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After watching the Wingnuts score 11 runs on Friday against his Lincoln team, starting pitcher Jarrett Gardner discovered two things about Wichita's lineup.

He found that the Wingnuts were at their best when they were ahead in the count and most dangerous against mistake pitches that caught too much of home plate.

Gardner put his knowledge to work on Saturday, avoiding less favorable counts and eliminating mistakes. He tossed a complete game and allowed one runner into scoring position in the Saltdogs' 5-0 win at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

"A team like Wichita, you've got to get ahead in the count," Gardner said. "You've got to get strike one against them. That was my main focus today, getting ahead of the hitters and trying to throw strike one. Then you can mix it up."

Gardner cruised through the first four innings, throwing 34 pitches, and the Wingnuts could never break his rhythm.

Defensive back Prinz Kande had wrapped up an exceptional junior season for Trinity High in Euless, Texas, last fall and was considering Wisconsin for his college of choice.

Teammate Earnest Norman, a standout junior linebacker, was also starting to weigh his college options.

Kansas wasn't on the radar for either one. But then the Jayhawks capped a remarkable 2007 season by defeating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl for a 12-1 record.

By late May, Norman gave KU an oral commitment. A few days later, Kande joined him in casting his football future with the Jayhawks.

"The bowl victory really impressed them," Trinity coach Steve Linewear said. "It was huge. An up-start, hard-working, fundamental program... that appeals to our boys."

Dustan Mohr played in the thin air of Colorado and enjoyed his best major-league years as a contributor on the Minnesota Twins' late-1990s playoff teams.

During his seven-year major league career, though, Mohr never had a night like the one he had on Friday against Lincoln. A few more like it and Mohr could find himself back in a major league uniform soon.

Mohr had a double, two homers and a Wingnut-record six RBIs. His solo home run off the left-center field scoreboard broke a tie and helped Wichita to a 11-10 victory at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

Brenan Herrera hit the pitch after Mohr's homer over the wall in left for back-to-back home runs and provided possibly the game's most key hit because closer Byron Embry allowed a run in the top of the ninth.

"I've just been getting the bat on them and they're falling," Mohr said. "I've hit a couple balls good and I'm starting to feel good. You kind of have ups and downs during the season and things are just kind of going my way."

Now that the Douglas County District Attorney has decided not to file criminal charges against Sherron Collins for the alleged assault of a woman more than a year ago, Collins' attorney said he plans to "fully clear" the Kansas basketball player's name in civil court.

Chris Burger, Collins' attorney, will have that opportunity because Collins still faces a civil lawsuit in wake of the allegations.

D.A. Charles Branson declined Friday to file criminal charges "because there was insufficient evidence at this time to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt."

A 35-year-old Lawrence woman alleged Collins exposed himself and rubbed against her on an elevator at Jayhawker Towers Apartments on the KU campus on May 18, 2007.

"The District Attorney's decision helps support Mr. Collins' innocence and affirms those who insist on evidence before reaching conclusions," Burger said. "Regretfully, the D.A.'s actions can not conclude the matter in its entirety. A criminal case has a higher standard of proof than a civil case, and we will therefore remain in the civil court to fully clear his name.

Cameron Bishop spent the first two days of the Wichita Golf Association match play tournament trying to get a handle on all aspects of his game.

By mid-morning Friday, the overwhelming evidence suggested everything was in order.

Bishop continued his sizzling summer with a 7-and-6 victory over John Loomis in a battle of former Wichita State golfers at MacDonald Golf Course. Bishop, 24, neutralized the sour taste of defeat in last year's final, when Steve Newman rallied past him on the last two holes to win the championship flight at Tallgrass.

"I felt a lot more comfortable out there," said Bishop, who has flourished on the state's golf scene this year with victories in the Kansas Golf Association Fourball and Public Links championships. "I was actually hitting it really good. It took a few days, but I finally came through at the right time."

Bishop, a Tulsa native, fought an erratic driver in the tournament's early rounds. But he used it to his advantage against Loomis, keeping the pressure on with well-placed tee shots and superior distance.

