If the Eagles can pony up $4.5 million to franchise LJ Smith and his one 2007 TD, than the Patriots have to consider the $7.84 million they'd have to dish out to do the same to Randy Moss a relative bargain. Moss is a stud, but an aging one. Franchising him limits New England's risk heading into 2008 and should they lose him, which could still happen, they'd be very well compensated. It makes sense for the Patriots, but how will Randy react to the news? My guess is poorly. What do you think?

Welcome to the offseason, my friends.

Down by three, 11 seconds left and no timeouts, what do you do? Go for the win and by no means get caught in bounds and if you do, SPIKE THE BALL! Kevin Riley erased Cal's hope of becoming #1 in the country today when he scrambled out of the pocket, was tackled and then ran off the field. Kevin, 6 seconds isn't enough time to get the field goal kicker in place.

To Riley's credit, the true freshman led the Golden Bears down the field after Deshaun Jackson allowed a punt to be downed on Cal's own 5. It's my opinion that Tedford allowed this game to play out like a Ravens/Jaguars contest. Play it tight and hope you win it with your defense down the stretch. But if your strength is your receiving corps, isn't that a bad decision?

Oregon State's front seven were masterful and Bernard was able to control the game on the ground for the Beavers. Asking Riley to win the game with a few minutes left is a lot more difficult than giving him 60 minutes to do the same task. If you're not going to give your QB a chance to win the game in the first quarter, don't expect him to do it in the last one.

Also, is it just me or did Nate Longshore look like he could have played? I don't want to second guess the coach's decision, but if you can stand for three hours and walk around on the sidelines, just how bad is your ankle injury? The Bears could have used Longshore in this game, even if he was only 75-80%. It doesn't matter all that much if he's full-go next week now does it?

No one knows Longhorn football better than Bevo Sports. Check this out.

"To combat heat related issues, the Texas Longhorns have now started giving their athletes a little white pill. No, not the same pill Barry Bonds takes, but actually a tiny little electronic device that players can ingest. This allows trainers to get internal body temperature readings to insure players are not overheating. Not every player receives this pill, only the heavier players such as lineman and incoming freshman whom the trainers do not have a good read on yet."

Didn't Kurt Russell fall for this in Escape from New York?

NCAA loopholes galore. Schools aren't allowed to contact players who have already signed letters of intent with other universities, but they are allowed to talk to people who talk to players and casually pass a basketball related message on. It looks like Rutgers, LSU and Texas were all thinking the same thing this week...

Classic onion article. Did the 1996 Favre whine this much? Maybe that will stop if he gets traded to the '96 Packers.

How cool is this? Federer and Nadal are matching up today on a custom made tennis court. Each side will favor their respective strengths.

" Roger Federer has won 48 straight matches on grass courts, including four straight Wimbledons. Rafael Nadal has won 72 straight matches on clay courts and has won the French Open the last two years. "

Click through to see the photo.

For the east coast college basketball junkies out there, this Saturday at MSG a number of Rutgers, St. Johns and Seton Hall recruits will be on display at the Jordan All-American Classic. Zagsblog explains what the tourney is all about and who will be on display.

In theory, this is a good idea. Unfortunately, Kornheiser doesn't know what he's talking about when watching NFL players, so having him dissect collegiate athletes entering the league should be interesting. Hopefully, they'll air this crew on day two when I'm already bored out of my mind.

Arkansas, West Virginia and Michigan all have new head coaches, but the biggest coaching decision may have come from Billy Donovan, who decided to stay at Florida. The Kentucky hot seat is still open.

Check out this disturbing statistic:

Of 104 catastrophic injuries sustained by female high school and college athletes from 1982 to 2005 -- head and spinal trauma that occasionally led to death -- more than half resulted from cheerleading, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. All sports combined did not surpass cheerleading.

I don't know why anyone would want to be thrown fifteen feet in the air.

Video of a great end to a basketball game. By the way, where is Winona State? It sounds made up.

The NFL will implement a new rule for the 2007 season. Players will be penalized five yards for spiking the ball.

"Players can celebrate by spinning the ball, and they won't be penalized if the ball happens to take a slight bounce after it leaves their possession following the end of a play. Spikes are still allowed out of bounds and in the end zone."

Kenpom posted a chart that says the odds for all 16 remaining teams to move onto the Elite 8, Final Four, Championship game and to become the Champions.

In case you were wondering, "The "Cinderella's Revenge" Final Four of Butler, Southern Illinois, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee has a .0009% chance of happening."

My thoughts mirror Jamie Mottram's and others, Gus Johnson has been the star of the tournament. I don't remember ever thinking he was anything more than an average broadcaster, but he's picked up his game significantly. Of course, maybe I just feel like that because James Brown has been a disaster by comparison.

"According to ESPN.com's Andy Katz, some of the names up for consideration to replace Amaker include Washington State coach Tony Bennett, Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery, former Golden State Warriors coach Mike Montgomery, UNLV coach Lon Kruger, West Virginia coach John Beilein as well as ESPN analysts Rick Majerus and Steve Lavin."

There are some big names in there and there could be some more before the tournament is over. I'd expect Michigan to try to make a splash by hiring a big name.