Hey, Laura Quinn, hope you enjoyed your 15 minutes of fame. AP

1. The hype is growing for Wednesday's national championship game between USC and Texas. At this point, the only college football expert who hasn't weighed in on the game is Brady Quinn's sister.

2. The BCS has ruled that neither USC nor Texas can issue sideline passes to celebrities for the Rose Bowl. Fortunately, that won't prevent USC fan Nick Lachey from attending.

3. Tortured analogy of the day: Media day is always good for a few howlers. Here's how Texas coach Mack Brown responded to a question about whether it's hard not to let a team get too hyped up for a big game: "It is, and this game seems like it's been here forever, so you kind of keep the lid on it. You've got them boiling. You want them to simmer, but you've got to keep the lid on and make sure that you boil at the right time." I'm no Martha Stewart, Mack, but if you're worried about coming to a boil too soon, shouldn't you keep the lid off rather than on?

4. Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett turned himself in to police Monday night on charges of robbing two people at gunpoint. Clarett had been at large since the incident late Saturday night. Sadly, that's the most elusiveness he has demonstrated in three years.

5. There were at least two excellent reasons to watch Monday's Fiesta Bowl. One, of course, was to see the endless shots of Laura Quinn in the stands; Brady's sister/A.J. Hawk's girlfriend has logged more screen time in 2006 than Oprah. But others might have tuned in to play the Brent Musberger drinking game. 10 Spot reader Glenn of Pittsburgh passed this along in response to the 10 Spot's 2006 wish list, which expressed the desire that Musberger stop addressing the audience directly as "folks." Writes Glenn: "In this delightful game, that would be worth one drink for the room, unless Musberger turns the tables with a 'Hold on, folks,' in which case the first person to drink must finish a full serving for not 'holding on.' "

	MAILBAG Have a question or opinion for Pete? He might answer/address it in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

6. Maybe Frank Solich is crazy like a fox. The 10 Spot was among those who piled on the Ohio coach for his final ballot in the coach's poll in which he placed LSU 10 places above Georgia right after the Bulldogs had plastered (sorry for the verb choice, Frank) LSU 34-14 in the SEC Championship game in December. Yet while the Tigers smashed (oops!) Miami 40-3 in the Peach Bowl, Georgia was upset 38-35 by West Virginia in a virtual home game at the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta on Monday. Mea culpa, Mr. Solich.

7. Tuesday night's Orange Bowl features a matchup between veteran coaches Joe Paterno of Penn State and Bobby Bowden of Florida State. The edge should go to whichever coach manages to stay awake into the fourth quarter.

8. Five NFL head coaches have been fired since the end of the regular season, including four on Monday. Counting Doug Flutie's, that makes six NFL drop-kicks in two days.

9. Packers coach Mike Sherman was one of those let go Monday. To add insult to injury, Sherman discovered the news when a cell phone went off during his final press conference.

10. Reader e-mail: Vince Chase of Winchester, N.H., took exception to the 10 Spot not including the Patriots' Super Bowl XXXIX victory on our ranking of the top 10 sports stories of 2005. Writes Vince, "It's this kind of disrespect for the Patriots, their brilliant coach, their benchmark organization and their loyal fans that will probably keep them off your list when they blow through Little Boy Blue and the Colts as well as the rest of the NFL on their way to an unprecedented three-peat Super Bowl XL win, a victory and a streak which is so extra large that your feeble intellect will be unable to come up with words that will do it justice. So please, do me a favor and promise me not to sully their greatness with any verbiage from you." Fair enough, Vince, and by the way, I love you in Entourage.

Reminder: Since this Friday is the first of the month, please send your entries for the 10 Spot's all-reader-submission edition by Thursday.