By DAVE KRIEGER, Scripps Howard News Service

Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle now suggests "Rocktember.""He didn't say that," Brian Fuentes said.Oh, but he did.

BEIJING -- Granted, China's state-controlled press is hardly the hard-bitten U.S. bunch, and reporters from many countries cheer their own at the Olympics. But still. Reporters generally weep only when the free food runs out.

BEIJING -- James Blake was on the verge of the breakthrough he has been chasing for so long, and in the Olympics, no less. Then he wasn't.It was not simply a painful loss. It was a disillusioning one.

DENVER -- Let's talk trades. The Colorado Rockies sure are.If putting pitcher Jeff Francis on the disabled list Wednesday was not their white flag, it was pretty close. Francis could have continued to pitch through an inflamed shoulder, but the way he's pitching and the Rocks are playing, why risk it?

DENVER -- Before Monday night's battle for last place in the feeble National League Worst, Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle sent a greeting to the visitors' dugout for San Diego Padres manager Bud Black."If it was easy," Hurdle shouted from the batting cage, "anybody could do it."

My son and I happened to be in Boston last summer, on our annual ballpark trip, when the Celtics introduced their latest acquisition to the faithful.They did it at Fenway Park on a perfect summer evening before an Orioles-Red Sox game. It was a surprisingly memorable moment.

A respected Denver Broncos veteran who shall remain nameless let it be known during quarterback camp that simply by jettisoning receiver Javon Walker and linebacker Ian Gold in the offseason, the Broncos became a better team.This was a reference not to talent but to team chemistry, to that elusive sense of unity the Broncos used to know.

From a distance, it's always so easy.Jerry Rice? Hang 'em up!M.J.? Don't come back!It's fun to conduct other people's careers for them, especially famous people. It's a vicarious thrill, like telling a rich guy how to spend his money.

They were already asking coach Phil Jackson before the game how much rest would be optimum for his Los Angeles Lakers prior to their next playoff series.Two days off is nice, he said. By the third day, you want to play.

Two days before the NBA season ends, as the Denver Nuggets mount their final playoff drive, Carmelo Anthony is arrested for investigation of drunk driving at 4 a.m. on I-25.