Wingnuts manager Kash Beauchamp remained national news on Friday. His media exposure began Thursday -- his animated, prop-aided argument during a game Wednesday landed him on television shows such as "SportsCenter," "Good Morning America" and "Pardon The Interruption."

Friday morning, Beauchamp made his local media tour, appearing on sports talk radio shows on KGSO and KFH. Friday evening, his first nationally televised interview aired on the syndicated show "Inside Edition."

Beauchamp, who was suspended four games by the American Association for Wednesday's tirade, apparently narrowly avoided further discipline on Friday.

League president Dan Moushon was alerted to the interviews by a league umpire in town for the weekend series with Lincoln and told they may have included derogatory comments about umpiring by Beauchamp.

While Beauchamp probably did himself no favors with his lack of contrition during the interviews, Moushon said he didn't make the situation any worse.

Dallas Green has seen his share of Hall of Fame second basemen in his lifetime.

He traded for Ryne Sandberg.

He managed against Joe Morgan.

"He's there with Morgan. He's certainly there with Sandberg," Green said. "He's got to be right there with those guys, and really in all phases."

He is Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, who is starting his third consecutive All-Star Game on Tuesday at New York's Yankee Stadium. There have been 10 second basemen in Phillies history who have made the National League all-star team: Emil Verban (1946-47), Granny Hamner (1954), Tony Taylor (1960), Cookie Rojas (1965), Dave Cash (1974-76), Manny Trillo (1981-82), Juan Samuel (1984 and '87), Mariano Duncan (1994), Mickey Morandini (1995) and Utley (2006-08). None other than Utley has started more than one All-Star Game.

Not since Nomar Garciaparra's arrival from Boston in the summer of 2004 has a Cubs debut been as anticipated as Rich Harden's first start at Wrigley Field.

And although he did everything he could Saturday to show the Cubs made the right move in acquiring him from Oakland, Harden ultimately was relegated to the role of innocent bystander before the end of a wild 8-7, 11-inning victory over San Francisco.

After Carlos Marmol allowed five runs in the ninth to let the Giants complete a rally from a 7-0 deficit, the Cubs bounced back on Reed Johnson's opposite-field, RBI single off Brian Wilson in the 11th.

"When you're growing up as a little kid, you're always '5, 4, 3, 2, 1...' shooting the basketball, trying to make that game-winning shot or get that game-winning base hit," Johnson said. "So you put yourself in that situation since you've been in Little League and all the way up to (the majors)."

The Cubs won for the fifth time in their last six games, improving to 37-11 at Wrigley with one game remaining before the All-Star break.

Bobby Murcer, a five-time All-Star outfielder who spent nearly four decades with the New York Yankees as a player, executive and announcer, has died. He was 62.

The Yankees said Murcer died Saturday due to complications from brain cancer. He was surrounded by family at Mercy Hospital in his hometown of Oklahoma City, the team said.

"Bobby Murcer was a born Yankee, a great guy, very well-liked and a true friend of mine," owner George Steinbrenner said. "I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Kay, their children and grandchildren. I will really miss the guy."

Murcer was diagnosed with a brain tumor on Christmas Eve 2006 after having headaches. He had surgery that week in Houston and doctors later determined the tumor was malignant. Determined to be around his beloved Yankees, Murcer returned to the broadcast booth last year and briefly this season.

The only person to play with Mickey Mantle and Don Mattingly, the popular Murcer hit .277 with 252 home runs and 1,043 RBIs in 17 seasons with the Yankees, San Francisco and the Chicago Cubs. He made the All-Star team in both leagues and won a Gold Glove.

A few years ago, Paul Konerko found out exactly how much it meant to win the All-Star Game.

He played on the American League side that won the exhibition in 2005. That gave the AL the home-field edge in the World Series -- his Chicago White Sox then took advantage, opening with a pair of tight victories at U.S. Cellular Field on their way to sweeping Houston.

So what about it, slugger? That link between the summer showcase and the Fall Classic is a pretty nifty idea, right?

"I think it's totally ludicrous," Konerko said.

