Hey, sports fans. Well, do we talk about spitting or fighting (both believed to be in line as exhibition sports for the next Olympics)? TO and the Knicks/Nuggets knuckleheadedness seem to dominate the headlines. Too bad because we may miss some spectacular performances paying such close attention to nonsense.

To whit, did you catch Manning/Harrison on MNF? Wow!, those boys can play the game. I'm not a huge MNF fan, the colllege game being more my focus, but I did find it curious that when Matthew McConaughey showed up in the booth, the MNF trio missed two pivotal plays, one a little trickeration from Bengals when they hiked he ball directly to former A&M QB Reggie McNeil. It was better than spit or any discussion of it.

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OK, so I picked Florida in my bowl pool. I have my reasons and some logic, albeit thinner than Olyve Oyl's ankles. The logic first: Most "experts" agree that the SEC was the toughest conference on the planet. I'm not exactly sure how they arrived at this notion, but work with me here. Ohio State on the other hand played Michigan, an overrated Texas, and absolutely nobody else, a schedule softer than a quart of neopolitan on a Havana sidewalk. Yes, the Buckeyes are great, but maybe all the strength of schedule talk means something. Second, I figured everyone would be on the Ohio State University bandwagon (Kirk Herbsteit at the reigns), so an upset may put me over the top in the pool. (This assumes I've picked a number of winners prior to the National Championship game, a idea not grounded in reality.) Finally, a Gator win along with the USC Trojans beating Michigan (another schedule of patsies) in the Rose Bowl (another pick) would send the BCS into a warp speed implosion, hastening, I believe a playoff.

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As a member in good standing of the Evil Empire known as Yankee fandom, I have to to wonder at the Red Sox. Boston has spent a gazillion dollars on a 26 -year old Japanese pitcher, the kind of money only the Yankees would spend, the kind of cash many Yankee fans wish The Boss would spend on pitchers who aren't eleigible for Social Security.

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From the rich get rich department, John Cook has it going at Nebraska. His volleyball team brought home the title trophy Saturday night and a bunch of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors were carrying the big shiny. Only seniors Dani Busboom and Dani Mancuso will be gone. Chances look good that Cook will start a team next year that could have two players of the year (Houghtelling, 2005 and Pavan, 2006) and one getting ready to win that little honor in 2007 (Larson.) Omaha was a great place for the win, but with Pavan and Larson shooting rockets all night, Nebraska would have won against Stanford if the match was in Palo Alto, Poughkeepsie, or Prague.

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Final thought, or actually more of a question? Has ESPN become the Wal-Mart of sports broadcasting? Not for it's low prices but rather its influence. We'll talk about this more but yesterday on ESPN radio the host of the afternoon "Sports Bash," was dissing the aforementioned Spit Man, TO, acusing him of trying to simply attract attention all the while content to give it to him. I am a huge ESPN fan; I watch it constantly, but I'm thinking sometimes it decides what is sports coverage to the exclusion of real sports. Think about it.

Impressive player to watch: UCLA point guard Darren Collison
Husker wishes: Octavien starts, Thenarse plays a lot, Herian gets four catches minimum
Best Bowls: Cotton (of course), Rose, Holiday, BCS
Happy Days: Chadron State's Danny Woodhead wins Harlon Hill Award. Imagine his skills in the West Coast Offense. Whoever was asleep at that wheel in Lincoln can wake-up now.