Connor Doyle

The Arizona football team heads into action this weekend against one of the best teams in the Pacific 10 Conference, Stanford.

As has become annual tradition, every jackass on campus who thinks he knows football because he's been playing Tecmo Bowl since he was 7 years old is trying to tell me the Wildcats are going to get waxed.

A guy in one of my classes even started making fun of me because I have to cover the team.

"Man, those guys suck!" said this enlightened being. "It must suck going to football games."

First of all, shut up.

Second, it's time to back off the squad. I know California wasn't a quality opponent, but the Wildcats have been a pretty darn good team the last three weeks.

UA played it close with Washington - who blew out the Cardinal last weekend - and lost to USC because a referee called back Bobby Wade's go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Arizona isn't going to set the country on fire with its play, but if you ask any Pac-10 head coach - and I've spoken to most of them - they'll tell you the Wildcats aren't that far from being a good team.

So spare me the insight, Einstein.

Michael Wright was cut last week by the Knicks.

For those of you who don't keep up with the NBA, the Knicks need big men like a sorority house needs diaphragms. Yet, the former Wildcat - who stands 6-foot-7 - couldn't make the team.

This has caused a lot of people to start saying 'I told you so' because Wright left a year early, but the truth is it probably wouldn't have made a difference. Wright was cut because he's anchored to the ground. Plus, he's a "tweener" - too small to be a legit power forward, and too big and slow to play small forward.

So while he likely would have had more fun being the star at Arizona this season, another year of college wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference for his NBA career.

That's not the case with Gilbert Arenas, however.

The former standout shooting guard, who left after two seasons at UA, is planted firmly on the Golden State Warriors bench, somewhere between Adonal Foyle and the seventh circle of hell.

There was no shortage of people telling Arenas he wasn't ready, and all of them were right. He wasn't a first-round pick like he was projected to be because he slacked off during the pre-draft camps. Now he doesn't have a guaranteed contract, and he can't even get playing time on one of the worst teams in the NBA. Congrats, Gil.

On the other hand, he was featured in this week's Sports Illustrated showing off his Cadillac Escalade. Arenas has more TVs in his ride than points this season.

Hell, even I have as many TVs in my Geo Metro as he has points. Zero.

Arenas, who has played a total of three whole minutes this season, has double the amount of subwoofers for his stereo. All in all, it's cost him $105,000 to "trick out" the SUV.

When asked about his TVs, Arenas said, "I get to watch (them) sometimes, too. Haven't gotten into an accident yet."

Good thing he wasn't driving during the NBA draft.

Los Angeles Clippers forward Lamar Odom admitted yesterday that he failed his NBA drug test because he was smoking pot. Actually, he used the term "experimenting."

That's like saying Keith Richards is a "casual" drug user.

Speaking of chronic, former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton was busted earlier in the week with 213 pounds of marijuana.

Speculation is that Newton was just driving to a party at Lamar Odom's house. Maybe in a tricked-out Escalade.