In today's world of hyperbole it's easy to lose sight of reality. Jon Lester's recent no-hitter for the Boston Red Sox (my beloved team) is a victim of sports writers across the nation who are looking to hype a story.

The facts are that Lester is a good guy who less than 2 years ago got dealt a bad hand with anaplastic large cel lymphoma. The good news is that it's one  of the few truly treatable forms of cancer and that he had the resources to receive early detection and top-quality treatment. He's a cancer survivor, but not quite in the way that a woman having undergone a double mastectomy is a cancer survivor. Lester was lucky.

If we want to call his no-hitter "heroic" as so many professional sportswriters and broadcasters have done, then let it be that way because no-hitters are rare at any level of baseball. But if someone is going to call it heroic because he is a cancer survivor, then that's ridiculous. His cancer was detected early and it's not like he had a tumor that affected the stability of his bones (e.g. an osteosarcoma).

If he had metastatic cancer that had traveled to his brain and during treatment had pitched at all, I would call that heroic. If he had an incurable form of a fast-growing cancer and pitched a no-hitter, I would label that as super-heroic. But that's not the case. He was a bit unlucky but still far luckier than most.

Let's save the word "heroic" for the firefighters who pull people out of burning buildings, for the troops who risk their lives daily in a country for people they don't even know, for the parents of kids with severe disabilities who sacrifice everything for their childern, and for the Tibetans who continue despite being repressed to great lengths. Those people risk their lives and their health for a greater good. That's as good a definition of heroic as I know. Pitching a no-hitter - cancer survivor or not - does not qualify for "heroic" status.

Thank goodness for track & field. It takes some of the heat off of MLB and Roger Clemens.

Aside from the less-than-shocking announcement that Marion Jones will get 6-months in prison for her web of deceipt, the big new is that Oscar Pistorius, a South African double-amputee sprinter, will most likely be barred from the Beijing Olympic Games.

There are many reasons to applaud this decision with the top one being that it anticipates what will happen in the future.

Pistorius was born without fibulae (the thin bone next to your shin bone) and he had both legs amputated below the knee at age 11. Therefore, he runs using special carbon fiber prosthetic legs called "Cheetah" extensions.

Pistorius is not fighting to run in the Paralympics but rather the regular Olympics.

There is some debate about the data which demonstrated that the "Cheetah" extensions give him a clear advantage over other runners who don't use that device. What is clear is that regardless of what the numbers show, he should never ever be allowed to run in the regular Olympics.

Why?

There's something called "precedent". And once that door is open, it's almost impossible to shut.

Maybe Pistorius wouldn't make the South African Olympic team for this upcoming summer. But that's not the point.

The point is that there is a good reason why no one with prosthetic limbs should ever be allowed to compete with someone who has all of their limbs: advances in the future.

It is just a matter of time before those "Cheetah" extensions give such a tremendous mechanical advantage to its user that regular runners would not be able to compete. Think about it like an Olympic swimmer having to compete against a swimmer with similar upper-body strength and arm technique but who is a double-amputee using fins for prosthetics. It wouldn't even be a close battle. The double-amputee would win every time.

How about a pitcher with an artificial arm that allows him to throw a baseball 140 miles per hour. It may seem impossible now, but it's an inevitability.

Suppose that today you allow a baseball player to compete in MLB with an artificial leg (a prosthetic below the knee). Would that player have an advantage? No. The technology hasn't advanced that point yet. But it will. And what if such a player were running to second base and slid and snapped the prosthetic in the same manner that a an athlete without prosthetics would snap a tibia or fibula. Would that player be allowed to go to the dugout and switch the broken prosthetic for a new one? Or would he have to sit out the average time that an able-bodied runner would be out with a similar injury? These are the types of questions that have to be addressed now ahead of the technological advancement. The problem is that once you let such a prosthetic-utilizing player onto the field, it will be very difficult to draw the line at which prosthetics are allowed and which are not.

Therefore, any sport at a high level should have a very simple rule: you must compete using only the same types of equipment as your competitors. If everyone else is running in shorts, shirts, socks, and sneakers, then no one else should be able to use anything else. Period.

My guess is that we're not too far away from a time when amputees using things like the "Cheetah" extensions will run faster than any able-bodies athlete. How do I know this? Because the last time I checked, if I want to travel a mile as quickly as possible, I'm going to ride a motorcycle over pedaling a bicycle. Technology wins almost every time.

Are people like Pistorius dealt an unfair hand from birth? Yes. But we shouldn't let our sympathy for his suffering cause us to overcompensate and create a lot of suffering for others. He has a place that he can compete. And one day it's entirely possible that the top 5 finishers in a Paralympic 400-meter dash will run faster than any Olympian has ever run that distance. But if the goal of banning steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs is to create a level playing field, then there's no place for limb prosthetics on a field with able-bodied athletes.

