- The Yankees' acquisition of the once-great Ichiro fits a decades-old franchise pattern of bringing in late-season help for a pennant push. Johnny Mize, Cecil Fielder and Pudge Rodriguez are a few names that immediately come to mind dating back from the 1950s to the present. But make no mistake, while Ichiro could help the team and may even find the Fountain of Youth, he is a mere shadow of the superstar we've come to know. His last two seasons, this one included, have seen a significant decline in his offensive output. No shame there; the man is 38. But Yankees fans shouldn't be deluded into thinking this vintage Ichiro has found his way into pinstripes.

- With Ichiro joining senior citizens Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Raul Ibanez, Eric Chavez, Andy Pettite, Freddy Garcia, Hiroki Kuroda and Mariano Rivera, I'm looking for a statistic that might show if this Yankees roster has the highest average age in franchise history.

- Here's my current Final 4 in baseball: AL - Yankees vs. Angels. NL - Dodgers vs. Nationals.

- The New York Rangers picked up Rick Nash from Columbus for a modest price. Now fanatics are saying this is the final piece of the Stanley Cup puzzle. I say if anything bad happens to goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, Nash could score 60 goals and the Blueshirts would still be bridesmaids.

- Being at an Olympics, as I was in 1980 at Lake Placid, is entirely different experience than watching them on TV for a variety of obvious reasons. Biggest for me is the network jingoism that smothers appreciation for athletic excellence if it hasn't been accomplished by an American. Not far behind is the disappearance of true amateurism.