It's an old conductor's trick I learned from Leonard Bernstein.

Mark Prior Blame Game! (Bugs & Cranks)

Mark Prior is injured, the earth is still spinning, and water is still wet. All seems right with the world, except in Cubbyville. With the team with a less-than-stellar 8-13 record, Cub fans have plenty to complain about. Always one to fuel the fire, I���m here to remind Cub Nation that for the second time in a span of five years, the Cubs have ruined baseball���s most promising pitching prospect. But who���s really to blame?

Want to buy a piece of an English soccer team? (Sportscolumn Blog)

Here's the basic idea: 50,000 members each pony up $70 to buy a share of a "purchase fund". The resulting $2.7M fund will be used to buy a football club. (In case you're doing the math and it doesn't add up -- part of the membership fee goes to administrative fees, of course.) Then each member has an equal vote in determining which club to purchase, player acquisitions, starting lineups, etc.

That Was Definitely Blood on Curt Schilling���s Sock (Larry Brown Sports)

End the speculation. It was definitely blood on the sock. No question about it. And I will dissect every aspect of it: First, the surgeon explains it all himself (but of course the skeptics would say he���s part of Schilling���s click).

Rod Pampling Is Punctual (Rumors and Rants)

Everyone loves a good squabble between athletes. This story isn't one of those, though. Because Rod Pampling and Phil Mickelson are golfers, not athletes. We'd much prefer another Robin Ventura vs. Nolan Ryan melee, but we're thinking that probably won't happen in the tee box at the third hole. Still, there are some (relatively speaking) bad vibes here.

A 17-Game Regular Season? (Signal to Noise)

That possibility might come sooner than you think. Roger Goodell is just as committed to promoting the NFL in overseas markets as Paul Tagliabue was, and in order to increase the commitment to games played in those markets, there's some early exploration of possibly increasing the regular season to 17 games, the most likely option being getting rid of a pre-season game (not like any one of us out there will really miss them.)