By Mike Ball
Cincinnati Enquirer

The top five

1. Priorities. So here are the great issues of the day: a) getting a former ballplayer into the Hall of Fame; b) the "exploitation" of a high school basketball player who will get an estimated $20 million shoe contract as soon as his season is over; and c) worrying about how cheap the Reds and Bengals are. Has anyone looked around at what's happening in the real world?

2. LeBron James. Speaking of the NBA-bound high schooler, the kid can play, that's for sure. But maybe he should ask Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Dajuan Wagner, Drew Gooden, Tayshaun Prince, Troy Murphy or Mike Dunleavy Jr. about the league. That step up to the NBA is a doozy.

3. Ted Kluszewski and Vada Pinson. The pair of Reds greats are on the Veterans Committee ballot for the Hall of Fame. Klu with his bulging biceps. Pinson, perhaps the most under-appreciated Red of them all. Good luck.

4. Xavier's schedule. Stanford, UC, Miami, Purdue and Mississippi State, with Creighton and Alabama to come. Look, that first half was ugly, but the Muskies learned more by that than by playing a barrage of Pete Gillen-Skip Prosser cupcakes.

5. Barry Larkin. He now has the longest tenure with one team of any major-leaguer. It's not his fault he was offered $9 million a year.

The bottom five

1. The Bengals. A mysterious promotion of a fourth quarterback? For a 1-12 team. And it becomes a controversy? Priceless.

2. The NFL. OK, enough of this parity stuff. Let's have some teams rise above the rest and get ready for some playoffs.

3. A Saturday without major-college football. Thank goodness for the Villanova-McNeese State Division I-AA semifinal game. Boy, that sounds weak, doesn't it?

4. John Dowd and Bob Feller. What a pair of bitter old coots.

5. Evander Holyfield. Didn't he retire? Like five times?