Gwen Knapp

Tim Hardaway says not a day goes by that he doesn't think about what he said in a radio interview 4-1/2 years ago, when he infamously declared: "I hate gay people, so I let it be known. ... I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

The word "hate" particularly haunted him. "That's not me. That's not how I am," the former Warrior said by phone from Miami. "I'm a loving person."

Optimism about ending the NFL lockout should, in theory, be multiplied several times over for the San Francisco 49ers. Reopening for business by mid-July, a rational forecast in light of recent negotiations, would allow them to hold an adequate first training camp under new coach Jim Harbaugh, rather than a fire drill in August.

But the relief could quickly give way to acute buyer's remorse if certain quarterbacks become available at reasonable prices. The 49ers committed early to bringing back incumbent Alex Smith for a seventh season, a decision that would have been incomprehensible in a normal offseason. Back in January, when Harbaugh publicly proclaimed himself a Smith supporter, the chances of signing or trading for a quarterback with better credentials seemed remote, especially if the lockout stretched into August and turned the transaction period into a chaotic bazaar.

But now it appears that the time to do deals might be long enough to avoid madness, and the list of likely transfers has grown.

Barry Bonds told at least one unmitigated truth in the 2003 grand jury testimony that yielded an obstruction-of-justice conviction against him last week. His experience as the son of a major-leaguer taught him never to trust his employers.

"Because I was born in this game. Believe me," he told a prosecutor. "It's a business. Last time I played baseball was in college. I work for a living now."

Of the three major sports leagues, only one has entered its current labor negotiations without doomsday prophecies emanating from the team owners. It's baseball, the one that does not have a salary cap.

The other two, the NFL and NBA, supposedly have protection from runaway player contracts, yet both claim that labor costs are strangling them. Major League Baseball is cruising toward a new labor agreement when the current one expires in December, while the two capped-leagues are facing the possibility of a shutdown for at least part of next season.

Yet cranks continue to argue that baseball desperately needs a salary cap, if only to resolve a dangerous competitive imbalance. In reality, baseball has experienced more trophy turnover than the two other leagues, especially the NBA. Over the past 10 years, baseball has produced nine different World Series champions, the NFL seven Super Bowl winners and the NBA just five crowned franchises.

Tiger Woods is painting by the numbers now, doing all the hackneyed personality-rehab assignments. He wrote a Newsweek op-ed that said the last year had changed him, leaving him with a pain in his soul over an artificially conducted personal life. He wrote about learning the joy of bathing his kids and feeding them macaroni and cheese. He went on ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" radio show. He sent out his first tweet.

Over the last five years, no athlete has surprised me as much as Lorena Ochoa. Her retirement at age 28, announced Tuesday, came as only a mild shock, because she has talked about an early departure from golf in favor of rearing a family.

In case the proposal to expand the NCAA men's basketball tournament to 96 teams doesn't underscore the excesses of college sports, consider this: