71.   Steve Soboroff, an adviser to Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, asked with a smile Wednesday.

72.   Steding asked with a grin.

73.   Tauzin asked with relish.

74.   Testa asks with a laugh.

75.   The checks were cashed, but who, Moore asks with a wicked elbow-in-the-ribs grin, cashed his first?

76.   The Giants do not believe they can commit to Stone the kind of money he is asking for with so many other key contracts pending.

77.   They were asked with great delicacy.

78.   Wallace asked with an impatient smile.

79.   What exactly are we asking for with Roger Clemens?

80.   What flaw in the order of the universe, some people ask with no small amount of bitterness, allows misfortune to plague the existence of good people?