By JIM DONALDSON, The Providence Journal

Blindsided.

That's the word David Ortiz, Boston manager Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein all used in talking about the revelation Thursday that Big Papi -- along with former Boston Red Sox, and now Los Angeles Dodgers, outfielder Manny Ramirez -- were among the 100-plus players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

Blindsided.

"We're not trying to embarrass the best players in the game. We're trying to identify them."
Sandy Tatum, a USGA official, made that since oft-repeated comment about the U.S. Open in 1974, when players complained loud and long about the fiendish difficulty course at Winged Foot, where Hale Irwin was the winner, despite shooting 7-over-par.

They are, in the pretentious parlance of the National Football League, an Organized Team Activity.

One of the five writers assigned by one of Boston's major metropolitan dailies to cover Tom Brady's momentous appearance on the practice field here Thursday was eager to know why the Patriots' recuperating quarterback had been spotted riding a bicycle around suburban Boston without a helmet.

Today's topic deals with the home losses in Game Seven of their respective playoff series by both the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.
What in the name of Lucky the Leprechaun is going on at the Garden?

Saturday's 134th Preakness Stakes has suddenly turned into more of a soap opera than a horse race.
The second leg of the Triple Crown in Baltimore should be renamed the "As The Horse Racing World Turns" Stakes.

What's all the fuss about, I wondered, as national racing writers extolled I Want Revenge, touting the young colt as a possible favorite for the Kentucky Derby following his win in the Gotham Stakes.

Last week, it was Bridget's people getting their lovely noses out of joint over comments made by Gisele in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, on the cover of which she poses in the tastefully draped nude and, inside, talks about her feelings toward the love child of her new husband -- the Patriots' handsome hunk of a quarterback, Tom Brady -- and Ms. Moynahan.

I'm worried about Tom Brady.
I'm worried that the New England Patriots quarterback may be thinking more about Dolce and Gabbana than the Jets and Dolphins.
What else could we think after reading this report last week in US magazine about the wedding of the Patriots' superstar quarterback and his supermodel girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen:

Now we know who was the brains of the outfit.
New Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli just outsmarted, outmanuevered, flat out committed grand larceny on one of his former employers, the Patriots of New England.
Quarterback Matt Cassel and veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel for a second-round pick?