If the Islanders used Thursday night's game against the Lightning to gauge how much they had improved from last season, they received a rather sobering assessment.

The sobering assessment comes at a crucial time.

But the European Monetary Institute's report provides a sobering assessment of the challenges that lie beyond the official starting date on Jan. 1.

The NYT op-ed page offers sobering assessments of both Bill and Hillary.

Microsoft's sobering assessment of the near-term outlook for the industry and the company drove Microsoft shares down in after-hours trading.

The sobering assessment echoed comments that he and other officials like Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge have made in recent months.

The report followed by a day a sobering assessment of the recovery's prospects from Mr. Greenspan.

"This is a cradle-to-grave phenomenon affecting all populations," was her sobering assessment.

The entire episode also offers a sobering assessment of the racial politics in a state where white suburbanites dominate the political landscape.

The giant lending institution delivered its sobering assessment in a report accompanying its updated world debt tables for last year.