All the professional sports leagues that canceled their events this past week and weekend showed enormous restraint and good judgment, and they should be applauded. In the wake of something so obviously devastating as the terrorist attack upon our country last week, there was really only one choice that could be made. While there will obviously be a great loss of revenue for some of the leagues and teams, this pales in comparison to the greater loss of our country. The leagues all showed sound judgment, putting players and fans wishes ahead of the bottom line, something that they should consider more often in the future.

Air Jordan returns, again

Well, it finally looks like Michael Jordan will return to the NBA. Sure, he has traded the red and white of the Chicago Bulls for the unfamiliar blue and black of the Washington Wizards. But don't let that fool you into thinking that he will be any different on the court.

Michael Jordan is a very special athlete in many ways. First off, he is incredibly talented. He has been blessed with size, quickness and strength.

While these physical attributes are significant, there are many cautionary tales of athletes with physical ability but little mental ability-J. R. Rider and Derrick Coleman come to mind. For Jordan, though, mental toughness may be his greatest asset. He hates to lose. In fact, hate isn't a strong enough emotion for Jordan. He despises and loathes losing. For him, it is impossible to accept losing as a part of his life, and that is why he is returning to the court.

The team that he has an ownership stake in-a stake that he will have to give up upon return to the league-has been horrible. The Wizards have been tied up with bloated salaries and old players for the last decade and have suffered the consequences. Anyone who saw a picture of Jordan in the owner's box during a game could just see how uncomfortable he was watching his team lose nearly every night. Even though he had some say in what players the team had, he was unable to directly influence their performance on the court. Now, he can do that.

And with Jordan's return, the Wizards are instantly a playoff team. Jordan left the game at the top, and I would be surprised if he would come back in a position that would compromise his legacy. Sure, he may be a little rusty. But that rust will break away quickly. Remember, when he came back after his first semi-retirement he scored 55 points in one of his first games back-in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, no less.

Michael Jordan is one of the greatest athletes in sports history. His return may injure the NBA as it attempts to find its identity in what had been believed to be the post-Jordan era, but his immediate impact will be felt. Jordan will dominate once again.

Please, no more reruns

While it has been kept hush-hush for most of the season, baseball is on the verge of another extended labor war. The collective bargaining agreement expires after the World Series finishes, or on October 31, whichever comes later, and there is a serious threat that a strike or lockout will occur.

The only advice I have for the owners and players is this: find a solution, and do it quickly.

The baseball strike of 1994 was a horrific event. When the players walked out in mid-August it marked the first time since its inception in 1904 that the World Series had not been played. The Series had survived two World Wars and countless other military endeavors, but it was canceled by the greed of the players.

Well, we all know what happened then. Baseball did not return until well into the season, and it lost much of its luster and fan support. Fans were not willing to support a sport that was run by whiny, spoiled millionaires who quibbled over every nickel and dime, and ballpark attendance suffered.

While the game has recovered from the strike-due in large part to Cal Ripken's consecutive games streak and 1998's home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa-many fans will not be willing to forgive baseball again. That is why both the owners and the players must come up with some solution and come to this resolution without a lockout or strike.

While the players are generally seen as the bad guys in these situations, much of the blame should be passed on to the team owners. The players aren't the ones dictating their high salaries, it is the owners. Every worker in this country wishes that they could be paid millions of dollars to do what they love; they just need to find a sucker to pay them.

Owners have the responsibility of keeping salaries down, and they can do that without any of the illegal practices which they have stooped to in the past. All they have to do is show some fiscal restraint. Tom Hicks, the owner of the Texas Rangers, gave Alex Rodriguez $252 million for his services for the next 10 years. No other team came within $100 million of that price. Owners right now are allowing themselves to be manipulated by sports agents, agents who want to set a record every time a new contract is signed.

In the end, it is going to take compromise on both sides of the table to get a deal done, and I am optimistic that this will happen. Neither side wants to go through the carnage of another strike, and no games should be lost to another battle of the egos.

These boots were made for walking

Will the Red Sox please do something about Carl Everett?

Last year, I thought that Everett was a great addition to the Red Sox team. He played great defense in center field, was an All-Star at the plate, and until late July stayed out of trouble on and off the field. Sure, there were the strange comments-Everett doesn't believe in dinosaurs or that man landed on the moon-but that was fine by me as long as he kept producing.

Well, he isn't producing anymore. Since his run-in with umpire Ronald Kulpa last year, an incident which got Everett a 10-game suspension, Everett has been abysmal. This year he has hit only 14 home runs and is batting well below .270. Sure, some of that can be attributed to his knee injury, but he has not been the same player even when he was healthy early in the season.

And if Everett isn't producing, he isn't worth having around. He is just too much of a distraction off of the field. The latest incident with Everett occurred over the weekend when he arrived late to a practice at Fenway Park. New Red Sox manager Joe Kerrigan told Everett to go home, and when Everett protested with his usual string of obscenities, Kerrigan fined him. Now the Sox have suspended Everett for four games.

I had high hopes for Everett when the Red Sox changed managers. He was constantly bickering with manager Jimy Williams-including incidents at the end of last season, in spring training this year and early in the season during a game in Oakland-and the change in leadership gave Everett the chance to turn over a new leaf.

The Red Sox cannot allow Everett to run the team. He has already been a major factor in running one manager out of town, and now it is time for us to show him the door.