LOGAN, Utah -- It's not easy to feel sorry for the winningest football program of the millennium, but let's try.

Boise State beat Utah State, 52-21, Friday night to improve to 11-0. For the second straight year it will probably finish the regular season unbeaten.

Who knows? If the Broncos have five or six more perfect seasons, the BCS might invite the Broncos to its title game. Not to play, but perhaps they'll be allowed to valet Alabama's bus or hand out towels in the men's room.

With that vision in mind, I came here to feel sorry for the eternally shafted Broncos. The more I saw, the less sympathy I felt.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce is out indefinitely after an MRI exam on Friday surprisingly revealed a bulging disk in his neck.

The Giants said their defensive captain underwent the test in New York and was examined by team physician Dr. Russell Warren and Dr. Frank Camissa, chief of the spinal surgical services at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

The 31-year-old Pierce originally sustained a burner when the Giants played Arizona on Oct. 25. He had very little discomfort until practice this week, when the club's medical staff scheduled the MRI exam.

The Nationals learned Friday that the knee injury suffered by Stephen Strasburg will not require surgery to repair. It's instead been diagnosed as a dislocated knee cap. As painful as that sounds, there's no ligament damage and the Nats' phenom will only require rest and some rehab to get the knee back up to full strength, though he'll still miss Saturday's Arizona Fall League championship game.

Considering those that witnessed the injury firsthand saw Strasburg crumple while playing long toss on Thursday and reported hearing a popping sound (often a telltale sign of ligament damage), this is obviously great news for the Nats. I can't even fathom following up a 103-loss season with a serious knee injury to the highest-paid draft pick in baseball history.

SEATTLE -- David Beckham continues to claim he's committed to both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Major League Soccer, and on Friday afternoon seemed to back that up with a promise to play in Sunday's MLS Cup final despite pain in his foot that will require pre-game injections, to return to the team following next summer's World Cup and even to involve himself in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the players and MLS owners.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The hard-core conspirators will think NASCAR scripted it. The reality is Jimmie Johnson was the fastest driver of the day.

Johnson will start his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet from the pole position in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead Miami Speedway -- the ultimate beginning to the last chapter in his quest to become the first driver to win four consecutive championships.

Of all things Johnson knocked his Hendrick Motorsports teammate -- and only title challenger left -- Mark Martin off the top spot on the qualifying speed chart. Johnson leads Martin by 108 points and needs only to finish 25th or better to clinch his historic championship.

The Sacramento Monarchs, one of the WNBA's original eight franchises folded Friday, leaving the league to scramble to find a new ownership group, possibly in the San Francisco Bay Area, in time for the 2010 season.

The league announced Friday that it is in talks to find a Bay Area ownership group prepared to take the team over.

WNBA president Donna Orender confirmed Friday evening that negotiations with an investor group are underway.

MILWAUKEE -- Four months after Stephen Jackson arrived in Golden State in January 2007, the Warriors won their first playoff series in 16 years. They went 48-34 the following season, their best record in 14 years.

Jackson would like to take plenty of credit for it.

"The Warriors were (garbage) when I got there, so look what happened,'' Jackson said in an interview Friday with FanHouse. "So I love challenges.''

That's why the 10th-year swingman is ecstatic about his trade last Monday from the Warriors to Charlotte. Even though the Bobcats (3-8 entering Friday) never have made the playoffs since entering the NBA as an expansion team in 2004, Jackson believes it's "a great opportunity for me to be part of something great.''

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Since Zack Greinke and Tim Lincecum won Cy Young awards this week with modest victory totals, there has been much discussion about how baseball writers are finally moving into the 21st century and looking beyond the win column.

Although I'm all for patting baseball writers on the back -- since I am one, and I did vote for Greinke -- I think in the case of the NL Cy Young, my colleagues may have looked past victories, and still picked the wrong guy to make their point.

Let's start with the ol' FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching. FIP is a stat intended to quantify how well a pitcher performed based solely on the things in his control (strikeouts, walks and homers) without regard to the vagaries of the defense behind him.

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Of all the headlines I read today, the one you see above is now second on the "didn't see that coming" list after "Al Roker Loses Mind Previewing Weather for Sunday Night Football". Apparently, 50 Cent and his entourage went after Marv Albert backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live last night.

At least if you believe the Los Angeles Times (or if you prefer to get your news from more reputable sources, here ya go):

Losing Alex Ovechkin for two weeks didn't stop the Washington Capitals from winning games, and he picked up right where he left off in his return, scoring his 15th goal of the season in a 4-2 win against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. With that, the Caps take over the top spot in this week's NHL Power Rankings, while another team reclaims its familiar spot at the bottom of the pile.

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