With so much beginning to happen in the world of sports it’s time for another one of my rant and rave sessions.

Let’s start with Dream Team 18 or whatever it is.

I remember the original Dream Team.

The greatest collection of basketball players ever assembled, plus Christian Laettner. They stormed through Olympic competition, winning by an average of 43.8 points.

But that was because the NBA’s best went, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, to name a few.

This year the best of the best, Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson aside, refused to go, citing security concerns as their excuse.

That’s funny, soccer star Mia Hamm and triathlete Barb Lindquist won’t seem to let that stop them from representing their country.

Maybe if Shaquille O’Neal and the other NBA stars had the heart and pride of just a few of these Olympians, they would be competing too.

Instead we are fielding a squad that will be lucky to medal at all.

I am a huge Miami Dolphins fan so I realize I am biased here, but I am not happy with Ricky Williams.

The star running back announced last week that he is retiring from the NFL.

Now I can’t knock a guy with millions of dollars for wanting to retire and enjoy the rest of his life without ever having to work another day.

However, when an organization has built its team around you, they deserve a little more notice than Ricky gave the Dolphins.

His retirement during training camp ruins any chance the franchise had at finding a suitable replacement.

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, and feeds you well.

I know he’s been gone from the Atlanta Braves for a while, but it still seems weird to see Greg Maddux in a Chicago Cubs jersey.

I’m not much of a baseball fan, but it has always been fun to watch batters try to hit against him.

Maddux got win number 300 Saturday against the Giants.

He truly is one of the best pitchers ever.

As many of you may have seen here in the sports section, we do a NASCAR pick’em type contest much like the one we do in football every season.

Now I know much much more about football than I do NASCAR.

Yet I normally find myself near the bottom in the football picks and have done pretty well thus far with the NASCAR picks.

Go figure!

I spent some time on an Oklahoma University fan message board last week.

They seem really excited about their chances of winning a national championship this year.

One of the reasons is the improvement and exciting pre-season play of former Bertie standout Jejuan Rankins. With Senior Mark Clayton there, it is unlikely that Rankins will be the go-to guy at wide receiver.

But expect Rankins to see a whole lot more passes thrown his way this year.

It sure would be nice to see a local athlete win a national championship.

I am interested in hearing what you think.

If you agree or disagree with my opinion on something, have an idea for a column topic or just want to let me know someone is reading this every once in awhile please e-mail me.

My address is dave@gate811.net.

I look forward to hearing from you.