By TRACY RINGOLSBY, Scripps Howard News Service

Put the Mannymania on hold.
Yes, Los Angeles is a star-studded town, and yes Manny Ramirez became a Dodger darling in his two months with the team at the end of last season. No doubt if he finally signs with the Dodgers there will be a positive reaction from the fans.
But get serious.
The fortunes of the Dodgers this season aren't tied to whether Ramirez returns.

Oklahoma State University pitcher Andrew Oliver's legal victory against the NCAA last week could impact the NFL and NBA more than it does baseball.
Oliver challenged the NCAA rule that allows an athlete to retain an attorney but forbids the attorney from direct involvement in negotiations.

Baseball took a hit on Thursday.
Ted Uhlaender died.
Put Alex Rodriguez and his lies and performance-enhancing drugs on hold for a moment. Ignore the accusations of a former female acquaintance about Roberto Alomar and AIDS. Forget, temporarily, about the dog-and-pony show that Roger Clemens has become.

The Tampa Bay Rays enjoyed a dream season in 2008.
Reality comes calling in 2009.
A team that had never lost fewer than 90 games in its first decade of existence, Tampa Bay found itself in the World Series in year 11.

When the New York Yankees hired Joe Girardi as their manager before the 2008 season, they felt he had the ideal background to help nurture the development of young players, particularly pitchers Ian Kennedy, Philip Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. They promised patience.
Not that anybody should have believed it.

The nation's financial problems are being felt in baseball.
There are only 11 teams projected to open the 2009 season with a bigger payroll than a year ago. There are four teams that figured to be about the same as last year and 15 teams planning to cut salary expenditures.
What's more, the cuts are coming from the teams that have spent the most.

Amid the debate over Jim Rice's Hall of Fame candidacy came a missive from a New England fan who wanted it known that "Jim Rice's offensive stats for his first 10 years in the Majors were better than Babe Ruth's."
Times change.
So do the value of stats. Be careful of such traps.

With his death this week, Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad was described as the man who "saved" major league baseball in the Twin Cities. True, sort of.

Jim Rice epitomizes the puzzle of voting for the Hall of Fame.
He is on the ballot for the 15th and final time, and most likely, later this month when the 2009 inductees are announced, Rice will slip in, probably along with first-time candidate Rickey Henderson.

Before reacting to the New York Yankees signing free agent Mark Teixeira to an eight-year, $180 million contract, try taking a deep breath and counting to 10.