Hey, didn't you used to be the Rockets' main engine?(items on high school basketball player LeBron James, on Jerry Rice and Tim Brown of the Oakland Raiders, and others)(Brief Article)

* Fly's never quite sure what to make of hoopsters who still eat sloppy joes off Styrofoam trays during fifth period, but the Spies're sayin' the nation's best prep player is Akron's LeBron James, who will be only a junior this year. After watching James drop 24 on top senior Lenny Cooke in a summer game, one veteran scout whispered, "That's the best high school player I ever saw"

* Fly was not so sure at first about that Brown-Rice dish Lil' Boy Gru will be serving at the Rrr-aider WR spot--to Fly, mixing H-O-Fers with E-G-Os comes out G-O-O-F-H-E. But Fly hears Tim-n-Jerry're confounding critics by--gasp--gettin' along. Brown's even doffed his prof's cap and is givin' lessons in Oak's Gru-eling offense to the new guy, who says he knows his place. "Tim's the man here" Jerry's words, not Fly's.

* Pardon Fly's shock at seein' the Bruins treatin' nickels like manhole covers when it comes to the Jason Allison talks. The sides're a mere $2 mil apart, which means one of two things: Allison the Islander or Allison the Holdout Couch Potato. Something about being in the same room as B's general miser Mike O'Connell always makes Fly double-check for the wallet.

* Fresh from the Rumorama (where clairvoyants like Miss Cleo are deities, not defendants) ... when it comes to ...