It was hard to decide who had a rougher weekend — Terrelle Pryor or balloon boy's dad. They both sent aloft some odd-shaped objects and caused a ruckus. One launched an inflated, over-sized chef's hat from his backyard, shot a shaky home video that sent you running for the Dramamine, and then duped the whole world into thinking something dreadful had happened to his son. The other guy flailed away with an ellipsoid made from the skin of an animal as 50,000 watched, and disaster resulted when his launchings landed in enemy hands.

The helium huckster from Colorado got the 15 minutes of fame Andy Warhol promised, while the already famous floundering young quarterback lost 21 yards on one play, and then fumbled. The architect of the hot air scam would have squandered his reputation — if he had one — and likely gets three-to-five in the state lockup with a roommate named Bubba. Tarnish is forming on the celebrity of the guy wearing scarlet and gray, who four times misplaced that holy animal hide and is giving OSU fans Steve Bellisari migraines with increasing regularity.

The flaky father's Rocky Mountain hijinks crashed, and now he is on the hot seat. Pryor got roundly scorched over his gaffe-a-rama at Purdue; he can earn a reprieve this weekend with a couple of TD passes and a half-acre sized zigzag scramble. He'll again get 60 minutes to prove all his hype was no hoax.