The goofs that run the Olympics have narrowed down the choices for the venue of the 2008 games. Five cities are still in the running and they are Beijing, Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka. Other than Istanbul - where the economy might politely be described as being in the dumper - these are major cities where all the necessary facilities could easily be arranged in the next 8 years. The cities that were removed from contention to get to the "Final Five" were Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur and Seville. Clearly, those cities are a rung below the cities still in contention except for Havana which is only one rung above Lagos as a desirable venue.

People who want to bring the Olympics to the Baltimore/Washington area in 2012 hope that Toronto is eliminated because it is not likely that the 2012 Olympics would be so close to the 2008 Olympics. So if you are on the Baltimore/Washington Olympics Planning Committee here is what you wish for:

The people on the selection committee ask for "considerations" that Toronto can't provide.

Dillon said he would be getting to practice late and that something had come up but he wanted to call to be sure that they did not think he was abandoning the team. But he never told them that he had been arrested. Oh swell !!

Meanwhile, in San Diego the Chargers will go with Ryan Leaf at QB in their opener. Actually, this is a no-brainer of a choice. Harbaugh would not take this team anywhere special and Moses Moreno could start now or next season and it would not matter a lot. But the Chargers have $10M + invested in Leaf and his shoulder is better and they have to find out if he can play or not. If he can - and if he will - then they have an offensive player to build around; if not, then they can cut him and we can refer to him as Ryan Grief.

There had been a lot of talk about putting a CBA expansion team in Upper Marlboro Maryland but the uncertainty about the ownership of the CBA - Isiah Thomas can't seem to sell it and he needs to do just that - makes it difficult for an expansion team to do some of the things it needs to do ahead of time such as lease a facility. So the Wizards will not have to worry about having another pro team in the area and the embarrassment of being compared to them when the Wizards go on one of their dismal streaks. I wonder what they would have called the team in Upper Marlboro. I don't think that "Tumors" would sell too many shirts and shorts.

There is another big trade in the works in the NBA between the Pistons and the Mavs. Lots of players of non-star status are going to move around and one of them is John Thomas. Billy Owens currently holds the NBA title of "most traveled man" but Thomas has only been in the league a few years and this will be his 5th team. Since Thomas fundamentally is a role player in the league, he could be a throw-in on lots more trades and could threaten Owens' stature.

The baseball players union has extended their contract for another year until Halloween of 2001. How fitting. When the contract expires on that night, all the ghouls can come out and rant and rave about all the dire things that will happen if they do not get their way. I'll say now that spring training in 2002 will not start on time.

And Richie Phillips continues to battle in the arbitration process to save the jobs of 22 umpires who were dumb enough to take his advice and resign from those same jobs. For those of you who may have forgotten, it was just after the All-Star Game and the umpires contract with MLB was due to expire at the end of the season. The umpires feared that they would be locked out by the owners and that the owners would bring in replacements since they would be without a contract for the next year. So Richie had a stroke of genius. Resign now and be without a job now instead of waiting for the winter. It is not like the umpires had 50 other places to go and get umpiring jobs that would pay them more than "meal-money" but Richie convinced these guys that it was a good idea. Now they have filed a grievance saying that MLB harmed them. Excuse me. The harm was done by:

1. Richie Phillips and his unique brand of collaborative problem solving.
2. The deficiency in IQ points that allowed these guys to perceive this as a good idea.

In one of the myriad NCAA Football mismatches that occur in the early season so that highly ranked teams can run up scores and capture a headline or two, the Miami Hurricanes will open their season Thursday against McNeese State. I don't know what the spread is, but I'll bet the first digit is a "3".

But just in case anyone thinks I am picking on Miami, let me balance this out by pointing out that Kansas State - already in against cream-puff Iowa - will face stern tests in their next three games against Louisiana Tech, Ball State and North Texas. Don't worry Wildcat fans, Coach Snyder has managed to have all these games at home so they still have a chance.

Michigan will open its football season with Bowling Green and then Rice. Should both be nailbiters. Texas will start with LA-Lafayette and Georgia will start with Georgia Southern.

At least there is symmetry in NCAA Football. The season starts out with loads games that no one cares about and ends with loads of Bowl Games that no one cares about. And still there is no championship game/tournament. What a mess.

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