These golden nuggets from the wild, sometimes wonderful, and always wacky world of sports:

* R.I.P. Barbaro – you were a champion in every sense of the word. Condolences go out to the Jackson family, who went the whole nine yards trying to save you. Here’s hoping you spend the rest of eternity grazing in beautiful meadows with lots of fillies to pal around with.

* Congrats to Tiger Woods on his 7th consecutive PGA event victory. You could just tell when he made that eagle at the turn that he was going to blow past the field. Tiger has that marvelous ability to know what he has to do to get the job done, and then just does it. Methinks we’ve embarked on what is to be a truly memorable and historic golf year.

* And speaking of historic, while I’m no NBA fan, one has to admire the way the Phoenix Suns just keep piling up victories with one impressive streak after another. Assuming both teams stay healthy, the ultimate NBA champ this year will come down to the winner of the Suns/Dallas Mavericks Western Conference final.

* The Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies are discussing a trde for 1B Todd Helton. Lemme see, if the Rockies offer to eat 50% of Helton’s contract and send him to Boston in exchange for 3B Mike Lowell, P Julian Tavarez, and one young arm (Manny Delcarmen or Craig Hansen), I pull the trigger. Otherwise, I stand firm.

UPDATE 8:15 AM: Looks like the deal is off, as Colorado apparently wasn’t willing to eat enough of Helton’s contract, and the Sox were unwilling to take on the extra dough and part with one of their pitching prospects. Too bad, it would have made for an interesting deal.

* And here’s hoping the Sox and Curt Schilling can work out a deal now that’s he’s decided not to retire after the 2007 season. With young hurlers like Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jonathan Papelbon, and Jon Lester around, and younger guns like Daniel Bard and Clay Bucholz not far behind, having Schill around for a couple more years would be like having an additional pitching coach. C’mon Theo, let’s get this done.

* Word is MLB commissioner Bud Selig is carefully weighing a final decision on MLB’s proposal to make their MLB Extra Innings package available only to DirecTV subscribers in the wake of an unexpected (at least for him and his money-grubbing owners) fan backlash. Let’s hope the Budster sees the light.

* The line on the Super Bowl is holding at the Colts by 7. If I were a betting man, I’d wager my first male-born on the Indies.

And remember, as the long-departed but beloved Vin “Biff Bulkie” Maloney used to say on Eddie Andelman’s old “Sports Huddle” show back in Beantown, “If you can’t be a good sport, at least wear a good sportscoat.”

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BTW, has the NHL season begun yet?