get the ball back, and San Diego's Jacques Cesaire sacks Young. Who knew Cesaire, 6-2, 295, had that kind of speed?

On the next play, San Diego's Igor Olshansky hits Young as the quarterback is heaving a pass to nowhere. Young stays down for a long time before getting up and walking off without help.

Then comes the Revenge of the Officials -- a cut block call on San Diego's Kris Dielman, the zebras obviously paying close attention to the line play after the accusations of rough blocking in the game a month ago between these two teams in Nashville.

So the quarter ends with a 3-0 score -- the way Tennessee wants it. If Tennessee only has three, San Diego has none and the Titans keep the ball for 11:01 of that first quarter. The Chargers put up only six rushing yards and four passing.

Just moments before kickoff here at at Qualcomm Stadium, and it's drizzling.

Temps in the 50s.

Lotta gray in the sky.

Dunno if it's going to just sprinkle on or off or if we're in for a downpour. The rain has been relentless throughout California the past three days.

The field, judging from the Charger Girls' pre-game show, is at least tolerable. None of the ladies seems to be slipping.

It was either a savvy, veteran move or a cheap, dirty play. Either way, Hines Ward's surreptitious grabbing of Jags corner Brian Williams' face mask on a fourth-and-goal fade pass from the Jags 1 will live in infamy.

After the Steelers TD, the Jags tried to throw on first down. Incomplete. They tried to throw on second down. Incomplete under pressure. They tried to throw on third down. Sack. 35 seconds elapsed. Now Pittsburgh's on the move again, trailing 28-17.

Innnnnteresting.

I don't think this is over yet. Although the Jaguars are hitting about twice as hard as Pittsburgh on every single play and have every ounce of momentum and that little matter of an 18-point lead, I think Pittsburgh's going to climb back into this one.

PS Killer facemask penalty on Ike Taylor on the last Jags drive that ended with the Jones-Drew touchdown. Looked more like a 5-yarder to me but I haven't been on the same page with the refs on many calls here.

You can't hold Ben Roethlisberger responsible for the 96-yard Maurice Jones-Drew kickoff return that led to the first Jaguars touchdown.

Other than that, you can lay at least 17 points against right at his feet - 14 for the two picks and at least three for the pick he threw at the end of the half when the Steelers were at the Jags 27.

Mike Tomlin left the field clapping his hands and exhorting his team but these Steelers are in trouble deep on their home field.

And I thought it was nuts that the Jags were favored here.

Santonio Holmes made a sliding catch on which he secured the ball with both hands and rolled, maintaining possession. The ball hit the ground but it was secure when he did. So where the indisputable video evidence to overturn came in is anyone's guess.

A 21-14 deficit will feel a whole lot different if the Steelers can finish off their ongoing drive in the end zone. They've reached the Jags 29 with 1:22 left in the half. Roethlisberger's been sacked four times and picked twice.

When these teams met earlier in the year, the Jags got up on the Steelers 24-7 by the start of the fourth quarter. They did it that day with a power running game and efficient passing by David Garrard. This time it's been defense and special teams that's led to the 21-7 lead with 5:50 left in the half.

Big Ben, flushed from the pocket just flung an ill-advised pass to Najeh Davenport that was picked at the Steelers 46 yard line. It could have been worse - Mathis returned the pick inside the 25 - but his legs tangled with Davenport's on the way down and that was enough to rule him down by contact.

And Jax cashes in on a 43-yard catch-and-run to Maurice Jones-Drew in which he beat James Farrior in coverage and then outlegged Tyrone Carter for the touchdown. The touchdown pass came on a third-down play, third-and-7 to be exact.

Great job by Rashean Mathis jumping a little comeback route thrown in the direction of Santonio Holmes. Mathis took it back 63 yards, stepping through the tackle of Ben Roethlisberger to go the distance.

That's two big plays - one on special teams, the other on defense - that have swung this game the Jaguars' way.

Big John Henderson has returned to the field for the Jaguars after being proclaimed questionable for a return thanks to an injured hamstring. He's limping badly and looks like a liability right now.

So far, Dick Lebeau's defense is jumping right through gaps in the Jags offensive line in an effort to gum up the running game. The Jaguars, who regained possession after a Steelers three-and-out, have run the ball on every play so far.

It's 7-7 with 3:55 left in the first quarter.

That was a well-called first drive by offensive coordinator Bruce Arians of the Steelers.

The key play was a 31-yard catch and run off a bootleg to Hines Ward.

Pittsburgh's drive was 10 plays and 80 yards in 4:57. Najeh Davenport punched it in from the 1.

Jacksonville's John Henderson is now questionable with a hamstring strain suffered, ironically enough, on ahorse collar tackle that resulted in a key 15-yard penalty.

To be clear because there was confusion here in the press box, a horse collar tackle was adjusted this year to cover plays in which the runner is taken down by the collar of the shirt as well.

Steelers standout guard Alan Faneca may be playing his last game at Heinz Field. Irked by the team's refusal to redo his deal before this season began to bring the seven-time Pro Bowler in line with other top guards, Faneca said he would not re-sign with the Steelers.

We shall see.

A stack of records and milestones were achieved in 2007. The NFL folks blasted me with

* A record 11,104 points were scored, with games averaging 43.4 points, the highest average in 25 seasons, since the 43.7 of 1983.
* Seven quarterbacks - Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Jon Kitna, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and Tony Romo - threw for 4,000 yards, the most QBs to do so in a season.
* There were 81 300-yard passing games, tying 2004 for the most in a season since 1978 when the 16-game schedule began. Four quarterbacks - Brady (50), Romo (36), Ben Roethlisberger (32) and Peyton Manning (31) - threw for at least 30 touchdowns, only the third time in history that many quarterbacks have done so in a season.
* Games averaged 428.6 passing yards, the highest such figure since 1995 (441.6).
* New England returner Ellis Hobbs returned a kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown to tie two other players for the longest play in history. That record lasted eight weeks longer, until San Diego's Antonio Cromartie returned a missed field-goal attempt 109 yards for a touchdown on November 4. Of course, that's a mark that can be tied, but never broken.
* Chicago Bears kickoff-punt returner Devin Hester broke the NFL record (five) he established as a rookie last year with six kick returns for touchdowns.
* There were 42 kickoff and punt returns for TDs this year, breaking the record of 39 in 2002. Twenty-five of those scores came on kickoff returns, besting the record 18 of 1998.
* Indianapolis became the first team in history to post five consecutive seasons of at least 12 wins apiece.

