Slow news week

It's been a really slow week for sports, so I figured I would just save you the trouble of looking and just wrap all of the top stories into one article for you. \nIn case you weren't watching Tuesday night, and judging by the ratings you weren't, Canada won hockey's World Cup tournament for the first time in 13 years. The bigger story, however, is that this may be the last time we see hockey for a very long time. With a lockout announced, this could be a very long and ugly process. My question: Who cares?\nI mean honestly, it seems like Texas hold 'em has surpassed hockey as one of the four major sports recently. Yeah, I'm really going to miss having to wait through 20 minutes-worth of European guys skating around on SportsCenter just to find out if the Lakers won.\nBarry "Balco" Bonds may have 700 career home runs by the time you read this, and everyone seems to be excited about seeing it -- I'm not. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think it's wrong to keep holding up a guy who is obviously on some kind of performance-enhancing drug? \nIf my friend Ike showed up after the summer and was 150 pounds heavier I'd think he was either on steroids or had become part of Oprah's studio audience. So why does Barry get a free pass?\nTexas reliever Frank Francisco was arrested Monday night after doing his best Bobby Knight impersonation. Francisco threw a folding chair into the stands and broke the nose of a 41-year-old female A's fan. Apparently the woman and her husband were heckling the Rangers in the bullpen. Violence involving fans at Oakland Coliseum? Looks like a few Raiders fans showed up early for Sunday's game with the Bills.\nArt Howe was fired by the Mets effective at the end of the season. Really a shame for Art, I'm sure he would have loved to stick with a mismanaged team of overpaid underachievers.\nThe Nets and Trail Blazers are talking about a trade involving Jason Kidd and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Apparently the Nets are willing to include their first round pick next year if the Blazers agree to take Kidd's wife in the deal. It is always sad when this happens, a superstar resurrects his career with a team, takes them to the Finals and then essentially engineers the death of the franchise because he is unhappy. \nSammy Sosa appears to be finding his swing as he now has three home runs in the last three days. This helps because the Cubs are right in the middle of the wild card and they need all the offense they can get, especially with the way Nomar Hamm has been playing defense lately. He's booted more balls than his wife since coming to the Cubs. But cheer up Chicago fans, it's just a matter of time until that crushing defeat sends you home sobbing from the playoffs, enjoy!\nSo what have we learned today? \nNo one cares about hockey, Barry is a fraud, Oakland fans and violence go hand-in-hand, Jason Kidd will kill your franchise and sadly, the Cubs still suck.