After a Fourth of July that included Camille’s margerhita pizza, a two-hour nap and a couple episodes of A&E’s “The First 48,” I’ve returned to my outpost on Airport Road.

I’m thinking this is going to be the format of the blog for a little while. I’ll include a mini-take and then the daily line of links and stories on my news reader that I find of interest — at least until it becomes logical to talk about college or pro football.

This is just a note to the Worldwide Leader, competitive eating is not a sport in any way, shape or form. I find it anatomically impressive that Joey Chestnut can shove 66 hot dogs in his face but I do not and will never consider that to be an athletic feat. Oh and another thing, this “bracket” of who’s the most popular athlete is a ridiculous and pointless exercise. Does anyone really care if LT is more popular than David Beckham? Or if Dwyane Wade is more “now” than Shaun White?

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No, seriously…

Al Gore’s son was jailed on drug possession charges yesterday in California. What’s notable about this story isn’t that it involves Al Gore or drugs but that police clocked Albert Gore III going 100 MPH in his Toyota Prius. I didn’t even know you could get a Prius up to 100. I wonder if the cops pulled him over just to ask him how he did it.

Someone caught a piranha last week in North Carolina.

‘08 presidential hopeful John Edwards paid $1,250 in Atlanta for a haircut before the 2004 election.

Chinese villagers have been eating and sell prehistoric dinosaur bones.

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The Worldwide Leader’s Gene Wojciechowski tries to understand why David Beckham’s U.S. debut on the July 13 is such a big deal.

LSU coach Les Miles slurps the greatness of the SEC and rips the Pac-10, specifically USC. I would looooove to see a USC/LSU bowl game this year.

The NFL has officially lost it. The Associated Press is reporting that the league is only going to let news organizations post 45 seconds of game footage online per day.

The Maryland State Youth Soccer Association is taking a stand against out of control coaches.

The Buffalo News’ Allen Wilson believes Sabres fans will get over their frustration over the recent departure of co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury.

The Detroit Free-Press examines what you can do with your $600 besides spending it on an iPhone.

Chauncey Billups’ agent calls a report that his client signed a five-year deal with the Pistons, “a vicious rumor.” The language used seems a bit dramatic but then again the Chick Fil-A chicken nuggets I had at lunch today were a culinary masterpiece the likes of which have never been achieved in the history of food.

Thanks for the memories. Grant Hill has bolted Orlando for the Phoenix Suns.

Father of Tulsa quarterback calls Mahlzan’s offense, “recess.” But in a good way?

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Well-rounded news…

A fight is brewing between college presidents and U.S. News and World Report.

• An editoral in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Newsweek’s Robert Samuelson says the presidents are trying to censor U.S. News and World Report.

Techblog Valleywag on how to be a better “friend” on social networking sites.

Entertainment Weekly gives mid-term grades to the PS3, Wii and XBOX 360.

Time’s Richard Schickel takes a look at Werner Herzog’s Vietnam flick “Rescue Dawn.” 

J.J. Abrams “mystery” project.

Newsweek takes a look at the implications of Universal Music Group’s public spat with Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

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Inside Baseball..

Will staff cuts at major newspapers around the country mean a return to the kind of journalism of the 70s? 

Happy Fourth of July. I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. The Bottom Line will be back tomorrow.

John Feinstein was right.. this really is the worst sports month of the year. My library of college football media guides have yet to arrive, baseball is something I endure rather than enjoy and the start of training camp is about three weeks away. I was thinking about blogging on the over-the-top theatrics of Serena Williams last night but I’ll bite my tongue.. everyone seems to think it was gutsy for reasons I’ll apparently never understand. She said in an interview that she was willing to die out there. I don’t know about you but I haven’t heard of anyone dying of leg cramps before but I’m sure there were some undocumented cases of leg cramp fatalities during the civil war. What I find most mystifying about watching that match is why she thought it would be a good idea to whack herself in the leg with her racquet. I mean I guess I can relate, when I have a headache at work I usually just take the handset of my phone and repeatedly thump myself in the face and head until my headache goes away or until I’m unconscious and bleeding from my ears. Serena, just play tennis. Spare me the performance.

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No, seriously…

Mayor Bloomberg identifies the real threat to the safety of New Yorkers this holiday weekend — unguarded beaches and pools.

Apparently, some people in Japan are still really sensitive about the whole atomic bomb thing.

I’m officially declaring this Arizona woman to be the nicest person on the planet.

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SHOCKING NEWS! Joakim Noah isn’t enough of a front court presence for the Bulls and the team is looking elsewhere for additional help.

It could be a sad end of the road for former Jazz and Lakers guard Derek Fisher.

Sabres fans aren’t the only ones hit hard by the departures of Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. This story reveals one very interesting twist to this story. According to the paper, the Sabres and Drury had agreed on a 4-year deal in the fall but a contract was never presented to Drury to sign. Nice.

A discussion on a Pittsburgh sports talk show about the planned walkout by Pirates fans at Saturday’s game turned heated. I watched the video on the TV station’s website and the altercation in question is about 20 minutes into a show where the central topics of discussion are Zach Duke, Freddy Sanchez and Jim Tracy. Trust me, it’s not worth it. But here’s the link anyway.

If this isn’t a sign that the world, as we know it, is coming to an end, I don’t know what is: Cavs forward and walking muscle spasm Anderson Varejao could make more than $6 million next year.

