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It could have been worse, but it could have been better. Done.

What? You want details? Allrighty then.

Everyone always talks about the second half of the season as being after the All-Star game, but technically it began on Sunday, with the Braves blowing a 6-5 game to the Marlins. Coming into Sunday, Atlanta had reached the halfway point, 81 games, with a 43-38 record, thanks to a five game winning streak. Extrapolated for the whole season, that would leave the Braves at 86-76. Not bad, better than last year, but not good enough to make the playoffs, I'm afraid. Not with the Dodgers, Padres and D-Backs all playing well in the West.

At least there will be no more interleague play in the second half, though. Braves fans were worried in the spring when they got a look at the Braves' AL schedule, and they had every reason to be concerned. Playing powerful teams like Boston (six times), Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota, Atlanta wound up with a miserable 4-11 record. That means Atlanta was a pretty respectable 39-27 (.591) against the rest of the league. If the Braves played the second half at that clip against NL opponents, they'd end up with approximately a 91-71 record. That would put them in wildcard territory. (There's a separate rant about the unfairness of differing interleague schedules that will have to wait for another day, perhaps if the Braves miss out on the playoffs by a game or two).

What the Braves did well:

The bullpen has cooled off after a blistering start, but it's still much stronger than it was last season, when it effectively killed the Braves season. Bob Wickman's struggling right now, but assuming it's not an injury (cross fingers now) he's savvy enough to turn it around. Rafael Soriano gives Atlanta something I honestly can't remember them having, like, ever - a strong setup man. Losing power lefty Mike Gonzalez for the season though, has left a hole in the pen that will likely need to be adressed via a trade.

I'll admit it now. I have a man crush on Edgar Renteria. The guy isn't flashy - and, bizarrely, not an all star - but he's pretty frickin' good (.324 average, 10 hrs, 41 rbis, 7 sbs). I'm also warming up to Jeff Francouer (52 RBIs) whose hyper-aggressive approach to hitting drove me nuts last season. Chipper Jones has been great ... wait for it ... when he's been healthy. Kelly Johnson's been a revalation at 2B and the platoon of Willie Harris and Matt Diaz has bee positively Roenicke-Lowensteinish in left field. Yunel Escobar's recent arrival has given the Braves needed depth in the infield.

The top of the rotation starters, John Smoltz and Tim Hudson, have pitched like, well, top of the rotation starters. They've combined for 17 wins and ERAs hovering right around the 3.00 mark. If the Braves can make it into the playoffs, that 1-2 punch will make them dangerous against anyone.

Sooooooo .... why aren't the Braves a lock for the post-season?

What the Braves aren't doing well:

Staying healthy. This isn't anyone's fault (I don't think) but injuries have crippled the Braves' cause. Atlanta was hoping Mike Hampton would be - finally - back to full health and ready to resume the No. 3 spot in the rotation. Instead, he's out for the year (again) and the rotation now takes a steep dive after Smoltz and Hudson. It's not Spahn and Sain and pray for rain, but Chuck James to me is really a No. 4 guy masquerading as a No. 3. A 7-7 record is fine at No. 4. You need better at No. 3. Kyle Davies, meanwhile, is still a wildly inconsistent guy with talent but without the results (3-7) to show for it. Not exactly what you want at No. 4. The No. 5 guy was supposed to be Lance Cormier after he had a lights out spring, but he got injured and hasn't been the same since coming back. Ancient (29) rookie Buddy Carlyle has capably filled the No. 5 spot, but can he keep it up?

We mentioned Gonzalez's injury. That's kept a solid bullpen from becoming a dominating pen. Plus, it's left the Braves in search of a lefty arm in the pen.

Chipper's knack for getting injured continued, as he played in just 58 of the Braves first 82 games. Still he managed to hit 13 hrs and bat .327 when he was in the lineup. When he was out, the Braves simply weren't the same team offensively. If - and boy is it a huge if - he can stay healthy - in the second half, Atlanta's got a pretty good shot.

In the past, when the offense needed to be carried by someone other than Chipper, Andruw Jones was there to shoulder the load. This year? He's been more like dead weight pulling everyone else down. Consider this - Kelly Johnson's been good at leadoff (so has Willie Harris). Edgar and Chipper are great at No. 2 and No. 3. McCann has been solid at No. 5, Francouer productive at No. 6 and the platoon of Diaz/Harris spectacular at No. 7. Scott Thorman's iffy at No. 8, but so are most No. 8 hitters.

