August 2006 Archives

Put John Salley, Nick Lachey, Stacy Keibler, Brady Anderson, Kyle Boller and Brian Vickers into the same room, and what'll they have to talk about?
Other than trashing Jessica Simpson....

They've got the Hollywood Fame, the latest fly-by-night expansion franchise for the American Basketball Association, and the ownership group appears to include Salley, the former Lakers forward and "Best Damn Sports Show Period" co-host; Lachey, the psedo-singer and USC hanger-on; Keibler, the WWE wrassler and "Dancing With the Stars" maven; Anderson, the former Baltimore Orioles outfielder; Boller, the Baltimore Ravens quarterback out of Valencia's Hart High, and Vickers, the NASCAR driver.
Others in the group are AJ Discala, the CEO of Brax Capital Group and de facto owner, and Geoff Stults, an actor from "7th Heaven."
The plan is to have the team up and running in November with home games at the decrepit pit of the L.A. Sports Arena, which will be out of commission since USC is moving over the Galen Center.
The Fame is/are planning tryouts in September to fill the roster and cheerleading squad -- Kiebler anyone?
More info on the tryouts and investment opportunties: www.thehollywoodfame.com.

Who wants Bill Callahan canned at Nebraska? That'll be $250, please.
How 'bout deleting Dirk Koetter at ASU? Doesn't $100 seem like a bargain?
Anyone for pushing out Terry Hoeppner? We're not even sure where he coaches, but you can have him for $50.
Taking cybersquatting to a new low, but also showing that it can be a rather forward-thinking business model, an anonymous college football fan has already bought the domain names to 30 "Fire (fill in the name)" sites for college and NFL coaches and has put them up for sale at Redshirted.com. Those who want to barter can offer a bid, which doesn't include the price of the escrow company fees needed for the transactions.
According to a story on the Associated Press, the guy who started this is named Doug and would “identify himself only as a technology worker from Austin, Texas." Which means Mack Brown is probably just a loss or two away from having his name included.
In the spirit of the most famous anti-coach Website aimed to can then-Florida coach Ron Zook -- fireronzook.com -- this site has a list of names and prices slotted for each based on what "Doug" sees as their value in the coming weeks. As the AP story points out, Gerry DiNardo's name is also for sale, despite the fact he was fired by Indiana two years ago and is working for ESPN.
Zook's take on all this: “It’s kind of ridiculous in a way that people get their kicks out of doing something like that, but I think coaches understand it’s kind of the nature of the business.�
Some have already been sold: Urban Meyer and Brian Billick, to name a few.
As the AP story points out, fans can also buy the domain names to keep others from taking them. Four years ago, as a Georgia sophomore, William Nielson bought FireMarkRicht.com for $20 to keep some other angry fan from copying the Zook site.

We don't endorse anyone pretending to be a member of the media for the sake of getting into an event they should otherwise have to buy a ticket. That can get you into alot of trouble, probably thrown in jail (it's happened) and it's just not ethically right.
That said ...
We challenge anyone out there to see if they can get into the Sept. 7 media party to launch the fourth season of the Lingerie Bowl. If you have to pretend to be a member of some media company that you've just made up -- say, The Vandelay Village Voice -- that's up to you. Again, we wash our hands of how you get in. We'll just provide the contact information.
After all, how much media does this event need at this point? It's pointless.
Here are the pertinent pieces of information from a press release sent out to members of the "media" this morning. Do with it what you feel is necessary:

When NBC made the formal announcement Wednesday morning about the musical selections for their new Sunday night NFL package, we paused, waited, hesitated, grunted, waited some more and finally realized -- they weren't kidding.
And after a day to sleep on it, it's hardly caused a ripple of newsworthiness.
Kind of like Fox dropping Jillian Barberie from its NFL pregame show.
Yeah, so what?

For the record, Pink will sing the new opening called "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," which is a remake of Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself for Loving You."
Right about now, I hate myself for even writing this blog entry.
NBC decided to leak the news to a couple of larger distributed newspapers to kinda get the buzz started.
Didn't really happen. Pink Floyd would have caused more of a reaction.

