Last night's Final: Lucky 2, Good Nil | Slappy's Sports Page

For some reason I found last night's main sports events in the Northwest throroughly depressing.

First of all, the M's. The Angels didn't just sweep them in Seattle this weekend; they destroyed them. Seattle's seasn is, for all intents and purposes, over. The AL West belongs to LA; there is not enough time left in the season for them to catch up. And now the Wild Card will soon be out of reach, in the hands odf the loser of the yankees-Red Sox race in the East. Seattle management was probably pretty sure they'd done a good thing by standing pat and not messing with the team that had gotten them that far. But clearly this team will get them no farther. Call it the curse of Jeff Weaver, or the flooy of signing Richie Sexson to drive in runs in one of the biggest, most pitching-friendly parks in the majors. But the M's gave it their best shopt, and will probably continue to fight gamely. Nonetheless, it's over. Ichiro Suzuki, best pure hitter of this generation, will be watching the epostseason this year at a hot spring resort in Hokkaido somewhere. The Angels may not have been the better team, but they were the luckeir one.

Meanwhile, 350 miles down I-5 in Corvallis, oregon, pure blind chance was rescuing Mike Riley from an act of supreme folly. Riley has been unable to publicly decide who his starting quarterback wopuld be, so he was going to platoon his two sophomores, Sean Canfield and Lyle Mavelo. Canfield was obviously the better, readier and more talented quarterback to everone except Riley. So, at the turn on the quarter, with the Beavers driving on Mountain West power Utah, riley pulled Canfield out and out in Mavelo in mid-drive. This move, as unimaguinably bone-headed as it was, was promptly rewarded with Mavelo tossing a pick the first time he touched the football. Four plays later the Utes scored.

Yet, at the end of the day, it was Utah whose season was in ruins because they had lost just about every important skill player on offense to injury. Most tellingly, Brian Johnson's separated shoulder will keep him out most, if not all, of the season. meanwhile, riley comes out looking like a big hero on that enormous Resers jumbotron with a 24-7 win.

As william T. riker, that noted sage of the spaceways, was known to say, "Fortune favors fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." It's unclear how much longer fortune will favor Mike Riley, who has to go to Cincinnati and probably have the Bearcats sioundly kick his tail unless he decides now who his quarterback is. Before too long, Riley may wish he had a transporter to keep the heat of the Corvallis press off of him. Coaching football at the Pac-10 level isn't a matter of rolling your dice and taking your chances. I think Tom Smothers needs to hand Mike some Smart Juice.

Mike: "BLECH! What are you doing? That's vinegar!"

Tom: "You're getting smarter!"