Sept. 29 | 10:18 p.m.

One of the little noticed provisions in the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement is a clause that allows commissioner David Stern to impose a dress code on the troops. During a recent P.R. tour, Stern indicated he’s going to act on it.

Collared shirts and sport coats are going to be the order of the day. No blue jeans will be allowed. The linked article on Boston.com quotes Stern as saying: “We'd like to use our convening power to have people focus on this game and our great players, who they are and how they play, rather than their variance from some norm ... Being neatly attired in a certain way, that's going to be our norm."

There’s more that Stern is doing. Players will have to sign autographs before games and perform more community service. They must be available for media interviews for 15 minutes after practices. They’re expected to mingle with the fans.

I’ve never been big on dress codes. But I’ve also always believed that people should want to present themselves and their professions in a positive light. So I’ve always been a collared shirt and sport coat kind of guy. During the playoffs and on Opening Day, I throw on a tie. I figure I owe it to the profession.

You could look at the way athletes dress the same way. And, while you could say prohibiting blue jeans is a bit silly — there is no more universally worn piece of clothing in America — it’s also not unreasonable for an employer to require a certain standard of appearance. After all, if you’ve got a job in the NBA with all that goes with it, you should be happy to dress any way the commissioner wants. It’s not as if the extra laundry bills are going to bust your budget.

It’s also shows a recognition that the NBA has an image problem that needs to be corrected. I suppose a cynic could say that making the players dress up will only ensure that they look good in their mug shots. But Stern is right. The great majority of players in the league are decent people who do a lot of good. Dressing them up a bit can’t hurt, and it may do some good.

Lots of letters
I’ve neglected the mail for quite a while. My last blog on NFL quarterbacks drew responses from several people who felt I ignored one of the top QBs in the league, Trent Green. I agree. I meant to mention him as one of the top half dozen, but simply forgot.

And that’s Green’s problem. No matter how good he is, he’s got a name that begs you to forget it. If he were Boomer Green or Shotgun Green or Cannonball Green, we’d take more notice, but Trent Green sounds like a park in England.

Anyway, an e-mail on the subject courtesy of Tim from Monett, Mo.:
Why is it that you and your so-called sports expert colleagues always leave Trent Green out of the discussion? If you compare his numbers to any of the quarterbacks you listed over the past 5 yrs I think you'll see that he is about as good as they come.

Chris from Lexington Park, Md.
You did not mention Trent Green. I know you could not mention all the quarterbacks in the NFL, but his stats have to rate him in or near the top three with Brady and Manning.

A lot of readers checked in on Vijay Singh’s snarky comments to Fred Couples before the final day of the Presidents Cup and the International team’s failure to show for the press conference after their loss. Most agreed with my take. Many pointed out that I failed to mention the grace and class of the international captain, Gary Player. They’re right. Player is one of the best in every way and deserved credit for the dignity he has always brought to the game.

Steve from St. Louis:
VJ is the Barry Bonds of golf ... admire their talent but revile them as professionals.

Doug from Tulsa:
International Captain, Gary Player was magnanimous in his TV remarks. He said essentially that the U.S. team made the shots they needed and his team did not. Player is, of course, always a gentleman.

Ron from Clarksville, Ind.:
My daughter was a volunteer at the Las Vegas Invitional a few years ago. On the practice tee Vijay and even his caddy were cussing at the volunteers and was a general [jerk] to everybody there.

Jack from Raymond, Miss.:
The U.S. showed class at every turn. It seemed as though the only class from the International side came from Gary Player, which is what you would expect. Team golf has only gained in popularity since the beginnings of poor sportsmanship at the Ryder Cup and that is the real shame.

Greg from somewhere he didn’t want to share:
During the one or two TV tournaments that I watch, when "VJ" (very joyless) Sing comes on, I go in the kitchen and put my hand on a red hot stove element. I find this much more appealing than anything related to VJ Sing. Also, to my group of golf buddies, Fred Couples is the man.

Sept. 27 | 1:20 p.m.

People like to say that playing football isn’t rocket science, and, for a quarterback, it isn’t. It’s harder.

There is no more difficult job in sports than quarterbacking an NFL team. Out of 300 million people in the United States, there aren’t even a half dozen who function in that job at the highest level.

You’ve got, in whatever order you choose to put them, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb. Those are the top three. After them, there’s Michael Vick, who still has to prove himself as a passer but is more exciting than a three-ring circus taking place on the midway of the county fair during a demolition derby. After Vick, take your pick, and please don’t say Brett Favre. He’s one of the greatest ever, but he’s no longer on top of his game.

