And poof, just like that, he's gone

Even though I'm from California, I've had a good time watching the Oregon Ducks play this year. They have a ridiculously innovative offense, they can score seemingly at will, and Dennis Dixon has been way better than advertised. But all that changed on Thursday night. As soon as Dixon made that cut halfway through the first quarter and crumpled to the ground, literally everything about the Ducks vanished into thin air. No high-powered offense, no national title, no Heisman. And that's a killer, not just for fans of Oregon, but for fans of college football. Had Oregon won out along with LSU, we would have gotten a dream national championship. A high-powered offense with the Heisman front runner against a supremely talented defense. Now all we can hope for is Kansas to beat Mizzou and Oklahoma. And frankly, that doesn't seem real likely (although I'll be pulling for you Kansas).

What this also shows though is how flimsy a football team's hopes are every year. One seemingly innocuous play - like a roll out scramble - can instantly end your team's chances of contending for a national title. Hell, the same maxim holds true in the pros as well. One play and Tom Brady or Peyton Manning could go down, their teams hopes of a Super Bowl with them.

And something about that seems wrong. I honestly can't think of a position in team sports as vital as the quarterback. If you lose him, 99% of the time you're dead. Rare is the Tom Brady or Derek Anderson who instantly comes in and saves a season. In fact, if you watched any of the Oregon/ASU game, where Dixon initially injured his knee and Brady Leaf was forced to come in, then you knew Oregon was done once Dixon went down against Zona. Leaf just isn't very good and it's difficult for Oregon to revert to an entirely different offense.

Considering quarterback depth is a weakness that most football teams have, it's amazing coaches don't just send bench players out on the field to light up 1st string quarterbacks all the time.

And one last thing. It's ridiculous to say that Arizona upset Oregon in this game. And that's not because I think Arizona is good (even though they sorta are). Oregon lost because Brady Leaf had to play 3 and a half quarters of this game. In fact, I'll say this - it would have been an upset had Oregon won this game with Leaf at the helm.

But anyway, if you hate the BCS, and lord knows I do, then strap yourself in, because unless Kansas wins out, there's going to be one hell of a mess to sift through.

-WCK

Just give the Patriots the Lombardi Trophy now

With word coming out today that Dwight Freeney is going to miss the rest of the year because of a Lisfranc injury to his left foot, we might as well just end the season now. Because no one will be able to touch the Patriots from this point on, period. Why? Because Dwight Freeney was basically the key to beating the Patriots. Here's what I wrote after the Patriots beat the Colts:

Although the Colts didn't win on Sunday, they gave us a blueprint for how to slow down the Patriots offense. The key is a consistent pass rush with minimal blitzing. The Colts, for almost three and half quarters, consistently got pressure on Brady by only rushing 4 guys and not blitzing. This allowed there to frequently be as many as 7 guys in coverage for the Colts and it allowed their safeties to play deep so as not to give up big plays. Even better, because the Colts linemen were getting such pressure on Brady, they had to bring in Faulk to help block, since he's a better blocker than Maroney. That subsequently decreased the number of receivers Brady could throw too, since Faulk had to concentrate on blocking rather than dropping into the flat, and it left the Patriots with a less good running back in the game.

The Colts ultimately lost because they basically ran out of gas in the 4th and couldn't get pressure on Brady. And when you're not getting pressure on Brady, you could have 100 guys in the secondary and he'll still complete passes. Really the only way to beat the Patriots is to get consistent pressure on Brady while not blitzing. That means Brady has to make snap decisions and throw into a secondary with as many as 7 defenders. The Colts may have been the only team in the league that had the pass rush necessary to do this with Freeney and Mathis coming around the ends. Now that Freeney's out, forget it. Mathis will get double-teamed all day. And if the Colts face Brady and the Pats again they'll be forced to blitz and they'll get crushed.

The image of Belichick lifting the Lombardi Trophy yet again is more real than ever now. I'm sure Gregg Easterbrook isn't pleased, to say the least.

-WCK

Amare's going in for surgery again

We're big fans of Amare Stoudemire, whose vicious dunks and pure raw athleticism are exceptionally rare in big men. He's also one of the true young talents in the NBA worth paying money to see. That's why today's news is not good.

According to the AP, Amare's going in for surgery tomorrow.

The operation to remove a loose particle will be on the All-Star's right knee, not the left on which microfracture surgery was done two years ago. That operation forced him to miss virtually all of the 2005-06 season.

"It's a procedure that Raja Bell just went through just to clean it up," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We have time to do it so we thought let's go ahead and get it done."

Team orthopedic surgeon Thomas Carter will perform the operation.

There was no mention of the impending surgery, by Stoudemire or anyone else, during the team's media day gathering on Monday. The plans were revealed in a news release issued by the team Monday evening.

Something about this doesn't sound good. You release info like this late in the evening so that the press can't get a full story for the next day's papers. We're also getting pretty close to the regular season, which means this probably only started bothering him recently. Hopefully Stoudemire will only miss the expected 2 to 3 weeks.

However, when Stoudemire originally had his left knee scoped in 2005 after some minor discomfort, no one thought it would result in microfracture surgery.

Needless to say, a lot of people will be paying attention to the results of this surgery.

-WCK

Did Oden Dance Dance Revolution himself into an injury?

Let me be the first to say I think this story has no merit whatsoever, simply because it takes significant time to get the kind of injury Oden did. But I guess Portland fans need something to do other than whittle wood all day. Portland's all sports radio station - 1080AM The Fan - has started a rumor that Oden may have gotten his injury from playing too much Dance Dance Revolution. According to them, Oden is quite the fan of the stupid Japanese game.

Honestly, I can't even tell if that's Oden in the picture. And I actually think the real story here is learning that Oden is a huge fan of Dance Dance Revolution - which makes him a huge nerd. Even though I don't think Dance Dance Revolution led to his injury, if it did, it would be one of the more bizarre ways that an athlete got injured during his career. Although I'm not sure anything will ever pass Kevin Mitchell injuring himself while eating a cupcake.

-WCK