Winter Classic is a hit

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at the best and worst from a long holiday weekend of televised sports ...

Best event
The NHL's Winter Classic was, once again, a smashing success, and it's clear it should be an annual event. A year ago, it seemed like a good idea to move the game away from Jan. 1 because of conflicts with bowl games and, perhaps, use the All-Star Game as the outdoor vehicle. But after we watched the rival Blackhawks and Red Wings go at it, the outdoor game is too good of an idea to waste on the watered-down All-Star Game, which is becoming more irrelevant each year. And Jan. 1 now seems like a good fit for the outdoor game because the BCS system has changed the landscape of college football on New Year's Day.

Best interview
NBC football co-host Dan Patrick didn't hold back in his interview Saturday with former Lions head honcho Matt Millen. Patrick asked him how responsible Millen was for the Lions' 0-16 season, whether Millen would have fired himself and whether Millen was even qualified for the job. To Millen's credit, he took full responsibility for the mess in Detroit. "Completely responsible,'' Millen said. "When you're head of football operations, you throw it back on me. You can say something about coaching, say something about the players, but inevitably, I'm responsible for them, so I'm completely responsible for it in my mind.''

Millen had a pretty good career going in broadcasting before taking the Lions job in 2001 and would be an honest and refreshing addition to anyone’s broadcast booth or studio next season.

Biggest jerk
Les Miles' LSU Tigers were up 35 points in the fourth quarter and ran a fake punt (and made the first down) in a 38-3 win over Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Not only does it show a lack of class, but it's stupid. What goes around tends to come around.

Best class
Put USC quarterback Mark Sanchez in the cool book. Even after he had one of the best games in Rose Bowl history with four touchdowns and a career-high 413 yards, Sanchez did not talk about his day until he mentioned what an honor it was to play against Penn State and legendary coach Joe Paterno. Maybe it was noteworthy because too many players spend so much time beating their own chests that they're too tired to show respect for the game and their opponents.

Best quote
ESPN's Howard Bryant, on Sunday’s Sports Reporters: "I'm a big believer in karma, so the Oklahoma City Thunder's abysmal 4-30 record might be some cosmic payback for the way they walked out on the loyal fans of Seattle.''

Number of the weekend
600. Former Lightning star Brad Richards, now with the Dallas Stars, played his 600th NHL game Saturday night. Speaking of Richards, his contributions on and off the ice are still missed in Tampa Bay, but all in all, the trade that sent Richards to Dallas has turned out to be a good one so far for the Lightning. Goalie Mike Smith has been the Lightning's best player this season and its first reliable goalie since Nikolai Khabibulin. On top of that, goalie Johan Holmqvist, who was traded with Richards to Dallas, is now playing in Sweden, while Jeff Halpern and Jussi Jokinen are still with the Lightning and both contribute, especially Halpern now that he’s healthy again.

Worst hit
Is Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin a dirty player? No. Was he trying to hurt the Lightning's Jamie Heward with his hit into the boards on New Year's Day? No. Should Ovechkin have been suspended for the hit from behind that gave Heward a concussion? Absolutely.

Heward, a former teammate of Ovechkin, had no problem with the hit because he says he knows Ovechkin isn't a dirty player. But, quite frankly, Heward didn't see the hit because he had his back turned. (That was the problem!) Lightning goalie Mike Smith, who had a perfect view, put it best when he said Ovechkin never let up even though he could plainly see Heward was vulnerable. The NHL needs to crack down on these types of hits, and suspending Ovechkin for a game would have sent a good message. And there's this: If the Lightning's Evgeny Artyukhin had done the same thing to Ovechkin, would he have been suspended? You can bet on it.

Best reporting
Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher reportedly will not return to coaching next season. Who reported that? Bill Cowher. On Sunday's NFL on CBS pregame show, Cowher said, "It's a privilege and an honor to be a head coach in the National Football League. And I have been flattered about the attention, but the timing right now is not right. I don't plan on coaching next year.''

When asked by host James Brown if he would ever return to coaching, Cowher said, "I am taking it year to year.'' NBC's Jerome Bettis, who played for Cowher in Pittsburgh, said Cowher eventually will return but will wait for a team that has a stud at quarterback.

Best warning
During the first quarter of Saturday night's Colts-Chargers playoff game, NBC's Al Michaels and John Madden mentioned several times how the officiating crew working the game calls more penalties than any crew in the NFL. Those words had real impact when the Chargers picked up three first downs, including one on an iffy call, during their winning drive in overtime.

Worst performance
You have to wonder if Colts fans are growing as frustrated with Tony Dungy and the failure of his teams in the postseason as the Bucs were before Dungy was fired after the 2001 season. He has made the postseason 10 straight seasons but has only one title to show for it, and he has had more than one team good enough to win it all. His postseason record is 9-10, and that includes the 4-0 run his Colts went on in the '06 championship season. This is the third time in four seasons that his Colts have been knocked out in their first playoff game and the sixth time in Dungy's 10 postseasons that his team was eliminated in its first game. The question now is whether he will return next season. In an interview with NBC's Al Michaels before Saturday's game, Dungy said he would take a week after the Colts' final game to decide. Michaels said after the game that his guess was "54-46'' that Dungy would retire.

Best available coach
Anyone else still shocked that the Broncos canned coach Mike Shanahan? Speaking on the NFL Network on Sunday, Shanahan said, "I will definitely coach again.''

Three things that popped into my head
1. Just because Utah beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish off a perfect season doesn't mean the Utes should get No. 1 votes in the polls. Just like Boise State a couple of years ago, it's one thing to pull off a big victory or two in your season, and it's another to go through a brutal conference that offers hurdles each and every week such as the Big 12 or SEC or Pac-10.
2. After blasting No. 11 Georgetown on its own court, No. 3 Pitt (14-0) looks like an early Final Four team.
3. Atlanta is kind of a football town, isn't it? So why schedule a Lightning-Thrashers hockey game Sunday at the same time as an NFL playoff game?

Real Sports jumps the shark

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Worst show
HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel truly is one of the best shows on television. If you didn't know that already, all you have to do is watch the show's year-in-review special as Gumbel and the show's correspondents spend the hour slobbering all over one another about how good the show is. You half expect that arrogance from Gumbel and some of the other correspondents, but it was disappointing to watch Frank Deford and Mary Carillo joining in the lovefest.

Real Sports is a superb show (although it wasn't as solid as past years), but no one wants to watch journalists tooting their own horns for an hour. Making it worse was Gumbel asserting that Real Sports is the only show that does good investigative and feature sports journalism. Gumbel said other networks do "puff pieces'' because they are broadcast partners with the big leagues such as the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.

"The hardest question they ask is why do you pronounce it 'Brett Favre' when it's V-R-E?'' Gumbel said. "I mean, that's the hardest thing they ask.''

