You beat me to that response, nycprof. I've always thought that baseball players were uniquely vulnerable to psychological influences... just as you say, their actions tend to be much more deliberate. You're standing in the batter's box, getting ready for the pitch. Or you're getting ready to make the pitch, or you're in the field getting ready to react... either way, there's plenty of time for all those negative thoughts to squirm into your head. Just think of the players who have had to leave the game as a result of psychological problems, Knoblauch and Ankiel being two recent high-profile exampes. I've never heard of something like that happening to a basketball or football player, though I'm more of a baseball fan, myself. And yet there are several examples of baseball players who developed psychological hiccups and were unable to continue playing. Does anyone else know of examples like this from other sports?

Congratulations to the White Sox, who have played fantastic baseball since that sweep of the Indians at the end of the regular season.

There's an online reprint of Updike's "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" (inspired by Williams's home run in his last at-bat)which was first published by the New Yorker in 1960.

Not sure if I'll be able to post the link, but here goes:

http://www.boston.com/sports/redsox/williams/july_7/updike_essay.shtml

King: This is totally off-topic, but I'm sure you've read about Sheryl Swoopes' decision to openly talk about her relationship with another woman. I'm surprised you haven't commented yet-- I expected a mini-response at the end of your column yesterday or today. I think it will be interesting to see the effect of Swoopes' decision (and its aftermath) on other gay/lesbian athletes who may come out of the closet at some time in the future. I know you've touched on this subject before-- any thoughts?

Overall, I really like the redesign. I love the letters option, and I can see that Salon has worked hard to come up with an attractive, easy-to-use design. I agree with other comments on the wire stories... since the redesign I keep missing them. They seem so separate from the rest of the page, maybe I'm subconsciously thinking of them as ads.

And I wish the new "Women's Blog" could have been accented with a color other than pink-- ANY other color! The chick-lit motif doesn't really do it for me.

I've never understood all the claims of parity in the NFL. Fundamentally, the so-called parity is a function of small sample size. If each baseball team played only 16 games, anything could happen. I'd rather see them distinguish themselves over the ups and downs of 162 games.

Also, King, I have a question about your revenue figures. You name the Yankees as the highest-grossing baseball team-- not surprising. But who is second, and how close are they? Are the Yankees as much of an outlier as the Expos?

Well said, reddogs. As a domestic violence counselor, I can say I have personally met many women for whom spousal notification could mean serious injury or death. Statistically, domestic violence often begins or escalates with pregnancy or the birth of a child. Certainly, we would all love to be in a world where couples can lovingly discuss their options in the face of an unexpected pregnancy. That's the way it "should" be. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, where that's not always possible. The question is, do we trust women to decide for themselves when it is safe for them to discuss this topic with their husbands or boyfriends? From judges like Alito (and even Salon letters like ranndino), the answer is clearly NO.

King, you are a disgrace to the family name of Wagstaff, if such a thing is possible.

I am very grateful to people like Dr. Wise, both personally and professionally. But a couple of years ago, my husband and I had a scare with a broken condom.

We live in New York City, so finding a pharmacy to dispense the pills should not have been a problem. But I had recently lost my job as a domestic violence counselor, and I had no health insurance. Panicked, I turned to an internet search and discovered Dr. Wise's site. After reading the information, I began calling pharmacies in the area to determine whether they carried Plan B-- I made seven or eight calls before finding one (almost an hour's train ride away) to fill the prescription.

I experienced only mild side-effects, plus an overwhelming sense of relief that I had been able to obtain the medication relatively quickly. I remember my anger at the realization that this internet-based option would not be so easily available to many, including the low-income clients I had counseled at work. I have tried to spread the word to other women I know, and I encourage everyone else to do the same.

Emergency contraception is easy to use, safe, and effective. Because its effectiveness declines over time, women need access to the medication as quickly as possible. This means over-the-counter access. Though a small percentage of women may suffer more severe side effects, even these don't tend to be harmful.

Why would we not want to prevent unwanted births? Why force women to endure weeks of anguish, or the potentially painful decision of how to handle an unplanned pregnancy? We can prevent much suffering by making emergency contraception easily available to all women in America, and by forcing pharmacies to do their jobs in providing the medication to women who need it.

"What is the best day in my cycle to hit Gabrielle Lichterman over the head..."

I think you answered your own question here!

"According to the Lichterman, you should basically write off the premenstrual Days 23-28. Who wants grumpy women standing in checkout lines and jockeying for parking spaces anyway?!?!"

You've got six full days of rage to take out on her. Put it to good use!