8. #88 Ricky Rudd — NASCAR's Ironman, Rudd separated his shoulder in a crash on Sunday, his 900th career race. One of racing's legendary yet overlooked drivers, Rudd has never missed a race due to an injury. But he won't be able to suit up this weekend at Richmond.

His main sponsor may no longer be Tide (now it's Snickers), but I will always associate Rudd with the detergent. For example, when I'm watching a ballgame and the trailing team evens up the score, I like to say, "like Ricky Rudd, this game's Tide." Nobody laughs with me. It's fantastic.

9. SP Erik Bedard — For a team who allowed 30 runs in one game and let a rookie throw a no-hitter against them, it's normally a stretch to say that the team has a legitimate — nay, favorite — Cy Young candidate.

Look at the numbers. Bedard is 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA. He leads both leagues in strikeouts with 221. Unfortunately, now that he's injured, he may not get a chance to add to those numbers. At least he'll likely be awarded with a top five finish in the Cy Young voting.

So even though his team may have allowed 30 runs in a game — and then lost the nightcap of that doubleheader — take note that the night before that infamous box score, Bedard beat the Rangers on a seven-inning, two-run, 11-strikeout performance.

Coach: Joe Paterno — So, the Penn State football coach sorta rules. Not only did he make good on his promise to get the team to clean their stadium after home games following some troubling offseason fisticuffs, but a recent New York Times' feature story reveals that JoePa and his wife just got around to watching M*A*S*H for the first time. So far they're impressed with the show, but I hope that if his football team gets in more off-the-field trouble, Coach Paterno doesn't try to punish them by sending them to fight in the Korean War.