Slide show: The Week in Sports Pictures   Oct. 3 - 9 Images from the baseball playoffs, NFL, college football, and more.

You might try one of the young guns, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger or Eli Manning. Any or all of them may join the elite, but they’re too young to put them there yet.

After that, you have guys who put up big numbers – Daunte Culpepper – guys who used to be someone – Kurt Warner – and a lot of guys who are, for lack of a better word, journeymen.

Chad Pennington was below the elite and above the journeymen, probably in Culpepper country. But he seemed to have the qualities – accuracy and football smarts – that could take him to the next level. Injuries always got in the way. Two years ago it was a broken wrist in pre-season. Last year, it was the torn rotator cuff. This year, it’s the same rotator cuff.

He’ll undergo surgery and work his tail off rehabbing, but the Jets can’t hang their future on the hook in No. 10’s locker. It’s hard enough coming back from one torn cuff. Two is pushing it, and, given Pennington’s history, it would be foolish to count on him ever being the great QB the team thought they had.

In the NFL, it’s taboo to suggest that a team should give up on a season, and I’m not saying the Jets should do that. But, let’s face it, with their starter and back-up both down and Vinny Testaverde in camp, the only thing the team has left to play for is next year’s top draft choice and Matt Leinart.

The fact the Jets would even think of Testaverde is further proof of how difficult it is to get anyone who can play quarterback in the NFL. He’s 42 years old and one of his strengths is he gives his team the ability to run the Statue of Liberty play with a real statue. But he’s the best out there, unless you want to count Jeff George.

So don’t even think about winning, Jets fans. Get mauled by Miami, nuked by New England and beaten by Buffalo and remind yourself that every loss brings you closer to Leinart, the USC quarterback who could be the next great one.

It’s your only hope.

Sept. 26 | 1 a.m. ET

Golf used to be the last refuge of sportsmanship. No matter how ugly things got in the rest of the sporting world, golfers could always be counted on to act with dignity and class.

Not any more.

The Presidents Cup began with U.S. team captain Jack Nicklaus pleading with American fans to show more appreciation for the play of the world team. Captain Jack earned a mention in the Whine of the Week for complaining about his own fans’ penchant for cheering for the home team and not the visitors.

Still, Nicklaus was right, as he is about most things. At all the great golf tournaments, fans cheer all good shots. It’s only in the international team competitions — the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup — that they become total partisans. But even there, Nicklaus appreciates great play, no matter the source.

But given the behavior of the International Team during Sunday’s loss to the United States, it’s hard to blame the fans. Nothing they did was as bad as what Vijay Singh did on the first tee while waiting to begin his Sunday match with Fred Couples.

According to the Associated Press, “Singh mentioned that someone should have a cart ready to bring Couples back in after 12 holes.

“‘Whether he was kidding or not,’ Davis Love III said, ‘Tiger Woods wouldn’t say it; Jack Nicklaus wouldn’t say it.’’’

Singh is a great golfer known for his reticence and resulting lack of personality. Usually, we wish he’d speak up a little more and let the people know who he really is. Unfortunately, every time he does talk, it proves how wise it is, to paraphrase Mark Twain, to say nothing and let people think you’re a fool rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

One year at the Masters, Singh whined that the reason he lost was because he couldn’t lift his ball and clean the mud off of it. Nobody else could, either, but only he complained. A year ago, when Annika Sorenstam decided to accept an invitation to play in a PGA Tour event, Singh went off on women competing with men.

Now, the really bad line about an opponent on the first tee of an international match. The remark made it really gratifying to see Couples not only survive 12 holes, but to beat Singh with a birdie on the final hole.

The final insult, though, was a team affair. After the matches, none of the International players bothered to come to the post-match press conference. In golf, you can lose without being called a loser. But not this time. These guys were losers in every sense of the word.

So was the idea of sportsmanship in golf.

Sept. 22 | 11 p.m. ET

Here’s one for the “What-took-them-so-long” file: NASCAR is going to suspend drivers who retaliate on the track for insults from other drivers, real or imagined. There’s been an epidemic this year of drivers going after guys who hit them. Robby Gordon is one offender. Kasey Kahne and Tony Raines are two more on a list that grows longer by the week.

Until last week, when there were two instances of retaliation, NASCAR just fined the guilty parties. That clearly hasn’t worked. Fines never do in sports, not when the guys you’re fining have bigger incomes than you have.

Baseball long ago imposed automatic ejections on pitchers who hit another batter in retaliation for one of their guys getting hit. Retaliate for a cheap shot in football and a zebra is going to be walking 15 yards off against your team. You’d think that given the fact that people can be killed on a track, NASCAR would have done something a lot sooner about drivers who intentionally take cars out of a race.

But the “good old boy” mentality runs deep in racing. Banging fenders and bumpers has always been part of racing stock cars. That’s true enough; it’s why the cars have bumpers and fenders. But running people into the wall or off the road isn’t part of any sport. If NASCAR doesn’t act, it’ll end up being nothing more than hockey on wheels.

Sad farewell
John J. McMullen coined one of the most memorable quotes about George Steinbrenner ever uttered. “There is nothing so limited,” he said, “as being a limited partner of George Steinbrenner.”

It was a long time ago that McMullen said that, before he bought the Houston Astros in 1979 and embarked on his own career as an owner. He had a reputation for being cheap, but that was never true. Thrifty was a better word for how McMullen, who grew up during the Depression, minded his money.

McMullen’s Astros went to the playoffs in 1986 and came close to upsetting the Mets, who went on to win the World Series with a little assist from Bill Buckner. He sold the team in 1992.

But he also owned the New Jersey Devils, a franchise he purchased when it was in Colorado in 1982. A miserable team for it’s first five seasons, the Devils turned around in 1987-88 when McMullen hired the athletic director from Providence to run a major league hockey team. A lot of people wondered at the choice of Lou Lamoriello back then. But today, Lamoriello is recognized as perhaps the best general manager in all of sports. Three Stanley Cups attest to his abilities.

Lamoriello had a deep respect for McMullen, who had a doctorate from M.I.T. and was a naval architect. Lamoriello became president and part owner of the Devils, yet still called McMullen “Dr. McMullen.”

Steinbrenner came into baseball with a shipbuilding company, but it has long since gone under. McMullen’s company, John J. McMullen Marine Associates, designs some of the most advanced ships in the U.S. Navy.

McMullen was crusty and funny, thanks to an utter inability to get the hang of this political correctness fad. He was also honest, caring, and generous.

I knew McMullen, but I didn’t know he had endowed an art museum at Boston College, where his son, Peter, got his degree. But he wasn’t a guy to brag or seek the spotlight. He liked being in the background, which is why you never read as much about him as you did about other owners.

McMullen sold the Devils in 2000, but he remains the man who brought New Jersey its first championship team. The state was his home, and he always said he moved the team there as a public service, because he thought New Jersey should have a team of its own. Based on what he made on the team, which wasn’t much, if anything, his talk was more than lip service.

John J. McMullen died on Sept. 16. He lived 87 years as fully as anyone could. I’ll miss him.

Sept. 21 | 5:12 p.m.  ET

It appears that Michelle Wie is shortly going to announce that she is going to turn pro. The announcement should come very close to her 16th birthday on Oct. 11.

I don’t normally approve of such things, having argued strongly in favor of the NBA establishing a minimum age for draftees. But the reason I think kids should be 20 before going to the NBA is not because I think they’re missing their childhoods, but because the kids who come into the league are ruining what’s left of the game. They come in with individual skills but no idea how to play the game. They can dunk, but they can’t set a pick.

Wie knows how to play the game. She shot 64 when she was 10. She shot even par for two rounds at a men’s tournament and missed the cut by one — as a 15-year-old. She’s played in the final pairing of a major professional tournament.

So she doesn’t need seasoning. I think she could benefit by maintaining her current schedule and status, but, let’s face it, being a pro golfer when you’re Michell Wie isn’t a high-impact job. Just by signing, she’ll apparently get about $8 million in endorsements, including the inevitable Nike deal.

(Hey, girls! Be like Michelle! Pay way more than you should for clothes with our logo on it! It won’t help you roll it through the windmill and into the clown’s mouth, but you’ll look just like Michelle!)

The best part about it is that she doesn’t have to do much. Just play a half dozen women’s tournaments a year, which is all she’s allowed to anyway, run to Asia and Europe and collect some serious appearance fees, tee it up in a couple of men’s tournaments and collect all sorts of goodies from the sponsors, then go back to school to write the obligatory essay on the use of imagery in “Lord of the Flies.”

