It's summer. It's hot. The dog days are upon us. And the world of sports has gone stark staring mad. I offer a few observations on the utter insanity of the past few weeks.

Stay classy, Rick Pitino.

The International Olympic Committee has recommended inclusion of golf and rugby sevens in the 2016 Summer Games. Rugby sevens is the stripped-down, faster, high-action version of a sport that is a national obsession in some parts of the world. Isn't this a little like having Olympic competition in Arena Football or Pitch-‘n'-Putt?

When I heard that Ken Williams got Alex Rios for nothing, I assumed they were talking about a baseball card. Toronto signed Rios in April 2008 for seven years at a total of $69.8 million, and unlike pro football contracts that's in real money. Because of the back-loading of the deal, the Blue Jays paid out a little more than $10 million, and are now off the hook for the remainder. The White Sox have added nearly $112 million to their future payrolls in acquiring Rios and Jake Peavy while giving up no major leaguers. It's nice to see anybody adding payroll these days; are they getting TARP money from their First Fan?

I guess it's time for TigerWoodsIsGod.com to change its name.

The New York Times ran an article last Thursday about the Rawlings S100 batting helmet, a more cumbersome but safer model designed to withstand the impact of a 100-mph fastball. Current helmets are approved if they can stand up to a 70-mph pitch, which is fine if you're facing Tim Wakefield. Some players won't wear it because of its looks. "No, I am absolutely not wearing that," Jeff Francoeur of the Mets said. "It's brutal. We're going to look like a bunch of clowns out there." (Yo, Jeff, have you seen the Mets lately?) In general, I'd say it's a good idea to have the safety equipment in a sport be able to meet the demands of the sport. Athletes always resist safety measures when they're new, but they eventually adapt to them; few hockey goalies play without a mask any more.

So Pitino paid three thousand dollars to a woman he impregnated in an after-hours liaison (everything sounds classier in French, doesn't it?), and she says it was for an abortion, he says it was so she could buy health insurance. Once Obamacare passes, he'll have to come up with a whole new excuse.

Roger Goodell has a real dilemma now. Which is worse punishment: extending Michael Vick's suspension, or making him play in front of Eagles fans?

The men who won golf's four majors this year: Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, Y.E. Yang. The second-place finishers: Kenny Perry/Chad Campbell, Phil Mickelson/David Duval/Ricky Barnes, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods. Is it too late for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf to declare itself a runners-up-only affair?

I don't understand how ESPN justifies televising two weeks of Little League baseball. Twelve-year-olds should not be providing entertainment for adults. Who cares, besides their parents and NAMBLA?

Batters wearing elbow protection crowd the plate with impunity. There's a simple solution: If a pitch hits the batter's armor, it's a ball, not a base. And while we're at it, let's have the umpires enforce the rule that it's only a hit batsman if the batter tries to get out of the way.

At the recent swimming world championships in Rome, forty-three world records were broken, which was no cause for celebration. The sudden speed rush was attributed to high-tech hydrodynamic swimsuits, which will be banned in 2010. Michael Phelps, who had benefited from the previous generational breakthrough - generations in swimming being measured in months - was held to five gold medals, and his coach Bob Bowman had many unkind words to say about the slowness of the ruling. The whole controversy could be avoided by returning to the ancient Greek ideal and having all athletes compete in the nude. It is true that all men are not created equal, and some might face more significant drag forces than others. For the first time in known history, it would be advantageous to be smaller.

The survey-testing list of 104 (or is it 96 now?) baseball players who tested positive for performance enhancers in 2003 should never be released. The tests were taken under a promise of anonymity, to take a snapshot of actual practices at a particular time. Without that promise, who would have taken them? Without everyone taking them, what value would the survey have? By the way, I believe David Ortiz's explanation that he didn't know what was in the supplements he took. Most athletes choose what to put in their body with the same careful consideration the rest of us give to tips on stocks and horses. Remember, we're talking about a group that faces 100-mph fastballs wearing helmets built to stand up to 70.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Six-Love: Roger Federer and Tiger Woods are texting buddies who exchange messages every day. Asked in July what the two have in common, Federer replied, "Success, I guess. When you talk about golf, you talk about Tiger; when you talk about tennis, you talk about me." No truth to the rumor that a year ago Tiger was asking Rafa Nadal for his number.

Rick Pitino's third book, published in 1997, was called "Success Is A Choice." See, he's always been pro-choice.