ESPN Commentary

Sometimes a remote control isn't just for TV. Sometimes it's for channel surfing a column.

Like, I could write about the Triple Crown, but it's hard to wrap your arms around a sport where the star athletes have a tendency to, you know, die in front of you.

Last year, it was Barbaro who eventually spun in. This year, Eight Belles. So I'm going to take a pass on the Belmont Stakes, even if Triple Crown fave Big Brown drives a UPS truck to the finish line. Plus, the big fella has a history of foot injuries, and the competition is so thin that winning the Crown might be like winning the NL West. Or even worse …

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You know what racehorses and the New York Mets have in common?

Neither of them talk to the media.

Mets reliever Billy Wagner is my new hero for reminding his teammates (stand-up guys such as David Wright excluded) one of the essential postgame truths: There's no hiding in baseball. No hiding. Win or lose, you do your time in front of the beat reporters -- even if one of those reporters is wearing a gold thong that Jason Gi…

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Hey, does anybody know if "The Closer" is on TNT? I mean, it's almost been a couple of seconds since the last Kyra Sedgwick pop-up promo. And I think I speak for everyone when I say Holly Hunter scares the hell out of me.

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Those 104 major league players who tested positive for steroids in 2003 must be thrilled with their union leadership these days. Not only did the feds obtain the supposedly anonymous test results by outsmarting the players' association on the legal front, but those 104 names aren't likely to stay secret for long. If all goes as expected, the government wants to cliff dive into the list to determine where the players got the juice.

And, as reported by The New York Times, here's the kicker: Under the terms of its agreement with the owners, the union could have destroyed those 2003 test results but didn't!

What the union needed to do back in 2003 was contact Roger "The Evidence Killer" Goodell …

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Went to BarryBonds.com to see whether Mr. Asterisk had posted a response to the recent remarks made by Henry Aaron. Aaron, speaking to reporters before his commencement speech at Concordia University in Mequon, Wis., said jokingly (we think), "I still consider myself the home run king. But seriously, I think Bonds has done wonderfully. I think he had a marvelous career."

Had? As in past tense?

Aaron knows Bonds is done. And even though Aaron didn't refer to Bonds in the speech, there was a certain relevance to the advice he gave to the graduates.

"Be careful before you make choices," 74-year-old Aaron said. "Avoid shortcuts. They are quick fixes and unrewarding."

And nope, not a thing on Bonds' Web site about Aaron's speech. Only a May 6 entry about a charity event and a final reminder that he's "staying in shape." And don't bother going to the site's "Leave A Message For Barry" link. It doesn't work, much like Bonds' flaxseed oil defense strat…

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Just out of habit, Roger Clemens' attorney Rusty Hardin said his client had never been to a Henry Aaron pool party in Miami.

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Spygate won't go away for the same reason all cover-ups, large and small, don't go away: The cover-uppers refuse to admit the obvious until it's too late.

Bill Belichick says he made a mistake, but he says it as if he simply misread the instructions on the side of a mac and cheese box. He cheated. He got caught. He's embarrassed. And, unlike a football team, he can't control the fallout.

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After watching LeBron James score 45 of Cleveland's 92 points in the Game 7 loss to Boston, I was just wondering whether the rest of the Cavs had to pay for those sideline seats, or were they comps?

Ben Wallace had more fouls than rebounds. "Point guard" Delonte West had more turnovers than assists. You and I had more points than Wally Szczerbiak. Damon Jones was …

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The window of L.A. Lakers opportunity is now and 2009. After that, Kobe Bryant can opt of his contract (hello, Knicks?)

Look, as someone who spent the better part of the 1980s living in the L.A. area and Velcro'd to the TV for those Lakers-Celtics series, I want a KG-KB NBA Finals. But unless Pau Gasol receives a biceps transplant between now and then, the Lakers are going to scuffle against physical teams. No Andrew Bynum. And you can't really expect Ronny Turiaf to …

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It used to be that if you hit it big as a pro athlete, you bought your mom and dad a house. Now you buy them a house of God. The Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade bought a church for Jolinda Wade's ministry. A few years ago, Milwaukee Bucks star Michael Redd did the same for his dad.

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Give plate umpire Bob Davidson credit for saying he "[expletive] it up" on the Carlos Delgado home run that was ruled a foul ball in Sunday's Mets-Yankees series. It happens. But it shouldn't -- not on these kind of easily reversible type of plays.

All those against instant replay in baseball (and I used to be one of them), just remember what Seattle Mariners GM Bill Bavasi told me this past October: "We're going to demand these [umpires] stay in the dark ages? And then get pissed at them when we have the technology that we refuse to give them?"

Davidson took the hit Sunday. But blame it more on the dark ages and stubborn …

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Just a suggestion for the Silly Season: a Skins game between Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa. We'll figure out the strokes later, but I'd give Ochoa at least …

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And now I'd like to tell you all about my fantasy baseball team. My backup catcher is …

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Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at gene.wojciechowski@espn3.com.