By Mike Ball
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Thumbs up

1. The Bengals. The talk is of . . . the Bengals making the playoffs? Be careful: It's unwise to pencil in victories in the on-any-given-Sunday NFL, even if the Cardinals and Texans are next on the schedule.

2. Craig Krenzel. The Buckeyes' quarterback continues to leave other "student athletes" in the dust. The molecular genetics major - and national title-winning QB - was named last week as a member of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame's 2003 class, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. Terrific. Now beat Michigan.

3. Dan O'Brien. The new Reds general manager made a solid first impression. He has the baseball pedigree. He said all the right things about developing talent. Trouble is, how ready are Reds fans to accept the latest build-for-the-future plan? Here's a clue: The club better spend some money on this season's team. David Wells? Kevin Millwood? We don't want to hear, "Welcome to RedsFest: Get your Ryan Freel autograph here."

4. LeBron James. Somehow, the kid lived up to the billing, at least for a couple of games. Still, as great a story as he is, the best NBA storyline continues to be Kobe vs. Shaq. It doesn't get better than spoiled gazillionaires sniping at one another.

5. Tom Watson. After the Hall of Fame golfer clinched the Champions Tour Charles Schwab points competition, worth a $1 million annuity, he donated a large portion of the annuity to organizations fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Watson's caddie of 30 years, Bruce Edwards, was diagnosed this year with ALS.

Thumbs down

1. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. He oversaw hearings with representatives of the Bowl Championship Series accusing the schools of running a system that raises questions of unfairness, suggesting Congress could intervene. Priorities, anyone?

2. Deep-pocket baseball owners. 1.) The Red Sox put Manny Ramirez on waivers, hoping someone would claim him and his final five years at $20 million-plus. 2.) The Rangers let it be known Alex Rodriguez can be had, provided you assume the remaining $179 million of his contract. 3.) Sammy Sosa exercised his two-year, $33 million option because he always wanted to end his career as a Cub. Well, sure he did.

3. The Utah Jazz. Nothing against the influx of new, young players to the loop, but for the love of Karl Malone and John Stockton - Carlos Arroyo, Sasha Pavlovic and Andrei Kirilenko and Raja Bell?

4. The Marlins. The Jack McKeon-led men stunned the Yankees and got just what they wanted. A World Championship? But better still - more leverage for a stadium deal. They even agreed to change their name to the Miami Marlins as part of an agreement.

5. ESPN. The latest in entertainment and sports programming? Try Scrabble. Seriously.