She is an amazing talent, but let’s get over how far she hits it. She’s 6-foot-2 with a ton of flexibility and torque and as efficient a swing as you’ll ever see. And in case you haven’t noticed, these new clubs are launching balls incredible distances for everyone. I’m in my mid-50s and haven’t been able to play more than two rounds this year, but I hit a 300-yarder in one of them along with a few better than 280. That’s farther than I was hitting them 15 years ago when I still had something resembling a muscle.

Yeah, big whoo. I can sometimes hit it almost as far as a 16-year-old girl. Believe me, I’m not bragging.

Anyway, hitting the ball 300 yards isn’t what it used to be. When Tiger Woods wanted to reach the 650-yard 17^th in the fourth round of the PGA at Baltusrol, he hit his driver 380, then reached for a two-iron for the trifling 270 uphill yards that remained.

That’s not knocking Wie. Probably 99 percent of the girls her age can’t hit the ball 200 yards, let along 300. Heck, most who aren’t dedicated golfers can’t hit it out of Kate Moss’ shadow. That she can reach 300 yards and can average around 280 is phenomenal. In the best sense of the word, she’s a freak.

She’s an incredibly gifted teenager. But so was Anna Kournikova and Jennifer Capriati in tennis. Kournikova never did win anything before going off to be paid for being beautiful and Capriati just dropped out for a while to do the things that she believed were part of the life of normal teens — you know, shoplifting, smoking weed, getting a 21-year-old to buy you beer, dressing entirely in black. Utterly normal stuff.

Wie could end up the same. She’s going to become a pro, but she’s never actually beaten one in a tournament. She hasn’t played against the top collegians, and her one national title was the Women’s Amateur Public Links, a worthy accomplishment, but not the multiple Junior Amateurs and Amateurs Tiger Woods won before turning pro.

What’s in her favor is that she doesn’t have to actually play that much. Unlike a pro tennis player, whose life is a constant schlep from one city where you don’t know anyone to another just like it, a golfer can really pick and choose. And Wie, by virtue of not being allowed to actually join the LPGA Tour at least for another year (The official entry age is 18, but exceptions are possible, and if ever a person qualified for one, Wie is she.) won’t be able to play more than six or seven events on sponsor exemptions.

That’s a self-limiting mechanism. So she can go to high school if she likes and look at golf as a summer job. Had she been a pro this year, she would have won more than $600,000, which is better than she could have done waiting tables at Applebee’s, even with tips.

I wish her luck.

Sept. 19 | 1:20 a.m. ET

It’s only two weeks, but that’s already an eighth of the way through the NFL season. And already it’s possible to wonder whether this will be an anno mirabilis — a miraculous year — for the league.

Any time Cincinnati is 2-0 and Green Bay is 0-2 you certainly have the makings of a massive churning of the NFL stew. Just look at the standings just two weeks in. The Patriots already have a loss, and it was a messy and penalty-infested one to the Panthers. The Vikings, Chargers and Ravens join the Packers in the 0-2 club. The Atlanta Vicks follow a huge, Week 1 win against Philly with a loss to the Seahawks. Cleveland and the 49ers, the two teams almost universally chosen to fight it out for next year’s number one pick in the draft, each have a win already.

There there are the Colts, who are, as predicted, 2-0, but they’ve scored a modest 34 points in those two wins. Peyton Manning’s completion percentages in his last three seasons were 66, 67 and 68 percent; this year it’s 58 percent after two games and his touchdown passes are down from three a game last year to one a game this.

On the other hand, the Colts are playing some impressive defense, including Sunday’s 10-3 win over Carolina, as is the AFC West’s defensively challenged team, the Chiefs.

In four more weeks, everything could look vastly different. But so far, it has been a season that with few exceptions — the Steelers so far have been as good as advertised — has offered surprises at every turn. If it continued, it could be one of those years when the old order changes.

Not changing his stripes
One thing that won’t change is Terrell Owens. It’s as obvious as the faces on Mt. Rushmore that T.O.’s moods are linked directly to the amount of attention he gets. Sunday, it was two TD passes from Donovan McNabb and suddenly he was McNabb’s best buddy again.

“Whatever happened in the past, hopefully it’s over,” McNabb said after the game.

Yeah, right, Donovan. With Owens, whatever happened in the past is going to happen again in the future. So enjoy the sweetness and light while it lasts. Soon enough, there will be another reason to pile on T.O.

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