The best coach in the history of the Washington Wizards — and what a glorious 11 years it’s been — is sounding just like you'd expect after a 1-8 start.

"A team is built a certain way, fellas," the downtrodden coach acknowledged Tuesday after the second loss in a week to Miami. "This team is built for Gilbert Arenas to lead us."

Arenas, the precocious star the D.C. area adores but who can't stay healthy, will probably not take the court until January. As the losses pile up, it doesn't appear that Jordan will be there to see him.

That's life in the NBA. If you lose, you get fired. The $111 million investment in Arenas and his bum knee probably sealed this fate.

Team president Ernie Grunfeld bet the house on the franchise's first superstar since Chris Webber. In the long term, it may pay off. But Arenas' sitting on the bench is his fancy suits is a reminder of the Bullets era.

Jordan is a fine coach who's done more than could be expected. Remember, the Wizards were a joke after Michael Jordan got the boot. Grunfeld and Jordan made the team into an annual playoff contender.

Not that anybody's listening, but we urge that Jordan be given a stay of execution until Arenas returns. If Agent Zero never regains his old form, firing Jordan would bring an end to his suffering.

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BARACK OMAMA WAS elected president on a message of change, yet he may have tackled too difficult an issue during his "60 Minutes" interview Sunday.

The president-elect called for an eight-team playoff for college football. He's hardly the first to urge the powers that be to call an audible on the worst idea in sports: the BCS. He is the most powerful, though.

Nearly every year, a terrific, suspenseful college football season ends in a debacle unless two teams finish undefeated.

At least in that scenario we know the best squads in the land are playing. More often, though, a team — such as LSU last year — may win the BCS title game and look worthy of a national championship after playing an opponent (most often Ohio State) that had no business in the championship.

Take this season. Unbeaten Alabama and Texas Tech stand as the clear contenders for the top game. However, a loss for either at this point would cripple their chances. If both lose, there will be a glut of seemingly excellent one-loss teams, including perhaps Florida, USC, Oklahoma and Texas. How do you measure who's best if they all have the same record?

A playoff makes sense, but the money involved in the current system makes it unlikely. Obama is right to want change. Can he put enough pressure on to change the BCS?

Yes, he can — but he may want to fix the economy first.

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Of course not. Yet the emergence of Washington's other Russian forward, Alexander Semin, as the NHL's leading scorer is just one of the reasons for Caps fans to be grateful as the holiday season approaches.

Last year';s playoff push seems to have done just what Washington would want. The team's play has continued to be stellar, as it sits atop the Southeast Division entering this weekend's games against the New Jersey Devils.

Semin's surge has also given the Caps a counter to the dreaded Penguins' one-two punch of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, which Washington would need to get through if it is to reach its second-ever Stanley Cup finals.

And the good news doesn't stop there. Here's one stat that owner Ted Leonsis smiles about most: 17,685. That's the average attendance of Capitals home games this year.

To put the fuller house in perspective, the Wizards drew less than 15,000 fans Wednesday night in their first win of the year, and the Caps averaged only 14,237 fans per night at this point last year.

Given the team’s trajectory, the Capitals seem to be D.C.'s best bet for a championship in the next few years. And to think this was one of the NHL's worst teams 18 months ago.

No one pays better than Dan Snyder, who so overjoyed Portis that the running back broke out into characters such as Southeast Jerome.

Portis is still being paid, but the role-playing is gone. All No. 26 is doing now is running toward a possible MVP award.

Nine games into coach Jim Zorn's surprisingly good campaign, Portis is second in the league in rushing with 995 yards, a mere 20 yards behind Vikings star Adrian Peterson.

There have been few times when the league's top individual honor has been so up for grabs this late in the season. Eli Manning has to be contender, as do Kurt Warner and Peterson. But don't discount Portis, who would be the first Redskin to win the prize since Joe Theismann did so in 1983.

While the Redskins' offensive shortcomings have been all too apparent in recent weeks, Portis has been the engine driving Washington to all those close wins.

Bruised and beat-up, the Redskins needed this past bye week to heal before a crucial game against their archrival, the Cowboys. A win would doom Dallas and jump-start Washington in its playoff push. A loss would open the door to doubt at a most-inopportune time.

If Portis keeps up the good work, the Redskins will be on the road to the postseason, and he will be rewarded for his efforts.

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Early tracking numbers suggest Penn State is the most likely top-tier team to finish undefeated. But that doesn't mean the Nittany Lions won't resemble some bitter pumas when the season is done.
 A week after its biggest win, against Ohio State, Joe Paterno's squad fell to third place in the Associated Press poll.


Voters don’t necessarily think Penn State isn't going to lose; they just don’t think the Lions measure up to the other contenders.


Texas can't demand a recount after a one-point loss to Texas Tech, but it may merit a second look if it wins the Big 12 with one loss. That, of course, would be possible only if the No. 2 Red Raiders lose to No. 9 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Oklahoma — whose only loss is to Texas — or in the conference championship.


Staying in the southern bloc but moving to the SEC, Alabama is the leader in the clubhouse at No. 1. LSU looms this week, as could No. 5 Florida — which is blowing out opponents left and right — in the SEC title game.


