Summer seems likes the perfect season to initiate a column of kudos and chastisements to various people, groups, and organizations in the world of sports. So without further ado, I bring to you the first ever “Bows and Boos” column.

A bow to American bicyclist Lance Armstrong. Although many people in the U.S. don’t follow cycling like other sports, what this man from Texas has accomplished is remarkable and inspirational. Last Sunday, Armstrong became a four-time winner of the Tour de France, winning the last four years, and the first American to capture more than three cycling most prestigious titles. Yet his most impressive victory came before he ever captured his first Tour de France title: he is a cancer victor. (Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996). His is truly a super-human effort and triumph.

A boo to New England running back Antowain Smith who failed the endurance test the first time in the recently opened Patriots training camp. Smith is the team’s incumbent starter at tailback who was rewarded with a five-year contract worth over 22 million dollars during the off-season. So what’s the deal, Antowain? Did you have better things to do than keep in shape for your job? It has to be embarrassing for him, but even more embarrassing to his teammates, who will go into this season with doubts casted upon them once again about their ability to compete with the upper-echelon teams. Smith just gives the naysayers fuel for the arguments.

A bow to the UMass Boston Athletic department and everyone else on the campus for the wonderful job they did in making the Shaw’s Pro league a success once again. Athletic Director Charlie Titus does a great job in ensuring that the annual basketball league is one of the finest in the country. (Yet, I must add a mini-boo to those who put up the signs that read: Prohibited in the Gym Food and Beverages Newspapers. No newspapers!? Was someone afraid of a massive amount of ink print staining the bleachers from discarded dailys? Whatever the reason, and there can not possibly be good one, it was most perplexing.)

A boo to Kansas City Chief tight end Tony Gonzalez. Instead of concentrating on signing a contract and joining his teammates in training camp, he’s off playing basketball with the Miami Heat squad in the summer league that they participate in each year. Football’s not enough to satisfy your athletic ego, Tony? His agent should tell him to derrière in camp and suppress any remaining fantasies about playing in the National Basketball Association. Gonzalez, who played basketball at the University of California Berkeley as a small forward, is six feet four inches, a good height for a tight end, but several inches short for the three spot in the NBA. Heck, he’s short for a shooting guard.

A bow to local boy John Ruiz, who successfully defended his heavyweight World Boxing Association title in his fight with challenger Kirk Johnson last Saturday in Las Vegas. Ruiz, who hails from Chelsea, actually went into the fight as the underdog. Next up for Ruiz should be a date with Lennox Lewis in a fight to unify the three (that’s two more than necessary) boxing titles that exist today.

A boo to the Celtics for the acquisition of Vin Baker. I hope that I’m wrong on this one, but until I’m proven wrong by Mr. Baker, I’ll say that the Seattle Supersonics came away as the winner in the trade. Baker and three-point specialist Shammond Williams were sent to Boston in exchange for Kenny Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko, and 2002 Shaw’s Pro Summer League star Joseph Forte. There are many reasons why I don’t like this trade, but the one thing that irks me the most is the short-term vision of Celtics owner Paul Gaston. Anderson had one year left on his contract; Baker has four years left on his. Since Gaston was unwilling to pay forward Rodney Rogers, he felt he needed to fill the gap left by Rogers. So what does Gaston do? He trades away one player (Anderson) who revitalized and readjusted his game last year to become the Celtics third best player, for a player (Baker) who has been in a funk and battled with his weight ever since he left Milwaukee for Seattle. Although Baker may end up as an adequate center in the depleted middleman Eastern Conference, the Celtics will now have to replace their starting point guard. So as I see it, the Celtics (maybe, perhaps, possibly) solved one problem and created two or more others.