McNabb clueless in overtime

It has been said that in sports a tie is like kissing your sister.

For the Philadelphia Eagles, their 13-13 tie Sunday with the hapless Cincinnati Bengals was like kissing their ugly sister. On the mouth.

In 1974, the NFL instituted one 15-minute overtime period for regular-season games.

That came as a big surprise to Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who said he didn't know games could end deadlocked.

"I hate to see what happens in the Super Bowl or I hate to see what happens in the playoffs. You have to settle with a tie," he said, making his perception of NFL rules even more foggy.

The 10-year veteran should have held his words -- like some of his pass attempts -- when he added he did not know the postseason overtime rule.

Good thing for McNabb the game didn't go any longer.

"It makes (McNabb) look weak at a crucial moment for him and the franchise," wrote Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News. "McNabb's play has slipped in recent weeks, and now this -- a disastrous game for him, three picks and a lost fumble and this memorable gaffe on top of it.

"His play is deteriorating and the play around him is deteriorating. He and his sometimes ham-handed receivers are racing each other to infamy."

It sounds like McNabb has a big lead in that race.

• CUBAN'S INSIDE GAME -- Self-made billionaire Mark Cuban was taught Monday that "insider trading" has nothing to do with securing a big center for his struggling 3-7 Dallas Mavericks.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Cuban with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.

That's a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly $1.7 million he's amassed in NBA fines over his eight-year ownership of the Mavs.

• SOCCER HIJACKING -- Sixty fans of Argentina's River Plate soccer team hijacked a bus Sunday and demanded the driver go faster so they could get to the game on time. It was the second soccer-related bus hijacking in less than a week in Argentina.

The fans also robbed two small shops in downtown Buenos Aires before getting on the bus, police said. The jailed fans missed the game, which River Plate won, 1-0.

The criminal act only should be justified by soccer fans when the fear of missing a game's only goal makes on-time arrival paramount.

• DOWN UNDER DALY -- Troubled golfer John Daly will be Down Under in a couple of weeks and, for a change it won't have anything to do with being inebriated.

The popular Daly plans to play in the Nov. 27-30 Australian Masters in Melbourne. The last time he played in an Australian tournament was six years ago when he was disqualified for failing to sign his scorecard after throwing his ball and putter into a lake.

Daly's most recent act of infamy was a night spent in jail on Oct. 27 after being found "extremely intoxicated and uncooperative" outside a restaurant in Winston-Salem, N.C., according to police.

Daly is hoping for an upbeat end to the year, or at least one that finds him upright.

COMPILED BY JEFF WOLF LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL