Sentimental Journey

Anybody remember the 1993 NBA All-Star Game? Of course you don't.

The game was played in Salt Lake City, where the Jazz had opened the sparkling new Delta Center just eighteen months prior. Utah's John Stockton had 15 assists - not exactly an historic performance, given that All-Stars are allergic to defense, but a nice showing nonetheless - and Jazz teammate Karl Malone scored 28 points to lead the West to a 135-132 win over the East. As a result, Stockton and Malone became the first teammates ever named co-MVP's of an NBA All-Star Game.

I bring this up in anticipation of this weekend's Super Bowl, where the Steelers' Jerome Bettis will play perhaps his final NFL game in front of his hometown fans in Detroit. On Monday's "Sports Talk Live," I opined that Bettis is the prohibitive favorite to win this year's Super Bowl MVP award. All he has to do, in my view, is score maybe one key touchdown and run for anything approaching 100 yards. Do that, and it's a no-brainer.

Does anyone even remember that Bettis played three seasons for the Rams? He was their leading rusher as a rookie in 1993. In Los Angeles. From those humble beginnings with the Rams - a 16-32 record in his first three seasons - Bettis has become the NFL's fifth-best rusher in history.

Bettis was dealt from the Rams to the Steelers in 1996, as LA sent Bettis with a third-round draft pick to Pittsburgh in exchange for a '96 second rounder and a '97 fourth rounder. If my research is correct, the Rams used those two draft picks on quarterback Tony Banks ('96) and tackle Ryan Tucker ('97). Tucker spent five years with the Rams before moving to the Cleveland Browns, where he remains the starting right tackle. Banks has spent the last four seasons as a backup for the Houston Texans.

How does THAT trade look right now?

Over the course of a decade, Bettis has become the heart and soul of the Steelers, one of football's most storied franchises. This Sunday, he plays (potentially) the final game of a Hall of Fame career. In his hometown. At the Super Bowl.

You watch. If Bettis shows up even a little bit, the nine million credentialed media members at Ford Field will be tripping over themselves in their haste to hand him the MVP. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you. Just eminently predictable.

Does Pittsburgh have to win to guarantee Bettis the award? Probably. Only once in the 39-year history of the Super Bowl has an MVP come from the losing team. That would be Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley, who was MVP of Super Bowl V in January of 1971, when he earned the award despite Dallas's 16-13 loss to Baltimore at the Orange Bowl.

Interesting parallels between Howley and Bettis, by the way. Howley played only three more seasons after his MVP performance, finishing his 15-year NFL career in 1973. He spent all but two of those seasons in Dallas, and was a six-time Pro Bowler as a member of the Cowboys.

If the Bus is indeed parked as of Sunday night, he'll complete his 13th NFL season, spending all but three of those seasons in Pittsburgh. Like Howley, Bettis has been named to exactly six Pro Bowls.

I'm telling you - if Pittsburgh wins, all Bettis has to do is show up in the boxscore. If the Bus rumbles over Seattle, the Steelers may not even need to win to get him the MVP. Again, I'm not complaining. Just predicting.

Now On The Tee

Notes from the 53rd annual PGA Merchandise Show...

Wow.

The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando is divided into two main buildings - the West Concourse and the North/South Concourse. Combined, they sport 2.1 million square feet of convention space, 74 meeting rooms, a theater, a lecture hall, three sit-down restaurants, eight food courts, 173 loading bays, and parking for over 6,000 vehicles. Step inside either concourse, and you are stepping into the largest empty space that you can possibly imagine. It's incredible what one billion dollars of tourist tax money will buy these days. Insert snarky comment about a new gym for the Magic here.

The PGA Show takes up nearly every single inch of the West Concourse, or roughly 1.1 million square feet of space. I'll give you a moment to digest that.

The PGA Merchandise Show is an annual meeting of golf vendors, representing every imaginable aspect of the industry - equipment, travel, clothing, instruction, education, you name it. Over 40,000 members of the golf industry attend the Show in Orlando each year, touring exhibits from more than 1,200 golf-related businesses. It's become such a happening that The Golf Channel does two hours of live broadcasts from the Convention Center each day during the week.

