A journalist has many responsibilities. One of them, it seems, is to rain on parades.

That is why the Palm Beach Post contacted the ex-husband of Dara Torres to see how he feels about the swimmer’s growing celebrity.

Torres, 41, will go to the Beijing Olympics as a made-for-NBC feel-good story. How does a woman her age qualify for the Summer Games as a sprint swimmer just two years after giving birth to a child? It’s amazing, really.

But West Palm Beach, Fla., surgeon Itzhak Shasha, isn’t a fan.

“Believe me, I’ve achieved many significant things in my life,” he told the newspaper, “and none of them was being married to her. I don’t want to talk about that marriage, and I don’t want to talk about her.”

Here is where the story gets sticky: Dara is living with David Hoffman, the fertility doctor who previous worked with Torres. Hoffman is the father of her 2-year-old.

Hoffman insists their relationship started after Torres split from Sasha. And Torres insists everything is cool between her and her ex.

“There’s no animosity between Ike and I,” Torres told the Post. “It just didn’t work out. And I’m very good friends with his wife. We both go out with our babies.”

SIR CHARLES MEETS NEW MEDIA

NBCSports.com asked Deadspin’s Rick Chandler to follow Charles Barkley around the celebrity golf tourney at Lake Tahoe and blog all the comic details. He explained all this to Sir Charles in advance, living the former NBA star puzzled.

The next day, Barkley told NBC TV this: “My game is like a blog.”

Chandler tracked down Barkley for an explanation.

“What did you mean by ‘My game is like a blog?” he asked.

“When I talked with you on Thursday, and you said your were blogging my rounds, I didn’t know what that was. What’s a ‘blog?’ It sounds awful,” Barkley said.

“So when they asked me on television how to describe my golf game, I told them ‘My game is like a blog.’ Because I don’t know what a blog is, but it don’t sound good.”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while the Rosenbloom family collects purchase offers for the Rams:

• Did Claybon Counsil, Josh Hamilton’s 71-year-old Home Run Derby pitcher, wake up a just a little stiff today? Does he know how Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer feel after months of heavy use?
• Did Missouri Valley Conference coaches celebrate the passing of Billy Packer as the lead CBS analyst? Or did they just quietly high-five staff members in private?
• Who could have guessed that the New York Islanders would fire another coach at an odd time, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune: “It could be worse. You could be Ted Thompson. No matter how awful your life is — fallen arches, unruly children, two gas-guzzling Hummers in the garage — you could be Thompson, the goofy general manager who has decided that Brett Favre can be the Packers’ backup quarterback in 2008. This is the football equivalent of deciding Elvis will give up singing to play the tambourine.”

David Whitley, Orlando Sentinel: “If Favre had been as indecisive in the pocket as he’s been over retirement, he never would have completed a pass.”

Jayson Stark, ESPN.com: “Even before Monday night, The Legend of Josh Hamilton was already an onrushing storybook train, building speed on its way to a Cineplex near you. But that was before he brought his little magic show to Yankee Stadium, a place where legends are born. And another one was sure born Monday, in a Home Run Derby that won’t be soon forgotten by anyone who witnessed it.”

AJ Daulerio, Deadspin, after Alex Rodriguez summoned agent Scott Boras to facilitate divorce negotiations: “From A-Rod’s perspective, bringing Boras into the fold makes sense. Who better to handle an apparent impasse and come through with a financially beneficial solution for his client? Once Boras gets done with Cynthia Rodriguez, don’t be surprised if A-Rod somehow manages to make money off of the deal. She’ll probably end up paying him alimony.”

Norman Chad, syndicated columnist: “So, how’s that spanking new, paid-for-by-the-people Nationals Park working out? The Nats are 12th out of 16 National League teams in home attendance in the first year of the fresh-faced, gleaming facility — your tax dollars hard at work!”

MEGAPHONE

“I don’t know what number he got to before you realized what you were watching. I think it was somewhere around 20. But then you realized. Just to see how far the balls were going, over and over, you realized it was something special.”

White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, on the Josh Hamilton show.