And don't forget No. 7 USC, which enjoyed a larger landslide win over Ohio State than Barack Obama did over John McCain.


Who knows what the result will be one month from now?


Rogers, otherwise playing at a Pro Bowl level, apparently still can't catch an interception. Had he hauled in what was a surefire touchdown for Washington Monday night, a chain of events that resulted in a blocked punt — and, eventually, a 23-6 defeat — may never have happened.

Yet that is too simplistic and unfair.

Despite a very respectable 6-3 record, all is not right with the Redskins. A loss to the then-winless Rams and consecutive weeks when Washington had to eke out victories over the pathetic Browns and Lions have taken their toll.

The Redskins have lost their confidence. The blocked kick and ensuing Pittsburgh touchdown were knockout blows in what was then a 10-7 game. Jim Zorn's crew never acted like it knew it could come back in front of a national audience.

Why did the Redskins act this way? They can't score touchdowns, as evidenced by an average five-point margin of victory in their six wins.

Shaun Suisham's two early field goals summed up the situation. Suisham has now made 18 field goals this year. The Redskins have 17 touchdowns.

Washington has the talent to win but needs to regain its swagger. The only way to do this is to score touchdowns. Then all would be right in the world at Redskins Park.

REGULAR READERS OF this column know I'm on the record as an advocate for switching the Wizards' moniker back to the Bullets.

There are several obvious reasons for this. Wizards, while forming an alliteration with Washington, is a lame name. And let's get real: The original change had more to do with making money with new merchandise than it did with promoting nonviolence.

While the team formerly known as "Les Boulez" began this season with a loss, it occurs to me there's a new, foolproof reason to change the name. The Wizardshave morphed into the old Bullets. They are a mediocre squad not good enough to win a championship and not bad enough to win the lottery.

Given the injury situation and general curse surrounding the franchise, the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference is a best-case scenario. What else would you expect from a team that gave $111 million to a player with a bad knee?

Gilbert Arenas may never return to his old form — which is a shame, since time is running out for this core group of players. Antawn Jamison, a great leader, is not getting any younger, and young players such as Nick Young and Andray Blatche are real question marks. Caron Butler is the lone standout, and even he has battled injuries.

Injured stars, subdued expectations: It's nice that life';s back to normal for Washington basketball.

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A LOT HAS been made, and rightly so, of Jim Zorn in his first year as the Redskins' coach.

As you may have noticed, Washington isn't 6-2 halfway through the season very often. In fact, the last time that happened was under Norv Turner in 2000. Oh, and by the way, Dan Snyder fired Turner — who started 7-1 in 1996 and somehow missed the playoffs — with three games to go in what turned out to be an 8-8 season.

That's where the comparisons end with Turner, though.

Zorn's fiery temperament — whether he is yelling at Clinton Portis on the sideline or at a reporter during the postgame news conference — seems to be just what the Redskins needed after four years under Joe Gibbs.

Yet if you were to look at the key contributors on this year's team, all were brought in by Gibbs.

A cynic would ask why, with this talent, Gibbs needed two incredible finishes for his only postseason appearances in his second tenure. Yet at 6-2, there's no need for rudeness when we can laud the old coach for his player evaluation.

Trades for Portis and Santana Moss have proven correct in the long term. Drafting Jason Campbell and Carlos Rogers out of Auburn the same year sure looked good, too. Ditto for taking LaRon Landry — a genius move for tragic reasons — and signing London Fletcher.

So, as Zorn is praised for being the right coach to lead the Redskins to the playoffs, don't forget to give Gibbs his due one last time.

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With an average margin of victory of 4.6 points, Washington has scraped by to a 5-2 record. But, as they say, the end result is all that matters.

Yet there is something to be said for a blowout. Flexing your muscles as one of the NFL's elite every once in a while never hurt a top-notch squad.

This Sunday's game against the woeful Detroit Lions offers a perfect opportunity for the Redskins to pile up a huge victory.

Name someone on the Lions not named Calvin Johnson. I dare you. Remember Jon Kitna is on injured reserve and Roy Williams is now in Dallas. Can't do it?

That's exactly my point.

THE RAYS' RISE to the World Series is not so much unprecedented as it is shocking.

Tampa Bay has been the worst franchise since it joined the league 10 years ago. Yet here the upstarts stand having done what the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians could not: withstand a furious Red Sox rally and live to tell about it.

Make no mistake about it: The Rays were the better team and may be the best in all of baseball.

Tampa versus Philadelphia may be the best World Series no one watches. But low ratings are of no importance to the Rays or the Phillies. That's Bud Selig's problem.

As much as the suits would like it, the Yankees and Sox can't be in the Fall Classic every year.

You almost wonder when they'll next appear. New York still needs to find a way to build from its own prospects. Boston's empire showed signs of cracking by trading Manny Ramirez and not overcoming the Rays in Game 7.

So, here we stand with two teams with good, young players who will only now get their full introduction to general audiences.

The unfortunate news for the Rays is that worst-to-first stories typically end in World Series losses. Philadelphia's experience — and stronger bullpen — should win out.

But don't count me among the dejected if Philadelphia fans are left waiting a little bit longer for their first sports championship since 1983.

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