At one end of the West Concourse is perhaps the largest indoor driving range in the history of golf. Netting is hung from the rafters as local club pros and buyers hack away with the newest drivers and irons, all under the pretense of "field-testing" the product before they decide to stock it on their shelves. At the other end of the concourse - a fifteen minute walk, shorter if you take the tram - is the clothing section, where attendees can get an early glimpse at this season's latest fashions. The Greg Norman pavillion featured a salt-water fish tank with two actual sharks - one of them a baby Great White. I wish I were kidding.

In between the two, you'll find every training aid, hitting net, shoe, ball, wood, iron, wedge, putter, glove, bag, pull-cart, videotape, book, driving range mat, golf cart, silly hat, Chocolate Lab head cover, divot tool, and naked lady tee ever invented. It's all there for your perusal. Bring an empty duffle bag and an oxygen tank. If you're not back in four hours, have someone call a paramedic.

Golf freaks like myself have heard legendary tales of the PGA Show for many moons now, but since the event is closed to the public, those stories remained cloaked in mystery. This week, through the totally legitimate graces of a media credential, I stepped behind the velvet ropes for the first time.

Again I say, wow.

The largest buzz at the PGA Show, as measured by the number of golf pros and store reps hanging around the displays, was at Callaway, Srixon, and Bridgestone/Precept. Bridgestone has glommed onto the hybrid craze by creating an entire line of "irons" that are, in fact, full-bodied woods, not unlike the old Spalding Executives. Srixon (short for Sumitomo Rubber Industries) was intent on promoting all the tour pros who use their product, including Jim Furyk, Robert Allenby, and Fuzzy Zoeller. Callaway was pushing a new ball designed exclusively for women, called the "HX Pearl." It was a fascinating display of commerce, from the ball-and-club standbys to the emerging companies intent on cracking a $3 billion dollar industry.

To my surprise, however, a few of the industry leaders decided not to exhibit their wares at the Orlando show, including Titleist and Ping. I'm guessing this is somewhat akin to the annual Auto Show that also stops at the Orange County Convention Center, which, for the last couple of years, has gone without Porsche and Saab (trust me on this one - I take my son to the Auto Show every year). Perhaps there are certain manufacturers that feel they have nothing to gain by setting up camp in Orlando.

Golf being an inherently personal game, I was captivated by a display from a company called "Accu-Length," which makes expandable golf clubs for youngsters. Their secret is a tiny bolt inside the graphite shafts, which can be unscrewed to receive one-inch spacers, allowing parents to lengthen the clubs, year by year, as the child gets taller. You spend 200 bucks for a set of clubs that theoretically can last four or five years (each set comes with enough spacers to increase each club by four inches), as opposed to buying the kid a new set of sticks every 18 months. Genius.

I read every word of their PR packet, and noticed quickly that the word "kids" does not appear anywhere in their literature. That would be because the industry leader - and their chief competitor - in the children's club market is an outfit called U.S. Kids Golf, which also had an immense pavillion at the Show. See, somebody at Accu-Length had the foresight to leave out the word "kids," to make sure that no potential buyer was reminded of the other guys. Isn't business mesmerizing? As an English major, such canny marketing thoroughly impresses me.

Rule number one in all forms of journalism, even sports: follow the money. The biggest dollars, in terms of display and exchange, were in the golf clothing section of the Show, which took up at least half of the West Concourse floor space. Makes sense. Even if you play to an 18 handicap, you can easily dress to a two, provided your credit line is large enough.

I spent about five minutes at the exhibit of J. Lindeberg, the gonzo designer known for outfitting Jesper Parnevik in pants ranging from plaid to salmon to racing stripe, but decided I didn't fit the profile (literally - all their stuff seems geared towards a 28-inch waist and 36-inch leg). Several of the big names in clothing, including Antigua, Ashworth, and Tommy Bahama, displayed their new lines in full-scale store reproductions. One can only imagine how much money was spent on displays alone.

Celebrity sightings: golf teacher Jim McClean was spotted chatting with executives at the Golf Digest pavillion. Mark McCumber was pushing his Gaim Golf putter. Dave Pelz gave a lengthy talk on the short game to an audience of club professionals. Furyk and Norman were there. So too were brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, better known as the Black Crowes, who apparently have signed a sponsorship deal with Izod.