PITTSBURGH - Not a real pleasant night weather-wise here. The drizzle is going to make an already sloppy track here at Heinz Field even harder to deal with. But there's minimal wind so the passing game shouldn't be completely compromised.

I got in touch with Miami linebacker Donnie Spragan soon after the Dolphins fired Cam Cameron.

"It's real unfortunate," said Spragan when asked if Cameron got a fair shot in his one year. "You can look at it as kind of a raw deal but it's hard to say one way or other if he got a fair shot or not. But anytime a team is 1-15 everyone's at fault. You can't point the finger. Anyone associated with the Dolphins didn't do good job this year. I didn’t do good job. Other coaches didn't do a good job. When the season's that bad there aren't many bright spots. All kinds of players are gonna get fired and not asked back."

The deal under which Marion Jones entered two guilty pleas in federal court in October called for a sentencing range of zero to six months in custody.

Now, though, the judge overseeing the case has issued an order that strongly suggests he is weighing the possibility of dealing the former Olympic star even more time in custody when she appears before him next Friday.

In an order signed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas ordered the government and defense attorneys to provide to him by next Wednesday their views on how much discretion each side believes the judge has to "impose consecutive sentences for the two false statement counts to which Defendant Jones-Thompson pled guilty."

"Consecutive," of course, means "one after the other." It has to be worrisome to any defendant when a judge is mulling the legal appropriateness of consecutive terms.

"Concurrent" is what a defendant would rather hear -- because, of course, it means terms "running at the same time."

Moreover, in asking for further legal briefs from each side on the issue, the judge directed government and defense to offer their takes on the import of a 2005 case that "affirmed an upward variance from the applicable guidelines range in the form of consecutive sentences for separate counts of false statements."

Translating that legalese into English: the judge in that 2005 case doled out more time than the federal sentencing guidelines would have called for, and the appeals court that ultimately reviewed the case said, ok, no problem.

The reason Karas wants more briefing on the matter is easily explained: the 2005 case comes from a different part of the country and does not formally serve as precedent in the federal courts hearing cases in New York state.

The judge's order also cites two other decisions, one from 2007, the other from 2003 -- both cases involving the appeals-court approval of more sentencing time than less.

In his order, Karas also observes that he is well aware of the plea bargain in Jones' case. Perhaps ominously for her, he also notes he is "not bound by that agreement."

In the continuing spirit of "When it comes to bowls, pick exactly opposite of the experts", Kansas beat Viriginia Tech in the Orange Bowl last night. Mark May and Lou Holtz took the Hokies, while I, by this time chastened, humbled and utterly defeated in my bowl-prognosticating abilities, wisely abstained.

Also, did you like how the Manginos used a Va. Tech staple--special teams kick block-- to aid in their defeat of the Hokies?

By the way, the NFL team that selects Jayhawk DB Aqib Talib is never going to be sorry they did.

It's quite out of the way (I thought my cabbie was going to stop the car and roll me), but if you ever head to New Orleans eat at Dick and Jenny's . Man, was that yummy. I had dinner with Austin Murphy, Mark Beech, Teddy "KGB" Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune, "Disco" Stewart Mandel of SI and John Henderson of the Denver Post . The restaurant had no TV sets so it became this quasi-staring contest to see which of us would break down first and ask about an Orange Bowl score. Yes, you guessed it: Stewart, who summoned my Crackberry for the knowledge.

My favorite quote of yesterday came courtesy of LSU's All-Universe defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. Discussing how parents of other kids were concerned about his size in youth football leagues: "I didn't think I was big when I was small."

My constant companion the last two days--besides Austin, Mark and that unerring sense of inferiority-- has been Steve Martin's memoir, Born Standing Up , which is terrific. Steve Martin influenced a whole generation of us comedically the way Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did basketball-wise. To this day I chuckle thinking about his line, "Some people have a way with words. Others....(pause)....(longer pause)....(still pausing)....not have way."

If you're under 30, it's impossible to appreciate how HUGE Martin was for about a two-year period in the late seventies. His comedy album "A Wild and Crazy Guy" was the No. 1 album of any kind. He was outselling Aerosmith and the Bee Gees. Albums. Oh, yeah. They were these vinyl discs on which people placed music before Steve Jobs was invented. And if you don't care, well, EXCUUUUUUUUSE ME!

Two bits of tid from the book worth sharing:

1) Steve's first writing partner when he was a young comedy writer for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" was Bob Einstein, who later gained fame as Super Dave Osborne and is now somewhat known as Larry David's pal on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", Marty Funkhouser. He is also the brother of Albert Brooks--which led Mark Beech to wonder, "Does that mean his real name is Albert Einstein?" Answer: Yes.

2) Martin confesses that the first joke he wrote for The Smothers Brothers that really got him noticed was one he stole from his roomie, comedian Gary Mule Deer. He did call Mule Deer to ask if he could use it, and his roomie said yes. But when the senior writers asked him if he'd come up with it himself, he lied. The joke: "Government studies have found that Americans watch television more than any other appliance."

Another good joke in the book comes courtesy of Pat Paulsen: "I've lived a fabulous life, with the exception of the year 1959, when I passed away."

It was nearly two weeks ago when I penned a little column related to gambling on bowl games. Perusing all 32 bowls, I circled five that I saw as mortal locks and invited you to lay down your life savings--or, if you did not want to be so reckless, the equivalent of mine-- on these five games. Four of those five games have already been played.

And I'm 0 for 4.

Brigham Young. I liked the Cougars minus-6 against UCLA. They won 17-16, and only after Kai Forbath's game-winning 28-yard field goal (he'd already made two 50-yarders) was blocked.

But at least BYU won.

Boise State. I liked the Broncos minus-11 versus East Carolina. The Skip Holtzers won 41-38, and were up by as many as 20 in the first half.

South Florida. A shoo-in against the Dennis Dixon-dearthed Ducks in the Sun Bowl, minus 6.5. Oregon won 56-21.

Oklahoma. How could I not be on the Sooners' bandwagon in the Fiesta. OU, 6.5 point-favorites, lost by 20 to West Virginia.

William H. Macy's character in "The Cooler" could not have done it any better. So the lesson that I must learn is that valuable one which George Costanza learned in one of the all-time great "Seinfeld" episodes: Whatever your gut tells you, do the opposite.

There's one more game on that list: I liked Tulsa minus-4.5 against Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl. So you wanna take that MAC team and large. I tried to help.

