Thumbs Up

Barry Bonds

He is the most intimidating hitter since Babe Ruth, so much so that opponents simply aren't pitching to him. He had 36 walks entering Friday, 17 of which were intentional. His 1.176 slugging percentage and .701 on-base percentage were just off the charts.

Tony Hawk

The world's most popular skateboarder spent four days in the war-ravaged West African nation of Sierra Leone as part of the Right to Play program of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Hawk conducted clinics for children, many of whom had been forced to fight in the nation's civil war.

ESPN

The sports network is reaping the benefit of perhaps its greatest creation - coverage of the NFL draft. The network's first-day ratings were up 3.8 percent from last year, with 31.4 million viewers tuning in.

Kobe Bryant

Considering what he has hanging over him - sometimes attending hearings on his sexual assault case in the morning, playing at night - his performance in the NBA playoffs has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Thumbs Down

Yao Ming

The Chinese Houston Rockets star likes this free enterprise thing. Yao, who earned $4.1 million last season as part of his four-year, $18 million contract, will charge a fee for his fan Web site launched last week. God Bless America.

Manchester United

The Yankees of European soccer are acting, like, well, the Yankees. Man U. is prepared to make a $35.7 million transfer bid for Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard. Liverpool, ironically, is nicknamed the Reds.

College football playoffs

ABC's proposal for a Bowl Championship Series national championship game after the five BCS games got a cold response from the organization's officials. Seems the college presidents just don't want a playoff. Period.

The NBA playoffs

The interminable first round has been basically devoid of any suspense. The home/higher-seeded teams went 25-5 the first 30 games. The first round entering today had three 4-0 sweeps and four 4-1 finishes out of eight series.

Mike Ball