Trying to clean up his image, forgetting Las Vegas?

“Sir Charles told [Christian] Abate he would like to help him with his tuition, and Abate wasn’t sure how to respond. Barkley didn’t give him much time, telling Abate that he had the length of Barkley’s meal to decide. Abate wisely accepted.

“He’s a nice kid,” Barkley said of Abate on Friday. “He was working with kids, I loved that he wanted to be a teacher, and I wanted to help him,” Barkley told us by phone between stops on a flight to Reno where he was making a speech.

Chris Andersen is back. He was reinstated in early March after being kicked out on January, 2006, for violating NBA’s drug policy. He even played in five games for the New Orleans Hornets after being reinstated.

Something good after all the news about doping (more to come next week).

He was the first player thrown out for drugs since Stanley Roberts in 1999.

Ok — it’s one thing when you read in the Weekly World News that magic pills will make you fitter. It’s quite another thing when that news is found inside the pages of the New York Times.

It’s already been an amazing year in sports. Tiger Woods won the US Open despite his fractured leg. Widespread doping by athletes is finally out in the open. But he Green Bay Packers offer to pay Brett Favre $20 million to stay retired takes the cake. Green Bay says they’re confident in quarterback Aaron Rodgers and that, since Favre changed his mind, that choice is firm. So why don’t they release Favre to play somewhere else? The answer, in a word, is fear.

You see, Favre is going to play no matter what. If he plays for the Packers, they lose Rodgers, but only get Favre for one year, if that. If he plays for someone else, they definitely lose that game, plus, they risk the ignominy of watching Favre win the Super Bowl with some other team — a distinct possibility.

An honorable response to this dilemma would be to let the chips fall where they may. Green Bay ’s decision to bribe away the problem is the very definition of cowardly.

Yao Ming, defying the stereotype of the insensitive jock, articulated clear and reasonable concerns via text to Luis Scola about how Ron Artest will fit into the team. It all boiled down to, will Artest have the right attitude? Artest asserted something about not changing his culture, that’s in Deadspin. Meanwhile, Ming is kind of a deep dude.

Ken Griffey Jr. is leaving Cincy in search of a pennant, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Reds traded Griffey plus some cash for two guys who are younger.

Was LeBron ever gone? Whatever happened to his ankle is now a distant memory, as demonstrated by Mr. James’ bravura performance in the USA team’s victory over Turkey. But he’s active off the court too. Turns out King James really is a leader.

We don’t mean to be insensitive to those in the transgender community. We mean to be insensitive to those in the cheater community — people who lie about gender to win Olympic medals. It’s in the Guardian.

“I came here and I have explained the error I made, I think you all know 13 days ago the position that I was in, I think I have made a good gesture for everyone to have admitted my mistakes.”

Riccardo…too late. And we can think that you are confessing to try to reduce your two-year ban…

Who´s going to be the next one?

After testing positive, Riccò was kicked out of the Tour and fired by Saunier-Duval.

Haven’t you ever wondered why there are no cars that fly, no cool ray guns and no rocket belts? After all, this is the future, right? Well, according to the New York Times, a guy from New Zealand has invented a practical jet pack. This is different from the rocket belt you might have seen in Thunderball.