The Robinsons gamely posed for photographs and signed posters for a mildly curious crowd of onlookers, most of whom were wondering what in the world these guys were doing at the PGA Merchandise Show. Hands down, the Crowes win the award for Most Unlikely Attendees.

Sadly, I left the show without much in the way of swag - Stuff We All Get, the freebie currency of the media industry - as most exhibitors were extremely tight with their giveaways. I did pick up two new Precept golf balls, but that was about it. I'll have to marshall my forces for next year.

Expandable golf clubs for kids. Damn, why didn't I think of that?

100 Points In Three Easy Steps

Three factors that must be in play for any NBA player to match Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game from 1962 - and three reasons why Kobe Bryant is the man to do it:

First, selfishness. Call it what you will - a gunner's mentality, a champion's resolve, "getting my points in the flow of the game," to use a Michael Jordan standard - one must be downright selfish to reach 100 points. That's not a criticism, by the way. If Kobe doesn't shoot, the Lakers don't win. Check www.82games.com for Kevin Pelton's excellent analysis of Bryant's value to the Lakers: "Bryant's presence has been worth 22.0 points per 100 possessions to the Lakers offense this season, far and away the biggest difference made on offense by any NBA player."

For the season, Bryant has recorded a league-high 1,082 field goal attempts, an average of 27.7 per game, or 34 percent of the Lakers' total. By comparison, Allen Iverson has taken 31 percent of Philadelphia's shots this year, and LeBron James has hoisted 28 percent of Cleveland's attempts. I couldn't find a sortable stat category for "highest percentage of team's total field goal attempts" - are you listening, 82games.com? - but I'm willing to bet that Bryant is the league leader.

During the 1961-62 season, Wilt Chamberlain took 3,159 of the Philadelphia Warriors' 8,929 shots, for a total of 35 percent. In that sense, Bryant is on pace with Wilt. I wonder if anybody considered Chamberlain a ball hog in 1962.

Among the many differences between 1962 and 2006, of course, is the magic stripe at 23 feet, nine inches. Kobe took 13 three-pointers against Toronto and made seven, giving him 21 of his 81 points from beyond the arc. Even if Wilt wanted to step out - and why would he, playing against 6-5 centers - he never had the option, as the three-pointer wasn't adopted into the NBA rulebook until 1979 (Chris Ford. GREAT trivia question). With the three-point line in play, 100 seems that much more realistic, especially for a volume shooter like Bryant.

Second factor: teammates. They can't merely be willing spectators - they must be active participants. On Sunday against the Raptors, the Lakers recorded a grand total of 18 assists, two of those coming from Kobe. Hardly the Rip Hamilton Triple-Screen treatment. The fact that Bryant was doing most of the heavy lifting by himself makes the 81 even more startling.

The teammate factor is clearly the biggest challenge for Bryant. Anyone who spent time with the Miami Heat during their 2004 playoff run - as I did - would agree that while rookie Dwyane Wade was the most talented player on the floor, Lamar Odom was the engine of that team. In Los Angeles, Phil Jackson has made it a point to cultivate those leadership skills from Odom, and there are signs that Odom is buying in. Still, if the Lakers want to see Kobe hit the hundred, Lamar better be on board. If he's in, nobody cares what Smush Parker thinks.

Third factor: a permissive coach. We've all heard the story of how Jackson turned to assistant coach Frank Hamblen late in the fourth quarter and suggested it was time to get Bryant off the floor, to which Hamblen replied, "I don't think you can - he has 77 points." Jackson decided to "stay with it until he hit 80."

Good thing. Good thing also that Bryant didn't turn an ankle while driving for his 46th field goal attempt. Did I mention that Bryant represents nearly $16 million of the Lakers' $73 million dollar annual payroll? If any modern-day player is to reach 100 again, they must have the blessing - and the confidence - of a head coach willing to roll the dice. It's not just calling plays for a guy, it's allowing him to stay on the floor. With the guaranteed money factor, that's an enormous gamble.

