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

ESPN.com: Page 2

Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Updated: September 9, 3:18 PM ET
What's hot, not for the week

By Dan Shanoff
Page 2 columnist

Let's hope the barrage of homemade sign-making brought on by the looming baseball strike has come to an end with the labor deal. Oh, like any fad, it was quaint for a while. But then it became apparent that all the posterboard and puns were just a blatant attempt to get the sign-maker's face on SportsCenter or immortalized for a day in his local newspaper sports section.

Though it's never cool for teams to confiscate fan signs, it's almost equally uncool for fans to bring signs in the first place. Think of the fans in the surrounding area who can't see the game because of signage. If TV time is the goal, go camp out behind the "College GameDay" set like the rest of the world. As for signs: Write 'em off.

Well, that's one thing that's passé. For the scoop on the rest of what's hot -- and what's not -- this week, check out this list below. Don't forget to impress your co-workers, buddies and -- yes -- significant others. Just don't make them a sign.

What's Hot, What's Not this week
Category	Hot	Not
Hootie	A vengeful misogynist	A plain ol' misogynist
Next Masters domino	Players	Networks
Picket lines	College football and hoops players	Women outside Augusta National
"American Idol"	Miguel Tejada	Justin Guarini
Most likely to posterize	Luis Scola	Jermaine O'Neal
USA hoops lament	"Uh, we got smoked."	"But we were missing our best players!"
MIA	Pats LB Ted Johnson	Saints contract for Brooks
NFL season-opening game	Did someone say "Wednesday in '03"?	Ever starting on a Sunday again
QB Controversy of the Damned	Rodney Peete	Chris Weinke
Foreign hoops stud	Emanuel "Manu" Ginobili	Yao Ming
Ex-Knight assistants	"Boo-hoo, he shoved me!"	What did you think was going to happen?
WNBA	Basketball is "You're fired, coach."	Basketball is beautiful
The Yankees are scared of ...	Anything A's	Shaky bullpen
U.S. Open	Sampras revival!	Blake next coming!
Anna Kournikova	Rising CD	Falling seed
Question for Rick Neuheisel	How about some more money?	Why did we lose to Michigan?
Stadium naming rights	The newspaper that covers the team	The cars made down the highway
The toast of Madrid	Ronaldo	Zidane
Budding tennis controversy	Drug-testing	Fictional players
Unnecessary crowd control	World Hoops Championships	Sparks celebration rally
Cowboys	"Hard Knocks" hilarity	NASCAR sponsor
Heisman hype	Past winners en masse	Wannabe winners
Magic man Pat Williams	Mr. Inappropriate	Mr. Personality
Brand Jordan	Pump up the young 'uns	Promote MJ himself
Weekend flick	"Swimfan"	"fear dot com"
Wisconsin tailgating	You bring the gun, we'll bring the fun!	Keep your symbol of violence out of our Stadium of Violence

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. For more List mania, check out "What's Hot and What's Not" for the NFL season.