When it rains on U. parade

FLOAT YOUR BOAT

It's been an award-winning year for Utah football, with the exception of, well, the football.

The university's Alumni Association sponsored a float in the Provo (yes, Provo) July 4 parade and won first place. Then came the Mayor's Award in the Days of '47 Parade. The latest was the Sweepstakes Award in the Brigham City Peach Days Parade.

The latter must have seemed a good idea, right up until Utah State shocked the Utes on Friday. Then on Saturday morning, parade organizers discovered the float's transmission had failed. So compounding the loss was the fact Utah's float had to be towed down the parade route by a large Aggie-blue-colored truck.

Moral to the story: Don't plan your parades too far in advance.

THE "L" COLUMN

Sorta, kinda former Weber State Weber State coach John L. Smith got shocked last week when his Arkansas Razorbacks were upset by Louisiana-Monroe.

Smith, who jumped from Weber to Arkansas without coaching a game, told reporters that finger pointing after a loss is unacceptable.

"That's what losers do, they point fingers," he said.

Which clears up at least one thing: The "L" in his name doesn't stand for "loser."

GORED

Thanks to a power box overload on Aug. 31, a prep game between Jordan and East was stopped with the Leopards leading 28-27 in the third quarter. But efforts to reschedule the game failed, so UHSAA officials decided to record the stats but the score would not count as a win or loss.

Isn't that a bit like the Al Gore campaign strategy?

You pile up raw numbers but never get the win.

FORD TOUGH

After two weeks of political conventions, Rock On is wondering who came up with the term "political football." And why they don't actually play football to decide who wins the election.

In that case, ex-Michigan man Gerald Ford would be history's greatest president, right?

HE'S THE MAN (U)

During a post-match press conference at the U.S. Open last week, Andy Murray was interrupted by countryman Sean Connery, aka James Bond.

Connery wanted to introduce Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to Murray.

Considering Murray went on to win the Open championship, it's fair to say he was stirred but not shaken by the visit.

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