Chris Ello...Watch The Kids!!!....March 7th

The refrain is old and tired by now....like complaining about traffic or the economy....we get it...you don't like to sit in traffic...you're stressed about your checkbook.

Welcome to the club.

Here's another thing we all seem to agree on: blowing a bunch of money to watch a bunch of over-hyped, under-performing, not-hustling, dont-care, aloof, egotistical multi-millionaire athletes slog their way through 3 or 4 hours of a professional sports game?....well...it blows.

Honestly -- and I've said this many times before -- you care whether the Padres win or not a whole lot more than they do....same goes for the Chargers....and every other MLB or NFL team you can think of.

You honestly think that Brian Giles sat around all winter ashamed of the fact that he played last year for a team that lost 99 games and was easily one of the worst teams in baseball?
(Actually, maybe Brian really was upset and took it out on his ex-fiancee....but that's for another story).

You really think Vincent Jackson gave a damn that the Bolts were the most disappointing team in football last season? (By the way -- even with the exciting playoff win over Indy -- most disappointing is exactly what they were)....Hell, Jackson threw himself a party to celebrate his 1,000-yard receiving season after the Chargers improved to 7-8 (true story).

That's just the way it is with the pros. Show up...play pretty hard....hug and kiss the other team after it's over....collect paycheck (most important!)...do it all again next time....see where that lands you at the end of the season.

Now...to be fair, it's not 100-percent right to single out any pro players for this lackidasical approach....Because quite frankly, the organizations they play for hardly care about them, either. MLB and NFL teams tell you how great you are when they get you....then use you for as long as you produce...and then throw you out with the trash at the first sign of slippage.

Ask LaDainian Tomlinson about it....or Trevor Hoffman.

So what's the answer?? I mean...we may not like it....but what the hell else are we going to do? We like baseball, we gotta see the Padres....We can't live without football, so we gotta support our Chargers....If we like basketball (and I know there are a few of you), we gotta watch
lunk-heads like 'Melo, Iverson, Star-bury and the rest of them.

Right?

Well, no...not exactly.

You wanna see a great basketball game? Well...you could drive the three hours to L.A., fork over $500 bucks and maybe see Baron Davis and the Clippers play the Raptors (quick, name a Raptor) from the nosebleeds.....or....

You could bust over to Jenny Craig Pavillion today....plunk down maybe $10 bucks....and watch a bunch of kids fight it out for the CIF San Diego basketball titles....You may not know any of the kids playing for El Camino or Torrey Pines....or Oceanside or Hoover....or Cathedral Catholic or La Jolla....but here's one thing you should know: these kids will compete with more spirit and hustle than you'll ever see in a month's worth of NBA double-headers on TNT.

You want a little more drama and excitement??....How 'bout getting yourself out to Vegas (I'm here now, by the way) for the rest of the WCC post-season tournament and see if U.S.D. can stage another miracle March run?

Then you can stay a few days more and check out the Mountain West tourney....Can Steve Fisher's Aztecs save their season and sneak into the NCAA's at the last moment?? If they do, you know you'ld want to be a part of it....because you know that they're going to put everything they have into trying it.

You want some great baseball?? Probably won't see much this season at Petco, but you sure can see some today at USD's Cunningham Stadium or tomorrow at SDSU's Tony Gwynn Stadium....that's because the Toreros and Aztecs continue their four-game weekend series.

Last night, SDSU won it, 6-4, in 10 innings on a walk-off three-run homer by Cory Vaughn (former Padre Greg Vaughn's kid)....The day before, Aztec ace Stephen Strasburg struck out 18 batters in 8 innings to beat USD....Think you're going to see that at Petco anytime this year?

The point is this. All of us are tired of the ridiculous prices to get into pro sporting events, and we're even more tired of all of the mediocre play we see when we do decide to pony-up.

But we can do something about it.

Go see some college hoops or baseball. Go see the preps.

I guarantee you, those guys will give you your money's worth.