Another day, another sports column dealing with college basketball. At least Feb. 15 didn’t deal with Illini basketball, but around Champaign, bashing Duke is pretty much the same thing. Luckily, as a sports fan, I’ve realized that if I’m going to get any commentary on the Maurice Clarett or steroids scandal I’m better off going to espn.com. Tell your columnists that there are other things going on in the sports world besides Luther Head, Deron Williams and Dee Brown “doing it,” which is probably the lamest way of saying they got the job done since “get’er done.” I know that Illini basketball is having a historic season, but I don’t need to read about it four or five days a week.

Has one columnist written about the booster scandal at Ohio State, or the “basketbrawl” in Detroit earlier this year? Has there been a BALCO mention in the last four months? The closest thing is probably a mention by Ian Gold on how “I have been taking steroids the last three months in an attempt to gain an edge on my colleagues Bobby La Gesse, Mike Szwaja and Jeff Feyerer.” But in the same column he also states, “It is probably a combination of Manning’s legendary arm and his receivers’ abilities to run precise routes and to get open that has resulted in this juggernaut of an offense,” and “I guess it’s a good thing the Colts took Peyton Manning instead of Ryan Leaf with the first pick in the 1998 NFL draft.” Gee, ya think? What an astute observation, a great quarterback plus great receivers leads to touchdowns. Drafting Manning was a better idea than taking Ryan “Biggest Bust in NFL history” Leaf? Brilliant!

The weekend after Jose Canseco’s interview this weekend because of the most controversial book release since Ball Four and there wasn’t any commentary on it? It’s gotten to the point where the sports section is only good because it contains the comics.

Please expand your view of the sports world outside of what happens in Champaign, or at least have two columns every day, one with the usual ass-kissing of Illini sports and the other that deals with whatever else the rest of the country is talking about.