And then there were two ....

Vonzell Solomon, sadly, is gone from American Idol, though she still will eventually have her share of success. In fact, I predict she'll be the most successful No. 3 to come from Fox's Tuesday-Wednesday juggernaut (not that I can name -- at this, or any, hour -- more than one other third-best Idol). She's fun, she seems nice, she's got the pipes, she'll do just fine.

Unfortunately, her exit was no surprise. There seems to be some sick obsession with this Carrie chick, who's been on my bad side since day one when Seacrest-Come-Out-Already asked her if she'd seen any stars so far in Hollywood and she responded something to the effect of, "No, it's been too cloudy." It's not that I find her stupid. I don't. In fact, I think she's got in her more than just a fair dose of Jessica Simpson -- you know, declare before millions that you don't know if a certain brand of tuna is tuna, get laughed at for a few days, and then laugh all the way to the bank when Mr. Big Fat Check arrives from Mr. Tuna.

We all love Jessica, and apparently the same holds true for many with Ms. Underwood. That's fine. Whatever. Have the band strike up Independence Day one more time, bust out your southern charm and have yourself a grand ole opry. It won't matter. Bo Bice -- the Jesus look-alike with increasingly obnoxious sunglasses -- is a shoo-in. He's your Idol for 2005. He rocks, he rocks, he rocks. And if he's not working with Mr. Clive Davis come next Thursday, it'll be more upsetting than ALF being canceled without a series finale.

Of course, before we get to the season finale, we get Thursday's special: The World's Worst Auditions. This, as a friend pointed out to me earlier today, might as well be re-runs of Season 4's audition episodes, which were far more trash than class than in previous years.

QUICK HITS: The Tigers' win tonight, a 6-4 decision against TBay, was a biggy. It put Detroit at .500, a benchmark that's been tough to get to for this season's Kitties. Ledezma looked OK on the hill, and Ugie was lights out again in the end. The series concludes tomorrow. A sweep would be huge. ... The AP story on tomorrow's Pistons-Pacers game talks about how a loss would spell the end of Reggie Miller's career before Reggie Miller won a title. To accompany the story, the sports staff came up with a list of athletes who ended their storied careers without a championship. You know, Teddy Ballgame, Karl Malone, Barry Sanders. But no hockey greats stood out. Is that becuase they all won Stanley or because we just don't care about Canada's-national-pastime-if-you-don't-count-curling? You decide. ... Isn't it funny how baseball's fearless leader, Bud Selig, is now being commended by Congress for getting tough on steroids? Give me a Sammy Sosa broken bat with cork stuffed inside. Wendy's daddy got tough only when he had to. Buddy Boy and baseball's owners have known for years that this game was high. But they sat back, smoked their stogies, said nothing and watched the cash registers overflow with dollars from naive Americans thinking we were emersed in the glamarous era of power. Baseball was a lie, and Selig turned the other cheek. Then baseball gets caught with its pants down (not to mention the big needle in the buttocks) and THEN he gets mad. Nobody's buying it.