• What about Michael Taylor in the Futures business . . .
  If Michael Taylor isn't a 'Futures' star, who is?

• Safety Mike Brown may be the Chiefs' version of Rodney Harrison
  It wasn't until this weekend when I ran into an old college teammate who lives in Chicago that I considered the significance of the Chiefs signing Bears safety Mike Brown.

• Random evidence of a cluttered mind . . .
  What a battle Saturday! Did you see it? A highly anticipated duel, full of high drama, with athleticism at its finest and major championship at stake.

• Baseball managers purposely wear apathetic face in postgame interviews
  All you need is a tape recorder and a radio station. Baseball teams have access to both, so why wouldn't they allow the manager's question-and-answer period with the media to be broadcast on a postgame show?

• Promises look promising for Browns
  Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan gave a pretty interesting interview when he met the local media at the end of the team's minicamps.

• As sporting people, this is our independence day with our bill of rights
  Thomas Jefferson was way too smart for journalism, but he would have made a fine newspaperman nonetheless. The man sure knew how to write a lede.

• Rachel Alexandra could carve out place in racing history
  She probably won't have Washington and Idaho on her non-conference schedule, probably won't confine herself to picking the cherries from the low branches. No pie or cake for her, nothing easy.

• Veteran leader Chris Pronger will help development of Flyers captain Richards
  When Mike Richards was named captain of the Flyers last September, I questioned the decision. Not because I don't like Richards and not because I don't think he's a leader. I just thought the Flyers were dropping too much too soon on the then-23-year-old face of the franchise, too much on someone who had just signed that huge, long contract, too much on an unmarried guy still getting used to the glare that comes with being an athletic superstar in a hockey-intense city.

• Royals take the fun out of an otherwise good night
  There was really only one word for Friday night's game: Depressing.

• Lopez makes it back for a nice Philadelphia Story
  As good as doctors have gotten at fixing elbow ligaments that have been shredded by years of throwing baseballs, there's always some doubt in a pitcher's mind when a scalpel pierces the tool of his trade.

• Tigers making the right moves in the trading game
  Matt Wallace is a citizen journalist covering the Detroit Tigers minor leagues in the blog "Take 75 North." In December, the Tigers traded outfielder Matt Joyce to Tampa Bay for starting pitcher Edwin Jackson.

• Marlins can't sit still before trade deadline
  Remember what happened the last time the Marlins awakened on July 3 in first place? No, you don't.

• Here's hoping for a happy ending in strange journey of Michelle Wie
  I don't know how many Michiganders are traveling to the Toledo area this weekend to see Michelle Wie play in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic. I suspect some people are going explicitly to see her, and a lot of people - golf fans, even - cannot imagine wanting to see her.

• Here's appreciating competitive eating, and tasty food again
  I know mature adults who pretend they won't watch Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on Saturday.

• Kobe Bryant translates well in Asia, being honored as a global ambassador
  Knocked in the spine with a television camera, poked in the ribs by a photo-ready cellphone, clubbed in the face with a boom microphone and shoved clumsily into the velvet ropes bordering the Beverly Hilton's red carpet, there was nothing to be lost in translation.

• Royals reliably bad at running
  One thing you can say about these Royals: They are reliable. I went out Thursday night with the tentative idea of writing about the remarkably bad base running they have exhibited this year. And it has been legendarily bad.

• Let Jason Kidd walk now so Mavericks can run in 2010
  I must be missing something. I keep hearing how the Dallas Mavericks absolutely have to sign Jason Kidd to whatever deal he commands. The logic is he is better than the nothing they have at point guard to replace him.

• A couple of dandy Andys in men's semifinals at Wimbledon
  There is one and only one Andy who matters in Great Britain this week, and it's not the American in the alligator shirt. As far as the Brits are concerned, The Important Andy in the Wimbledon semifinals is Andy Murray, the third-ranked Scot who has created such hysteria that the BBC bumped the wildly popular EastEnders series to BBC2 so they could air Murray's fourth-round, roof-covered match.

• Lil' Tim a big man among baseball Giants
  

• Lil' Tim a big man among baseball Giants
  

• Thanks to Hossa's signing, Red Wings-Blackhawks rivalry should thrill us for years
  Marian Hossa has agreed to a 12-year deal with the Blackhawks, but the contract has a few unique clauses. Like, if an opposing player sucker-punches a Blackhawk, Hossa is allowed to skip a game to go to the opposing player's wedding.

• Phillies need to improve their winning chances against baseball's elite
  Sept. 8. Circle the date.

• Lance Armstrong's presence will bring the spotlight back to the Tour de France
  As Lance Armstrong was climbing steadily to the summit of professional cycling's holiest of Ziggurats - reeling off two, three, four, five, "six, SEVEN straight wins in the Tour de France during his remarkable comeback from the cancer that nearly killed him - followers, fanatics and doubters struggled to find an apt historical comparison within the sport.

• A huge Shaq-uisition for NBA title-hungry Cavaliers
  He arrived without a nickname but with a motto.

• It was time for Marian Gaborik and Wild to part ways
  The Minnesota sporting public spends much energy complaining over the loss of standout players with the local pro teams. If you listen to these martyrs long enough, they will raise a hand and count off the departures: