Even though this is a slow news day, we can report on another surprising issue: athletes abuse substances. Kareem Abdul Jabbar was stopped in California and charged with "driving under the influence of marijuana".

Memos to Kareem:
1. It is OK to drive under the influence of MJ if you are in a car and Michael Jordan is driving and talking to you. But if you are sucking down on the wildwood weed, you need to take a cab.

2. You may want to tell the judge that you are an assistant coach for the Clippers and since this is in California, he will probably understand and release you and nominate you for a humanitarian award.

Memo to Patrick: Maybe you could tell the judge that you were working on a math assignment for some course you are taking and you were trying to achieve an integral multiple greater than one of the posted speed limit and the cop prevented you from completing that assignment. This is a long-shot since the judge will be in the Miami area and will be looking for an argument to tie this into the Elian Gonzales case.

Dennis has a website (Surprise! Surprise!) and is installing a bunch of digital webcams in his house and so you visit the site and be a "web guest" for parties at Dennis' place. Thanx, but I'd rather gargle with razor blades.

I spent last evening watching an NBA Summer League game between the Sixers and the Celtics. There were 72 fouls called in the game; there was no real offensive threat on the floor at any time; there was no cohesion since these guys had probably practiced together for all of 20 minutes. But looking at the players I'll offer some comments:

• Celtic first round pick Jerome Moiso from UCLA has one nice move on the low post. Unfortunately, he does that same move EVERY time he makes any move on the low post. I predict that it will be game 1 quarter 3 when that word is in every locker room of the NBA.

• Celtic player Craig Clack (Texas forward who came out two seasons ago) is a strong rebounder and defensive player and shot blocker. He can't shoot worth a spit, but might catch on as a defensive stopper and role player.

• Sixers second round pick Mark Karcher looked awful. He put on weight since the college season ended and looks about two steps too slow.

• Undrafted Pepe Sanchez from Temple looked like the best player on the court. He ran the offense and made several excellent passes and played tough perimeter defense.

• Jumaine Johnson was jumping out of the building. If he could develop a modicum of touch on his short jump shot, he could be a player.

• From collegiate days of yore, Jerome Allen and Antonio Lang were in this game. No, they have not developed to the point where they can come home and play basketball in a country that speaks English. I wonder how hard it is to learn Turkish?

This is the opening that allows people to consider expansion of the tournament. If you can play one game on Tuesday and get teams into the tournament, you could expand immediately to 96 teams and play 32 games on Monday/Tuesday to get to the bracket of 64. And once you do that, you could simply commandeer the prior week and admit every team that fields a Division 1 team and play them down to a field of 256 teams and from there it is two rounds to a bracket of 64 that starts on Thursday and leads to a Final Four. More games; more TV; at least one major upset a year to start the sports radio venom flowing. Adding the 65th team proves conclusively that you CAN have more teams than they have been admitting and so when you are in for a penny, you might as well be in for a pound.

The Cincinnati Reds have now traded Hal Morris (actually they sold him for cash and got no players in return) and are shopping Barry Larkin around after Larkin was told by one of the suits that run the team that he would not be re-signed at the end of the season. It seems that they have not only blown-up this season but they seem intent on being in a building mode for several seasons.

The talking heads are really pumping up the race between the Blue Jays and the Yankees and the Red Sox. If you look at the standings the Jays are in third place, a game and a half out of first place. Look a bit closer and you will see that the Jays have played seven more games than the Yankees and they have only won two of those seven extra games. They have played five more than the Red Sox and have won two of those five extra games. Another stat: David Wells is 13 games over .500 meaning that the rest of the pitching staff is 8 games under .500. Toronto is not out of it by any means, but they are not as close as it looks at first glance.

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...