Bears running back Thomas Jones was demoted to the second team after missing voluntary offseason workouts. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

6. I think there are more than a few whispers around the league that Marvin Lewis isn't overly focused on character when he builds his Bengals. In the last few days it's been disclosed that rookie linebacker A.J. Nicholson -- who'd been suspended at Florida State for the team's bowl game last season after he was accused of sexual misconduct (he was never charged) -- has been charged with grand theft and vandalism, and that troubled receiver Chris Henry was charged with DUI. It's a slippery slope, and I'm not saying Cincinnati should be filled with Eagle scouts, but that kind of stuff usually comes back to haunt you.

7. I think what Bears coach Lovie Smith did in demoting running back Thomas Jones and linebacker Lance Briggs is what all coaches want to do when players miss voluntary workouts. Smith made Jones and Briggs second-teamers because, as he said, "What is right is letting the players that have been here working out with their team be with the first group.'' However, if I ran the NFLPA, this would be a watershed event. What Smith is saying is that voluntary workouts are certainly not voluntary; if you're not there, you will be penalized.

8. I think when you are an ardent Rotisserie baseball player and you have the best offensive player in baseball anchoring first base for you, it's pretty demoralizing to see on the crawl on the bottom of your TV: "StL: Pujols 0-1 (left game, strained oblique),'' then hear a correspondent on the radio that night say, "Albert Pujols could be out two to six weeks. Tony LaRussa says it's a serious injury.''

9. I think there actually might be one thing more demoralizing: picking up Ben Broussard off waivers to take Prince Albert's place.

10. I think these are my non-football, non-nerdy-Rotisserie thoughts of the week:

a. Another Red Sox-Yankees series. Four in five weeks. None for the following 10 weeks. I mean, what genius puts this schedule together?

b. Re: the Cape wedding: My niece, the multi-talented Katie Whiteley (she can roof a house, root like crazy for David Ortiz and coach field hockey), married Jon Cormier, a very worthy lad to make such a lucky catch. Beautiful ceremony Friday night in Falmouth. Touching. Heartfelt. Emotional. (Just ask bridesmaid Laura King, who was weepy for her buddy Katie walking down the aisle before the service.) Great reception at a place called the Popponesset Inn in New Seabury. Very hoity-toity.

You have to understand something about any event on Cape Cod on a Friday night between April and September: The Red Sox game will be on TV. Of that there is no doubt. Here, the reception was right across from the bar and you could see the wide-screens from the dance floor if you really tried. And every male in the place was really trying, at various points of the evening, to see the TV. Sox were down 2-1, at Detroit, in the top of the ninth. Willie Harris on first. I was craning. Up came Kevin Youkilis. The TV I'm trying to see is 40 feet away. I can barely make out a fly ball to left ... left fielder jumps ... gone, I think.... Camera pans to Youkilis circling the bases. That confirms it.

It's my duty to tell Bob Whiteley, the bride's father, who, earlier in the evening, shortly after giving a teary speech that left 122 out of 122 guests bawling, said, "I guess there really are some nights when there are things more important than whether the Red Sox win.'' I find him and tell him about Youkilis' homer and the score. He and his brother immediately are transformed from dancing like middle-aged men who never dance except at events like this to men who look like they're auditioning for roles in the revival of Saturday Night Fever. And most of the place moves around the TVs to see Papelbon mow down the Tigers 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth. "No way the Sox are losing on Katie's wedding night!'' Bob crows. All in all, quite a fine evening.

c. If you are anywhere near well-traveled coach Chris Palmer's home in Dennis, Mass., on the north side of the Cape, you simply have to eat a sandwich at the Mercantile Deli on Route 6A. The smoked turkey and cheddar on marble rye (forgive me, I forget the official name of the sandwich) wins the Peter King 2006 Sandwich Contest.

d. What would you have said 20 years ago if I had told you there would come a day when 16 ounces of water would cost more than 12 ounces of Coke? It's a sign that either we are very smart for valuing water so highly -- or very stupid for spending money on something that is free.

e. Run, Al Gore, run.

f. I yawn at Michelle Wie-mania.

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