SILLY SEASON

Seriously, does anyone understand the bowl season? Even though I'd picked Oklahoma (as had most everyone), I liked West Virginia's chances from the moment Laura Okmin's pregame onfield interview with then-interim coach Bill Stewart concluded. I loved his enthusiasm, his energy, his utter lack of fear. You could see it in his eyes that he realized this was that one chance in a lifetime that all of us dream of and that he wanted, as Pat Haden told us he'd told him, "to leave no bullets in the chamber". Or something like that.

Maybe Stewart's gosh-darn optimism alone was not enough ("He's a little too Fausty for me," my friend Kramden said), but after just one series you could tell that West Virginia was on an entirely different plane than OU, focus-wise. Everyone could. A football game is not one in the first few plays, maybe, but it only took a few plays to see that if both teams retained their respective energy levels that it would only be a matter of time before the Mountaineers surged ahead. And then suddenly it was 20-6.

You felt the same way watching the Sugar Bowl as well. Hawaii was discombobulated from the very first play (delay of game followed by false start, 1st-and-20, before their first legal snap).

And yet, if you're looking for a trend, stop. Because Air Force jumped out to a 21-0 lead against Cal before losing in the Armed Forces. And the Golden Bears, I think, were going to win anyway even if Shaun Carney had not suffered that serious knee injury. A day earlier in the Independence Bowl, Alabama was up 27-0 and yet almost blew that lead to Colorado.

So I just don't know. And if you do, please (subliminal man: "Lloyd Carr") tell me.

RICH MAN, POOR MAN

Rich Rodriguez is "disappointed" that West Virginina is suing him? Allow me to put on my Seth Meyers/Amy Pohler face and say, "REALLY? REALLY?!? Really?"

Coach R. should not take this lawsuit any more personally than he'd want WVU to take his exodus to Ann Arbor. It's bizness. If WVU only paid him, say, 75% of his paycheck each month, would he take them to court for breach of contract or would he simply inform his athletic director that he was disappointed? If Ryan Mallett were to transfer to a Big Ten school and by some miracle the NCAA allowed him to play next season, would Rodriguez cite that this is against NCAA rules? Or would he simply say, "I'm disappointed."

Buyouts are included in contracts so that schools--or, more to the point, their fat-cat, monocle-wearing, waxed mustached boosters-- exercise a certain measure of circumspection before they woo a coach who already has a job. You want to start coach-poaching? It's going to cost you.
The buyout is simply a school's way of protecting itself. It's insurance. It's not unlike when a school fires its coach in the midst of his contract and still has to pay him the remainder of his salary. That's the coach's insurance.

On New Year's morning, as I was driving to the Cotton Bowl, I heard the host on Sporting News radio talking to a WVU booster who had called in to the program. Both agreed that WVU's lawsuit against Rodriguez made the school look petty. I disagree completely. WVU played by the rules with Rodriguez (they paid him and last year they gave him a hefty raise) and all they want in return is that he play by the rules.

Besides, it isn't Rodriguez who will be paying that $4 million out of his pocket. It's likely going to be the fattest cats around Ann Arbor. What kind of example is Rodriguez setting by saying that a contract should only be honored when it is convenient for you?

Meanwhile, West Virginia made the shrewd move and hired Stewart this morning. After what he accomplished last night in Glendale, and considering that he's a West Virginia grad himself, wouldn't they have been boneheaded not to have offered him the job.

I wonder what Bill Stewart's buyout amount is.

Ronde Barber is picking up where brother Tiki left off at the start of this season, pumping shots at Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

Ronde, the Bucs corner who will face Manning and the Giants this week in a Wild Card game at Tampa, told the New York Post, "Sometimes he just throws some bad balls I don't know the reasons for that. He can be had, we know that."

Earlier this year, Tiki - now an analyst on NBC's Football Night in America - described Manning's efforts at taking verbal leadership reins last year as "comical."

Manning fired back at Tiki for announcing his during the 2006 season his plans to retire at the end of the year.

Mocked Ronde, "Good for Eli. Let him put some more of his character out there. Nobody ever really sees it. We all know Eli. His public persona can't possibly (be) what his real persona is."

Two questions.
1) Ronde's first point - accurate as it is - brings to this game a distraction a Bucs team really doesn't need. Veterans should know better.
2) Will the Barber boys and the Manning boys please meet at the flagpole after school to settle this?

* From the Carroll County Times..."Ravens safety Gerome Sapp filed second-degree assault charges Wednesday against former Ravens long snapper Joe Maese following an altercation at Power Plant Live last week that led to Maese pressing identical misdemeanor charges first against his former teammate." I don't know what all happened there but Power Plant Live looks like a pretty fun joint.

* The Boston Herald's Karen Guregian talks to some of the voters for the Associated Press' year-end awards about Bill Belichick's Coach of the Year candidacy. Some pretty sharp insight from her sources here...ahem!

Well, it was a good run but it's over.

Actually, it wasn't that great a run was it?

Cam Cameron just got the official "Thanks for stopping by..." from the newly installed Dolphins brass this morning. Fired after a 1-15 season, the very pleasant Cameron didn't have a lot to work with in Miami to begin with.

After losing Trent Green and Ronnie Brown to injury and having Chris Chambers traded away, the offensive-minded Cameron was up against it. Miami came darn close to going winless, opening up at 0-13 before getting its first win over the Ravens. To the credit of Cameron and his team, the Dolphins never appeared to bail on him.

This paves the way for a head coach handpicked by new GM Jeff Ireland and Football Overlord Bill Parcells. Bet on Dallas offensive line coach Tony Sparano for that job.

I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been in this league a long time. I’m all too familiar with the emotions of the game and the heat-of-battle type things. I just chalked it up as that. I voted for him for the Pro Bowl. He’s a great player and [Merriman’s hit] wasn’t an intentional hit on our quarterback. A lot of things are said that I think often times are taken back. But he can speak for himself on that. I was not offended by it.

Check out this hilarious video of Chris Bosh.

Just for that, the guy deserves your vote to go to the All Star Game. Send him to New Orleans!

Patriot Vince Wilfork says he shouldn't have reached through Brandon Jacobs' facemask on Satuday night but maintains, "I didn't touch his eye." That excuse ain't gonna fly in the court of public opinion. Or with the league which will mete out fines for unseemly behavior in the season finales later in the week. Unfortunately for Big Vince, that's the kind of scene people remember for a career. From taking out J.P. Losman's knee against the Bills to getting fined for a late hit on the Cowboys Jason Witten, it's been a bad year for Wilfork's reputation. He can expect the clip of his Moe Howard moment to be replayed throughout the Patriots postseason run.