The three-time All-Star first baseman has plenty of company. Ask most anyone in the majors and they'd prefer to change the concept that began in 2003 as a two-year experiment.

The Wingnuts' 15 minutes of fame appear to be winding down. Though manager Kash Beauchamp's tirade on Wednesday will stand up as a highlight of Wichita's inaugural season, the national attention the incident received is likely over as a new week begins.

At least one Wichita player, however, didn't welcome the attention.

"I'm a little bitter, to be honest with you," closer Byron Embry said. "Every baseball player in America who turned their television on and watched what happened wishes they had Kash Beauchamp as their manager. Everybody wishes they had a manager that will make a complete (jerk) out of himself on national television just because someone got cheated out of an at-bat."

The Wingnuts have become a known commodity because of Beauchamp's argument in the second game of a doubleheader against Sioux Falls, which included removing his shoe and putting it near home plate umpire Blake Felix's face and doing the same with his armpit.

Video of the incident was shown on ESPN, CNN and Fox Sports, among others, and Beauchamp made an appearance Friday on the syndicated show "Inside Edition."

This was the ultimate way to give back for L.J. Goolsby.

The former Wichita State guard has been the coach of the Kansas City-area 17-and-under AAU basketball team K.C. Pump N Run for six years. In those years he's helped make it one of the most successful programs in the area.

"It was a way to stick around the game," Goolsby said. "But this isn't about me, my playing days are over. This is about helping these kids get exposure and hopefully that will lead to college scholarships."

Goolsby knows a little about college scholarships. A talent himself out of Dodge City High, multiple knee injuries derailed his collegiate career. After transferring from Mississippi, Goolsby played the 1996-97 season for the Shockers.

Before becoming known for the Pump N Run program, Goolsby ran the Kansas City Nets for two seasons. Though running his own program was fulfilling, he joined former Kansas Jayhawk Roger Morningstar, then linked up with Dana and David Pump of the California Double Pump organization.

The youth movement in golf was going strong in the summer of 1997.

Tiger Woods was coming off his first major championship, a 12-shot victory at the Masters to become its youngest champion at 21. Two months later at Congressional, 27-year-old Ernie Els won his second U.S. Open. A month after that, 25-year-old Justin Leonard captured the British Open at Royal Troon.

But that was the last time two players in their 20s not named Woods won a major in the same year.

And that's what makes these next two majors so intriguing. The British Open will be the first major without Woods in the lineup since the 1996 PGA Championship, the final weeks of Woods' amateur career.

Rarely has youth had such an opportunity.

Paula Creamer is finding out how hard it is to win while leading from start to finish on the LPGA Tour.

The rest of the field is discovering how hard it is to catch her.

Creamer shot a 1-under 70 on Saturday, 10 more shots than she needed in the first round, but still held a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Sylvania, Ohio.

"You know, winning wire-to-wire -- that's difficult to do," said Creamer, who stands at 18-under 195 through 54 holes at Highland Meadows. "There's a lot of pressure on you in that situation, especially when you shoot a 60 the first day and anything higher than that everybody thinks, 'What's going on? What's wrong?"'

South Korea's Eun-Hee Ji was in second place looking up at Creamer, as she has been after all three rounds. She shot a 68 to cut two strokes off Creamer's lead but wasn't pleased with her own play.

Kansas Amateur pairings

Stroke-play qualifying at Wichita C.C.

Tuesday off No. 1-Wednesday off No. 10

8 a.m.-12:30 p.m.-- David Rhodes, Olathe; John Alefs, Wichita; Tim Tyner, Council Grove

8:10-12:40--Markus Hilger, Garden Plain; Matt Ewald, Leawood; Zach Pederson, Spring Hill

A look at the 12 players under 30 who are among the top 50 in the world ranking going into the British Open:

Adam Scott

Age: 27

Country: Australia

World ranking: 3

Dick Metz

At Quail Ridge, Winfield

July 9

Boys

16-18--1. Clint Jones 74; 2. Peyton Lamb 78; 3. (tie) Tyler Vincent, Joshua Cork, Parker Dolezal, Preston Bartly 79. 14-15--1. (tie) Drew Wright, Tayler Smith 73; 3. Brady Rohr 79. 12-13--1. Jason Cain 79; 2. (tie) Caleb Haight, Chris Karlovich 80. 11-under--1. Logan Smoak 39; 2. Blake Weaver 42; 3. (tie) Freddie Wilson, Blake Berry, Marc Kepka 45.

