By RAY McNULTY, Scripps Howard News Service

What wins on Sunday sells on Monday.That's the way it was.Back in the good ol' days of stock-car racing.Back before NASCAR raced away from its Southeastern, blue-collar roots and chased the big-money marketing of Madison Avenue.

A show of hands, please.Who thinks Alabama is the best college football team in America?OK, now, those of you who raised your hands, answer me this: Why?

Someday, perhaps, baseball will find itself so troubled that it again realizes it needs a commissioner.A real commissioner.An independent commissioner.A no-nonsense commissioner who truly will act in the best interest of a once-great game -- not kowtow to the players union, not front for the owners, not allow the ratings-first television networks to run the show.

I'll admit it.I thought they were dead.I thought there was no way the Tampa Bay Rays would survive their Game 5 disaster at Boston's Fenway Park, where they were seven outs from their first World Series with a 7-0 lead, only to allow the Red Sox to rally for an historic, come-from-behind victory that should've haunted these playoff newcomers forever.

Nothing Terry Bowden wrote in his Yahoo.com column about his brother, Tommy, being forced out last week as the Clemson football coach was the least bit inaccurate.To the contrary, it was dead-on.And boldly honest.For example:

Baseball fans on the National League side of New York should hope their disappointing Mets have been paying attention to the way the Philadelphia Phillies have played their way to the World Series.Because there's more to winning games than talent.Especially in September.And October.

Sometimes in sports, things work out exactly the way they're supposed to.This is one of those times.Joe Torre made it to October.Hank Steinbrenner didn't.

Remember that bold statement the New York Mets were supposed to make this season, in the wake of last September's historic collapse? Well, they made it.

There was Brett Favre, embarking on his 18th NFL season, making his 276th consecutive start at quarterback, playing football the way he always has.Like a boy in his backyard.Improvising.Thinking on the run.Making something of nothing.

A new college football season kicks off Thursday night with 19 Division I teams playing games with pretty much everyone else set for Friday and the rest of the weekend.It will close on Friday night, Jan. 8, at Dolphin Stadium where the nation's two best teams will clash in the 2009 BCS Championship Game.Or so we hope.