Y2K Is Starting Off A-OK

If this is how it’s going to be in sports for the Year 2000, then it was worth the wait, worth the hype, worth all the Y2K paranoia.

One week in and we’ve been inundated with a host of “Did You Sees.”

As in, did you see Peter Warrick in the Sugar Bowl? Did you see that breakout performance by Michael Vick?

Did you see Tiger do work out in Hawaii?

Did you see that Tennessee-Buffalo game?

Did you see Dan Marino pull out another one?

That’s what we want out of sports, for them to give us something to talk about in the hours we spend in between games (time that’s also known as work and life). I don’t know if people actually gather around the water cooler to chat at the office anymore. Put it this way: the past week’s sports action sure provided plenty of e-mail fodder.

Isn’t it nice to to be talking about the sports part of sports again? Even the week’s big controversy--was that a forward pass or not on Tennessee’s game-winning kickoff return--at least involved something that took place on the field.

Questionable calls, like Don Denkinger’s blown call in the 1985 World Series and Hue Hollins’ mystery foul on Scottie Pippen in the 1994 NBA playoffs, are part of the great sports debates as well.

Anything’s better than talking about stuff like John Rocker’s racist comments and whether baseball and/or the Atlanta Braves should punish him. (For the record, they shouldn’t; freedom of speech includes the freedom to make an idiot of yourself. His punishment is going through the rest of his life as John Rocker).

And it sure is nice not to waste any breath arguing what college football team is No. 1.

That’s how good the first few days of 2000 have been: not even the seriously flawed bowl championship series system could mess it up. Florida State finished undefeated and beat a very worthy opponent in Virginia Tech. Those were the two teams that deserved to be in the Sugar Bowl. The Seminoles won, so let’s give them the national championship without any discussion, close the books on the college football season and get on with the NFL playoffs.

We hope it won’t be too long before Warrick and Vick square off again in the pros too. Warrick looked every bit worthy of the No. 1 pick during the Sugar Bowl, and Vick will be the top choice whenever he decides to turn pro.

Vick’s dancing and darting all over the Superdome turf forced you to remember that these weren’t a bunch of plodding Midwestern defenders he was running past, these were Florida State guys. They don’t make players any faster than they come at Florida State.

This is the beginning of what could be years of thrills from Vick. We know we’re watching the last stages of Dan Marino’s career, and it felt good to see him extend the run a little bit longer Sunday.

Miami’s 20-17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks wasn’t a Marino masterpiece. You won’t see many highlights from this game included in the lengthy retrospectives when Marino finally calls it quits. When he threw for less than 30 yards in the first half, you had to wonder if Jimmy Johnson would go with Damon Huard in the second half and Marino would spend the final minutes of his career on the bench.

Then Marino zipped a pass to Oronde Gadsden for a touchdown. And he moved the Dolphins 93 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Marino finished 17 for 30 for 196 yards. Back in the day, you’d figure Marino had to throw for at least 300 yards for the Dolphins to have any chance to win a playoff game. But with the dominant defense the Dolphins played Sunday, they only needed Marino to keep them in games and not throw the deadly interceptions he has tossed this season.

Marino did his part. Maybe he didn’t win it for them, but he gave them a chance.

Meanwhile, out on Maui, Tiger Woods is in the midst of a run reminiscent of Marino’s 48-touchdown season in 1984. Tiger’s that dominant.

At the Mercedes Championships, Woods made it clear that 2000 will be just like the latter half of 1999 in one respect: No tournament will be decided until he has taken his final shot.

You can look at the record amount of dollars on the PGA Tour and the higher television ratings, but the greatest testament to Woods’ impact is that in the middle of a breathtaking weekend of sports and a pulsating start to the NFL playoffs, we’re talking about golf.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com