STRIKE ONE

Sure, I've been known to complain this time of year about the lack of sports excitement - no football, bloated NBA playoffs, Canadians on skates for NHL teams in Nashville and 120 games left of the Major League Baseball season. There's no denying it's slow going out there.

Of course, there's a faction of readers with Skoal rings on their back pockets that beg to differ. Or, at the very least, they're looking at the pictures and thinking about jerky products.

I speak, naturally, of NASCAR fans. And this week they've been given even more than normal to hoot and holler (and do one of those goofy prospector dances) about.

In news that spread through area trailer parks faster than face-scarring acne or meth use, NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick were recently involved in a reported "dust up" during a race at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. According to reports of the fracas (because, let's be honest, I didn't watch it), the Busch and Harvick altercation went down on pit row and involved Harvick attempting to throw a punch at Busch while Busch pushed Harvick's car (with his own car) into a retaining wall. It was all very high drama. NASCAR has since placed both drivers on probation.

Though the "dust up" happened almost two weeks ago, both drivers continue to verbally lash out at one another.

"He'll talk to you to your face like you're best friends, but then behind closed doors ... he has the utmost disrespectful thoughts," Busch told the Associated Press about Harvick this week as drivers prepped for NASCAR's stop at Dover International Speedway. "I've never gotten along with the guy."

Apparently, reporters didn't press Busch as to how he knows what Harvick is thinking behind closed doors (or what the hell that means).

"It's kind of one lie after the other," Harvick said of Busch this week in the same AP article.

As far as I know, Jimmy Hart has yet to weigh in.

STRIKE TWO

Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel may look dapper in a sweater vest, but his honesty and integrity have come into serious question this off-season as Ohio State confronts an ongoing NCAA investigation into various allegations of impropriety against its football program. As you'll recall, Tressel has been suspended for the first two games of next season for failing to notify Ohio State of potential NCAA rules violations involving football players and a financial agreement with a tattoo parlor. Five Ohio State ballers - quarterback Terrelle Pryor, tailback Dan Herron, receiver DeVier Posey, tackle Mike Adams and defensive end Solomon Thomas - have been suspended for the first five games of next season for their involvement. Tressel learned of the possible breach of NCAA rules (players selling jerseys and other Ohio State memorabilia for tattoos and money), but failed to notify either the NCAA or state university that employs him.

According to ESPN, after a few weeks of public positioning that appeared as though Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith was distancing himself from the embattled Tressel, the Buckeye AD came out once again this week in full support of the rule-bending but extremely successful head coach.

"Oh, definitely, no question," Smith told ESPN when asked if he stood behind Tressel. "I haven't changed, I haven't changed."

Of course, you'll recall the school's previous endorsements of Tressel, which came during a March 8 news conference in which Tressel acknowledged (but didn't apologize, exactly) for his gaffes.

At the time, University President E. Gordon Gee, when asked whether he'd given any thought to firing Tressel, was quoted as saying, "I'm just hoping that the coach doesn't dismiss me."

Knowing Ohio State, truer words have never been spoken.

STRIKE THREE

Charles Barkley is officially a role model.

According to ESPN, drawing from an interview Barkley did with WJFK Radio in Washington, DC, the former NBA great recently attempted to stomp out the notion all male athletes are homophobes. Barkley told the WJFK he played with multiple gay players during his time in the NBA and it never bothered him.

"I didn't think it ... they were gay," ESPN quoted Barkley as telling the station.

"First of all, every player has played with gay guys. It bothers me when I hear these reporters and jocks get on TV and say: ‘Oh, no guy can come out in a team sport. These guys would go crazy.' First of all, quit telling me what I think. I'd rather have a gay guy who can play than a straight guy who can't play," Barkley continued, perhaps the smartest words ever to roll out of his mouth. His comments came on the heels of Phoenix Suns President and CEO Rick Welts going public with his homosexuality.

"First of all, society discriminates against gay people. They always try to make it like jocks discriminate against gay people," Barkley was further quoted by ESPN as saying. "I've been a big proponent of gay marriage for a long time, because as a black person, I can't be in for any form of discrimination at all."

Check that - those were the smartest words ever to roll from Barkley's mouth.

DUMB JOCK OF THE WEEK

More than the Dumb Jock of the Week, O.J. Simpson may be the Dumb Jock of the Century, if only because the "Murderous Jock of the Century" award has yet to be created.

Either way, according to the Associated Press, Nevada's Supreme Court this week denied Simpson's request for an appeal of the former running back turned ill-fitting glove model's 2007 conviction stemming from an armed confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room. Simpson is currently serving a 9-to-33-year-sentence.

After the decision, Simpson's lawyer was quoted by the AP as saying, "What judge wants to be put in the position that they let O.J. free?"

Not exactly Cochran stuff there.