That is simply ridiculous. Shame on Gumbel for feeling the need to pump up his own good show by running down other shows with unfair and inaccurate claims. Gumbel needs to watch a few episodes of ESPN's Outside the Lines to see a show that's as good if not better than Real Sports and, obviously, doesn't care who ESPN's broadcast partners are.

Ironically, during Real Sports' year-end special, Carillo mentioned one of the stories that got away -- a piece on high school basketball phenom Elena Delle Donne, who decided to quit the sport because she didn't have the passion to play anymore. It was a feature Carillo wanted to get but couldn't — the type of feature Real Sports does. And the exact feature that was shown on Sunday's Outside the Lines.

Best feature
Outside the Lines' piece on former basketball star Elena Delle Donne on Sunday should be required viewing for every parent with a child who plays sports. Delle Donne was considered the "female LeBron Jame'' -- the best female high school basketball player in the country. She committed to Connecticut but decided that after all her years of practice and games and personal trainers that she really didn't have and never really had the passion to play basketball. She left UConn and is now at the University of Delaware playing volleyball while working toward a degree in special education. (Her sister is a special-needs person.) Delle Donne is the classic example of burning out and playing a sport not because she wanted to but because everyone else, including her parents, wanted her to.

Worst prediction (so far)
ESPN's Lee Corso made a bold prediction, saying the ACC would have the best record of any conference in the bowl games. So far, it's not working out so well for Corso and the ACC. Florida State and Wake Forest won their bowl games, but North Carolina and Miami lost. Actually, it's the Big East and Pac-10 off to good bowl starts. The Big East is 2-0, with victories by USF and West Virginia, and so is the Pac-10, with victories by Arizona and California.

Best idea
Cool idea by Sun Sports and Fox Sports Florida to swap analysts for a period during Saturday's Lightning-Panthers game. Panthers analyst Denis Potvin worked with announcer Rick Peckham on the Lightning broadcast during the second period, while Bobby "Chief'' Taylor joined the Panthers telecast. It gave viewers a fresh perspective, and you wonder why hockey broadcasts don't do this more often.

Best opening
Fox baseball pregame host Jeanne Zelasko is throwing her hat in the ring to call the 40 Dodgers road games that Vin Scully doesn't work. Zelasko has no play-by-play baseball experience, but if she gets the job, she will be the first woman to do play-by-play for a major-league team. (Suzyn Waldman works as an analyst on Yankees radio broadcasts.) Zelasko could use the work. It has been reported that Fox might do away with its pregame shows next season.

Worst coaching
Maybe Randy Shannon will turn around Miami, but the final two minutes of Saturday night's Emerald Bowl loss showed a Hurricanes team that is not coached very well. Trailing Cal by seven with 2:41 left and a timeout remaining, the Hurricanes ran only eight plays and used the timeout after an incomplete pass when the clock was already stopped. The Hurricanes never spiked the ball, and QB Jacory Harris stayed in bounds on a play when he could have stopped the clock by getting out of bounds. There was one occasion when the Hurricanes wasted nearly 35 seconds between two plays. Sorry, but players not knowing what to do is on the coach’s watch.

Best point
So the Yankees now have the four highest-paid players in baseball with Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and the recently signed CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, and their payroll now stands at $14-trillion or something.

"Look, you can be angry at the Yankees if you want, but they're just doing what they’re supposed to be doing, which is taking advantage of the system,'' NBC's Jimmy Roberts said on ESPN's Sports Reporters. "The system is totally broken. … It deprives people in towns like Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh of rooting for hometown Hall of Famers. It's just wrong. It needs to change.''

Second-best point
When talking about the Yankees spending all that money to sign Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia on ESPN's Sports Reporters, Stephen A. Smith of ESPN and Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald pointed out that Boston's Kevin Youkilis had more extra-base hits than Teixeira last season and that the top of the Red Sox rotation (Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka and a healthy Josh Beckett) is still probably better than New York's Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and a healthy Chien-Ming Wang. They should've mentioned one more thing: Neither of those teams won the American League East last season.

Three things that popped into my head
1. It's not unusual for NHL power forwards to take a few seasons to find their footing and start scoring in buckets. Great power forwards such as Kevin Stevens, Cam Neely and Rick Tocchet, just to name three, all took a couple of NHL seasons before finding their way. That's why we should all keep an eye on the Lightning's Evgeny Artyukhin, who had a monster weekend.
2. Raise your hand if you picked the Dolphins and Falcons to make the NFL playoffs. If your hand is raised, you're lying.
3. They aren't playing for the national title, but all things considered, Bobby Bowden's Florida State Seminoles had a nice season.

Shooting from the Lip

Looking back at the weekend in sports...

So long to the hole in the roof
Texans love it when people ask why there is a hole in the roof of Texas Stadium. Answer: So God can watch his favorite football team. Texas Stadium has been home for the Cowboys for 37 seasons, but it hosted its final regular-season game Saturday night. My picks for the five most famous games at Texas Stadium:
1. Nov. 28, 1974
Cowboys backup QB Clint Longley came off the bench on Thanksgiving Day to relieve an injured Roger Staubach and led Dallas back from 16-3 deficit against the bitter-rival Redskins for a 24-23 victory on a 50-yard bomb to Drew Pearson in the final minute.
2. Dec. 16, 1979
The Cowboys again beat the Redskins, this time in a 35-34 classic to win the division. Roger Staubach threw the winning TD to Tony Hill with 39 seconds left.
3. Nov. 25, 1993
The Leon Lett game. Another Thanksgiving classic as Lett booted the ball on a snow-covered field after the Cowboys had blocked a Miami field goal. The Dolphins recovered Lett’s gaff and kicked the field goal to win 16-14.
4. Nov. 26, 1994
This was a high school game that is a cult classic thanks to YouTube.com. Check it out. Down 41-17 to John Tyler High of Tyler with less than four minutes left, Plano East scored four touchdowns (with the help of three onside-kick recoveries) to take a 44-41 lead. But John Tyler won the game with a kickoff return in the waning seconds.
5. Sept. 24, 2000
The 49ers beat the Cowboys 41-24, but here's what made this game famous: then-49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens scored on a 3-yard TD and ran to the big star at midfield to celebrate. Later Dallas' Emmitt Smith scored and made fun of T.O.'s celebration. When T.O. scored another TD and ran to midfield, he was tackled by Cowboys safety George Teague.

Worst silence
Last week's Lightning-Avalanche game ended in controversy when the Avs were awarded the winning shootout goal after officials determined Lightning goalie Mike Smith threw his stick. Whether it was good or bad call likely depended on your allegiance.

What was unacceptable, however, was the NHL refusing to make the officials available to the media after the game. League director of hockey operations Mike Murphy told St. Petersburg Times hockey writer Damian Cristodero: "I don't think any good can come of it. There's a hot environment down there right now, and I think it's best they not speak because I don't want them getting trapped.''

Getting trapped? What the heck does that mean?