Then they went further to give out the lyrics (continue to read at your own risk):

We've finally found a job for Pete Arbogast.
There's a guy going by the name of Hugh Johnson and he has a website called 8clapsports.com where he encourages everyone to join him on a pre- and post-game report during the UCLA football season.
There's no other way to describe this except to go to this site and listen to the opening intro. Get in on the ground floor of this latest Bruin craze.
Hugh will be huge. But can Pete repeat this in his own "How Do You Do?" way?

It's been confirmed by People magazine, so it must be true: Brynn Cameron is taking a pregnant pause from her basketball career to have Matt Leinart's kid.
The Associated Press even thought enough of it to run the thing as a story today, which started as a note in the Daily News' Scott Wolf's USC notebook a couple of days ago, and it was discussed as a topic on Wednesday's "Pardon the Interruption" on ESPN.
Stan Cameron, the father of Brynn, the 20-year-old junior guard on the USC women's basketball team, says she'll sit this season out and have the baby in November.
Brynn isn't going to say anything more about it. Asked Wednesday about Cameron, Leinart said, "I'm not going to comment."
"Brynn does not want to get married," Stan Cameron told several newspapers about the circumstances. "She wants to finish school and let Matt do his thing and then figure it out. ... It might not be the best timing in the world, but we are obviously very happy to have a new baby in the family. Brynn just found out about a month ago and told the team on Monday ...
"Once the baby is born, she wants to get back to playing basketball again and finish school. I know Brynn will make a great mom. Things will be fine. It will be fun."
As much as we feel disappointed that this all happened, it still could be a great script for "Love and Basketball 2."
And at least grandpa knows where to find the quarterback (and his checkbook) if he's thinking about making another walk of shame from Paris Hilton's condo.

The American's Milk Processor's marketing department has a new approach: David Beckham, Alex Rodriguez and Sasha Cohen are doing to tell teenagers that drinking the stuff that comes out of four-legged grass-eaters-- especially the low-fat version -- is better for you than that sugary sodas that come out of the vending machines at school.
We never thought of it that way.
Maybe it's because we aren't some easy-to-influence teenager who ponders this while squeezing zits in the mirror.
The new marketing campaign by AMP, which we're not sure if it's related to the Milk Advisory Board or the National Dairy Council or the International Dairy Food Association or a zillion other "Got Milk?" related stuff, was released today (Wednesday). Don't have a cow, but what does this poster of party-boy Beckham say to kids about putting tatoos all over their body?

Jeff Garlin, from HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," calls his team "Nipsey Russell."
David Boreanaz, from the Fox series "Bones," has a team called "Dis n Dat aka Wit Wit out."
Kellita Smith (Wanda on "The Bernie Mac Show") and comedian Guy Torry have called their team "The Faulk U's."
Get it? Got it? Good.
They're three of the eight teams that'll compete in season three of the NFL Network's "NFLTotal Access" Hollywood Fantasy Football League. The season-long competiton will updated on the "Total Access" show every Wednesday night (4 p.m.) and the teams will make their picks on the Friday "Total Access" show.

The half-hour draft airs tonight (Wednesday) at 5 p.m. (repeated Thursday at noon).

The rest of the competitors:
=Comedian Nick Bakay, with the "Nick Bakay's Love Handles."
=Larry Joe Campbell (Jim Belushi’s sidekick on "According To Jim"), with "The Abattoir FC."
=Rex Linn (from "CSI: Miami"), with "T-REX"
=Paul Rudd (from "The 40-Year Old Virgin") goes with "Tastes Like Chicken"
=Michelle Williams of the group Destiny’s Child is trying to win with "The Bootyliscious Browns."
Garlin, left, won the contest last year. He didn't curb his enthusiasm.

So maybe it wasn't quite the Dodger Dog-town Buffet we envisioned. It was, never the less, a fulfilling experience. A survival of the fattest, if you please.

This latest promotion by the Dodgers -- buy a $35 ticket to the right-field pavilion and eat until your guts busts -- sounded too delicious to pass up. But the question was: Could a 45-year-old with cholesterol already too high and a competitive nature of Kobayashi figure out a way to make this a cost-effective venture.

Turns out, it wasn't that tough. In what the team may soon be be able to promote as the "Anti-$2 Tuesday," we must admit we turned in a credible, gastric-challenged performance Monday night and 2,000-plus-calories later, we've kept it all in to tell about it.

