Thursday 07/12 A.M. Quickie:MLB 2nd Half, Oklahoma, Pronk vs. Rashard, More!

Heading into baseball's second half, what are your predictions for how things will go? I think the big story will be the continued surge of the Brewers as the NL's breakout (and best) team of 2007. Put your own predictions in the comments.

Oklahoma's 8 wins in 2005 stricken from the record: I like the humiliation aspect of the punishment, but it isn't nearly punitive enough to simply erase the record books and strip away two scholarships over the next two years.

Tulsa, Kansas State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Oregon get a win back in the column. Gee: Thanks. I've always been torn about this punishment, because it really does nothing to remedy the original sin delivered against the teams that lost the game.

I'm not going to crunch the numbers myself, but I have to believe that the winning teams that were affected each lost potential bowl revenue by being sent to a lower-revenue bowl because they had that one extra loss. At the very least. It's impossible to truly calculate damages.

At minimum, I think given the bowl-payout implications for the teams it beat, if Oklahoma is going to have its 2005 season obliterated, it should also be banned from all bowl participation for one year and banned from all BCS or other New Year's Day bowls for two more. Only then can you begin to inflict a measurement of payback for the actual harm done to the teams that OU beat in 2005.

(Update: Now Oklahoma says it's going to appeal? That's Sooner-sized chutzpah.)

Tony LaRussa vs. Albert Pujols: Why can't LaRussa just admit that he screwed this up?

Travis Hafner signs extension: 4Y/$57M, which seems appropriate for one of the Top 3 most productive offensive players in the AL. (As a throw-in, can the guy please have permanent fantasy eligibility at 1B to go with his usual "Utility" spot?)

Magic officially get Rashard Lewis for, like, $100 gajillion dollars. OK, so it's more like $110 million. But that's a lot of money for a "Robin"-style player. Orlando makes the big – no, HUGE – bet that Howard-Lewis will be enough to be a contender in the East for the next half-decade.

UPDATE: Darko to the Grizzlies, reportedly at a rate of 3Y/$21M, which isn't too shabby for a guy continually labeled a bust as a 22-year-old 7-footer who got a lot better last year. He'll benefit from playing next to Pau Gasol, but more from playing in Marc Iavaroni's system, especially with end-to-end talents like Mike Conley and Rudy Gay.

Bobcats keep Gerald Wallace: For those of you who have been waiting all century for Michael Jordan the Executive to make a personnel move that didn't fall within his usual range from "laughable" to "sucks," here you go.

NBA Summer: Corey Brewer made his debut, and it was a freakish one. He scored 8 points on 1-of-10 FG shooting, but also pulled down 13 rebounds. (Meanwhile, Foye and McCants showed flashes of a Backcourt of the Future, combining for 39 points.) More: Nick Young settles down after a terrible first game to rebound with 20 points on 8/16 FG shooting for the Wiz in a loss... Thaddeus Young had his breakout game, going for 20 and 10 for the Sixers... OK, so Alando Tucker might just fit into the Suns' scheme: He made his Summer debut with 29 points and 6 assists. And fellow PHX rookie DJ Strawberry had 19 points and 7 assists... Kevin Durant had a DNP. What: He's tired already? Or maybe just freaked after his first few games showed that scoring on those oh-so-tough NBA Summerleague defenses is tougher than college.

Dan Artest Mania: Meanwhile, Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post's DC Sports Bog has once again become the market-maker for trend-spotting. His latest find is Daniel Artest (yes, Ron's brother), and Dan Artest Mania is spreading throughout the sports blogosphere. How can you NOT root for the 300-pound brother of Ron Artest who fancies himself a jumpshooter?

Uniform Watch: Michigan... and adidas? Some of us have associated Michigan with Nike for as long as we can remember. Frankly, for both football and hoops, Michigan is one of those foundation Nike schools. So how weird is it going to be to see Michigan playing in adidas uniforms? (Related: Dale Jr. signed a deal with Adidas, too. Let's review: David Beckham. Reggie Bush. Gilbert Arenas. Dale Jr. Michigan football. Kansas basketball. Not a bad collection.)

Beckham Invasion, Cont'd: So the Galaxy are changing their uniforms for Beckham's debut. (Duh: It's all about the jersey sales.) But the boldest thing would have been to splash "BECKHAM" across the front like the usual soccer jersey sponsorship. I mean, isn't that how blatant MLS and everyone involved with MLS is being about Beckham's arrival?

ESPYs (Um... Spoiler alert, I guess...): LaDainian Tomlinson was the big winner, grabbing four awards. The Colts won "Best Team," but it's hard for me to see how FINALLY meeting long-missed expectations tops Florida repeating as college hoops national champs. And I'm glad to see Boise State pick up two awards (as anticipated) for Best Game and Best Play. What a great capper to a dream season for the Broncos.

Now THIS will be interesting: Vanderbilt honcho Gordon Gee is taking over as president at Ohio State. You might remember Gee as the guy who wanted to de-emphasize the power of athletics at Vandy. So: He's either going to trigger revolt at tOSU or become academia's biggest hypocrite. Doesn't look like a winning situation for him either way.

My Bad: Obviously, I meant to say "1992" not "1996" about the Dream Team in yesterday's item about greatest teams of all time. I'm sure you all knew what I meant. I wrote that particular item bleary-eyed at 2 a.m. (not that that's an excuse) and neglected to go back and fix it. Then I was stuck on an airplane all day and didn't see that it needed changing until it was way WAY too late. Sorry 'bout that.

-- D.S.