Scouting Sports

The white Panama hat is tilted back. The cigar is in the pocket. The radar gun is in the car. Mike Brito carefully removes three World Series rings, picks up a bottle of lotion, lathers his giant hands. "Watch this," he says. "He likes it when I do this." Slowly, gently, he massages legs that will never walk. He kneads arms that will never extend. He rubs fingers that will never touch.

Three years since its first steroid test, a year since its first suspension, three days since Commissioner Bud Selig sent former Sen. George Mitchell and his posse of lawyers after the stragglers, baseball doesn't look as much like Barry Bonds' game anymore. Where once it outgrew its uniforms, an off-season at a time, baseball -- with help from Congress and its public -- has begun to outgrow its dependence on steroids.

Marty Blake, the NBA's scouting director, needed a last-minute replacement when a player backed out of the NBA's first predraft camp in Chicago in 1982, so he phoned Tex Winter, a longtime friend who was then the coach at Cal State Long Beach. "I've got a kid who lives in Chicago and can be there in five minutes," Winter told Blake. "His name is Craig Hodges." After impressing the scouts at the camp, Hodges was selected in the third round of the draft by the Clippers.

President Larry Lucchino of the Baltimore Orioles reprimanded team official Fred Uhlman Sr. on Thursday for remarks about Mexican players. A quote attributed to Uhlman in a USA Today story said that Mexicans lack speed and that it is "a genetic-type thing." Uhlman, a special assistant to General Manager Roland Hemond, has specialized in scouting Latin-American players. He apologized for the remarks, which he said were not interpreted as he intended.

The Arizona Diamondbacks arrived at Yankee Stadium this week tied for the National League West lead and 10 games over .500. The Yankees swept them, extending their winning streak to nine. Here's what the Diamondbacks' scouting report said about how their pitchers should approach the New York hitters. The report was found on the floor of the Arizona dugout by an Associated Press reporter after the Yankees' 7-1 win Thursday: Alex Rodriguez "HOT right now....

Most NFL hopefuls invited to the scouting combine are angling for a breakout performance but a few won't even break a sweat. The league jealously protects the list of players who have decided not to work out for teams and instead plan to showcase their skills at their personal on-campus pro days. But there were rumblings Thursday that two of the top quarterbacks and receivers would sit out at least part of their workouts, scheduled for Sunday.

Elgin Baylor needs players. Danny Ainge and Allan Bristow could use some too. And every other NBA executive and coach hoping to keep his job also is in search of a few more good men. So that's why many have been at Concordia University since Monday, hoping to find some guys who can make jump shots, rebound and maybe play a little defense. More than 50 NBA decision-makers are attending the first CBA Players Showcase, which ends today at Concordia.

Baseball has always been defined by statistics, hot dogs--and ironies. The latter paid a visit to Anaheim Stadium on Sunday, when former manager Buck Rodgers--now a scout with Philadelphia--sat among the spectators involved in evaluating and recommending talent. Comfortably dressed in a rose-colored sport shirt, khaki pants and moccasins (no socks), Rodgers busily filled his note pad with observations, ideas and information.