Here's the deal:

Since we're not the gambling type -- especially in matters where human error can determine the outcome -- the latest odds posted by PinnacleSports.com on the Heisman favorites and the team expected to win the national championship doesn't pique our interest as much as it might those who have a couple hundred bucks to throw away.
This list won't generate much controversy, but as long as we're throwing numbers out there, it's interesting to note that this website has no interest in a USC Heisman candidate -- while Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, who already has a website selling T-shirts for his campaign, is clearly the top dog.
Meanwhile, Brady's bunch of Irish (7/1) aren't given a better shot at winning the title than West Virginia (13/2). The Hokies, according to the Pinnacle odds makers, have a softer schedule and do better against the odds to date. USC (8/1) is the fourth pick; UCLA (85/1) actually is on par with Oregon and Arizona State, but behind Cal (28/1)

Here's how the largst sports betting site on the Internet manipulates the numbers:

Sunday, Aug. 28, 1966. Where were you, and why weren't you at Dodger Stadium? Hey, I've got no excuse, even though I was just five and couldn't drive myself.

But somehow The Beatles were there, in the very first rock concert that Walter O'Malley allowed at his ballpark. Above is a very rare shot (found on a bootleg website) where John Lennon is at the main mike with the Stadium Club and the rest of the seats along the first-base line are clearly in the background. That's Paul McCartney and George Harrison at the left. The archives in the Dodgers organization doesn't even have a photo of this performance.

Forty years ago today, the Fab Four's next-to-last concert ever as a group took place here -- the same venue, by the way, where the Rolling Stones are schedule to perform Nov. 18 (tickets go on sale to the public today at 10 a.m.).

A poster promoting the event (above) had them dressed in baseball unforms with the tagline: "KRLA brings the Beatles to Dodger Stadium, Sunday, August 28th ... Move over, Sandy."

(If you think about it, the Beatles' run and Koufax' best years sort of parallel. Koufax had only six really impressive seasons from '61 to '66, before retired; the Beatles formally became the group in '61 and stopped touring in '66)

Here's what happened at Dodger Stadium that night:

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Will MacKenzie was a golfing prodigy as a child in North Carolina. Then he quit playing after high school and spent five years living out of his van in Montana, snowboarding, kayaking and climbing rocks. He once tried to sell hammocks to make a living.
A glimpse on television of his boyhood idol, Payne Stewart, winning the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst was all that was needed to rekindle his love for the game.
It was a turning point for MacKenzie, one that was justified Sunday when he won the Reno-Tahoe Open for his first PGA Tour victory.
The 31-year-old free spirit in his second year on tour made a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole to shoot a 1-under 71 and finish at 20-under 268 for a one-stroke victory over Bob Estes.
MacKenzie, who earned $540,000 for the victory, entered the week ranked 179th on the money list with $197,158. His previous best showing was a tie for eighth last year at the Michelin Classic at Las Vegas.
He admitted that five or six years ago he never would have dreamed of winning on tour after having "burned out" on golf at age 14. He passed on some college golf scholarships and packed his bags for Montana.
"All the local pros hate me," he said about his hometown of Greenville. "I was sort of the prodigy kid in eastern North Carolina and then I left."
After the stint in Montana, he went to Costa Rica.
"I surfed for three months and I met some dude who made a fortune off of selling hammocks and I was like, all right, I'm in," Mackenzie said.
He returned to North Carolina and imported hammocks from the Yucatan in Mexico.
"I went door to door selling them, but it didn't work," MacKenzie said. "I was in debt huge.
"That's when I saw Payne win the U.S. Open in my home state. I told my dad I was thinking about going to hit some balls and he said, `Go hit some, bud.' And I fell in love with it again."
He kept at it 12 hours a day and picked up a victory on the Nationwide Tour last year. He also played at Reno last year, but missed the cut partly because he was enamored with the local casinos.
"I was gambling and losing and had a few drinks," MacKenzie said. "This year, I came here to win."

Read more about the Mackenzie comeback:

Alexandra Paul was one of the beach babes on "Baywatch" who once upon a time could actually save someone's life while Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff stood by and watched. Steph had that mouth-to-mouth stuff down much faster than Yasmine Bleeth.

