John Smallwood

PHILADELPHIA -- What if you held a lockout and hardly anyone cared?

That's what the National Basketball Association is finding out right now.

It has been 2 1/2 months since the owners locked the players out on June 30 and the NBA effectively stopped doing business, but it's barely registered a ripple on the sports radar.

I'm sure United States men's national soccer team manager Bob Bradley didn't think the wolf would be at his door so quickly.

Bradley knew the 2011 CONCACF Gold Cup was going to play a huge role in solidifying confidence in his rehiring last August.

CHESTER, Pa. -- Decisions like these are why the legacy of David Beckham in Major League Soccer will be nothing like what it could have been.

For an MLS stint with so much promise, Beckham has delivered comparatively little.

PHILADELPHIA -- Of course, the Flyers should do whatever they can to win the Presidents' Trophy.

--Not because it's the most prestigious regular-season team award in the NHL.

--Not because the winning team gets a $350,000 bonus for the players to split, although something like that never hurts.

--Not because it's a trophy the Flyers have never won.

--Not even because doing so would clinch home ice for the Flyers for as long as they are in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

PHILADELPHIA -- For all of those myopic local fans who consistently e-mail me claiming that the National Hockey League generates more interest than the National Basketball Association, I offer you the overnight TV ratings.

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- Tiger Woods actually is more interesting than ever, and, no, it's not because of the circus surrounding his marital indiscretions.

Woods had become boring in his dominance of the PGA Tour. He might have lost tournaments sometimes, but rarely was he beaten.