When officials in other sports make a controversial call, they are available to the media because other sports absolutely understand that fans want an explanation, that they deserve an explanation.
Hey, players are expected to face the music after a game, so why not officials? The league did respond to the controversy a day later, but that was a day too late. All of this -- Murphy's refusal to make the officials available and his strange "trapped'' quote — is just further evidence of how messed up the NHL is.

Best comeback
Did you hear that Lakers star Kobe Bryant is wearing a new shoe that is more of a low-top than a high-top? On ESPN's Around the Horn, panelist Tim Cowlishaw talked about how everyone wears high-tops but that low-tops "are cool and (Bryant) is going to bring them back in.'' Host Tony Reali cracked: "We might get a great view of these sneakers as he's carried out on a stretcher.''

Best college basketball teams
Never too early to start talking Final Four, is it? Actually, this is early, and there wasn't a lot of college football to talk about over the weekend. Anyway, ESPN's Jay Bilas listed his Final Four teams, at least for the time being: North Carolina, Louisville, UConn and Michigan State.

Best prediction
Hand it to ESPN's Mike Ditka. On Sunday NFL Countdown, he said, "Now, if you think that the Cardinals didn't show up last week, wait till you see this drive-by today.'' The Cardinals lost to the Patriots 47-7.

What happened?
Seeing Tropicana Field host a football game wasn't as weird as I thought it would be. Saturday's inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl between USF and Memphis didn't look all that different than any indoor game. What was strange was seeing Sean McDonough call the game for ESPN2. With all due respect, the St. Petersburg Bowl is not exactly a glamour gig for an announcer, and you wonder how McDonough ended up calling this game. In 1992, McDonough, at the time, was 30 years old and the youngest announcer employed by a network to call the World Series. (A few years later, Joe Buck was 27 when he called the World Series.) Since then, McDonough’s career has moved in reverse. I mean, from the World Series to the St. Petersburg Bowl? Makes you wonder what happened because he has a great voice and does a solid job. Put it this way: If a game was about to come on and I saw McDonough, that would cool with me.

Best feature
ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown did a cool thing regarding playing with pain, talking with current and former players. The best part was the old Jack Youngblood story. Everyone remembers the Rams defensive end played in the 1980 Super Bowl with a broken leg, but many people may have forgotten this: He played in the Pro Bowl, too. These days, a tickle in your throat gets you out of the Pro Bowl.

Softest schedule
Basketball coach Billy Donovan has a couple of national titles at Florida on his resume, so the guy knows what he's doing. But, still, this Gators schedule is ridiculously soft. Tonight, the Gators play Georgia Southern. This after playing mighty-mites such as Toledo, Southern Utah, UMKC (I had to look up that UMKC stands for the University of Missouri-Kansas City), Florida A&M and Florida Gulf Coast. Upcoming games include Winthrop, Stetson and Longwood. And let's not talk about how tough the SEC is. This isn't football. Right now there is only one SEC team ranked in the Top 25 -- Tennessee at No. 16.

Worst predictions
NBC's Cris Collinsworth took a few moments at halftime of Sunday night's Giants-Panthers game to point out how quickly the NFL can change. Hey, he gets credit for pointing out even his crew can turn out wrong. At some point not so long ago, people were saying the following.

* The Giants and Jets will meet in the Super Bowl.
* The Chargers and Colts are going to miss the playoffs.
* The Cowboys are finished.
* The Bucs have the best defense in the NFL.
* Arizona QB Kurt Warner will win the MVP.

Best and worst stadium songs

Remember the good old days when sports stadium music consisted of a faceless, nameless guy pounding out Lady of Spain on the organ? Then it changed. Someone sang Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Them Goodbye and the next thing you know, we’re being blasted out of our seats by rock 'n’ roll songs that have become just as much of the sports culture as popcorn, hot dogs and the Star-Spangled Banner before every game.

You know them all because you hear them every single time you go to a Rays game or a Lightning game or any sporting event.

So today, we look at stadium songs, jock rock, sports anthems, whatever you want to call them. We look at the songs we hate, the ones we love and the ones that we tell everyone we hate but deep down love.

Ten classic stadium songs we hate
1. Rock and Roll, Part 2
We grew tired of this song about 10 years ago and now can’t listen to it at all knowing its performer, Gary Glitter, is a convicted child molester.
2. Glory Days
Let’s be clear. We love, love, love Bruce Springsteen, but this song is awful. “He could throw that speedball by you. Make you look like a fool boy.’’ Really, Bruce, speedball? Have you ever even watched a baseball game?
3. Blitzkrieg Bop
This Ramone’s classic hit opens with “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!’’ After hearing it 4-billion times, our response is, “No thanks, we’re just going to hang out here.’’
4. Sweet Home Alabama
We’re probably un-American for listing this song, but here’s why: In the song, Lynyrd Skynyrd takes a shot at Neil Young. And any enemy of Neil Young is an enemy of ours.
5. Mony Mony
We hated the original version. We hate the Billy Idol cover even more. In fact, if we were listing all the songs ever written, Idol’s version of this Tommy James train wreck would rank right behind Charlene’s I’ve Never Been to Me, Ray Stevens’ Ahab the Arab and anything by Mike + the Mechanics.
6. Centerfield
Like Springsteen, John Fogerty is fine by us. And when Centerfield came out in 1985, it signified Fogerty’s big comeback. But somehow every high school and minor-league baseball team with a crummy sound system insists on playing this song over. And over. And over. The only time we can actually stand it anymore is when it’s played in Bull Durham.
7. We Are the Champions, Another One Bites the Dust, We Will Rock You
We always thought Queen was a little overrated, but when we hear these songs, we just get annoyed because we believe, deep down, that they wrote these songs specifically to get played in stadiums. That’s cheating.
8. YMCA
How did this song become such a stadium mainstay? What, because it has dance moves that a 2-year-old can memorize? So does the Hokey Pokey, the Chicken Dance Song and Macarena. While we’re at it, add those three to the list.
9. Cotton Eye Joe
Quite possibly the most annoying song ever, a cornball mixture of techno and hillbilly, often made worse by some wingnut trying to get on Jumbotron who looks like Larry the Cable Guy. And dances like him, too.
10. Unbelievable
This EMF song pretty much lost us when you hear Andrew Dice Clay singing, “Ohhh!’’

Ten stadium anthems that we still love
1. Welcome to the Jungle
Hands down, by far, no doubt about it the best stadium song ever. If this Guns N’ Roses effort doesn’t get you pumped up when your hear Axl Rose’s monster screech over Slash’s guitar at the beginning, you should be back at the home getting ready for your after-dinner Jell-O.
2. Seven Nation Army
We don’t hear this White Stripes hit at many stadiums, but we have heard it at Tropicana Field and now we wonder why we don’t hear it at more stadiums.
3. The Hockey Song
You know this — ''The good old hockey game, is the best game you can name, and the best game you can name, is the good old hockey game.’’ You can tell that writer Stompin’ Tom Connors actually loves and knows the game.
4. Push It
This Salt-N-Pepa song really serves no purpose at a game, but when you hear “Oohh baby, baby … baby, baby’’ you can’t help but start singing along.
5. Anything by AC/DC
Hells Bells, Shoot to Thrill, You Shook Me All Night Long, Thunderstruck, TNT. Doesn’t matter. We love them all.
6. Start Me Up
True, this is about the 100th-best song the Rolling Stones ever did, but if you don’t hear it at the start of a game, it feels like something’s wrong, like you locked you keys in your car or left the oven on or something.
7. Sirius
This is the Alan Parsons song that the Chicago Bulls play when they introduce the starting lineups. You only hear the first couple minutes, but that’s enough. Every time we hear it, we think of Michael Jordan.
8. Enter Sandman
The buildup in the first minute of this Metallica song gets you so fired up that you’re ready to put on some pads and go hit somebody.
9. Crazy Train
If you can’t find a copy of Enter Sandman, this Ozzy Osbourne song will do the trick. Hey, it was the theme of the New England Patriots and it worked out pretty well for them.
10. Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Still a classic. Seriously, do you know anybody who doesn’t like this song?

Five guilty pleasures (songs that we’re embarrassed to admit we still like)
1. Kiss Me
Stadiums always play this Sixpence None the Richer song when they put couples on the screen and force them to kiss. We especially like it when they show a couple not romantically involved. You can tell the guy is up for a smooch and actually thinks for a second that he might get one, but the girl shakes her head, waves her hands and mouths the words, “We’re just friends.’’
2. Celebration
Kool & the Gang
3. Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It
Will Smith
4. We Like to Party
Vengaboys
5. U Can’t Touch This
MC Hammer

Lightning's most gruesome injuries

Kicked in the face with an ice skate. Just think about that for a second. Kicked. In the face. By an ice skate.  That was what happened to Lightning star Marty St. Louis on Saturday in Ottawa. Reaching for a loose puck on a faceoff, St. Louis was accidently kicked by official Derek Amell. Incredibly, St. Louis needed only eight stitches to close a gash on his forehead and is expected to be back in the lineup Thursday night. St. Louis' injury is hardly the only freakish and gruesome injury the Lightning has suffered over the years. Here are a few that come to mind. It's no wonder the team is owned by a guy who makes those Saw movies.

Marty St. Louis
Saturday wasn't the first time St. Louis suffered a crazy injury. In November 2005 during a lazy Sunday morning practice, St. Louis was standing in front of the net on what seemed to be harmless power-play drill. Seconds later, St. Louis was grabbing his hand and spilling blood all over the ice. Looking to deflect the puck, St. Louis was hit on his left ring finger, which was fractured. Now for the part that makes you go, "Ewww!'' Doctors had to remove St. Louis' fingernail, stitch the nail bed and then reattach the nail.
But St. Louis is a hockey player. He was supposed to be out for a month. He missed two games and scored the only goal in his first game back -- a 1-0 victory against the Islanders.

Aaron Gavey
This has to be the most gruesome injury in Lightning history. Chasing a loose puck during a game at Buffalo in 1996, Gavey was accidently clipped in the face by the skate of teammate Michel Petit. The skate zigzagged across Gavey's face from his chin, across the corner of his lips, up his right cheek to just around his right eye. He was helped from the ice and immediately raced to Buffalo General Hospital. Recounting the incident years later, Gavey said he felt fine until he heard paramedics telling the ambulance driver to hit the siren because "this guy might not make it.''

Gavey had three hours of plastic surgery and needed 120 stitches to close the cut. He returned to the lineup only a couple of weeks later. In 2000, Gavey said it was likely he would require surgeries as he grew older because many of the nerves in his face were severed. The scar, as you can see, remained long after the injury.

Dan Boyle
Certainly, the most freakish injury the Lightning has ever suffered. After a game early last season, Boyle was sitting at his locker talking to a teammate when a skate literally dropped from the sky and slashed his forearm. What happened was the skate fell from the hook that holds a player's skate above his locker.

"A one-in-a-million shot,'' assistant equipment manager Rob Kennedy said at the time. "I've never seen anything like it.''

The damage was severe. The skate blade cut his wrist and severed two abductor tendons and an extensor tendon. Boyle ultimately missed 45 games.

Shawn Burr
Just before Christmas in 1997, Burr, one of the more charismatic and humorous players in club history, was slashed on the left hand by a Boston player with a familiar name in these parts -- Rob DiMaio, who had two stints with Tampa Bay. At the time, Burr said, "I pulled my hand out of my glove and almost puked. It was the grossest thing that I have ever seen.''
What Burr saw was blood, lots of it. What he didn't see was the tip of his middle finger, which had been severed. The tip of Burr’s finger was re-attatched, but it didn't take. It eventually turned black and these days, Burr's left middle finger stops just above the top knuckle.

Craig MacDonald
It's amazing how hockey players' instincts are, which is why they are almost never hit by a puck though it often travels at more than 100 mph. But sometimes something freaky happens, like in a game last season. Toronto's Hal Gill partly fanned on a slap shot from the point. The puck acted like a slow curveball and ended up striking a surprised MacDonald right in the chops. MacDonald suffered nine fractured teeth and needed three root canals and approximately 50 stitches inside his mouth.

Jassen Cullimore
In a 2003 playoff series against the Capitals, Cullimore was getting a puck behind this net. That was when he was checked legally, but hard, by Washington's Dainius Zubrus. Cullimore lost his balance and slammed face-first into the boards. Not the glass part, but the hard board itself. If that wasn't bad enough, Cullimore appeared to hit a part of the boards where one section meets another. That little crack did the damage. Cullimore needed 70 stitches to close the nasty cut on his lip and chin.

Basil McRae
The funny thing about hockey fights is it's rare that anyone gets hurt. That is unless something freaky happens. During the Lightning's inaugural season, Tampa Bay tough guy Basil McRae squared off against Stu "The Grim Reaper'' Grimson. As the two grappled at center ice in old Chicago Stadium, tugging on each other's jerseys, McRae’s left skate caught a rut in the ice. The lower part of his leg went one way and the upper part went the other.

"I put all my weight on it,'' McRae said in 1992, "and I heard it snap.'' So did Grimson, who immediately let McRae go and skated away. Result: a spiral break of the left tibia. The injury could've been much worse, but McRae already had an 18-inch steel rod in the leg from a previous injury. Lucky for him, huh?

Reid Simpson
This was a case when someone actually did get hurt in a hockey fight. Hurt bad. Enforcer Reid Simpson only played 26 games for the Lightning back in the 1999-2000 season, but that was enough for 106 penalty minutes and an injury he will never forget. Simpson was fighting the Islanders' Eric Cairns when Cairns caught Simpson with a clean punch to the chin. The punch was so hard that it completely split open Simpson's chin bone. After, Simpson could actually put his fingers in his mouth and push down on his bottom teeth like it was a see-saw with each side of his now two chins moving up and down. Two months later, Simpson still hadn't played when he said his jaw felt fine but, "I don't know if it would feel fine if I got punched.''

Darryl Sydor
In a January 2006 game, the defenseman was standing in front of his net. Then he felt like he had been shot. He never saw a slap shot that was deflected until it was too late. The puck ripped into his upper lip, causing a gash that left his upper lip flapping just below the left side of his nose. He laid on the ice, woozy from the hit when he started to taste blood. "I didn't realize I was cut until I got to the (bench),'' Sydor said at the time.

The cut required 70 stitches to his lip, gum and cheek. Even days after the injury, it appeared as if he had a golf ball jammed under his upper lip. Oh yeah, he didn’t miss a game.

Jacques Demers
Hey, gotta throw a coach in here. Demers was injured in his very first practice as Lightning coach in 1997. Everything was going well until he slipped on the ice and fell hard on his knee. Next thing you know, he needed fluid drained and spent several days coaching practices from the bench. Only with the Lightning, kids, only with the Lightning.

The wrong guy won the Heisman Trophy

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Wrong winner
Oklahoma's Sam Bradford had a season good enough to win the Heisman Trophy. He threw for nearly 4,500 yards and 48 touchdowns. He directed the highest scoring team in major college football history and has his team in the national championship game. So let's not take anything away from him.

Actually, come to think of it, I would vote to take something away from him. Another player should've won the Heisman and, no, I'm not talking about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. I'm talking about Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.

McCoy threw for nearly 3,500 yards (about 1,000 fewer than Stanford), but his 77.6 percent completion rate was the best in college football history and tossed 32 touchdowns. But here's what puts him over the top: he rushed for 576 yards (more than Tebow and he led the Longhorns in rushing) and 10 touchdowns. And a little icing on the cake: he beat Bradford in the head-to-head matchup.

You wonder how much Bradford benefited from playing in the Big 12 championship game -- a game in which he threw for 384 yards and two scores -- and a game that many felt should've had McCoy's Longhorns playing instead of Bradford's Sooners.

It's hard to say Bradford didn't deserve to win the Heisman. He did. So did Tebow. But McCoy was the most deserving of all.

Worst of Dallas, Part I
I'm shocked -- shocked! -- that Terrell Owens is causing problems with the Cowboys. Thankfully, a couple of football analysts on Sunday's pregame shows pointed the finger where it deserves to be pointed.

"You know exactly what you are going to get in his 13-year history,'' CBS's Shannon Sharpe said. "The problem is not T.O., it's (owner) Jerry Jones because Jerry Jones reinforces that negative behavior and co-signs what T.O. says about throwing him the football to better their chances of winning games.''

"T.O. has never cared about anybody but himself,'' Fox's Terry Bradshaw said. "I'm disappointed that Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, didn't recognize this. No one questions T.O.'s individual talent, but it is about the team. … What Terrell Owens has done is destroy whatever hope the Dallas Cowboy fans or players have of getting to a championship.''

Worst of Dallas, Part II
Let's not hurt our hands patting the Dallas Stars on the back for dumping troublemaker Sean Avery. The Stars are cutting ties with Avery after his six-game suspension for disparaging remarks about his ex-girlfriend. The Stars knew exactly what they were getting when they picked up Avery in the offseason. In fact, the Stars wanted Avery because they felt they needed to play with more of an edge. Is anyone surprised Avery slipped over that edge? The bottom line is the Stars just now found out what his previous three teams did -- that Avery doesn't do enough on the ice to make up for all the problems he causes off of it and that he's more concerned with the name on the back of his jersey than the one of the front.

Best feature
Warrick Dunn's heartbreaking yet inspirational story of overcoming the murder of his mother never gets any less heartbreaking or inspiring, and ESPN proved that Sunday with Greg Garber's excellent feature on Sunday NFL Countdown. The story centered on the Bucs running back coming face-to-face a year ago with the man convicted and sentenced to death for killing Dunn's mother, a Baton Rouge, La., police officer, during a bank robbery. The story featured a quote from Dunn that left anyone who saw it with tears:

"I sacrificed my own happiness. I sacrificed; making sure other people in my life came first because Warrick didn't come first anymore. I was so depressed. I was content being in the four walls in my house. I was content not going outside, watching TV all day. For so long I felt like these guys were taking so much away from me. This one incident has made me so hard and so closed that I wanted to continue to progress and move forward.

"To not hear him admit to doing it was tough. But, he got teary-eyed also by the statements that I made. I just really expressed how this one incident affected so many areas of my life, how I was searching for answers. I think it's the right guy … he did it. Why would you really care? I didn't ask him the question -- did you do it? But, he just said it wasn't him. If you didn't do it, then I don't know why you're here, but I forgive you or whoever did it. I think that showed him I was coming to peace with everything.

"She already knew what I just accomplished going to see the guy that shot and killed her. I know she's proud. She's proud that I hadn’t gone crazy, I hadn't gone down a wrong path, I've done something positive with my life.''

Best show
More kudos to ESPN for Saturday's fascinating two-hour documentary The Greatest Game Ever Played, which chronicled the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Colts and Giants -- the game that jump-started the NFL's modern-day popularity. Using computer technology and three months of work, ESPN turned the black-and-white footage into color and showed never-before-seen camera angles. In a word, the picture was amazing for a game played 50 years ago. Interviews with those who played in the game didn't bog down the game footage, but enhanced it.

I still think NB''s recent documentary on the 2008 Paralympics was the best original sports show of the year, but ESPN's The Greatest Game Ever Played is a close second.

Worst beating
For those who didn't order the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight last week, HBO re-aired the fight Saturday after the Wladimir Klitschko-Hasim Rahman fight. And Pacquiao's destruction of De La Hoya looked even worse the second time around. HBO analyst Max Kellerman said Saturday: "Oscar De La Hoya is over. He's not a fighter. Not really. Not anymore. He can still beat some B fighters on his talent alone. But the days of him engaging in super fights with the elite of the sport are over. A lot of the reason he is not a fighter anymore is because Manny Pacquiao convinced him he is not a fighter anymore.''

Best reason to be angry
How about the Yankees? Once again, they are spending money like it's water. They're going after everyone and signed pitcher CC Sabathia to a ridiculous seven-year, $161-million contact.
On Sunday's Sports Reporters on ESPN, New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica said: "Now they do this at the same time they go back to the City of New York and ask for another $300-million in tax-free bonds to continue building (the new Yankee Stadium). … Isn't this how the economy got in trouble.''

Best lists
ESPN's Todd McShay had a couple of interesting lists over the weekend. The first was who would be the top five picks in the NFL draft, assuming some of the following decide to skip their remaining years of college eligibility :
1. Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia.
2. Andre Smith, OT, Alabama.
3. Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech.
4. Malcolm Jenkins, CB, Ohio State.
5. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma.

McShay also gave his top five quarterback prospects after Stafford and Bradford. Included in the list is Florida's Tim Tebow, who, according to McShay, would be a third-round pick in next year's draft if he decided to skip his senior season. (CBS's Charley Casserly said Tebow would be a "second-day draft choice.'') Here’s McShay's top QB list after Stafford and Bradford:
1. Mark Sanchez, Southern Cal.
2. Nate Davis, Ball State.
3. Josh Freeman, Kansas State.
4. Tim Tebow, Florida.
5. Graham Harrell, Texas Tech.\

Worst whining
NBC's Sunday Night Football crew went on and on about how the Steelers caught a major break when a replay reversed a call and gave them a touchdown against the Ravens at the end of Sunday's key AFC North showdown. Did the Steelers catch a break? Maybe. But the Sunday night crew, especially Cris Collinsworth, went overboard and failed to mention that had the original play stood, the Steelers could've easily kicked a tying field goal or might have even scored on the fourth-and-an-inch play. To say the Steelers got a little help would've been fair. To say the call cost the Ravens the game is just wrong.

Three things that popped into my head
1. Did Auburn really hire a guy (Gene Chizik) who is 5-19 as a head coach?
2. Saturday's Lightning-Senators game might have been the most boring thing on TV -- sports or otherwise -- all weekend.
3. The only fight that will make boxing's heavyweight division worth watching again is never going to happen -- Wladimir Klitschko taking on his brother Vitali.

Melrose: "I hope that Tampa Bay doesn't win a game the rest of the year.''

Former Lightning coach Barry Melrose continued his verbal assault on the organization Tuesday, telling a Toronto radio station that he hopes the Lightning doesn't win another game this season and that first overall pick Steven Stamkos is not ready for the NHL.

In an interview with Don Landry and Gord Stellick on The Fan 590-AM, an all-sports talk radio station in Toronto, Melrose, who was fired after going 5-7-4 in 16 games, blasted Lightning management and players. He said he was fired because he would not let ownership and management run the team.

"Basically I had guys in Tampa that wanted to run the team and I wouldn't let them,'' Melrose said. "I was hired to coach and I coached. ... (But according to management) I wasn't playing the right guys and I was playing certain guys too much and I wasn't playing other guys enough. Every day was a constant battle. Finally, the guys in charge decided they wanted to coach and they got rid of me. That's what it comes down to. Obviously, it wasn't a hockey decision because it's not like they've set the world on fire since they got rid of me. ... Now they've got guys in charge that let them do what they want. And obviously that's not working out very well either.''

The Lightning is 1-6-4 since Melrose was fired and replaced by Rick Tocchet. When asked if it makes him feel "glee'' that the Lightning continues to struggle, Melrose dropped his most bitter comments.

"I'm not going to lie to you, yeah it does,'' Melrose said. "And any coach that says it doesn't is a liar. I hope that Tampa Bay doesn't win a game the rest of the year. But now saying that, there are couple of guys -- I actually like (owner) Oren Koules. I think Oren is a good guy. I think Oren is good for the NHL. He's putting his heart and soul into this team. I actually hope he does well.''

Melrose purposely avoided talking about co-owner Len Barrie and GM Brian Lawton, even when asked about them. As far as the players, Melrose said:

"I never really got close to any players in Tampa, whereas my other teams that I coached, I was always a players' coach. I really cared about my players. But the team in Tampa, I can really say there's only a couple of players that I actually cared for on that team. It was a weird team. It wasn't a Barry Melrose-type team and, obviously, it didn’t work out very well.''

Regarding Stamkos, Melrose said:

"Steven is not ready for the NHL,'' Melrose said. "Steven is going to be a good player, but right now he's just not strong enough physically to play against defensemen who are 6-3 or 6-4 that can skate as good as him. … He just can't check in his own end well enough. … Right now, Steven is not a great NHL player by any stretch of the imagination.''

Click here to hear the full interview on The Fan.

Shooting from the Lip

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Worst sportsmanship
Anyone else have an issue with Oklahoma pouring it on Missouri at the end of Saturday's Big 12 Championship Game? The Sooners were throwing bombs with a 55-21 lead and less than four minutes left. Yeah, yeah, I know. The Sooners were trying to become the first team in I-A history to score 60 in five consecutive games, but to me, that reason is not good enough. Just because you CAN score 60 doesn't mean you HAVE to. There have been plenty of great offenses in NCAA history that could've set such records but chose not to run up the score.

Others might claim Oklahoma needed to win big to assure itself a spot in the BCS Championship Game, but 55-21 was big. No one can tell me that the Sooners would've been denied a spot in the BCS title game if they had won 55-21 instead of 62-21.

And did you notice that the ABC broadcasters -- Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporter Lisa Salters -- seemed to enjoy and celebrate Oklahoma tacking on late points? Salters, especially, asked Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and QB Sam Bradford about how much the record meant, and she should've followed up with a question about running up the score.

Most overrated
Oscar De La Hoya has been great for boxing -- a charismatic fighter with an Olympic gold medal and, from all accounts, a pretty decent fellow. But after he was dismantled by Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night, one can't help but question if De La Hoya has been one of the more overrated athletes in recent history. He has lost most of the big fights in his pro career -- to Shane Mosley (twice), Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather and now Pacquiao. He made his name professionally by twice beating up the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez, but Chavez was well past his glory days. Now, there's no one we really want to see De La Hoya fight, because who is any good that De La Hoya can beat? He can pretty much do whatever he wants, and he can continue working as a successful promoter. He can go into broadcasting. He can maybe even act. Let's just hope there’s one thing he doesn’t do again: fight.

Surprising stat of the weekend
ABC's Bob Griese had a stat that surprised me. Penn State's Joe Paterno has the longest tenure with one team, having coached the Nittany Lions for 43 seasons. FSU's Bobby Bowden is next with 33 years. And do you know who is third? Frank Beamer, who has been Virginia Tech's coach for 22 years.

Best slam
Talking about the whole Plaxico Burress mess, CBS's Boomer Esiason managed to take a little shot at Fox and NBC, perhaps inadvertantly. He said to partner Bill Cowher, the former Steelers coach: "Did you win the Super Bowl with Plaxico Burress when he was on your team? No. You actually let him go the year before. That's right where the Giants find themselves -- no Plaxico Burress, no Jeremy Shockey, no Tiki Barber, no Michael Strahan, no Osi Umenyiora, no big problem.'' It's just funny that Esiason would say that with Barber now working for NBC's Football Night in America and Strahan working for Fox NFL Sunday.

Best and worst decision
Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez decided he will play for the Dominican Republic and not the United States in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. A-Rod was going to catch grief either way. He was born in the United States and played for the Americans in the 2006 tournament. His parents are from the Dominican Republic, and he once promised his mother he would play for that country. The way it usually works in hockey is once you start playing for one country in international tournaments, then that is only country you can play for. But if baseball allows players to switch teams and A-Rod wants to play for the Dominican Republic, that's his business, and no one should have a problem with it.

