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Baseball is mired in a financial swamp. Lots of fighting off snakes, alligators and Yankees. For relative hungries like the Devil Rays, it's like Pop's Hardware taking on Home Depot. Surviving must be the goal; thriving is a fantasy.
So young, so showy are NBA demographic aims that pro basketball should consider merging with MTV. Hockey is an entertaining exercise but the NHL has plunged into an economic mess so hot it could melt ice from here to Vancouver.
Among major professional leagues, only the NFL has franchise ledgers that universally make sense. Football players wear helmets but also strap on a salary cap. How long can the fiscal nonsense persist in MLB, NBA and NHL?
Among individual sports, tennis keeps groping for new heroes and old identity levels. Maybe it's different around your water cooler, but I heard zero conversation about the Australian Open, first Grand Slam of '04.
I miss Pete Sampras.
NASCAR is richer than ever but willing to take risks, trying to further hike the popularity bar. No more Winston Cup, but a Nextel rings loudly with controversial 2004 changes that has some tailpipes rumbling.
What a sweet jump-start, having the megapopular Dale Earnhardt Jr. win the Daytona 500, getting NASCAR's season away on smoking tires. Senior is an icon, but Junior outruns his dad in both warmth and candor.
Tony Stewart appears to have had a bit of a personality transplant and gets heavy hurrahs as Junior's pursuer. Jeff Gordon remains cast as the best villain this side of pro wrestling.
On to Rockingham.
Few products in professional athletics are as loaded as men's golf. Deeper than ever in prodigious talents. Awash in diverse personalities. Fortified with star power. Tiger Woods is still boss, but he skips school too much, allowing chasers on the PGA Tour to narrow the gap.
Vijay Singh isn't as magnetic, likable or marketable as Woods but the Fijian is a relentless churner. Recently, in 12 consecutive tournaments, Vijay was a top-10 finisher, frequently on weekends when Tiger opted to stay home and play fiance and/or financier.
Watch your back, Woodsie.
Ernie Els, a South African all but universally adored by golf galleries, keeps inching up against Tiger and Vijay, well within reach of becoming No.1 by year's end if Big Easy's successes come in major championships.
There's more. Lots of glitter as the tour gets wound up for its Florida swing. Popularity is as elevated as ever for American good guys Davis Love and Fred Couples plus those intriguing left-handers, Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir, but the loudest, quirkiest buzz is over a reconstituted John Daly, last weekend's winner in San Diego.
A formidable circus.
BILLY WOES: There's a lot of talent among the Florida Gators, but coach Billy Donovan's product has gone from No.1 to deep desperation.
Considering the season's rich expectations, it could be the school's most disappointing basketball team ever. After an 11-2 start, the Gators turned sour.
Anthony Roberson is a gifted shooter but he's no more a point guard than Warren Sapp is a tailback.
It's difficult to operate high in NCAA or SEC clouds with nobody to stabilize during bad patches or to deftly distribute the rock to gunners.
For a December heartbeat, UF was No.1 in national polls. Today, the Gators might not be in the top 41, or 51. A critical turnaround is needed, for a season of hope could wind up amid cinders of disappointment, amiss from the NCAA Tournament.
Matt Walsh is an exciting scorer, but the Gators have a habit of going into defensive comas late in games. They had Kentucky and LSU on the ropes with a couple of minutes to go but suddenly couldn't guard anybody. About that time, they also ran out of offensive gas.
Those were home games.
Christian Drejer, a hot recruit from Denmark, seemed unwilling to smack into American-style competition. He became an enormous disappointment. Then, before Wednesday's collapse at Georgia, Drejer left the team and soon headed for Spain to play pro hoops.
I'm not saying football has a better structure, but if I were Billy D, the next move would be to hire a defensive coordinator.
If the Gators don't become heavily schooled in guarding more with shifting, nimble feet and good, quick judgment - rather than slapping hands and out-of-position flailing - they aren't going to be contenders for anything but disenchantment.