11.   And two, Rome takes sports as serious as anyone I know in the media business.

12.   As serious as eternity one moment, as silly as a food fight the next.

13.   Before spilling his contempt to Sports Illustrated, I assumed from afar that Rocker was merely a colorful sort with a fastball as serious as his competitive attitude.

14.   A missing tile or two, although not as serious as a lost piece in Mousetrap, can change the complexion of the game.

15.   Bush, who is after all in his second term as chief executive in Texas, appears as serious as anyone about that devolution.

16.   But events as serious as this one and as silly as the rantings of Pierre Salinger suggest that the web may exert a multiplier effect.

17.   But Fowler stressed in his interview that he was as serious as ever.

18.   But Frank grows serious as the tour moves through the working farm he and Marianne have carved out of the forests of Chumstick Valley.

19.   But diplomats have often used immunity to avoid responsibility for any criminal acts, as serious as manslaughter or as routine as parking tickets.

20.   But increasingly at colleges across the country, administrators say, they make use of student conduct codes to judge student crimes as serious as assault and arson.