Ready to Run . . .

Hopefully things (i.e., life) will lighten up soon. As it was, it took me two nights to write this, and more stuff happened, but I've updated where necessary. So until that light day, here goes nothing:

1. #24 Kansas State (a.k.a. Michael Beasley) finally beat #2 ranked Kansas in college basketball on Wednesday night. Kansas had won 35 or their last 36 meetings, and K State hadn' won on Kansas' floor since 1983, before most of the players who played last night were even born. Since Michael Jackson's Thriller album debuted . . . If you were expecting an MJ joke to follow, keep loooking. MJ is the man! And so is Beasley. Get a good look at him now, folks, because he will be gone in a few months.

2. The MLB has ruffled some feathers by asking potential umpire hirees whether they belong to the KKK. Asking whether they beat their wives or have a drug problem are OK, but the KKK is somehow offensive. A simple "no" would suffice. Thou dost protest too much . . . And since I wrote this yesterday, Jesse Jackson, Jr. has spoken out against such "ill-contrived questions" being asked.

3. Miami dropped its 17th game in the last 18 they have played. This time to the (spin the wheel, it has stopped on . . .) the Orlando Magic. And to add insult to injury, Shaq didn't make the All-Star roster. He would have made it for a record 15 years (wow, I'm getting old, and so is he) but, alas, it was not to be. They might want to just scrap the season and start over next year. Maybe they can get Michael Beasley if they lose badly enough. That's not the position they need the most, but I don't see any other really talented big men coming up the ranks, so I say start building up a solid roster.

4. Pacman Jones is getting charged dropped left and right. After avoiding charges that he punched a woman in a night club, his latest escape is frommisdemeanor public intoxication and disorderly conduct charges in Tennessee. Just one more charge for whooping some guy's _____ in Georgia, and he's a shoo-in for reinstatement to the NFL. This Super Bowl Sunday will be his first major test of the new year. Study hard, Pacman.

5. 5'5", 133 lb. Earl Boykins is back in the NBA with the Charlotte Bobcats. This will be Boykins 7th year in the league after he opted out of a $3 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he put up solid numbers. Let me just say that anyone who can make it in the NBA at 5'5" for one day much less seven years has to be one of the most talented players in the game. Yao Ming is about two feet taller than him, and Shaq weighs about 200 more pounds than he does. "Impossible Is Nothing" personified.

Barry Will Need A Bond After This One

I felt I had to post on this one, although I don't have that much to add yet because I haven't read the full indictment. I promise to do that over the weekend and give a more "expert" take (ha!) on each charge.

In the meantime, the news is that after 4 years of togetherness, a federal grand jury in California finally decided on Thursday that there is enough evidence to issue an indictment against the MLB home run record-breaking San Francisco Giants player Barry Lamar Bonds.

The indictment is for four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Several people have inquired as to what obstruction of justice means. The best way I can describe it is that it is what it is - you are being accused of obstructing justice. Yes, it is that broad. I'd call it the catch-all crime. It can involve any number of acts, typically getting in the way of some official investigation by lying, omitting, destroying evidence. Just generally getting in the way of "justice" being served.

The circumstances of Mr. Bonds indictment involve his alleged lies, omissions, etc. to federal investigators when he was under oath (perjury) and during the course of the federal investigation (obstruction) about his relationship with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (better known as BALCO) and several people connected to it (most notably, trainer Greg Anderson), involving Bonds usage of and hooking up of others with steroids. Anderson was just released today after serving time for his refusal to snitch on Bonds when subpoenaed to do so (called being held in "contempt of court"). Was that a coincidence? Not clear just yet.

So now Bonds is looking at a maximum of 30 years for these four offenses. I am sure he will get nothing close to that, if any time at all, but again, let me read the indictment.

If these charges stick, expect him to be stripped of his home run record, among other things. They're saying his career is virtually over.

I tell ya. It's not the drugs that get you in trouble. It's the lying about them. Every time. Ricky Williams didn't lie about it, and now he's back playing with the Miami Dolphins.

When will they learn?

If Lebron Couldn't Bring Up the Ratings . . .

So baseball has sagging ratings, and the small-market Cleveland Indians are up 3-1 in a best of 7 series . . .

THEN the big-market Boston Red Sox win three games in a row, with the Indians never scoring more than 2 runs and losing by at least 6 runs in each of those three games.

Coincidence or bad pitching?

You're Not Watching, Either

Yesterday, I was beating myself up for not posting about the MLB playoffs. But I just couldn't force myself to care enough to write anything worthy of being searched on Google.

Today, I found out that I am not alone. At least with respect to the National League series. Because the usual biggies (i.e., NY, LA) markets aren't playing or got knocked out, and the games are a tad on the late side (10 p.m. starts), it looks like ratings are hovering near record lows.

As a sports fan, I couldn't care less if no one is watching my team, so long as they keep showing the games on TV so I don't have to sell my belongings to buy tickets to all the games. Sure, this is not so swell for the networks, but I don't think a few low ratings are going to break their banks too much.

Anyone watching the World Series? Hello?