Prosthetics have as much legitimacy as steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs: only if everyone gets to use them.

The Giants-Cowboys divisional playoff game on Sunday was a fantastic game, and all of America, including Dallas fans, should be happy about the result: the Giants pulled off a shocking win.

No, I'm not a Giants fan, but they probably are the greatest overachievers this NFL season. Who deserves the credit? Well, it's complicated, but here are a few names:

1.  Tom Coughlin - if he had rested his starters for the supposedly "meaningless" season finale against the Patriots, I guarantee you that the Giants would not have gotten this far. I don't think it's a coincidence that the 4 teams remaining are all teams which had momentum heading into the postseason.

2.  Eli Manning - I've dislike him since he and his father dictated terms on draft day, but the thing is that after spending much of the season looking like a bona fide 3rd level QB, he's really improved his game since playing the Patriots.

3. The rest of the Giants - they were outgunned but they won, and they won by doing certain little things better like catching passes thrown to them, grinding it out on the ground.

4. The Patriots -if you honestly look at the way that the Giants played most of the season, you'll have to admit that they played on a completely higher plane against the Patriots. There's a saying that if you want to get better, then you have to play with better talent. I'm not saying that the Patriots get all the credit for the Giants success this post-season, rather I'm saying that had the Giants played a team like the Jets, they most likely wouldn't still be in the playoffs now. The Patriots deserve credit for bringing up the Giants game, but there's no doubt that Coughlin and his players get the lion's share of the credit for playing their starters in what should always be regarded as a meaningful game.

Here are some other thoughts about the Cowboys:

1.  Tony Romo - not a horrendous game yesterday, but he still doesn't get it. If he were a kicker or a special teams player, then no one would criticize him for dating Jessica Simpson during the season. But when he's the starting QB of one of the most visible teams in the NFL, he has to assume leadership (whether he likes it or not). Part of me thinks that if he can't handle a beautiful woman and football at the same time, then how are all the other pro players who sleep with their groupies during the season able to still perform at a high level?

Was going to Mexico a bad idea? Hell yes. It wasn't bad that he took time off to rest, because he was going to rest anyway. It's the idea that he went to another country to party with his attention-seeking girlfriend which not only rubbed the public the wrong way, but probably also several of this teammates. Tom Brady may have taken a couple of days off with Giselle in NYC, but you can be sure that his teammates knew that his mind was never far from the game.

With Romo, it seems that he wants to do things his own way while playing a team sport. Maybe he can personally separate his private life from his public one, but there are a lot of other athletes (most notably the ones on his team) who feel that there is no such separation during the playoffs. Romo has to grow up and understand this.

One other thing about Romo that really irritated me yesterday. How is it that he can grab an official and not get a flag for it? There has to be a very very clear rule in all sports that players are not allowed to grab, fondle, or bump officials.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. The problem is not that Romo is immature, rather it's that he's horny. At the start of this season he publicly said that he didn't want to continue his relationship with Carrie Underwood during the season because he just wanted to focus on football. Do you know how many Dallas fans rejoiced at that proclamation? All of them. And then he chases after Simpson? Btw, he actively pursued her and not the other way around. How is that consistent with his stated goal of focusing on football during the season?

Part of me understands it, because he's been fantasizing about having Simpson, and judging by Simpson's record, the chances of her being single at any given time are extremely small. So, maybe Romo thought he had to strike while the proverbial iron was hot.

Why couldn't Romo have waited a few weeks to go to Mexico with Simpson? Unless he has insider info that a meteor is going to strike and destroy the earth in the next week or so, Mexico will still be there. And maybe part of Jessica Simpson is happy about all this. She's been trying to jumpstart her career, and what intrigues people more than a woman who can emasculate a guy? Look at history: Helen of Troy, Liz Taylor, Yoko Ono, and Marilyn Monroe. Maybe this type of controversy is just what she wants and needs.

As for Dallas fans, all of you should be happy that your team lost. Maybe this will cause Romo to wake up and realize his role on the team. Usually people don't realize this until it's too late. But Romo still has time, although the feeling is that he's kind of like Britney Spears: there's time for redemption, but not as much as one would like.

The Giants may not be 'America's Team', but they sure sent a wake-up call to them. And maybe that will be what the Cowboys need to get past the disappointment of the past 2 seasons in the playoffs.

2.  Terrell Owens - there are things that a player can and can't say in public. T.O might be angry that Romo seemed to not show as much commitment as players like Tom Brady or Brett Favre, but there's no way he can say anything publicly, because he probably has to play with the guy next year. But you can be sure that he's going to have a few choice words for Romo.

