Cameron Diaz And Christina Applegate

Up in Smoke

The Boys Bounce Back

Dallas 35 - Carolina 14



From: ESPN.com


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Tony Romo found a way to put a smile back on Dallas coach Bill Parcells' face.

Romo rallied the Cowboys from a 14-point first-quarter deficit, throwing for 270 yards and a touchdown, and Julius Jones ran for 94 yards and a score to help the Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers 35-14 Sunday night. The Cowboys set a team record with 25 fourth-quarter points.

"He's a guy who's been miserable all week," said receiver Terrell Owens, Romo's top target with nine catches for 107 yards. "I asked him coming off the field on Friday, I asked him how it was going and he said he doesn't like to get his butt kicked. As a team, we're tired of losing, we know we have a decent team. We just have to go out and play like it."

Romo, starting in place of the benched Drew Bledsoe, showed poise in slowly leading the Cowboys (4-3) back, using a variety of short passes to different receivers.

Early in the fourth quarter, facing a third-and-12 from the Carolina 21, Romo sidestepped pressure and fired a 16-yard pass to Jason Witten. But the drive stalled when Romo misfired to Witten in the end zone on third down, and Mike Vanderjagt kicked a 24-yard field goal to cut the Panthers' lead to 14-13.







On the ensuing kickoff, Sam Hurd ripped the ball from Brad Hoover and recovered the fumble at the Carolina 14. On the next play, Jones ran untouched up the middle for the touchdown. The Cowboys added the 2-point conversion when Romo faked a draw and threw a pass to Owens to make it 21-14.

"It's been tough, you never know, the change that we made at quarterback," Romo said. "You never know what you're going to get ... with a new starter who is untested. I was anxious just like Bill was to see what we were going to do out their tonight."

Owens was impressed by Romo's poise.

"Tony gives us a different change of pace," Owens said. "He gets the ball out quick and he gave us some chances. Everybody came up with some big plays today. Jason Witten played tremendous over the middle."

Dallas sealed the win when Roy Williams intercepted Jake Delhomme's throw on Carolina's possession after Jones' touchdown. Delhomme lost another fumble with under 2 minutes to go, Carolina's third turnover in the fourth quarter.

"This is about as poor of a performance in the fourth quarter that I have been associated with," coach John Fox said. "I apologize for all the people who paid for tickets."

Marion Barber had touchdown runs of 3 and 14 yards late as Parcells won a game after trailing by 14 points in the first quarter for only the second time in his career. The victory justified his decision to sit Bledsoe and end his streak of 70 consecutive starts. Bledsoe paced the sideline for most of the game, wearing a visor and occasionally glancing down at the play chart on his wrist, while applauding Romo's performance.

"Drew actually came up to me before the game [and] said he was rooting for me," Romo said. "Drew's a really, really class act. He's a very pleasant guy, and I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Drew."

Romo completed 24 of 36 passes and had one interception, which led to Steve Smith's 24-yard touchdown run that made it 14-0 in the second quarter.

But the Panthers (4-4) were plagued by mistakes as they lost their second straight, blowing double-digit leads in both. Instead of Romo struggling in his first NFL start, it was Delhomme, making his 62nd straight start, who had problems. He was 17-of-31 for 149 yards and an interception.

Smith, Michael Gaines, DeShaun Foster and Keyshawn Johnson all dropped passes. Johnson's might have been a touchdown in the third quarter, spoiling his first game against Dallas since he was released in a salary cap move so the Cowboys could sign Owens.

"It's a team game. We all didn't get it done. We need to get better," Delhomme said.

Smith was angered when asked about his two drops, and his fumble of a punt return as the Panthers' once promising season has taken a turn for the worse.

"Just keep keeping your stats," Smith said. The Panthers were even plagued by a coaching miscue. Fox called a timeout late in the first half that wiped out Richard Marshall's blocked field goal. Given a second chance, Vanderjagt kicked a 38-yarder to make it 14-10 at halftime.

"Hopefully with the bye coming that will give us a chance to get healthy and maybe find some guys who can finish games," Fox said.

Foster rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown for Carolina, which lost starting cornerback Ken Lucas to a groin injury in the first quarter, forcing rookie Richard Marshall to alternate coverage on Owens and Terry Glenn.

In a season filled with controversy, Parcells left the field with a grin.

"We haven't been having a lot of fun around here. They're having fun right now," Parcells said. "That's the thing that I enjoy the most. When I see the faces of those players."

