5:32 p.m.: What's on my mind after just arriving home from Minnesota:

1. The National Football League owners did the right thing in changing the overtime rule but they didn't go far enough. They should have changed it for all regular-season games, too. And forget the if-you-score-a-touchdown-first-it's-over. That's not right.

The NFL generally does a good job of updating rules to keep up with the game, sometimes to an extreme. But this is one case where it's lagged behind. This is not the 70's or 80's anymore. Offenses are much more high-tech. Making 30 to 40 yards is nothing. In the old days, unless you were Air Coryell or going against a prevent defense, there was no thought of scoring quickly after a coin flip. Also, kickers are better today (though, sadly, not all are money in the playoffs, as my San Diego Chargers can attest!) and there's a deeper pool of quality legs. So this rule makes sense.

I look at it this way. Every other sport I know allow for both sides to get a "turn'' in overtime. Can you imagine on the first tee of the first playoff hole at the Masters if they flipped a coin and Phil Mickelson won, so he got to play the hole first and if he made par, he won, while Tiger Woods stood and watched helplessly (probably bad example, because Tiger cannot play defense, but you see the point). In baseball, what if there was a coin flip after nine innings and if the winner of the game scored a run, the game was over?

Here's how I look at it: flip a coin and the winner can decide whether to take the ball first or play defense. Each side gets a possesion, even if the first team scores a TD. If the score is still tied after that, then the next score of any kind wins.

Life isn't that complicated.

2. I can't help but wonder about the depth of interest out there in this Nebraska women's basketball run. How many of you are paying attention, know the players, characters, the bracket? Then I got on my plane today and one of the flight attendants, a male, spotted a woman sitting behind me in a red Nebraska shirt. The guy was probably based out of Chicago or Phoenix or Dallas. Anyway, he said, "So, do you think Nebraska can beat UConn?'' And the two had a short conversation about whether or not the Huskers could beat the Huskies and how cool it would be if they met, etc. That kind of blew me away. I'm not sure it should have, but it did.

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