We forget that trophies and rings and rivalry fodder have a shelf life

But good luck finding a game that embodies the true spirit of sportsmanship, competition, unity, brotherhood, compassion, triumph and honor more than this one did In fact you cant. Its impossible.The SEC Championship, Rose Bowl and that ballyhooed game that awards the winner a sparkling crystal ball are great games for college football fans They are entertaining contests that are worth watching. We forget that trophies and rings and rivalry fodder have a shelf life.But the innate feeling that would make a Mountaineer wrap his arm around a Husky today and say, Welcome to Morgantown Enjoy the game. is what keeps us coming back for more. The people, the stories, the memories, arent those the bestYou couldnt help but raise your arms and cheer when Easley sliced through West Virginias secondary en route to that long score that maybe, just maybe, would have given UConn an improbable victory It gave me chills. This couldnt be happening.Mountaineer Field wasnt doused in pity because you can bet many of those fans were smiling. How could you not In the end, what really is a Big East Championship quest compared to the life experience that took place on the same field, only on a different sidelineI have absolutely no ties to UConn or West Virginia.

My hometown of Los Angeles is about as far as you can get away from both of them. But as I flipped on ESPNU for the game and followed along, I was sucked in I had to cheer for UConn on every down. There are many weekends full of games that we get excited for during the fall, games with title implications and all of that.But occasionally we are lucky enough to be blessed with a weekend and a story so pure that we immediately remember, with such clarity, the reason why we watch and follow sports: Everybody wants to be involved in a moment that tickles down the spine and is much bigger than you are.On this day, Morgantown, W.Va., was Exhibit A.You can reach Teddy Mitrosilis at .. After Randy Moss' three touchdown performanceagainst the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday I figured I'd take a look back at the trade that sent Moss to New England from the Oakland Raiders. Randy started his career out in Minnesota where he put up impressive numbers from the start catching 17 touchdowns in both 1998 and 2003 along with a 15 touchdown year in 2000.

Moss would play seven seasons in Minnesota making the Pro Bowl in five of those years. His next year was a disappointment though as he played just 13 games the least in his career and had just 553 yards and three touchdowns both career lows. Moss would play just two years in Oakland where he was called out for not playing hard and quitting before the game was even over This also led to Oakland trading Moss. Randy would get traded on Day 2 of the 2007 NFL draft to the New England Patriots for a fourth round pick which the Raiders used to selectcorner back John Bowie which would turn out to be one of the most lopsided trades in NFL history. In Randy's first year in New England he caught 98 balls for 1,493 yards and set the record for touchdowns with 23 breaking Jerry Rice's record of 22 touchdowns. In his second year with the Patriots he caught another 11 touchdowns and 1,008 yards for back to back 1,000 yard seasons for the first time since 2002-2003. He did this even with Matt Cassell as quarterback after Tom Brady got injured in the very first game of 2008.