OTP SPORTS

I want to congratulate every fan and journalist who help to scare enough sense into labor and management to avoid a ridiculous baseball strike. Now we can all get back to watching the thrilling AL West race, Bonds' attempt at one more shot at postseason redemption and the Phillies valient struggle to stay above .500. (Aah, the lowered expectations of a Phillies fan).

I am as guilty of obsessively reading the NBA off-season moves as much as the next guy, but when it all comes down to it only two pieces of news will matter come next spring. 1) Shaq's injured toe; and 2) the Kings' acquisition of Keon Clark. Now if the Mavs can get a banger for Van Exel, that would be three. I happen to think that as entertaining as all the moves made in the Leastern Conference were, they're ultimately futile. The Nets are going to be sorely dissapointed when see just how slow Dikembe has gotten. Well, at least this year, he won't get abused by Rodney Rogers. It pretty much sums up the balance of power in the NBA that if you put the endothermic Trail Blazers in the East, they'd run away with the conference.

We are less than a week away from the start of yet another NFL season. This coming season the Eagles have their best shot to win the title since the Kennedy-Nixon debates. The only problem is that the last three teams to win the Super Bowl weren't even in the playoffs the year before. The streak's gotta end sometime, doesn't it? Otherwise, we might have the World Champion Bengals sometime this decade - which will just disturb the natural order of things.