Don't be surprised if Owens finds some way to contact the Patriots. Owens is no idiot and he's seen the way that Randy Moss has been reborn this season. Owens probably also can feel that even though Romo is still young in NFL experience, he's behind guys like Brady and Manning in terms of making sure that the game is #1. He wants to win, but he also knows that with the current makeup of the Cowboys, they don't have a great shot at winning the Super Bowl next year or even the year after.

3.  Jerry Jones - sorry Jerry, but owners should not be allowed to stand anywhere near head coaches during games. In fact, owners should not be allowed anywhere near the sidelines during the game. I might not like Mark Cuban, but at least I respect his passion for the game AND the fact that he doesn't watch games from the Mav's bench.

Some quick thoughts about the Colts-Chargers game.

1) The Chargers deserved to win. They played hard, were big underdogs going into a very noisy and hostile stadium, and they persevered. Give them their due credit.

2)  It's shocking that the Colts lost to them at home. But there are rare moments when the tide turns on a stupid play, and the Colts defensive player who slapped Chargers' kicker Keading on the shoulder pads and taunted him after he had missed a field goal should be roasted in the media.

That kind of behavior is so ridiculous that they should change the rules and assess the penalty as if it happened before the play. I was neutral about the game until that moment, and then I spent the rest of the game rooting for the Chargers.

3) As for Philip Rivers, he's another QB who has to grow up. His behavior towards the crowd while returning to the locker room and then on the sidelines at the end of the game was childish. He's getting paid a lot of money to play a game that all of the fans have paid a lot of money to witness it. The fans get to say what they want, he doesn't (at least not during the game, and especially when he's on the sidelines while his backup is winning the game).

4) Marvin Harrison's career as a top-flight receiver is finished. He's had a fantastic run, and every indication is that his knee injury was not necessarily devastating, but for an elite receiver it marks a major turning point. I think that he's such a fantastic athlete and person that he would never want anyone to know how much his knee was hurting, but the fact that he sat out so many weeks, he had to sit out much of yesterday's game, and certain dependable reports have said that his knee injury is chronic and will not heal with time is ominous for Harrison. I hope I'm wrong, because he's the type of player that every league needs as a representative of what's good in sports.

As Roger Clemens increasingly resembles a terrible caricature, he definitely is a guy in need of major-league advice, and not from his lawyer Rusty Hardin who has given him some absolutely horrendous advice in 2008. So, here goes.

"Dear Roger,

It's been tough. Didn't you read my advice blog to you last December? All you wanted was fame and adoration, and instead you get all this junk heaped on you. Actually, in your '60 Minutes' interview you said that you didn't want fame, so I guess you just wanted adoration.

Roger, you've been getting some horrendous PR advice from Rusty Hardin. He might be good in the courtroom, but he's causing you to get hammered in the court of public opinion.

So, here's some advice which I really think you should take to heart. Think about it for a bit. I know you have time because you're supposedly retired until you un-retire.

First, hire someone good who will objectively look at all the interviews and other public statements you've made since the Mitchell Report was released. You must straighten out all the inconsistencies. Even the simple ones are going to make you look like a liar.

Here's an example. 5 days after the Mitchell Report was released, you said that you were just "numb" to the accusations but that your wife Debbie and your sons were devastated by it. That's fine. But if that was your original statement, you've got to stick to it. You say you're numb one moment, and then during the '60 Minutes' interview, you say that you're really upset that you don't get the benefit of the doubt from the American public after pitching for 24 years?

You say that your family is crushed by all of this, and that's entirely understandable. But then in the phone call with Brian McNamee that you secretly taped and released, you first said that your wife and kids are "numb" about the whole thing, then you later say that they're a mess.

Get your story straight. Wouldn't it just be easier to say that you and your whole family are upset about the whole situation? Isn't that what an innocent man and his family would feel in your situation?

Second, if I were you, I'd seriously reconsider appearing before Congress. If you are 100% innocent, then appear before them and waive your right to invoke the Fifth Amendment. If you have nothing to hide, then you have now way of incriminating yourself, so you won't need to invoke it. But doing it at the very beginning without any prompting from anyone will really get people on your side.

But if you did use steroids or HGH, there is absolutely no way I would appear before that Congressional committee. You're going to have to swear to tell the whole truth, and if any smoking guns come out later, the very next thing you're going to have to buy is soap on a rope. It's too risky.

Third, use some common sense, okay? It's bad enough that you look super-sleazy for secretly tape-recording your most recent conversation with McNamee, but it's far worse that he never recanted anything AND then you released it.

Do you know what a bottom-dwelling, scum-sucking sneaky miscreant you look like now? And the worst thing is that you set up the call on the pretext of his ill son. Roger, the American public does not like people who use critically ill children as pawns for their own personal gain.

