By Mike Ball
Cincinnati Enquirer

The top five

1. Aaron Pryor. It's hard to believe it was 20 years ago the Cincinnati kid had his classic first fight with Alexis Arguello in Miami's Orange Bowl. Pryor won a fantastic battle, stopping the legendary fighter in the 14th round. Pryor also won the second meeting, denying the eventual Hall of Famer a then-unprecedented fourth world title in four weight classes. Of all the great athletes who have passed through this town, Pryor arguably was the best at his craft.

2. Notre Dame-Southern Cal. How cool is it that this rivalry means something again? Mike Garrett. Terry Hanratty. Pat Haden. Ross Browner. Anthony Davis. Charles White. Tom Clements. Marcus Allen. Vagas Ferguson. Orenthal James Simpson.

3. Thanksgiving weekend. College football. The NFL. NBA. College basketball. Boys and girls high school basketball. The Thanksgiving Day Race. The NHL. Minor-league hockey. Stuffed away from the table, too.

4. Tiger Woods. Gotta love that the guy earned a tidy $7,742,515 in official and unofficial prize money.

5. The Bengals. They ... well ... uh ... aw, never mind.

The bottom five

1. The Reds. Wake up, fellas. Make an offer to Pudge Rodriguez. Let the next Johnny Bench be the next Johnny Bench. Shoot, do it even if you don't intend to sign him. It's a week before RedsFest and all anyone wants to talk about is the local 1-10 NFL club. Give people a little something to be excited about.

2. Thomas Jones. Arizona's running back broke his hand answering the phone, allowing the Cardinals to not pay him for the rest of the season because it's a non-football injury. Keep that guy away from the toaster.

3. The NFL. Seems the league sent its lawyers after the - get this - National Women's Football League. Made them change the name to National Women's Football Association. Seems the big bullies were worried people would get the leagues confused. (Insert Bengals joke here).

4. Michael Jordan. Gonna retire. Yeah, right.

5. No. 2-ranked (for now) Kansas. The Jayhawks lost both games in New York in the Preseason NIT. Guys, you've got it all wrong. You're supposed to go belly up in the NCAA Tournament.