Maurice Clarett irritates the heck out of me. He's the kid who is suing the NFL, claiming that its rule that limits draft eligibility to players who are at least three years out of high school is a violation of antitrust laws.

This is absurd. First off, the only reason Clarett, a sophomore, wants to be drafted is that he has been suspended from playing for Ohio State this year by the NCAA for, among other things, accepting a free car and cash payments from supporters and then lying about it.

But the antitrust thing is just inane. The NFL may be a monopoly (which I'm not entirely convinced of - Clarett could go play arena football, or play in Europe, couldn't he?), but they're still entitled to set up rules for how to play the game. They feel that players that young are not competent to be in the league. What's next, a quarterback sues to get a call reversed because the "in the grasp" rule stymies competition?

Also, antitrust laws were created to help the public, not to help some kid get $20 million. I fail to see how, even if this does affect competition, the public is harmed in anyway. And How exactly does this harm competition? No team can draft him, it's not like one team will have a special edge. They're all being denied his wonderful talent for a year.

To win, Clarett would also have to show that he would suffer irreparable harm by being forced to wait a year for the draft. I don't think he could show any harm, let alone irreparable harm.

This just drives me nuts. It's a clear abuse of the court system by a whiny kid who just wants to have his money, and have it now. It would serve him right if he did get drafted, and blew his knee out on the first day of practice.

This story is very, very disturbing. It seems the beef industry is unhappy that we've all been eating mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers, and that "You just don't see beef-based appetizers." That's a quote from Rob McLaughlin, vice president for product management at the Advance Food Company in Enid, Okla., which is manufacturing cheeseburger fries.

The fries are made of a meat-and-cheese compound that's breaded, deep-fried, and served with ketchup or barbeque sauce. Each fry (they come in servings of five) has about 75 calories and four grams of fat.

They're also working on a version for schools.

Go Frank Rich. I've always been a Mel Gibson fan, but the everything I've heard or read about "The Passion" has left a decidely bad taste in my mouth.