About the only thing Bush could do to prevent that, though, was run out of bounds, which would have been patronizing. Beside which, the Cardinals kept kicking to him (in fact he fair caught another one after the TD) so I really don't feel bad for them. The Vikings had other options; according to Childress, the entire freaking team met on the sidelines to decide if they should go for it on 4th and 3 from the 11 with 1:55 remaining. That they decided the answer was "yes" doesn't speak well of the organization, IMHO.

Everything I said applies just as much to a 24 point lead as to a 21 point lead. In fact, I can't think of a lead that makes going for it tactically sound:

With a lead of 1 or 2 points you kick, so they can't win with a FG.

With a lead of 3 points you kick, so they can't tie with a FG.

With a lead of 4, 5 or 6 points you kick, so they can't win with a TD.

With a lead of 7 or 8 you kick, so it's a two score game.

Since 1+7=8 you just start over for higher scores.

So, really, the only reason for the TD is because you're 100% certain they can't come back AND don't care how stupid you make them look. Believe me, anyone with much bridge experience knows EXACTLY how to play the percentages, and kicking the FG there is the football equivalent of "8 ever, 9 never" (which is actually a statistically bad rule, but, again, another rant. )

Meh, it doesn't sound like we'll agree here, so I'll just agree with Keith Brooking and you with Lou Holtz (something tells me that galls me less than it does you. ) Of course, Holtzs comments are from an arena infamous for 1) tainted and disputed Championships, 2) teams running up the score and 3) those same teams getting the crap kicked out of them when they play someone good. Live by piling on, die by piling on. I lost my taste for it the year the Oilers put 40+ points on Cincinatti a few weeks after they did it to us (Sam Wyche, who once shouted at "unsporting" Bengals fans that, "you don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinatti!" did not, and cheerfully beat us 61-7 the following year. ) I don't believe in kicking a man when he's down, anywhere or time. The only exceptions are the Eagles and 'Niners, teams so consistently classless they deserve it. If it had been Green Bay or Pitt instead of Dallas I'd still think it was wrong.