5. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Barry Bonds is out of his mind.

b. Fitting, over the past few days, that a Christian convention, a cheerleading competition and the NFL Scouting Combine were held at the Indiana Convention Center. Ain't that America?

c. Saw "The Gates" with Paul Zimmerman and our respective better halves. Nice. Unusual. Great to see Central Park so packed with people and transformed into a pretty sight in the middle of a harsh winter. An enjoyable experience. But art? I don't see it. Then again, I think I slept through Comparative Arts 101 at Ohio University 29 years ago.

d. Disappointed, slightly, with House last week. Anticlimactic ending about the baseball player, but overall still a B-plus episode. Interesting to hear how many people out here in the hinterlands agree about House, though. Such a good show.

e. Coffeenerdness: The one idiotic thing about Starbucks is how the company allows its name to be used on all these satellite Starbucks stands you see around the country. At the Indiana Convention Center, there is a Starbucks stand I would say somewhat approximates the company's quality. The espresso there was watered down and nothing like a real-store quality. If you're going to put the name up, Seattle, take some small bit of pride that the drink is going to be the same as it is in a real store.

6. I think the most impressive guy I saw at the combine was Braylon Edwards, the Michigan receiver. Not in a football sense, because I saw him do nothing footballish here. Confident, knows what's important to NFL teams, has already sold them on his value. There is no way he is getting out of the top five of the draft, and there is no way Mike Williams can surpass him. Interesting, though, that Minnesota coach Mike Tice asked Williams in his interview with the team this weekend, "How do you feel about replacing Randy Moss?" Minnesota, assuming it stays at No. 7 (Oakland's pick, acquired in the Moss deal, to become official Wednesday), won't have a chance at Edwards but will have a shot to get the 6-foot-5 Williams.

7. I think the folks criticizing the Vikings for "not getting enough" for Moss are nuts. The way of the NFL is the egoless New England way right now. How many teams do you think were interested in Moss? How many teams wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole? I can assure the doubters out there that, assuming Minnesota was absolutely certain it was going to get rid of Moss this offseason (something I believe strongly), the Vikings got the best deal for Moss they could.

8. I think, and I hate to say this because Muhsin Muhammad is a very good guy and a great football player, Chicago is where receivers go to die.

9. I think you should take the gold watch, Jerry Rice.

10. I think Pete Carroll sounded awfully comfy about his college-football life when I spoke to him Saturday night. He had just gotten back from a Nike junket in Aruba, and I'm sure free agency and the salary cap are the furthest thing from his Southern California mind right now. Lucky man. I said to him at the end of the conversation: "Pete, looking forward to covering you again someday soon." Without missing a beat, he said, "You're coming back to cover college football?"