The news wasn't surprising, I mean come on, it's the Cincinnati Bengals we're talking about. The same team that in 2006 had so many guys being incarcerated I think they contacted Chico's Bail Bonds for a uniform sponsor, or maybe even put Dog The Bounty Hunter on payroll to make sure everyone made their court dates (this I cannot confirm). But when the Bengals invited Terrell Owens for a visit this week, we should have seen this coming like the paddy-wagon at a Bengals team party.

Problem is, I can't seem to see the payoff. The Bengals were 10-7 last year, won their division AFTER shipping off trouble-causing wideout TJ Houshmandzadeh in the offseason. They swept the Steelers for goodness sake, why bring in a player who's teams have been WORSE when he was there? Proof's in the records, Cowboys were 9-7 with T.O., 11-5 without him, Bills were an 8-8 franchise before he got there, last year they were 6-10 and fired their head coach.

Let's not even get into the locker room effect, the complaining about catches and what might happen should he and Chad OchoCinco not get the ball enough. Speaking of OchoCinco, he's been vocal in his support for bringing Owens in, below are some Twitter transcripts from Tuesday night, it was like a couple of giggling girls.

Owens:@OGOchoCinco i'm on the plane!

Johnson: @terrellowens man it dont take that damn long to sign on the dotted line, lets go damit!!! You can be Batman i will be Robin, lets go!!

Johnson: @terrellowens holy batman where are you, Pow, Crunch, Boom!

Owens:@OGOchoCinco yo 85! just finished dinner w/coach lewis about an hr ago, ate @ jeff ruby's, coach had a steak & i had sea bass. :-)

Johnson: @terrellowens man forget that damn dinner , yall go get the damn paper work, dont make me crunch, blam, pow yo ass!!!! CMon BATMAN

Johnson: @terrellowens wait a minute i am ROBIN and the JOKER rolled in one, so my name is ROKER<--wtf?

Owens:@OGOchoCinco Holy macadamian nuts Robin or Roker!! I got a meet & greet 2morr w/the owner, wr coach & OC. My days starts @ 745am Roker!

Owens: @OGOchoCinco Holy dancing shoes Robin/Roker!! How's the rehearsals goin out there? Should i call u Robin, Roker or Ochocinco?

Johnson: @terrellowens shhh call me OCHO roker CINCO, rehearsals are awesome Batman, you got to get a batmobile to

Cute isn't it? These two carrying on like school girls. Actually with all the Tweet-love being poured out, if they want to be superheroes, I liken them to the A.G. Duo for all you SNL fans...Ace and Gary it is!

The Bengals did sign Antonio Bryant to a 4-year deal Wednesday, maybe this means no super heroes after all. In any case, Bengals this one is all you, good luck with your superheroes, meanwhile the rest of the league will work on signing football players.

   CSUB Athletics, in order to cover their part of a projected $6.4 million budget deficit for the 2010-2011 year had to make the tough decision Thursday to discontinue wrestling, men’s and women’s golf and women’s tennis from their intercollegiate roster.

   Roadrunner athletics was facing a $700,000 shortfall themselves for the first time in this current economic climate, and as President Dr Horace Mitchell said Thursday, “we can’t operate with a deficit in athletics.” So that announcement meant four sports, many student-athletes and a few coaches were effectively given their walking papers. It’s not that the University was taking from others to fund their sports; it was that the University simply didn’t have the money for those sports …at all.

   And as often is the case in Bakersfield, this was the chance for every armchair QB, outside critic and full on haters to let loose. It’s really funny though, most the voices, opinions, internet postings etc, have come from those who really didn’t care in the first place.

  Were there a few things the administration did to cause this, probably. They might have underestimated the length of time it was going to take to get into a conference, which meant more travel for more teams as an NCAA Independent. But I will say this, transitioning to Division I was the absolute right call, we’d be in even bigger trouble if we were still in Division II, with a whole lot less in revenue.

  But most of this problem stems from the state of California. Their funding for higher education continues to be reduced, which means less money for everything from classes to computer labs, and yes, even athletics.

   CSUB wrestling is probably the most notable of sports getting the axe, with a long tradition of Division I competition and countless All Americans and a few National Champions, the pill is much harder to swallow, and the frustration is understandable. Problem is most of it is misguided.

  While Bakersfield takes this opportunity to jump on the ‘Bash-CSUB’ bandwagon,’ I’ll personally call each and every one of you out and ask “What have you done for CSUB?”

  Have you shown up to games? Bought tickets to fundraising events? Donated cash or scholarship money to the University? If the answer is ‘no,’ then stop right there.

   See most of the criticism is coming from happy-bashers that never wanted this University to succeed. I’ve never understood why a community would prefer to remain a small-potatoes Division II town, when there is so much more out there. Maybe that’s the problem with Bakersfield, nobody wants to take a risk, and you’d rather remain in the safety of the fox-hole than fire shots in the battle to take new ground.

   I don’t blame you, backbones are hard to come by these days. But when you look in the mirror, before you start complaining about CSUB’s budget mess and their cutting of the four sports, ask yourself “Have I done anything to help?”

