You probably were wondering about last week's ratings for the U.S. Open playoff on Monday and Game 6 of the NBA Finals Tuesday. Wonder no more. NBC's portion of the Open playoff drew a 7.6 rating among the top 55 markets, and it received 8.1 percent of the Baltimore audience on Channel 11. The last NBA Finals game got a 10.7 national rating and 8.5 here on Channel 2. Aren't you glad I'm back?

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And now a belated Friday basketball update: The most recent gathering was notable for a few things, chief among them the uncanny three-point shooting by Shutterbug (which just seems unfair for one of our taller players), the first appearance of the year by Z and a truncated appearance by 'Frodo. Z has a couple of inches but also more than a couple of years on Shutterbug, so he wasn't chasing him out to the arc. 'Frodo -- who arrived at the court in his typically understated way with car stereo blasting something that sounded like David Bowie to Dead Man Walking but turned out to be the Hives -- was forced into an early departure upon receiving a call from his girlfriend, who apparently wanted to know why he was playing basketball instead of being with her. DMW and Z, who have had five wives between them, could only shake their heads sadly at what was in store for the young man.

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