So why have the Braves not been dominant offensively? When your cleanup hitter is batting a miserable .199, that might have something to do with it. It also doesn't help that Bobby Cox, who's known for his undying loyalty to his veterans, stubbornly kept Andruw there forever, before finally, finally, moving him down in the lineup.

It's nice to fantasize about how good Atlanta's O could be if Andruw catches fire in the second half, but I'm not holding my breath. After 82 games of doing the same darned thing - swinging for the fences, pulling off the ball, chasing pitches low and away - I'm not convinced he'll make the adjustment. The bright side? I won't miss him much when he leaves as a free agent after this season.

What's needed

A revival by Andruw would boost the offense. Again, don't hold your breath.
A healthy Chipper would also help. Other than that, I think the O will be okay.

Somebody out of the group of James, Carlyle, Davies and Cormier needs to be more than just average in the second half of the season. You can't put together a long winning streak, which will be needed to get in the playoff picture, with just two starting pitchers.

Can Wilfredo Ledezma be the left-handed option out of the Braves pen? Not with a 4.95 ERA he can't. Still think Atlanta might need to make a trade here.

So there you have it - just stay healthy, get Andruw revved up, find another starter and a lefty reliever and it's back to the postseason for the Braves. Okay, that won't be the easy, but hey, at least we're still talking about the playoffs. After last year, that's a definite improvement.

We're suckers. We love a mock draft the way we love a Larry King interview: Deep in your heart, you know it's not going to meet expectations, but you can't loook away.
Culling the pre-draft predictions of seven analysts, we have discovered the panelists collectively paired only 28.1 percent of first-round draftees with the teams that picked them. (The rate is 22.9 percent if you throw out the first two choices, Portland's Greg Oden and Seattle's Kevin Durant, which an alpaca could have guessed.)
Does this mean the seven experts are morons? Hardly. It means there are so many variables and combinations that nobody can reasonably claim confidence when predicting the machinations of 30 NBA teams. Specifically, 'tis the season for NBA executives to engage in disinformation, a modern euphemism for lying, when speaking with reporters. Float a suggestion that you want a point guard when, in fact, you covet a swing man. Induce somebody else to snatch the point guard you allegedly wanted, thereby freeing you to take the guy you really sought.
As a group, the seven voters (Chad Ford of ESPN; Gary Parrish, Jeff Reynolds and Tony Mejia of CBS Sportsline; Chris Ekstrand of CNNSI; and Jeff Goodman and Peter Schwager of Fox Sports accurately predicted 85 percent of the first-rounders with or without regard to drafting team. That's not bad.
Because this is America and we love awards, here are the Mockies, the citations for the most notable NBA Draft soothsaying:

Best pick (lowest accurate pairing of team and draftee); Jeff Reynolds of The Sports Xchange got it right when he said the Spurs would select Tiago Splitter with the 28th overall choice. That was the only accurate prediction in the bottom five by anybody. Splitter finally stayed in the draft after declaring and splitting in each of the previous 17 years.

Worst pick: Chris Ekstrand of CNNSI said Fresno State guard Dominic McGuire would go to Detroit at 27. McGuire didn’t hear his name called until Washington claimed him at 47.

Unforeseen: None of the seven analysts thought Wisconsin forward Alando Tucker (29th, Suns) or Oregon guard Aaron Brooks (26th to the Rockets) would be first-rounders.

Too foreseen: All seven thought McRoberts would be a first-round choice. He lasted until 37.

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Nearly 24 hours after the fact, ESPN still lists the hot dog eating contest among its top headlines.

Apparently, something's a sport if ESPN says it is. After airing the National Spelling Bee earlier this summer, the network apparently felt it had to provide equal time to morons. So it advanced, covered and followed a pseudo event in which the winner -- and we use that term loosely -- consumed 66 franks in a terribly short period of time.

How long before the contest pops up on ESPN Classic?