Miscommunication mixed with heavy rain turned out to be a winning combination for Scott Dixon.

Told to follow race leader Tony Kanaan, Dixon instead stayed on the track at the Nashville Superspeedway and grabbed the lead on lap 149. Dixon stretched his fuel until rain ended the Firestone Indy 200 with 29 laps remaining, giving him his third consecutive victory at this track and his fourth this season.

"When they called me to pit, or follow Kanaan was the words, I was way past... there was no coming in," Dixon said as he cradled the trophy Gibson guitar under cover.

Dixon said he would have spun out if he had tried to follow Kanaan into the pits, which was why he didn't pit himself. Dixon was furious over the pit call for a few laps.

"But when I saw that rain coming down, I thought, 'Oh, this could work out pretty good,'" Dixon said.

After another victory by Kyle Busch in the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, the question is becoming clear. Just how good can this season be for him?

As hard as it is to believe, it got better Saturday night as the 23-year-old driver snatched a victory back from two-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in a two-lap battle to end the race.

Johnson passed Busch for the lead on lap 250 of 267 and was pulling away. But David Gilliland's blown engine on lap 261 brought out a caution and gave Busch a chance.

He seized it, anticipating Johnson would try to bring the field slowly to the restart. Busch basically pushed Johnson to the green with two laps to go, then jumped to the outside heading for turn 1.

Busch cleared Johnson as they came to the white flag and held off Johnson and a charging Kevin Harvick from there.

Cindy McCain spent her Saturday getting up close and personal with the IndyRacing League at the series' stop at the Nashville Superspeedway, taking a spin around the track in the pace car with Johnny Rutherford and checking out Danica Patrick's car in the garage.

"It was great," McCain said of her laps around the 1.33-mile concrete oval with Rutherford driving. "Oh my God."

McCain, wearing a short-sleeved denim shirt and designer jeans with heels, visited with IRL drivers during their pre-race meeting and spent time talking with Phoenix resident and 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice. She also held the Gibson guitar trophy for the winner of Saturday night's Firestone Indy 200, saying "I wish I knew how to play."

After waiting out a rain delay from a thunderstorm, McCain finally climbed into the pace car at least 30 minutes later than planned. She then walked over to the garage, stopping to take photos with a couple of fans, before going through the garage, the IRL's inspection area and even the officials' trailer.

Later, she had a private chat with Patrick.

Kyle Busch keeps winning no matter where he races.

Busch added another Nationwide Series victory to his column Friday night, winning the Dollar General 300 at the Chicagoland Speedway.

Busch took the lead on the 95th lap in his No. 18 Toyota, held it until a pit stop on the 149th and then regained it five laps later for the remainder of the 200-lap race on the 1.5-mile track.

The points leader with six victories in the Sprint Cup Series, Busch won for the fifth time in the Nationwide Series.

"It feels really, really good," Busch said. "Unbelievable."

When Mike Peters started racing in 1971 at 81 Speedway, he drove a car he and his dad, Keith, built together.

"It was economical class, something that we could get started in," said Peters, a Wichita native.

Nearly 40 years later, he's still racing. He's the series points leader in the open wheel division of the National Championship Racing Association, which makes its third stop at 81 Speedway tonight. Gates open at 5 p.m., races start at 7.

A few years after Peters started racing, "I started driving another guy's car and I just kind of went from one car to another for nearly 30 years," he said.

"... I've driven for all different kinds of people, so many different kinds of cars that I can't even remember them."

One day after doping hit cycling yet again, a team that knows the perils of drug scandals all too well sped to victory Saturday as the daunting climbs of the Pyrenees awaited Tour de France riders.

