And Sally really tees off on the great bloviators of all this nonsense, Donna Shalala and General Barry McCaffrey who keep talking about nonsensical things like the integrity of the games - can anyone spell S A L T L A K E C I T Y ?? - and the red herring that all this testing is done to protect the health of the athletes. Sally points out that Lance Armstrong competed in the 96 games and was tested and a month later he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and more than a few lung tumors. None of this showed up while they were "protecting his health" by testing for caffeine and cold medications? This whole business is a farce; the games are compromised; the people who run the games have been known to "sell out" on occasion. Deal with it !!!

In baseball news, it seems that FOX has bid for and gotten the complete baseball postseason package (and the all-star game too) starting next year and going through 2006. NBC and ESPN could not - or would not - match the FOX bid of $2.5 billion. Yeah, this pumps some money temporarily into the game for the "small market owners" to share and will deflect attention from some of the sport's fundamental economic flaws; but the real news here is that ESPN - owned by Disney - did not jump in and keep on bidding and pay way more than they could ever hope to recoup in revenues. Maybe fiscal responsibility has reared its head in the Disney strategic planning inner sanctum? If true, the NHL is in trouble since it is ESPN that is paying way too much for that programming.

Omar Daal dodged the bullet again; he did not lose his 20th game of the year. He won the game yesterday against the Cubbies and raised his record for the season to 4-19. The Phils have 5 games to play; don't they have even one minor league pitcher they'd like to take a look at in the last game of the year?

The NFL Coaches Association is working with the XFL to get some of their assistant coaches in line to be hired as head coaches in the XFL and as coordinators. Seems to me like a name change is in order here. I wonder if Richie Kotite is still a member?

Drew Bledsoe has been sacked 17 times in 4 games which puts him on track to obliterate the NFL season mark for sacks (72) held by Randall Cunningham when he was with the Eagles. Remember back in training camp when the Pats had to cancel two scrimmages because they did not have enough healthy OL to participate? Well, the injury bug has continued from there and Bledsoe has been the unfortunate recipient of the fruits of that situation. I guess he isn't a "beneficiary"; is there such a thing as a "maleficiary"?

When the 49ers suspended Terrell Owens for a game for his stupidity in Dallas last weekend, that precluded the league from doing anything to Terrell because of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. So how did the league fine Ray Lewis $250K after he was sentenced by a court for his presence in the "Super Bowl Party Rumble"? Am I missing something here?

There are some interesting early lines for this weekend. Denver is an eight point favorite over New England in Denver. Looks like a reasonable spread but Brian Griese is going to start the game even though he has a torn cartilage in his throwing shoulder that will require surgery. The doctors say he cannot suffer any more damage from throwing but how about damage from being pummeled to the ground under about 700 lbs of flesh? And Bubby Brister is no longer there in Denver to give you that feeling of comfort if you take the Broncos and watch Griese leave the game in the first quarter…

SF is a four point favorite against Arizona in a match-up that is fairly described as ugly. SF has the worst defense in the NFL giving up 409 yards per game; Arizona has the second worst defense in the NFL giving up 393 yards per game. If they had an over under proposition for the total number of first downs in this game, you should take "over" for any number under 50.

Jax is favored by 11 over Pittsburgh. The Steelers defense is the worst in the AFC and Jax has the third worst defense now thanks to the pasting that Indy laid on them on Monday night. But Jax throws the ball for an average of 250 yards per game and the Steelers have the worst pass defense in the AFC.

St. Louis is a 17 point favorite against San Diego. The Rams pass defense is the 4th worst in the NFL giving up 254 yards per game but the chargers only throw for 161 per game. Remember last year the Chargers started out 4-0 and then lost 8 in a row before winning the final four games. Could 2000 be a mirror image year? Could this be the start of an eight game winning streak? If you think it is, you can get a nice price on the money line betting the Chargers to win this game straight up. Personally, I think that is about as likely as Janet Reno naming a special prosecutor to investigate anyone named "Gore" to include Gore Vidal.

I was dismayed to read today that the US Supreme Court will hear the appeal brought by the PGA against Casey Martin. I don't care at all who wins the case; I have no image of Casey Martin as a poor deprived kid who struggling to make his way in the world against unfathomable odds; I have no image of the PGA being worth as much as a bucket of mule snot. But the judicial system is going to be clogged with this embolism of a case yet one more time. Here is the great harm that Casey has done to the game of professional golf this year. He entered 23 of the 40 tournaments; he won $123,000. Given expenses, my guess is that he has shown a profit that - before taxes - works out to 39.5 cents per hour.

Scanning the agate type for Olympic results, I notice that the two countries that played for the gold medal in beach volleyball (men's variety) are USA and Brazil. What a surprise that there was not a team from Finland or Mongolia or Tierra del Fuego. I guess you really do need beaches that are useable more than 5 days a year to develop any interest in beach volleyball.

Oh, don't feel too sorry for my long-suffering wife who does not share many of my interests. She gets her innings in this marriage too. This evening I need to accompany her - as her spousal unit - to a reception and a dinner. She told me specifically that this was a "coat and tie affair" which is her code for "Show up in your jeans and the black cowboy hat and you'll regret it forever." The dinner is being held at some restaurant named "Pangea". I guess they have a unified world cuisine there; I expect pickets out front from all the people who see globalization as an evil thing. Personally, I'm all for the reunification of Pangea.

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