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In American society, it is not fashionable, really, to write about the loser. But if you've watched the Colts play over the last 15 days, I don't know how you could call Peyton Manning a loser (regardless of what happened on the coin flip before overtime in Indianapolis' loss to Carolina yesterday).
These were Manning's last three games -- all big ones: A prime-time, national-TV contest at New Orleans -- the land of his youth -- where he played in the House That Daddy Built; a Monday night tilt at Tampa Bay, against the best defense of his day, and maybe any day, in probably the only game he'll ever play against the Bucs as they are currently constituted; and this past Sunday's matchup at home against the unbeaten Panthers, whose record is two games better than the Bucs', and who have the best front four in the game. NFL Tickets
Manning's numbers in those three games: 67 percent completion rate, 993 passing yards, nine touchdowns, two interceptions.
Results of the three games: Two wins, one loss. A 55-point offensive show as the Colts routed the Saints. Three touchdown drives at Tampa in the last five minutes of regulation -- including 106 passing yards -- while leading the greatest comeback (statistically) ever in the final five minutes of any NFL game, before winning in overtime. And Sunday, with 3:08 left in regulation and down 20-13 against the voracious Panthers, he went 7 of 8 for 95 yards, including the tying touchdown pass. Then the Colts lost the overtime coin flip, and the Panthers didn't let Indianapolis get the ball again, and I am left to curse the absolutely idiotic rule that doesn't allow both teams at least one possession in overtime, because Manning would have at the very least led a field-goal drive had he gotten his paws on the ball just one more time.
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Manning is all grown up now. I know he hasn't won a playoff game yet, and I
know he has to do that time and again before he's called a player for the ages.
"I don't know if people will ever be rid of that big-game perception of
Peyton until he wins a playoff game," his coach, Tony Dungy, told me last
week. "Even though I know how unfair that is." NFL Tickets
Maybe so. Yesterday, in the 86th game of his career (all starts), Manning threw his 150th touchdown pass and 22,211th yard, which is quite remarkable for a 27-year-old kid who looks like he could go six days without shaving before you would notice. If you consider that his career, which is now almost five-and-a-half years old, is a third over, the odds say he'll have a fighting chance of breaking every passing record that means anything. Tripling his current numbers is probably unrealistic, but just try to picture that kind of career for a quarterback. Try to imagine 450 touchdown passes, and 66,633 passing yards. It's unimaginable.
I find myself privately rooting for guys who love the game and put everything they have into it, though I'm really not supposed to. But how can you help pulling for this guy? He is everything that is good about the NFL. Example: When I spoke to him last Wednesday night about the comeback against Tampa Bay, I asked him why, on fourth-and six with ball on the Bucs' 29 and the Colts down 35-21 with 2:29 remaining, when all Indy needed was a first down and not a hero's throw, did he go for the gusto? Why'd he throw for the TD on that play? And he said: "You know, I watch a lot of games on TV, pro and college, and on a play like fourth-and-six, so many teams might run one guy on a six-yard slant, another guy on an eight-yard out, just enough to get the first down. So the lanes are pretty tight. My approach, sort of instilled by [offensive coordinator] Tom Moore, is: 'No guts, no blue chips.' We sent Ricky Williams into the right flat to hold the corner on that side there. We s! ent Troy Walters on a post to hold the safety. Marvin Harrison then comes from the left, splitting that corner and the safety and dodging [middle linebacker] Derrick Brooks right in the middle. Derrick's got it played perfectly, but Marvin went behind him, not in front of him, and did a slant and go. It's not playing stupid or ignorant. It's needing two scores, and having a great chance to get one. It's a great chance to go for the throat."
"Right at that time," I asked, "do you feel even the slightest bit of nerves? You hit this throw, you're back in the game. You miss, and you definitely lose the game. It's all on you, right here, right now."
"Not really," he said. "I mean, I know the game's on the line. But all I'm thinking about here is mechanics. Solid mechanics. Get your balance, move your feet right, finish the throw mechanically sound. I do that, and I'm OK."