On Sunday, Toronto led by 18 at one point in the third quarter, mandating Kobe's services and taking Phil off the hook. The Lakers led by 6 to start the fourth, and were up by 15 with two minutes to play when Jackson made his comment to Hamblen. Bryant was needed, so he played. But what if the Lakers were up by twenty when Bryant hit the 60-point mark? Would Jackson have kept him in? Remember, he pulled Bryant from a game against Dallas last month when Kobe hit 62 after three quarters, a game that LA won by 22. The coach has to be on board, too.

Phil Jackson has nine rings, all the money in the world, and the affections of the owner's daughter. Furthermore, and more importantly, he was willing to come back and coach a player whom he once savaged for 304 printed pages. I'm inclined to believe that Phil thinks he's playing with house money. If 100 is in range, Kobe stays on the floor.

And if anyone can do it, he's the guy.

Anything Can Happen

There's a reason why I love basketball, and Saturday was a perfect example.

The Florida Gators, ranked second in the nation after a school record 17-0 start, finally lost. It happened to be a road game against Tennessee. Chris Lofton, a sophomore guard from Kentucky, scored 29 points in the Volunteer win.

Lofton, as our hard-core football fans know, was once a top high school prospect at wide receiver and free safety, but once he decided to stick to basketball, he drew interest from Cincinnati, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Arkansas. He went off the board and selected Tennessee, a program hardly known for success on the men's side, with the possible exceptions of Allan Houston, Ernie Grunfeld, and Bernard King.

On the women's side, The Lady Vols have won 13 SEC titles and six national championships under Pat Summitt. The Tennessee men have never gone deeper than the regional semifinals, and haven't even reached the tournament since 2001. Point being, the Vols are lucky to have Lofton at all.

Bruce Pearl is the Tennessee men's head coach. He was named to the position in March of 2005, after nine Division II Tournament appearances at Southern Illinois and a Sweet 16 berth at Wisconsin-Milwaukee last year, complete with wins over Boston College and Alabama. Pearl was one of the hottest coaching properties in the nation last spring, and was linked to a variety of top-level job openings, Marquette among them. He does carry baggage - don't ask him about Deon Thomas - but he paid his dues. Point being, Tennessee is probably lucky to have him, too.

On Saturday night, Florida's Lee Humphrey missed a three-pointer with six seconds left that would have put the Gators up by one. Humphrey, as was spelled out in the Orlando Sentinel on Saturday morning, spends more time shooting threes in practice than any other Gator, often calling up a student manager at all hours of the night to work on his stroke in a darkened gym. He is by far the Gators's deadliest long-range shooter. Point being, the Vols were lucky he missed.

But he did, and Florida is unbeaten no more.

On the same night, the Orlando Magic hosted Sacramento at the TD Waterhouse Centre. The men in blue had won two in a row, a home game against Washington and a roadie at Charlotte. Hardly games on which Brian Hill would hang his hat. Coming off the Steve Francis suspension, the Keyon Dooling suspension, another Grant Hill injury, and a series of pointless articles in the local press detailing the Magic's struggles at the ticket window, the Magic were desperate for good news. Otis Smith may indeed be named the full-time general manager in the days to come; team president Bob Vander Weide is not nearly as likely to move back to Orlando full-time. None of that matters, anyway. What matters is wins and losses. As one member of the Magic PR staff told me last week, "if this team wins three in a row, the buzz comes back."

On Saturday, faced with an opportunity to win three in a row, the Magic did it. Steve Francis shook off a 4-for-20 shooting night to knock down four free throws in overtime, wunderkid Dwight Howard pulled down 15 rebounds (again), and on the strength of what Brian Hill called "our best half of basketball defensively all year long," Orlando pulled it out, 83-78.

Perhaps more importantly, the box score showed paid attendance of 15,766 -- two grand short of capacity. Win three in a row, and the buzz comes back.

Why am I a basketball guy? Because you just never know. Anything can happen, and fortunes turn on a dime. Florida loses, and Orlando wins. The natural tendency is to overstate the importance of the Gators' loss, and undervalue the Magic's win. I happen to think we're looking at building blocks for both teams.

March Madness? The NBA Playoffs? Don't rule anything out. In basketball, you just never know.

New Chapters

The curious case of Steve Francis has been resolved. I think.