The 43-year-old living in L.A. is about to prove it again when she competes in the 9.5 mile ocean swim race from Lanai across the Maui Channel to Kaanapali, Maui on Saturday, Sept. 2. It's expected to take her about five hours to complete and be completely out of breath.

This really isn't anything new for Paul, whose husband, Ian Murray, is her coach. She's competed in the Hawaiian Ironman and run in several marathons, including L.A., and qualifed for Boston in 1999.
Read up more on this Hawaiian race at this link.
There's more about Paul and her work in movies, including "Who Killed the Electric Car," at her Website.

STANFORD (AP) _ The NCAA has chopped down the Stanford tree.

The Division I women's basketball committee reprimanded and fined Stanford on Friday for the antics of its tree mascot during the NCAA tournament last March.

The mascot, which has been nearly as controversial as Stanford's notorious band in recent years, also was suspended for the Cardinal's next appearance in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

The tree refused to leave the court at halftime of the Cardinal's victory over Florida State on March 20 in Denver, and the NCAA also cited "violation of multiple tournament policies regarding bands, cheerleaders and mascots" in its announcement, giving no more details. At the time, the tree reportedly was suspended for Stanford's next game in the regional semifinals.

"The committee was very disappointed in this disturbing pattern of behavior and strongly believes that these acts compromised the integrity of the championship," said Joni Comstock, the committee chair and the athletic director at American University.

The previous student to wear the tree costume was fired in February when she performed while drunk at Stanford's game against Cal. The NCAA cited policy violations in previous years as a factor in the suspension.

The Stanford band _ a loose, irreverent collection of musicians _ also has been in hot water countless times in recent years for off-color pregame shows and questionable behavior, ranging from public urination to mean-spirited lampooning of religious schools.

Last month, Stanford suspended the band for causing more than $30,000 in vandalism damage to its own "Band Shak," the trailer that serves as the band's on-campus home.

Pat Summerall will serve up readers with countless stories about his crazy drinking days with personal friends such as Howard Cosell, Tom Brookshire and (most notably) Jack Daniels. But the sobering revelations about his near-death battle with alcoholism, a liver transplant and discovering religion are the message that the Hall of Fame network NFL, PGA and tennis broadcaster would probably want you to take away most from his new book, “Summerall: On and Off the Air� ($24.99, Nelson Books, 240 pages), which hit bookstores this week.
“As you might recall, I entered this world a little twisted,� Summerall writes in the last chapter entitled “Amen Corner.� He was referring to the fact he was born with his right leg completely turned around and had to have a his rural general practitioner doctor break it, turn it around and reset it.
“It took a while longer than anticipated to get me completely straightened out,� Summerall concluded.
Summerall, 76 and doing radio games for the Dallas Cowboys, says it was he and Brookshire who “were living like we hadn’t a care in the world - or wives or families. It was a very seductive and hedonistic lifestyle that eventually took a toll on both of us. We were swept up in Boy’s Land. We had a lot of money and a lot of down time and we were usually traveling away from wives and family responsibilities. We had our dream jobs and we were determined to enjoy the fruit until we’d squeezed out every last drop.�
It wasn’t until Summerall’s body started breaking down because of the alcohol abuse, and he was given a new liver in 2004.
“God’s not through with you yet,� his minister told him after he continued to struggle with the notion that he’d been kept alive but someone else died - a 13-year-old junior-high student — and surrendered the vital organ. “You’ve got a lot of work to do. You can help other people.�
That help, as it turns out, is this book.

Not as long as Jim Bouton is around.
The acclaimed author of "Ball Four," who happened to play a few years of major-league ball as a pretty good pitcher, announced Thursday he's launching an organization called the Vintage Base Ball Federation.
That's Base Ball -- two words.
They're going to play by 19th century rules: Six balls for a walk, foul balls don't count as strikes, foul balls caught on a bounce are an out, no hit batters and gloves are about as small as they come.
Best of all, only one ball is used per game, unless it's lost of falls into pieces.
Bouton put this kind of game on display a couple of years back on a July 4 ESPN Classic showcase, and actor Tim Robbins brought his family out to the old field in Pennsylvania to watch the Hartford Senators and the Pittsfield Hillies at Wahconah Park, a field that Bouton had to practically fight city hall to keep as a landmark.
"It's the game the way it was meant to be played," says Bouton. "No batting gloves, helmets, wristbands, elbow pads, shin guards, sunglasses. No arguing with the umpire. No stepping out of the batter’s box. No charging the pitcher or posing at home plate. No curtain-calling, chest-thumping or high-fiving. Just baseball.�

For more info on the league, go to the Vintage Base Ball website -- something that the game would have loved to have when it existed -- at www.vintagebbf.com.