Result of the fourth-and-six: Touchdown, Harrison. NFL Tickets
Same thing this past Sunday, just about. Carolina 20, Indy 13, 2:27 left in the fourth quarter, fourth-and-four at the Colts' 15. This time, Manning didn't need two scores, just one. This time, he saw tight end Marcus Pollard open right at the first-down spot and hit him for six. Ninety seconds later, the Colts tied the game.
Last Wednesday, Manning said: "The playoff thing, I can't hide from it. It's as factual as can be. I just know this: I would love to play a playoff game every week. I just want to be a consistent player every week. I want to be in the arena every week, taking my shot. To me, the record to be admired is Brett Favre's streak [starting every game for more than 10 years]. I'm proud I've started and played almost all of every game since I've come into the league."
Now that Tony Dungy has a semi-tough defense, I'll be stunned if Manning doesn't break his playoff schneid this year or next.
Offensive Player of the Week
Carolina RB DeShaun Foster. I know this is a strange pick, particularly when you consider that he accounted for 139 yards of total offense and no touchdowns on a day when other brighter offensive lights -- Steve McNair, Trent Green, Derrick Mason -- had better statistical days. But you had to see Foster play in the RCA Dome to appreciate his great individual performance. I left the Panthers-Colts game thinking he was not only quality depth for an offense too reliant on Stephen Davis. I left thinking that if he's healthy for a prolonged period, Foster will be one of the top 10 backs in football. The way he strung along the defensive front, while picking his hole with intelligence, reminded me of the moves of an eight-year veteran.
Defensive Player of the Week
Denver DT Trevor Pryce, for his two sacks and monstrous defensive presence in the Broncos' 17-14 win over Pittsburgh. With the Steelers, down 7-6 midway through the third quarter, driving toward go-ahead points on a third-down play, Pryce recorded his second sack of the day on Tommy Maddox, stunting the Steelers drive. Pryce and his mates just never let Maddox breathe. NFL Tickets
Special Teams Player of the Week
Dallas WR Randal Williams, for his heads-up play in the first three seconds of the Cowboys-Eagles game -- and for scoring the quickest touchdown to begin a game in NFL history. In 2000, Andy Reid used an onside kick to open a Dallas-Philly game, and it worked like a charm, leading to an Eagles rout at Texas Stadium. Not this time. David Akers attempted the onside kick, but Williams was ready for it. He plucked it out of the air and ran 37 yards for the first touchdown of this NFL Sunday. The quickest touchdown in NFL history merited one of the classiest moves of the year. At the end of the game, Quincy Carter ran from the field to the Dallas sideline, and handed the ball to Williams. As if to say: "This is all yours, Hoss. You won this one for us."
Coach of the Week
Dallas head coach Bill Parcells. The Cowboys are 4-1. They have beaten the powers of the NFC East, the Giants and Eagles. Any questions? NFL Tickets
Goat of the Week
Pittsburgh safety Brent Alexander, for a crucial dropped interception that, in effect, cost the Steelers a chance to go to overtime in Denver. With a minute remaining in the game Broncos quarterback Steve Beuerlein, driving toward the decisive score in a 14-14 contest, sailed a throw five feet over his receiver's head, right into the waiting arms of Alexander. Ker-plunk! Drop. At the final gun, Jason Elam, who is money (he's made 18 of his last 19 field goals), split the uprights with a 48-yard winner.
Stat of the Week
Boston Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon has been knocked unconscious twice in his athletic career. The second time was last Monday, when he collided head-to-head with second baseman Damian Jackson while chasing a popup in short center field in Game 5 of the American League Division Series at Oakland. The first time? As a Dr. Phillips High School football player, when he collided with Apopka High School's Warren Sapp.
"Tyree Davis has been an outstanding addition for them on special teams."
--New England coach Bill Belichick on Giants special-teams gunner David Tyree (a Montclair (N.J.) High product, by the way), prior to the Giants-Patriots game on Sunday.
Proclamation made by the Tampa Bay center during ABC's Monday Night Football introductions early in the Sept. 8 Bucs-Eagles game: "John Wade, University of Marshall."
