To know list: 7 waves in a sea of understanding

[1]

FLAVOR OF THE MONTH

We love you, October!

October starts with smart eating (World Vegetarian Day, October 1) and ends with Smartie eating (Halloween, October 31). It's National Eat Country Ham Month (there are other things to do with country ham?) as well as Cookie Month, Pizza Month and Apple Jacks Month. Anyone up for declaring November Angioplasty Month?

It's not official, but October should be National Sports Month. There simply is no finer calendar page for the well-rounded fan than ol' No. 10. These are the chilly evenings of baseball's playoffs, forever remembered for shots heard 'round the world, gimpy Dodgers and bloody socks.

Yes, October's sporting cup runneth over. NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup, for one. Or horse racing's Breeder's Cup. Heck, even the Stanley Cup makes its comeback this month.

This is when the clock strikes Midnight Madness on college campuses, and when hoops pros start two-a-days, a time when every NBA fan figures there's got to be a way to topple the Spurs.

Weekends in October are for bowling. Not the PBA Tour's Tulsa Championship (October 30). We're talking BCS bowl contenders on Saturdays and Super Bowl hopefuls on Sundays. How about a dose of football fantasy (a day at Georgia-Florida, the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, perhaps) before your dose of fantasy football?

If, through the rest of October, the heavens seem crowded with prayers, it's not because this is Clergy Appreciation Month (though it is). It's because at no other time is the sports world so active, so brimming with possibilities. It's because, somewhere, there's bases loaded in the ninth. Or fourth-and-goal. Or--who knows?--a Clippers fan with playoff hopes.

Celebrate the month, sports fans. And pass the country ham.--Sean Deveney

[2]

ELITISM REIGNS

Feel free to ignore college football's have-nots

Isn't it just so appropriate? On the day Urban Meyer's new team got a nice, friendly welcome to the Big Boys Club, his former compatriots at the mid-major (minor?) level lost the last hope of an unbeaten season when UTEP was unceremoniously dumped by--of all teams--two-loss Memphis, which had a third-string quarterback making his first start.

Underdogs are overrated, anyway.

No more Utahs, no more out-of-the-box Heisman Trophy candidates and no BCS game for the little guys. No non-BCS team is unbeaten, and frankly, no one looks close to the level of Meyer's Utah team that captured the college football world's respect last season by going 12-0 and winning the Fiesta Bowl.

Now, something else to chew on: Next season, the highest-ranked mid-major automatically will qualify to play in a BCS bowl. That ought to be riveting.

--Matt Hayes

[3]

TSN STAFF POLL

Whom do you want up with the game on the line: Andruw Jones, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez?

Papi      62%
Albert    21%
A-Rod     17%
Andruw     0%

[4]

YOU HEARD IT HERE

'I don't get it. He keeps viewing this as a labor-management dispute, and it isn't. It's transcendent.'

--U.S. Sen. John McCain, with Sporting News Radio host James Brown, on MLB players association boss Donald Fehr's reluctance to move forward on the issue of steroids use in baseball

[5]

A REAL PRO

Michelle Wie is on her way

For an athlete who won't turn 16 until Tuesday, Michelle Wie has been around a while. She has captivated golf fans--male fans--with her 300-yard drives, doing more than her share to bring mainstream attention to the women's game. But until now, she was an amateur player.

After turning pro, the pressure will be on Wie to become no less than the most successful--and most popular--LPGA Tour player ever. Her first big move: signing endorsement deals worth an estimated $10 million annually. Her first event as a pro: the Samsung World Championship in Palm Desert, Calif., next week.

Her first major championship: It might be a ways away, although she did lead the U.S. Open after three rounds as a 15-year-old.

[6]

IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

From one sports hernia sufferer to another

Back when I was 8, I wanted to be an NFL quarterback. A cheesehead child of the '70s, I thought I had more zip on my out routes than Lynn Dickey. (Hey, who didn't?)

This week, I feel closer than ever to my dream because Donovan McNabb and I have something in common: the dreaded sports hernia.

It doesn't come with the glamorous hernia "bulge," so my HMO's team of medical geniuses had it pegged as an abdominal strain for three months. The difference: Abdominal strains heal; sports hernias don't. They require surgery, which McNabb is putting off until the end of the season.

Good luck with that, Donovan. Most folks have trouble rolling over in bed with a sports hernia, so ducking pass rushers probably isn't going to make yours feel much better. After diagnosing myself on the Internet (don't try this at home), I got mine "fixed" in June by one of the pioneers in the field two states away. I can roll out of bed comfortably now, but basketball at the Y probably is over. As a fellow sufferer, I'm pulling for McNabb to make it through the season but not counting on it.--Dan Graf