Olbermann

Expansion draft fulfills a fantasyRotisserie League players are sort of like Vanilla Ice -- they're stuck with a bad rap.No, wait a minute, Vanilla Ice is a bad rapper. Let's try again.Rotisserie League players are sort of like wire hangers in Joan Crawford's house -- afraid to come out of the closet.No, that doesn't make sense. How can hangers be afraid? All right, one more.Rotisserie League players are sort of like marigolds -- they bloom in the spring, but disappear in the fall, when you go out, dig them up and try to toss them into the neighbor's yard without his seeing, because you're in a hurry and you'd much rather be in the house watching MTV and wondering if they could bring back Nina Blackwood now that Downtown Julie Brown is gone . . .But I digress.

Lost in all the tumult and turmoil that affected the American body politic in the 1960s was the upheaval that turned the sports culture on its ear, as virtually everything that touched the society at large, from protests to drug use and everything in between, invaded the athletic realm.The volatility of the era is painstakingly captured in yet another wonderful HBO documentary, "Fields of Fire: Sports in the '60s," which premieres tonight at 10, with repeats Thursday and Saturday.Narrated by Richie Havens, a musical legend of the era, "Fields of Fire" closely examines the impact of the Vietnam War on pTC sports, the struggles of women to find their place in athletics, the explosion of television, and baseball's reserve clause, as well as a tribute to Joe Namath.

'Saturday Night Live' star Poehler gives birth to son, Archie Arnett Saturday Night Live won't be the same without Amy Poehler, who gave birth to a son hours before the Baby Mama star was to appear on the NBC show. The live show's parody news anchor was missing from her spot alongside Seth Myers on "Weekend Update" because she gave birth earlier Saturday. On behalf of Poehler and her husband, Will Arnett, "I can confirm that Amy gave birth to Archie Arnett on Saturday," read a statement from Poehler's spokesman, Lewis Kay. The baby weighing 8 pounds, 1 ounce was born in the evening at a New York hospital.

If you listened between the lines yesterday, you might have heard the sound of an NFL commissioner doing a backtrack.During the halftime segment of NBC's NFL coverage, Paul Tagliabue said Charm City deserves a football team and that it was the league's "goal" to get one here.Responding to a question from reporter Will McDonough on how the proposed move of the Browns from Cleveland to here might resolve itself, the commissioner said, "I think our challenge as a league is to keep a team in Cleveland and get a team to Baltimore."

In case you hadn't heard, today is Memorial Day, the first big holiday on the baseball calendar.And yet, with the exception of the roto geeks and the Ken Burns "baseball as metaphor for life" types, is there anyone out there who is anticipating watching any baseball game today more than the Orlando-Indiana NBA contest?It's not just that basketball is the hot sport of the moment. It's more that baseball is dead in the public consciousness. OK, maybe dead is too strong a word, but baseball's pulse is barely measurable.

So, the NBA is back and commissioner David Stern has saved the house of professional basketball. But did he and the players burn the village in the process, and will the new product be worth watching once things get up and running?That's the multimillion-dollar question left from the end of the lockout yesterday. The NBA, as much as any sports organization, has come to depend on television to mold its image. A prolonged period of games with out-of-shape, poorly conditioned players will hurt the NBA's television image, assuming, of course, that viewers even want to watch.

Students of geography have, for years, had a good chuckle at the NFL map that places Dallas and Arizona in an eastern division, while lopping Atlanta, New Orleans and now Carolina in a western alliance.But in typical NFL fashion, it could be the recent spate of franchise shifts and their effect on the television contract, not good, old-fashioned common sense, that forces realignment.With the planned moves of the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore and the Oilers from Houston to Nashville, Tenn.

American literary culture appears to be in worse jeopardy than ever. For years, Cassandras have been bemoaning that multinationals have taken over publishing. Myopically focused on the bottom line, they have squandered mega-advances on the likes of the Danielle Steels and the John Grishams, allowing precious few books of literary merit to rise to the surface. That's old news.What's new and of greater cause for alarm is the sad fate of the few works of literary fiction that had been finding publishers.

To replay or not to replay.In the wake of National League umpire Frank Pulli's decision Monday to check a television camera for conclusive proof on a call, the dormant debate over whether baseball should use instant replay got fired up.Based on what happened Monday and for the integrity of the game, Fox announcer Joe Buck, who was calling the St. Louis-Florida game for a Midwest audience, is foursquare against replay."