a sampling

Perhaps the single greatest moment in TMQ history comes from the October 5, 2004 installment.

Last year, Tuesday Morning Quarterback noted of monkey pox, then in the news, "Researchers think the monkey-pox outbreak was triggered by prairie dogs that came into contact with an infected Gambian giant pouched rat. Forget how this chain of events could be figured out in such a short time, while science is still unable to determine why women are wide awake after sex, and men want to sleep. The real question: What caused innocent, trusting little prairie dogs to come into contact with Gambian giant pouched rats?"

My item clearly implied skepticism about the Gambian pouched rat. Turns out I spoke too soon! Today these plucky creatures are helping clear Mozambique of land mines from its civil war. Dogs have been trained as land-mine sniffers, but if they step on the mine, no more dog; three-pound Gambian pouched rats are too light cause detonation. These rats have exceptionally powerful noses, being able to sense the slightest trace of the nitro compounds in explosives. And while dogs will sniff for mines for a while and then get bored and want to frolic, Gambian giant pouched rats possess noble clarity of purpose: So long as they are given a chunk of banana for each mine found, they will tirelessly, single-mindedly spend every waking hour searching for another. Giant Gambian pouched rats of Mozambique, Tuesday Morning Quarterback salutes you!