"Tom Brady is a friend of mine. I walk into a room with him and people go wild. Of course, I think it's because of me. It's good for my ego." - Real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump

Everyone's a critic

Not much dough for these pizzas

Maybe Cleveland Cavaliers fans can hope for cheap gas if an oil company insults All-Star LeBron James.

In Ohio, 86 Papa John's stores offered a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents after a franchisee in Washington, D.C., made T-shirts calling James (# 23) a ''crybaby.'' The shirts referred to James' complaints about hard fouls during a playoff series that the Washington Wizards lost to the Cavaliers.

- The Associated Press

Locker room blow up

Be a doll and stop slumping, would ya?

Major League Baseball considers the blowup over blowup dolls in the Chicago White Sox clubhouse a team issue, not a league issue.

Executive vice president for labor relations Rob Manfred said the league had discussions with the team after a player placed two nude blowup dolls in the clubhouse at Toronto, but called it ''fundamentally a club issue.''

An unidentified player positioned the dolls with bats of the players fanning out around them - a ritual of sorts to try and get the team out of its slump - before Sunday's game, a shrine that some found offensive.

Manager Ozzie Guillen said it was just a joke.

Guillen reiterated Wednesday he sees no reason to apologize, saying, ''I don't think we did anything illegal. It was just a funny doll.''

The Association for Women in Sports Media voiced its concerns about the White Sox's antics in an e-mail to the Chicago Sun-Times.

''The presence of those dolls creates an uncomfortable situation for any female journalist who enters the White Sox locker room simply trying to do her job,'' Jenni Carlson, the group's president, wrote.

- The Associated Press

And-ones . . .

* ''Roger Clemens immediately issued a statement saying he knows the dolls but did not have an inappropriate relationship with them.''

- Cam Hutchinson, Saskatoon StarPhoenix

* "Do you want to know the saddest part of the Great Blowup-Doll Scandal of 2008? It's that the hitting-challenged White Sox tried to seduce the two female inflatable sex toys and struck out."

- Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune

Fenway Park

Ashes in the outfield

Talk about cutting down on the urned runs.

The Red Sox say they've gotten so many requests to sprinkle deceased fans' ashes at Fenway Park that they no longer allow it, The Boston Globe reported.

Reaction among players was mixed.

''It's not sacrilegious, by any means,'' reliever Mike Timlin told the newspaper. ''Doesn't bother me a bit. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.''

Countered center fielder Coco Crisp: ''It's kind of freaky knowing you're diving into somebody's grandpa.''

- The Seattle Times

Sunday poll

Last week

Aww . . . be nice. We can't help but give the Lakers just a smidge of bulletin board material. With the NBA playoff series coming up, why will you choose to boo Kobe Bryant until you are hoarse?

a) His name makes me hungry for beef. And I am a vegetarian. 2.7%

b) That whole Colorado thing with the girl in the hotel. We legally cannot be more specific than that. 33.3%

c) Though I have never met him nor talked to him, I believe him to be egotistical beyond all comprehension. 38.3%

d) He just rubs me the wrong way. Seriously. I have nothing funny to say. 13.6%

e) Actually, I kind of like Kobe. Psych!