It's a little unfair comparing Dennis Rodman as a basketball player with Terrell Owens as a football player. Though it's true that Rodman was never a "complete player"--at his best, he was a defensive specialist who also rebounded, and was never a scorer--no football player is really expected to be a complete player. People don't criticize Terrell Owens for his inability to rush the passer.

My recollection is that Rodman's increasingly eccentric behavior coincided with his turn from a defensive specialist to a rebounding machine. As his need for attention grew, so did the amount of attention he received for the amount of rebounds he gathered (as well as for his weird behavior). Unfortunately, his value as a basketball player to his team decreased as the amount of rebounds he gathered increased--he was so focused on rebounding that lost his edge as a defender.

On another topic, I have two One Million (old) Turkish Lira bills in my wallet. King, I'd be happy to send both of them to you as payment for sponsoring the What the Heck™ pick. I mean, what could be more What the Hecky than a didjeridu player's record company named after a cat?

I'm a musician, not a writer, but I've definitely experienced less-than-glowing reviews.

In one case, I complained to the publisher (a website) about the review, and a new one (still not glowing, but better) was put in its place. I was a little hesitant to complain--I didn't want to seem thin-skinned, but it's strange to read about the poor technical quality of one's recording in a review riddled with grammatical errors.

If it's just a matter of taste, or the person not understanding the work, it's probably better to just let it stand, though.

I remember a letter written to Down Beat magazine many years ago by the guitarist Joe Pass. He was writing about a negative review of a recent release of his, and he said that on reflection, the recording in fact did not live up to his standards, and he agreed with the negative review.

The trick is to weed out the garbage and find the information that can be helpful for future works, in both positive and negative reviews.

I have to take issue with the assumption that an adult treating a teenager as a peer is inappropriate.

One of the things that I've appreciated about my life is that when I was a teenager, starting when I was 13, I had adult peers. This was because I started running seriously at that age, and would often find myself running with, and competing against, the same folks in races.

In the fall of my sophomore year in high school I spent my Sundays going on long runs with a group of adults in training for a marathon.

As rare as that experience was for me then, I think it's become much more difficult for someone to have that same experience.

I understand that it's important to be watchful of potential abusers, but we're also losing a lot in the process. Ask any teacher when was the last time they hugged a student.

It's equal to the death toll of 220 September 11 attacks.

Man, you've gotta love this guy. This is in his campaign ad! He doesn't say something like "the allegations of abuse are totally baseless", or anything along those lines. He just says they were never proven. Not exactly a strong defense of his character.

If the Dems can't take control of Congress in this election, I'm afraid this country is beyond hope. It's just so clear what a bunch of slimeballs the Republicans are.

What's with Scarborough calling Jay Leno "Lenin"? Not just once, but twice! It's not as if his comedy is revolutionary.

It's a silly thing to get wrong in a commercial--there's really no excuse for it these days--do a google search, and you don't even have to open any of the links.

How 'bout, instead of having the All Star Break in July, baseball has the Playoff Break in July. Have the regular season start in August, run through October (with the All-Star game in late October or early November in either a southern city of a city with covered stadium), take a break through the winter, then resume again in April.

Just think, baseball fans would have all winter to speculate about the developing pennant races (and baseball fans love to do that sort of thing).

I know it's a wacko idea, but it also makes a lot of sense--the playoffs would be played in actual baseball weather, and players would be at their peak, rather than tired from a long season, and the break in the middle of the season takes advantage of the ways that baseball fans enjoy baseball.

I had heard about this incident, but I've never seen it before.

What strikes me is that Namath is clearly drunk, so you have to wonder why they put him on camera.

It also strikes me that Suzy Kolber handles the situation pretty darn well, all things considered. She handled a lout with class.