Oh by the way, it seems that Carl is behind on his court ordered child support payments to two different women who have his children. And one of the payments is all of $700 per month which for someone of his financial stature is pocket change.

Memo to Carl: They are your kids. No one in the media was dancing the horizontal lambada with these women. Don't blame the media here too.

Mark Wohlers returned to the majors last night throwing two perfect innings of relief for the Reds against the Astros. He struck out 2 and walked nobody. Maybe he will recover his prior form? Maybe the "wildness monkey" has been put on John Rocker's back for the time being?

The Hall of Fame inductees for the year go in tomorrow and there will be rhetorical flourish aplenty. I'd love to have the exclusive concession to rent out knee-high rubber boots for these ceremonies; there's money in that. Sparky Anderson deserves to be in the Hall and Carleton Fisk probably could have joined the Hall last year in his first year of eligibility without disgracing the institution. But finally, Tony Perez got into the Hall of Fame where he should have been for about the last 8-10 years. Given the strong "Cincinnati flavor" of tomorrow's events, look for references to Pete Rose in the rhetoric which will give the sports radio hosts yet another opportunity to pass time on the air debating Pete's right to be in the Hall or out of the Hall. Some of those guys make a career of stalling until the next show comes on.

Watching the NBA Summer League last night, I saw Lavar Postell play and he looked like he could fit in nicely into the NBA style of play. Granted, there were no defenders on the Indiana team he was playing against who could guard the Venus de Milo, but he still showed good moves and good moves to the basket. If he develops a real good outside shot, he will be a player.

In the same game Jonathan Bender played a lot. He was the high school kid drafted last year by the Pacers whose main role last season was to be sure that the end of the bench did not jump up and hit the ceiling lights. He played just like a high school kid who had never seen a day of college basketball or NBA ball. Isiah Thomas will coach Bender in Indy next year and maybe Isiah will find a way to have the kid learn something while he does not play.

Jason Williams has been suspended by the NBA for 5 games for failing to comply with his drug rehab program. In a mirror image, John Daly has returned to the pubs and managed to shoot a 76 opening round at St. Andrews yesterday. Does the word "bonehead" mean anything to either of these guys? Maybe the Sixers and the Kings can trade their problem child point guards for one another. It will allow each of those egotists to start anew with an entirely new coaching staff and a new city to piss off.

In NFL news, the Bengals finally cut Carl Pickens and he is a free agent. Pickens said last winter when Bruce Coslett was re-hired that he did not think the team was committed to winning if they would bring Coslett back. Carl happens to be exactly right here, but this is not something that would lead you to believe that they would re-sign him. Well they did just that and they gave him a $3M signing bonus and when he continued to be a pain in the ass they tried to trade him but they wanted him to give back the signing bonus. Pickens refused; can you imagine that? And so now they cut him and get nothing for him and he keeps the bonus. At least if he kept the bonus and they traded him, they might have gotten something for him - even if it was a used blocking sled. That is why they are the Cincinnati Bungles.

But things are still in turmoil in Cincy. Corey Dillon is a free agent and said all winter that he wanted a six year contract for $30M and a sizeable signing bonus. Cincy said no and made a series of much cheaper offers which eventually got to 4 years and $15M. Now that Eddie George signed for a total of more than $40M with a $13M signing bonus and Stephen Davis has rejected the offer of exactly what Dillon asked for, the Bungles figured out that they better get something going here or they may get caught with a hold out who ultimately gets them nothing when he signs elsewhere. So they offer Dillon what he has been asking for over the last 6 months and he says, "Sorry, the price just went up."

LaVar Arrrington had agreed to a contract with the Redskins and it was so complicated that it was reportedly 43 pages long and the league was reviewing all of for "salary cap numbers determinations". In the day and half that it was at the league HQS, Arrington backed out of the deal saying he wants a base salary higher than #1 pick Courtney Brown. The contract in question allows him to do that with incentive clauses - that is why the damned thing is 43 pages long. This is not a good sign. Arrington may be the best linebacker to come out of college since Derrick Thomas and maybe since LT, but this kind of measuring of oneself by the salary numbers in the contract does not bode well.

Danny Boy Snyder paid $800M for the Skins last year and he seems to be trying to make it all back in the first two years. He moved training camp from Frostburg MD to Redskins Park - which is probably not a horrible idea but also not one of the high points of human intellectual pursuit. Then he opened camp to the fans which is probably not a horrible idea either. Fans will pay $10 to park a car and $10 a head to get in. No cameras or camcorders are allowed, but you can buy photos of players and coaches and have your pictures taken there for a price. No food or drink is allowed either, but there are places to eat and drink. Toilets are free - for now. On opening day, there were 3000 people there in the afternoon and a total of just over 4000 people who paid a visit. This is called "The NFL Experience"; what it really represents is a "new revenue stream".

Memo to Fans: Don't bring cameras. Don't bring food. Don't bring drinks. Don't bring chairs. Bring cash or credit cards with a lot of "room" left on them.

Memos to Danny Boy:

Can I presume that the presence of Earth Wind and Fire means that The Captain and Tennile were already booked for the evening? Did Dion and the Belmonts have to go to get their embalming fluid changed that night? Did Milli Vanilli turn down the gig because it seemed "too phony"?

Do you realize that for the last 15 years, Earth Wind and Fire has finished on the Top Ten Lamest Acts List?

Do you know that Shirley McLaine has been channeling for Jerry Garcia and her message from Jerry after he learned of this concert is, "I'm grateful to be dead."