Taylor

Thoughts while wondering whether, if Brett Favre’s coming back again, Michael Jordan can’t be far behind ...

The MLB trading deadline is only nine days away, but it’s in the NFL, where training camps are just opening, that the blockbuster deals are being made.

It takes two to tango, as Dancing with the Stars sensation Jason Taylor could have told the Miami Dolphins’ new vice president of football operations, Bill Vince Papa Bear Amos Alonzo Knute Parcells. The two were obviously out of step, especially after Taylor, who had expressed a wish to be traded to a Super Bowl contender, skipped offseason workouts in favor of practicing his dance routines.

Taylor has gotten his wish, going from the Dolphins to the Redskins when Washington found itself in need of a potent pass rusher after Philip Daniels suffered a season-ending knee injury on the first day of summer practices.

A six-time Pro Bowl selection — he was the only player the 1-15 Dolphins had in Hawaii last season — Taylor was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year as recently as 2006. He’s 33 years old, but had 11 sacks last season, and has been exceptionally durable, starting every game for Miami the last eight years.

Taylor, for whom the Dolphins received a second-round draft choice in 2009 and a sixth in 2010, wasn’t the only disgruntled star to be dealt as training camps open around the league.

The Giants yesterday traded controversial tight end Jeremy Shockey, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, to the Saints for second- and fifth-round picks next year.

It’s a good deal for New Orleans, where Shockey will enhance an offense that boasts the likes of quarterback Drew Brees, wide receiver Marques Colston and running backs Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister. The Giants have shown they can win a Super Bowl without the outspoken Shockey.

•Two things that can’t happen fast enough for the second-place Red Sox: A return to Fenway, and Big Papi returning to the No. 3 spot in the Boston batting order.

Having been swept in Anaheim by the Angels — the fifth time this season that the defending World Series champions have been swept in a three-game series on the road — the Red Sox were a woeful 21-32 away from home (a disappointing percentage of .396) heading into last night’s game in Seattle, where they hoped to turn things around against the Mariners, who have the worst record in the American League.

Fortunately, the Sox have been dominant in friendly Fenway, where they boast a dazzling winning percentage of .766, with 36 wins in 47 games.

Having hit homers in three consecutive games for the Pawtucket Red Sox in cozy McCoy Stadium, David Ortiz looks ready to provide a power boost for the struggling Sox when they return home Friday night against the Yankees.

The schedule certainly favors the Sox down the stretch. They play 34 of their final 59 games at home, including 16 of 25 in September, the last seven of them to close the regular season, which wraps up with a three-game series against the Yankees.

•It was an exceptional weekend for several of Rhode Island’s pro golfers.

When you can shoot your age, that’s pretty special — especially when you do it in a Tour event. The ageless Dana Quigley almost did that Friday, missing by just one shot — or year, if you will — when he fired an opening-round 62 at the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn. He wound up tied for ninth — his second top-10 finish this year. He was third at the Bank of America Championship last month at Nashawtuc in Concord, Mass., and now is 37th on the Champions Tour money list at the ripe young age of 61.

Patrick Sheehan finished tied for sixth at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. He earned $125,200 for his second top 10 of the year (he also was sixth at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico in February) and now is 114th on the money list.

Anna Grzebien had the biggest payday of her promising young career. After missing the cut in eight of her first nine LPGA tournaments, the former NCAA champion from Duke (2005) and current Tour rookie earned $22,264 by finishing tied for 16th at the State Farm Classic in Springfield, Illinois. Her sister Mary Ellen, who played college golf at Northwestern, drove down from Chicago, where she is a media consultant, to see Anna play.

Although Brad Adamonis earned just $8,120 by tying for 68th in Milwaukee, it was enough to make him No. 1 on the “R.I. Money List,” with $729,156, to Brett Quigley’s $722,361. Adamonis ranks 95th in Tour earnings; Quigley is 97th.

In the not-so-good golf news, Quigley, who did not make the cut in Milwaukee, still is bothered by the stress fracture in his left leg that had kept him on the sidelines since the CVS Charity Classic four weeks ago. He now plans to rest for another three weeks or so before trying to return to action.

Billy Andrade missed the cut in Milwaukee and now has made it to the weekend in just seven of 18 tournaments this year.

He’s 177th on the money list, with earnings of $191,935.

•If, like me, you miss Billy Reynolds’ Saturday column while he’s beachcombing in Narragansett and working on his latest book project, here’s a nomination for Line of the Week, courtesy of Norman Chad, in yesterday’s Washington Post:

“Blogging is writing about as much as working the pole is dancing. If you’re thinking of starting a blog, don’t. The world needs more blogs like Madonna needs more leather.”

As for books, I’m eager to read the latest from Alan Furst in his collection of evocative World War II-era novels of espionage, The Spy from Warsaw.

When it comes to summer movies, the only reason to see Mamma Mia is because the theater is air-conditioned and your house isn’t.

If you weren’t rooting for Greg Norman to win the British Open, you should have been.

jdonalds@projo.com