Proclamation by the Tampa Bay center during ABC's Monday Night Football introductions early in the Oct. 6 Bucs-Colts game: "John Wade, Marshall University.''
My guess: Someone from Thundering Herd nation got to the lad and told him how ridiculous he sounded in September, when he apparently did not know the real name of his college.
We in the Northeast Corridor are a tad preoccupied with the Red Sox-Yankees series. Here, in the Corn Belt, they are not. The New York Daily News' Saturday edition, generally the lightest paper of the week, had eight pages of Red Sox-Yankees coverage, with 171 paragraphs, eight photos and four charts. Saturday's Indianapolis Star had 18 paragraphs on the Pedro Martinez/Roger Clemens duel for the ages, at the bottom of page D-11, and 22 paragraphs on the Chevy 500K in Fort Worth, Texas.
Someone left Saturday's Orlando Sentinel in the gate area prior to our Continental departure Saturday, and I opened it to test my Red Sox-Yankees theory. Things were a little different in central Florida, where the Sentinel detailed the biggest day of the college football season. I didn't even know that was the case. Miami-FSU? Missed it. Oklahoma-Texas? Clueless. Georgia-Tennessee? Didn't know. High school football, of course, was bigger than the ALCS too. The Apopka-University prep football game got 17 paragraphs, Red Sox-Yankees 15.
One more Indianapolis Star comparison, from the Sunday edition: Paragraphs on Yankees-Red Sox, Pedro-Don Zimmer War: 20. Paragraphs on Carmel-Park Tudor high school tennis match: 20.
... Eagles guard John Welbourn, a politically savvy guy who never met an issue he didn't like.
MMQB: Your thoughts on Rush Limbaugh's comments about Donovan McNabb being overrated and about the media being very desirous that a black quarterback do well.
Welbourn: It was more ignorant than anything else. Let me think how I want to say this. (Pause.) I didn't think it was a bigoted comment. There was no outrage about it from me. It was more a comment about the media. I told Donovan, "You should have your press agent send this guy a nice bottle of wine. He's put you at the forefront of every news outlet in America." Donovan is such a classy guy. The way I look at this is that the NFL wants Donovan to succeed because they want a classy guy to succeed. It's not a black/white thing.
MMQB: Can any Democrat beat George Bush in 2004?
Welbourn: Without the emergence of a strong Democratic candidate, I doubt it. But the real issue in American politics today is campaign finance reform. I don't think politics in America will get better until there's significant reform. Campaigns are money races now, not issue races. Right now, George Bush has such a arsenal [of money] behind him that I think it'll be hard for anyone to touch him.
MMQB: When I asked Warren Sapp if Howard Dean could beat Bush in 2004, he said to me: "Who's Howard Dean?"
Welbourn: I don't know if that's a social commentary or it just says something about Sapp's awareness. Sometimes I think Sapp should be on some medication. It makes me nervous for the future of America that people actually listen to what he says and look up to him.
I must first apologize for my take last week on the Brett Favre-Ken Hamlin dispute, which I blamed solely on Seattle's young safety and not the Green Bay quarterback. I was, as the late New York Giants GM George Young used to say, a victim of Sunday Night Highlight Syndrome. The syndrome, Young would say, happens when you form an opinion on something or someone based on what you saw on the highlights. All I saw on the highlights was Hamlin jawboning and shoving Favre. Thus I blamed him. Mea culpa. Both should take responsibility for their part in the affair. On with the show.
FAVRE ALWAYS GETS THE OFFICIALS' CALLS. From Jason Peters of Sheboygan, Wis.: "How can you even blame Hamlin for pushing Favre? Favre clearly started it, and the ref was right there. Favre should have been flagged. But you get used to watching Favre get away with his tantrums at Lambeau."
Maybe Favre gets most-favored-nation status too often. But the officials, regardless of who starts a fight, almost always flag the player who reacts to the first bit of aggression.
PEERLESS PRICE IS MISSED UP IN BUFFALO. From Brian Clay of Chattanooga, Tenn.: "When the Bills traded Peerless Price in the offseason, everyone said that Price wouldn't be as effective without Eric Moulds. Is it just me, or does Moulds' production seem to be down as well this year? Could it be that he misses Peerless as much as Peerless misses him?"
