Last week in this space, I gushed over the Cardinals' Mark McGwire, going into great detail about how is certainly a most deserving home run king, with personal qualities that should make all human beings proud.

When I wrote that, the Sultan of St. Louis had just broken major league baseball's all-time single-season home-run record and it looked for all the world like he would wind up the season with the mark.

But all of a sudden the Cubs' Sammy Sosa caught fire, Big Mac slowed down -- and now the ultimate home-run title is very much up for grabs as the regular season heads into its final days.

As for all those wonderful things I wrote about McGwire? Well, they still hold true.

But now let me take a little time to write the same types of things about the Czar of Chicago, who -- like McGwire -- is also the kind of person that any sports fan should love to root for.

Sosa is thoughtful, insightful, friendly and a down-and-out hoot to listen to. Nary an interview goes by that he doesn't say something that just cracks you up.

Like McGwire, he doesn't seem to have a chip on his shoulder like so many of today's professional athletes. To the total contrary. He appears to genuinely enjoy what he's doing and considers himself extremely fortunate for being able to make millions for playing a kids' game.

Coming from where Sammy did -- he grew up in extreme poverty in the Dominican -- it's no wonder he acts like he's been blessed. Even so, a lot of other star athletes from similar backgrounds don't behave that way.

Right now, nobody knows who is going to end the season as baseball's all-time home run king. As of this writing, McGwire had 64 dingers to Sosa's 63.

But here's one thing we do know:

In his own words, baseball has been `berry, berry good' to Sluggin' Sammy.

And it's been quite good to Big Mac as well.

* Still on this home-run topic, I've got to agree with what McGwire said a while back.

Wouldn't it be great if he and Sosa both finished the season with the same number of home runs?

After the kind of duel they've waged -- and the thrills they've given baseball fans everywhere -- that would seem like a fitting conclusion.

But what are the odds of that happening? Probably not all that great.

It's likely that one of the them is going to have the record all to himself.

* Former St. Vincent High football star Scott Pingel is off to another big start for Westminster College of Fulton.

Pingel, a wide receiver who earned Division III All-American honors last season, caught 24 passes for 546 yards and five touchdowns through Westminster's first two games, both victories.

* Maybe the Rams aren't as bad as I originally thought. They did give the Vikings quite a battle last weekend.

But if there really is anything to this Rams' team, then they've got a chance to show it today when they face another 0-2 squad, the Buffalo Bills.

We'll see what happens.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian