I thought I had picked up the Comeback Player of the Year in my fantasy baseball draft when I spent a mere dollar on Cleveland Indians pitcher Chuck Finley. Right out of the gate, however, my fantasy team hit a speed bump -- Chuck Finley's extremely angry wife.

Apparently, I'm not the only Lycos user interested in the family life of the Finleys. Finley's wife Tawny Kitaen makes #13 on this week's Lycos 50 because of interest in the couple's domestic abuse incident. Virtually all of the searches for the incident were for Kitaen, not Finley.

Kitaen was accused of assaulting Finley as the couple drove home from dinner near their home in California (where the Indians were playing Finley's old team the Angels). Kitaen allegedly kicked Finley repeatedly with her high-heels and pressed her foot down on the accelerator. Finley was not seriously hurt, but he was so shook up he had to miss his first start of the season.

Kitaen is an ex-model and B-movie actress, which explains the celebrity scandal curiosity. You may remember her from Whitesnake videos back in the late 80's, or from the movie that Tom Hanks is trying to have stricken from the record, Bachelor Party. Finley should be back on the mound for Indians later this week; Kitaen should be back in a major motion picture sometime after hell freezes over.

FUN QUIZ: Put these four items, none of which made the Lycos 50, in this week's search order -- Paul McCartney, Tara Reid, Kiana Tom, and the Queen Mother. Answers below.

ARAFAT TUESDAY: This week the war between Israel and the Palestinians (#10) breaks back into the Lycos 50. The conflict last made the Lycos 50 in October 2000, when the second intifada began. The Palestinians also made the Lycos 50 on their own in September after they celebrated the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The intensive incursions into the West Bank by Israeli forces this week led to the dramatic growth in Lycos users searching for information on the history of the two peoples. Searches for Israel are up 75 percent over last week. Searches for Palestine are up 300 percent.

Tomorrow, we'll look deeper into searches for this conflict. If you want to know how we compiled the ranking for this topic, read this.

POP OVERTHROW: Attention Jennifer Lopez (#26) -- the Lycos 50 recommends recording a new album pronto. You've now fallen behind not only Shakira (#22) but also Ashanti (#24) in the pop queen pecking order.

SPRING FORWARD: A number of customary April subjects are on the list this week, including Easter (#6), Daylight Savings Time (#15), and April Fool's Day (#29). Taxes (#5) and the IRS (#3) are both up with forms due to the government by next Monday.

SHORT SUBJECTS: That pesky Pokemon (#42) is back after only one week off the list... It seems that KaZaA (#8) is close to replacing the troubled Morpheus (#7) as the file-swapping software of choice... a new expansion disc called The Sims: Vacation has computer game The Sims (#23) back on the rise... the jackpot for the national lottery The Big Game (#45) is up to $153 million tonight.

NEW THIS WEEK: Israel-Palestine war, Tawny Kitaen, Daylight Savings Time, April Fool's Day, R. Kelly, Pokemon, The Big Game.

DROPOUTS: Playstation 2, Kylie Minogue, Jeff Gordon, Academy Awards, Audiogalaxy, vampire movie Blade II, Passover.

QUIZ ANSWER: The death of England's Queen Mother came closest to the Lycos 50, with more searches than popular rock bands like Metallica and Blink-182. Searches were also high this week for Paul McCartney's upcoming U.S. tour. Third is the latest Playboy covergirl, ESPN fitness model Kiana Tom. Actress Tara Reid saw searches jump because of her new film Van Wilder, but she finishes fourth in this competition.

Check out this transcript of Tara Reid's chat on Lycos, by the way.

ONE YEAR AGO: The big news story was not the Middle East, but the Chinese spy plane incident at #29. Remember those quaint days when China was our greatest enemy?

TOMORROW: Deeper into the Israel-Palestinean war.