4 JAN 05: ADDED SUGAR

Instant Message to Mike Tirico of ABC Sports: Thanks for telling the entire country Tommy Tuberville's home number is listed in the Opelika-Auburn phone book. Now he'll get calls from harassing Alabama and Georgia fans at all hours of the night.

The revelation about Tommy Tuberville's phone number came during the final minutes of Monday night's Sugar Bowl game. I fear the winning coach in tonight's Orange Bowl will look up that number - a place a thank-you call, for making his team's national championship more legitimate.

Auburn nearly blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead, but held on to beat Virginia Tech 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans. So much for the other team's theory that you can't spell "victory" without V.T.

As you may have noticed while watching the game, Nokia phones sponsored the Sugar Bowl. When you consider the 23-yard field goal Virginia Tech's kicker missed in the second half, Auburn's margin of victory was almost the width of one of those phones.

Field goals actually put Auburn in front in the Sugar Bowl - as John Vaughn's kicking led to a 9-0 halftime lead. It was enough to make Tiger fans change a holiday song and sing: "We, three kicks are better than you...."

Auburn seemed ready to put the Sugar Bowl in the cupboard when Jason Campbell threw a third-quarter touchdown pass to Devin Aromashadu. With a last name like Aromashadu, it's surprising he hasn't left Auburn and enrolled at a school for chefs.

Auburn quarterback Jason Campbell was named the "Most Outstanding Player" at the Sugar Bowl. Would any football player really want to win this title? For the rest of his life, he's known not as an "M-V-P" - but a simple MOP.

Did you see ABC spin Jason Campbell around for one of those "profile" tapes, like he was standing on a turntable? If any defensive lineman in the Southeastern Conference did that to Campbell, he'd get a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer.

"Who is that goober?" someone asked me during the Sugar Bowl. He was referring to one of the announcers -- and I had to patiently explain that voice belonged to the man who used to be Auburn's head football coach....

Was ABC Sports trying to provoke something, by putting Terry Bowden in the broadcast booth for Auburn's big bowl game? If that was the network's goal, it didn't work -- as not one Auburn trustee ran down to the sideline, demanding a coaching replacement.

Terry Bowden declared Auburn is below other undefeated college football teams because of its non-conference schedule. The Tigers played Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Monroe at home -- and let's face it, they keep dodging a showdown with Troy.

Someone complained to me Monday night that ABC Sports's telecast of the Sugar Bowl was out of sync, with the audio ahead of the video by "two syllables." Well, maybe it wasn't the network. Perhaps the coaches and broadcasters talk faster than their mouths can move.

(I'm told the audio-video problem was especially noticeable for people who watched the Sugar Bowl on "high definition" TV's. The strange thing is, people who watch games with closed captioning never complain about this....)

Another question I was asked during the Sugar Bowl concerned the Virginia Tech mascot. "What is a Hokie?" a man wanted to know. To be honest, the explanation I read for this seemed like a bunch of Hokum....

One Virginia Tech fan says way back in 1892, someone writing a school cheer started with the words, "Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi" - and somehow the name stuck. There actually is a modern-day parallel to this. The group 'N Sync sang "Bye Bye Bye" - and hasn't recorded an album together since.

(I'm old enough to remember when Virginia Tech's teams were nicknamed the Gobblers - but who would want to go to college with a bunch of turkeys?)

As the Sugar Bowl concluded, Terry Bowden admitted he's finally ready for a playoff to decide the college football champion. Before Auburn fans say "amen" to that comment, consider this - Utah scored more points in its bowl game, gave up fewer points, and they're still unbeaten as well.

In the pre-game hype before the Sugar Bowl, Coach Tommy Tuberville tried to downplay the playoff talk. He told reporters college football has a "mythical national championship." So remember, you Oklahoma and Southern California fans - our national title is just as mythical as yours is.

By the way, did you see Tommy Tuberville's son Tucker on the sidelines during the Sugar Bowl? Not only that, apparently the Auburn coach took his mother to New Orleans for the game. I think I'm getting it now - Tuberville wants to be Bob Riley's running mate next year.

The Auburn crowd in New Orleans included former Phenix City Mayor Sonny Coulter. But I doubt any of the Russell County Commissioners attended the game - because Judge Al Howard might have tried to kick them out of office while they were gone.

Now let's put down our pompons for some other Monday highlights:
+ Columbus Police reported a couple was arrested on New Year's Day for lying on a blanket in Flat Rock Park - and (ahem) making love! [True/WDAK] Well, this IS a different kind of tradition from the "Polar Bear Club...."

+ The new Columbus Library opened on Macon Road, with more than 3,000 people visiting on the first day. But all the cars packing the parking lot begged an obvious question -- why isn't there a drive-through checkout lane?

+ Robbie Watson returned to WRCG's "TalkLine" from maternity leave, and promised she'll never take her new baby boy to Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Uh-oh - does this mean Broadway clubs are becoming almost as wild and eye-popping?

THE BIG BLOG QUESTION has been reset and is starting from scratch - and here's the reason why. Someone alerted us Monday that two different questions might appear on your screen, based on whether one letter in the web address is capitalized or not. I've seen criminal defense attorneys less "case-sensitive" than this....

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