Fourth-down gambles leave New England in shambles

Fourth-down gambles inside your own 30? Must be a New England thing.

An ill-fated roll of the dice by Yale football coach Tom Williams — a fake punt on fourth-and-22 from his 26-yard line with 2:25 to play — set up the winning touchdown in Harvard's 14-10 victory Saturday.

As AP's Pat Eaton-Robb noted, "A week after Bill Belichick's fourth-down gamble late in a loss to the Indianapolis Colts led to a wave of criticism crashing onto the Patriots' Super Bowl-winning coach, Williams' gamble made that seem conservative."

Nobody's perfect

"Remember when Allen Iverson wrote on his Twitter site: 'God chose Memphis'?" asked Greg Cote of the Miami Herald. "Didn't quite work out.

" 'Even I make mistakes,' Tweeted God."

He weighs on them

The reason you don't see coach Mark Mangino getting carried off the field on his players' shoulders after a big Kansas football victory is because:

a) The dude weighs over 400 pounds.

b) Jayhawks players carry a grudge because he berates them too much.

c) The dude weighs over 400 pounds.

Somebody's perfect

Don't look for Marcus McNeill, the Chargers' 6-foot-7, 336-pound offensive tackle, to be joining the SoCal plastic-surgery craze anytime soon.

"You see how big I am?" he told Sports Illustrated. "It had to take God a long time to assemble me. I wouldn't want to mess up all of this fineness."

Stop the bleeding

Houston Comets? Folded. Sacramento Monarchs? Kaput. Detroit Shock? Moving to Tulsa.

Future news flash: "The WNBA, down to its last two teams, vows to play on, using a 34-game home-and-home schedule. Monty Python's Black Knight, asked to comment, insists it's just a flesh wound."

No for November

"November is a time of year to anticipate big college football games," wrote Bob Molinaro of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. "So what do we get instead? No. 1 Florida playing Florida International and No. 2 Alabama taking on Chattanooga."

Quote marks

• Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, after Hugh Hefner's mag named Michigan State's Kalin Lucas to its All-America team but left Tom Izzo off its best-dressed coach list: "Then again, Playboy might know hoops, but what does it know about clothes?"

• From Cracked.com, among the telltale signs you might be a teen wolf: "Are you suddenly good at sports?"

• Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after Portland State fired football coach Jerry Glanville: "If that's not hitting bottom, I'm assuming the next job involves either bowling shoes or circus elephants."

All in the family

What recession? IndyCar giant Penske Racing announced it will roll out a third race team in 2010, featuring Australian driver Will Power.

Morning-line favorite to be named crew chief: Will's brother, Horse.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com