The White Sox have had better days.

First, Padres ace Jake Peavy stiffed the team. General manager Ken Williams struck a deal to acquire him, offering four young pitchers to San Diego.

But Peavy invoked the no-trade clause in his contract and nixed the deal. Apparently the thought of pitching for mercurial White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen turned him off.

Yahoo! Sports columnist Jeff Passan raised that point: “Peavy’s choice wasn’t nearly as difficult. A) Go to an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar league with a manager apt to Vesuvian blow-ups, a roster set to shed two of its biggest bats this offseason, a young nucleus with atoms more Cu than Au and a general manager who shows no qualms in trading young talent – the lifeblood of a successful modern-day franchise – for veterans. B) Live in paradise for, at most, the next 2½ months, then join a pennant race.”

Yeah, that sounds about right.

“It also might be that the guy doesn’t want to pitch in the American League because it’s tougher,” observed ChicagoTribune.com blogger Steve Rosenbloom. “The National League is filled with six-man lineups (or three-or-four-man lineups if you’re the Cubs this week), while the AL is nine men, no innings off.”

While Peavy was mulling his options, the White Sox did NOT put their best foot forward — losing 20-1 to the Twins. Bartolo Colon allowed eight runs in two innings.

“I hope Peavy didn’t watch the scoreboard,” Guillen said.

Cardinals fans were pulling for the White Sox to land Peavy and get him out of the National League. As long as he is in play, there is a chance the Cubs could go get him.

Peavy seems inclined to stay in the NL, limiting his choices to a handful of teams. The Cards were on his short list, as were the Cubs. (Right now,  the Cubs’ pending new ownership group seems unwilling to invest big money to get and retain Peavy. But that is subject to change.)

As for the Cards, this club already has a veteran rotation in place with three solid prospects backing up the top five. If they keep pitching as they did in April and again during the Cubs series, a home-run move won’t be necessary.

Stay tuned . . .

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if the other Jeff Gordon will pack it in due to back problems:

• Is Adam Wainwright officially back on track now, after Chris Carpenter fixed his mechanics?
• Are Brian Barden and Joe Thurston back among the living now, after snapping out of prolonged slumps?
• Can they buy the Cards enough time to get Brett Wallace, David Freese or Joe Mather ready to take over at third base?
• How much are corporations willing to pay to dress up their golf outings?
• Is the much-criticized new Yankee Stadium the perfect venue to showcase the much-criticized Notre Dame football program?
• Will the NHL have to tweak its rules to get more mainstream sports fans interested?
• When Dave Duncan retires as a big league pitching coach, should he become a first-pitch coach?
• What sort of maniac removes his helmet and swings it at a teammate’s head during a NFL practice altercation?
• What in the world is going on with K-State athletics?

SCOTT BORAS, MAN OF REASON

It’s not all about the dollars, he tells Playboy.

“Alex Fernandez had a big contract [offer] with Cleveland but wanted to play in Florida, his home state,” he told the magazine. “We took less from the Marlins. Kyle Lohse liked St. Louis; he just re-signed without even becoming a free agent. Jason Varitek took a lot less to stay with the Red Sox in 2005.

“Greg Maddux loved pitching for the Cubs, but in 1993 he told me, ‘I want to play for a team that can win.’ I said, ‘Greg, that won’t happen in Chicago.’ We agreed that, with the Braves’ pitching and the prospects, Atlanta was a great destination. Later on, Greg gave up about $30 million because he didn’t want to go to the Yankees. His pitching style suited the National League.”

WHAT’S WRONG WITH SOCCER

This pretty much sums it up:

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — Ronaldo will go on trial at a Brazilian sports tribunal next week for pulling the hair and pinching an opponent in a Brazilian league match.

The three-time world player of the year could miss up to three matches if found guilty, the sports tribunal said on Thursday.

The 32-year-old Ronaldo was denounced after TV images showed him grabbing the hair and pinching defender Fahel in a ball dispute inside the area last Sunday in Corinthians’ scoreless draw against Botafogo at Engenhao Stadium.

What’s become of this great sport? Monty Python reminded us of what it was like in the old days:

QUIPS ‘R US

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

Bill Simmons, ESPN.com: “You can’t call hockey’s resurgence a comeback, because it hasn’t fundamentally changed. We changed. Twice. Hockey didn’t fit 10 years ago; now it does. I love having the NHL back in my life, even if it means dealing with Jacobs the Skinflint again. The sport is breathtaking to watch. The players are more brilliant than ever; games look gorgeous in HD. And like old times, all scores are settled on the ice.”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Why does baseball need a home run derby when it has right field at Yankee Stadium?”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Miami’s Helio Castroneves won the pole position for (the) Indianapolis 500. Castroneves credited his winning speed to imagining that the racecars directly behind him were being driven by government tax attorneys.”

MEGAPHONE

“When you see it over and over again, it really don’t matter who they’re talking about. You get kind of tired watching reruns. I just change the channel. I don’t read the paper anymore. That’s pretty much it.”

Vikings quarterback Tavaris Jackson, on Brett Favre’s flirtation with his team.