Professional Athletics

Recently, Mia Hamm was about to leave home for an interview at a TV station. But it was a reluctant departure. Hamm, once the world's best-known female soccer player, is now a homebody, content to spend her time in her Manhattan Beach house with her husband, Dodgers infielder Nomar Garciaparra, and their 10-month-old twin girls, Ava and Grace. "I was looking at him sitting there, with Grace on his chest asleep, and that to me was perfect," Hamm said.

Commissioners and union leaders of the four major professional sports leagues sat side by side before a House subcommittee Wednesday, debating whether drug testing recommended in the Mitchell Report should be enforced through federal legislation or remain a collective bargaining issue. But it wasn't MLB Commissioner Bud Selig spurring the charge against congressional involvement, nor was it baseball union leader Donald Fehr.

As Brett Favre is reminding us, retirement doesn't really mean retirement anymore. It's just a brief break before you make your comeback. Here are some other greats we'd like to see "un-retire." Michael Jordan: The king of comebacks is overdue for another one. Besides, couldn't he still start for the Clippers? Dick Butkus: Another Chicagoan who's still got game. Bad wheels? Just prop him up behind the line of scrimmage and let him gnaw the heads off rookie running backs. I'd watch that.

Denver Nuggets Coach George Karl and Memphis Coach John Calipari believe in Vance Walberg and are running up big scores and winning plenty of basketball games using his system. Using guidance from Walberg and tips from watching his practices, Karl's team is 22-20 and in playoff contention. And Calipari's Conference USA leader is 17-3 and ranked No. 11 in the nation.

\o7Anything you can do, I can do better. \f7The old Irving Berlin lyric from the Broadway musical "Annie Get Your Gun" seems apt these days when discussing Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, friendly rivals who seem bent on pushing one another to new and greater heights, burnishing their outsized legacies while relentlessly pursuing history in their respective sports. Woods, 31, reigns over golf. Federer, 25, rules tennis.

Only the lucky ones so far have made it inside the Cypres Sports Museum, now taking shape in a nondescript office building about a mile south of Staples Center. Admission to the memorabilia collection in downtown Los Angeles has been by invitation only, but next spring, owner Gary Cypres will open the doors to his treasure trove of baseball, football, golf, tennis and other sports memorabilia that he has amassed during a two-decade collecting binge.

Broadcasters have sought sweeping rights from the sports leagues they cover to distribute game video wherever fans might watch -- on television, on the Internet or even on mobile phones. The leagues, which initially paid outsiders such as ESPN and CBS SportsLine to manage their websites, are now more protective of their digital assets, especially now that they are a source of advertising revenue.

Time to take a deep breath, folks. Yes, the world of pro sports had a scandalous week. Yes, we have a famous NFL quarterback accused of having dogs fight for his amusement and killed for his disdain. Yes, we have an NBA referee accused of wagering on games he worked and making calls favorable to the line he bet. And yes, if true, any and all of that is disgusting and stupid.

DENVER -- Sports officials from across the nation ended a three-day summit Tuesday determined to rebuild their credibility, despite the industry being shadowed by what one official described as "the dark cloud of Donaghy." The sports community gathered less than two weeks after reports that veteran NBA official Tim Donaghy gambled and provided inside information on league games he worked. "We should feel ashamed by what happened, but not ashamed of our effort," National Assn.

After years spent largely on the sidelines, Hollywood's most powerful talent agency is blitzing the sports world. In little more than a week, Creative Artists Agency hired three top sports agents representing such stars as NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and New York Yankee heartthrob Derek Jeter. With the NFL draft looming on April 29, USC star quarterback Matt Leinart this week dumped veteran agent Leigh Steinberg.