Most importantly, the Tide won the toss

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Tuscaloosa on Saturday for the opening coin toss of the Alabama-Tennessee football game, on the prospect of running for governor of Alabama one day: "Now there's a novel idea."

Also, Rice said claims that President Bush doesn't care about blacks are "outrageous" -- she grew up in Birmingham, she says, so she could tell if he didn't -- and said there is no "stronger defender of civil rights" than Bush. She didn't mention civil liberties, but that was probably just an inadvertent omission.

Fun fact: Rice's ovation at Bryant-Denny Stadium, while loud, was quieter than that for former Crimson Tide All-America linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who delivered the game ball. After all, diplomacy is great, but how many quarterbacks has it sacked?