After his team-imposed suspension was lifted following a meeting with Magic head coach Brian Hill and co-GM Otis Smith, Francis apologized to his teammates, coaches, and fans on Tuesday, thus ending this bizarre chapter in the Magic season. Maybe.

To repeat from a previous entry - there are two, and only two, methods of getting an NBA player's attention: money and minutes. I wrote that since Francis is due $48 million guaranteed American dollars over the next three seasons, money was not a factor, which was incorrect on my part. His suspension was without pay, meaning he lost $180 grand per game while pondering his decision to remain on the bench during a blowout in Seattle last week.

The second part of that equation - minutes - is what I figured would truly slap Francis in the face. Say what you will about Steve-O, but the man wants to compete. He wants the ball in the clutch, sometimes to the detriment of his team. To be prevented from playing basketball, I felt, was the strongest statement the Magic could possibly make.

Francis, in a rare fit of contrition, went so far as to claim that he would "live with the decision" to come off the bench, if it came to that. That sounds great - and I'm not doubting Francis's sincerity - but all NBA players know that it's not who starts, it's who finishes. It's worth noting that second-year guard Jameer Nelson, a player reportedly deemed "untouchable" in any trade offers made to the Magic these days, leads the team in fourth-quarter points, and has scored a majority of his season total in the second half and overtime. With a preternatural sense of maturity and confidence, it is evident to any who watch this team that Jameer Nelson doesn't give a crap what you think of his size or defensive skills. They doubted him at St. Joe's, they doubted him on draft day, they doubt him now. The chip on his shoulder is the size of a grapefruit. Personally, I like that in a point guard.

There's only one basketball, and only one crunch time. Can the Magic survive with two guys who believe they deserve the rock when the game is on the line? We're about to find out.

The potentially tragic aspect of all of this - Francis, Grant Hill's lingering injuries, Keyon Dooling's brain fart, Kelvin Cato's inexplicable apathy, the equally potent apathy of the fans in Orlando - is the fact that the Eastern Conference is utterly terrible, and the Magic have more than enough talent to make the playoffs in this environment. As of Tuesday night, they were nine games under .500 but only three and a half games out of the final playoff spot in the East. It's there for the taking. One whiff of success, one hot streak, one brief stretch of continuity and aggressiveness, and they are in the mix. The line is razor-thin, and these next few weeks may indeed become the turning point in the season for Orlando.

Meanwhile, in Miami, a fascinating comment from head coach/potentate Pat Riley in Friday's Miami Herald.

"This is an entirely different basketball team than I've ever coached. The personalities are different. There's a lot of great things. There's a lot of things that have to be purged, and it's just a whole different view. There has to be some realignment of focus of what this whole thing's about. And I think over the next two or three months we can do that."

For the first time in my memory, Riley the Coach comments on the players handed to him by Riley the General Manager. I wonder if Stan Van Gundy is allowing himself just a small chuckle somewhere.

"The personalities are different"? Well, yes. Shaquille O'Neal, while largely immobile, still demands the focus of the offense. Antoine Walker still needs touches, and a long leash. Jason Williams needs faithful care and grooming. Gary Payton needs a muzzle and a Way-Back Machine. And Dwyane Wade needs his own reality show, because he is by far the best player on that team, and one of the five best players in the league.

Wade leads the team in points, assists, and minutes, is third behind Udonis Haslem and Alonzo Mourning in rebounds, and is tied for second in blocked shots. You think Riley is discovering chemistry problems now? Wait until Wade gets hurt and misses a few games, God forbid.

Miami has feasted on the pathetic Southeast Division to the tune of a 5-1 record as of Tuesday - a division so bad that Orlando was unbeaten at home against the Southeast heading into the home game with Washington on Wednesday.

Miami was a very respectable 11-8 against the Western Conference heading into Wednesday's games. However, the Heat was only 7-7 against non-divisional Eastern Conference teams over that same span - a conference I have just characterized as, umm, "terrible," I believe.

To make sense of this, consider: the top team in the Eastern Conference, Detroit, went 15-2 against the East en route to a 30-5 start. The Nets started 13-8 against their own conference in building a 20-15 record in their first 35 games. Cleveland: 13-6 against the East, 7-9 against the West.