Was just watching ESPN's "First And 10" -- yeah, it's slow on a Friday in July -- and Skip Bayless and his debating opponent were discussing the latest federal raid on Michael Vick's house-dogfighting arena. The other guy, whose name I didn't catch, claimed the story was being overblown, and he implored the authorities to back off. "Can't they spend their time and resources fighting more important issues like crystal meth?" he asked.
This is a cop-out, and it uttered every day by people who have the following in common: They were doing something illegal; they got caught; and they their only defense is rhetorical social outrage.
The argument assumes -- or tries to assume -- that law enforcement is incapable of multi-tasking. It assumes that federal authorities, like cops on Law & Order, can only combat one thing at a time. Unfortunately for the apologists, the agency apparently conducting today's search and seizure is the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA couldn't spend its time or money fighting drugs if it felt like it; those matters fall under the aegis of Justice, the DEA and the ATF. So backing off Vick won't facilitate another drug bust.
How inconvenient.

It would be a bigger deal if this were, say, October, but Duke 7-footer Brian Zoubek will miss the start of the Blue Devils' preseason conditioning program after suffering a broken bone in his right foot in a pickup game on Monday.
The sophomore-to-be had surgery on Tuesday and is out for eight to 10 weeks.
Last month, coach Mike Krzyzewski said -- justifiably -- that Zoubek's growth in the offseason would be an important factor in the Devils' 2007-08 season. Zoubek is up 20 pounds to 266, and he'll now have to work to maintain the muscle mass he gained.
He averaged 7.3 minutes a game last year and will need to double that and become accordingly productive in order to fill the Josh McRoberts void.
This time of the year is like Thursday at a golf tournament. You don't win anything now, but you can lose plenty.

In his role as D.A. Arthur Branch on Law & Order, Fred Thompson often supervises eyewitness identification of perpetrators in jailhouse lineups. Here's what we want to know: How often would Thompson and Tennessee football coach Phil Fulmer be confused for one another in such a scenario?

Some people wonder why Thompson would leave the best show on TV to subject himself to the rigors of a presidential campaign. The bigger question is why he would leave the head coaching job at the University of Tennessee to subject himself to the rigors of a presidential campaign. Then again, being president is probably less stressful than having to satisfy Vol Nation and comply with NCAA legislation.

So I'm just back from Las Vegas, a few dollars lighter in the wallet, and thought I'd report on a) the World Series of Poker main event, and b) the slowest week of the calendar year at the casino sports books.

I'll keep it brief on the WSOP because, well, if you're like me and watch the main event religiously on ESPN's delayed broadcasts, you don't want to know too much too soon.

Based on a few poker-celeb sightings at the Bellagio Wednesday night, though, it was pretty clear that, by Day 2b, two-time main event champion Johnny Chan and T.J. Cloutier were gone. Chan was ousted on the first day, it turns out, right along with TV celebs Jason Alexander (George Costanza) and Ray Romano. Tobey McGuire lasted a little longer.

There were still a good 800-1,000 players left in the Rio Pavilion when we took in some of the chip-pushing action Wednesday night. We watched Daniel Negreanu bust out a young player at the featured table but learned that Negreanu was himself eliminated before play wrapped up that night. Gus Hansen was close to the chip lead at the time and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was alive.

I won't say who remains contention as tomorrow's final table approaches, but you can check here for updates if you can't wait for the tape delay. They were down to 17 players as of last night's dinner break. ESPN will show the final table live Tuesday at 3 p.m. on a pay-per-view basis.

Being a sports writer, I refrain from wagering on sporting events myself aside from the occasional horse or dog race. No Betting On Humans is my rule. But I thought I'd check out some of the Vegas sports books while in town to see what was drawing betting action on arguably the three slowest days of the year in sports.

Well, Monday at Planet Hollywood, they posted odds on baseball's home run contest. Exciting. Not many bettors in the room for that. Horse races from across the country dominated the big boards at most sports books this week, but you could also find odds on WNBA games (the Mystics were 6-point faves over Minnesota on Tuesday and won by 8 in OT), the upcoming John Deere Classic (NC State alum Tim Clark was going off at 30-to-1 and finished 1 stroke back; he was 70-to-1 in this week's British Open while Tiger would only pay 5-to-2) and, of course, the All-Star game.

The AL was favored, with a bet of $13.50 winning $10. And, just like the previous nine years, the AL won the midsummer's classic. If a true gambling degenerate, you also could have bet on who hits the game's first HR (A-Rod was a 5-to-1 pick), which team scores first or last, etc.