Read on for more info:

I may never actually surf. I'll bogey board and body surf and swim as far as I can without the aid of floaties on each arm, but the actual balancing act of getting on a Dewey Weber piece of fiberglass and foam and navagating through a three-foot swell off the South Bay coastline -- maybe it's a better dream than reality.

Surf history is a much safer venture. If you live near Hermosa Beach, you can walk on the pier and check out the legends of the sport who made their mark in the area. Further south, you can visit one of several standing monuments to the surfing legacy. We dropped into the California Surf Museum in Oceanside the other day to check out the longboard competition they were having at the local pier.

The place at 223 North Coast Highway, about a mile South off the Coast Hwy exit on Interstate 5, is half gift shop and half display of either surfing photography, a timeline of board making and great conversation with who ever is behind the counter (Jane Schmauss, the acting director who happened to be around that day I came in, is pretty cool).

There's a 155-pound redwood plank made in 1930 that someone named Eddie McBride used to ride off San Onofre. A year earlier, Tom Blake's "cigar" paddleboard, hollow in the middle, actually floated.
There's a restored '50s era Hobie balsa board. One of the strangest things is this thing called a Jet Board, made in the 1960s. It sold for $1,700. Why so expensive? It had a McCullough chain saw engine embedded in it. The board is made of aircraft aluminum. Jet Board actually had a shop on Sunset Blvd. in L.A. back in the day, and you can read up more on its history at www.powerboarding.com, more specifically at this link.

The collection of surf books, DVDs, posters, music and collectables is something pretty special, too. An exhibit currently up by photographer Tom Kech, who has been documenting the sport since the late '50s, is worth the visit alone.

Our pitch really doesn't do it justice. You have to see it with your own eyes, and feel it with your soul.
Oceanside's California Surf Museum, on the corner of Pier View and Coast Hwy, across from the Longboard Cafe and four blocks up from the pier, can be found on the web at www.surfmuseum.org. Or call 'em at (760) 721-6876. Open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
The International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach (aka, Surf City) (www.surfingmuseum.org) should be a must-pitstop on that southward journey. And if you're ever in Santa Cruz, there's another to seek out (www.santacruzsurfingmuseum.org).

We'll leave you with this quote from famous author Jack London from his book, the Cruise of the Snark, which sits in the Oceanside museum on a tiny plaque: "The man who wants to learn surf-riding must be a strong swimmer, and he must be used to going under the water. After that, fair strength and common sense are all that is required."
Maybe its the latter I lack. Maybe a wack with a loose board will bring some my way someday.

We're trying to channel Dan Cortese here.
Some of you may not even remember that MTV was once really into sports. So much so that when it had its "MTV Sports" show back in the early '90s, it won an Emmy Award. Whatever that shows.
Cutting edge, mostly.
The channel that prides itself in telling you what's hot in music and pop culture breaks out a new eight-episode reality series starting tonight (10:30 p.m.), with many repeats, called "Two-A-Days," (right after "Laguna Beach.")
This, from the networks's News & Doc department that cranked out "True Life" and "Cribs" comes this series that follows the 2005 football season at Hoover High in Hoover, Alabama, who go after their fourth 6A state title in five years. (And, for the record, these Hoovers still don't suck. The latest issue of Sports Illustrated names Hoover the top-ranked team in the nation.)

This fall, NBC has its "Friday Night Lights" drama series based on the successful movie, but this show will more likely be what it'sreally like to see high school football pressure at its highest level.
For an online compliment, MTV Overdrive plans to have a "postgame" show with interviews, deleted scenes and other bonus footage.
The main players focused on for the show from the team coached by Russ Propst (pictured): Alex (No. 34), a senior safety trying to earn a scholarship and balance a relationship with cheerleader Kristin; Repete (No. 91), who has trouble fitting in at the new school that his dad has forced him into attending; Ross (No. 14), the junior quarterback trying to follow in his famous brother's footsteps (he's the QB at the University of Alabama) and Max (No. 24), a senior safety who has struggled after having a standout junior season.
MTV has all the photos, video, storylines in depth at its website here.

