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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale One and Half Hours of Overtime 3.30am... I was going to bed, resolved to check in for any upset in the morning. The upset, of course, was perhaps going to be Florida dragging the LSU Tigers from the ranks of the unbeaten. On a whim, I flicked over the rolling scores, and in a flash, clicked through to the Stanford audiocast in time for the go-ahead score, the final interception, the victory... for the Cardinal. It's now 3.40am. Wow. What doesn't this college football have in store for us? The poll voters are really going to have their work cut out for them this week. If Michigan falls out of the 25 when it loses to Appalachian State, how far does ex-No.1 (or ex-No.2) USC fall when they get beaten at home by Stanford? With Wisconsin losing to Illinois, is South Florida really now a Top 5 team? Will AP voters really keep Boston College below USF when they reshuffle the deck? And can everybody resist from leap-frogging Ohio State above California for the No.1 spot if LSU falters? 3.50am. Florida has re-established their 10-point lead over the LSU tigers, and I'm tuned back to Florida's radio network. I guess sleep will have to wait. 4.00am. I'm supposed to be getting up for the Chinese Grand prix in two hours, Hawaii hasn't even kicked off yet, and I'm wondering how credible it is that by the NFL's night game tomorrow, 65 AP voters are going to have made an informed decision about the College Top 25 rather than a wild guess based on final score lines and a handful of highlights. 4.10am. The news is filtering through the sports websites now, headline news on most news services. The news has surely reached the field and the LSU players – will this be the spark they need to take command against Tim Tebow's Gators (and they certainly ARE 'Tebow's Gators' so far)? It seems like two days ago that I was watching Lee Corso and company prepping for this game. Actually it WAS yesterday here in the UK. 4.20am. Interception by the Tigers! The Florida Gators were the first college team I ever journeyed to see, but I have innumerable Cajun cousins, so my loyalties are swinging wildly. (Touchdown, Tigers). Mostly, my loyalties are with whoever can put this game away most urgently, and I've a nasty feeling this one's destined for overtime. 4.30am. Notre Dame is ahead of UCLA, 20-6 late in the 4th quarter, an upset I picked out in this column back in September 16, by the way (forgive me, but the sound of my own trumpet is the only thing keeping me awake). Poor Notre Dame, they finally get it going, and Stanford's stolen their thunder. Expect the Irish to take that out on the Cardinal in their season finale (yes, that's another prediction). 4.45am. First and Goal for LSU at the Florida 6 with two minutes to go. Mrs Football is making dinner in the kitchen two hours before she's due to wake up, and I'm getting ready to go to bed. No wonder we don't have any kids. Touchdown LSU. It's now a four-point game with one minute to go – overtime may have been averted. 5.00am. Chalk one up for the AP poll – who had LSU at No.1 by a tiny margin last week – vs USA Today, who had USC by a landslide. Tomorrow, it'll probably be unanimous. Oh wait, it IS tomorrow. Zzzzzzz. |
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