The big problem in Buffalo is that Josh Reed has been a major disappointment as Price's heir to Drew Bledsoe's passes. So yes, Moulds misses Price. But if Reed was even average during the first six weeks of this season, you wouldn't have had to write this e-mail.
THE PATRIOTS ARE GOING TO BE GOOD IN DECEMBER. From Ian Prior of Boston: "Assuming that the Patriots can survive with young backup players all over the field until their bye in Week 10, doesn't the return of guys such as Ted Washington, Mike Vrabel and Ted Johnson -- plus the experience on the fly of Ty Warren, Dan Koppen, Asante Samuel, etc. -- make this one of the deepest and most tested teams going into the stretch run?''
Great point. I was so impressed with the young New England players when I saw them against Tennessee two weeks ago. Don Koppen's a pleasant surprise (and a desperately needed one) at center, the two kids (Samuel and Eugene Wilson) are going to be good corners in the long run (though Wilson may someday be a safety), and have you noticed Dan Klecko? What a stud. He can play everywhere. Sometimes, you have to trust your eyes when you're evaluating players, which the Patriots wisely did with Klecko. They knew that the Temple product, who was last year's Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East and had faced all the great Miami and Virginia Tech talent, was a playmaker of the highest degree Two weeks ago, he played fullback, middle linebacker, outside linebacker and defensive tackle and two different special teams.
LEAPING, SCHMEAPING. From Lane Rawson of Arlington, Va.: "I agree that any team that blows a 21-point lead with four minutes to play has no right to complain about the refs, but that leaping call at the end of the Colts-Bucs game still doesn't sit right with me. Though the call was technically correct, should it have been made? It decided the game.''
Great point, and it's one my peer Don Banks made on this Web site this week. Officials, he said, should have some sort of discretion to make a call like that, and should able to rule "no harm, no foul.'' I think that logic could open a can of worms. When, then, do you make certain calls? Late in games? When games are on the line? When they're not? I thought the call was fine.
LAY OFF RANDY MOSS, WILL YOU? From Dave of Logansport, Ind.: "I couldn't believe you had a couple of nice things to say about Randy Moss in your column last week, but I knew it was too good to be true as a few paragraphs later you make a smart aleck remark about 'citizen of the week.' Give the guy a break. You media folk can't wait to pounce on this guy.''
This is what I wrote: "Has anyone noticed what a swell guy Randy Moss has been this year? I mean, we haven't heard a peep out of the guy. It's like he's trying to be Citizen of the Week, not Player of the Week.'' From that, Dave, you got the impression that I was knocking him? He's been terrific as a player and a locker-room influence. I would suggest that you look at my writing -- because I've been critical of Moss in the past -- thinking that I'll only rap Moss, not praise. Open your mind.
1. I think these are my quick-hit thoughts of the football weekend:
a. Rewind to last Monday for a second: That is the best game I never saw. Or at least mostly never saw. It's why the NFL should have some sort of deal with ESPN Classic in advance of the NFL Network powering up next month. It's a shame that most of Football America was either asleep or didn't see the greatest comeback of our time -- and will never see it, except in highlight form.
b. "I almost gave up on [watching the game], but I didn't," Panthers running back Stephen Davis told me on Saturday. "When Indy got that long kickoff return late, I decided I'd hang in until the end. Glad I stayed with it. Manning was really great."
c. Don't invite Auburn alumnus Davis and former Florida coach Steve Spurrier to the same SEC alumni dinner, by the way. But you already knew that.
d. Don't get me wrong, Edgerrin James is talented. But the way Indianapolis' offense is playing right now, he looks tangential to the Colts' success. I mean, watch (The Other) Ricky Williams and James Mungro and tell me they aren't adequate subs for James. I know that's a revolutionary suggestion, and obviously the Colts would prefer to have a healthy James starting for them, but I just don't see his absence being crippling.
e. Indiana University has a running back named BenJarvus Green-Ellis, and I swear I have not misspelled that.
