The worst football play ever. Even small babies would cry seeing this. That blur in the upper portion of the image is the football being haphazardly tossed into the stratosphere (which the other team recovered in their end zone). Critics say the tackles ended the play, but just watching this may make dads all over the world grab the pigskin and pull their daughters away from their Barbie Town Houses in hope.

Rebecca Bross snatched back the crown of the World gymnastics ladie’’s derby recently, but the big news is that her coach is still making it happen. To many gymnastics fans, Valeri Liukin was a East Bloc vet who coached his daughter Nastia to Olympic gold. Bridget Sloan was sort of the name at the top of the heap, ho-hum. Nastia Liukin was gold P.R., but she had genetics, the family relationship, and the Olympic heritage  on her side. But Bross’ Visa Worlds win proved Liukin can mold other stars than just his offspring. Liukin (senior) could be the legitimate inheritor to the Bela Karolyi berth in American gymnastics.

The under/over on NFL to college per geo region is crazy this year. Tennessee for the pros is all football bonanza, but college is a gypped downriver ex-Kiffin healing year. If Seattle has a college team nobody’s talking about it, but the Pete Carroll Football Reality Show premieres its new season soon. That’s must-see viewing if only for the pundit value. And legendary football rivals USC and Notre Dame have some serious cred to win back. But how?

Florida and Alabama (Meyer, Saban) are starting to make the USC-Notre Dame rivalry look like a sandbox tiff. And Texas-Oklahoma is about 60 shopping days away. Florida and Alabama are so popular now, soon some pro players may be thinking about going back to school. One thing is for sure,  Lane Kiffin may be circling the P. R. drain but he won’t be approaching any bowls come New Year’s.

The quarterback career of Matt Leinart may be lined out if the preseason blogs and sports columnists are focusing properly. Leinart may be lined out as soon as early to midseason, leaving the Kurt Warner vacuum to be filled by … Derek Andersen. Pretty boy Leinart may have to start valuing his hot tub game if the bills depend on his starting for the Cards, even as early as week 1.

Warning klaxons in the sports press mark it down to irregular performance (check)   misconnection issues surfacing preseason (check) and diminished franchise enthusiasm (sadly, check).  Leinart’s worst enemies are scratching their heads at his B-team flushout. If there was any time to hail an alma mater’s loyalty this would be Leinart’s pocket, but the morass at USC is no touchstone at present.

Leinart was named in January as the Arizona Cardinals/Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. The award designates the player on each NFL team who exemplifies “off-the-field community service as well his playing excellence.” Fitzgerald may be as community minded as the best of them, but right now I bet he wishes Leinart brought a little of that game to the field. The Cards will be looking for all the charity they can get in the next few weeks…