About Marbury, Burress and other sports news.......

• Can you get any more tired of Starbury or Burress? This is what is such a joke about these two players: Starbury's team plays better without him on the court and he has done nothing but cause problems for the franchise, from getting coaches fired to his overall unattractive personality. He's also a main symbol of the Isiah years which you can tell the Knicks are quickly trying to rid themselves of any remnants of. At this point, I pay the 21 million to have him nowhere near the franchise, don't let him play anywhere else, just get him away and start over next year with new cap space. That seems to be their plan right now anyway.

As for Plaxico, I'm not going to pretend he's a bad receiver, because he's not, he's in fact a very good receiver. He's also a good player having played through injuries all of last season to put up good numbers and lead the team through the playoffs (particularly against Green Bay). Suspiciously, that happened to be in a year where he would demand an extension the following season and get one. Since then, he's done nothing but skip practice, continue to get hurt, make barely any impact on a superior Giants team and now shoot himself in the leg like a low-class, low-intelligence, dumbass. I would be personally surprised if he played another game for the G-Men, because even if he is healthy somehow by the end of this season, the Giants won't let him anywhere near their mojo and wouldn't consciously go into next season with this headache on their hands out of the gates. You can say it's easy for me to ignore the fact Burress is their number one receiver and is very talented, and to that I'd say, yes, yes it is easy for me. Dominic Hixon, whether he is or not, is playing like a stud and has never played any other way. Amani Toomer is still a solid number two receiver, Steve Smith has turned into a solid three and a clutch third down guy, Sinorice Moss is healthy and finding playing time, and Kevin Boss has turned into a more fundamental and useful tight end than Jeremy Shockey.

In fact, if you learned anything, it comes from Shockey. the Giants don't need Plaxi, Plaxi needs the Giants because it will save him from going to the Bengals or Raiders where players go to die. Oh and by the way, the Giants also have Mario Manningham, who is a big, high-drafted, high-potential receiver and hasn't even cracked the playing field all that much because the Giants have so many receiving options and this doesn't even include David "use your head" Tyree. This doesn't even include their solid offensive line, defensive line, deep talent in the secondary, or the fact they have three runningbacks who could all be starters but instead choose to destroy other team's defenses as one unit. This is a team where you don't let anyone near ruining their work ethic or focus. It's a team where about two of their players are over 28 years of age, and one built not to repeat as champions, but as a dynasty. No one player can spoil all that.

• Steve Smith, speaking of Giants receivers, was robbed at gun point. There's the flipside to coming from relatively little money to all of a sudden having a lot of it.

• USC will wear red during an away game at UCLA. Pete Carroll thinks it would be "cool." It will also cost him two timeouts per half, which I think could be "cool" if it were to cost the Trojans the game.

• The Giants and Red Sox, in my mind, are the two best positioned franchises in sports. If it were to come down to an order, I think that'd be impossible because you'd have to include the minors in baseball and we don't know what becomes of those players, but I think we all can agree the Lions are the worst team ever.

• In perhaps the most important story of the week, the Japanese signed a female to a professional contract in a league slightly inferior to what would be "major league level" in Japan. Either way, this is a tremendous accomplishment and an eye opener for females who desire to play professional sports with males. Eri Yoshida was the only woman selected in the Japanese amateur draft at just 16 years old, five feet and 114 lbs. Why is this relevant to SoxandPinstripes? Well, if you've been paying attention, it doesn't have to be, but in this case Yoshida not only idolizes Tim Wakefield, but she too harnesses the power of a knuckleball, though she reaches only about 50 miles per hour. Regardless, she's made it this far and this solves the age old question: "Can a five foot Asian woman do Tim Wakefield's job"? For video of the pitcher, you can find it here.

• Finally, in case you're looking for some holiday gifts for Yankees fans, your endless search of pain and misery is now over.

Just go to www.LSprints.com and search among top quality art at reasonable prices. Legendary Sports Prints has a lot of Yankees' material, including Mantle and Maris and Ruth and Gehrig in pictures together, with one batting and one on deck (you can assume who is who). Obviously, any Yankees fan, particularly one with an interest in history and an affinity for superior artwork of a superior team, would love one or both of these paintings. Check out the web site for additional details.