Michael Jordan

Goodbye." It's a simple word, but sometimes it's just hard to say. OK, well maybe it's easy to say and hard to, you know, stick with it. That has been Brett Favre's problem. He has come so close to saying goodbye so many, many times. Then, in March, he did say it. There were tears and everything. But we all know what has happened since. Today, he'll be there when the Packers resume training camp. But before we accuse ol' Brett of an acute case of vacillation, let's point out that he's hardly alone.

Standing 2 feet tall and weighing 20 pounds, three-time pretty-baby contest champion Alex Wilmeth retired Saturday after a knockout performance as Elvis at the Howard County Fair. His father, Michael Wilmeth, offered this statement on his son's victory in his final year of eligibility: "He is the Michael Jordan of baby parades." In 2005, the Cooksville native debuted in the nonwalking division as Harry Potter. At the age of 1, he steered his "Black Pearl" wagon as Pirates of the Caribbean character Jack Sparrow.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- Just after 11 a.m. yesterday, Michael Jordan entered the Road America facility with an eager stride, thermos and cigar in hand, a glint in his eye as he waited for a day of racing to begin. A foreboding, gray sky draped over the distant hilltops. Jordan hardly noticed. The former Chicago Bulls great took a perch on the deck, offering an enthusiastic wave to his Jordan Suzuki team prepping across the track. In 2004 - a few months after a late-night encounter with other riders at a downtown Chicago gas station - Jordan formed his own motorcycle racing team, Michael Jordan Motorsports, fielding racers in the AMA Superbike and Superstock series.

School's out, but the library was open yesterday at McCormick Elementary School. A group of youngsters listened eagerly to a reading of Salt in his Shoes, a book about basketball great Michael Jordan. Then they colored paper sneakers, and listed their goals -- which for Chaquiera Wharton included playing on a basketball team, trying to earn straight A's and reading more than 30 books this year. Chaquiera, an eighth-grader at Golden Ring Middle School, comes to McCormick Elementary every Wednesday with her sister and cousin.

The telephone message emanating these days from the offices of the Boston Celtics identifies the franchise as having won 16 NBA championships. What it doesn't mention is this: It has been 20 years since the last one. On June 8, 1986, the Celtics closed out the Houston Rockets in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. A little more than a week later, the Celtics selected Maryland star Len Bias with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. On the morning of June 19, less than 48 hours after he put on a Celtics cap and was introduced by NBA commissioner David Stern, Bias was dead of cocaine intoxication.

MIAMI -- OK, girls and boys, let's all march up to the blackboard and write it 100 times: We're sorry, Jerry Buss. ... We're sorry, Jerry Buss. ... We're sorry, Jerry Buss. ... The much-castigated owner of the Los Angeles Lakers was right. We were wrong. You, me ... everybody. We portrayed Buss as some sort of moron when he decided two years ago to keep Kobe Bryant instead of Shaquille O'Neal. Oh, how we howled. How could Buss allow the most dominant big man of our lifetime to walk out the door?

Michael Jordan was in his second NBA season when the 1986 playoffs began. Having been named Rookie of the Year and twice selected to the All-Star team, Jordan had missed all but 18 games that season with a broken foot and went against the wishes of his doctors by suiting up against the Boston Celtics. It was then, in Game 2 of an opening-round three-game sweep for the eventual NBA champion Celtics, that the 23-year-old guard scored a playoff-record 63 points in a 135-131 double-overtime defeat.

TURIN, Italy -- Chad and Shani now join Nancy and Tonya among the most contentious soulmates in Olympic history. Speed skating was just a warm-up for a better story line at the Olympic Oval last night when Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis continued their snippy crossfire that has become the most entertaining reality series of these Olympics. Italy's Enrico Fabris won the 1,500-meter race, a fact that became inconsequential to the U.S. media beyond one factor: Davis (silver medal) and Hedrick (bronze)

Kwame Brown's four-year career with the Washington Wizards appears to be heading rapidly toward its conclusion. Brown, who was made the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft by then-team president Michael Jordan, was suspended yesterday for the remainder of the playoffs. Shortly before the Wizards left for Chicago to play the Bulls in tonight's Game 5 of their best-of-seven opening-round series, Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld made the announcement that Brown would no longer play with the team this season.

WASHINGTON - The wait lasted eight years, seven coaches and countless players, including one who many considered the greatest ever to put on an NBA uniform. The Washington Wizards finally accomplished what they couldn't do with Michael Jordan - make the playoffs. By virtue of their 93-82 victory over the Chicago Bulls last night at MCI Center and Indiana's 90-86 win over the New Jersey Nets, the Wizards will play in the postseason for the first time since the 1996-97 season when the then-Bullets lost to Jordan's Bulls in a three- game opening-round sweep.