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A commercial you will never see on TV

DC United Win - Move On

From: ESPN.com




Gomez's late goal eases United past Red Bulls

WASHINGTON -- The scoreboard should have read Christian Gomez 2, New York Red Bulls 1.

As for the rest of D.C. United? The team played so poorly that it could very well not be the favorite at home in next week's Eastern Conference final.

Gomez bailed out his team with a goal in the 86th minute Sunday to give United a 1-1 tie with the Red Bulls. Combined with last week's 1-0 victory at Giants Stadium, the score was enough to clinch the home-and-home, total-goals series and secure a date at RFK Stadium with the New England Revolution in the one-game conference final next Sunday.







''We did not play well. I think that was one of the worst games we've played since I've been a part of D.C. United,'' forward Freddy Adu said. ''We've played better losing than we did today. We got in the locker room and we were talking about, 'It was horrendous.' We might have gotten away with it this time, but we just can't keep doing this.''

The Red Bulls played like a team with nothing to lose, pressing forward from the opening whistle and winning most of the 50-50 balls in midfield. New York outshot United 5-1 in the opening half and 13-6 for the game.

''Maybe it's the good thing to go into the conference final as an underdog,'' coach Peter Nowak said. ''We didn't play like we wanted to play.''

Does he really think the club with the league's best regular-season record will be the underdog?

''After tonight's game? Yes,'' Nowak replied.

After Jozy Altidore's goal in the 70th minute put New York up 1-0 and tied the series goal total, it was left to Gomez to score United's only goal for the second straight week to avoid overtime and possible penalty kicks.

Gomez, a leading candidate to earn league MVP honors, gathered a long cross from Josh Gros and put a left-footed 10-yard shot inside the near post. Gros' pass nearly hit United defender Bobby Boswell, who appeared to slip but instead provided a great decoy to give Gomez space to make the shot.

''He didn't play your typical Christian Gomez game, but he finds ways to be in the right spots at the right time to score goals,'' Adu said. ''Once again, Christian to the rescue.''







Altidore, who turns 17 next month, became the youngest player to score in an MLS playoff game, placing an 11-yard header just inside the left post off of Amado Guevara's free kick. Altidore also hit the left post in the 61st minute.

The Red Bulls played without forward Youri Djorkaeff, who strained his Achilles tendon during practice Thursday. Midfielder Markus Schopp left the game in the 43rd minute with a strained muscle in his lower abdomen.

The game ends the season for Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena, who took over late in the season after leading the U.S. national team at the World Cup. New York played relatively well for Arena, considering how little time he had to put his stamp on the team.

''We made progress. I tell you, the last six weeks have been a blast,'' Arena said. ''I've enjoyed working with the guys. They've shown a lot of improvement.''

UT 31 - SC 24

From: ESPN.com

Vols hold strong against Gamecocks,
stay in BCS title hunt

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Tennessee didn't give Steve Spurrier anything to joke about Saturday night.

Erik Ainge threw two touchdown passes to Bret Smith and the eighth-ranked Vols ended a year of ugly memories from last year's loss to South Carolina with a 31-24 victory.

Spurrier has largely had his way with Tennessee (7-1, 3-1) through the years. The coach won at Neyland Stadium with Duke in 1988, then took eight of 12 games from the Vols as Gators coach from 1990-2001. And when Rocky Top supporters gleefully planned for revenge after the ball coach took over at South Carolina, he led the Gamecocks to their first win in Knoxville last fall.

That last defeat was particularly embarrassing to the Big Orange. The Vols had retired the jersey of star quarterback Peyton Manning, then outplayed South Carolina throughout, falling on Josh Brown's improbable 49-yard field goal -- a victory even Spurrier described as a "miracle."

It looked like Spurrier's hex was in effect again at Williams-Brice Stadium after South Carolina (5-3, 3-3) overcame a two-touchdown deficit to lead 17-14 after three quarters.

But Ainge found Smith on a 12-yard TD pass to put the Vols (7-1, 3-1) ahead for good with 13:10 left. After forcing South Carolina to punt on its next possession, Jonathan Hefney had a 65-yard punt return to South Carolina's 5 and Arian Foster had a touchdown run on the next play.

The Gamecocks closed to 31-24 on Syvelle Newton's 1-yard TD run with 2:24 to go. Tennessee was forced to punt -- Ainge was out with a bad ankle on the series -- and South Carolina had one final chance. However, Newton's desperation heave was intercepted by Demetrice Morley as time ran out.

