Louisville doesn't even have a spot on digitalcity.com. It trails such luminaries as Roanoke, Hampton Roads, and Harrisburg in that department.

Putting an NBA franchise in Louisville would be a terrible mistake. The college basketball fans are great, although Denny Crum's program hasn't done much recently. But come on, it's Louisville. What a downer, to go from the fourth-largest city in the country, with an estimated population of four million, to Louisville, 1998 estimated population of 999,267.

J. Bruce Miller, whom the city of Louisville retained to help woo an NBA franchise, said that Louisville is one of four cities that an unnamed franchise is looking at. The Rockets currently play in the smallest arena in the NBA, and their owner, Les Alexander, has said he needs a new arena to stay competitive.

Stay competitive? He thinks the answer is to move to Louisville? He might get that short-term boost from merchandise sales, although it's hard to

think of what the Louisville team name might be. (We'll assume that Louisville Rockets won't work without the geographical connection--a leap of

faith I'm willing to take despite the existence of the Utah "Jazz.")

The Louisville Bluegrass? Hmm, not much precedent for flora in the NBA.

Insects, dinosaurs, and quadrupeds of all sorts, but Bluegrass won't work.