By Mike Ball
Cincinnati Enquirer

Top five

1. Baseball's Greatest Moments. You can argue the merits of whether Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games-played streak is baseball's greatest moment. You can argue that many of the events included in the greatest moments weren't moments at all. And you certainly can argue that baseball and Bud Selig did another blatant sellout to the all-mighty dollar (no mention of the credit-card company here). But what you can't argue is the power of baseball's history. No other sport has moments/achievements that are so memorable decades later.

2. The Bengals. We're refreshed after two weeks off (except for all the complaining, of course). And so is the team. Look, they can't be this bad. And look at the schedule: 2-4 Tennessee, 1-5 Houston, 3-4 Carolina. We're all over another 3-13 finish!

3. Emmitt Smith. It has been easy to hate the Dallas Cowboys and many of their players these past 12 years. But Smith, who needs 93 yards today to break Walter Payton's all-time rushing record, has never carried himself with anything but class. He's probably not the greatest back of all time, but his accomplishments speak for themselves. P.S. Sweetness, we miss you.

4. College football. You can whine about the BCS, but Saturday's games reminded us why college football is so great. Every game means something.

5. Charles Barkley. His new book, I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It, is a classic. Never one to mince words, the book is a stream-of-consciousness barrage of his views. And a lot of them make sense.

Bottom five

1. Bengals fans, NFL observers, media members and the like who think they can make Mike Brown change his ways. You can't sue him. Paul Tagliabue isn't going to force him out. His franchise is valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Mike Brown 1, Bengals fans 0.

2. Fox's coverage of the World Series. The replays are awesome, with every critical play replayed from several angles. Joe Buck is excellent and Tim McCarver ... well, let's not get carried away. But if we have to see one more promo for some lame Fox show, or for that matter, another shot of a Fox celebrity - and we use that term loosely - we're going to scream.

3. Tubby Smith. Kentucky basketball fans are watching the master at work, and they had to be thrilled by his latest innovation. It seems the UK coach said he is going to employ - get this - a two-guard offense this season. What's next for Tubby Naismith - calling his tallest starter the CENTER?

4. The NBA on ESPN. A great move by the NBA, no doubt. No one would promote a sport better than the worldwide leader in sports. But give us a break. Friday's MTV-type coverage - hip lingo and crazy camera angles - was a little much. Hey, we approaching-middle-age guys like the loop, too.

5. Bud Se... li...g. Oh, never mind.