sports columns

Dear Babe: I recently came across 24 Homogenized Bond Bread cards. After some research, I'm still confused. These 24 cards are supposedly from a set of 44. They are in excellent condition and measure 2.25-x-3.5 with sharp corners and are blank on the back. I believe $180 was paid for them. -- Ray Bonanno, Montclair, N.J.

Anyone else tired of the Celtics and Lakers?
Or how about the Red Wings and Penguins?

Dear Babe: I just came across a 1946-47 NY Giants autographed baseball (I've verified 12 of the 14 signatures), and the only anomaly was Cid Gordon, spelled with a "C.'' I know zero about sports, but I've had the ball for about 38 years. My mother was a waitress in an upscale restaurant in Boston during the 1940s and 1950s that the Red Sox liked to frequent.

So you're sick of Alex Rodriguez, are you? Can't endure another syllable? Begging for relief?
Well, here it is: Brett Favre is being re-inflated as the next quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, if you believe the rapidly overheating rumor mill.

Friday evening. I drove through brutal traffic, waited in line 15 minutes for a lousy pretzel, and stood in a slight drizzle watching a ballgame.
My reward: San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, featuring the type of high-voltage arm possessed by only a few men in history, let me down.

Just signed up for a Twitter account! It's all the rage in sports. Now I'm hungry. Nuke some taquitos, perhaps?
Gotta write a column. My idea well is dry as a good martini. Got an idea for me? Anyone? Anyone?
If I see something sent by the country singer named Conway, is it a Conway Twitter?

Times are tough? Take something away from our kids.
After all, this is the great state of Florida, right? This is the state that ranks second-to-last -- 50th on a list of 51, including the District of Columbia -- in per-pupil spending on public education compared to its relative wealth.

Dear Babe: My uncle has two rain checks going back to 1909. One is a 1909 Boston American League Baseball Club Rain check and the other is a 1911 Boston America Ball Club (Trimont Press). -- Greg Zoia, Nashua N.H.

In one sense, says Tom McCarthy, he's thankful that his sudden success didn't arrive earlier in life.
Saddling a horse for the Kentucky Derby, the 75-year-old retired high school principal says, easily could have gone to his head years ago. Even now, he says, "it's overwhelming."
"After all these years," he says. "At the age I am."

So many famous sports venues have disappeared. We've lost Boston Garden and Chicago Stadium. The Montreal Forum is now a shopping mall. The Toronto Maple Leafs don't play at Maple Leaf Gardens. Philadelphia's Spectrum no longer houses the Sixers or Flyers, and the Great Western Forum no longer is the home of the Los Angeles Lakers or Kings.