Sports are my outlet. They’re probably yours too.

Upset at your significant other? Cut a game on and escape.

Pissed at your boss? ESPN.com is only a click away.

Want to yell at overpaid rich people? Drop in on your local professional sporting event and air out your lungs to your heart’s desire.

But this advice I give: never under-appreciate sports’ unique ability to bring social realities into question by way of mere games.

So before I drop straight into my weekly, I figured it best to share a few scattered sporting thoughts of mine with you.

This way you can decide whether you love me or hate me right off the bat, rather than waiting until we’re innings into a classic.

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I think touchdown dances are not only entertaining, they are necessary to remind folks that football is, was and always will be, in the end, just a game. But no player will admit that.

I think the old white men who created TD celebration penalties are doing to football what the old white men in golf are doing with the “Quiet Please� signs.

I think the NFL should only penalize unoriginal and lengthy TD celebrations.

I think MLB sales will flounder until the commissioner focuses his attention on bringing more black players to the game.

I believe the press conference is overrated and Brett Favre and Roger Clemens should be banned from them until Hall of Fame induction day.

I think the NFL should adopt college football overtime rules.

I think Allen Iverson would have been just as good in any other sport.

I think David Stern truly believes he is Marlon Brando starring in a certain famous film every time a business decision must be made.

I think the NBA’s age limit rule is laced from top to bottom with discrimination.

I think policing NFL player and coach outfits is more comical than your average Airplane! movie.

I think the well-respected John Clayton is a grown up version of the kid who drew up specialty plays in Little Giants.

I think the word “intangibles� is another way of saying “finding a way to win.�

I think Terrell Owens is a great player who, unfortunately, causes trouble on teams because (as he said once) he wasn’t hugged enough as a kid.

I also think that it is in the best interest to the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys and all T.O.-related entities that all defensive players get him caught up on those hugs in real-time NFL action. Please give hug leadership duties to safeties Rodney Harrison and Roy Williams, preferably.

I think everyone except baseball owners know that baseball is no longer America ’s pastime.

I think if allegations of illegal enhancers and unfair advantages earn playing records an asterisk, so too should the records of the players from the segregation era.

I think Pete Rose’s numbers unquestionably place him in the Hall of Fame regardless of whether or not he bet on baseball.

I think Notre Dame deserves to miss out on the National Championship for a minimum of ten years considering the unbalanced shake they gave Ty Willingham.

I think nobody in the northeastern region believes there are more teams in the MLB other than the Yankees and the Red Sox, and nobody outside the region watches without the two.

I think stubborn American pride years ago allowed for the word “soccer� to replace the more appropriately titled “football�… you know, the sport where you can only use your, uh, foot.

I think the problem with Alex Rodriguez in clutch time is that he feels the same way most champions do when it’s time to defend their crown – “At least I accomplished one of my many childhood dreams last year…� – and in his case his dream was to be filthy rich.

I think Peyton Manning is a better passing quarterback than Tom Brady.

I think if I had to choose one quarterback playing today to not pick Tom Brady would be ignorant.

I think I was among those who doubted the early Tom Brady/Joe Montana comparisons and have since rescinded my doubts.

I think I am secure with myself as a man but if I were married I would not allow my wife to meet Bill Belichick – the man can out-game-plan the best.

I think I understand why Gale Sayers, Barry Sanders and Dave Chappelle retired early.

I think I can’t get enough of old Jim Murray pieces.

I think the one thing surer than a coach’s firing after the dreaded GM endorsement is a coach’s departure after the dreaded “I’ll never leave� speech.

I think peanut M&M’s taste better than regular M&M’s.

I think Shani Davis wants to (and will) be seen as the Barry Bonds of ice skating.

I think much to Houstonians’ chagrin Mario Williams’s successes will never justify choosing him over Reggie Bush and Vince Young.

I think Eugene Robinson is the best op-ed columnist alive.

I think athletes aren’t nearly as openly ashamed of the “jock tag� as they should be.

I think until racism is removed from the long list of American “taboo� subjects, it will remain in American society and continue to bleed into sports, the entertainer, uniter and divider of us all.