1.   I suspect that the crowning blow was the proposal to add the Universities of Beirut and Greenland to the far-flung league.

2.   It came as the crowning blow to a truly troubled season, one week before the Sun Devils were to play archrival Arizona.

3.   It was the crowning blow to a week that had one setback after another.

4.   Paul Bako delivered the crowning blow when he greeted reliever Mike Mohler with a three-run homer.

5.   The crowning blow was Millen using his helmet to bop Sullivan on the head.

6.   The war in secessionist Chechnya has been the crowning blow.

7.   Then came the crowning blow, one that still causes his large green eyes to cloud over and his voice to drop to an almost inaudible whisper.