Britain's Mark Cavendish captured the eighth stage in a rain-soaked finish, his second stage victory in the three-week race.

That was only part of the story for Team Columbia. Germany's Gerald Ciolek took second place and Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen held the leader's yellow jersey. The white jersey for the race's best young rider belonged to a Columbia rider, Sweden's Thomas Lovqvist.

"To finish with a 1-2 and have Kim in yellow, you can't do better than that," Cavendish said. "When I'm there in the sprint and fired up, normally I can win."

Kirchen was six seconds ahead of Cadel Evans of Australia in the overall standings, with Stefan Schumacher of Germany 16 seconds back and Christian Vandevelde of the United States 44 behind.

Kansas has added two New York schools, Albany and Siena, to its 2008-09 nonconference basketball schedule. Albany will visit Allen Fieldhouse Dec. 30 and Siena will come to town on Jan. 6.

Siena returns all five starters from a team that finished 23-11 and won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last season. The Saints defeated Vanderbilt in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before losing in the second round to Villanova 84-72.

Albany must replace three of its top four scorers and returns two starters from a team that finished 15-15 last season. The Great Danes tied for second in the America East Conference at 10-6.

KU associate athletic director Larry Keating said the Jayhawks still need to add one more nonconference game.

• Katie Douglas scored 13 of her 25 points in the fourth quarter, and the Indiana Fever netted the final seven points in a 66-57 WNBA victory over the Chicago Sky on Saturday night in Indianapolis.... Shameka Christon scored 19 points, Loree Moore and Janel McCarville added 13 each and the host New York Liberty beat the first-place Detroit Shock 74-64.

The Royals had a legitimate chance this season to have two All-Stars as Jose Guillen was in the voting for the final spot.

Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria won the final voting, leaving Joakim Soria as the Royals' lone pick for the fifth straight season.

Two Royals were All-Stars in 2003 -- the last season Kansas City finished above .500.

That season reliever Mike MacDougal and first baseman Mike Sweeney represented the then-first place Royals, although neither played in the game.

There was only one other season since 1990 the Royals had two All-Star players, in 2000, when Sweeney and Jermaine Dye got the nod.

Wladimir Klitschko knocked out former sparring partner Tony Thompson in the 11th round to successfully defend his heavyweight titles Saturday.

Klitschko (51-3, 45 knockouts) turned boos to cheers, sending the American to the canvas with a right hand 1:38 into the 11th. He redeemed himself after an ugly 10th in which he pushed Thompson to the canvas and fell on him.

Klitschko's ninth straight win was tougher than expected, as he had to survive a second-round head-butt that left both fighters bleeding at the right eye.

"I'm still world champion, but it's about three titles now -- that means everybody that fights me is extra motivated," said Klitschko, who holds the IBF and minor WBO and IBO titles. "I haven't had a black eye for a long time, now I really look like a fighter."

His corner stemmed the cut, but his left eye was swollen after Thompson caught him with several good shots, especially a right hook in the fifth round.

Pingpong isn't just a game in China -- it's a matter of national identity and pride for a country of 1.3 billion people.

No wonder China's six-member squad is feeling weighed down as the Beijing Olympics near. Not only are they expected to win, fans in the world's most populous country expect them to chop, block and smash right through the competition.

"Coming in second is the same as failing. That's what's so hard about pingpong," said Zhang Yining, who won gold in women's singles and doubles at the Athens Games four years ago. "It's the national sport, so that's why we face the most pressure."

Americans generally think of it as a rainy day game for the basement, but table tennis (it's actually called pingpong here) is an integral part of China's identity, right up there with the pandas, the distinctive food and the Great Wall.

"Pingpong is my responsibility, it's my job... Right now the most important thing is that I do it well," veteran women's team member Wang Nan said during a training camp where athletes had as many as three workout sessions a day.

Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau is heading to Beijing with a devastating diagnosis: He has cancer.

In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Shanteau said he learned a week before the Olympic trials in Omaha that he has testicular cancer. His doctors cleared him to compete in that meet and he surprisingly made the team in the 200-meter breaststroke, finishing second ahead of former world-record holder and heavy favorite Brendan Hansen.

