News item: The top price for a ticket at the new Yankee Stadium that opens in 2009 is $2,500. The team touts the elite 122 front-row seats and other premium areas as "an exclusive experience for those with discerning taste who seek the very best that life has to offer."
My take: That works out to $202,500 for a single 81-game plan, but maybe it comes with a free membership in the Emperors Club.
News item: In a slightly related development that puts the new Yankee Stadium prices in better perspective, the New York Giants have jacked up their ticket prices for the 2008 season an average of about $7 per seat.
My take: That's outrageous, especially when you consider that this team hasn't won a Super Bowl since 2008.
News item: Boston Red Sox players threatened to boycott the team's season-opening series in Japan until Major League Baseball and the team agreed to pay nonplaying personnel the same $40,000 stipend guaranteed to the Sox and Oakland Athletics players.
My take: Nice gesture. Now, if we can just get their fans to boycott the first Red Sox series at Camden Yards this year.
News item: Prosecutors have put the federal perjury case against Barry Bonds on hold for at least three months while they obtain a new indictment against him. The move came after a judge ordered them to streamline their original indictment, which included multiple allegations in some counts.
My take: In a perverse sort of way, that might be good news for Bonds, who wants to play this season and might be slightly more attractive to some desperate team with this three-month reprieve.
News item: The Major League Baseball Players Association is looking into the lack of free-agent offers to Bonds as part of its annual review of the free-agent market.
My take: I think the union definitely has a case for collusion because every team in baseball thinks Bonds would be bad for business. That can't be a coincidence, can it?
News item: LeBron James became the Cleveland Cavaliers' all-time leading scorer Friday night with a 29-point performance in a win over the Toronto Raptors.
My take: The guy is 23, so there's still plenty of time for him to get bored and go play minor league baseball.
News item: According to the Rocky Mountain News, the Colorado Mammoth pro lacrosse team in Denver is averaging 17,400 fans per game and outdrawing the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.
My take: Maybe we do need a new downtown arena.
News item: The agent for Adam "Pacman" Jones says the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots and Detroit Lions are interested in acquiring the troubled cornerback, who remains suspended for a variety of past legal problems.
My take: I'm rooting for the Cowboys, who clearly failed in their attempt the past two years to undermine team chemistry with the presence of Terrell Owens.
News item: New Chicago Cubs closer Kerry Wood had to be scratched from his exhibition appearance Wednesday after suffering back spasms.
My take: If Andy MacPhail can just convince Cubs general manager Jim Hendry that Brian Roberts can throw an inning or two once in a while, I think we can get this deal done.
News item: Embattled personal trainer Brian McNamee fainted while driving in New York on Thursday and crashed into a city bus.
My take: Jose Canseco immediately filed an affidavit with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform confirming that Roger Clemens was nowhere near that intersection.
News item: The Cal State Fullerton Titans were beaten soundly by Wisconsin in their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1978 and only their second in school history.
My take: I'm still proud. The mighty Titans have reached the Elite Eight in half of their trips to the Big Dance. Look it up.
News item: Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar blasted me last week for supposedly guaranteeing that Southern California would beat Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
My take: I think he misunderstood. I was talking about next season's Holiday Bowl.
peter.schmuck@baltsun.com
Listen to Peter Schmuck on WBAL (1090 AM) at noon most Saturdays and Sundays.