By BERNIE LINCICOME, Scripps Howard News Service

Tiger Woods never sold a Buick. Since he started trying to sell them, only half as many were sold as before, so in a way, the problems of General Motors can be seen as Tiger's fault. If he had been able to convince the world that he liked the car or that he even drove the car, maybe car company bigwigs would not now be begging.

The tip-off Sunday came during Denver Broncos introductions when safety Roderick Rogers came trotting through the inflated horse's head.

Applause that had greeted various members of the Broncos defense paused in mid-clap.

And just like the baseball season that wandered finally into folly and indifference, postseason awards confirm how dreary it all was.

First of all, they were all wrong, all except Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay's manager, but that implies that the argument is worth making.

The Nuggets' long nightmare -- or rather short dream as it applies to Allen Iverson himself and to his wasted tenure in Denver -- is over.

Reserve your NBA Finals tickets now.

OK. Maybe not that. But the Nuggets are a better team today than they were Monday, a better team than they were at any time after Iverson arrived, a better team as much by subtraction as addition.

DENVER -- An airplane trailing a banner claiming that John McCain is a Raiders fan flew over Invesco Field before Sunday's game Denver-Miami game, not quite the insult it was intended to be.

Politics aside, anyone claiming to be a Broncos fan might not inspire confidence, his judgment, good sense and willingness to suffer questioned as his team turns into crumbs before his eyes.

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Fumble. Fumble. Punt. Punt. Interception. Quarterback change. Fumble.

Second half.

Punt. Interception. Touchdown. Punt. Punt.

That's it. That's the game. That's the shame. That's the season.

The debate is moot, whether Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler's arm is stronger than John Elway's since at the end of neither of Cutler's arms is a Super Bowl ring, a measurement that has diminished many a strong-armed quarterback, with Dan Marino coming most prominently to mind.

The word was a bit Bush-esque but still made sense. Aggress-tivity.

This came from the Philadelphia Phillies' Shane Victorino, who was explaining the natural athletic instincts that caused both dugouts to empty at Dodger Stadium. That is baseball, by the way, several degrees below football in aggress-tivity, but part of the nature of competition.