Random thoughts while wondering how awful the Pittsburgh Steelers must feel after watching how easily the New England Patriots brought an end to (Tim) Tebow Time:
NICE START: Jason Kokrak made the cut over the weekend in the Sony Open, his first 2012 PGA Tour event, in Honolulu.
Kokrak, who played his way to a tour card by winning twice on the Nationwide Tour in 2011, shot rounds of 69, 70 and 72. Ordinarily, the John F. Kennedy High School and Xavier University graduate would be playing in today's final round after making the cut Friday.
But thanks to an obscure PGA Tour rule that aims to limit the size of tournament fields to a "manageable" number, Kokrak and nine other players won't play today despite making the cut.
That development should not overshadow Kokrak's PGA Tour debut. Kokrak is one of the game's biggest hitters, but he also has the short game it takes to compete at the highest level.
Kokrak is a two-time Division III high school state tournament medalist and two-time Ohio Amateur champion.
BIG GAMES: Lakeview's Ali Gagne and JFK's Lauren Lee will remember Saturday for a long time. Each had a career-best performance to lead their teams to victories.
Gagne, a senior, scored a Lakeview-record 46 points in the Bulldogs' 66-46 road victory over Conneaut. That's right - she matched the Spartans' offensive output all by herself.
Lee, also a senior, scored 33 points to lead the Eagles to a 54-49 overtime victory at Cleveland Central Catholic. Lee scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, but JFK needed a three-point play from Chanel Thornton with 0.2 points left in regulation to tie the game at 43. Lee then scored seven of the Eagles' 11 points in OT.
TOURNAMENT TIME: The venerable Howland Invitational, one of the longest-running high school wrestling tournaments in Ohio, will take place Saturday.
The Howland event and Austintown Fitch's annual Joshua Hephner Memorial usually occur in back-to-back weekends in January, but this time the area's most notable wrestling tournaments will go head-to-head.
The Hephner Memorial is a two-day affair. Preliminary matches will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday at Fitch.
The Howland Invitational is set for Saturday. Preliminary matches will begin at 10 a.m.
PATIENCE, PLEASE: The sudden development of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith is a testament to giving players time to develop, even in the win-now-or-else NFL.
Smith, a one-time No. 1 draft pick, had been written off as a bust since joining the 49ers, but he finally blossomed. Some of the credit has to go to first-year coach Jim Harbaugh.
I know I'm in the minority in hoping the Cleveland Browns give Colt McCoy more time instead of using another high draft pick on a quarterback, but maybe more experience and good coaching can do for McCoy what it seems to have done for Smith.