His passing brought to me a particular sadness, of memories of good days in baseball, our one meeting and his words on loving the game and optimism. He was Mr. Cub...Ernie Banks!

You don't have to read between the lines. Thursday's NBA draft made two things perfectly clear about the priority of basketball. And depending on how much you value a good plan 'B'...neither one of them are good.

Their record at the midway point of the season is identical to how they finished last year. Fans were promised better, or at least exciting baseball. But...don't you eventually have to win, too?

A lot of us will claim similarities this weekend with our dads. That's the proud part. But how can you explain the differences?

For pitchers and position players who were selected outside the first ten rounds of this week's draft the choice of whether to learn in 'A' Ball, or college, is not that tough to make. Just ask around.