And talk about opportunities missed!! The demonstrators and vigil keepers in Miami's Little Havana often numbered in the tens of thousands. Meanwhile the Marlins were drawing crowds of about 7500. Did the geniuses that run promotions for the Marlins ever think of having Elian sit on a pedastal in the centerfield bleachers and then get all the people off the street in front of the little bungalo and put them in seats in the stadium? No way. Wanna know why? They don't have IQs higher than Shaq's scoring average.

In the business sphere, I must note the passing into bankruptcy of one more dot-com venture, Surfbuzz.com. One of their ads showed their purported CEO saying, "I've got it, We'll give everything away for free." Who thought that could be a workable business plan?

In the legal sphere, I have to mourn the passing of common sense solutions to simple problems. The Supreme Court and all the courts below then had to spend countless hours reviewing arguments related to a homosexual who wanted to be a Boy Scout Troop Leader. Forget all the high-falutin' rhetoric here; this was about the possibility that some scout in his tent might have been subject to a nocturnal game of "hide the sausage". So why wasn't this all settled out of court very simply? Why not have him be a Girl Scout Troop Leader?

But most of all, I must mourn for all the players that would up with the LA Clippers as a result of trades and drafts last night. The Clippers were taking hostages. When they sign all these guys to deals of different lengths, their leaving LA will be like the terrorists tossing them out of the plane one at a time. The first one to get out might get nicknamed "Klinghoffer" - or whatever that guy's name was.

The Clippers took Darius Miles - the high school phenom - with the #3 pick; then they got Keyon Dooling (remember I said there were rumors they wanted him with the #18 pick but they got the Magic to take him 10th) in a trade with Orlando and in that trade they also got Corey Maggette and Derek Strong and cash; in a trade they got Sean Rooks from Dallas; they drafted Quentin Richardson (DePaul) and Marko Jaric who is from one of the Balkan nations but is playing in the Italian League at the moment. Those are seven players whose careers will be ruined - or at the very least put on hold for the duration of their stay with the Paper Clips. A moment of silence, please...

Memo to Corey Maggette: You were a potential star at Duke who might have been a top 3 pick but you came out and got taken late first round last year. After a mediocre first year, you now find yourself with the Clippers. I suspect that Coach K has just enough class not to call you and leave the following message on your answering machine:
"Neener, neener, neener!!"

The Sixers second pick - Mark Karcher (Temple) - will work out if Karcher dedicates himself to working out. He was a doughboy as a freshman and then hit the weights to get in much better shape as a sophomore, but there is still a way to go for him.

I don't understand what Boston did last night. The Celtics need defensive help and they took Moiso (UCLA) with the #11 pick and he can't guard anybody. Then they traded for a guy from Croatia in the second round who is "slow-afoot" and they said that in the workout camps, even his shadow was beating him off the dribble. Pitino may be looking to get fired so he can collect on the roughly $28M in salary he is still owed from Boston and then he can go looking for a college job.

Sacramento is the highest scoring team in the league for each of the last two seasons. You almost think that Paul Westphal is the coach. All they do is run up and down the court shooting and dunking and playing as little defense as possible so they can get the ball back ASAP. Exciting to watch, but no way this formula gets you a championship. So last night they draft a guy from Turkey who is a run and shoot forward who does not guard anybody and gets no experience guarding anybody of NBA caliber playing in the Turkish League. Oh, and there might be a contractual problem too because the team claims that they have him under contract for eight more years; the Turkish League only thinks there is one year left, but still.

Players who went too high last night include Demarr Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Keyon Dooling and Mateen Cleaves.

Players who were good values where they were taken include Courtney Alexander, Erick Barkley, Mark Madsen, Eddie House and Scoonie Penn.

Oh yeah, the Wizards took Mike Smith with the 35th pick and he is a skinny jump shooter who played at Louisiana-Monroe. One of the Washington Post writers says he is a "slasher" and in DC one has to hope that refers to his basketball playing style and not his personal late night predilections. Look for him to average about 5.0 next year - that is minutes per game not points per game. Michael Jordan said he is a hungry player - probably why he is so skinny - and that hungry players are easier to coach because they do what they are told and show up on time where they are supposed to be. Somehow, I have to think that message was aimed at Rod Strickland.

In other news, Ray Lewis showed up at the NFL Rookie Seminars and told draftees that they have to be careful about the friends they pick and who they associate with. It can get you in trouble. Now if any of those meatheads do not listen to this testimony, then they are simply unredeemably stupid.

When Orel Hersheiser was released by the Dodgers yesterday, his ERA for the year was over 13.

Memo to Orel: It is over. Your record of 60 scoreless innings will stand at least until baseball is played with a deader ball or in larger parks. Please do not try to sign on with another major league club.

Memo to Peter Asbestos: The reason for the "limited action" is that he does not get a lot of guys out. That is exactly the problem with your bullpen already.