Superb sporting Saturday

Commentary

This past Saturday marked the second day of World Space Week 2002.

This can be the only explanation for the turn of sporting events that happened on this campus and around the nation that day.

To sports fans, Saturday felt like we were stuck in an episode of "The Twilight Zone."

Either that or we've entered some strange parallel universe where the Salukis can play football and the Yankees can't win the World Series.

Nearly every unbelievable thing that could happen did.

The football Salukis, who hadn't even beaten a non-division II team, were able to beat a top-10 team that it hadn't beaten in 18 years.

It wasn't the fact that they beat Western Illinois that was overly surprising; it was the manner in which they did it.

Just when it looked like the Salukis were going to once again find a way to lose, they found something else that hadn't been seen all season - a passing game.

If I had to bet on the Salukis' chances to march down the field without running the ball, I'd give them a very, very slight chance.

This team has averaged about 10 passing attempts per game, most of them very short passes. You'd think quarterback Joel Sambursky would have forgotten how to throw the ball to a receiver more than three yards down the field.

Maybe Coach Kill should bench Abdulqaadir and throw deep on every play.

Another odd occurrence, though not a shocking one, was the fact that the drinkers in the north parking lot didn't even bother coming into the game. This was undoubtedly one of the best games in years and these people couldn't interrupt their drinking to watch the game - the only reason that they're allowed to drink on campus in the first place.

All along, the administration has been saying that the fans will come in when the team gives them a reason to. Well, Saturday gave them many reasons.

They didn't come in to the game and they won't come in this Saturday.

This was just one of many odd happenings in sports Saturday.

The Yankees, the team that everyone loves to hate, were knocked out of the playoffs and, for the first time since 1997, won't be in the World Series.

Unfortunately, this will just give them more time to figure out how to bend the new salary cap rules in their quest to buy themselves yet another championship banner.

Crazy things also happened in college football other than SIU's unfathomable win.

The unranked Ole Miss Rebels somehow found a way to stop sixth-ranked Florida. The Rebels shut down a high-powered Florida offense, despite the fact that Ole Miss had shown no defense prior to this game and gave up 38 points to lowly Vanderbilt in its last outing.

To cap off all of this mayhem, we had the marathon affair between Arkansas and Tennessee.

It took six overtimes to decide which football team was better, and it left fans wishing it would last all night.

This was just one of three overtime games in top-25 football.

Saturday was the kind of day sports fans dream about. Weeks of boring, no-contest games seem worthwhile when everything comes together for a day like Saturday.

All these things couldn't be just a coincidence. Space Week must be involved somehow.

What's next, Cardinals fans that don't keep multiple junk cars in their front yards?

Ethan is a senior in journalism. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.