Kevin Blackistone Backporch

Over a decade before a retired Chinese gymnast was suspended stories above the Beijing Olympic field and wowed the world running sideways around the lip of the stadium before lighting the Olympic flame, a man amazed us by appearing to catapult himself across a football stadium onto a stage in a pyrotechnic explosion. He was Michael Jackson.

And by the time the self-proclaimed but broadly acknowledged King of Pop landed in a frozen pose, something was unfolding at the biggest sporting event in this country that had never happened before: more people were tuning in to watch the halftime show that was unveiling than the game itself. That was the power of Michael Jackson.

BALTIMORE -- When it was all over and the fantastic filly Rachel Alexandra did what everyone thought she'd do and won the Preakness, a gaggle of us hemmed in rider Mike Smith of Jockeys' TV show fame, as well as horse racing Hall of Fame fame, and asked him about the winner of the Triple Crown's middle jewel. After all, no other jockey had ever seen the undefeated Miss Alexandra's rear end as close as Smith, who wound up just a length behind at the wire.

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If you've paid close attention to Calvin Borel, like Tuesday night when he was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you've probably noticed that he doesn't have many teeth. America's favorite jockey has lost most of them over the years from falls, or from his face slamming into the back of horses' necks, or from erosion caused by stomach acid after purposely regurgitating countless meals to keep his weight around 110 pounds.

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On Wednesday, a group called America's Promise Alliance issued its latest report on the education of our country's youth. America's Promise was started by Gen. Colin Powell back in 1997 with a band of corporations, nonprofits, foundations, policymakers, advocacy and faith-based groups to ensure that we provide our kids a foundation from which they can be successful.

The newest report from America's Promise found that nearly half (47 percent) of all young people in the nation's 50 largest cities are not graduating from high school on time and that many of those aren't graduating at all, hence, becoming dropouts.

It is a problem because, the report reminded, the median income for high school dropouts is $14,000, which is significantly lower than the median income for high school graduates ($24,000) and for college graduates ($48,000). More troubling, the report pointed out, high school dropouts were the only workers who saw their income levels decline over the last 30 years.

The Arena Football League mothballed itself for a season. The most-successful franchise in the WNBA, the Houston Comets, folded. NFL commish Roger Goodell took a pay cut of around 20 percent and laid off at least 150 workers for the league. And Mr. RBI, Manny Ramirez, got less than he's worth in free agency.

Yes, these are tough times for sports. But this may truly sum up the impact of the worldwide recession on sports.

Romain Mesnil, the pole vault silver medalist at the 2007 Athletics World Championships, has taken to jogging through the streets of Paris with little else than his pole -- um, the fiberglass one -- in an attempt to replace sponsorship money he's lost in the economic downturn. Nike didn't renew his contract, he said on his Web site.

In the midst of a coaches' teleconference about 10 years ago, Nolan Richardson proffered why the conference, the SEC, in which he coached the Arkansas basketball team, was so stout. It was located in the South, he said, ground zero for slavery, and, as a result, the many black players who were the stars of the SEC were the products of purposeful breeding by slave owners of "big black [men] with his big woman so he [slave owner] would have a big black kid."

Coach Richardson continued to coach without much criticism and any sanction for his historical hysteria. He wasn't tarred and feathered like Jimmy the Greek was so famously for making similar comments.

Coach Richardson was spared because, unlike The Greek, he is black. He was handed a pass because of the extra gravitas he carried as the second black coach to lead a team to a Final Four championship, and because we in the media -- especially commentators of color -- are particularly uncomfortable criticizing people of color for such transgressions and gaffes.

If it seems like sports have gone to the dogs recently -- what with the outing of A-Rod, the busting of Michael Phelps and the banning of boxer Antonio "Fists of Plaster" Margarito -- take heart. We've just found a real dog in sports worth celebrating. Call him Stump the Magic Spaniel.

We may have another 10 months to go this year, but there won't be a better comeback story in 2008 than Stump's, the brownish-red, short-legged, floppy-eared winner of best in show Tuesday night at the Westminster dog show. Stump is 10. Ten! That's 70 years old in dog years. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks? This is the equivalent of Dikembe Mutombo winning this year's NBA MVP.

If Michael Phelps wasn't an Olympic swimmer who won a record number of gold models for the red, white and blue, he never would have had to own up to a photograph of him taking a hit from a bong purportedly bubbling away with marijuana smoke. He probably never would have been photographed in the first place, because he wouldn't have been a millionaire with pockets lined with multi-million dollar endorsements from makers of consumer products looking to hock more of their stuff to an adoring public.

Instead, Michael Phelps would be what he should be: just another guy who makes a living plying his athletic skill.

Unfortunately, that isn't good enough, especially in this country. We must turn sports champions into something larger than life even when they aren't worthy. We must make a star athlete another one of our damned sports role models, no matter what.