Some kind of day

3 pm: with the Brewers four outs away from defeating the Cardinals, and thus reducing the Cards' lead over the Astros to one, Scott Speizio hits a bases-clearing triple and simultaneously providing all the necessary runs in a 3-2 victory, thus reducing the Cards' magic number to one.

5 pm: University of Houston begins its game against the University of Miami. Miami scores first but Houston scores often, and holds a 13-7 lead throughout most of the game. The problem with 13-7 against a heavy favorite is that you can do the math. Sure enough, Miami scores a touchdown and wins 14-13. But what a showing by the Cougs.

6 pm: The two big games of the day begin: USC-Washington State and Astros-Braves. The 'Stros lead 2-0. Then the Braves work back to a tie, 2-2 (I'm a little hazy on the details, as my attention was drawn more to my Trojans). The 'Stros score, then hang on for a 5-4 victory.

I was thinking of the Rose Bowl . . . when USC went up by twelve with seven minutes to go, and UT knew it had to score two touchdowns in two possessions to win, what left the Trojan D was a sense of urgency. The Longhorns scored the first touchdown with laughable ease, which forced the Trojans into a defensive posture, which led to going for it on fourth-and-two . . . and the rest is history.

Same deal tonight. The fight seemed to drain from the defense when the Trojans went up 28-15; the lack of urgency was apparent when the Cougars scored a touchdown to bring them within six.

Do the math.

All right, they escaped. But Cal, Orego and Notre Dame are on the horizon.

Time to grow up.