f. The Steelers are a lot better than 2-4. You read it here first: They still will win the AFC North.
g. The Bucs are now assured of not losing running back Michael Pittman, who has been charged with violating probation for a domestic violence incident that occurred in May in Arizona, for the regular season. Pittman's hearing to revoke his probation -- which would have confined him to the Phoenix area -- has been delayed from Nov. 17 to Jan. 12.
h. This is why so many Vikings players like playing for coach Mike Tice: Two older veterans whose families do not live in the Twin Cities, linebacker Greg Biekert and cornerback Ken Irvin, were told they could miss the team's two light practices during the bye week and spend seven days at home, Biekert in Calif., Irvin in Georgia.
h. Steve McNair only threw for 421 yards yesterday. He's only on pace for 4,352 yards in the air. He's only one of the two best quarterbacks in football right now, along with Peyton Manning. Let's start noticing him.
i. Mike Carey and crew: That was one incredible call you made -- with the naked eye, no less -- at the end of regulation in Denver, when you signaled that Jerome Bettis has made it into the end zone on the two-point conversion that tied the game at 14. The officials gathered after Bettis appeared to have been dragged in, at least in part, by guard Alan Faneca, and the crew ruled exactly the right way -- that Bettis and the ball had crossed the plane of the goal line. But great job seeing that the right way without the benefit of replay, which those of us watching on TV had. We criticize officials enough. We ought to praise them when they get it right.
j. Jerry Rice, Tim Brown. Four catches, 33 yards at Cleveland. Oooof.
k. Oakland, six games, 67 penalties. Grotesque.
l. Anyone see the play Baltimore's Ed Reed made against Arizona? He broke through the line and blocked the Cardinals' punt, recovered the ball and ran in for a touchdown.
m. Bizarro quote of the week: From ESPN's Joe Theismann during the 49ers-Seahawks telecast last night: "Every fullback in the league is underrated." Huh?
n. "Trent Green is the most underrated player in football," Sean Salisbury said last night on ESPN.
n. Is anyone "rated"?
o. Terrell Owens dropped three balls last night. We can either call that an off night or the result of what happens when your life, by your own actions, has become a circus.
p. Teyo Johnson, I now give you permission to act like an adult when you score.
2. I think this is how absurdly phony contracts are today: If the four Carolina Panthers defensive linemen signed through at least 2007 -- Julius Peppers, Kris Jenkins, Brentson Buckner, Mike Rucker -- all play until the end of their deals and reach their incentive clauses, the value of the contracts, in total, would be more than $120 million. Contracts too often are phonied up to make agents look good and players feel good. Most big deals are fluffery, if you didn't already know that.
3. I think the biggest surprise of the NFL season after six weeks is not that the Vikings and Panthers are 5-0, or that the Cowboys are 4-1 (though the latter is very close). The biggest surprise is how the Buffalo Bills have absolutely laid an offensive egg in going 1-3 over the last four Sundays. Stunning.
4. I think last night was a great example of why the Seahawks aren't a premier team yet. They bolted to a 17-0 lead, then had to hold on for dear life as they almost blew the entire lead. San Francisco showed the rest of the league that the way to handle Matt Hasselbeck is to blitz the living tar out of him. Seattle showed heart in coming back to win it, but it was pretty shaky performance if you ask me.
5. I think this is a rather interesting story, if you like the Boss. Bruce Springsteen appeared recently in San Francisco at Pac Bell Park as his year-long tour was winding down, and E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg was in intense pain. He had blown out his back a week or so earlier, and he wasn't able to give it any rest. A delegation of 49ers, who were also backstage fans, found out the concert was in danger of being postponed. "When we got to the stadium," San Francisco scout and noted Springsteenaholic Billy Devaney told me, "Max was doubled over, sort of in the fetal position. There was no way he could go out there like that." The tour manager was talking to Bruce and the band about postponing the show if Max couldn't go on. So the Niners people called the team's training staff and asked what they could to get Weinberg relaxed enough so he could make it through the show. An injection of Tordal was recommended. Tordal is an anti-inflammatory commonly used by NFL pla! yers; one former player told me last week that probably 30 players per team use it each week. You get an injection Saturday, feel great Sunday and better than you should Monday, then feel like crap on Tuesday when the effects wear off. Anyway, the tour manager located a doctor at Pac Bell, and the doc wrote a prescription for Tordal to be acquired at a downtown San Francisco drug store. The prescription was delivered to the stadium by police car, sirens blaring. The doctor injected Weinberg shortly before the show, and just before he took the stage he was walking around, amazed he felt so good.
