By Mike Ball
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Thumbs up

1. UC football. It might or might not have been the end of the Rick Minter regime, but at least the Bearcats came out and played big against Louisville Friday. They gave a game effort against a solid team.

2. Miami football. What a regular season. Eleven straight wins after an opening loss to Iowa, a chance for both MAC championships, and a bowl game to boot. Dear Ben: One More Year!

3. Thanksgiving Day giving. It was good to see Bengals players donating their time helping feed the underprivileged. And props to former Bengal Mike Martin, the Taft football coach who rounded up many of his players so they could help.

4. Valerie King. The UC hoopster poured in a school- and Conference-USA-record 46 points against Charleston Southern last week. Should be a good challenge for the Xavier women in today's Crosstown Shootout.

5. Warren Spahn. The all-time winningest left-hander died last week. He served at the Battle of the Bulge and the Bridge at Remagen.

Thumbs down

1. The NFL (No Fun League). Rams coach Dick Vermeil got a stern warning from the NFL office after he said he would give Morten Andersen an expensive bottle of wine for making a game-winning field goal. He was reminded that offering performance bonuses not included in a player's contract is forbidden. Pul-eez.

2. John Riggins. This isn't a shot at the old mohawk-wearing Redskin, but he made one of the great all-time blunders during the Lions pregame show. He referred to Lions quarterback Joey Harrington as Joey HETHERTON!

3. Baseball money. The world champion Marlins gave first baseman Derrek Lee to the Cubs because he was due a big raise in arbitration. And on it goes.

4. Kenyon Martin. Think he's second-guessing his trashy comments now that Alonzo Mourning needs a kidney transplant?

5. NFL playoff tickets. It's not the Bengals' fault how much playoff tickets cost. But it's tough to pull out that kinda cash during the Christmas season.