* Good line squeezed off by Jags running back Fred Taylor in a vicious takedown of Heinz Field's playing surface. He says the pigsty is a "lawsuit pending."

* Herm's throwing coaches overboard in Kansas City.

* The burner is set to simmer for Eli in the New York papers. Ralph Vacchiano has the younger Manning trying to win a playoff game earlier in his career than Peyton did.

* Pretty funny Andy Reid-to-English dictionary right here.

Hawaii's getting blown out, but backup wideout C.J. Hawthorne just made a beautiful diving catch on a long post route. Tyler Graunke threw it. The kid just lei'd out for that ball.

Graunke intercepted.

The last time Hawaii was held under 20 points? The first game of last season, at Alabama (25-17 loss). The SEC certainly makes a case for itself when it faces the Warriors.

The last time Hawaii was held to 10 or fewer points? November 6, 2004 at Boise State. A 69-3 loss on a Friday evening nationally televised game. And I was at that one, too. Man, I need to get a life.

So my sister is watching the telecast (and I'm not) and sends along this note to me:

So a few minutes ago, the announcers are detailing Jimmy Johnson's travel schedule for the bowl games he's announcing (Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Fed-Ex Bowl, then BCS Championship) with a graphic of Jimmy's face on a corporate jet as it zooms back and forth between cities. And they're sympathizing with all the miles....But he's flying via f**king corporate jet!! With assistants, and valets, of course.

While I appreciate my sister's empathy and passion (and I'm sure she meant "freakin'"), there is the little matter that Jimmy Johnson did win a national championship and a pair of Super Bowls (and who else has?) as well as having been a high school classmate of Janis Joplin. So, really, he deserves it more than I do.

**********

We almost went the entire day without mentioning how "Robby Gordon of me" this entire Cotton Bowl-Sugar Bowl double feature was. But, really, both games were just sad. This was like being forced to watch "The Last Mimzy" and "The Last Don II" on the same day just because both films have the word "Last" in them.

Also, I would appreciate it if friends begin referring to me as "The First Mimzy".

************

Charles Davis, calling the game for Fox. No one is cooler than Charles Davis. Just had to say that.

The real story here: A whole bunch of us sportswriter types trying to find things to keep us busy in New Orleans between the Sugar Bowl and the BCS Championship Game six days hence. My recommendation is that the press hospitality center just start holding AA meetings daily. "Hi, my name is John and I'm....a journalist."

"Welcome, John."

I'm not trying to be funny here--though how would anyone really know the difference? Know what I'm sayin'?--but I wonder if they still serve their signature drink at Pat O'Brien's on Bourbon Street. Because that drink is known as the Hurricane. And that's just in poor taste, isn't it?

By the way, that ironic musing was sent me by my friend Merry Miller, who is both a name and a salutation. Once Merry learns how to comment on the blog, watch out.

Did you catch Carson Daly hosting the New Year's Eve countdown? I cannot prove it, and G.A. could probably fact-check this for us, but "Carson Daly" is an anagram for "tool".

I mean, at one point he told us that they were trying to land Michael Phelps for an interview on New Year's Rockin' Eve or whatever they're calling it nowadays, but that they were unsuccessful. The reason, Carson, explained to us, is that Phelps was busy training.

At midnight?

On New Year's Eve?

As someone who was once dancing on top of a chaise lounge at a post-Olympics party in Athens while the Olympian-in-question was mashing with a chick on that very lounge chair (making my dancing that much more difficult), I find this difficult to swallow.

Michael Phelps may go down as the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time. He's a beyond-human freakishly gifted athlete. But I don't think he was in the pool, or even getting an early night's bed rest, on New Year's Eve.

And I doubt Carson believes that, either. But he doesn't respect our intelligence; he'd rather say the safe, publicist-friendly thing. Which is why he's on at 1:30 a.m. and Letterman, who says what we're all thinking, is on at 11:30 a.m.

Granted, Letterman never dated Jennifer Love-Hewitt. So Carson has him bested on that one.

Update: I hear that Club Wolverine, Phelps' swim team, swam a triple (that's three workouts) on New Year's Eve, which not only is more than the 35 laps I do a few times a week but is enough to exhaust even the world's greatest tankers. So there's a good bet that Phelps actually was asleep at midnight. I was wrong. So, just wanted to man up on that one. I guess I could just delete this entry, but that would be covering up the crime. I'm still undecided about Mr. Daly, though.

Tyler Graunke is in for Hawaii at quarterback. In June Jones's mind, it's already 2008. Wait...it IS 2008!

If you read the comments on the blog, you'll guess who the name on the headline is.

Anyone who's heard this talented Filipino Steve Perry doppelganger will tell you that no one can touch his rendition of "Lights": "When the lights go down in the city/and the sun shines on Zubic Bay"

(as opposed to, If you write the comments on the blog, since YOU would be confined to one person).

They just reviewed a 4th down play with the score 38-3 and it lasted longer than the series Laughlin . And incited just as much booing.

Please, please, please, if anyone's listening: I can see, on a play that will decide the end of the game, why instant replay may be useful. But more and more I feel as if "I went to municipal court and a college football game broke out."

Watching a college football game is beginning to feel like having sex with a person with an artificial heart. Every time things get exciting, we have to cool it down for a few minutes. (I was going to write, "like having sex with Barney Clark", but that reference may be too obsolete and I didn't want to offend all the Barney Clarks out there...or their wives).

Cotton Bowl: 38-7
Sugar Bowl: 38-3 (and counting)....like I said, now it's 41-3.

It's as if these college bowl games are being possessed by the Super Bowl demon.

And we still have nearly an entire quarter to go.

Two days--or was it two years--ago I wrote a column proposing that we cut the number of bowl games in half. Begging, actually. Well, these two games are just another example of why we should do that. Missouri vs. Georgia, a pair of schools that basically finished 3rd in the nation's two best conferences this season, would have been one quality game. As opposed to a pair of blowouts.

If this pummeling of Colt Brennan gets any worse (and I'm not just talking about the fans in the first row behind the "GEORGIA" end zone chiming in their "Colt's a rapist" chant in time with "Over-rated"), then Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant may just have to call the fourth quarter.

If you've ever gone bodysurfing on Sandy Beach in Oahu, twenty or so miles east of Waikiki, then you have a good idea what Colt Brennan feels like tonight. Because he is getting slammed.

And the name of Hawaii's running back is....

Exactly.

That's kind of an unfair quiz, since even if you knew who it was, how many of us can roll "Keahola Pilares" off the tip of our tongue? And why are we all sharing one tongue?

