By Mike Ball
Cincinnati Enquirer

Thumbs up

1. Karl Malone and John Stockton. You can just about bet the NBA never will see another tandem play 18 seasons together.

2. The Cyclones. At last, they stood up to those (Boardwalk) Bullies. Probably got tired of them taking their meal money.

3. $1 Blue Jays tickets. Sure, it was a one-time deal designed to show Toronto was safe from SARS. But maybe Major League Baseball - not to mention the NBA and NHL - should take note. They're slowly pricing the regular guy out of the game.

4. Ben Roethlisberger. The stud Miami QB has shown up on Danny Sheridan's Heisman Trophy list as the sixth choice at 15-1. The champion Buckeyes, by the way, are co-favorites with Oklahoma at 6-1.

5. The Flying Pig Marathon. Granted, running 26.2 miles doesn't sound all that appealing to most of us. But those who get it, get it bad. Quite an event.

6. The Kentucky Derby. A much shorter race but better hats.

7. Alan Trammell and Kirk Gibson. They get points for not killing any of their players during a 3-25 start. After all, the Tigers legends were on a team that started 35-5.

8. Andre Agassi. He won his 58th career title last week and is the oldest player to be ranked No. 1. Here's hoping he comes to the Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati to tune up for the U.S. Open, with a shot at a grand slam.

9. Jim Rome. The national radio host makes a tour stop here this week. Epic.

10. The Reds. Hey, what other team could enter the weekend four games out of first playing baseball like that?

Thumbs down

1. Mike Brown. He deserves a lot of credit for his change in ways. But quoting the movie Patton? As in, "America loves a winner. It will not tolerate a loser." Well, there never have been more tolerant Americans than Bengal fans.

2. Larry Eustachy and Mike Price. You've got it wrong, guys. It's the co-eds who go wild, not the coaches.

3. New baseball All-Star format. Now the winning team earns home field for the World Series. One just shouldn't have anything to do with the other.

4. Expanded baseball All-Star rosters. Good move by the players' union. Now even more of those silly All-Star bonuses should kick in for guys who don't deserve to be All-Stars.

5. Jason Richardson of the Warriors and Julio Lugo of the Astros. Each was charged with beating his wife. At least the Astros made the strong move of cutting Lugo.

6. NASCAR. The safety record is pretty amazing, really. But crashes like the one that seriously injured Jerry Nadeau make you wonder.

7. Fred Couples. There's no crying in . . . wait, that's baseball.

8. Dmitri Young, batting .174 for the Tigers. "What made the day worse was nobody was in the stands. Nobody is behind us." What did he expect from fans of that team?

9. College football players leaving early. Only 20 of 45 players who came out were drafted in the first three rounds. And none of the contracts is guaranteed.

10. Idiot fans, part XIV. Pacers bad boy Ron Artest has garbage thrown at him. Another knucklehead charges the field in Toronto.