The news item of the day, which will have the greatest long-term impact on the world of sports, is the announced NBA realignment for the 2004-05 season. With the league expanding to 30 teams, it will realign into six divisions and all six division champions will be in the playoffs and will be seeded in the top three slots in their conference. That is hardly a startling new concept that the “out-of-the-box thinkers” in NBA HQS came up with but for next year it looks like a ticket to home court advantage for a team that may not make the playoffs at all this year. To understand that comment please look at the Southeast Division – made up of Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando and Washington

Those are all bad basketball teams, folks. Actually, I think that assessment may be understated; those are all very bad basketball teams, folks. Maybe Orlando can turn things around because they do have one really outstanding player; maybe they are headed into the dumpster. Whatever the case, Doc Rivers will not be there to hear the final verdict because the Magic just fired him after a 1-10 start to this season. Actually, this Southeast Division looks like a gold plated gift to Wizards owner, Abe Pollin, for his long and constructive service to the league because the Wizards are currently the best team in that mix and they are only a long shot to make the playoffs this year and will not get a #3 seed.

I flipped back and forth between the Wizards win over the Hawks in Atlanta last night and the MNF game. The attendance in Atlanta was announced as 11,507. If there were that many people in the building, then the Center for Disease Control – located in Atlanta – needs to be on the alert because there is some condition rampant in that area that is causing thousands of people to spend lots of time in the rest room. From the crowd shots, I would guess that there were no more than 5,000 people in the building.

Recently, in a topical rant, I called for the cancellation of the Olympic Games for the next 3,000 years. I got some reaction to that proposal and not all of it was supportive. That's fine with me; if you choose to remain interested in these over-hyped and “outcome pre-determined” events, that is your choice. By the way, will you be ringside at Wrestlemania too? But forgetting that, here is something else for the lovers of the Olympic Games to think about and wonder how it will improve the quality of the competition and advance the “Olympic Movement”:

Athletes who have undergone sex-change operations are going to be eligible to compete in the Olympic Games under a new set of rules that are about to be adopted.

The new president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, says that this new rule has been under consideration for a while and has been fully vetted by the medical experts who are part of the “Olympic Movement”. He said that as if that made it a better idea and somehow ameliorated its stupidity.

Memo to Jacques Rogge: That makes it worse! That means that you took this dumb idea and looked at it carefully and still decided to act on it. If you guys got together and decided to invent a new parachute, you'd probably think it was a good idea to make one that opens on impact.

I want you to think back to a scene in the movie, Animal House, where Bluto is talking about how we didn't quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. One of the characters tells another one in sotto voce to forget the inaccuracy of the remark because Bluto is on a roll. President Rogge also must have been on a roll because he also said that he believes that the use of THG and other designer steroids is not widespread among Olympic athletes. Right. There is no cheating in the Olympics; there's no bribery either and surely no one could possibly believe that figure skating competitions are fixed.

In baseball news, Darryl Strawberry was hired – once again – by the Yankees to be a “player development coach”. What are they seeking to develop in these players? Alcohol and drug addictions? Give me a break here. Not to be outdone, the Cubs have hired Vince Coleman to be a minor league instructor. Oh swell; he can teach these kids how to throw firecrackers at fans; MLB has been missing that since Coleman retired. Let's put this in perspective. These two anti-social hominids can work in baseball and be part of the game but Pete Rose can't be inducted into the Hall of Fame but kept out of the day-to-day operations of baseball. Yeah; that makes a lot of sense.

I said before that I suspect the baseball free agent market this year will tend to be a buyer's market. One of the main reasons for that conclusion is Alex Rodriguez' contract. A-Rod just won the AL MVP and cutting through all the rhetorical gassing about what the award means, A-Rod is the best player in the game at the moment. If ever you want to point to a superstar athlete who gets a monster contract and continues to perform at peak levels, look no further than A-Rod. Nonetheless, his contract is so onerous, that the Rangers are trying to trade him – without much success. Here are some problems:

He makes $25M a year – with incentive clauses added on – for the next 7 years. Estimated cost over the next 7 years is $189M.

The Rangers have finished dead last with him every year he's been there. They can do that without him being there just as easily.

Worst of all, attendance (translation: revenue) has dropped in each year he has been there.

His agent is Scott Boras.

Boras is in denial. He said that if A-Rod were on the free agent market this year, he'd get an even bigger contract than he got three years ago.

That contract makes owners and GMs sit up and take notice but there is also a downward pressure on free agent contracts this year generated by the Law of Supply and Demand. Already there over 200 free agents on the market and with teams not wanting to take chances with marginal players in the “arbitration forum”, there might be as many as 300 available players. That is enough to stock 12 teams; that is 40% of the major league workforce on any given day. Only stupidity on the part of multiple owners/GMs can trump the Law of Supply and Demand; but when they begin to think stupidly, they have A-Rod's contract out there as a reminder…

Imagine what would happen if GMs only signed free agents to two-year contracts. The first reaction would be from fans - the ones wearing size 50 jackets and size 5 hats - who would scream that the team should “lock up this player for the long-term.” Often, they need not worry about the player being locked up because the police will take care of that. But in addition, what this would do – when the long term contracts currently in force run out – is to make 50% of the major league players available on the free agent market every year. If they want to keep contracts under control, that would be the way to do it.

Finally, here is a rivalry game that ought to exist:

The Johnson C. Smith University Golden Bulls versus the Cal-State Northridge Matadors.

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

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