Southern Cal is currently favored to win the BCS title, at 13-to-5 odds. Virginia Tech (22-to-1) is getting the heaviest action among ACC schools, with Wake Forest at 150-to-1, N.C. State at 200-to-1, UNC and Duke among "the field" at 50-to-1.

No bets taken on Wednesday night's Triple-A All-Star game, so that truly was the deadest of days at the sports book.

That allowed me to turn my attention to a couple of no-limit hold 'em tournaments where I could toss away my own money. If you're looking for a good poker room, you should get off the Strip and give the Orleans a try. Really enjoyed the $80 buy-in tournament there despite finishing well out of the money.

Sure enough, an offshore gambling site has posted odds on the outcome of U.S. v. Vick. Word to the wise: don't take the bait. This is the legal system we're talking about. Nothing is certain, and there's probably a lot we don't know yet.
In general terms, however, it's fair to say Vick's best statistical chance at beating the charges against him is to get Tuesday's federal indictment thrown out before it proceeds to trial. (Warning: the contents of the document are graphic.) According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, only about one indictment in five was thrown out before going to court in 2004. Of those allowed to proceed, 80 percent resulted in convictions. And of those convictions, 96 percent never even got to a judge or jury; they ended with guilty or no-contest pleas.

Here are the totals:
Supects in cases investigated by U.S. Attorneys: 148,229
Suspects whose cases were "referred for prosecution": Approximately 117,100
Suspects whose cases were started in court: 92,645
Defendants whose cases were dropped, thrown out or otherwise terminated: 8,754
Defendants whose cases reached a verdict: 83,391
Defendants convicted: 74,782
Defendants who pleaded guilty or no contest: 72,152

Some facts and figures alleged in the indictment:

States from which dogs traveled to participate in fights: 6 (North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Alabama, Texas)
States in which fights took place: 5 (South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey)
Total prize money contested: $114,200
Aliases of defendants: 5 (P-Funk, Funk, Q, T, Ookie).

Should the NFL immediately suspend Michael Vick in light of his indictment this week? Many observers say the league should hold back and wait for the legal system to run its course. "Innocent until proven guilty" should mean something in the real world, they say.
Sounds reasonable. For those who hold this view, a question: Was the NFL wrong to suspend Rae Carruth immediately after his arrest on charges he conspired to murder his pregnant girlfriend in 2000?
If the argument to leave Vick alone for now is to be based on the sanctity of an American legal cornerstone, that argument should extend to every circumstance, shouldn't it? If you believe Vick should be allowed to play in 2007, then surely you believe Carruth was wronged when he was cut by the Panthers before his trial started. (He was convicted of conspiracy and is serving an 18-year sentence.)
As far as I can tell, however, any outrage for Carruth would be the first. I don't recall any debate over the NFL's swift actions seven years ago.
It's at this point that some may discuss the difference in the crimes with which Vick and Carruth are charged. Carruth had to be treated differently because killing a human is more reprehensible than killing dogs, some might say.
But that logic doesn't work here. The rhetorical buttress of the "Free Vick" theory is the principle and not the particulars. If that's going to be your opinion, you must stick with it -- even if it leads you into retroactive defense of a convicted man.
Either do that or think up some other reason why a private employer would be completely out of bounds to discipline an employee facing an 18-page indictment and a date in federal court.

In their 18-page indictment against Michael Vick, the feds cite Chapter 18, Section 371 of the U.S. Code as the overriding cause of their action. It's a general conspiracy statute. The government keeps tabs on the results of cases tried under every chapter and verse of the federal law, and here's a synopsis:
** This decade, the government has successfully prosecuted violations of that particular law 91 percent of the time. Almost all of the convictions (94.8 percent) have come on guilty pleas.
** U.S. Attorneys drop fewer than 13 percent of their prosecutions under the statute.
** When cases actually get to a jury, the conviction rate is 82.6 percent.
** Judges, however, acquit more often (42 times this decade) than they convict (32).
(Obviously, the sample size in bench trials is far smaller than in jury proceedings.)