Brennan was just intercepted again. I believe that's three. If you're scoring at home, that's the second third-place Heisman finisher in a row to end his college career in the Sugar Bowl with a humiliating loss to an SEC school that will likely be ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in most preseason polls next season.

Or would you like me to be a little more detailed?

I'm talking about Brady Quinn, the former Notre Dame quarterback whose final game involved an embarrassing loss to LSU. But, honestly, having seen that one here, this game is more lopsided.

38-3, Georgia. I had no idea it would be this bad. Thank God Arkansas and Florida lost or SEC fans would attain new levels of insufferable.

Oh, and I'd like to be thought of as the Gino Vanelli of Nicaragua.

That "H" on Hawaii's helmets stands for Hapless after one half.

The Warriors are losing the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

The Hawaii band's halftime show is rather unique. As the band plays "Over the Rainbow" a narrator is recounting the team's season highlights and referring to Colt Brennan as "Hawaii's Heisman". It's like those halftime 30-second spots for each school that run on the tube, just without the obligatory chick wearing lab goggles.

Georgia's halftime band is now on the field, doing a salute to Journey (Shouldn't that have been Hawaii's theme?). You haven't lived until you've heard a 100-piece band play "Separate Ways". Correction: You haven't died until you've heard that.

Georgia just forced its second Hawaii turnover and is on the verge of going up 31-3 before halftime.

I shaved my back for this??!!?!

I mean, Mizzou routs Arkansas 38-7 in the Cotton Bowl and now Hawaii is on the verge of being blown out. And is it just a coincidence that both teams on the lame side of those scores had the Heisman Trophy finalists? Still, all this racing about for a pair of games that could both be 30-point blowouts.

2008 blows!

Does anyone remember the late-night ABC comedy show Fridays from the early eighties? The one that aired, well, on Fridays? That featured both Larry David and Michael Richards? Those were magical times, by the way: watching "Pink Lady and Jeff" on NBC followed by Fridays. Nothing says "good times" like being 14 and home on a Friday evening watching TV with your parents.

Anyhoo, there was one recurring character, a pharmacist who found himself digging into the stash when things got too stressful. His catchphrase was: "I can handle it!"

My first day of 2008 had a few I-Can-Handle-It moments I thought I'd share with you:

1) The 5:30 a.m. wake-up call at my hotel never came. I awoke at 7:12 a.m. in a panic because I was in Fort Worth and the Cotton Bowl was starting in three hours. Not good.

2) A punt during halftime warmups hit me in the leg...narrowly missing me twig-and-berries.

3) When I went to get cash out of the ATM, it told me I could not. That's when I looked at my cash card and noticed that it expired 12/07. So if you see a "MOM, SEND CASH" sign at the game tonight, it's not necessarily a college kid hoisting it.

4) Saving the best for last...arriving at the Superdome 15 minutes before game time. I'm wearing a tie and have my backpack, but my credential is inside. I show up at the security table outside Gate A and place my video camera on the table. The guard says, "You cannot bring that inside."

What?

"I'm sorry, I can't let you in with that."

After a minute or so of unsuccessful pleading, I'm told I can bring the camera to lost-and-found, which is on the other side of the stadium. Screw that, I think. I walk toward a clump of bushes and hide the camera deep inside. Pleased with my ingenuity, I return to the security table.

"I'm sorry, I can't allow you in with a backpack," the security tells me.

"How am I supposed to carry my laptop?" I ask.

"Sorry, you cannot come in with a laptop."

That's when another security person approaches. Notices my laptop. "Are you media?" she asks.

(To myself: "No, I'm the only fan here dressed in a tie trying to smuggle a laptop computer and video camera into the stadium."). What I really said was, while less sarcastic, perhaps more profane.

"Oh, media, well yeah, you can bring in your camera. You should have just said that."

And here's the beautiful part: When I went over to the bushes to retrieve the video camera, I couldn't find it....

(Just kidding: I wanted to scare our video supervisor, Mike Diegnan). But it did take awhile.

"I can handle it."

Matthew Stafford just threw a TD pass following a Prince Miller interception of Colt Brennan.

It's 24-3, Georgia. The Dawgs are holding the nation's top-scoring offense to just a field goal in the first half.

Also, Georgia placekicker Brandon Coutu hit a 52-yarder (with plenty of room to spare), which is the longest field goal in BCS game history.

A few posts down there was a mention of "Behind The Music", which got me to recalling "Bands Reunited" (the greatest show ever hosted by an American of Indian descent), which led me to wonder what "Sands Reunited" would be, and the answer is "rock", so it's all circular.

Okay, back to football. Knowshon Moreno is lickety-split quick an he just scored again on an 11-yard, I think we'd call it, "scamper".

14-3, Canines.

Also, let's take a moment to appreciate the passing of Don Ho.
Let's also take a moment to appreciate the passing of Colt Brennan. I mean, Colt's not dead, but you know what I mean. Ah, felicity of language is a wonderful, um, thing.

Injury Update for Georgia: Mikey Henderson, the Bulldog punt returner who got clobbered on the game's first punt, suffered a concussion. He's out for the remainder of the game. Not out cold, but not playing.

If there's no "i" in team and there are two "i's at the end of Hawaii, does that make them "Hawaus"? And if it did, would German adopt the Warriors as their new favorite college football team?

Don't you love Hawaii's offensive line? They need their own Miss Clairol endorsement deal. Why do I think I've made that joke before?

Hawaii has already been penalized four times--once for a personal foul--and has been jawing with Georgia's defense since the first play of the game. Especially fullback David Farmer. They did this in last year's Hawaii Bowl as well. The Warriors are an abrasive bunch.

Hawaii's biggest player is 6-1, 315-pound offensive lineman Keith AhSoon, whose nickname I hope is "The Big Island".

Knowshon Moreno, from Middletown South High, in New Jersey. My hometown ("this is myyy home...town"). Representin'! You go, Moreno!

From far enough away--you may need to stand in another room--don't the Bulldogs' unis make them a little like the Cleveland Browns.

Speaaking of Brown, Thomas, Georgia's other running back, is special, too. What you have to like about both Moreno and Brown is that they don't go down on the first hit and you have to wrap them up to bring them down. That and the fact that one of them attended Middletown South.

Wait a minute! You're telling me that Southern Cal played in the Rose Bowl and blew out a Big Ten school earlier today? Really? Really!?! Really. Bono was correct: "Nothing changes on New Year's Day."

I saw just enough to see that Southern Cal had at least two touchdowns in which the player who scored was flagged for behaving like an ass. Officially, they call it "unsportsmanlike conduct", but it's "behaving like an ass". Okay, so after we get rid of "further review" and then we allow referees to use their judgment on "intentional grounding" calls, here's the next thing we do to improve college football:

--The "behaving like an ass" penalty is not assessed on the ensuing kickoff. Instead, it's assessed in the same way the "slap bet" punishment on "How I Melt Your Mother" is assessed. The victimized team gets to call in that 15-yard penalty at their discretion. We'll narrow it down and say that they get to call it on any down on the offending team's next offensive possession. You think Pete Carroll, masterful coach that he is, might begin paying attention to that penalty if that were the rule? Because he certainly doesn't now. And I love Pete. But he knows that 15 yards on the kickoff isn't worth disciplining his players and rattling their mojo.

--How long until George Mitchell begins investigating American Gladiators ? Because someone should.

--Hawaii is moving. Brennan is throwing crisp passes and Georgia's rush is yet to sack him. You have to believe that Mark Richt perused tape of the Washington game, in which the Huskies went up 21-0 early by rushing Brennan like a locomotive. But then June Jones countered with shovel passes--or is it shuffle passes? I always forget-- and U-Dub had to be a little more pensive. So far Brennan is getting the time he needs.

--Something that needs to be mentioned more than once (I know I have before) is that Brennan's trio of recievers--Jason Rivers, Davone Bess and Jason Rivers--are fast, physical and have GREAT HANDS. The first two are sub-six footers, but they play bigger. Bess, especially, is built like a middleweight and sooooo quick (he's the one with the blond dreads).

In the words of Vince Neil, if he suddenly went Cajun, "Don't nned nothin', but a bonnes temps ."

( Update: My rock-and-roll brother-in-law, Mike, who's already having a fantastic 2008 because his Wolverines beat my Tebow Steaks this afternoon, informs me that it was Poison, and thus Bret "Rock of Love" Michaels who would have said that. Apologies to all the Poison fans out there, but this gives us an excuse to mention the greatest quote in the history of VH-1's "Behind The Music", courtesy of Poison's C.C. Deville: "First it was a house of whores, then it was a house of horrors.")

Greetings from the Sugar Bowl, where Hawaii looks a little rattled early, with consecutive five-yard penalties before they even ran an offensive play.

A year ago on this evening in the desert I watched Boise State shock the BCS with its overtime win against Oklahoma. From the very first play of that Fiesta Bowl the Broncos looked poised and in fact outplayed the Sooners most of the evening. The Warriors, on their opening series, looked a little bug-eyed.

Wow, I know it was illegal, but the Hawaii gunner Keenan Jones just made a killer hit on Georgia punt returner Mikey Henderson.

So, walking down Bourbon Street to the S-Dome, I would put the crowd I encountered at 100% Georgia fnas. Now that I'm here I see quite a few Islanders--I guess they're just very prompt people.

Why I like Hawaii...they're a lot more physical than SEC worshippers thinkg. Last Christmas day Hawaii beat and beat up Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl. You get hit by a 300-pounder from Polynesia, and you develop a case of amnesia.

It's been four days but I'm still thinking about Henig Furs , Montgomoery, Alabama's, leading furrier (whereas James is your leading Farrior). For those who haven't kept up on the blog, Henig Furs is owned by the family of Mississippi State backup QB Michael Henig, and I plan to keep on plugging them until they send me the dreadedly redundant "free gift".

Because for the BCS Championship Game wouldn't it be cool to roll into the press box wearing one of these?

http://henigfurs.com/1/store/closeup.asp?Inv_ID=736

Coyote Ugly? Coyote Handsome, Dawg!

Speaking of Dawgs, Georgia's fabulous freshman Knowshon Moreno just ran it in from 17 yards out for our first score of the evening.

7-0, Athens.

Made it to New Orleans without incident. The cabbie let me

There are about four minutes to go, it's 49-17 and I'm heading down to the field. Barring a miracle, this game is over.

It was unofficially over not even a minute into the fourth quarter, when USC's John David Booty threw a beautiful TD pass to David Ausberry.

That score made it 42-10.

The rout was on.

Stat nugget: in the third quarter, USC put up 239 yards. That's in one quarter.

Another: with most of the fourth quarter to go, the game in hand, USC's average at that point on first down: 7.9 yards per play.

The truism in football is that the team that has the most motivation in a bowl game tends to win.

Illinois had nothing to prove here -- this game served as reward for a decent season.

USC had everything to prove.

USC sought to prove it deserved to be in the BCS title game. The two regular-season losses? The USC performance here strongly suggests they were due to the injury that at first limited Booty's effectiveness, then kept him out for several games, a broken finger on his throwing hand.

Yes, injuries are a part of football.

But what team in the country looks better than USC does right now?

Great-looking 79-yard touchdown run by Illinois' Rashard Mendenhall to make it 21-10 early in the third quarter.

The play came on Illinois' second play of the second half -- after a USC drive had stalled.

You can't help but think the Mendenhall score was set up both by the Illini turn at the end of the first half to passing, and by Illinois' first play of the third quarter, a 9-yard pass play.

That one run matched Illinois' entire offensive output for the first half: 79 yards.

Oh -- and after that score the Illinois sideline started dancing.

But what's that they always say about football?

One team scores -- the measure of the other is how it responds.

A Mendenhall catch-and-run went for 55 yards, and put Illinois at the USC 25. And then -- a Williams pass to Jacob Willis, complete near the end zone, was knocked out by USC linebacker Kaluka Majava, away into the end zone, where USC recovered.

And then USC's Joe McKnight made perhaps the play of the game, picking up a backwards pass he'd dropped and scampering to the Illinois 12. Statistically, that 65-yard play counts as a run.

Three plays later, and after a blatant Illinois pass interference penalty at the goal line (the orange-clad Illini faithful in the stands didn't like that one bit), USC made it 28-10 on a Booth pass to tight end Fred Davis.

On the very first Illinois playthereafter, a Williams deep ball -- desperation? -- was intercepted. USC scored in five plays. 35-10.

Then another Illinois fumble.

And, as the quarter ends, another USC drive -- the Trojans at the Illinois 22, llooking to go up 32.

USC is not only dominating, the Trojans are getting all the breaks -- so far -- here at the Rose Bowl.

Not that USC needs breaks.

In the first quarter, the sea of orange-clad Illini fans went berserk when they thought USC fullback Stanley Havili had fumbled. He had not. The ball came loose after he was ruled down.

