Disabled List welcomes Mike Hampton back

It might be time for Mike Hampton to sit back, relax, and stop trying to earn his $15,000,000 salary. Or if that's important to him, perhaps Atlanta pitching coach Roger McDowell could use an assistant.

Because if the last five years are any evidence, the marriage between Hampton and pitching is on the rocks, and it's starting to show signs of irreconcilable differences. Before attempting to take the mound for the first time in nearly three years, Hampton was once again sidelined by injury Thursday.

This time it was Hampton's left pectoral, tweaked when Hampton warmed up for a start against the Pirates. When the pain didn't subside, he handed the ball to McDowell and called it quits. On the brighter side, Braves' manager Bobby Cox called Hampton's 23 warmup pitches "excellent."

Since 2003, the left-handed pitcher has had aches and pains in more places than the captain of the balloon volleyball team at the local convalescent center. In that five year time period, Hampton has had a strained calf muscle, Tommy John surgery, a torn oblique muscle, and a strained hamstring. Or, as Jeff Schultz at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, "Mike Hampton isn’t an injured pitcher anymore. He’s a wrenched ankle away from being the poor schlep on the Operation game."

Hampton has been placed on the 15-day DL, and Braves' trainiers said the injury was minor. They may be right, and Hampton may rebound with a great comeback season. But my hunch is this may spiral into the end of a long and injury-riddled career.

Hampton's $121 million contract -- the 23rd largest in all of sports, according to Wikipedia -- is up after this season, and it's hard to imagine teams venturing anywhere near him. Because whatever it is he has, they sure as heck don't want to catch.

Lute Olson returns, throws Kevin O'Neill under bus

Now that Lute Olson has resumed his head coaching duties at Arizona, feel free to put Kevin O'Neill at the top of any "Who's Not" list in sports.

Not only has the 73-year-old Olson returned from his leave of absence to coach the team, but he's also stripped O'Neill of the "handpicked predecessor" label. At a press conference Tuesday, Olson said that O'Neill would not be on the coaching staff next season, the last of his contract.

Following Olson's departure in December to attend to personal issues -- Arizona assistant O'Neill assumed interim coaching duties. He led the Wildcats to a 19-15 season and their 24th consecutive NCAA tournament berth, but apparently that wasn't enough for the looming Olson. O'Neill's coaching style didn't fit the bill, apparently.

"I apologize for what they had to go through this year in terms of the change," Olson said. "They came here to play a wide-open game, and they didn't. That's no one's fault, because that's not coach O'Neill's belief on the offensive end. It was his team once I left. But I said we're going to play Arizona basketball and we're going to have fun doing it."

Olson also reminded anyone who cared to know that he's the one who built the program, and it won't just continue winning by itself, you know. Another dagger to O'Neill.

"You know what, maybe the fans needed to realize that this program doesn't just operate -- we don't go into the gas station and fill the kids up with fuel and turn the key on," Olson said.

And lastly, to anyone who thinks his age is a problem, one more up yours.

"Well, they're all gone and I'm still here," he said.

So much for riding off into the sunset.

Olson says O'Neill won't remain on Arizona staff (AP, via ESPN.com)