The week in review

As I settle into the blog, I thought I'd start a weekly segment catching up on some of the odds and ends of the week that slipped through the cracks (as my hero Jon Stewart says to lead into Lewis Black). So, without further ado, here's the week that was in the sports world:

1. My boy Dwight Freeney signed a long-term deal with the Colts - six years, $72 million. Re-signing Dwight was the most important offseason move for the Colts...but DAMN! I don't know if he's worth $72 mil. - the most expensive deal in NFL history for a defensive player. Between Dwight and Peyton Manning, the Super Bowl Champs have 24 percent of their salary cap wrapped up in two superstars. And with Bob Sanders (the best safety in the league and the unheralded reason we're world champs) able to opt out of his contract for free agency next year, that's not necessarily a good thing. But we had to keep Dwight in the blue and white for another year. We'll worry about next year when it comes.

2. The NBA suspended former Pacers Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson for general douchebagery...and being convicted by the po-po. They're lucky they're not doing hard time in jail, so they certainly deserve being kept off of the hardwood for a few games. Granted, it's not going to deter Jack or Ron-Ron from future foul-ups, but the NBA has to do something to seem as if it's keeping its players in check to prevent an even bigger PR crisis than it already has.

3. As a soon-to-be college grad preparing to enter the workforce, I wish the journalism business - and real world as a whole - were like NBA free agency. Mo Williams, a shoot-first point guard who never averaged more than 12 points a game until last season, suddenly becomes a sought-after franchise savior worth paying almost $9 million a year. The Magic want a star to blossom alongside its monster phenom Dwight Howard, so they pay $19 mil a year to Rashard Lewis, a solid swingman and great scorer who couldn't find open teammates if they had those little multi-colored triangle things over their head like in video games. And, the biggest dud of them all, one of the most poorly run teams in pro sports spends $6 mil a year on one of the worst draft picks in NBA history, Darko Milic. If Darko Duck's past performance is any indication, Memphis will get about a point a game for every million dollars they pay him over the next three years. I wish the NY Times and SI would overpay me by that much just because of my potential or because I know how to blog or something.

4. The Yi watch continues in Milwaukee with rumors that Yi would accept a trade to Sacramento. My prediction: He eventually plays with the Bucks but never amounts to much more than a glorified Wang Zhizhi.

5. Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who apparently has more money than he knows what to do with, has made an offer to purchase the Chicago Cubs. Sadly, it won't happen - you think Bud Selig would give a franchise to a young billionaire who wears shirts saying "He Fine Me" and a DQ uniform with the name "Tony" on it? In any case, it'd make for an interesting contest between Cuban and Cubs manager Lou Piniella to see who was fined more and ejected from more games....

6. In case you haven't been watching SportsCenter over the last month, David Beckham is in LA and will play in the MLS (that's pro soccer, if you didn't know or don't give a hoot) next week. Unless Beckham can make soccer games 30-35 slugfests, it's not going to change Americans' perception that the game is slow and boring. Baseball is America's pastime, but it's losing fans in part because it's slow and boring. Think a British dude with a hot wife can save a sport most Americans view as a game for snobby foreigners?

7. I was so bored today that I started watching arena football on ESPN - and was entertained.