  I’ve personally given time, money, sacrificed personal relationships, heck I even almost died covering this program (see South Dakota State trip, 2008). My wife was told at the beginning of our relationship, “Here’s what I do from November to March, it’s part of the deal, take it or leave it.” She thankfully took it. So I guess you can say I’ve  put my time in for this University and in the end, I think we can pull this Division I thing off, and be pretty good.

  So I’m drawing a line in the sand of the Kern River bed that runs just north of campus. I only want those to step across that will be dedicated to the cause. Supporters willing to give their all to make sure we make the best of these economically challenging times and help the Roadrunners become a viable contender in all remaining sports.

   The rest of you cowards need not apply. Take the easy way home, the next time you see us, we’ll be in the Promised Land.

            Another winter, another month or so until spring training starts, and another tearful admission of steroid use from one of the major league baseball's once-brightest stars. Replace the blue wool sweater of Alex Rodriguez a year ago with a blue button down and blazer of Mark McGwire and we’re starting to see another soap-opera in the making.

            While McGwire, baseball’s once unstoppable homerun hitting machine, “admitted” steroid use this week, plenty still have questions about his story and the actual use of PEDs while he played for Oakland and later St. Louis.

            Let’s get one thing out of the way, unlike Rodriguez, McGwire’s “admission” was in no way linked to him trying to salvage his image or make a run for Cooperstown, the voters have already spoken, McGwire received just 23.7 percent of the votes this year, up from 21.9 percent a year ago, but well shy of the 75 percent needed to get into Cooperstown. As the New York Daily News pointed out in an informal poll of Baseball Writer’s who vote for the Hall, many feel he was a one-trick pony whose major career accomplishment of hitting homeruns is tainted, I couldn’t agree more.

            McGwire’s “admission” however was necessary in order for him to start the next phase of his career, coaching. McGwire has had some success recently as a defacto hitting coach in the winter in Southern California where he has taken the likes of Jason Giambi and Matt Holiday into the cages at UC Irvine and helped their swings. So this was just the 800-lb gorilla he needed to get off his back before he could focus on becoming a hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, and nothing more.

            McGwire is forever linked to steroids, “admission” or not. His associations with the Oakland Athletics of the late 80’s and early 90’s, many who feel were the godfathers of steroid use in baseball, casts a cloud that no amount of sunlight can penetrate. McGwire was a “Bash Brother” of Jose Canseco, the self-proclaimed Yoda of steroid use who claims he introduced the game to the benefits of steroids years ago in one book after another. You can’t pick your teammates, but you can pick your friends, and for years McGwire and Canseco were the faces of the brash, homerun-hitting, powerful A’s teams of yesteryear.

            McGwire’s “admission” contains many holes of course. He claims they were to recover from injury, sorry Mac, you’re late to that party, Andy Pettite already used that excuse and was forgiven, you should have taken that deli number years ago. McGwire also claims that 'roids never helped him hit the long ball; I think we can all disagree with that.

            While there is no arguing that steroids don’t automatically mean you can hit a round ball with a round bat coming at you at 90-plus MPH, they definitely don’t hurt. Not all 'roid users are homerun hitters, just take a walk down Muscle Beach once in awhile and tell me if some of those clowns would be even able to make contact on a pro diamond, probably not. But steroids in the hands of a baseball player in fact can help their cause. When you’re stronger, your bat speed is faster, thus your reaction time quicker and the force behind the contact greater. Simple physics from a simple mind like mine.

            I wasn’t much of a power hitter, my bat speed was measured with dust in an hour glass, but I’ll bet if exposed myself in my prime to the magic of scientific laboratories, it might have been a different story. Mac still believes that some of us are naïve to what steroids actually do, sorry big fella, after all the stories and studies on PEDs in baseball; we’re all amateur scientists these days.

            McGwire obviously left a lot to be debated after his “admission” early this week, he will now get to be a hitting coach, he returns to baseball after a self-induced exile not seen in the world of sports since chess champion Bobby Fisher was exiled from the US after a rematch with Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992. Chess might not be an actual ‘sport’ but McGwire’s exile can’t really be compared with anything in the mainstream.

            Mac’s now a hitting coach, the questions about his use will continue for a little while but at least the majority of the work is finished on that subject in his eyes and in the eyes of the St. Louis Cardinals, who will welcome Big Mac back with a spot on the bench next to Manager Tony Larussa.

            His “admission” won’t get him closer to the Hall, the Cardinals could all hit .400 next season and nobody will credit the hitting instructor. McGwire will eventually disappear from the Hall of Fame ballot and that will be that.

            On a positive note, McGwire has always been one of the “good-guys” in Major League Baseball. No off-field scandals to talk about, other than the steroid doubts and his botched testimony at a Capitol Hill hearing on the subject years ago. He’s been a good husband, family man and has a remarkable foundation in his namesake that supports agencies that help children who have been sexually and physically abused come to terms with a difficult childhood.

            While we are not satisfied with McGwire’s “admission,” at least it’s over. We’ll save him a spot on the bench now and see what he can do as a teacher, maybe he can prevent some younger players from repeating some of his same mistakes…only time, and a couple more 162 game seasons will tell.