"If I didn't make the team, the decision would have been easy: Go home and have the surgery," Shanteau said. "I made the team, so I had a hard decision. But, by no means am I being stupid about this."

Although Shanteau's doctors advised him to have surgery immediately, he's planning to put it off until after Beijing because he doesn't want to disrupt his lifelong goal of swimming in the Olympics. The 24-year-old Georgia native will be monitored closely over the next month and vows to withdraw from the team if there's any sign his cancer is spreading.

"I was sort of like, 'This isn't real. There's no way this is happening to me right now,'" Shanteau said. "You're trying to get ready for the Olympics, and you just get this huge bomb dropped on you."

Kenny Perry again sizzled following a sluggish start and was two strokes off the lead after the second round of the John Deere Classic on Friday in Silvis, Ill.

Playing as well as anyone on the PGA Tour the past two months, the 47-year-old Perry birdied six of his final 10 holes while shooting 5-under 66. That put him in a three-way tie for second place at 11-under 131 with first-round co-leader Charlie Wi (67) and Eric Axley (66).

The strong finish wasn't enough to move past Will MacKenzie (64), who jumped to the top of the leaderboard earlier in the day and is 13-under, but it kept Perry in contention for his third victory in five starts.

Zach Johnson (68) seemed poised to jump into contention early on but tailed off, finishing at 5-under through two rounds.

First-round co-leader Ken Duke (72) fell seven strokes off the lead.

The Tour de France just got dirtier.

Veteran Spanish rider Manuel Beltran was kicked off the scandal-ridden Tour and was in police custody Friday after testing positive for EPO.

Liquigas cycling team spokesman Paolo Barbieri said Beltran was suspended from the team and that police were searching other Liquigas riders' rooms. If a second backup sample is also positive, Beltran will be fired, Barbieri said.

"When are these idiots going to learn that it's over?" Pat McQuaid, chief of the International Cycling Union, told the Associated Press by telephone. "They continue to think that they can beat the system. They're wrong. The system is catching up all the time.

"It is very damaging to the sport. Once more, the sport suffers."

Appraiser Leslie Keno said it was one of the most incredible "Antiques Roadshow" stories he'd ever heard.

A young Swiss woman was about to sail from Europe to the United States in 1912, heading for a new life and marriage to an American. Before she left, a man who was going to buy a desk and attached bookcase from her was killed on his way to making the purchase, leaving her to arrange its packing and shipping. It caused her to miss her voyage.

On the Titanic.

The woman's daughter, 92-year-old Marguerite Lawrence of Wichita, submitted the furniture for inclusion in the Wichita stop of PBS' "Antiques Roadshow," and she and her desk were filmed Saturday at Century II.

"It's incredible how these pieces are intertwined in our lives, this one especially," said Leslie Keno, one of the better-known appraisers on the show, along with his twin brother, Leigh.

Oh, Paula, you naughty little thing. How could I have ever doubted you? Y'all, this week I had a chance to meet one of my longtime food heroines -- Paula Deen -- when I traveled down to Belle Plaine to hear her charm the grits out of the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board.

She was there in person on Thursday morning, burly husband Michael Groover in tow, to clue the board in to the deliciousness coming its way if it picked Harrah's to build a casino in Sumner County.

If it happens, Paula plans to build a second branch of her big ol' Harrah's buffet restaurant, the first of which just opened in Tunica, Miss. And if that happens, Paula promised, she'd be spending a whooooole lot more time in Kansas. (She is, after all, a "slots slut" in her free time, she very indelicately informed the board.)

She went on to compare her business to a baby, and did declare that she sure would love to get pregnant and give birth to another business baby in Kansas.

And just like that, I went from being a reformed Paula Deen fan to a revived Paula Deen fan.

Although it's Shakespeare set to the rockin', hip-swivelin' beat of Elvis, Music Theatre of Wichita's "All Shook Up" isn't just a ploy to woo a youthful crowd into legitimate theater, says director Roger Castellano.

