TOUGH QUESTION

VERDUCCI

Tom Verducci's cover story in last week's Sports Illustrated on Yankee Alex Rodriguez couldn't have shocked anyone who reads the New York tabloids in terms of its content, but in terms of the details and behind-the-scenes anecdotes it contained, it was an eye-opener. But that's Verducci, who is the most consistently solid writer SI has these days.
In the magazine's baseball preview issue last March, Verducci pegged Derek Jeter as his choice for the American League Most Valuable Player award this season. It may not seem like such a strange choice, but Jeter has never won the award and in this age of gaudy offensive numbers, it was an unlikely bet. And yet the Yankee shortstop, as Verducci predicted, will probably win the award this season for his consistency at the plate (batting .342) and for being the anchor when so many of his teammates were lost to injury or, as in A-Rod's case, simply lost.
You wonder how Verducci could have foreseen all of this. How he could peg a solid, reliable veteran who never calls attention to himself and whose most extraordinary traits are his mind-numbing consistency and his ability to always come through when it matters most, to win the AL MVP when he knew he'd never belt even 20 home runs. But then, Tom Verducci is the Derek Jeter of SI

TYPO TANTALIZATION

You ever wake up and attempt to log onto your hotmail account before showering or having a cup of coffee? And in doing so, maybe, you mistyped? For example, maybe you typed the "m" before the "t", as I did today? If you haven't and you're curious, give it a try. It's the difference between retrieving hotmail and hot tail.

THE PERFECT SITE FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

As you probably have heard, the Arizona Cardinals sold the naming rights to their new stadium to the University of Phoenix yesterday for $145 million (even though a local tourist tax had largely funded the structure, the Cardinlals keep the coin; you can't produce a team that wins one playoff game every 60 years on a shoestring budget, afte all). So, college football fans, you have an inaugural official BCS national championship game in a stadium named after a university that does not have a football program in a town (Glendale) that is different than the one (Phoenix) on the name of the stadium.
The fun irony for me, who spent a college summer unloading trucks at a United Parcel Service depot not far from where the stadium now stands, is that the abbreviation for University of Phoenix Stadium will provide as much free advertising for UPS as it will expensive advertising for the U. of Phoenix.
And, for the record, Cardinals, you blew a HUGE opportunity to at last endear yourselves to your fans by not naming it Pat Tillman Memorial Stadium, as many locals who revere the former Arizona State and Cardinal player had wished. This is one organization that just never ever gets it.