What an invaluable appendage.
Two Pac-10 teams battling for the ideal season's end, the Rose Bowl; and, the hopes of both depend on the fingers of their quarterbacks.
USC's John David Booty sat out three games and played adequately in the in Trojans' last two. All this after convincing coach Pete Carroll he was good to go during the historic upset by Stanford at the Coliseum.
ASU's Rudy Carpenter has needed no such negotiations with his coach, or at least none that we know about. The team calls Carpenter's thumb "sprained," also an apt adjective for the program's postseason hopes should the injury prove to be any worse than the results offered by last week's MRI exam.
But forget about these guys.
Oregon's Dennis Dixon hid a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee to play against UA on national television last week in order to keep the Ducks' national title hopes alive.
Untouched, his knee buckled, he fell, and so did the team's season.
The Pac-10 just got a little less interesting.
Oregon's new quarterback is named Leaf, Cal has lost five of six games, and Washington is without show-stopper Jake Locker.
What does it all mean?
Whoever ends up on the right side of the wishbone Thursday night will be the last turkey standing.
Do turkeys have fingers?