"It's not just for the 'High School Musical' teen set," says the Los Angeles-based Castellano, also a performer and choreographer who has directed six shows and performed in three others here in the past seven years.

"While I love the fact that 'High School Musical' has helped bring younger crowds to theater, this show is a cleverly written version of Shakespeare that is more sophisticated. It is the rock 'n' roll genre that people will remember from the late 1950s to the 1970s, but the familiar music has been reworked in unexpected ways. You'll hear the songs you know but get a whole new meaning from the words," he says, citing an example of "Hound Dog" and "Teddy Bear" being combined and played off each other ironically.

"The kids will like it but it is probably more for the 'Mamma Mia!' and 'Hairspray' crowd."

The musical, which is a Wichita premiere after playing on Broadway in 2005, takes the mistaken identity, cross-dressing and complex romantic entanglements of Shakespeare's comic "Twelfth Night" and retells it through the lyrics of 24 Elvis classics, including "Heartbreak Hotel," "Don't Be Cruel," "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Love Me Tender."

Unless you live in a bat cave, you know that "The Dark Knight" opens on Friday. It's the sequel to "Batman Begins," which reignited the superhero's movie franchise after the cheesy "Batman & Robin" was released/used as torture in 1997. "The Dark Knight" arrives with all the subtlety of a gleaming bat signal, with more hype than the next Britney breakdown. Will it live up to expectations?

Here is a light-hearted look at Batman's journey through the film series, and reasons to see -- or, if you must, skip --"The Dark Knight."

Because, as the Joker would ask, "Why so serious?"

REASONS TO SEE IT

• You're a longtime fan -- Holy rest home, Batman! The character first appeared in 1939 (in "Detective Comics No. 27" by Bob Kane), so he's been around a loooooong time. And there have been plenty of Batman fanatics through the years. You can bet they'll be out in force on Friday (but please, leave your capes at home).

WILLIE NELSON/

WYNTON MARSALIS

'Two Men With the Blues'

(Wingdings 171) (Blue Note)

The idea to pair American musical icons Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis doing the most American of music forms, jazz, was genius. This album can stand up to anything in their vast catalogs.

In one scene from HBO's new "Generation Kill," a commanding officer approaches a small group of his men and tells them he wants to know what's bothering them, what their complaints and concerns are.

"I want you to talk freely," he insists. When they come up with only meager responses, he presses them further to be frank, candid, honest. Finally one of the men, "Doc," speaks up.

"Well, sir," he says, as the officer leans in to hear him over the sound of gunfire, "it's just that you're incompetent, sir."

Shocked, but determined not to look it, the officer says with childlike defensiveness, "I'm doing the best I can."

So goes one of countless electrifying, mortifying or stupefying moments that make up "Generation Kill," a grippingly powerful miniseries about the earliest days of the Iraq war.

The charmed life of Vincent Chase may not be quite so charmed when "Entourage" returns to HBO in September.

The series makes its return Sept. 7, a year and five days after the last original episode aired.

It will pick up more or less where last season left off, with Vince (Adrian Grenier) and Co. struggling after the disastrous screening of "Medellin" at the Cannes Film Festival.

Manager Eric (Kevin Connolly) is trying to get Vince back on top while expanding his own business, Ari (Jeremy Piven) has his own problems at his agency, and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) is wondering where he fits in. The only member of the crew on an upswing is Drama (Kevin Dillon), whose TV career continues to flourish.

Per usual, "Entourage" will also feature a parade of guest stars this season.

Hard poker truth (courtesy of young, aggressive pro Joe Sebok): "You're going to have a lot of tough hands where you're going to lose money."

The trick is to lose as little as possible.

At the World Series of Poker $10,000-buy-in main event at Las Vegas' Rio Hotel in 2007, Sebok drew pocket kings in the cutoff seat. With blinds at $300-$600 plus a $50 ante, he made it $2,000 to go. The player on the button called.

"Generally, you should raise with the hand instead of just calling because you get to take the lead with the hand," Sebok said.

"He could have anything because of his position. You're not going to put him on a big hand like A-K or two aces or two kings, but people will call with two jacks in that spot, two 7s, suited connectors."