ESPN.com - What's hot, not for the week

ESPN.com: Page 2

Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Updated: August 8, 12:09 PM ET
What's hot, not for the week

By Dan Shanoff
Page 2 columnist

So the U.S. Golf Association has reversed course and outlawed the controversial "hot driver," eh? Nothing makes a product hotter than verboten status -- how's that MP3 player treating you? -- and all that the ban signals is:

Time to buy.

Retailers are freaked that they will be left holding the (golf) bag, meaning potentially steep discounts for Joe Duffer. Can't use the club to post a score for your handicap index? Your ego will be soothed when you actually have a better time just knocking the ball around with the more forgiving club. If you don't get one, you know you will be asking to try a friend's, so why not try to snag one yourself on the cheap?

Now that you've got the scoop on one thing that's fashionable, take a look at the rest of what's hot and what's not this week. Feel free to share with your co-workers, buddies, golfing partners and significant others:

What's Hot, What's Not this week
Category	Hot	Not
Baseball records	Lifetime achievement	Single-season
The fix is in	Taekwondo in Sydney	Figure skating in Salt Lake City
Stadium naming rights	Razors	Fundamentally unsound Internet companies
Best hope against Shaq	Dikembe and decent team D	MacCulloch and a hot AI
Fan-friendly team promotion	Online ticket exchanges	"Silent Night" (no electronic/video scoreboard)
Analysis style	Boom!	Highbrow comedy
MLB hot-button executive	CFO Jonathan Mariner	VP/Labor Relations Rob Manfred
Education for athletes in offseason	Business school	Broadcasting school
Radio-station format	Sports	Religion
Arena Football League hotbed	Cincinnati	Raleigh, N.C.
Chris Webber's big problem	Possible indictments	Possible work in post vs. Shaq
Hobby for retired athletes	Attend political fund-raisers	Train to get back into playing shape
Takin' heat as butt of jokes	Anna Nicole Smith	Bud Selig
Cheerleaders' promotional tool	Old-fashioned cheesecake calendars	Websites no one visits
Weekend flick	"XXX"	"Full Frontal"
Spurrier Watch	Danny Wuerffel	Sage Rosenfels
Good-faith sign	Players OK with steroid testing	Owners complain about $220 million loss
Three key letters for would-be college athlete	GPA	SAT
Unnecessary airport-related whining by pro athletes	Security-related delays in travel	Obsessive fans staking out
Lighten up, Francis, it's just the preseason	Steve Mariucci	Jeff Garcia
Fun at the ballpark	Fans decide whether married couple should split	Harassing opposing outfielders from the bleachers

Dan Shanoff is a columnist for Page 2. His "What's Hot, What's Not" trend-spotting list appears Thursdays. Got inside scoop on an up-and-coming trend? Want to declare something passé? Send this glimpse of your hipness to hotnotlist@yahoo.com.