Maybe there should be an asterisk next to Little Morgan's name. The black Labrador is the defending Big Air gold medalist in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games, holds the world record in the competition and he's on the ballot to possibly win an ESPY.

Those are some pretty heady accomplishments on their own, but there should be an asterisk alongside this record, although one with an altogether different meaning than the one that stood beside Roger Maris' name and his 61 home runs for so many years. Next to the one loss in Little Morgan's 4-1 record there should appear an asterisk and the words "12-inch sub sandwich."

	We have lift-off: Mike Jackson sends Little Morgan skyward.

In the world of jumping dogs and Big Air, Little Morgan is the Tiger Woods of the sport, and he's had his slump too. He just worked out of it a little quicker than the real Tiger Woods has of late.

Little Morgan, handled by Michael Jackson, has rolled through Big Air competitions since his gold medal performance and world-record jump of 26 feet, 6 inches at the 2002 Great Outdoor Games

Little Morgan has competed in five major Big Air events, winning all of but one. And setting records in most of those.

The most notable was at the 2002 ESPN Great Outdoor Games, where the black Labrador set a world record with a jump of 26 feet, 6 inches. Another was at the Super Retriever Series event in March at Stuttgart, Ark., where Little Morgan set the SRS record with a jump of 26 feet, 4 inches.

And at the Super Retriever Series in May at Northfield, Minn. the long jumper did not come anywhere close to 26 feet. But a jump of 23 feet, 8 inches was more than enough to win that event. Even at his worst, he's unbeatable.

Then again Little Morgan has always had trouble in Northfield. That's where the asterisk comes in.

The case of the missing sub

Mike Jackson didn't say it, but we think he and Little Morgan may have had a score to settle at Oak Ridge Kennels.

If it weren't for a Super Retriever Series event held in Northfield in 2002, the winning duo could claim undefeated status, even untouchable status. But there's a huge blemish on that record, one that the team earned long before the gold medal jump.

		Jackson said Little Morgan, who normally weighs 53 pounds, probably carried 59 pounds and a swollen belly in the jumping competition at Northfield.

A few months earlier, in the dog's first event at the Indianapolis Boat Show, Little Morgan set a world-indoor record of 23 feet, 1 inch. But Little Morgan's next competition wasn't so awesome: a 16th-place performance at the 2002 Super Retriever Series in Northfield, Minn.

"Before that event, we had gone turkey hunting," Jackson said. "Well, I'd gone turkey hunting and left Little Morgan in the truck, where he ate about three or four days of dog food and a 12-inch submarine sandwich."

Jackson said Little Morgan, who normally weighs 53 pounds, probably carried 59 pounds and a swollen belly in the jumping competition at Northfield.

"He didn't feel like doing it,'' Jackson said.

The results are in the standings and very obvious by the blemish on what has thus far been an untarnished record.

Whether Little Morgan can extend his streak won't be decided until the Great Outdoor Games gets underway in Reno, but don't be surprised to see the other competitors in the event walking around with submarine sandwiches in hopes of dropping one near Little Morgan.

And if he were to go on and win his second gold, there would be some justification for an asterisk, one about 12 inches long on wheat.