Not a gimmick? OK, how about if we call it a publicity stunt?

NONSENSE: Athletes and coaches never tire of insulting our intelligence. But why would Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer say that 50-year-old Nancy Lieberman's one-game reappearance in the WNBA "is not a gimmick." Of course it was a gimmick. N ot that there's anything wrong with that. It had better have been a gimmick. Otherwise, there was no reason to take Nancy out of mothballs.

Wondering Is Greta Van Susteren still interviewing Brett Favre?

This just in With Favre reportedly saying that he plans to report to Packers camp, talk show hosts, columnists and bloggers might consider canceling their August vacations.

Color coded A lot of people want to see Favre in a green jersey again, but not if it means playing for the Jets.

Real seniors When Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno finally retire, their accomplishments will be chiseled in stone. Come to think of it, that's probably how they wrote their first game plans.

Mind games The decision by NBA-bound teen guard Brandon Jennings to pass on a sham year of college to work off his "one-and-done" season in Italy might not have caught so many people by surprise if they had read his Oak Hill Academy bio. Asked to list his favorite class, Jennings wrote, "Lunch."

Stripes The Yankees, written off too early this season, are within reach of first place as they play the Red Sox this weekend. There are a lot of reasons for that, but the chief one is the pitching of Mike Mussina, who at 13-6 with a 3.26 ERA is enjoying a renaissance at 39.

Prep perp A Charlotte, N.C., high school football team is forfeiting its 2007 season after it was learned that a volunteer coach recruited three players. As if that's never happened before. It's just a question of what you consider "recruiting" to be. And who gets caught doing it.

Double fault Tennis has no business in the Olympics. Men and women pros are hustling through a couple of U.S. hardcourt tournaments before flying off to the Beijing Games, then hurrying back to begin the U.S. Open. Are the Olympics just something to be squeezed in?

Perspective If you happen to see the current NBA Olympians referred to as the Dream Team, chalk it up to laziness on the part of the media. The Dream Team came around once - at the '92 Games.

Add hoops Mike Krzyzewski, on the inevitable comparisons between the '92 NBA juggernaut and his Olympians: "The mistake that American people make is calling every team a Dream Team. This isn't Rocky one, two, three and four. This team will have to work at developing its identity."

Oops Michelle Wie goofed when she failed to sign her scorecard within a designated area, but that's not as stupid as the rule itself.

Ink In his new book, Florida coach Urban Meyer promises to take revenge on Georgia for the Bulldogs' excessive end zone celebration following the first touchdown against the Gators last season. "It will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer," Meyer writes. Referring to yourself in the third person is a sign that you're a legend in your own mind.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com