Sideline Chatter | Bull Riding: A McCain loss in Nevada, but don't blame Palin

Turns out it was a doubly rough ride for John McCain last week.

"First he lost the presidential election," wrote Jeff Wolf of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "and then a bull carrying his honor was successfully ridden in the Professional Bull Riders World Finals."

The latter came Saturday night in Vegas, when Wiley Petersen won the PBR title atop Raising McCain.

Paging Nuke LaLoosh

Some Philadelphia Flyers in search of added energy have taken to wearing titanium necklaces, the same ones big-league pitchers swear by.

Plan B, we assume, is wearing garters and breathing through their eyelids.

Film-flammed

With Jimmie Johnson bearing down on NASCAR history — as in a third consecutive driving title — ABC-TV cut away from the final 34 laps of Sunday's rain-delayed race in Phoenix to air "America's Funniest Home Videos."

As one Johnson team member told The Associated Press: "I knew we were in trouble when I looked at the monitor and saw a monkey scratching its butt."

Unarmed and dangerous

Police in Munich, Germany are searching for a thief who walked out of a store with a 24-inch TV set strapped to his body — because the man had no arms.

Cops admit they're out of fresh leads after questioning and releasing the entire Mets bullpen.

Keystone Kops KO

Freshman receiver T.Y. "Goodbye" Hilton fumbled on a reverse, picked up the ball and fired a wobbly but game-deciding 38-yard TD pass in Florida International's 22-21 win over Arkansas State.

As ASU coach Steve Roberts told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: "It's like somebody with a 100-yard wedge shot knocking it in off a tree to beat you."

Not 1, Not 2 ...

Think the critics started lining up when the Texans named journeyman Sage Rosenfels their starting quarterback?

"I have been a backup for eight years," he told the Houston Chronicle. "So if there's 32 teams in the league times eight years, that's 256 times that teams have said, 'This guy is not our starter.' So, yeah, I think there are some [naysayers] out there."

Talking the talk

• Ex-Packers cornerback Herb Adderley, to AP, after his lawsuit resulted in a $28.1 million judgment against the NFL Players Association for not properly marketing retired players' images: "I won three Super Bowls, and this feels better than all of them combined. I always felt I had one big play left."

• Tony Augusty of The Detroit News, on the Jets beating the Rams for the first time in 25 years: "To give you an idea of how long that is, 1983 also was the year Brett Favre came out of junior-high retirement to play his freshman year of high-school football."

Hello, Mr. Chips

Upstart Peter Eastgate, a 22-year-old Dane, not only cracked this year's Final Four at the World Series of Poker but emerged as the youngest to ever win it.

Eastgate won $9.15 million, a gold bracelet and the honor of having Billy Packer deride him as a mid-major.

Sideline Chatter appears Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com