two small items

well, the ad/editorial encroachment has reached dog bites man status. ESPN: The Magazine had another promotional cover jacket this week with Brian Urlacher and LaDanian Tomlinson tackling gigantic bottles of PowerCharger or some such drink. So, this is no longer noteworthy. another sigh.

also, for the first time i heard a sportcaster use the word "freakin'" as an adjective in a play-by-play. it happened during the colts-patriots game on the radio by the colts announcers on that first touchdown/fumble/touchdown play for the patriots. he said something like, "he fumbled the freakin' ball." years of frustration and angst over the patriots' and colts' opposite amounts of good luck were prominent. his partner didn't even comment. wonder if that brok a taboo and we'll be hearing it more often now.