Point being, take out the dregs of the Southeast Division, and Miami is not exactly making hay in the East - not like the other conference leaders, anyway. This doesn't sound like an opportune time to start tweaking the rotation, but it appears that is exactly Riley's plan.

By now, most observers have agreed that Stan Van Gundy's fairwell press conference was only slightly more believable than the one staged by President Logan in the season opener of "24." Frankly, it doesn't matter. This is the team that Riley built, and this is the team that Riley wanted to coach. I guess I just find it incredible that he's expressing surprise at how difficult it's become to make the pieces fit.

These are crucial days for the Florida NBA teams. By the end of this month, we'll know for sure where their fortunes lie.

Random Thoughts

Champ Bailey, this is Leon Lett. Leon, this is Champ.

What's that? You've already met? Great! Then you two should have LOTS to talk about.

So I was visiting family in Sarasota this weekend, and watched the Miami Hurricanes go into the Dean Dome and shock North Carolina. Two thoughts from that game:

First, Guillermo Diaz is an NBA player. Squint your eyes just right, and remove the overbearing wife, and you have Doug Christie with a better handle.

Second, Frank Haith deserves a raise. He has single-handedly brought a dormant Hurricane basketball program into relevance -- and if we are to sing the praises of George O'Leary for making UCF football interesting, we must toss the same hosannas to Haith. Beat 14th-ranked Maryland one week, beat 20th-ranked UNC the next. Has anyone paid this much attention to Miami basketball since Rick Barry? Don't answer that.

Wondering why the Orlando Magic continue to put up with Steve Francis, despite his bizarre funk of the last month? The answer is found in the first line of his bio on his NBA.com web page:

"In 2003-04, [Francis] joined Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Grant Hill as the only players in NBA history to average 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in each of their first five seasons."

Francis can play this game, that's why. Go back and read that again: The Big O, Magic, and the pre-injury Grant Hill. Francis is a member of one of the most elite fraternities in the history of pro basketball. He can play. Say what you will about John Weisbrod -- he knew a gamer when he saw one. The trick for Brian Hill is to figure out how to get inside Steve-O's head.

There are two, and only two, motivating factors for NBA stars today -- money and minutes. Steve-O is signed up for $16 million-plus over the next couple of seasons, so remove money from the equation. What's left is minutes. By taking away his playing time, Coach Hill has drawn a line in the sand: "You want to play, you play our way."

This may well prove to be Brian Hill's defining moment in his second go-round as Magic head coach. I've already stated it on this site, and I will not back down now -- the Magic are a playoff team in the East, because the East is terrible. If the Magic can get to Francis via this suspension, the rest is gravy. But I admit, it's a big "if."

Michelle Wie failed to make the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii this week. Shame. She'll have to assuage herself with a $10 million dollar contract with Sony and Nike while she ruminates over missed par putts. Meanwhile, Morgan Pressel is out there right now, hitting balls on the range and counting down the days until her inevitable showdown with Annika Sorenstam. Who would you rather watch?

See you Monday.

The All-Florida Team

After several weeks of fan voting at sunsportstv.com, we finally announced the "Chevy All-Florida Team" live on Sun Sports on Friday, January 6th. Many weeks ago, when Brady Ackerman, Terry Norvelle, senior studio producer Jamie Shapiro and I attempted to whittle down the candidates for each position, we knew there would be controversy.

There are twelve schools in Florida that play intercollegiate football: Florida, Florida State, Miami, UCF, USF, Florida International, and Florida Atlantic in Division I; Jacksonville, Florida A&M, and Bethune-Cookman in I-AA; and Webber International and Edward Waters in the NAIA. Needless to say, despite our best efforts every week on Chevy Tailgate Saturday, we simply cannot see every team play every game. You can safely guess which schools regularly appear on television, and which ones we have to follow via box scores and phone calls to sports information departments. In short, there were a number of players that we could have placed on the ballot for each position on the All-Florida Team, but did not.

Example: Bethune Cookman's "Wyattbone" offense produced the 9th-best rushing average in I-AA football this season, leading the MEAC at over 247 yards per game. Shouldn't the Wildcats receive as much consideration for the All-Florida Offensive Line as our "expert pick," South Florida?

Another example: B-CC senior Ricky Williams led the I-AA nation in kickoff return average at 31.3 yards per attempt. Surely, he could have been on the ballot for All-Florida Special Teamer.

Speaking of omissions, I'll agree with the many UCF fans who called us out via e-mail for leaving Joe Burnett off the ballot.

Burnett, a freshman from Eustis High School, had 463 punt return yards for the Golden Knights this season, taking two back for touchdowns, plus five interceptions for 99 yards. For comparison, our "expert pick" for the Chevy All-Florida Special Teamer, Willie Reid of FSU, had a little over 530 punt return yards for three scores. Reid's final two punt return TD's were enormous - one against Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game, another against Penn State in the Orange Bowl, both over 80 yards - but then again, one of Burnett's came against Tulsa in the Conference USA Championship game.

Comparable numbers, despite a different level of competition. Obviously, Burnett deserved consideration for the All-Florida Special Teamer, or at least, for Newcomer of the Year. We whiffed on that one.

Other names we may have missed:

- Wesley Taylor, the FAMU sophomore punter, led I-AA football with a 45.8 yard average. Not bad for a kid who doubled as the place kicker for Rubin Carter's crew.

- Webber quarterback Dedrick Sykes was named offensive MVP of the Southeast Atlantic Conference, one of nine Warriors to make the all-conference team. The Warriors ended their season with a win over I-AA Jacksonville, easily the biggest win in school history for the tiny program from Babson Park. Coupled with a win over NAIA rival Edward Waters, Webber International University rightfully declared itself "Florida's small college champ" for 2005.

- FIU junior Chandler Williams recorded 870 receiving yards this season over 11 games for the Golden Panthers, an average of 79 yards per game - better than Chad Jackson or Dallas Baker at Florida, better than Willie Reid or Greg Carr at FSU, and better than anybody on the Miami roster.

- In terms of pass efficiency defense, Florida Atlantic had a final rating of 111.88, which would have placed them 22nd in Division I football, behind Oklahoma and just ahead of San Diego State. That rating was also better than the final pass efficiency number of Florida, Florida State, and UCF. Score one vote for the Owls as an All-Florida Secondary, even if their numbers weren't factored into the official Division I rankings - FAU and FIU were "reclassifying/provisional" D-I programs in 2005.

See what I mean? It's a Pandora's box, especially in this state.

All caveats aside, here is The 2005 Chevy All-Florida Team as voted by the fans at www.sunsportstv.com, and as voted by Terry, Brady, and me, with comments from the studio:

QUARTERBACK
Fan pick: Chris Leak, Florida
Our pick: Drew Weatherford, Florida State

Yes, he threw a ton of interceptions, but Weatherford also led the ACC in passing yards and total yards, setting an ACC freshman record, and led all freshmen nationally in yards and TD passes. Worth nothing that Weatherford and Miami's Kyle Wright tied for the ACC lead in passing touchdowns with 18.

RUNNING BACK
Fan pick: Andre Hall, USF
Our pick: Hall

USF's all-time leading rusher after only two seasons, Andre Hall led the Big East in rushing and was 12th in the nation at 114.5 yards per game. Considering that South Florida only passed for 144 yards per game - 107th out of 117 schools in Division I - Hall's accomplishments are that much more remarkable. Probably a first-day NFL draft pick this April.

WIDE RECEIVER
Fan pick: Chad Jackson, Florida
Our pick: Jackson

The go-to guy in Gainesville once Bubba Caldwell went down, Jackson's 88 catches for 900 yards and 9 touchdowns were more than enough to earn our nod - and convince Jackson to skip his final season at Florida to turn pro. Note: UCF's Mike Walker was a close second in the fan voting, with 855 yards and 9 scores on only 64 catches.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Fan pick: Florida
Our pick: South Florida

See the note on Andre Hall above. Everybody in the stadium knew USF's game plan, and he still managed to run for 1374 yards. Somebody had to open those holes. And for the Gator fans who voted for their offensive line - you're not the same people who created that terrific "O Blockers, Where Art Thou" movie poster after the LSU game, are you?