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A glance of NBA playoff boxscores reveals Tim Donaghy, the official under federal investigation into gambling and point-shaving, according to the New York Post and ESPN, worked five playoff games this spring.
April 23: Detroit beats visiting Orlando 98-90 to go up 2-0 in their first-round series
April 27: Golden State overwhelms visiting Dallas 108-91 to take a 2-1 series lead
April 29: Phoenix defeats the homestanding L.A. Lakers 113-100 to go up 3-1
May 4: New Jersey edges visiting Toronto 98-97 to wrap up their series 4-2
May 12: Donaghy works Game 3 of the eventually infamous San Antonio-Phoenix series, won by the homestanding Spurs, 108-101. (The big controversy that led to suspension of some key Suns occurred two games later.)
Not sure what this means just yet, but it is somewhat interesting that he didn't work after the second round. There are fewer games and a reduced need for officials as the playoffs advance, of course, but a 13-year veteran who isn't seen after the second round? Makes you wonder if the NBA knew about the probe and pulled the plug.

As Ireland's Padraig Harrington celebrates having his name chiseled into the Claret Jug, it's a good time to celebrate the British Open's playoff format. A four-hole playoff is in my opinion a much better way to decide a championship tied after four rounds than a sudden-death playoff (Masters) or 18-hole Monday round (US Open).

It gives a Match Play feel to the playoff. The tournament isn't decided by one player's blow-up or another's lucky hole-out chip shot on one sudden-death hole. And, unlike the US Open, you don't have the possibility of someone running away with it on one great round. No drama there.

What the four-hole playoff allowed Harrington was a chance to regroup after putting two balls in the creek and doubling 18 in the 4th round. Sergio, too, had a chance to rebound after missing his chance to win it at 18. Heck, in '99, Jean van de Velde even got a second chance after his historic triple-bogey collapse. Of course, the Frenchman couldn't shed the memory and lost to Paul Lawrie.

This time, Harrington birdied the first playoff hole and Sergio bogeyed. But the Spaniard gave himself a chance with two pars and by going for it with driver, 6-iron to within 18 feet of the hole on No. 18 -- a birdie putt -- while Harrington was playing it safe and putting from farther out on the same line -- for par. Sergio again just missed a long but makeable putt, strokes he'll remember for quite a while as he continues his pursuit of a major title. Harrington still needed to drain a 4-footer to keep it from going to -- egads -- a sudden-death situation. He made it. Redemption, tears and good entertainment for the spectators and TV viewers.

Bonus points to ABC (ESPN) from this viewer: Loved the music selections going into and out of commercial breaks. U2, Duran Duran, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Coldplay. All English and Irish acts. Fitting for the British Open. I didn't hear any Psychedelic Furs, unfortunately, but hey, I can't complain.

After a two-week vacation that included stops in Chicago and San Francisco. I'll post more on my impressions of the San Francisco sports scene - or lack thereof - in a later entry.

For now, I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the Tour de France.

**** Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert ***

Maybe it's because I got a chance to see Barry Bonds play live a week and a half ago, but my inner cynic has been awakened while waching the Tour. Or maybe it's because guys seem to get busted for drug offenses every week or so in cycling. (but no dog-fighting ... so far).

The guy that aroused my cynicism today is Alexandre Vinokourov, aka Vino. The guy has a reputation as a dashing sort, who will throw everything into that day's ride, regardless of the future implications. So sometimes he's great, and sometimes ... not so much.

To be fair during this tour Vino's riding with a couple of achy knees and he was involved in a crash as well. So I was impressed when he came out of nowhere to dominate the individual time trial on Saturday.

And I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when Vino cracked on Sunday and lost, oh, about a half hour of time in a long mountain stage.

By today, though, I was starting to roll my eyes at Vino's roller coaster ride. This time he was back on the upswing, breaking away to win a long mountain stage.

As Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin gushed over Vino's remarkable ability come back after seemingly being left for dead, I couldn't help but wonder how the guy can be so good just a day after being so bad. Is it great heart, as Sherwin and Liggett continually suggested? Or may he just really dogs it on the days when he doesn't feel so good.

I realize that may be blasphemy to Vino fans, but surely I'm not the only one who has such thoughts. And I'm sure, given cycling's cozy relationship with performance-enhancing drugs, that I'm not the only one who wonders, at least a little, when a rider makes such a dramatic one-day turnaround, a la Floyd Landis in the 2006 tour.

Having said that, I still really enjoy watching the Tour, despite all the drug allegations. So maybe I'm not such a cynic.

...

Or maybe that makes me a total cynic.