6. I think referee Johnny Grier's crew has been pretty whistle-happy this season. Entering this past weekend, his crew's previous two games, Giants-Redskins (32 calls) three weeks ago and Colts-Bucs (22) last Monday night, were the two games with the highest number of accepted penalties. "I can't say it's a concern," Mike Pereira, the NFL's director of officiating, told me. "I don't track the crews on the number of calls. I track them on the percentage of correct calls, and Johnny's crew is right in line with the percentage of the other crews. I think they've had a couple of games that have lent themselves to lots of calls." They had 54 accepted penalties, combined, in Giants-Redskins and Colts-Bucs. Washington and New York are rivals, but not Hatfield/McCoyesque, and the Bucs and Colts hadn't played since 1997. I still don't get how those games lend themselves to more calls than normal. And Grier's crew was at it again on Sunday in Cleveland, where it called 25 accepted ! penalties combined against the Browns and Raiders.
7. I think that, even though cries for Emmitt Smith to retire are increasing, Arizona coach Dave McGinnis isn't listening. Whenever Smith's broken scapula heals enough for him to get back into action, he'll return to the starting role. Smith has 65 carries for 192 yards, a 3.0-yards-per-carry average. "It's not Emmitt's fault," McGinnis said. "I've been coaching in this league for 18 years, and I know when a runner has a chance and when he doesn't, and Emmitt just hasn't had the room to run that he needs. When he gets back, I expect he'll still be the guy." Five of the top 15 all-time rushers, prior to Smith, ended their careers ingloriously. O.J. Simpson was lost for two gimpy seasons in San Francisco. Eric Dickerson gained 820 yards in Oakland and Atlanta his last two years. Tony Dorsett struggled to 703 yards in Denver during his final season. Franco Harris had 68 ugly carries in Seattle. Thurman Thomas rushed 28 times for Miami. History says Emmitt will finish poorly,! and hurt, in Arizona.
8. I think for as much crap as Chiefs president and GM Carl Peterson has taken while negotiating contracts in recent years, he should take a bow for the Dante Hall deal. The Chiefs did something incredibly smart before this season. They probably didn't know how smart it was at the time, but they do now. They signed Hall, a nice surprise last year on special teams, to a contract extension and paid a $1.5 million bonus to lock him up through 2006. Comparing the accomplishments of the two top MVP candidates (three if you include Stephen Davis, who is on pace for a 2,200-yard rushing season with the run-heavy Panthers), to me, leans the debate toward Hall. His team is 5-0. He got the Chiefs, down 10-0 early to Pittsburgh in Week 2, back in the game with a 100-yard kickoff return for touchdown, then ran a punt back 42 yards to set up the clinching touchdown in the third quarter. He scored the deciding points in a 17-10 Kansas City win at Baltimore in Week 4 on a fourth-quarter! kickoff return for touchdown. And he won the game with his 93-yard punt return for a TD against Denver. Think of this: What Hall has done so far is worth $1.5 million, never mind what else he'll do before the contract expires.
