1.   Raymond Burns and the vastly experienced Garth McGimpsey must be considered virtual certainties.

2.   With relegation now a virtual certainty, Hankin has nothing to lose by including the likes of Reed, to prepare for next season.

3.   It can already be said with virtual certainty that lamb will never be as cheap again.

4.   And that is a virtual certainty.

5.   Another NFL spokesman, Joe Browne, indicated a recommendation being made is a virtual certainty.

6.   Arab leaders have been warning Washington for months that some spillover of the violence, including terrorism, was a virtual certainty.

7.   Approval of the House bill was also considered a virtual certainty, but differences between the two bills would need to be resolved.

8.   As the deadline approaches, the administration has yet to acknowledge the virtual certainty that many will have to stay a good while longer.

9.   Bill Clinton seems about as vulnerable as Democratic control of Congress, which also once seemed a virtual certainty.