There's no cataclysmic moment today, but somewhere on the drive home from dropping the kiddies off at pre-school, it hit me.

NFL: Dealing with Michael Vick and the dog-fighting mess.
NBA: Ref Tim Donaghy and allegations he bet on games he reffed.
MLB: Barry Bonds' continued chase for Hank Aaron's record and the upcoming awkward moment when people try to figure out whether they should laugh or cry when Bonds hits No. 756.
Cycling: Michael Rasmussen, the current yellow jersey wearer in the Tour de France, got into trouble earlier this year for not being available for a random drug test. He's been booted off the Danish national team, which means that the Tour, already up to its handlebars in drug cheating scandals, faces the very real possibility that it's next winner could be a guy who's banned from competing in the 2008 Olympics.

Lovely.

As for Vick, there are endless stories out there in cyberspace to sift through if you either a) have no job or b) happen to have blogging as part of your job description.

Here are just two from the Atlanta Journal Constitution that caught my eye.

The first is a blog item by AJC columnist Terrence Moore. Given Moore's takes on various issues in the past I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd given Vick a little support and urged everyone to withhold judgement. Instead, Moore went the exact opposite direction, saying that Vick should never play again for the Falcons. Wow. If Moore is any barometer for public opinion in the ATL, then Vick really is toast.

The second story, about PETA protests outside the NFL's offices in New York (a similar demonstration was held at the Falcon's training camp in Flowery Branch, Ga.) just makes my head hurt. Actually, it brings back memories of the infamous pot-banging protests outside the Duke lacrosse house, and that makes my head hurt.

What, exactly is the point here? To urge the Falcons to suspend Vick? If these PETA folks hadn't noticed, the NFL has put Vick on leave and is looking into the matter further. If it finds facts that show that Vick broke the league's conduct policy, he'll get suspended. So that avenue is already being explored. No need to protest for that.

Is it to have Vick thrown in jail? The federal government is already working hard on that. So need to protest that either.

Really then, there's no need to protest at all, unless you're just hungry for cheap publicity for your cause.

Look, I'm a huge dog lover and I find dogfighting to be a disgusting activity. I'm also in favor of protecting women from sexual assault. Feel free to stand up in public and vocally support either cause.

But I'm also in favor of finding out all the facts before deciding whether to punish someone. I thought we'd been given a stern reminder of that with the Duke lacrosse case. But apparently, some folks just weren't listening.

... particularly when that power does not enable you to make any money but rather only permits you to predict positive drug tests.

I know, because I have this power.

What's that? Want proof?

Here's what I wrote on Monday's blog, after Alexandre Vinokourov won a grueling mountain stage in the Tour de France, one day after looking just awful, which was one day after he'd looked awesome in the time trial, which came after he'd looked terrible in the Alps.

... I'm sure, given cycling's cozy relationship with performance-enhancing drugs, that I'm not the only one who wonders, at least a little, when a rider makes such a dramatic one-day turnaround, a la Floyd Landis in the 2006 tour.

As it turns out, my skepticism was well-founded. That remarkable time trial "Vino" turned in was apparently helped at least in some part by a nice fresh batch of oxygen-rich blood he'd received in a transfusion earlier that day. The news of the positive test came today, during a rest day for the Tour.

Sadly, there are many people out there, known as sports fans, who share my ability to see the doping future. I remember the first time I realized I had this power, during the 1996 Olympics, in Atlanta. At those games, a previously unknown Irish swimmer named Michelle Smith won three gold medals. She'd made such remarkable improvements in such a short time that many, particularly in the American press, wondered if her performance had been enhanced. Smith angrily denied such allegations and fired back with the usual comeback - others were jealous of her success.

Of course, Smith later missed a random drug test and then was busted for tampering with a sample during another drug test.

That's when I learned a lesson in sports that has sadly been confirmed many times: when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

That's what I was thinking on Monday, as Paul Sherwin and Phil Liggett gushed all over Vino's remarkable performance. Heck, that's what I've been thinking since 1998 in baseball.

The saddest part? I can only know when my skepticism is proven right. There's no real way to know for sure anymore if a remarkable once-in-a-lifetime performance is just that, and not the result of some sort of chemical enhancement.

Whew, that's three straight dark and dour posts for me on this blog. Maybe I should have just stayed on vacation.

