Weekend review

Is every owner who drafted Ronnie Brown number one in their rookie drafts banging their collective heads against a wall with the news that Ricky Williams is returning this year? The Dolphins have to feel like they can get some trade value for Williams. You can't depend on a guy who quit on his team during training camp last year, then turned down a deal to serve his suspension at the end of last year in anticipation of returning this year because he was 'done with football', and now has made an abrupt about-face. I'd like to see the security cameras in the locker room when Ricky comes strolling in.

It's not just his reversal that's stunning. It's the fact that the Dolphins will shell out something like $25 million for two running backs. Ronnie Brown is going to get a signing bonus in the $15 million range and Ricky Williams is owed about $8 million.

Yes, I'm going to gloat about the White Sox coming into Wrigley field and taking two out of three. What's icing on the cake is the Cubs were so shell-shocked by their bullpen implosion on Saturday that Dusty Baker kept Mark Prior in the game through the ninth inning on Sunday. Prior threw 126 pitches, which is always good when you're coming off an arm injury.

The losing pitcher in Sunday's game was rookie Brandon McCarthy. When Orlando Hernandez made his inevitable first trip to the disabled list, McCarthy was called up. The 21-year-old pitched pretty well in his debut. He's considered to be the best pitching prospect in the Sox organization since Jack McDowell.

Yes, Jon Garland lost his first game last night. If you polled most White Sox fans, they would have predicted that Garland's first loss would have occurred in game five (his first start), not game forty-five. The Sox were shut out by rookie Elvin Santana of the Pick a Town Already Angels. Considering that the White Sox played Sunday afternoon then flew to California, a letdown was expected.

On Friday night I sampled one of the best new candy bar concepts in a while. Reeses introduced a limited-edition peanut butter cup that's about 95% peanut butter. I like it when candy companies think outside the box.

I attended a series of writer workshops on Saturday. Here's what I learned. It's really hard to get fiction published, and it's doubly hard for first-timers to get published. I'm not discouraged, as being in rooms filled with people sharing my dreams of publication fired me up a bit. I'm ready to put this eleven-year-old novel of mine to bed.