Remember when you used to dream about taking the field for your favorite professional sports team?  You spent hours in the backyard rehearsing how you'd come through in clutch situations, neglecting the homework you'd never need to do anyway once you signed your first big contract.  Unfortunately for most of us, the dream faded relatively quickly.  However, Forbes' recent ranking of the most lucrative Major League Baseball teams reminds everyone that the business of owning a professional franchise can pay serious dividends.  The National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Basketball Association (NBA) generated a combined $14.1 billion of revenue in 2005 and analysts expect that number to rise as all three leagues continue to expand their appeal around the globe.

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Unless you've turned off your TV or sworn off the Internet for the past couple of weeks, you probably know about the recent Don Imus controversy.  If you haven't heard about it, the long-time radio shock jock made an off-hand comment on the air about the Rutgers women's basketball team, referring to the predominantly African-American players as "nappy-headed hos."  CBS (CBS) initially suspended Imus for two weeks, then fired him in the wake of serious public backlash led by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.  The uproar over the incident reminded all of us about the thin line between free speech and unwarranted verbal venom.

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