When Window Closes on You, It Really Hurts

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe has a glum appraisal of the slumping New England Patriots and Coach Pete Carroll:

“Leaderless, clueless, simmering on the edge of mutiny, the Patriots lurch toward December facing a series of winnable games.

“But it’s hard to make a case for them. It feels like the window is closing in on the young, talented group that made it to the Super Bowl just before Carroll’s arrival.”

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Trivia time: Which team holds the NBA record for fewest points in the fourth quarter?

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Familiar story: Dominique Wilkins is trying to catch on with an NBA team, but the phone doesn’t ring.

Said Sam Smith in the Chicago Tribune: “One of the most prolific scorers in NBA history with one of the best nicknames, ‘the Human Highlight Film,’ will be 40 in January.

“So perhaps his cries sound like the death knell of still another athlete who cannot admit the clock on his career is at double zero, that there is no overtime.”

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We’ll try to find out: “There’s still a couple of things that I can’t figure out about this bowl championship series,” says Mark Kriegel of the New York Daily News. “Like, where do they slot the winner of the NFC East?”

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Wordsmith: New Orleans receiver Eddie Kennison, when asked how close the Saints are to being winners:

“You have a truck that’s about to fall off the cliff. You get three tires that are off the cliff and one tire that’s left on the cliff. I think we’re just that close to falling off the edge and going in the right direction.”

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Praise, indeed: Bud Grant, former Minnesota Viking coach and Minneapolis Laker teammate of the legendary George Mikan:

“I have played with and coached some great players. But I’d have to say that George Mikan is the greatest competitor I’ve ever seen or been around in sports.”

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Wanna try again? Chris Gray, the Seattle Seahawks’ center, tried to offer some words of caution to his teammates last week, when they were sailing along at 8-2 with a five-game winning streak.

In 1993, Gray’s rookie season with Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins, the team lost its last five games after a 9-2 start.

“That was terrible,” Gray said. “That was awful. All we had to do was win one more game and we would have been in the playoffs. The lesson is, you have to keep things in perspective and you can’t get too high on yourself.”

Apparently, no one was listening. Tampa Bay beat the Seahawks on Sunday, 16-3.

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FYI: Notre Dame finished the football season with a 5-7 record. The last time the Irish lost as many as seven games in a season was 1963, a 2-7 season. The victories were over USC and UCLA on consecutive weekends.

Even Gerry Faust never had worse than a 5-6 record in his five seasons as Notre Dame’s coach.

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End of an era: Art Spander in the Oakland Tribune on the 49ers’ loss to the Green Bay Packers, 20-3:

“Monday night had been their night under Steve Mariucci. Monday night was when Steve Young would throw and Jerry Rice would catch and the Niners would score. But those days are gone, if not forever, then for a long, long time.”

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Trivia answer: Detroit, six, against Orlando on Dec. 7, 1993.

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And finally: Colorado Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley, after subjecting his team to a punitive skating practice:

“We treat these guys very well, and sometimes it’s just like a pencil: It gets dull and you have to sharpen it.”