Oh, to the sports teams who lost yesterday. It was a losing cause on all fronts as all of them provided a letdown at some point leading to disaster ahead, some that can be fixed, others a lost cause.

To the Cal Bears, who let down after their upset win last week against USC, losing to Oregon State 35-21. Why Tedford kept Rodgers in the game after a 25% completion percentage at halftime is a mystery since he continued that dismal stat into the second half. They drop to 3-4, 3 more losses away from being eliminated from bowl contention. After 7 games in 7 weeks, they get a bye this week before traveling down to UCLA.

To San Jose State, who led equally dismal Rice 24-14 with a quarter left only to lose 28-24. Kudos to Neil Parry, he of the amputated leg, who actually got to hit somebody on the field. The team dropped to 1-4.

To the Giants, whose manager, Felipe Alou, decided not to go with Jason Schmidt, and instead went with rookie Jerome Williams saw his move backfire. His team trailed 5-1 to the Florida Marlins. Though they came back, they couldn't hang tough with a collision at home being the thing that prevented a tie and a Game 5. As it is, they lost 7-6 in the game, and 3-1 in the series, eliminating the World Series runner-ups from last year.

To the A's, the Bay Area's last hope. Coming into Fenway up 2-0, things were riding high. Tied 1-1, it was when Tejada was called out at home for obstruction that you knew it was the Red Sox night. And wouldn't you know it, at the 11th inning, the Red Sox scored 2 runs to win 3-1 and move closer in the best of 5 series.