Thanks to all the readers who have responded to Sunday's column about the Dodgers' doc on HBO, and the idea of doing the same for the Colts. The reactions are split, between the older fans who want the memories revived, and the younger ones who are tired of hearing about it and are loyal to the Ravens.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what would make the flick so good. This is the eternal struggle of fans here. It swarmed to the surface the week of the Colts playoff game, but it never really goes away, and it doesn't take more than a flight-of-fancy column to bring it all up again. This doesn't happen in New York between, say, old Dodgers fans and new Mets fans, and I feel safe in saying it didn't even happen in 1969, when the Mets won a World Series for a generation of fans after the Dodgers left town. What's going on here is unique in all of sports. That, in a way, is an answer to the readers who pleaded to let the story die finally. It's never going to die. C'mon, the Dodgers thing was 50 years ago, and that has new life every time someone else does a movie or writes a book or goes on a talk show.

Meanwhile, on HBO last night, there was a movie about the Cubs. And you know there have been a couple of dozen books about the Red Sox just since breaking the Curse in '04, to go with the all the documentaries and the usual hollering and screaming about the pain of being a Sox fan. Isn't it a little annoying, being treated as if such fans have some kind of monopoly on suffering because of the market size they're in?

Anyway, on other subjects pondered while still trying to shake off this summer cold, or my allergies, or whatever the hell it is (anybody got any herbs or potions or homemade treatments they can send me?):

* The "on pace'' talk is in full swing. Junior passed Frank Robinson with his 587th homer last night, and A-Rod closed to within four homers of 500. Once upon a time, Griffey was assumed to be "on pace'' to pass Hank Aaron, and now, obviously, it's not going to happen. Now A-Rod is "on pace'' to pass Barry Bonds, as well as Aaron. Meanwhile, Bonds hasn't passed Aaron yet himself; he didn't play in Chicago last night (check his comment on the game at the bottom), and has been stuck on 751 for two weeks. Point is: it's really, really, really hard to get to 756. Bonds has been cheating (allegedly), and he's struggling like mad to make it at age 42. Griffey never came close. Everyone's assuming it's just a matter of time for A-Rod. Why?

* I wonder who will be the first commentator to seriously check into whether Gary Sheffield is right, rather than searching for proof that he's wrong? I mean, Sheffield has said it, and Kenny Lofton has backed him up. There have been no more than a handful of black players on the Yankees during the Joe Torre years, just as there have been no more than a handful on any team in the last decade since the numbers started shrinking. If two of them come out and say this about the manager, and none has come out to contradict it (the decade-old stories about Strawberry at the victory parade should at least be updated), wouldn't some instinct within the head of any real journalist think, "Where there's smoke, there's fire''? Or do four rings turn you into a made man, or give you some sort of lifetime of immunity?

* Now, Beckham might not even make it to his belated American debut Saturday, because of an ankle injury. Don't worry, though. Just as the stretcher comes out, he'll stop writhing in pain, jump up and join the action. It's what soccer players do.

* If it were anybody but Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, he'd get a one-game suspension, two at the most, for their court cases. That's the precedent. But their precedent -- you know, Auburn Hills -- multiplied the penalties. It's hard to blame David Stern on this. He has to answer questions about them constantly, and isn't getting anyone to listen to the idea that the NBA shouldn't be judged by two of the lowest common denominators. To too many people, the brawl defines the NBA. It's the same principle that made him kick out Amare Stoudemire for leaving the bench in the playoffs.

* The sad thing is, Artest has a good heart somewhere in there: he is, at this moment, on a players' union mission to feed kids in Kenya. On the other hand, he put his hands on his wife, with their child in the house at the time. Both acts count when making up your mind on him.

* Summer international hoops news: James Gist (Maryland) and Joey Dorsey (Douglass High, Baltimore) are on the U.S. Pan American Games team, and Greivis Vasquez is suiting up for Venezuela in the FIBA Americas tournament later this month -- also known as the Beijing Olympics qualifier, with the USA team (featuring Carmelo Anthony).

* One last basketball note: Joe Smith, now a Bull. You can hardly knock a career that's going into its 13th season. Still, he's on his seventh different team and has been on two teams twice. That has to be a record for a former No. 1 overall pick.