Also in the first, a pass from John David Booty, USC's quarterback, hit one of his receivers and then bounced high and backwards, floating and floating -- right to SC's Joe McKnight.

Illinois' Jason Reda couldn't convert a field goal -- on a kick from the 19-yard-line.

A botched USC long snap on a punt -- picked up and booted 21 yards. At least it was forward progress.

Illinois' issue is, predictably, the matchup of its offense against USC's defense.

Before its final drive of the half, in which Illinois started passing the ball with some success, leading to a 28-yard Reda field goal, the Illini had run 31 plays -- for a total of 40 yards.

For the half, Illinois on third down: 2 of 9.

USC linebacker Rey Maualuga, who on two plays in a row midway through the second quarter sacked Juice Williams: NFL star in the making. Maualuga didn't just sack Williams -- he hit him like a hammer hits a nail.

At the half, some stats:

USC's Joe McKnight, 5 carries, 47 yards. That's an average of 9.4 yards per carry.

USC's Chauncey Washington, 6 carries, 40 yards.

Greetings from Pasadena.

Good manners dept.: nice to see Illinois here.

Now what in the heck are the Illini doing here?

USC's first score: Too easy.

USC's second score: Too easy.

The first: 72 yards, 9 plays, 2:12, quarterback John David Booth 6-for-7.

Most of the USC sideline started dancing after that first touchdown.

After a Juice Williams interception, USC broght out the trickery, Booty throwing to Garrett Green, who threw across the field to a wide-open Desmond Reed for a 34-yard score. One play, nine seconds. 14-0.

Then Illinois caught a break. USC wide receiver Vidal Hazelton slipped and fell as a Booty pass was heading toward him; it went instead to Illinois defensive back Justin Harrison, who ran it back deep into USC territory.

But Illinois couldn't score a TD. It couldn't even score a field goal, Jason Reda botching a kick from the 19.

Obviousness: Illinois isn't likely to get many such chances today, if any more. It can't afford to squander them.

By the way, McKnight, a freshman, is outstanding. If those of you in the rest of the country are seeing him for the first time -- you're in for a treat. What a great burst of speed he has at and through the line.

McKnight in the first quarter: 31 yards rushing.

William Moore just intercepted a Casey Dick pass and returned it untouched for a TD.

28-0, Tigers, with 7:37 left to play in the 3rd. That's my cue to head out to DFW to beat the traffic.

You think having your coach leave between the last regular-season game and the bowl game wreaks havoc on a team? Let's wait and see how Michigan and West Virginia do today....

Then again, ND was down by 17 in the 4th quarter of the famous Chicken Soup Cotton Bowl game 30 years ago today. I could be bolting out on a classic...

I'll miss Texas. Here were two bowls that actually felt like bowl games. Great atmosphere.

Two more bowls left, and our Sunshine Studly phase of the 'nanza is over, since both will take place inside the Superdome.

It's the little things that bring me joy. Like, whenever the Arkansas QB keeps the ball and runs, the play-by-play can read "C. Dick RUN." ("....run, Dick, run.")

Wal-Mart Nation

The stadium is half-filled with Arkansas fans. So who's running Wal-Mart today?

Fade In The Shade

Mizzou fans are on the sunny side of the field, and if you stand there, you're fine. I'm just in a dress shirt (New Year's resolution) and it was okay standing on the Mizzou sideline at half. But walk on over where the Hog fans are seated, and man, it's frigid.

Sgt. Pepper Moment

It was 20 years ago today that my brother Porge and I were right here at the Cotton Bowl (the last time I was here, by the way). Our parents gave us two tickets to the '88 Cotton Bowl, Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M. The Irish and Aggies played one another in three Cotton Bowls in a seven-year span, which is just weird. The '88 Cotton was the infamous one in which Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown got ejected. The Irish lost 35-10 (I think they led 10-0 early), and after one kickoff an Aggie kick coverage dude, a walk-on, stole Brown's towel (that his mom had embroidered for him). Brown, a Dallas native, was more than a little peeved, chased the dude down and either tackled him or shoved him. And for that he got yanked.

Which reminds me, today's game's best last name: Mizzou has a back-up named "Yanker". Let's hope he doesn't tackle the Hog QB.

Chase Daniel of Mizzou just did his Bob Griese-in-Super Bowl VI-impersonation. Griese lost 25 yards being sacked (I believe by my favorite childhood defensive player, Bob Lilly). Daniel just kept running back and back and lost 27 yards. He wasn't sacked but officials called intentional grounding. I'm glad they did; not because I'm rooting against Daniel, but because he obviously was throwing the ball away with no intention of completing the pass.

After we get rid of "further review", we'll fix that "quarterback was outside the tackle" caveat on the intentional grounding rule. I'm just looking out for defensive linemen.

Well, if he's Colin Brown, the 6-8, 325-pound right tackle for Mizzou, he can create huge holes. Tony Temple is getting lots and lots of space to run past the first line of defense. Temple just ripped off a 41-yard run and is approaching the 100-yard mark with nine minutes to play before halftime.

Temple has nice speed, but credit the O-line for those giant holes.

Frank Broyles is here. That is cool. He's so Southwest Conference old school. Growing up, the only broadcaster I loved listening to more than Broyles was Keith Jackson. Keith gave us "big uglies" but it was Broyles who would describe rushers such as Earl Campbell as "heavy-legged backs".

Are you watching? This is a terrific game. Both offenses making big plays, but the defenses are keeping the two Heisman finalists, plus other studs such as Jones, Peyton Hillis, Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman from busting out anything too big.

Are you wondering what I'm wondering? Will the team that drafts Darren McFadden allow him to take direct snaps from the shotgun formation? He definitely seems more comfortable doing that.

Speaking of big uglies, check out Mizzou right tackle Colin Brown (61). He is 6'8", 325 pounds. Can you imagine being that large? My kudos to anyone who is that large and still a thoughtful person. I mean, what must it be like to be able to say or do anything you want (legally, that is) and know that the most anyone will do is give you a dirty stare. And rarely even that. This is why I've often considered moving to Japan.

Also, cuz I love the dragon roll. Those two reasons.

The Hogs even brought their own plastic chairs for unit meetings on the sideline during the game. And by "unit meetings" I am not referring to when Casey Dick and Nathan Dick have a QB confab. This is impressive, since the chairs themselves are red. Usually at most a team pulls two benches together in a "V". But the Hogs have brought along about two dozen of these plastic chairs.