Back in February, the Birmingham News reported that not everyone was happy about an MTV crew coming around and getting in the way. They probably remember what a mess ESPN made of that team in Pennsylvania, hiring Dick Butkus to kick some butt and get the program back to prominence, only to see Butkus quit halftway through.

Check out the "Two-A-Days" opener tonight and give us your reviews.

In the NFL, it can. Why, we're not sure.
If you've stumbled upon any exhibition games this summer on TV while looking for "Baseball Tonight," the new Garanimal outfits forced upon the league officials are almost laugh-out-loud funny.
The league that wants to be on the cutting edge of change has messed with one of the most sacred icons of the game. Why did the officials need to change from the traditional black-and-white precisely measured strips to this new optical illusion thing that, yes, does make some of the refs look a little more overweight.
Reebok is the reason, in large part. What they're calling "fashion-forward" uniforms that are more "ergonomically designed" is mostly to give the refs a break with something more lighter weight. The asthetic "enhancements" have alot to be desired.
The players have benefitted from this "PlayDry" "moisture management technology" since 2002, according to the people at Reebok (now owned by adidas). The refs, finally, get to benefit.
Which is cool. Or hot, depending on how they sweat.
But why did they have to mess with the look?
“We are impressed with the performance quality of the new uniforms,� said Mike Pereira, NFL Vice President of Officiating, in the Reebok press release. “The new fabrics will offer our officials superior protection on the field while making it more comfortable on the hottest days of summer and in winter’s coldest moments.�
Note, Pereira didn't make any fashion statement about the new fashion statement.
Read on for more about the stripped-down stripes in other sports:

The curious, slippery-slope decision by the L.A. City Council last Friday to side with the NFL Network in its contentious contract dispute with the new, improved Time Warner Cable company, which affects about 2 million cable suckers, er, subscribers in the city and its surroundings, kind of tells everyone exactly where the city's decision-makers sit with wanting a team back in its backyard.

It'll do whatever it takes to make the NFL happy.

The Council turned away for a moment on less pressing issues of homelessness, polution, poverty and immigration to waste its breath with a 7-1 vote to approve asking the FCC to extend its order that the NFL Network stay on those Adelphia and Comcast cable systems recently swallowed up by Time Warner. It's an easy PR move to make the NFL and new commissioner Roger Goodell look as if it has the league's back in all situations -- even one where it has no business getting into. The lone abstaining vote was from Bill Rosendahl, a former Adelphia cable monger, who rightly says the two money-grubbing companies should fight it out without the city sticking its nose into it.

The bottom line remains: Time Warner wants the NFL Network on a tier of channels that'll cost the consumer extra. The NFL Network wants to be in the group with ESPN, TNT, etc., that don't cost the customer any more than they're already paying. The NFL Network has jacked up the subscriber rate for its channel from about a quarter a month to six bits after it decided to increase its value by adding eight regular-season games this season.

The viewer, of course, caught in the middle without a voice, does have an option that we'll continue to advocate until we're blue in the dish: DirecTV. Better service, better selection. We know some can't get it because of where they live in a condo or apartment that prohibits it or the signal doesn't work. Then move. Really. It's that simple. Don't get caught in this greed-vs.-greed scenario. You'll only lose.

Are you telling me this screen grab of soon-to-be injured coverboy Shaun Alexander from the new "Madden NFL '07" doesn't look kinda creepy? What's going on with the latest, greatest game on earth, which hits the stores TODAY, FINALLY, TODAY amidst more hoopla than Terrell Owens taking a shower with some "Desperate Housewives" skank?

From what the kids tell us, here's the new, improved stuff on the '07 game:
-- Players can step up as the lead blocker to create a hole and then take control of the tailback and smash through, overpower, or slash away from would-be tacklers as they fight for every yard.
-- New rushing controls give a game-breaking ground attack featuring all-new jukes, cutbacks and the distinct running styles of the league’s favorite backs.
-- New modes include NFL Superstar: Hall of Fame mode, Run Like the Players Run with the Highlight stick, plus things added to the Franchise mode, Team-Specific Defensive Playbooks and Online Play.

