01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, August 27, 2005

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH:

Why are the Yankees still hanging around?

Simple.

Improved pitching.

Or, who would ever have believed that Al Leiter, Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon would be 10-4 since coming to New York?

They have been godsends, three guys off the scrapheap, that, so far anyway, have saved the Yankees' season. Three guys that no one expected anything from. Strange game, baseball.

I still think the Sox will win the division, courtesy of their sweet September schedule, but the fact the Yankees are still in this thing with all the pitching woes they've had since the season began is a minor baseball miracle.

Let's hope the French are wrong, or the incredible story of Lance Amrmstrong is going to get tarnished.

I don't know about you, Bunky, but the idea that Randy Moss has (1) used marijuana in the past, and (2) might still even occasionally tote now, did not exactly come as a news flash.

Speaking of marijuana use, what were odds 30 years ago that the Rolling Stones would be playing concerts in Fenway Park?

"Manny Being Manny" has become the mantra of the summer.

Quiz of the Week comes courtesy of Knight Ridder/Tribune: One baseball player won three MVP awards in the 1980s. Can you name him? (Answer near botton of the column.)

Line of the Week comes from Ricky Williams, who owes the Dolphins more than $8 million for breach of contract, when asked about his financial situation: "I have no idea. The way I live my life -- if I have a place to stay and I have food on the table, I'm not broke."

Four Brothers is too violent and too predictable for what it gives back.

There were 455 players in the NFL last year who weighed at least 300 pounds.

Yeh, hazing the Pats rookies gets attention, but it's all sophomoric, and an unfortunate example for every high school kid who no doubt thinks it's cool to emulate.

I wish I had a dollar for every girl I've seen at the beach this summer with a tattoo on her lower back.

The United States basketball team finished fifth in the recent Under-21 World Championships, just in case you need any more evidence that the rest of the world has caught up to us.

Randy Johnson has allowed the most home runs (29) in the American League.

People who defend Manny's lackadaisical attitude would view him very differently if he didn't put up such big numbers.

You want an excellent inside look at big-time college football? Find yourself If I Don't Six, a novel by former Michigan football player Elwood Reid.

Is every new movie aimed at 14-year-olds, or does it just seem that way?

Rob McClanaghan, the former Hendricken basketball star, who has spent the last few years helping out at his alma mater and working players out, is the new coach of the Norwegian National Team.

The Bad News Bears have more cachet than the Kansas City Royals.

The surprising thing is not that Bob Huggins is out at Cincinnati. The surprising thing is that he lasted as long as he did.

Nineteen years ago two of the best pitchers in basebal were Roger Clemens and Dwight Gooden. Now Clemens is pitching his way to immortality, and Gooden is becoming one of the saddest stories in sports.

Broken Flowers is billed as funny. It's not. But it's a tender, serious look at aging and loss, a real movie in an era where few seem to exist anymore.

Zen question of the week: Who likes the spotlight more, Curt Schilling or Steve Laffey?

But, hey, at least Schilling can get guys out.

Well, he used to be able to anyway.

What is the new reality TV show, You Think You Can Dance?, but American Bandstand with sexier clothes?

Charles Barkley's new book, Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man, is a thoughtful discussion of race in America, something few people feel comfortable talking about.

Is there a better clutch hitter than David Ortiz?

And what does Paris Hilton do in the offseason?

Tom Brady got more pictures in GQ than a Hollywood hottie.

There's no truth to the rumor Kevin Millar has pictures of Tito.

R.I.P. Jack Kineavy, the former teacher and coach at both Somerset and Barrington, one of those men you never forget, and feel fortunate to have known.

Quiz answer: Mike Schmidt in 1980, '81, and '86.

A blog is the new equivalent of the bore at the end of the bar.

Jimmy Burchfield continues to keep boxing alive around here.

Pat Robertson and T.O. should both go away.

And take Jennifer Anniston with them.

A-Rod gets all the love, but Gary Sheffield at the plate scares me more. This about college teaching, gleaned from a novel I read over the summer: "It's the uninformed talking to the indifferent about the irrelevent." Sounds like the General Assembly to me.