Catching up with the best of the worst from the past week in sports:

(10) Boston Celtics: It is technically possible to win an NBA championship without winning a playoff road game, but the air of invincibility dissipates every time the team with the NBA's best regular-season record (by a convincing seven games) gets taken to the limit in a series. The Celtics walked away from their second-round battle with the Cleveland Cavaliers with their title ambitions still intact but performing about as convincingly as Elizabeth Berkley in "Showgirls." I don't want to say Pistons in six is a sure bet, but I hear Steve Wynn is accepting Charles Barkley's $25K ticket on that proposition as payment in full.

(9) Tony Kornheiser's career plans: The multi-talented Washington Post columnist revealed that he's taking a buyout from the paper in part to devote more time to his radio, TV and long-form writing gigs. Speaking for the generation old enough to remember when there were still more than half a dozen great American newspapers, it's a shame that Kornheiser, 59, didn't drop one of his other duties (except for "Pardon The Interruption") and rededicate himself to the column writing that he more or less quit doing in 2006. Those of us who grew up reading the likes of Dick Young, Jim Murray, Mike Downey, Shelby Strother, Dave Kindred and Blackie Sherrod were always happy to set aside a few minutes for Korny.

(8) High school pimps and parasites: It's a safe guess that O.J. Mayo's name is going to get a lot of air time this spring and summer for reasons beyond his lottery-pick status. The report last week that USC's one-and-done basketball star was allegedly the recipient of thousands of dollars of benefits while still in high school is attracting a lot of attention thus far - with much more to come. Alexander Wolff and Armen Keteyian wrote the damning "Raw Recruits" in 1991, and the influence of "street agents" and "runners" on the college game has gotten worse since. The idea that grown men are new regularly dropping five-figure sums on 17-year-olds with the intention of reaping a 50-fold return on their investment a few years later is one more reason it would help basketball if the NBA would push its minimum age to 21.

(7) Billy Wagner: The Mets closer certainly stuck his foot in it last week by discussing the proverbial family business in public, forcing Willie Randolph to call a team meeting at a time when the Mets had enough on their minds - including a .500 record heading into their weekend vs, the Yankees - without Wagner publicly throwing teammates onto the Subway Series tracks. Wagner claims he was being critical of the media and not his teammates when he scolded reporters who wanted to interview him after Thursday's 1-0 loss to Washington. "You should be talking to the guys over there," he told reporters. "Oh, they're not there. Big shock." How can that not be construed as a knock on his teammates?

(6) San Jose Earthquakes: Bad figures to get worse for the 'Quakes, already mired in last place in the West in Major League Soccer. They've scored all of four goals in seven matches and play seven of their next 10 on the road. No truth to the rumor that they replaced "guaranteed win night" with "guaranteed goal night" on their schedule and then replaced that with a promotion guaranteeing that they would put at least one more shot on goal before the season ends.

(5) Newsday: Hey, we've all worked for a boss or two who we've wanted to see replaced. And we've all been warned, "Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it." Well, that's Newsday's nightmare these days. The proposed sale of the paper was announced last week, meaning ownership is changing from Tribune to Cablevision barring last-minute legal issues. Yes, sports fans, that means Newsday staffers are going from taking orders from the people who run the Chicago Cubs (no championships in a century or so) to taking orders from the people who run the New York Knicks (no clue).

(4) Jason Isringhausen: What's worse than a closer who can't get anyone out? How about a closer who puts himself on the disabled list by punching a television in a fit of anger. The Cardinals reliever, on the books for $8 million, is experiencing a miserable 2008 season with six blown saves already, a conversion rate that the Moors would have never accepted.

(3) Detroit Tigers: Baseball reached the quarter pole last week, and the AL Central cellar-dwellers need a Big Brown-esque burst soon if they're going to have any chance of reaching the postseason. But getting swept by Kansas City and languishing in last in the majors in team ERA is no way to instill confidence that Motown will be home to anything more than an 83-79 team this season. But take heart, Detroit sports fans. The annual Matt Millen follies are just two months away.

(2) Jack Crowe: So much for being able to call plays from the high moral ground instead of the sideline next season. The Jacksonville State coach booted Cedric Johnson, his only experienced QB, from the team in February for violating team rules but has now added Ryan Perrilloux, who was recently thrown off LSU's team for violating team rules and perhaps quite possibly bending a legal statute or two. If being a hypocrite requires a lot of paperwork, then get Mr. Crowe a box on No. 2 pencils so he can start justifying his new No. 1 signal caller. Jacksonville State has steadily been in the three- to six-win range for a decade and Crowe thinks he can break through with a guy who's got a better shot right at three-to-five right now than of being a stand-up citizen.

(1) TNT Sports: Charles Barkley's $400K gambling debt to Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas hotel made headlines and was talk-show fodder all week without a significant related issue being raised. The always-entertaining basketball analyst's game of choice reportedly is blackjack, which would seem to be fairly harmless. But it's also been reported that Barkley has spoken of profiting off the Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl victory, and that's where his gambling gets problematic. If Barkley made money betting on a sporting event, he's almost certainly lost money on other games along the way. Doesn't it make you wonder If Barkley's commentary on NBA telecasts, then, has ever been tainted by bitterness over a lost bet or if he's backed off criticism of a player whose performance translated into a winning bet. A network news division would never allow its reporters to gamble on the people they cover. Where's the concern from the bosses at TNT Sports about the potential damage to their credibility?