Keeping Score

Nothing that happened anywhere in the world this week resulted in as much discussion as the decision by New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick to go for it on fourth-and-two on Sunday night. . . . Had you been from Mars and stumbled on the debate, you could have been excused for thinking this involved national security. . . .

Here’s Pete Prisco, from CBSSports.com: “Fourth-and-jackass. That’s our name of a now-infamous play in New England Patriots history. Move over, Tuck Rule. You have company. Each and every week we see bad coaching decisions in the NFL, but never, and I mean never, have I seen one as dumb as the decision (Belichick) made Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts. His brain was more frozen than Ted Williams’.” . . . And this from the Boston Globe’s Christopher L. Gasper, who may have nailed it: “It used to be that Belichick was in Peyton Manning's head. Now, it's Manning who is tampering with Belichick's brain. He wouldn't have made such a decision against any other team or any other quarterback.” . . .

And then there was Dan Shaughnessy of the Globe: “Leading, 31-14 in the fourth quarter, and 34-21 with 2:30 remaining, the Patriots took the choke and lost to their hated rivals, 35-34. So the conference is gone, the playoff bye is probably bye-bye, and the Patriots are saddled with a loss that will haunt them for the rest of the season. And Belichick gets the blame. Too smart for his own good this time. The sin of hubris.” . . . How big a deal was this? Well, the CBS-TV affiliate in Boston did the unthinkable and interrupted The Price Is Right to televise Belechick’s press conference on Monday. “Good symmetry,” Shaughnessy wrote. “The Price is Right, but The Call is Still Wrong." . . . Of course, if you tour the Internet you will find numerous stats buffs who are making the case that Belichick made the right call.

Former NFL coach Brian Billick, now a TV analyst, finally is getting some recognition. As he told the San Diego Union-Tribune: "I coached for 30 years and got a Super Bowl ring and most people, when they see me now, go, 'Hey, you're that Coors Light guy.' " . . . Allen Iverson didn’t like coming off the bench for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, so the two parties parted ways. What now for A.I.? Here’s Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press: "It's not like he can spend his days feeding pigeons at the park, because that would mean sitting on the bench."

The Left Coast Sports Babe asks: “How white is Sammy Sosa getting from that face cream? When asked about steroids he no longer speaks broken English, but he is saying that he doesn’t want to talk about the past.” . . . South Kam product Kelly Olynyk fouled out of Gonzaga’s 75-71 loss to the No. 2-ranked Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing, Mich, on Tuesday. Olynyk came off the bench, played 19 minutes and fouled out with the Bulldogs leading 65-63 with 4:21 left in the fourth quarter. . . . Gonzaga was at home last night to the IPFW Mastodons. . . . IPFW? That would be Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Bud Adams, the owner of the Tennessee Titans, flips off some Buffalo
football fans and the NFL fines him US$250,000. Tiger Woods throws one of those big-headed drivers in a fit of anger during the Australian Masters, it ends up in the crowd, and we hear hardly a word. . . . Interesting. . . . . By the way, Adams is 86 years of age. What will NFL commish Roger Goodell do if Adams doesn’t pay the fine? . . . Jeff Schultz, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Jerry Glanville just got fired by Portland State. If that’s not hitting bottom, I’m assuming the next job involves either bowling shoes or circus elephants.” . . . Here’s a gem from The Sports Curmudgeon: "The Detroit Lions have not won a road game in almost 26 months now. To put that in perspective, Milton Bradley has played for four different baseball teams in the past two years." . . . Gotta think Bradley will be taking his game to a fifth team shortly.

Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Baseball general managers meeting in Chicago failed to take a vote on expanding instant replay following a postseason in which several controversies arose from players tripping over umpires’ white canes or being chased by guide dogs.” . . . One more from Cote: “The NFL is now prohibiting players from striking Captain Morgan poses after touchdowns. However, the edict does not yet preclude celebratory end-zone tributes to captains Nemo, Blye, Kirk, Crunch or Kangaroo.” . . . Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, has told the Colorado Springs Gazette that before he raced a Russian coach asked if his moustache slowed him down. “It doesn’t,” Spitz told him. “It deflects water away from my mouth.” According to Spitz, the following season on the swimming tour, “Every single Russian male swimmer had a moustache. And unfortunately, a couple East German women swimmers, too.”

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.