Best point
ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale called last week to repeat his belief that college basketball season should not start until Dec. 1. Already this season, we've seen big games such as UCLA-Texas, North Carolina-Michigan State, Duke-Purdue, North Carolina-Notre Dame. But is anyone noticing with all this college football going on?

Best story in college basketball
Well, since I've brought up college hoops, I should mention a nice little story going on at Michigan. The Wolverines were supposed to be an average team at best, but they are 6-2 and already have two victories over teams that were ranked No. 4 when they played them -- UCLA on Nov. 20 and Duke on Saturday. Ann Arbor can use some good sports news with Rich Rodriguez running the football program into the ground.

Best feature that was too short
ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi (the network's best reporter) had a piece on Outside the Lines with Jaguars lineman Richard Collier, who was shot 14 times this year, leaving him paralyzed below the waist and without his left leg from the knee down. Naqi asked all the right questions in Collier's first televised interview, but the piece fell flat because it was too short. It took up only half of the 30-minute program.

By keeping the feature so brief, viewers couldn't get to the bottom of exactly what happened the night Collier was shot, and viewers couldn't get a full grasp of the toll, emotional and physical, this tragedy has had on Collier and those close to him. In the end, it was hard to feel sympathy for Collier. Not because it wasn't an awful tragedy or he's an unsympathetic person, but because we didn't get to know him well enough.

ESPN's investigative work is, at times, outstanding. This piece could've been outstanding, too, if it had been given room to breathe. That's the whole point of Outside the Lines, isn't it, to run pieces that are too long to run on SportsCenter? So why put it on a half-hour show and cut it short?

Worst field
Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia is a beautiful football stadium, worlds better than Veterans Stadium. No one misses that dump. Well, actually, I do. One day a year. I miss when Army-Navy used to play on that dull blue-green artificial turf on cold, gray days. Older readers probably miss the days when the game was played at JFK in Philly. With a new stadium, and new uniforms with stripes and camouflage, it just doesn't seem like Army-Navy anymore.

Three things that popped into my head
1. If I had a Heisman Trophy ballot, I'd vote Texas QB Colt McCoy at No. 1, followed by Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford at No. 2 and Gators QB Tim Tebow at No. 3.
2. How did officials miss calling interference on USF's last play in the end zone on Saturday night at West Virginia? I'm convinced the Big East has the worst officials of the major football conferences, and not just because of that one missed call Saturday.
3. Oklahoma might be the only team in the country that has a chance against the Gators. Florida's victory against Alabama proved you can't beat Florida with a great defense. Your only chance is to outscore them.

Q&A with ESPN's Ron Jaworski

ESPN pro football analyst Ron Jaworski talks a million miles per hour. Why? Because it's impossible to talk any faster. The former Eagles quarterback has moved on to his second career as an NFL analyst. He's known for his passion, energy and obsessive review of videotape to prepare for broadcasts.
Jaworski will call Monday night's Bucs-Panthers game. On Friday, he took time out from breaking down video to chat with Times staff writer Tom Jones about how Jeff Garcia drives him crazy and how the Bucs might miss Monte Kiffin.

Your known for watching miles of videotape to get ready for a game. Exactly how much do you watch?
I try to get through at least the last four games of the teams who are going to be on Monday Night Football.

And you watch every play of every one of those games?
Yes, every play. Sometimes I’ll go back and look at a play 20 times, trying to find something unique or compelling about it. Maybe why the offense used a man-in-motion or a shift. It’s time consuming, but it does give me a template of what’s going to happen on Monday night. Maybe I’ll see a formation or a look that gives me a precursor to what’s going to happen.

And you do this in your office?
Yeah, I have an office at NFL Films (in Mount Laurel, New Jersey outside of Philadelphia). And I have access to everything. All the games from the past week, all the games from the season and, if I want, I can go down to the vault and get any game from the past 50 years. Talk about a great place to work for a whack job like me.

Do you ever go back and look at your old games?
I have, yes. Absolutely. I look a lot worse now than I thought I did. Sometime I watch myself and think, "Oh my God, you were awful!''

What do you see as the keys to Monday night's game between the Bucs and Panthers?
I told (MNF announcer Mike) Tirico that his is a manhood game. It's not about design, not about X's and O's. The way Tampa and Carolina are built, they are just two physical football teams. They're not going to wow you with all kind of trick formations and so forth. It's going to be two teams just lining up in tight formations and going at it.

Any particular match-ups that intrigue you?
For Tampa, it's how do you stop (Carolina wide receiver) Steve Smith? He single-handledly won that game at Green Bay last week with his catch in the last minute. (Quarterback) Jake Delhomme threw it up and it should've been intercepted, game over. Instead, Steve Smith comes down with an amazing catch and they win. He's an amazing talent and Tampa is going to have to figure out how to control him.

What have been your impressions of the Bucs this season?
Defensively, I've been absolute blown away. When I look at the Bucs defense, it's hard to explain, but you see an energy about them. They are so plugged in. They play with incredible discipline. I'm going to break down the Tampa Two defense for the NFL Matchup show. Everyone has heard of it, but not many know what exactly it is. And these guys play it the way it's supposed to be played. Hey, Rod Marinelli (coach of the winless Lions) plays the Tampa Two and it's not helping. (Laughs) It's about the players. They understand their roles and they play with that energy I talk about.

When you talk about energy, are there any players on that defense that you really notice? A player that plays with that energy that the rest of the team takes its cue from?
I really think (Barrett) Ruud is having a great year. He clearly has picked his game up another level. And I like watching Jermaine Phillips. He's a guy that the offense always needs to know where he is. He's a ferocious  hitter. But, really, the entire defense plays with energy. You never see guys dogging it. I could do an entire show on guys around the league who dog it, but not one would be a player on the Bucs defense.

There's lots of talk that Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin will leave after the season to join his son, Lane, at the University of Tennessee. Will that great effect the Bucs defense?
Of course it will. Monte and (Eagles defensive coordinator) Jim Johnson they are just old ornery guys. I mean that in a good way. They are just football coaches. Guys love being around them. I think it would be a huge loss if he decides to go to Tennessee. That's where the defense draws their energy. It has been that way since the Tony Dungy days there. Losing him, yeah, I think it will definitely hurt.

What do you think of Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia?
He drives me crazy! (Laughs) I mean in a fun way. I'm an old-school guy. Disciplined. Stay in your pocket. Find the open guy. Jeff, he gets to his back foot and then he won't throw it. I've always said Jeff leaves plays on the field. But then on the same play, he scrambles around, makes two guys miss and then throws the ball 50 yards down field to an open receiver. The thing you have to love is he takes care of the ball. He has a 1.1 percent interception percentage. That's phenomenal.