And to think, I was once just happy to have a Farrah Fawcett poster on the wall above my bed.

Meanwhile, EA Sports, which boasts in its latest press release of posting revenue of $2.95 billion in fiscal 2006 and owning 27 titles that sold more than one million copies, has already mapped the fifth annual Madden Challenge, under the assumption that it will crown the "best player of Madden NFL 07."

There are 31 regional competitions -- including five out of the U.S. --if your'e yearning to win them all. Each regional winner gets $1,000, and the grand champion wins a prize package that includes $100,000. Last year, 73,000 idiots attended and 16,000 competed, with someone named Jarvis Thomas of Maryland winning in Honolulu.
Here's the upcoming schedule:

Wilt Chamberlain, the greatest player in NBA history -- shut up, Jordan fans -- would have been 70 years old today. Born Aug. 21, 1936, the Big Dipper did more to change the game of pro basketball than anyone before or after him. You can look it up, my man.

Four MVP awards. Seven All-NBA picks. Only player to score 4,000 points in one season. Only player to hit 100 points in one game. Only man to grab 55 rebounds in one game.

The shame is that his death in 1999 was far too early. He coulda played a few more years, even today.

One of the cool tributes you should be aware if is taking place on NBA TV. Documentaries, specials, classic games ... they're pulling 'em out of the archives, including some insights from NBA TV on-air guy Gail Goodrich, another Hall of Famer who played, of course, with Wilt on that '72 Lakers championship team for the ages.

Here's the lineup today:

Bill Plaschke over at the Forward Thinking Downtown Paper makes the melancholy comment in Sunday's column that, sitting outside AT&T Park in San Francisco amidst the statues of Willie Mays and Juan Marichal, it's surprising that there's nothing big and bronze outside of Chavez Ravine, as there is at Staples Center -- which honors Wayne Gretzky and Magic Johnson, two players who never played a game at the facility during their pro careers...

Billy throws out the idea of a Sandy Koufax statue.

Amazing! Why haven't we heard it before?

Oh, right. We have.

Click over onto Howard Cole's Baseball Savvy website for a tour of this online petition he's had for at least three years campaigning for a Koufax statue. Howard's even got the sculptor picked -- Malcolm DeMille, whose company has been making the distinctive PGA Nissan Open trophy for the annual winner at Riviera Country Club to hold up for years, among other things. Here's Malcolm's site to show you some of his work.

Howard's idea includes a charity fundraiser, having the community help determine how it would look, etc. We thought he was making some headway with the previous Dodger ownership, but we're not sure if the McCourt's are up to speed on this one yet. The only way to know -- or help -- is to sign the petition and we'll help carry it over to Frank and Jamie's seats down by the dugout when the time's right...

So, what are you waiting for?

This is not Christina Applegate. Her name is Misty. She wants to carry your clubs, wipe your balls, and offer some advice on lining up a putt.
No, really. All it'll cost you is $75 an hour. If you live in Phoenix.

Misty is one of the star attractions at a new website called Caddy Chicks. The sad premise is quite simple: You're heading to the golf course. You have some friends playing with you. You decide to have some babe sit in the cart with you. You also pay her. She may or may not know a thing about golf, but the point is, so what.

Even the girls know the score.

"I actually was hired by one man to caddy for a bunch of his friends who get together once a year for a guys trip," writes Misty, featured as the Caddy of the Month. "The atmosphere was very laid back. For being with a group of eight, it was a blast. I obviously know that I was mainly hired to be eye candy and for one guy to show off in front of all his friends, but it was still great. I do have to give him credit, he did send me with a group of four. He wanted to make it a good experience for his friends too. It was exciting, fun, and ya'll it was darn right entertaining! I would love to be involved with a large group again. However, one on one would still be fun too. To basically sum it all up, anyone can carry clubs and wash golf balls but wouldn't it be better if you had someone who is good looking to do it?"

Read on for more on how to legally buy a professional ball washer...

This weekend, the U.S. squad for the Homeless World Cup is being put together. Think about that for a minute.
They have no address. No place to keep their clothes, other than a plastic bag.
But they love soccer. And they want to represent our country.
Homeless people from seven states, including California, and Washington D.C. have been picked to congregrate in Charlotte, N.C., through Sunday, hoping to qualify for a team that will be one of 48 to meet in Cape Town, South Africa for the fourth Homeless World Cup from Sept. 23-30.
They have one goal in mind: Eliminate global poverty. Or, at least the organizers of this whole thing have that optimistic business model in place.

