Going British; Vick dogged; Broncos heat

The British Open is back, so is Tiger Woods. Fact is the drama is more attractive, more fun and just plain better when Woods is rollin'. Maybe not everyone agrees with that assessment but here, the rooting interest is in Woods gettin' off at Carnoustie. His presence always looms large and when he's on his game it brings back memories of what golf used to be with Jack Nicklaus.

Jackass, the movie

Michael Vick...idiot, criminal, athlete, quarterback wanna-be, seriously lacking character (a family flaw) and leadership. If Vick is the answer to any question for the Falcons then they will be no better than a carny act regardless of the strong coaching acumen of Bobby Petrino.

Three cheers for Mizzou basketball, which kicked hoopa' and gangsta' Kalen Grimes to the curb after he used the butt end of a shotgun on another man's face. Many schools, especially in the SEC or even Big 12, would have found a way to bury that little story or soft sell it away as just boys being boys. Second-year Tigers coach Mike Anderson showed some character by doing Grimes like he needed to be done.

Florida ain't paradise for everyone

Daunte Culpepper...free at last from a place that was never meant to be. Miami was one bad, short, trippy experience. DC may never duplicate his Viking pyrotechnics but he could still be a winner with better health and some top-level skill players around him. Put him in KC with Tony Gonzalez, Larry Johnson and now, Dwayne Bowe and he would be something again. Deposit him in Detroit with Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams, as well as a Tatum Bell and Kevin Jones on his "6" and watch him pile up numbers.

Jacked up

Dead wrestler Chris Benoit used drugs, a report said. Act surprised. I guess now we can excuse the double homicide of his wife and young son. After all, it's the Twinkie defense -- the drugs killed those people, not Benoit. Let's keep downplaying the violence aspect of the bloodshed and blame it on the drugs that were forced into Benoit's system.

Also interesting that the whole family was saturated with dope. His wife, with Xanax, hydrocodone and the painkiller hydromorphone and his son with Xanak. Sad, sick, odd.

The future

Marrrrrrrrrrco Bel-i-nellllllll-i. Just can't say it enough. So pretty to speak. The guy will be a scoring star in the NBA. The Italian Reggie Miller.

You heard it here first -- a surprise team this NFL season will be Oakland under new coach Lane Kiffin, all of 32-years old. The Raiders have a Jon Gruden-type hire in the former USC wonder boy. Playoffs won't show up overnight but owner Al Davis will bite his nails off in an effort to be patient and will ultimately be rewarded. The Raiders will soon be a bully again.

Loco Local

Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd and manager Clint Hurdle really could have been fired earlier this season without much objection but look here and Colorado has a winning record after the All-Star game. It says here the Rockies are still philosophy challenged when it comes to building a playoff team but the big dog's patience has, in all fairness, produced better baseball and, as of today, a winner. Guess that deserves a kiss, right?

ProFootballWeekly.com says short stack Elvis Dumervil of the Broncos is not a good fit for new defensive coordinator Jim Bates' defense because of his size. If that were true, that is bad news as Dumervil is by far the most natural and talented pass rusher on the roster even if he is compact in height (under 6 feet). The word here is that an assumption that Dumervil can't play is dumb. Bates, I would like to think, is too smart to waste a quarterback hungry defender.

Photo opp

The picture in this post is just for no good reason, a random diversion, an imagined publicist for this space for the day. Not sure she's right for the job but to keep from getting sued, she had to at least get the interview. You understand.