I’m certainly not the first guy to use a sports metaphor in politics, and no doubt many of you are praying fervently that I will be the last. But hey, Keith Olbermann mixes sports and politics, and he has literally hundreds of viewers! So it can work.

But if you give me a moment to make a trivial point, I’ll try to pay it off with something not trivial at all.

Fact is, I’m not really a sports fan. Apparently there are some baseball games still going on, and there’s that thing where you throw a pumpkin through a hoop. I’m just a football fan. Not just football — College Football. Not just College Football — Gator Football.

If you went to the University of Florida when I did, you know heartache. In my freshman year, we lost the first game, tied the second, and lost everything else. Then, the following year, we were up by one over the hated Georgia Bulldogs. Ninety seconds left, Georgia on their own seven… we’re gonna win! Buck Belue rolls into his own end zone, hits Lindsey Scott on the 25… and time slows to a crawl… That magnificent bastard runs all the way back for the touchdown. That was the worst 20 seconds of my young life.

The last six weeks of McCain’s campaign have felt like those twenty seconds — replayed endlessly, every day. Just slow-motion, open-mouthed disbelief.

There comes a point when you are down late in the game and the team morale will break one way or another. When they know they’re beaten you see it in the play calling and in the faces on the bench. The fans are sullen. Most of them have left the stadium muttering about next year.

But now and then, down by 14 with less than 3:00 on the clock, you can watch your guys sprint onto the field. No huddle. Quick slashing passes to the sidelines. Stop the clock. First down.

When you see they mean to win this thing, no matter how far behind… something happens. The critical thing happens. The fans get in the game.

Now look, I’m I realist: I’d much, much rather have Obama’s numbers than McCain’s. But momentum is miraculous thing. And last night, what I saw from John McCain was that he didn’t intend to just take a knee and go out with dignity. He took it to Obama about as hard as he was able. He’s not the natural athlete Obama is. In fact, he reminds me of a description of U.S.Grant, who wore an expression and walked in such a way that he gave you the impression he meant to put his head right through a wall.

Guys, we’re still a long way from the Doug Flutie, Mother of All Hail Marys time. We need to score, get an onside kick, a turnover, or at least hold ‘em to three-and-out, and score again. If Obama scores again, it’s over.

But I have seen momentum switch, and so have you; it’s like the teams traded jerseys at halftime in the locker room. And when a team that expects to Coast to Glory finds itself up three touchdowns, then two, then one — the wheels can come off. They start to panic. They get uptight, they play too conservatively, and their rhythm evaporates. That gives the underdogs even more confidence. It doesn’t happen often, but I’ve been on both sides of it and when it does occur it is one of the most horrible/wonderful things I’ve seen with my own eyes.

Joe the Plumber sacked Obama. “You should have run against President Bush” was a play that we should have been running from the first whistle, because it shut down that entire up-the-middle attack that had gotten them a lot of yardage.

Look, the other side wants you to believe it’s over. They want to take the crowd out of the game, and leave you filing out to your cars. That’s smart stragegery, and I don’t blame them. And the press wants you to believe the same thing… but that is disgraceful, a dereliction of a sacred duty that they will pay for downstream.

So here’s that non-trivial point I promised you: Whether the polls show us up by forty or down by forty, the fact remains that none of that is within your control. Yes, I’m talking directly to you. The only thing that you directly control in this election is your ability to go to a booth and pull the lever.

There is much about Obama that is unknown, and much of what is known is unsavory. He clearly has a significant lead, but it is not an unshakable lead. His support is wide, but in many places not that deep. Anyway, that’s all irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant is what you personally plan to do on November 4, 2008.

I’m a Gator fan. I’ve seen a lot of failure and heartbreak. I also saw them win the National Championship, and ten thousand of us hugged total strangers on University Avenue for hours with tears in all our eyes.

You can head for your cars if you want to. I mean to win this. I’ve never walked out on my Gators — never once in my life.

Win or lose, they’re my boys. – Bill Whittle lives in Los Angeles and is an on-air commentator for www.pjtv.com. You can find him online at www.ejectejecteject.com