9. I think the taunting penalty is being called stupidly. Did you see the dumb one called on Hasselbeck Sunday in the fourth quarter after he simply spiked the ball in quasi-anger? Taunting should be called on in-your-face stuff, not marginal displays of contentious emotion.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. My family is getting very worried about me. It's my bobblehead collection, which has begun to multiply atop the television in our family room. I personally like the Bob Prince talking bobblehead and the Philadelphia Kixx goalie bobblehead (don't recall the man's name, which makes the bobblehead all the more valuable to me) and the Takeo Spikes-as-a-Bengal bobblehead and the oversized Yao Ming bobblehead. I only like obscure bobbleheads. Then, of course, there's the coaches corner. I have Mike Martz, Gregg Williams and John Fox all facing each other, and when Bailey the dog bounds into the room, Martz immediately begins moving his head as if he's chattering with the other guys. See, Mike does like to talk. I told Fox he was on the top of my TV, and he could only shake his head. "I think I have about 95 of those in my house right now, and I have no idea what to do with them," he said. "You don't want to go up to somebody and say, "Hey, you want this bobblehead of me?"
b. Coffeenerdness: One of the great moments of this season for me came last Monday morning, as I was finishing my writing in the Torrefazione coffee bar in Back Bay near my hotel in Boston. If you don't like their lattes, you just don't know good coffee.
c. Montclair (N.J.) Field Hockey Note of the Week: We are getting spoiled, we parents of the 9-0 Mounties. For much of the second halves of both games last week, against Dwight Englewood (6-0) and Westwood (5-0), the girls practiced a keepaway-type game, passing so they wouldn't score anymore. I felt like a Tar Heel fan watching the '70s Four Corners at play. We have a great game, potentially, scheduled Tuesday at Oak Knoll in nearby Summit. I strongly recommend you take it in. Flickoff time: 4 p.m. We're ranked 16th in the state, Oak Knoll is 19th (I believe), and it'll be the first ranked team we've met this year. Come and cheer on the Mounties. I can't guarantee this, but I think I could arrange a quick autograph session afterward with all Mountie seniors. (Oh my God! You mean I could get Eva Hamden's autograph?) One more note about this fun team: The Mounties annually have some incredibly bright and well-rounded girls, which is one of the reasons we're so proud of the! m. Our senior goalie, Dara Blume, is not only a talking machine, directing the play and the defense in front of her during games, but she's also bound for the White House, or wherever she wants to go in life. Dara, you see, has not gotten a B since seventh grade. (In dance class. Now, she did get a B on the written portion of her driver's test last year, but she pulled an A overall for the class.) She's a great example of how you can spend three hours a day devoted to a sport you really like and still get great grades and be involved in other things. Dara also founded the Environmental Club at MHS, is on the Fed Challenge team, and is president of Student Council. "It's not just me," she said in an exclusive interview last night. "So many of the girls do well in school. Jacqueline [Connor] does well. Eva does well. Mary Beth [King] does well. We're proud of how we do in school. No one ever makes fun of us for being smart." Except, in fun, coach Mary Pat Mercuro. "She calls u! s all nerds," Dara reported. Dara would like to go to Yale. She also is in contention to graduate No. 1 in the senior class. (And if you never get a B, I would assume you'd have a heck of a chance, but then again, that's not something I have a lot of personal experience with.) And so I asked her: Given a choice between winning the state field hockey title this fall and finishing first in her class next June, which would Dara prefer? "Definitely winning the state field hockey championship," she said. "No doubt. I would still be the top, like, five percent, wouldn't I?" Yes, I said. Of course. "Then definitely the field hockey championship. I love this game. I love this team. And I don't go in for all that Valedictorian stuff."
d. I'll be at Game 4 of the Red-Sox-Yankees ALCS tonight, travel adventures permitting. Saturday was not a good day to be a Red Sox maven. For the record, I thought Pedro Martinez's high fastball to Karim Garcia, which could well have hit him in the head, was absolute garbage. Ridiculous. Plunk the guy in the right buttock. But right at his head? No way. I also thought it was not ridiculous for Martinez to throw Don "Mike Tyson" Zimmer to the ground. I don't care if you're 72. If you rush at a guy with the intent to rumble, you put yourself in jeopardy, and there should be no righteous indignation about a young guy throwing an old guy to the ground. The old guy was the aggressor.