What about Bucs coach Jon Gruden? What are your thoughts on him?
I love Jon. One of my favorite coache sin the league. I know I'll probably make people angry down there, but when I look at their skill set, I don't see a whole lot. They don't have receivers who are going to line up just one-on-out and just flat-out beat you, not consistently. But with their tight formations and bunches, they run patterns and find a way to get guys open. To me, this is very similar to the Super Bowl championship team. Not a lot of great talent, but they get the job done. Although, I do think their offensive line is getting better every week.

Is that offense, along with the great defense good enough to take the Bucs on a long playoff run?
Well, it's premature because we’re only at the three-quarter pole of the season. But clearly this defense is among the best and yes, right now, I'd say that absolutely this team can go far.

Are you still enjoying doing Monday Night Football?
It has been way beyond my wildest expectations. It's a blast to work with the people I work with, and I'm not talking just about Tony (Kornheiser) and Mike (Tirico), I mean the whole crew. It has been a wonderful experience so far. Love every second of it.

Monday Night Football is always critiqued closely by fans and media, is it nice that, for the most part, you have been received pretty well by most?
Well, the calming effect is that no one really writes much about us. Usually, when someone writes about someone else, it's not a good thing. Usually, it's the guys being criticized who have a lot written about them. So I guess people have accepted us, and that's nice. But to be honest, I don't read much of the critiques or the blogs. I'm too busy looking at tape.

African-American coaches still hard to find

Shooting from the Lip
A look back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Worst news
Another coach is coming, another is going and the college football world just keeps spinning along with nothing really changing.

Sylvester Croom, the first African-American head football coach in SEC history, resigned from Mississippi State over the weekend. That leaves Miami's Randy Shannon, Buffalo's Turner Gill and Houston's Kevin Sumlin as the only African-American head coaches among the 119 Division I-A teams. (Kansas State's Ron Prince was recently fired at Kansas State, and Tyrone Willingham has been fired at Washington but will finish the season.)

Wasn't the Croom hiring supposed to change things, break down some walls, particularly in the SEC?
Nothing has changed. Since Croom was hired at Mississippi State, several SEC schools have made coaching hires. Florida hired Urban Meyer. Alabama hired Nick Saban. South Carolina hired Steve Spurrier. Arkansas hired Bobby Petrino. LSU hired Les Miles. Ole Miss has hired two coaches in the past four years, Ed Orgeron and Houston Nutt. All of them are white.

Tennessee recently pushed Phil Fulmer out the door, and instead of taking their time, doing a national search, maybe looking at a few African-American candidates, the Vols reportedly are going to give the job to Lane Kiffin, who is white. The same 33-year-old Lane Kiffin who has never been a head coach at the college level and only became the head coach of the Oakland Raiders because owner Al Davis is a kook and no one else wanted the job.

It's just hard to believe that there  are 119 jobs out there and only three currently belong to African-Americans. And it's sad that when there are openings, most major colleges aren't even interested in considering African-Americans. Just look at Tennessee.

Best show
There were a ton of college and pro football games over the weekend, but do you know what was, hands down, the best thing on TV all weekend? A rerun of a documentary called Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story on the History Channel. The two-hour definitive film of the greatest daredevil of all time had revealing interviews with Knievel and behind-the-scenes footage. You were reminded of just how big of an event his jumps used to be and that Knievel might have been the baddest, toughest dude who ever lived.

Second-best show
Another rerun. It was a 1970 heavyweight title fight between Joe Frazier and Jimmy Ellis. The best part was being reminded of just how good Howard Cosell, who called the fight all by himself, used to be. He was the announcer, the analyst and the reporter, all in one, and was absolutely brilliant.

Most disappointing conference
Just to rile up SEC fans some more, I can't help but point out that Georgia and LSU both lost over the long weekend -- further proof that the SEC has taken a big step back this season. After Alabama and Florida, the rest of the conference ranges from ordinary to really bad. Actually, when you think about it, the Gators' best opponent so far might have been Ole Miss, and the Gators lost that game.

Worst team
If you were looking for lots of commentary from the broadcast of Gators-Seminoles, sorry. ABC's announcing team of Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire has just become too stale. The mystery is how that happened. At times in their careers, all were pretty good announcers. ABC should consider keeping all three but breaking them up. They've fallen far behind the teams of Verne Lundquist-Gary Danielson (CBS), Brent Musburger-Kirk Herbstreit (ABC) and Mike Patrick-Todd Blackledge (ESPN).

Biggest diss
CBS's Gary Danielson, in Auburn’s 36-0 loss to Alabama: "This Auburn offense is not built to come from behind. In fact, this offense is not built to come from ahead.''

Biggest story
The Plaxico Burress story dominated the headlines on all the Sunday NFL shows. CBS's Dan Marino called Burress reportedly shooting himself as "stupid and selfish.'' CBS's Boomer Esiason called it "one of the dumbest moves in the recent history of the NFL'' and predicted Burress would never again play for the Giants. Over at Fox, Terry Bradshaw also said he thought the Giants were through with Burress.

The liveliest conversation was on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown. Former Bucs receiver Keyshawn Johnson estimated that half the players in the NFL carry guns. Cris Carter followed that estimation with a shocking revelation: "You need to realize, if you run into a professional athlete, you are more likely to find an athlete that's packing some heat.''

Funniest line
"Plaxico Burress has become the Barney Fife of hip-hop.''
— NFL Network's Adam Schefter, talking about the Giants receiver who reportedly shot himself in the leg over the weekend.

Strongest statement
Let the arguments begin. Who is the best football team in the country? Is it Alabama or Florida? Is it Texas or Oklahoma? How about none of the above? ESPN's Lou Holtz said, "I’d like to see (Southern Cal) play any team in the country. I think they’d win.''

Best show of support
The ESPN NFL Sunday Countdown crew broke down the NFC South, and all went with the Bucs.
Cris Carter: “We know they are going to play good defense … I trust (Jeff) Garcia, the quarterback. And (coach Jon) Gruden is proven in the playoffs.''
Tom Jackson: "When they lose a game, they've lost three -- they lose by three, they lose by four, they lose by three. Carolina: they lose by 17, they lose by 24, they lose by 10. So when they don't show up, they really don't show up.''
Mike Ditka: "I like the Bucs because of their balance. I do like the Falcons though. The Panthers, I don't trust.''

Three things that popped into my head this weekend
1. The Kansas-Missouri game (KU won 40-37 in the final minute in a snow storm) might have been the most entertaining college football game all season. Too bad Saturday’s Oklahoma-Missouri game won't be nearly as close. Or entertaining.
2. Why in the world did CBS think anybody around here (or anywhere outside of New York and Denver) would rather watch the Jets-Broncos game Sunday  than the Steelers-Patriots ?
3. Aren't you surprised when the Lightning goes through a day without a roster move? And here's usually a good barometer: The more roster moves you make, the worse you are.