Spurrier's always loved picking at Tennessee. He once quipped, "You can't spell Citrus without U-T," and this week couldn't keep himself from again having a little fun at the Vols expense.

He was explaining how since the winners are usually the ones who tell such jokes and how Tennessee didn't win too many of its matchups with Spurrier's Gators, "maybe they weren't telling too many up" in Knoxville.

Now, it's the Vols and coach Phillip Fulmer who can laugh it up -- at least for this year. The victory pushed Fulmer one ahead of the ball coach in SEC wins after the two came in tied at 134 each.

The Vols road to the SEC championship game doesn't get much easier the next two weeks. They take on No. 14 LSU and No. 13 Arkansas before closing the SEC against Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Even if Tennessee wins out, it would need help from an SEC team to knock off Florida -- perhaps Spurrier's Gamecocks who go to Gainesville on Nov. 11? -- to represent the Eastern Division.

Tennessee looked like it would make quick work of the Gamecocks.

Marvin Mitchell picked off Newton's pass on the second play of the game and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown.

Then after the Vols ended a long drive by South Carolina with Jonathan Wade's interception in the end zone, Ainge took them 80 yards for a touchdown of their own.

Ainge found Smith with a 5-yard scoring pass that caromed off South Carolina defenders Emanuel Cook and Stoney Woodson before Smith grabbed it for the TD and a 14-0 lead.

South Carolina rallied on Ryan Succop's 50-yard field goal -- his third of at least 49 yards or longer this year -- and an 18-yard touchdown pass from Newton to Mike West.

R.I.P. - Red Auerbach

From: ESPN.com

WASHINGTON -- Red Auerbach, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships in the 1950s and 1960s, died Saturday. He was 89.

Auerbach won 938 games with the Celtics and was the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens overtook him in the 1994-95 season. As general manager, the straight-talking Auerbach, who celebrated victories with a postgame cigar, was also the architect of Celtics teams that won seven more titles in the 1970s and 1980s.

He died of a heart attack near his home in Washington, according to an NBA official, who didn't want to be identified. His last public appearance was on Wednesday, when he received the U.S. Navy's Lone Sailor Award in front of family and friends in ceremonies in Washington.

"Red was a guy who always introduced new things," Steve Pagliuca, a Celtics managing partner, told The Associated Press in an interview this month. "He had some of the first black players in the league and some people didn't like that, but you've got to do what's right for the fans. So I think we tried to do things thoughtfully. We didn't come in here and change everything overnight."

Auerbach's death was announced by the Celtics, for whom he still served as team president. The team said the upcoming season would be dedicated in his honor.

"I never thought he'd die," said author John Feinstein, who last year collaborated on a book with Auerbach on the coach's reflections of more than 70 years in basketball. "He was a unique personality, a combination of toughness and great, great caring about people. He cared about people much more than it showed in his public face, and that's why people cared about him."

Born Arnold Auerbach in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sept. 20, 1917, Auerbach was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968.

With the Celtics, he made deals that brought Bill Russell, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to Boston. He drafted Larry Bird a year early when the Indiana State star was a junior to make sure Bird would come to Boston. The jersey No. 2 was retired in Auerbach's honor during the 1984-85 season.

He coached championship teams that featured players such as Russell, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, K.C. Jones and Sam Jones, all inducted into the Hall of Fame.

After stepping down as general manager in 1984, Auerbach served as president of the Celtics and occasionally attended team practices into the mid-1990s, although his role in the draft and personnel decisions had diminished.

When Rick Pitino became coach in 1997, he also took the president's title and Auerbach became vice chairman of the board. After Pitino resigned on Jan. 8, 2001, Auerbach regained the title of president and remained vice chairman.

The team was sold on Dec. 31, 2002, to a group headed by Wyc Grousbeck and Auerbach stayed on as president.

Through all those titles, Auerbach didn't lose his direct manner of speaking, such as when he discussed the parquet floor of the Boston Garden shortly before the Celtics' longtime home closed in September 1995.

"The whole thing was a myth," Auerbach said. "People thought not only that there were dead spots, but that we knew where every one was and we could play accordingly.

"Now, did you ever watch a ballplayer go up and down the court at that speed and pick out a dead spot?" he asked. "If our players worried about that, thinking that's going to help them win, they're out of their cotton-picking mind. But if the other team thought that: Hey, good for us."