e. Memo to Thom Brennaman: You're really good at your job. I enjoy listening to you. And your old man? The best. But I humbly ask you to watch the tape of the top of the sixth inning of the A's-Red Sox, Game 5, last Monday night, and see if you're happy with your half-inning-long sermon. Manny Ramirez, who'd been horrendous all series long and had no big hits or even loud outs, broke his schneid with a three-run homer, and he did something bush. He walked out of the box seven steps, then pointed to his dugout. It was Manny's version of glee. It was dumb, but considering the circumstances and the tenseness of this series, hardly a crime against humanity. I would have to hear it again, but Brennaman had more outrage in his voice over Ramirez's showing off than Tom Jackson had shown about Rush Limbaugh the day before. A bit much, Thom. Yes, I am a Red Sox fan. Guilty as charged. But the repetitive rancor you voiced over Ramirez's celebration was excessive by any measure. Ram! irez might be a dope, but he's not Idi Amin. One other thing: I'm not that familiar with the inner workings of the live TV business, but I do know there's a director who talks into Brennaman's ear during telecasts. And this director evidently thought two or three additional airings of this harangue was appropriate? Final way to look at it, again without having seen the tape: I would bet a grande hazelnut latte that Brennaman spent more time talking about the display that followed the biggest hit of the Red Sox season, the hit that decided an extremely contentious series, than he did talking about the biggest hit of the Red Sox season.
f. A year ago, I said Missouri should probably drop football after getting lambasted by Bowling Green. That incurred the wrath (real wrath) of my pro football editor, Mark Godich. On Saturday, Mizzou beat Nebraska. So I now retract my call for the abolition of Missouri football. I now also get to keep my current job.
1. Kansas City (6-0): Any team that comes back from 17 down in the fourth quarter to win, on the road, at Lambeau, with its quarterback throwing for 400 yards while its special-teams weapon, who has scored in four straight games, is a non-factor ... well that's my No. 1 team. NFL Tickets
2. Carolina (5-0): One loss since last November.
3. Minnesota (5-0): The Vikings' average margin of victory this year: 13.4 points. Now comes a three-game homestand from heck: Broncos, Giants, Packers.
4. Indianapolis (5-1): I ran into Tony Dungy in the hallway outside the locker rooms an hour after after the Colts' loss to the Panthers. "We just made too many mistakes, had too many missed tackles," the coach said. He's right, but the biggest problem he had was DeShaun Foster, if you ask me.
5. Tampa Bay (3-2): Carolina has a two-game lead on Tampa Bay, and the tiebreaker edge because the Panters defeated the Bucs in in Week 2. There are two games the rest of the season that the teams do not have in common. Carolina has Arizona and Detroit. Tampa Bay has Green Bay and San Francisco. In other words, Tampa can't afford too many more of those Monday night-type of missteps, or it'll be playing for the fourth seed in the playoffs. Fourth seed. Hmm. The last time an NFC team seeded that low in the playoffs made it to the Super Bowl was 1975, when the Dallas Cowboys did so. And no NFC fourth, fifth or sixth seed has ever won the Super Bowl.
6. Denver (5-1): Steve Beuerlein and Roger Clemens had much in common this weekend. They're both old, and they both went 1-0.
7. Miami (4-1): I had a nice steak, medium well with medallions of mushrooms, from the Shula's Steakhouse in the Westin here last night.
8. Tennessee (4-2): Midway thought the fourth quarter of the Colts-Panthers game I looked up to see that the Titans had 538 total yards of offense in the fourth quarter of their game with the Capersmen. And Tennessee is a team without a great running attack anymore. NFL Tickets
9. Dallas (4-1): I can't keep the Cowboys out of the top 10 anymore. It's been eight years since the Cowboys last started 4-1.
10. New England (4-2): I love this no-name defense.
11. Seattle (4-1). But if you watched last night, how can you trust this team right now?
12. Cleveland (3-3): I'm really reaching now.
13. St. Louis (2-2): I still think the Rams have a run in them.
14. Green Bay (3-3): I'd feel better about the Pack if they weren't allowing 22 points per game.
15. Baltimore (3-2): Jamal Lewis might be the first running back of all time to rush for 1,000 yards before the end of the World Series.
I can't see the Falcons emerging from this season's peculiar form of mayhem tonight -- or any night until Michael Vick returns. Rams, 29-16.