It must be the heat. That’s the only possible reason so many screwy things are happening in the world of sports. We are on the cusp of Global Warming, which was invented by Al Gore, along with the internet, and everybody’s brains are getting deep-fried.

How else to explain what ESPN is doing to show us how powerful it has become? It was bad enough that ESPN bought into the World Cup and has been ramming that down our throats. I am waiting to see the ratings numbers since the U.S. was eliminated. Once the patriotism is gone, I don’t believe the vast majority of American sports fans are interesting in seeing, oh, Uganda and Argentina battle to a 1-1 tie.

But that’s not as bad as the Lebron Special the network has cooked up for tonight. Unless you have been living in your wine cellar, you surely know that Lebron James tonight will tell the world where he will continue his professional basketball career. He will do it during an hour-long ESPN Special hosted by Jim Gray, still best know for the merciless grilling he gave Pete Rose at the baseball All-Star game many years ago.

During the course of the program, I fully expect Lebron to announce not only where he will play next year, but whom he has decided will be his coach. I suppose he has decided to allow David Stern to continue as NBA Commissioner, but you never know. When the inmates takes over the asylum, as now is the case in the NBA, there’s no such thing as order.

At one point during the summer, the rumor mill had it that Lebron had convinced John Calipari to leave the University of Kentucky to coach him in the NBA. This was such a hot topic that it apparently caused a major misfunction in Calipari’s brain. How else to explain his utterly ridiculous comment, after five of his Wildcats were picked in the first round of the NBA draft, that “this is the greatest moment in the history of UK basketball.”

Oh, puh-leeze. I’m not even sure it’s in the top 100. Let’s begin with the seven NCAA championship-game wins and go from there. Memo to Calipari: It’s about the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back. Former UK great Dan Issel was absolutely correct when he said Calipari’s remark was the “dumbest thing I ever heard.”

Heck, the 2010 NBA draft not even UK’s top draft moment. Back in 1949, the UK team known as the “Fabulous Five” went into the NBA en massed and were allowed to have their own franchise, the Indianapolis Olympians. To me, that’s a heckuva lot more impressive than John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton all going in the first round.

But next thing you know, Calipari is going to be asking for a banner to be raised in Rupp Arena proclaiming UK as the real national championship because it won in the category dearest to Cal’s heart — putting players in the NBA. This is only another dreary example of the ego crisis in basketball that is turning the sport from a team game to a “me” game.

Calipari should apologize to all former UK players and those in the fan base who believe the university is bigger than the players. He won’t, of course, because he has too much pride to smack himself in the forehead and say something like, “My gosh, I just got carried away with the excitement and blurted out something silly.”

Richie Farmer might want to remind Calipari that when he was a senior at UK in 1992, the Wildcats played an NCAA tournament game against Duke that will be remembered long after the 2010 NBA draft becomes a footnote in the UK history book. And speaking of Richie, if he’s seriously thinking of running for Lt. Governor on a ticket headed by David Williams, the heat must be getting to him, too.

Outside his small area of influence, the four or five rural counties he represents as a state Senator, Williams is one of the most despised men in Kentucky, mainly because of his determination to kill our world-famous horse industry. Even a vote-getter as formidable as Farmer, one of the most popular players in UK history, couldn’t save Williams from a humiliating defeat in a statewide election.

If Richie runs, he should be on the top of the ticket unless, of course, the Republicans can talk Jim Host, the most competent leader in the commonwealth, to run for governor. A Host-Farmer ticket would be unbeatable. But Host, who’s 73, has said he has no interest in running for public office.

Thank heaven the deal between the Louisville Arena Authority, headed by Host, and the University of Louisville guarantees that the NBA will not come to Louisville anytime soon. Any professional league that allows one player to dictate terms to everybody just can’t be taken seriously. What’s next? Will Lebron get to pick which officials referee his games? Will he buy his own cable channel?

You can watch Lebron or the World Cup if you wish. Personally, I’m going to concentrate on the Reds and getting Joey Votto into the All-Star game. It’s insane that a player with Votto’s credentials wasn’t a shoo-in to make the team.

It’s the heat, I tell you. It has to be.