It’s late March, and we all know what that means – America’s Pastime is right around the corner.

This week, I racked my brain to think of something sports related to talk about. I came up with an idea to let my faithful readers know the best and worst sports movies of all time.

I know what you are saying, “Doug, why do we need to know this?”

Ah, the joys of spring. The air is getting a little warmer, the snow is melting, and I don’t have to start my pickup 20 minutes before I want to go somewhere.

There a few things that occur every spring. Baseball players go to spring training, NBA and NHL players trudge away towards the end of their seasons, and of course, NFL players get to test free agency.

And, in what might be one of the biggest blunders of all time, Terrell Owens’ agent forgot to fill out the paperwork so that Owens could become a free agent.

Now, instead, Owens will have to remain with the San Francisco 49ers for three more years.

Seriously, how do you forget to do that? It isn’t like forgetting to put your name at the top of a homework paper.

If you’re an agent, this is one of your main jobs. I mean seriously, how could he forget to do something like this?

It wouldn’t be so bad if Owens was content with staying with the 49ers, but he has made it abundantly clear that he wants out. He even posted it on his website that he wanted to play with Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles.

He has had fights with assistant coaches and bad-mouthed his quarterback, Jeff Garcia, who is a three time pro-bowler by the way.

So now the ‘Niners and Owens are married for three more years unless they can work out a trade with another team, which is pretty unlikely with the size of Owens’ current contract and the asking price of his next one. There are teams that are interested, like the Jets and Eagles, but they both probably won’t be able to pull the trigger. Another thing working against Terrell is the fact that this might be the deepest draft for the wide receiver position in a long time.

So, I guess if any of you are looking at becoming an agent for somebody, I would put important dates like these on your calendar so you don’t forget about them.

If I was Terrell Owens, I would think about making my agent try to drink a gallon of milk in an hour.See if he likes that.I guarantee he wouldn’t forget another deadline.

The New York Yankees may not have clinched the World Series this past week with the trade for Alex Rodriguez, but they have pretty much sewn up a playoff appearance. The best part for the Pinstripes is the fact that they stole A-Rod from the rival Boston Red Sox.

The Sox were close to acquiring Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers in December, but backed out of the deal because of the cash needed to close the deal. The Red Sox have egg on their face again for letting the best player in baseball slip through their fingers because of money.

I hope everyone reading this realizes the Red Sox made the bonehead play of the century by trading the great Babe Ruth to the Yankees because they were short on money. – now, once again they screwed up.

Now the Red Sox, with just about everybody else in America, are complaining about how much the Yankees spend.I say to all of you who are complaining, “Shut up.”

If you were Yankees fans instead of sorry Twins or Royals fans, you would be loving this.Maybe if you guys had an owner willing to spend money, you could compete with the likes of the Yankees.

The Red Sox should be slapped in the face for complaining about that spending is out of control, when they have the second highest payroll in the league.

Whatever happened to the old saying, you have to spend money to make money? Some of these owners in the Major Leagues are the richest men in the country, but they would rather hold on to their money then put a competitive team out there.

To the people that are crying for a salary cap, I say NO. What we really need is a salary floor. Make these owners spend the money they are making.

What these owners don’t want to tell you, is that they make money when the Yankees overspend. For every dollar the Yankees spend over the luxury tax, they put another dollar into a pool that is distributed to the smaller market teams like the Twins and the Royals.

Do you think these owners are putting this money back into their ball clubs, or into their pockets?

I think we all know the answer.

I know that the title of my little column every week is “Ball Talk”, but this week I am going to talk about a sport that doesn’t involve putting a ball in a hoop, or crossing a goal line.

This isn’t a very taxing sport on the body, but can be on the mind, and the checkbook for that matter. That’s right, I am bringing all of you into the world of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, and I am not even going to quote “the Gambler” to do it.

I know what you are thinking, “Has our fearless leader Doug finally lost it?” And I say “No” to that.

Poker is a sport.

You spend 6 hours at a table, drinking beer and trying to bluff your way through a pair of threes against a guy that never checks, a guy that thinks he has a pair of twos, but really has a straight, and a guy that seems to have a full house every hand, and see how you feel at the end of the night.

Sports aren’t about how good of an athlete you are. If that was true, fat high school quarterbacks like me couldn’t play sports anymore.

Sports are about competition.

Sports are about beating your opponent. Sometimes they involve outrunning someone, and at other times, they involve catching a spade on the river to complete your flush draw.

Half of sports such as foot ball football lies in the preparation. If you person is the best athlete, but dumb as a post, they will to fall for the counter every play and be out of position.

It is the same way in Texas Hold ‘Em; you need to be smart. If not, you will be losing your money. For someone like me, that hurts a lot more than losing in a softball game.

My final bit of evidence that Texas Hold ‘Em can be considered a sport, is when I lost any kind of sporting event, that night and most of the next day, I would sit and think about what I did wrong, and what I should have done better.

I lost last night, because I went all in with a pair of queens and sixes. I lost because I thought I had the best possible hand, but in hindsight, there was a pair of threes on the board, and my opponent had the third three.

I have been thinking about that hand all day today. It’s probably the reason I am writing this article that none of you are probably reading at this point.

So in closing, always remember that if there is a pair of nines on the board, there is always “a possible pair of nines.”

And never forget to know when to fold ‘em. Dammit.

I am going to use this week’s article to complain about two things that really irritated me last week. The first one is that the hated New England Patriots once again won the Super Bowl. The second is the use of Instant Replay in the NFL.

I bet you five bucks that the Jets will lose next week.

October is nearing and that can only mean two things. The Jets have officially been eliminated from the NFL playoffs and the Major League Baseball playoffs areabout to begin.

Ah, the joys of fall; grilling out on the deck, cool nights, leaves turning colors, waiting in line for an hour to pay 400 bucks for three books that you probably won’t read anyway.