DEFENSIVE LINE
Fan pick: Florida
Our pick: Miami

This was a category without a clear favorite, in our eyes. We took Miami based on the Hurricanes' number-4 ranking nationally in total defense and their 35 sacks - ten fewer than Florida State, but the Seminoles were ranked ten spots lower in total defense. Also, Miami finished with the top pass defense in the nation, and in the absence of a consistent blitz from the linebackers, you have to give the D-line lots of credit for pressuring the QB.

LINEBACKERS
Fan pick: Florida
Our pick: Florida State

The fan voting was razor-thin between the Gators and Seminoles in this category. Florida State was ranked third in the nation in tackles for loss, which may not be the most accurate indicator of linebacker play, but it's a decent start (and Miami was right behind them in 4th). Florida was 10th in the nation against the rush, Florida State 18th. Perhaps the most subjective category on the ballot.

SECONDARY
Fan pick: Florida
Our pick: Miami

Obviously, fans of Florida (and UCF) answered the call to the ballot box with more gusto than fans of other programs in the state. In this case, the stats really do tell the story - ranked number one in the nation in pass defense and pass efficiency defense, the Hurricanes allowed only six passing TD's in the regular season. Sure, they got torched by LSU in the Peach Bowl, but so did the rest of the roster. Consider their full body of work, not just the bowl game, and you see why it's all about the "U."

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER
Fan pick: Chris Hetland, Florida
Our pick: Willie Reid, Florida State

The MVP of the Orange Bowl made us look smart, Joe Burnett notwithstanding. Reid led the ACC in punt return yards and average, and capped off a stellar, if injury-plagued senior season with punt return TD's in both the ACC Championship game and the bowl game. Hetland wasn't a bad choice either, having made 13 of 16 field goals this season (all three misses coming in his final four games), 38 of 40 PAT's (no misses in his final ten games), and earning a scholarship in the process.

COACH OF THE YEAR
Fan pick: George O'Leary, UCF
Our pick: O'Leary

Not even close, in my opinion (and in yours - he got 68 percent of the fan vote). Forget that he lost in the Conference USA championship game and the Hawaii Bowl - how about the fact that the Golden Knights were even IN the Conference USA championship game and the Hawaii Bowl? UCF's 17-game losing streak didn't end until September, and the Knights were bowling on Christmas Eve. Unbelievable. Several voters noted Urban Meyer's victories over Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida State - impressive, but Florida was 7-5 last year, not 0-11.

OFFENSIVE MVP
Fan pick: Kevin Smith, UCF
Our pick: Andre Hall, USF

Give the UCF nation credit - they showed up for the vote. Smith is a fine choice, anyway, with 1178 rushing yards and nine touchdowns as a freshman. However, UCF also had a passing game, while USF did not. Hall gets our vote, and was a very close second in the fan vote as well.

DEFENSIVE MVP
Fan pick: Brandon Siler, Florida
Our pick: Brodrick Bunkley, Florida State

Gator Nation speaks again. Both Siler and Bunkley are the heart and soul of their respective defenses. Named first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association, Bunkley's 23 regular-season tackles for loss was a new school record, and he led the team with 9 sacks prior to the bowl game. UCF fans made Paul Carrington a close second to Siler in the balloting.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Fan pick: Reggie Nelson, Florida
Our pick: Greg Carr, Florida State

Carr led the ACC in the regular season with 9 touchdown catches - tying Heath Miller's ACC freshman record - and was the top freshman receiver in the conference at just under 60 yards per game. Stiff competition in this category, but Carr kept FSU's offense alive at key moments. Consider: in the regular season, 21 of Carr's 27 receptions resulted in a first down or touchdown. That, friends, is money. Note: this was the closest of all the fan balloting, with ten votes separating Nelson from Kevin Smith of UCF. The fans picked Carr fourth, behind Weatherford and ahead of Kenny Phillips.

A sincere word of thanks to the college football fans who cast nearly 12,000 online votes, and to all who watched us on Sun Sports all season long. In August, we'll crank up our fourth season of Chevy Tailgate Saturday, with Rec Warehouse College Kickoff, the live Gator and Seminole Postgames, and much more. Keep those e-mails coming, and keep watching.

College football in Florida. There ain't nothing like it.