Artest in Penthouse, Series ratings in cellar

Pacers incorrigible Ron Artest is slated to appear on the cover of a “men’s magazine” next month. You have to marvel at the guy’s resilience. In less than a year, he’s gone from the outhouse to Penthouse.

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Bad news for Major League Baseball. The White Sox’s sweep of the Astros was the lowest-rated World Series ever. It even attracted fewer viewers than the 1917 Series, the last one the Sox won, though television wasn’t invented until a decade later.

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According to the final Nielsen figures, the Series averaged a national rating of 11.1. Of course, that doesn’t include the ghosts in Kevin Costner’s cornfield.

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Maybe somebody got the numbers mixed up. I mean, 11.1 — wasn’t that Brad Lidge’s postseason ERA?

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News item: An estimated 71,000 Americans are 100 years old or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and by 2010 the total will rise to 114,000.

Comment: How much longer are the Cubs are going to string these poor people along?

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Wow, 114,000 centenarians by 2010. Imagine how competitive the Champions Tour will be then.

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One minor league baseball team, I hear, plans to cater to the triple-digit crowd by holding a Rudy Vallee 78s Demolition Night.

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