Opinion

Fact: The Ex-Oriole rotation (Pete Harnisch, Curt Schilling, Dennis Martinez, Mike Morgan, Rick Sutcliffe) has combined for a 6-21 record and two stays on the disabled list.Opinion: It would be interesting to see if America stayed inside in the middle of June to watch the Pacers and Jazz in the NBA Finals.Fact: (from the CFL transaction wire): Slotback Rob Crifo was traded from the Rough Riders to the Roughriders. (Ottawa to Saskatchewan.) He said, "In my heart, I'll always be a Rough Rider."

Fact: The Orioles are exactly one game behind last year's 89-win pace.Opinion: Relax.Fact: The Rangers, who also started 6-1 last year, finished the season a dozen games behind the Orioles.Opinion: Puh-leeeze, relax.Fact: Baseball's new "speed rules" knocked but two minutes from the average American League game time during the first week of the season.Opinion: Jack Morris might be heading downhill fast this year.Fact: Fifteen of the 25 Padres will make less than $200,000 this year. Horrors!

Opinion: If I'm spending the Orioles' free-agent money, I go after Tom Candiotti now. (Innings, innings, innings!)Fact: Mike Devereaux hit more home runs than Bobby Bonilla in 1991.Opinion: If I'm a general manager and Bobby Bonilla costs $25 million, I say no thanks.Fact: The New York Giants haven't beaten a team with a winning record this season.Opinion: When healthy, Jim McMahon has been as good as any NFL quarterback this season.Fact: Only five of the 14 NFL teams that started 10-0 went on to win the title.

Fact: Jimmy Connors called the chair umpire "an abortion" in the fifth set against Aaron Krickstein. Did it twice.Opinion: What Connors is doing is remarkable for a 39-year-old, but my memory is too long to buy into him as anything other than a jerk. (Just can't seem to shake the memory of him turning to Princess Di in the Royal Box and grabbing his privates.)Fact: The Orioles did win a pennant this year. One of their farm teams, the Kane County Cougars, won the second-half title of the Class A Midwest League's Northern Division.

Fact: The O (give-them-a-home)'s will again be kings of the spring training road, taking a bus to 16 of 28 games in Florida.Opinion: The Bullets would be smart to lose as often as possible, bettering their draft prospects. (This is a recording.)Fact: Three-fourths of the Orioles' 1991 Opening Day rotation is gone. (Dave Johnson, Jeff Robinson, Jeff Ballard.)Opinion: Walt Williams has just about nailed down a spot in the NBA draft lottery, although he's too thin for 82 games.Fact: The U.S. Winter Olympic team will do the opening ceremony in uniforms of cobalt and berry, which are colors, not a science experiment.

Fact: Lost in the fuss over Brady Anderson's start, Mike Devereaux is on a 31-homer, 96-RBI pace.Opinion: A.P. Indy will win the Belmont and everyone will say, "What if . . . "Fact: Mark McGwire's 17 homers through 40 games is well ahead of Babe Ruth's 12 in 1927 and Roger Maris' 10 in 1961, but McGwire says of such comparisons: "I throw them in the trash."Opinion: You could win a pennant with a rotation led by Kansas City's Kevin Appier, Cleveland's Charles Nagy and Milwaukee's Bill Wegman -- three unknowns.

Fact: Since 1986, the Orioles have a 96-143 record in September.Opinion: The name on the Terps football uniforms should be "Marylan." No D.Fact: The former Blow Jays have finished the past two seasons with a combined 31-9 run (five games left in '93).Opinion: If the Giants and Eagles are among the best five teams in the NFL, there aren't very many good teams.Fact: John McEnroe on golf: "Is that a sport, in all honesty? I think it's a great game and all, but I think, to be considered a sport, you have to run at some point."

Fact: The Orioles led the league in exactly one of the 43 team hitting and pitching categories -- balks.Opinion: If the NFL ever expands again (after Nov. 30), it'll go international, like to Toronto or Mexico City.Fact: NFL Properties already has sold a million Carolina Panthers T-shirts.Opinion: Sorry, but that Panthers logo looks like someone's dinner that got dropped on the floor.Fact: Marge Schott resumes control of the Reds today. (Isn't that great?)Opinion: Baseball statistics we'd love to see (Part I)

Fact: The recent Giants-Bills Super Bowl was the first Super Bowl or World Series in 36 months without a team from the Bay area.Opinion: Let's get this straight. UNLV is easily the best college basketball team, but it would lose by 30 to the Charlotte Hornets.Fact: When Jose Canseco faces Roger Clemens this year, the at-bat will have a net worth of almost $15,000. (Based on a full season of play, Canseco will get $8,000 per at-bat, Clemens $6,500 per out.)Opinion: The Pistons aren't going to three-peat without Isiah Thomas.

Fact: Three of the five major-league teams that have fired their managers this season are still in last place. And the other two are in the same division as one of the last- placers.Opinion: The Seattle Mariners would win the AL East.Fact: The Chicago Bulls won 55 of their last 65 games.Opinion: It sure would make a positive statement if UNLV replaced the Tark with a law-and-order guy. (If there is a law-and-order guy, that is.)Fact: The combined lifetime ERA of the Orioles' current rotation -- Ballard, Mesa, Milacki, Robinson, Smith -- is 4.85.