When certain pundits started taking NBC to task for offering too much choice during the Olympics, I thought they’d lost it. How could there be too much choice?

I still hold to that position – if a little girl wants to watch Equestrian on Oxygen and I don’t, so much the better – but I must admit that all this choice has altered my viewing habits, and not always for the better. 

I have a full HD cable package, which means that on top of all the regular Olympic channels, I get a Korean and Chinese (Mandarin) channel. I was like a third-grader with a new video game the first weekend, but lately I’ve been noticing a problem: I’ve developed a short attention span. I tune in a little boxing, a little cycling, a little beach volleyball, a little softball, a little badminton, a little of everything, and don’t stay very long at any of them. It just occurred to me that I haven’t watched an entire contest in any of those above-mentioned sports.

I must be missing out on some good competition, some nailbiters. I’ve taken in a lot of swimming  -- about a world record every few minutes last night – probably, precisely, because the races take just minutes (and because Phelps is an animal). The only thing I’ve watched buzzer to buzzer is the U.S.A. Basketball trouncing of China on Sunday. I even stayed for the post-rout garbage time, probably just to see if could watch one event all the way through. 

Part of this scattershot pattern is due to games being shown. The last couple of nights have been heavy on gymnastics, and no matter how hard I try I can’t get into watching prepubescent girls twist and tumble, nor well-muscled little dudes for that matter.

(I’ve probably missed a few good wipeouts, which I love – although not as much as figureskating wipeouts – and that’s because I can’t keep my finger off the remote.) Hopefully, my attention span will lengthen when the track and field starts and basketball gets into the medal rounds. Until then, my TV’s probably going to resemble a popcorn popper. 

By the way, the coolest unusual (to Americans) sport I’ve seen during these Olympics: team handball. It has nothing to do with hitting a rubber orb against a wall. Look for it. Here's a video primer.\\\<\/param\>\\<\/param\>\\<\/param\>\\<\/embed\>\<\/object\>

 Do yourself a favor and watch the U.S.A. Basketball team in the Olympics. I just saw them rout China, and was impressed.

Yes, there was the assortment of spectacular dunks and amazing no-look passes, but the U.S. players didn’t come off as showboaters. It’s just how they play – frenetic and fast-paced. The Redeem Team, as they’ve been dubbed (because of recent failures by U.S.A. Basketball in international competition), shows good character and consummate teamwork.

They’re entertaining because they play fastbreak basketball, keying their offense off smothering defense (steals leading to highlight dunks). (Anyone under the preposterous notion that NBA players don’t play D should watch these guys.) It’s really refreshing to witness hoops being played by magicians in a wide-open style. 

This post is not about Brett Favre. Well, peripherally, perhaps. Local sports-talk radio is abuzz in the aftermath of the Bucs’ failed attempt to trade for [you know who], the main issue being how incumbent QB Jeff Garcia will react.

Garcia’s always been an underdog type — too small, not a great arm — so in one sense, he’s been through this sort of thing before; in another sense, he’s probably fuckin’ tired of it.

The question being posed is: Will his hard feelings about the Bucs courting [you know who] affect his play? I say, not a chance.

No doubt baseball can be dull. But Evan Longoria’s at-bat last night in the 7th inning against Cleveland was one of those moments that make the game worth watching.

He crushed two Rafael Betancourt pitches deep into the left field stands, just foul. Longoria’s body language oozed confidence at the plate. I’m thinking, “You should just walk him, pitcher.”

Betancourt didn’t, and the Rays third baseman jacked one far into the leftfield seats, a fair ball this time, homerun. That bomb broke the game open, and the Rays won 8-4, ending a five-game losing streak to the Indians.

As a rookie, Longoria appears to have already become the most popular Ray, not to mention the frontrunner for this year's team MVP (as well as AL Rookie of the Year).

• Jonny Gomes got sent down to the minors yesterday, as he should’ve been. The right-handed power hitter was batting .182 with eight homeruns as a platoon player. He was shaky in the outfield as well.

Gomes said he hopes to get called back up to the majors, but welcomes the chance to play everyday for the Triple A Durham Bulls. Good attitude. He’s always been a team guy.

The Rays should call Gomes up if they sense another impending basebrawl. Did you see him early in the season when the fight broke out against the Red Sox? Gomes was bustin’ heads. No fear. Dude’s a bulldog.

• The Rays’ 2007 No. 1 draft pick (taken first overall), pitcher David Price, is playing Double-A ball in Montgomery, Ala. He has an improbable 10-0 record in 14 starts, with a 1.97 ERA.

They say you have to handle young pitchers with kid gloves, but Price was a superstar pitcher at Vanderbilt for three years and is almost 23. How do you not bring him up to the Big League team and give him a taste, see what he can do?

So this much seems clear: Brett Favre won't be playing for the Green Bay Packers this year.

Aside from that, the whole situation is more than a bit murky. The Buccaneers and Jets have been named in news reports as teams Favre might get traded to. And perhaps by the time you read this blog, a trade will have already been completed.

But for now, it's all just talk. In a press conference this afternoon, Packers coach Mike McCarthy had this to say on his talks with Favre over the past two days:

We agreed to disagree. ... The train has left the station, whatever analogy you want.

Apparently, not a single reporter could get clarification on the issue, as the report cited above quoted McCarthy as saying that Favre was not in the "proper mindset" to lead the team. I can only assume that means Favre's feelings were sufficiently hurt that the Packers did not immediately welcome him back as their starting quarterback once he announced his desire to return to football, and that his appearance at the Packers' training facility on Monday was little more than a formality in order to expedite a trade. Or perhaps it means that the Packers were not willing to give him his job back without competing for it against Aaron Rodgers, something Favre might not have been willing to do.

Regardless of who is being more intractable, it seems that Packers fans are on Brett's side and holding the Packers' brass accountable, if the comments on the Green Bay Press-Gazette are any indication.

Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber did a phone interview with sports radio host Jim Rome this afternoon, and after the amiable Q&A about training camp and the obligatory Brett Favre question, it was time for the plug. Ronde and Romey commiserated for a few minutes on the “Beat the Heat” campaign, which aims to educate coaches and parents about the importance of hydration at football practice.  The co-sponsors: NFL teams … and Gatorade. 

Not every series can be pivotal, but the three-gamer starting tonight in Toronto sure feels that way.

The Rays just split four games with the Royals in K.C. — not a disaster, but not the tonic the St. Petersburg team needed. The major problems persist, chief among them the offense. While the Rays are no longer in a collective hitting slump — Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena could even be considered hot — they can’t seem to come together at the plate.

Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton continue to underachieve, and for too long the Rays have not been able to spark that rally, that big inning. They don’t knock in runs at key times. They strand baserunners like they have leprosy.

Granted, the Tampa Bay Rays have sustained me through the summer thus far, but I’m amped about the U.S. Olympic basketball team kicking into gear.

U.S.A. Basketball stunk it up in the last Olympics. The chemistry looked shaky; they didn’t play as a team. Finished with the bronze. The ’08 edition looks and feels better; more care seems to have gone into finding players to fill roles rather than just amassing a gang of gunners.

The U.S. squad begins pre-Olympic games tonight vs. Canada (8 p.m., ESPN). It sure seems like the American players are motivated to re-establish hoops dominance on the international stage. Most of the players made long-term commitments to get to this point.

Here’s a quick breakdown: