TEN THINGS I THINK I THINK

	Former Cal star J.J. Arrington has a good chance to be Dennis Green's starting halfback in Arizona this season. Peter Read Miller/SI

1. I think it is preposterous that Kellen Winslow gets away with making a statement (yeah, right, I'm sure those were his words) and doesn't have to face the music in the media after his motorcycle injury. This kid is too sheltered for my liking. He's a jillion-dollar player in a very public sport, and he should be made to stand in front of the press and explain what he did and why he did it. "In hindsight,'' the statement said, "it was unwise to attempt to learn to ride a motorcycle without a professional instructor in a controlled environment.'' I mean, who possibly believes those words, or even those thoughts, came out of Winslow? Ludicrous.

2. I think the Cardinals are totally smitten with J.J. Arrington, the Cal running back picked 44th overall. Like the three running backs selected during the first hour of the draft, I expect Arrington to start no later than Oct. 1.

3. I think this is the week when, traditionally, there are some pretty good vets being cut for cap reasons. Including those who are already on the street, here are my top five available free agents:

• Peter Boulware, LB, Baltimore: Already axed because he wouldn't take a $2 million pay cut. After sitting out one game during the previous seven years, he missed the season with knee and foot injuries last year but is healthy now. Cleveland needs him badly.

• Calvin Pace, DE, Arizona:  You're saying: King, you've gone insane. Pace is a total bust. Well, assuming he gets whacked, I'd spend some incentive-packed dollars on a 24-year-old former first-round pass-rushing hope who never got it going under two different coaching staffs in two years.

• Dan Neil, G, Denver: Just a lightish stop-gap plugger, but one of the most reliable guards in the league over the last few years. He's missed seven games in seven years. The Patriots have talked to him, and if he comes cheap he'd be a good fit on their line.

• Bobby Taylor, CB, Seattle: A veteran hard-worker loved by his coaches and teammates. He'll land somewhere, assuming he's let go, and help a team make a playoff run.

• Lance Schulters, S, Tennessee: He's upset the Titans are trying to cut his pay, but Tennessee isn't close to winning, and it has to develop young kids. He has two good, productive seasons left.

• Others: Cincinnati WR Peter Warrick, Washington RB/KR Chad Morton, Kansas City Johnnie Morton.

4. I think Chris Berman may have competition. Mike Florio of profootballtalk.com has nicknamed new Vikings owner Zygmunt Wilf "Triple Word Score.'' I mean, that's the best nickname for anyone in football, ever.

5. I think that Wilf has made the first great decision of his reign -- his effort, at least at the beginning of his new stadium fact-finding for the Twin Cities, to seek an open-air stadium to replace the Metrodome as the Vikings' future home. As Wilf said at the league meetings in Washington last week: "I want teams to enjoy playing football where it hurts, a la Green Bay.'' Now there's a smart man -- and a man fully aware that his best chance to win lies with using every local factor to his advantage. Think of it this way: The Patriots and Colts have played five times in Foxboro since 2000. Three times have been weather-scarred. New England is 5-0 in those games. Maybe -- just maybe -- the Patroits would still be 5-0 in those games if they were all played in a dome. But I doubt it.

6. I think this certainly isn't tops on anyone's radar screen, but at last week's league meetings an effort was tabled that would have made the No. 2 football executive in each organization off-limits to teams who wanted to hire him as a top honcho. Keep tabling it. An absurd restraint of trade is what I'd call that. If you stop the second-most important person in an organization from trying to better himself, when will the third be similarly restricted? Then the fourth?

7. I think here are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Looks like the twilight for Kevin Millar, Mr. Francona. Time to play helmet-head.

b. Can anyone hit a ball harder than Gary Sheffield? Can anyone hit a ball more majestically far than David Ortiz? Wow. Did you see their shots this weekend at Yankee Stadium? I would fear for my life if I were a third baseman with Sheffield at the dish. And Sunday night, Ortiz's first two fair balls went about 850 feet. That's no exaggeration. I wonder if there's ever been a hitter who hit homers in successive at-bats at Yankee Stadium that went 10 rows or higher into the upper deck and then into the black seats in center field.

c. Why does Dontrelle Willis wear his cap off to the side? Isn't it uncomfortable to have it off-center?

d. It's become fashionable in the last week, since Edgar Renteria got hot, to talk about how much abuse he'd been taking from Red Sox fans this year. On ESPN on Sunday, Dave Campbell said, "They were treating him like George Bush at a Greenpeace rally.'' Dave, c'mon. I watch two-thirds of the Red Sox games. Renteria got booed a few times, never ruthlessly. But after a quarter of the season, he was hitting .239, less than .200 with runners in scoring position. When that happens, I don't care what your resume says, you're going to hear a few boos. The boos weren't cascading. They were noticeable, but scattered.

e. Coffeenerdness: Nice job by Starbucks in automating the shot-making machines at some of the smaller stores. Long overdue. I'm a fan of barista individuality, but if you're paying $3.60 for a latte, you'd like the taste to be consistently good. Too often when the baristas pull their own shots, they're watery or bitter.

f. The difference between high-definition TV and regular TV is absolutely amazing. On Sunday night, I did some switching -- not much, only for a few minutes -- on my Toshiba 17-inch (I think) high-definition set from the Yanks-Sox on ESPN high-def to the Pistons-Heat on regular TNT. It looked like the basketball game was out of focus. If you don't have high-def -- and I'm not schilling for it, just stating a fact -- you're missing a great, great game.

g. Who is slimmer -- David Wells or Bob Sapp? I'm not kidding.

h. My kids, 21 and 19, both want to see Madagascar. I guess that's cute.

8. I think these Super Bowl bidding processes are becoming like picking sites for the Olympics. Paul Tagliabue would be smart to tell his owners: Stop taking these little pieces of graft. It's unbecoming. Tampa got the 2009 game the other day, after each owner was given an autographed Arnold Palmer putter and a bunch of other gifts, like 150 tickets to a dazzling night-before-the-game party at Busch Gardens. Pretty tawdry.

9. I think the Chargers will be very, very happy with the kind of player and person Northwestern defensive tackle Luis Castillo is.

10. I think there's a 60-40 chance that Tedy Bruschi will play football this year.