Another piece of mediocre economic news from the world of sports comes from San Diego - again. As part of the deal to renovate Qualcomm Stadium where the Chargers play, San Diego guaranteed sell-outs for the Charger games through the 2007 season. The place holds 71,000; this year the Chargers have sold 43,000 season tickets; assuming a generous walk-up gate of 7,000, that means the paying crowd is 50,000 and the city of San Diego (maybe it is the county?) picks up the tab for 21,000 seats for 8 games. I have no idea what the seats go for in San Diego; but since that is not a "low rent district", I'd be willing to bet that I can't get in the park for $20 or anything close to that. So the taxpayers of San Diego are probably looking at a bill of $1.3 - 1.8M per game to fulfill that deal - through the 2007 season. Look at it this way, if the tab is $1.3M per game, then after 8 home games, the taxpayers will have coughed up about what it cost the Chargers to pay Ryan Leaf his signing bonus. Can anyone spell T A X R E V O L T !!!

Northward in California, the Oakland Raiders are in danger of selling out this weekend's game against the Denver Broncos. If so, that will be the first home sell-out in the last 25 home games. I wonder if Al Davis is talking to the city fathers in Fargo ND about moving there. He could call the team the Fargo Fannies.

The University of Buffalo began NCAA Division 1-A football play two seasons ago. They have lost 17 straight games and have been waxed by a combined score of 122-7 in two losses this year. They even lost to Rutgers by 59-0. This week, they play UConn who just began Division 1-A football this season and they are 0-1 against 1-A opponents. Some have dubbed this "The Irrelevant Bowl". I think it could be the WGARAB - the Who Gives A Rat's Ass Bowl. But showing that in Las Vegas they will bet on anything that is not known to be fixed, the line was UConn minus 10.5.

Tony Kornheiser has a segment on his ESPN Radio program which he calls "jocks in the docks". Here are three "cases" that are likely to attract attention from him today:

Pete Incaviglia was arrested and charged with "simple assault" after a "confrontation" that occurred at his son's youth hockey game. If you assume that Pete just put on a tiny amount of weight after his baseball career was over, "simple assault" might have been his attempt to get close enough to someone to whisper in their ear.

Mark Gastineau is headed off to jail for 18 months because he would not comply with the terms of his probation and complete a one year "treatment" for anger management. He stormed out of the treatment facility after four months and refused to go back. First of all, that confirms that Mark just doesn't get it; secondly it raises a question in my mind about the efficacy of this treatment center.

Vernon Maxwell is in trouble with the law again. That is only news because it is a new charge and because of the venue; Mad Max has had his run-ins in the past! This time he turned himself into the Charlotte police on a warrant that alleges he assaulted a woman. Is Charlotte the Bermuda Triangle for athletes? What is going on there?

Pedro Martinez revealed that last year when he was warming up in the bullpen during the playoffs in Cleveland, he was taunted with racial comments and a death threat and chants that he did not belong here and should go home to his country. To his credit, Pedro said that he just thought that the fans were caught up in the excitement of rooting for the Indians. And to fans who have seen "The Dog Pound" on TV - when the Browns were actually good enough to be televised more than 50 miles from Cleveland - why would this kind of behavior at "The Jake" be surprising? Just because they don't have rubber dog masks on?

If you point your browser to "www.washingtonpost.com" (I get a tingly feeling every time I venture into the chic of "techie talk".) you can read an interesting column today by Sally Jenkins. Her thesis is that Americans think they know everything about sports, but the Olympics introduces us to new sports and new athletes and shows us how narrow our perspective is. It is excellently written even though I abjectly disagree with her closing statement:

"You don't know it yet, but you're going to like trampolining."

Memo to Sally: No I am not. And I am not going to like the equestrian events either! Equestrian events lack a critical ingredient - Exactas!

I did enjoy reading about the Aussies way of cheering the Olympic torch as it was being run around the country. We've all read how people have stolen the torch and tried to make off with it and have assaulted at least one of the runners, but in many parts of the country, the Aussies have adopted the custom of "mooning the torch". For the record, the Olympic torch being carried to Atlanta passed one block from my home. I did not go to see it because I did not want to be among the jillionteen posers that were going to be there waving little flags and cheering. But if someone in the US had the foresight to create the concept of "mooning the torch"… My hat is off to the Aussies for this addition to world culture - and my pants are around my ankles.

Finally, the Cincinnati Benglas released CB Sirr Parker. Since this was Cincy, you never know what Bruce Coslett might be thinking - using that verb there was a stretch for me! - so I checked to be sure that they did not sign Lady Astor to replace him. They didn't. But the thought of Lady Astor reminded me of a purported exchange between Lady Astor and Sir Winston Churchill that you may find amusing:

Lady Astor: Winston, if you were my husband I should flavour your coffee with poison.

Sir Winston: Madam, if you were my wife, I would be pleased to drink it.