John Kelso, the Austin American Statesman's humor (?) columnist wrote an especially mean-spirited column today about Vince Young's behavior upon finishing second at the Heisman Trophy Award show. (http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro /stories/12/13kelso.html) Vince Young hugged winner Reggie Bush of USC, congratulated him and otherwise sat there alone watching the USC celebration. Afterwards he apologized (unnecessarily) to his fans for not winning and also expressed his disappointment in himself (again unnecessarily) for not winning. For this he has received much criticism. Mr. Kelso has likened this behavior to that of the fictional Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore show. Kelso said that Vince, "got his panties in a pile", "got his jock in a knot", "Ego is a powerful thing", and accused Vince of behaving "like snot-nosed brats." Vince may not have acted like a beauty pageant runner-up but there was no egotistical or snotty behavior. It was genuine disappointment. My complaint about the whole affair is that it was an incredibly unfair position to put Vince in. Typically, the top 5 vote-getters in the Heisman Trophy election are invited to the celebration in New York. Only 3 persons were invited this year - winner Reggie Bush of USC, Vince Young, and third place finisher Matt Leinart of USC, who of course, was the winner of last year's Heisman Trophy. The Heisman vote was so lopsided this year that the decision was made not to invite 4th place finisher Brady Quinn of Notre Dame or 5th place finisher Michael Robinson of Penn State. So why then were Vince or Leinart even up on that stage? It forced an incredibly awkward situation whereby Vince was the only person there who did not have a Heisman Trophy and he was the only person not playing for USC. This was like a USC Rose Bowl Pep Rally at which the quarterback of USC's opponent had to attend. Quinn and Robinson should have been there so that the college athletes considered as the top 5 in the nation could all be recognized. The way it was done, it was unfair to invite Vince at all. GREGG