By Mike Ball
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Thumbs up

1. Mario Andretti. A head-over-heels crash at 200 mph and the 63-year-old racing legend's legend grows when he walks away. Impressive.

2. David Justice. The former big leaguer made his TV debut on the Reds ESPN2 broadcast Wednesday and did a pretty good job. But wouldn't he look better on the Reds' bench with a bat in his hand instead of a microphone?

3. NBA stars. Allen Iverson (AI), Tracy McGrady (T-Mac), Kobe, Shaq, Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki all put on stunning playoff shows. Maybe we should have paid a little more attention this season.

4. Rickey Henderson and Brady Anderson. Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time (including Pete Rose), is heading to an independent team in Newark while Anderson, who once hit 50 home runs, is toiling in Triple-A. Now that's love for the game (Or, a last shot at a paycheck).

5. Milford baseball. A national ranking by USA Today and a great shot to improve on last season's state runner-up finish. Good luck.

6. Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The former Ducks goalie (AHL here) and current Ducks goalie (NHL) had 60 saves Thursday night, 40 in the five overtimes of Anaheim's 4-3 victory.

That's got to be one of the greatest individual stats in sports history.

7. Taiwan. The Evil Empire is back in the Little League World Series.

8. Archie Griffin. The other Heisman Trophy winner drafted by the Bengals. He wasn't bad as a pro. Let's hope for a little more from Carson Palmer.

9. Chris Reitsma. In the age of belly-aching pro athletes, he handled his demotion to Triple-A with class, and didn't gloat when he pitched well in his first start with the Reds. What do they have against that guy, anyway?

10. Fans on the field. Won't be long before the Fox network has a "When fans get beat up by athletes" show.

Thumbs down

No. 1 draft picks I. Nothing against Carson Palmer. Seems like a swell Sean Casey-like guy.

But paying $10.01 million before he puts on an NFL pad, with a $4 million bonus if he's on the ROSTER in 2005? And then the plan is for him to be a backup his first season? Seems a bit crazy. (Guess the Bengals 12-year plan gets booted back to a 13-year plan).

2. No. 1 draft picks II. The Reds pay Chris Gruler a club-record $2.5 million signing bonus and then he needs shoulder surgery and will miss a year to 18 months.

3. The Olympics. A federal appeals court reinstated bribery and racketeering charges against Salt Lake Organizing Committee members.

That on the heels of the revelation that U.S. athletes competed after failing drug tests. Now that's the Olympic ideal.

4. Bob Boone I. He just can't win. The Reds get a 3-0 shutout and he gets tons of grief from fans because he pulled Reitsma after eight shutout innings.

5. Bob Boone II. When did he start calling runs POINTS, for crying out loud?

6. Carson Palmer's plan to get away from L.A. traffic. Boy, is he going to be surprised driving around this town.

7. Tennis channel. ESPN pay-per-view. NBA.TV. The college channel. What, we don't have anything better to do than watch sports on TV?

8. The Bucks. Nice touch having Sam Cassell, Gary Payton and Jason Caffey surrender to Toronto police to face assault charges - in the middle of the playoffs.

9. College coaching carousel. It's an old issue, but when a coach leaves, his recruits should be able to as well.

10. Mike Tyson. Here's what New Jersey state senator Richard Codey said when demanding that Tyson not be granted a license to fight in the state.

"Saddam Hussein is more likely to reform himself than Mike Tyson."