Newcastle were left to kick themselves for letting a potentially sweet win slip.
He wanted to either throw into the end zone or throw the ball away quickly, so that enough seconds would be left to kick a field goal.
As Van Rompuy continued his negotiations past midnight and into the early hours with individual member states, some leaders were left to kick their heels.
The current Astronaut Corps has a lot of doors still left to kick down, including returning to the moon, visiting an asteroid and visiting the ultimate scientific destination: Mars.
Perhaps saddest of all for those reflecting on the ups and downs of the past eight years is that residents of the Sooner State are once again left to kick themselves for buying lines that were too good to be true while they pick up the pieces.
And as for conservatism - the old business of propping up the hierarchic system in order to profit from it - there's not enough of that nonsense left to kick against any more, though he must say he did thoroughly enjoy it when there was.
