Brendagate adds even more drama to topsy-turvy Rams

What a weird and wacky season this continues to be for the Rams.

As if it's not bad enough that they've floundered their way to almost certainly missing the playoffs, now we've got Brendagate.

For those of you who haven't been following the situation, that's the tongue-in-cheek label the St. Louis media came up with when Rams quarterback Kurt Warner's wife, Brenda, called a St. Louis sports talk radio station to say that is was her and not coach Mike Martz who suggested Warner have his injured hand X-rayed.

As it turns out, the hand was broken, so it's good somebody -- no matter who it was -- at least had the good sense to suggest an X-ray, although it makes you wonder why the team didn't insist on one right from the beginning.

The hairline fracture will keep Warner on the sidelines for at least a couple of weeks, which a lot of Rams fans might consider a blessing in light of how poorly Warner played last Sunday in Philadelphia and how bad he has looked most of the season.

But with or without Warner, it's almost a lock that the Rams -- 5-7 entering today's game in Kansas City -- will miss the playoffs after being considered one of the Super Bowl favorites entering the season.

It's been that kind of year for the Rams -- and Brendagate just added a little spice to it.

Kudos to Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tim Billings for all the well-deserved awards he is racking up after leading the Indians to an 8-4 record.

First, Billings became one of 16 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award that recognizes the nation's top Division I-AA coach, as selected by media members across the country.

Then he was named Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year, which was basically a no-brainer after the Indians finished third despite being picked sixth in the preseason poll.

That was followed by the American Football Coaches Association Region 3 Coach of the Year honor, which makes him eligible for the national AFCA Coach of the Year award.

All the accolades figured to come Billings' way after he directed the Indians to their first winning record since 1994 and their most wins since 1969.

Of course, the humble Billings has been quick to point out all along that these are not really individual awards; rather, they need to be shared by his assistant coaches and players.

That's so true, but there still has to be somebody at the top leading the way, and that somebody has been Billings. So he definitely deserves all the props coming his way.

Regarding my recent story on Southeast women's basketball player Yashika Sidbury, here's a bit of interesting information that I did not have at the time:

Sidbury is the National Junior College Athletic Association's all-time leader in free-throw percentage after shooting 97.6 percent from the line last year at Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College.

That is some serious foul shooting -- and helps explain Ya-Ya's 15-for-15 performance during a recent Southeast contest that set an OVC single-game record for most consecutive free throws.

OVC football teams have struggled in the Division I-AA playoffs for the past decade -- but the league might have reached an all-time low this year as co-champions Murray State and Eastern Illinois were both destroyed in the first round.

Murray State lost to Western Kentucky 59-20 and Eastern Illinois fell to Western Illinois 48-9.

Those are certainly not the kind of results that will help the OVC land any at-large playoff berths in the future.

The Lakers still have a serious hole to dig themselves out of -- thanks mostly to being without Shaquille O'Neal for the early part of the season -- but if anything is going to get them going, it's Friday's unbelievable comeback win over the Mavericks.

Los Angeles trailed by 28 points at halftime and was still down by 27 after three quarters before putting on its amazing rally to hand Dallas just its second loss of the year.

We'll see if the Lakers take off from here -- and if the Mavericks suffer any kind of hangover from that remarkable collapse.

Michael Vick has got to be one of the most electrifying players -- and especially the most electrifying quarterback -- to enter the NFL in a long time.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian