Caught on the Fly.(Brief Article)

Hey, didn't you used to be an All-Star?

* Fly hears Shaq's loggin' serious personal training time, a self-admission that halfway into title-D season he's short on stamina and long on excess pounds. Team worker bees won't say his early-season injuries were conditioning-related, but, pssst, PhilJax has been surprised by the Big Fella (huff) asking out (puff) of games (huff) at crrrunch time.

* Buzz is coaches've clipped-n-saved undersized New Mexico's attack of No. 1 Stantord. Come tournament time, watch for Cardinal foes to slash-n-dash to the hole, a plan that worked well enough for the Lobos that Monty had to--gasp!--zone up the troops.

* Fly's Top 5 or "Check the flagpole in right field at Wrigley; the Sammy So-So trade winds're blowin' out":

1. Braves; 2. Mets; 3. Mariners; 4. Orioles; 5. Ranger$.

* Speaking of Sammy, FuzzyCubbies skip Donnie Baylor says he's already duh-reddin' trade-speculation fallout in 'Zona: "Hopefully, Sammy will not let this become a distraction. We don't want every day to become like media day with all the questions about where he's going to get traded to."

* The Spies say near full-blown recruiting panic is the Penn State-o-mind since JoePa couldn't close the verbal-commit deal last week on two, count 'em, home-state platinum chips. When P-A's big ones get away, maybe it's the Nits' program that's in perfect spiral.