You know who's good? Felix Jones is good. Impressive runner: fast and tough to tackle. He starts on every other team, unless Jamaal Charles is also on that team.

Intrigued by Hog CB Dallas Washington. Would his parents have had the guts to name him Tacoma? And if there's a Tacoma Texas out there, he should meet Dallas.

Great call by the Hogs: Facing 4th-and-3 at the Mizzou 35, a fairly likely punt fake sitcheeation, the Hogs faked. And it worked like a charm, a reverse that Reggie Fish (Fish-burned!) took 7 yards for a first down. But guess what? Someone on Arkansas called a timeout! Seriously.

So the play was nullified. Fourth down again. What does Arkansas do? Runs another fake, although my use of the term "fake" is purely figurative. Didn't work the second time. Have you ever seen a team run consecutive fake punts? I don't remember having done so.

My colleague Thayer Evans is fascinating me. He types entirely with his right index finger, and you know what? He's actually very fast. Of all the classes I took in high school, I doubt any one has been as beneficial as the semester of typing I was required to take (plus, it was the only class I was able to take at the all-girls school a few hundred yards away from our all-boys school, so that was also beneficial). Even if I never did speak to any of them.

And that's the end of quarter No. 1 with Mizzou leading 7-0.

I'm hoping Arkansas flanker/punt returner Reggie Fish has a big game just so someone can write that headline.

I'm seated next to Thayer Evans of the New York Times who provides two vital pieces of information...info I could have used earlier:

1) If you want to avoid the I-30 East nightmare that is the final two miles enroute to the Cotton Bowl (my final two miles took 75 minutes), take Industrial Blvd. from downtown. Also, along the way on Industrial Blvd., stop at Fuel City for the best tacos in Texas.

This looks as if it's going to be a tight game...which bodes well for you but not so well for a bowlnanza blogger who needs to skip outta here early in time to catch a flight.

Did you catch Robbie Maddison jumping 322 feet (longer than a football field) on a motorcycle last night at the Rio in Vegas? Maddison is the only thing that flies further over a football field than a JaMarcus Russell pass. So much cooler than watching Kid Rock pose in Times Square as he sings another song whose melody I'll never remember seven seconds later.

Tiki Barber was part of NBC's New Year's Eve gala telecast on the NBC. Happy for him. He needs the exposure.

I love that the ball in Times Square was "environmentally friendly". Nothing like a ball-dropping in the midst of the least environmentally friendly (not to mention "least friendly") five blocks on earth.

Don't you love how Mizzou has wideouts with names like William Franklin and Martin Rucker? They sound like senators.

And Tony Temple scores on a 22-yard TD run. I'm not gonna get too excited if Mizzou goes up big. You watch a team blow a 21-point lead in one game and then another nearly blow a 27-0 lead in another, you finally learn to hold your tongue for a moment.

Tony Temple's TD is under review. Why? Am I the only one slowly going crazy from all this?

Arkansas put together a solid if unspectacular 12-play drive to begin the game, but then Alex Tejada missed the field goal badly. It's not enough that he's the two best-hitting shortstops in baseball. He needs to kick more accurately.

I really hope nobody shoots the Mizzou mascot if he hugs a fan today.

Half & Half

One cool thing that you see at the Cotton Bowl is the fan bases evenly segregated halfway around the bowl. From goalpost-to-goalpost. The entire western side of the bowl is clad in red and most of the eastern (or, sunny) side is clad in black and gold. There are a bunch of empty seats directly behind the north goal post..the undecideds. I'm all for desegregation usually, but at bowl games, especially when fans wear their colors, this is really cool. And cuts down on sluggings.

We got through 5:51 of the first quarter before our review (play was reversed).

At the Liberty Bowl on Saturday (or was that six years ago) I ran into a Mississippi State player named Love. Yesterday at the Armed Forces Bowl I spotted an Air Force player named Peace (the Falcons also had a player named Battle, who was just destined to play for a service academy....Peace, now that's a head-scratcher). Anyway, so Peace and Love, but I doubt I'll find an Understanding on any roster.

Arkansas, though, does have three Loves on its sideline: Offensive guard DeMarcus Love, cornerback Jamar Love and middle linebacker Jermaine Love.

Missouri counters with an inordinate number of Chase scenes: quarterback Chase Daniel, tight end Chase Coffman (both All-Big 12 performers) and backup QB Chase Patton.

By color alone, the Razorbacks seem to be outnumbering the Tiger fans. That's forgivable; perhaps a number of Mizzou followers headed to the Orange Bowl assuming that they'd be playing there. They deserve to be, after all.

Jeannie Zelasko of Fox is your sideline reporter this morning. At the conclusion of Bowlnanza we'll compile an all-Bowlnanza sideline reporter team (the world breathlessly awaits), and there may be a surprise or two. And, by the way, I haven't run across her this 'nanza, but Heather Cox is the nicest sideline reporter you'll ever meet (and, no, she does not also star in Las Vegas).

Player I'm anxious to see: Missouri defensive end Stryker Sulak (38). When your most initimidating defensive player sounds as if he's a GoBot, you know you're gonna be okay.

Second play of the game...Darren McFadden takes a handoff left, and our man Sulak dives in an attempt to make a shoestring tackle for a four-yard loss. But this is Darren McFadden, two-time Heisman runner-up we're talking about. D-Mac avoids the tackle and gains 7 before going out of bounds. A Mizzou defender tried to tackle him, and D-Mac just looked at him like, you've gotta be kidding.

The Razorbacks are taking the field ("Sooooey! PIg!") and are clad in red helmets, red jerseys and red pants. They look like Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Bowl game? Check.
Sunshine Studly day? Check.
Republic? Czech.

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLNANZA!

It's the most auspicious, most ambitous, bootylicious Bowlnanza day ever! Two bowls in two states in one day, if the airlines cooperate.

Right now I'm at the Cotton Bowl for Arkansas versus Missouri. Later today it'll be the Sugar Bowl, Hawaii versus Georgia. It could not be a prettier day in Dallas (no Chicken Soup Bowl reduxes here this afternoon): sunny skies, not a cloud to be seen, and 46 degrees.

The Kilgore Rangerettes, as Texan a staple as cattle, are performing right now on the field. Which is odd, because it's 2nd-and-7 for Arkansas. Wait, no. The game has yet to begin.

First error spotted of the New Year (oh yeah, Happy New Year!), and for once it isn't mine. The Cotton Bowl scoreboard just read: " This is the 4th meeting between Arkansas and Missouri. The series is tied 2-2."