WSN Big Bang Sunday Truth

So who is Gary Sheffield trying to be these days -- Malcom X or Martin Luther King Jr.? Jessie Jackson? Man, dude rips everybody for everything, all with racial connotations. How 'bout just shuttin' the pie hole and ripping the ball. Speaking out about social ills, yeah, all for that Sheff but spoutin' off like some disillusioned drunk at the end of the bar every month, about the mistreatment of blacks (where do I sign the contract to play?) well, just catch a cab and go home, will ya?

So what do Machiavelli and Lindsay Lohan have in common? They're traveling buds these days, if you can believe that little morsel, as Lohan, the sorority-style party chick, is carrying around and reading The Prince. Now, in the hands of a troubled diva, that spells trouble, don't you think? No worries about her ascending to power in Hollywood but making people's lives hell, yeah, maybe. All I know is if she starts pulling the philosophy of that book on me (I've read the book) then she's getting the bus ticket out of town.

Gordon Gee, no stranger to University of Colorado athletics, is the new president at the Ohio State University and he comes to town pitching reform like a politician. Thing is, the man leaves a trail of success wherever he goes. He should be listened to. We need more like him in sports. Now if pro owners would just follow his lead. At least NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is trying to play schoolmaster.

It's Sunday golf and all I want to know are where are Tiger Woods and John Daly? The WSN would just like to see those two talk golf and life. How awkward a situation might that be?

Oklahoma football fans should be feeling good right now. After punching the NCAA in the mouth, scaring the ruling organization from hammering the Sooners' program over violations, coach Bob Stoops is now set up to do what he did last season -- put a high-quality product on the field when people are doubting the stability of his leadership. Look for OU to find the quarterback it needs and jack up opponents all the way to a New Year Days' bowl.

There is talk that the Boston Red Sox might put on the best makeup show they can as well as short, revealing clothes and throw themselves at Alex Rodriguez. If that doesn't make the Yankees cringe, nothing will. But one thing has been proven and it's this -- the Sox no longer pee on themselves in the presence of the Yankees. The tide has changed over recent years and Boston loves to throw down with the New Yorkers. Boston is the new bully on the block.

What's surprising is that A-Rod's agent, Scott Boras, Italian-style muscle that he is without the preferred heritage, hasn't created a contract demand that makes his players, especially the Yankees third baseman an owner-manager-player. One day, that's what it will come to. Just give credit where credit's due and say you read it here first or leave a tip and steal the idea.

Dwight Freeney just sacked $ 72 million over six years to punish quarterbacks. That's a lot of dough for the NFL but is great motivation for future supreme pass rushers, Pop Warner to pros. Supply and demand, amigos, that's what this is and if you find a QB crusher, you pay him. The Broncos letting Bert Berry, Reggie Hayward and Trevor Pryce go was arrogance. None of them are Freeney but they were superior to what the team now employs.

Media and fans alike can get overheated all they want this summer about how strong the Denver Broncos will be in 2007 but the high-elevation boys are going to be judged by what they do in the playoffs. Winning a lot of games in the regular season is a nice appetizer but the main course, thanks to John Elway's final years, determines how satisfied that everyone goes home as in 2007-08. No pass rush, no more points on the board, no more clutch play = flame out.

Remember Ryan Leaf's monumental bust of a career? Vinny Testaverde may not have turned into a Hall of Fame quarterback either but the guy is about ready to announce he is coming back for his 21st season in the NFL. Not bad considering he was awful in his early years. Goes to show what hanging tough through adversity and criticism and working to get better can accomplish. Think what Leaf could have become with Testaverde's professionalism.

Is it me? No, really, tell me, I want to know. Or does it seem now that the NFL instituted this great behavioral test for the players that significantly more incidents are showing up in police blotters and drug tests?

Tom Glavine just won his 298th career game Saturday and won't stop until he's blown past 300. The young lefty that resembles Glavine's smart-but-soft tossing-style is Colorado's Jeff Francis. If only the young Canadian could play for years for a dominant franchise like the Braves, like Glavine did before relocating to New York. Francis has but 39 career victories but could, if he's on a winner, win 200. He has that sort of ability.

Troy Renck of the Denver Post makes a point that has been made here too -- the Rockies need to make a deal for pitching, starting pitching, if it is going to be competitive in the second half of the season and the cost for quality is going to be the cream of the minor-league crop. Renck said it, and it was said here before that cost must be accepted. The glaring problem with Renck's article is this -- the names he's mentioning are terrible. Dontrelle Willis' game is wrecked right now, Jon Garland is not what he used to be either. Both are no. 3 pitchers at best and Colorado won't cough up Ian Stewart, Greg Reynolds and others for them. Roy Oswalt is a top-of-the-rotation starter and would be worth the price.

The Nets sign Jamal Magloire. This is an under-the-radar-move that will pay big dividends. Magloire runs the floor and defends and would have been a big step forward for a lot of teams.