ACC football trivia: Host Jim Young reads statements made by coaches during the ACC Football Kickoff. Try to guess who said them. (8:56)

The Philadelphia Phillies’ 10,000th loss - the worst in team sports history - got the gang at Radio Free Sports pondering this question: What is the worst sports franchise of all time? (8:16)

Let's face it, last week may have been one of the worst in sports history. Reports of a ref possibly fixing NBA game, Michael Vick indicted on dog-fighting charges, Barry Bonds and his incredible expanding head closing in on the most famous record in sports ... yeesh.

Then, we're hit with the worst news by far. Skip Prosser, a guy almost universally liked in college basketball - which is really saying a ton, considering how cutthroat and competitive college hoops can be - shockingly passed away suddenly, apparentlhy from a heart attack. I'm still trying to deal with that. I know it will take folks in the Wake community who were close to Skip much, much longer.

So I was hoping to start this week off on a lighter note, and as it turns out, former Page standout John Isner has timed things perfectly.

When we last left Isner, he was finishing up his college tennis career by leading his Georgia team to the team title and reaching the finals of the NCAA singles tournament.

After a short break and a move to Tampa, Isner has hit the ground running in his pro career.

Winning those two tournaments on the satellite tour has just confirmed that Isner is a guy with a bright future, which probably explains his wild card into this week's Legg Mason Classic tournament.

For those who only follow tennis at a glance, this is a big deal. The Legg Mason is one of the top hardcourt tournaments in the U.S., and is a big prep tournament for the U.S. Open. As such, it attracts some of the biggest names in the sport. This is the big leagues, and Isner has arrived today.

Isner's first-round opponent is a familiar one, England's Tim Henman. They'll play later this evening, when most of the first-round match play begins. I'm going to see if I can track down and exact match time. When I get it, I'll send it on to you. And rest assured, we'll be doing all we can to track down John soon to get an update on his pro tennis career.

Got an email from his mom, Karen, saying that John likely won't play until Tuesday evening.

I checked up on his latest ATP ranking. After his win in a challenger tournament in Lexington, Ky. (from what I can tell Isner's won both tournaments he's entered) Isner is now 416th in the world, 39th in the U.S. That's pretty impressive considering just a month ago he was 839th. Heck, just a week ago he was 745th. At this rate, Isner should be top 100 by the start of August, then No. 1 in the world by the start of September.

Perhaps that extroplation doesn't quite play out, but it's still a pretty promising start to his pro career. Some guys get derailed right away when they realize the pro grind can be, well, a grind. Obviously Isner's avoided that pitfall so far.

... and that's not meant to be a shot at the writing of the Braves beat writer at the Atlanta Journal-Consitution. I love reading DOB's stuff. It's hard to come up with interesting stuff day in and day out on a MLB beat, but he pulls it off pretty well.

Rather, DOB's recent blog post about Atlanta's trade for Texas Ranger's 1B Mark Teixeira has set my mind at ease.

The deal had me feeling excited, stunned and apprehensive all at the same time. Excited because the Braves got a big bat at first, plugging a huge hole in their lineup and making it one of the most potent in the NL. Stunned because it's been 14 years, since trading for Fred McGriff in 1993, that the Braves have been this aggressive at the trade dealine. Apprehensive because the Braves, who are famous for making deals while somehow managing to avoid giving away their top prospects, gave up three in this deal.

But, as I said, DOB puts my mind at ease with his blog entry. His most important point - because Teixeira has 1.5 years left on his contract, the Braves will get two, not just one, run at the postseason before having to deal with Teixeira's pit bull agent, Scott Boras.

Still, given the line of thinking that says that Teixeira won't be in a Braves uniform past 2008, Atlanta needs to make the postseason either this year or the next, or maybe both years for the deal to be considered a success. Atlanta gave up a lot of young talent to make this happen.

It's a risk, but I haven't felt this good about the Braves in quite some time. Given their bolstered bullpen - after getting Ron Mahay in the Teixeira deal and Octavio Dotel in a later deal - and their strong lineup 1-8 (except Andruw Jones, of course) and their strong 1-2 starting punch of John Smoltz and Tim Hudson, I think the Braves are better prepared for postseason play than many of their recent playoff teams, many of which had much better regular season W-L numbers than the 2007 edition.