By Scott Wells

I am also irritated that the government is wasted hordes of cash – some of it mine(!!!) – chasing this woman and trying to ruin her, while Kenneth Lay and other true corporate criminals (to the tune of billions of dollars) are left alone. I guess Martha should have donated to the Republican Party and chugged a few (thousand) cocktails with Dubya back in the day.

Either that, or she could have robbed investors of billions of dollars instead of saving herself a few bucks. Anyway, the long and the short of it is, she’s screwed, I’m screwed, you’re screwed, and the Justice Department is screwed-up.

Now, on to Sammy Sosa and his corked bat. Why is this getting so much attention? Is anyone surprised when athletes cheat anymore? It’s not like he cheated on his wife, groped a woman in a restaurant, or murdered someone.

Did he actually use a corked bat? Yes. But how many of his other seventy-six bats were corked? None! Just that one, which he says he used only in batting practice so he could hit the ball further because he wanted to please the fans.

Wow, an athlete who cares about the fans! How rare is that? I, for one, believe his story. If he had been cheating on a regular basis, wouldn’t it make sense that more than that one bat would have been tampered with? Besides, with all the performance enhancing drugs and steroids that MLB continues to allow, I’m surprised that Sammy and more players don’t have to cork a certain part of their anatomy to hit a home run in the bedroom.

One more sports topic – I’m glad Jersey won the cup, because I would cringe to hear the words “NHL Champion Mighty Ducks” used in that order. Those words go together like “fierce earthworms” or “subdued tornado.” Classy Freddie Blassie recently passed away at the age of 85 due to heart and kidney failure, after spending almost seventy years in the wrestling business. He took time off from wrestling to fight in World War 2, and to have kidney surgery. Other than that, he was there, a fixture in wrestling’s scene.

He was the first pro wrestler to find mainstream popularity, guest starring on The Dick Van Dyke show, interviewed several times by Regis Philbin, and making a movie with Andy Kaufman. He worked with four generations of the McMahon Family and helped build the careers of men like Hulk Hogan, The Iron Sheik, Jesse “The Body” Ventura and George “The Animal” Steele.

And, as sad as it was to hear that he left us, I find some solace in knowing that three weeks before he passed, he was doing what he always loved – entertaining on TV. Hell, he got to rip Eric Bischoff verbally, and deliver one of the most popular phrases in modern wrestling – “Devon, get the table!” It was a fitting way to say goodbye. And to any fan of the business who hasn’t read his book, go out and get it. It’s even better than Foley’s two.