Congratulations to a number of football teams and players.

I dearly hope last night's dustup between the Giants and the Cowboys (20-8! Dallas!)
didn't seriously hurt the participants on either side; bruised egos go with this game as surely as NFL linemen spill each other's blood on the turf every ball game. But onward and upward first, and I'll be back for the Cowboys shortly.

Congratulations Graham Harrell on winning the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, annually given the nation's best college football quarterback! The criteria for the award alone suggest to me that it's not just a consolation prize for a young man mentioned as a Heismann hopeful, but a genuinely important award:

Determination of the Award will be based upon the on-field performance of the nominees, as well as their character. To be a Golden Arm Award Winner, these quarterbacks must demonstrate good citizenship off the field, and do their best to maintain the ideals of good character, morals, and values that Johnny Unitas upheld in his lifetime and career.

To be eligible for this Award, all candidates MUST be completing their college eligibility this season to be eligible for The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Candidates are judged upon character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, leadership qualities, and athletic accomplishments. They MUST also preserve a positive public image above reproach by avoiding legal issues or other types of scandal.

(If only you and Mike Leach had been given a tour of the Obama White House, rather than the Bush White House, to go along with the award, how much sweeter would the rewards be!) To steal a bit of Don Williams' Lubbock A-J article on how the post-award trip to the White House did go, I'll note that normally close-mouthed Texas Tech athletics department personnel did vouchsafe some information to Bush:
Harrell threw for 4,747 yards and 41 touchdowns during the regular season, but he suffered two broken fingers in the regular-season finale against Baylor and underwent a complicated surgery the next day to repair multiple fractures.

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Let me add a personal note to Graham Harrell, whose career I got to see start in spring football more years ago than I care to admit: That you're in company with the Manning brothers and Rodney Peete, not to mention David Carr, Carson Palmer and Brady Quinn, suggests to me that the NFL draft may be worth watching this year, just to see where you're invited. I have enjoyed watching you at Tech, and I want to wish you the best of all possible futures.

Congratulations too, to OU's Sam Bradford for winning the Heismann this year. I sincerely hope next year's competition is NOT reduced to Bradford's second award vs. Tebow's second award. Enough said about that? Hardly. Many deserving players never got considered for the Heismann; that's not unusual at all. That (BCS related) politics and the respective schools' money and fame did figure in which players were seriously considered, however, above and beyond the performance of the players on the field and above and beyond their importance to their teams' seasons must be repeated. Must be called out as the mockery of competition it is. Colt McCoy and Chase Daniel in the Big XII conference ALONE deserved more serious consideration than did either a 2nd award for Tebow or a 2nd-consecutive Sophomore Award. Enough already. Either honor the spirit of the award, which is supposed to go to the MOST OUTSTANDING MAJOR COLLEGE PLAYER every year, or quit giving the thing out (hat tip TTU coach Mike Leach for that suggestion btw).

And again, congratulations to the Borden County Coyotes, and to the undefeated Muleshoe, Texas, football team, both of whom won state titles Saturday, now being celebrated right here in my hometown even though both of these teams are from an hour and a half away.

Borden County's victory came with 4:18 left in regulation, as UIL rules will kick in to prevent a complete annihilation of an overmatched squad in six-man football. Go Coyotes!

And finally, last but not least here, congratulations to the Muleshoe team whose play brought the first state championship trophy ever to their school. Wes Wood and company had an excellent season. Fifteen wins, no losses, and a Grand Prairie finale that saw them shellac Kirbyville.

GO MULES!!

Image courtesy of Muleshoe ISD's team web site.

Now for those of you expecting me to yak on about the TO-JW-TR connexions (and the complications and gossip that had the NFL network on its ear last week not to mention ESPN) you'll have to check back later, as all I'm going to say about that here is I'm glad Dallas managed to win their football game last night, and I'll post separately on that after lunch.