WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH WATCH FOOTBALL (COLUMN)

So far, every news organization in the world has missed the big news.

Thank goodness for me.

It all started Sunday afternoon. CBS was televising the Tennessee-Jacksonville game. Please note that Jacksonville is in Florida.

I began to wonder in the second quarter of the Titan-Jaguar matchup how Secretary of State Katherine Harris was going to handle the timing of Florida's vote certification.

Let's face it. CBS has had a terrible record with its Sunday scheduling. Week after week football games have run well past the start of "60 Minutes."

Maybe the folks at CBS think its offbeat scheduling forces viewers to stick with CBS all night. Maybe the CBS hotshots don't know about those 200 or so other channels -- the ones that start on time.

So what would Secretary of State Harris do? Wait until the Tennessee-Jacksonville game was over to announce the vote certification? Would she dare pre-empt an NFL game featuring a Florida team?

In almost any scenario, there were potential pitfalls. In addition to the football game, Harris had to be thinking about what the good people at NBC were up to.

Sunday was the day NBC had picked for the first TV airing of "Titanic," the multi-hour blockbuster that turned into an all-night event, thanks to the commercials. If you thought it took a month of Sundays for that boat to sink when you saw the movie in a theater, just imagine how long it was going to take to sell stuff.

So what would Secretary of State Harris do? Try to slip in the vote certification between the end of the football game and the start of "Titanic"? Which would be worse: breaking in on football, or upstaging the ramming of a computer-generated steamship?

Tough decision. By now, Harris is used to tough issues.

But wait. That's not all.

There was another NFL game Sunday. It was between Miami and Indianapolis. Once again, gentle reader, I call your attention to the fact that the Dolphins are a Florida team.

And guess what?

The fate of the Dolphin-Colt game was coming down to the final seconds too.

What's a poor secretary of state to do?

CBS made part of Harris's decision for her. After Jacksonville won, the network switched to the last few minutes of the Miami game. But now more than an hour had elapsed since the vote-counting deadline imposed by the Florida Supreme Court.

Question: How long does it take to add recount totals from three counties?

Answer: As long as it takes for two Florida teams to finish their games.

Miami won, making it a big day for Florida football.

Just two or three minutes after the Miami game concluded, Katherine Harris walked in front of the cameras to announce the official certification of the Florida vote for president of the United States.

Sorry, NBC. You had to switch from ocean to election in a heartbeat. Next time maybe you'll show a football game instead of some schmaltzy made-up love affair where holding your breath is about as sexy as it gets.

So what's the big news?

Football, once again, is king. We may be electing the leader of the free world, but by golly neither votes nor "Heidi" will interfere with the game.

We're back to normal, folks.

Thank you, Katherine Harris, for keeping your wits about you on third down and long.

You think football isn't a big factor in the presidential election? Al Gore spoke to the nation last night. What time was that?

Why, exactly five minutes before "Monday Night Football."

I rest my case.

~R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.