The Magic corralled free agent forward Rashard Lewis. Watch out for the Magic next year. They’re some good guard play away from being a very competitive team.

T.O. is suing a New York nightclub for using his likeness and name without his permission.

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Well-rounded news…

Drowned in Sound is not at all excited about the prospect of a Verve reunion.

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Inside Baseball

Media Shift’s Mark Glaser says the future of journalism is bright. While I think that most of this piece is maybe overly optimistic. There is one part that I find a little ridiculous, “Bloggers and Internet readers, though they may have personal agendas, provide a free supply of fact-checkers.” That’s a nice way of identifying the role of bloggers in mainstream media.

An unexpected head cold knocked me out this weekend and sent me to my couch to watch all three “EPIC-sodes” of MTV’s Made this weekend.. so no review of Ratatouille today but I’ve learned that apparently the lead singer of Yellowcard is considered a “superstar” by some.

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Apple Fanboy News..

Wired’s Cult of Mac blog spent the weekend performing an autopsy on the iPhone.

Tech blog CrunchGear is reporting that Apple will roll out MacBooks with “iPhone-like multi-touch functionality built into the touchpad later this year.” Is Steve Jobs squashing his beef with tablet computers?

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columist Bob Smizik believes Pirates fans should continue to criticize management despite the way Saturday’s walk-out kind of fizzled out.

The Knicks are hoping Zach Randolph can steady his “up and down life.” New York City is the perfect place for that, don’t you think?

Browns center LeCharles Bentley says he’ll be ready to go for training camp this year after a knee injury caused him to miss all of last season and threatened his career.

John Feinstein labels July “the worst month in sports.”

Madden 08 and NCAA Football 08 runs better on the XBOX 360 than on Sony’s PS3.

Four magazines that cover the NFL, including Athlon Sports and The Sporting News have picked the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl.

Seriously, fire Larry Bird. Their lone draft pick is expected to remain in Europe for the next three years.

The Orlando Sentinel’s David Whitley says Grant Hill owes it to the Orlando Magic to stick by the franchise that stuck by him.

The Houston Rockets are also courting free agent forward Rashard Lewis. Who would you want to play with Dwight Howard or all-around good guy and team player Tracy McGrady? Decisions, decisions.

Warriors fans are seriously bummed about the departure of Jason Richardson.

Newsweek’s Mark Starr wonders what happened to summer sports.

If you haven’t been there, the Portland Trailblazers website is amazing.. www.nba.com/blazers …

The Worldwide Leader Pat Forde picks up some college football preview mags.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Ted Miller wonders if there isn’t more to the sudden resignation of Mariners manager Mike Hargrove than meetings the eye.

SI.com’s Michael Silver ranks the NFL owners 1-32. Dan Synder is a top-five owner.. No, seriously..

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Well-rounded news..

Universal Music Group is going to inform Apple that it will not renew the deal the company has with Apple’s iTunes music store.

An early review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The Chicago Tribune’s Julia Keller debates the “Great American Novel.”

A woman works at Los Alamos has admitted to using U.S. Government computers to stalk Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. There was a fantastic story on this in last month’s Wired Magazine.

A British research group has determined that 68 percent of people who attend rock shows experience some kind of hearing loss afterwards. Earplugs people, they look lame but they could save your hearing.

New York Magazine is beginning to question its allegiance to “Entourage.” One of the questions The Daily Intelligencer poses is whether or not the show has always “been this obnoxious.” The answer to that question is yes. I hate, hate, hate, hate Entourage. With shows like Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Deadwood, HBO has come to be known for its outstanding original programming. HBO is a Fox show that happens to air on HBO. There’s nothing clever about the series and none of the characters have ANY redeeming qualities.

(photo: Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)
With the start of pro and college football a month away, and the NBA draft over and baseball… well forget baseball.. I’m left to blog about NHL free agency. Hey it’s either that or more stories about the iPhone.

The Buffalo News has dubbed July 1st “Black Sunday.”

I’m not going to say that Buffalo Sabres management low-balled captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury but regardless of how you feel about the deals offered to Briere and Drury, as the Buffalo News put it — they’re history.

Briere signed a massive 8-year, $52 million deal with the Flyers and Drury inked a 5-year, $35.25 million deal with the Rangers.

What sticks in my craw as a Sabres fan is not that the Sabres let Briere and Drury go, the Buffalo News’ Tim Graham said the franchise was never in the running to resign either player, it’s that they went to Eastern conference foes. With Drury in New York and Briere in Philly, Sabres fans will be able to get an up-close and personal look at what used to be and what might have been.

But this is the reality of the modern day NHL, the Sabres had to part ways with J.P. Dumont last year and the departure of Briere and Drury will make them better able to make long-term commitments to Thomas Vanek, who’s emerged as one of the league’s most exciting young players and goalie Ryan Miller, the Sabres’ franchise player.

So what’s next for the franchise? The team has been a non-factor in free agency the past two seasons and still managed to rack up the league’s best record last season and make deep playoff runs but it also hasn’t sustained a personnel hit of this level before. Someone in that locker room is going to have to step up and become a leader.

The Buffalo News coverage of the story:

Sabres’ captains now part of Buffalo’s past

Drury goes to Rangers, Briere settles on Flyers

They’re history