A - Arizona. The Cardinals have covered four in a row, and won three of four. What's going on in the desert? I thought the Cardinals were supposed to suck.

B - Big Sky. If you like scoring, just wait until conference play starts. The Big Sky conference has a handful of teams that play fast and loose and have no idea how to play defense. Some of the totals on their games will be plain funny.

C - Cursed. Nothing will ever go right for the Lions. The latest sign that the universe is out to get them is Artose Pinner. The Lions cut him before this season. He signed with Minnesota and had nine carries for 54 yards on the year. On Sunday against Detroit he had 125 yards and three touchdowns. Maybe the Lions should just fold.

D - Davidson, Jermareo. Alabama's center is one of the most incredible, sad stories in sports. He was in a car accident in November in which his girlfriend was killed. The senior is still putting up career numbers with 14.9 points and 10.6 rebounds while leading his team to an 8-1 record. Imagine what he could do if his mind was on basketball.

E - Endless. This period between the end of the college football season and the bowls never ends. I'm just dying for a game to bet on so I don't have to listen to talk about coaching searches or awards or polls anymore.

F - Funeral. What the Chiefs, Broncos, and Panthers can have for their playoff hopes. Will the teams give up and play at less than their best for the last three weeks?

G - Golf cart?!? Jimmie Johnson can drive a stock car in a circle faster than any guy on the planet, but he can't ride a golf cart without falling off and breaking his wrist? That seems so wrong on so many levels.

H - Hopeless. There is no chance that baseball will ever get their financial house in order. They can't possibly be serious about some of these contracts, can they? Ted Lilly? $16 million for Binds? Gil Meche? Gary Matthews Jr.? The next time an owner cries poverty I'm going to puke.

I - Inconsistent. My beloved Calgary Flames make my head hurt. They have won nine straight at home, and lost six of eight on the road. Four of the road losses were as favorites. Apparently it's hard to leave Canada's finest city.

J - Jones-Drew, Maurice. He may be one of the smallest players in the league, but he's also potentially one of the best. The tiny back put up 303 all-purpose yards against Indy on Sunday, and he scored three touchdowns. The rest of the Jags could have taken the game off and Jones-Drew still would have beaten the Colts.

K - Karney, Mike. Total number of touchdowns on Sunday for the New Orleans fullback: 3. Total number of career touchdowns, including this week, over a career of 29 starts: 3. Number of fantasy football geeks who picked him up as a free agent Sunday night: 48,342.

L - Lopsided. It was not a day for close games on Sunday. The spread in 12 of the 14 games played were covered by at least a touchdown, and the average margin that a team beat the spread by was more than two touchdowns.

M - Maskaev, Oleg. The 37-year-old WBC heavyweight champ defended his title on Sunday. Does anyone care? Has the heavyweight division ever been less interesting? I'd watch midget wrestling before I checked out this group of anonymous losers.

N - No Answer. The Allen Iverson era is over in Philadelphia. Will he like practicing with his new team any more than he did in Philly? I realize he's a challenging guy, but I'd have him on my team in a second.

O - Over. Sunday night football is not a defensive showcase. The last five weeks the late games have gone over the total by an average of 15 points.

P - Panic. That's what that feeling in your gut is, Indy fan. Three losses in four games, one cover in five. A defense that couldn't stop a toddler (375 yards rushing?!?). Ugly. A lot has to change between now and January if this team wants to avoid another embarrassing playoff exit. Why can this team never fix this?

Q - Quarterbacks. It was a weekend for some eye-opening and unexpected QB performances. Chris Weinke, the least deserving Heisman candidate in years, passed for 423 yards. Favre looked Favre-like. Hasselbeck is back in form. Garcia isn't washed up yet.

R - Rat. It's not a coincidence that rat, Rich, and Rodriguez all start with the same letter. Sure, he got more money by using Alabama to blackmail West Virginia, but what impact will the coach have on his team's bowl performance? Or Alabama's, for that matter?

S - Saints. They certainly are saintly these days. They've won three in a row, Drew Brees can't throw an incomplete pass, Reggie Bush is showing why he was worth all the hype, guys we've never heard of before are scoring three touchdowns. Even their onside kick trickery is working. They'll fall off their pedestal at some point, but for now they became America's team by destroying America's team.

T - Texas. The Longhorns persevered over LSU in what is probably the game of the year so far in college basketball. Texas starts four freshmen and a sophomore, and this performance shows the potential they have. If they aren't a serious force at the tournament this year then they definitely will be next year.

U - Upsets. It was a weekend for huge wins by underdogs in the NFL. Miami won by 21, Baltimore by 10, Jacksonville by 27, New Orleans by 25, Green Bay by 11 and Buffalo by 18.

V - Vince. Another bit of late heroism and ridiculous athleticism to lift the Titans to a win. Get used to reading that - you're going to hear it a lot for the next decade or so.

W - Wimpy Washington. The Huskies lost badly to Gonzaga on Saturday, and it could be a while before they meet again. Washington hasn't renewed the contract that has the teams play every year. Coach Romar says it's because he wants to play different teams. Would it be different if Gonzaga hadn't beat the Huskies eight of the last nine times they met?

X - Xavier. We'll be talking about this team in this spot a lot this year, because there just isn't hat much that starts with X. The Musketeers are 3-1 ATS in their last four and the have gone over in all four games. Keep it up so we have something to talk about, boys.

Y - Yao Ming. The monster from China has turned into every bit the player he was supposed to be when he was drafted. He was player of the month in November, and he's not slowing down. Now if only his team was as good as he is. The Rockets are 14-6, but just 9-11 ATS.

Z - Zany. The Nets-Suns game last Thursday was one of the best things I have ever seen. The total was a ridiculously high 210.5 They went over that mark by 107 points. 161-157 was the final. If every game were like that then the NBA would be the most popular sport on the planet.