From The Cheap Seats

Phil "Coin Toss" Luckett's crew struck again this week. To the naked eye of the untrained observer, Testaverde's plunge was just short of the goal line. Using years of expertise, the linesman saw through the mass of bodies between him and the ball and unhesitatingly signaled touchdown. Replays showed the football nowhere near the goal line, not even close. And so the Seattle Seahawks season was pretty much ended and with it, Dennis Erickson's coaching tenure. Time for instant replay.

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What a great weekend of college football that was. For a minute it looked like all three undefeated teams would lose. UCLA went first, when Brendon Ayanbedajo got hurt early, the Bruins defense pretty much left the field with him. Miami ran over his side and there was no pressure on the QB when he went back to pass. All it took was one questionable call and they were done. I'm convinced that if they had thirty more seconds they would've pulled it out, but they didn't. What they were was an incredibly good offense teamed with the worst offense I've ever seen in a major program.

Kansas State's moment of truth was next. Michael Bishop may have carried them on his back, but when the game was there to be put away, he fumbled. Give Texas A&M credit, they had the opportunity and took it. They won in OT and the Kansas State dream was dead. In a terrible injustice, the Wildcats, as good as any team in the country, was relegated to a minor bowl game.

It would be nice if something was done about this, but it'll be their turn soon, just keep winning and folks will be begging you to show up.

Tennessee found themselves behind Mississippi State in the fourth quarter. With only 8 minutes to go, it looked like all three undefeateds would go down. But UT showed the heart they've shown all year. They bounced back for an immediate score and took control. They may not be the best team, they've been very lucky on several occasions, requiring penalties, fumbles, and missed field goals to stay undefeated, but when given an opening, they've taken it. I think they'll take it one more time against Florida State.

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Tampa Bay's victory over the Packers Monday was less a sign of their talent and more one of the Pack's decline. Favre's fumbles were only partly his problem; the lack of receivers and a banged-up line has left their offense very vulnerable. The receivers may be back, although there's talk of Robert Brooks being gone for the regular season. It's the loss of Pro Bowl C Frank Winters, aka Frankie Bag-o-donuts, that may prove fatal. It's just not their year and that should mean there's no one who can stop the Vikings from becoming the first dome team to make it to the Super Bowl.

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Roger Clemens wants out of Toronto because they aren't close enough to winning. I suspect he wants to be traded because he wants a chance to renegotiate his contract to Johnsonian levels after this season. I can't say it's not his right, but I'm not going to cry for him if he lands in a place where he doesn't win.

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Still no NBA basketball. I'm still not going through withdrawal, how about you? At this point in the baseball strike, I was sad every time I looked at a newspaper. Now I'm somewhere between amazed and bemused at all these goings on.

As Keith Olbermann said, "NBA Basketball, it's IR-relevant."

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