Over the years, Mark's colleagues had grown numb to his warnings of the swamped-bowl scenario. But that afternoon his voice and his pallor made me listen.

We're far more direct in getting at what we think matters. The urgency is palpable.

I don't think anybody has captured this feeling of utter queasiness you have when all your professional premises are taken away. Recounting it now, it sounds like everything fell into place (logically). But it was the most unsettling, nauseating experience. The outcome wasn't assured, and most of us only had a vague sense of what to do next.

Obviously, it was a different scenario than we've played under recently.

The Super Bowl honeymoon is only going to last so long.

I'm totally numb. It really is a shock. I talked to him while he was on the recruiting trail with Texas Tech, and there were no obvious (physical) signs of anything going wrong.