Releasing that tape was a humongous mistake. Try to use some better common sense. I'm sure that Rusty Hardin told you to do that, but it was a terrible thing to do. If you're going to do something so sleazy, you have to make sure that he says something along the lines of, "Roger, I'm sorry I lied about you using steroids and HGH. You never did that stuff, but I felt like it was my only way out of the situation."  Anything, and I mean anything less than that should be discarded.

Fourth, do me a favor and find out which hospital little McNamee is at and make sure that you send a generous check over there to cover his hospital bill. Why? Because it will help your image. It will make it seem like you actually do care about people other than yourself.

I don't know if you do care about others outside of you and your immediate family, but at least you can project that image.

Doing something generous covering little McNamee's hospital costs will help mitigate the negative fallout against you because of that taped conversation.

Let the public know or think that even though you're really upset with Brian McNamee, you're not going to punish his ill son for the sins of his father. That will get you a ton of goodwill mileage.

Fifth, have your wife appear by your side. Roger, when a man's wife doesn't appear with him, it gives the appearance that he is 100% guilty. If Hilary Clinton's crocodile tears a day before the New Hampshire primary can swing the election to a suprising victory for her because now voters think she has a heart, then Debbie's real tears might do wonders for your image.

And for God's sake, if you are going to shed some tears, don't suddenly revert back to your normal ornery self 7 seconds later like Hilary Clinton did. You might want to listen to the woman who asked Hilary Clinton the question which induced/allowed the tears to flow. She said that she didn't vote for Hilary in that New Hampshire primary, because 7 seconds after Clinton got all teary-eyed, she suddenly resumed her normal harsh, didactic and condescending manner.

Learn from history.

Sixth, call Joe Torre and ask him for some support. People respect Torre as a guy who tells it like it is. The fact that he refuses to stick up for you makes people think that you're guilty.

Seventh, if you are going to appear before Congress this coming February, I'd strongly urge you to start finding ways to dig up or manufacture prescriptions for the lidocaine and vitamin B12 that you supposedly injected into your body. While you're at it, you also might want to get some written prescriptions (preferably backdated) for all that precription Vioxx that you admittedly "ate like Skittles".

While you're at it, you better find someone who is great at secretly hacking into your local drugstore's computer records and altering them so that it seems like you actually filled your prescriptions there.

Trust me, if you walk into that Congressional hearing without any prescriptions, you are going to get roasted. The fact is that lidocaine, injectable Vitamin B12 and Vioxx all required prescriptions at the time you said you were taking them. Without having a paper trail here, you are going to regret ever using that as an excuse on '60 Minutes'.

Eighth, if you had someone supplying you with steroids and HGH, you better make certain that they will keep their mouths shut. Only an idiot drug dealer would publicly out you, but you never know what kind of crazy money is being offered out there for anyone who has proof that he/she sold you those drugs.

Ninth, if possible talk to Andy Pettitte. If he even hints to the Congressional Committee that he knew you were doing steroids and/or HGH, your credibility is destroyed. Why? Because his credibility is almost as high as it could be due to his admission of HGH use.

Tenth, if you are innocent and you know of baseball players who have used steroids, you'd be best served by giving up some of those names to the Congressional Committee. There are a lot of people out there who think that one of the reasons so few MLB players have publicly spoken out against steroids is because the vast majority of them have tried or are now using steroids. Giving some names will deflect some of the attention away from you. Just make sure that you don't lie about who was doing the steroids.

Eleventh, between now and your mid-February meeting with Congress, really try and lose some of your bulk. Even if you have to starve, just do it. If your eyes look a bit sunken, even better. Make it look like this whole situation is taking a massive toll on you. That will get you some sympathy. Also, being slimmer and trimmer will make you look less like a steroid user.

Finally, I know that you like to work out, but you must not even think about exercising with any guys named Mark McGwire or Jason Giambi, and definitely now is not a good time to be hanging out with guys from the WWF. We call that "guilt by association".

So, good luck, and I hope that everything works out, but even if it doesn't, just remember that you still have your Cy Young Awards, World Series rings, family, and your millions of dollars. Most people don't even have one of those things.

- Divine"

For people who think that this year's New England Patriots aren't the best team to ever step on an NFL field during the regular season, let's look at the records they've broken in the 2007 regular season:

Team Records:  

19          Most consecutive regular-season victories (dating back to 2006)

16-0       Most regular season victories

589         Most points scored in a season

73           Most TDs in a season

23           Most TD passes between the same passer and receiver (Brady to Moss

8             Most consecutive wins by 17 points or more to begin a season

+315       Greatest point differential in a season

551          Most points cored through first 15 games

523          Most points scored through first 14 games

503          Most points scored through first 13 games

469          Most points scored through first 12 games

442          Most points scored through first 11 games

411          Most points scored through first 10 games

Individual Records: