Just My Type

DP: Rank, in order, the best athletes by sport.

JR: Football players one, they've got to run and deal with the constant hitting. Soccer two, although they like to act a lot. Tennis next, because they are constantly running. NBA four and baseball probably five.

DP: Would you rather have an inside-the-park homer or hit one over the wall?

JR: I like to hit them over the wall. You get style points.

DP: So you pose a bit? Is there a pitcher that you have to be extra sensitive with, as to how long you stand and watch a home run?

JR: Randy Johnson. I hit a home run off him in '02 or '03, I had a feeling it was gone, but I wasn't taking a chance of looking at it. I hit it and I just took off running. I was a young dude coming up. I hit home plate and ran all the way in. I don't even want him to remember me.

DP: Did you guarantee a playoff spot yet for the Phillies?

JR: No, [but] my feelings from last year haven't left. Right now we're not playing that well, but when the end of September rolls around, we will be.

Un-Retirement Community

WITH TRAINING camp's opening later this month, Brett Favre's body wants to do what it's done every summer for years: get ready to play football. This is why he reportedly called the Packers and told them that he's itching to play. The feeling can be close to an addiction, not unlike the kind that Favre had to confront in 1996 with painkillers, and maybe it should be treated as such. Sports figures like Favre (or Evander Holyfield, or Bill Parcells) need their own rehab facility, a place where they can go to get over their urge to back out of their retirements. One key difference would be, at this place, instead of pumping up the clients, therapists would tear them down. ("You're finished! No one wants you back!") Possible sponsor: Lotrimin, the anti-itch cream.