Dr. Jeff Grunberg, the CEO of Homeless World Cup-USA, organized the formation of the American team and the first USA Cup hosted by the Urban Ministry Center. Grunberg is a sociologist working with the homeless since 1976 and has published a street newspaper called BIGnews. Lawrence Cann, director of the Art Works 945, is also a homeless service provider who brought last year's team from Charlotte to Scotland for the '05 World Cup.

Read more to find out how you can help with donations to this amazing cause....

When the Washington Post reports it, that's one thing. When the Associated Press confirms it, that's another.
When Marion Jones drops out of a meet for "personal reasons," the dots are connecting at a rapid pace.
The news breaking Friday night is that the Olympic sprint star out of Thousand Oaks High failed an initial doping test back at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in June, where she won the 100 meters.
AP says that "A" sample was positive for the performance enhancer EPO back in Indianapolis. If the "B" sample also shows up positive -- this is what happened recently to Tour de France supposed winner Floyd Landis -- then Jones would face a two-year ban from the sport, effectively ending any chance of her competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics in China.
Earlier in the day, the 30-year-old Jones pulled out of the Weltklasse Golden League meet. She gave no details. Her coach, Steve Riddick, told AP this was the first he'd heard of any positive test.

If Angels broadcaster Rory Markas sounds a little too much like Harry Caray during Saturday night's game on 710-AM, forgive him, for he has sinned.
It's not his fault.
The folks at Muldoon's Dublin Pub & Celtic Bar in Newport Beach are doing him the honor of including him in their Guinness Irish "Wall of Fame" during a slobbering ceremony Saturday at 1 p.m. The induction includes a concert by the Orange County Irish party band, The American Wake.
And what did Sir Rory do to deserve this honor. Why, be born with Irish blood, of course.
One of our favorite guys in the business, Markas has been the Angels' radio guy the last four years, as well as doing USC basketball.
This Guinness Irish Wall of Fame thing was started in 1999 to "recognize individuals of Irish ancestry who reach high achievement in the realm of the arts, sports & public service." Past inductees include former Lakers Hall of Famer Chick Hearn, actors Tom Berenger and John Mahoney, author Ray Bradbury, U.S.Senator John Kerry and former UCLA football coach Terry Donahue.
Muldoon’s is located at 202 Newport Center Dr. (949) 640-4110, or find it online at www.muldoonspub.com and save some room for the extra lean corned beef hash and the Kerrigold Vintage Irish Cheddar Cheese on top.

You already knew Angels owner Arte Moreno is a guy who can yield some power. He magically changed Anaheim into Los Angeles at the drop of a deposition. He just bought his own radio station so that his team will have a place on the dial and he doesn't have worry about getting bumped.

The latest issue of ESPN Deportes La Revista, the Spanish-language edition of ESPN The Magazine in its first year, put out a list called "Latino Impact: The 101 Most Highly Regarded Latinos in Sports."

No, Arte isn't at the top. Unless he puts on his Ronaldinho mask. Oscar de la Hoya is at No. 7.

Moreno pulls in at No. 8. Two of his players, Vladimir Guerrero (No. 21) and Bartolo Colon (No. 27), also made it. The Valley's own super skateboarder Paul Rodriguez Jr. (No. 90) was included, as is Juan F. Palencia , a forward on Chivas USA (No. 94).

Some other interesting additions: Encino man Jose Canseco (No. 83), Pele (No. 47) and last year's No. 1 guy, Manu Giniboli, at No. 10.

No Andres Cantor? Who do we write to complain to?

Not everything fits nicely into one weekly media column or a small notebook in the L.A. Daily News.
We got leftovers that may, or may not, be better than a meatloaf sandwich.

Such as:
-- We told you last week how Spero Dedes and Sterling Sharpe will call Matt Leinart's first NFL exhibition game, Saturday at 5 p.m. on the NFL Network when Arizona faces New England. The weird thing: Game producer Mark Loomis, who is the new coordinating producer of NFL Network Game coverage, was also the producer of Leinart's final game, the 2006 Rose Bowl game on ABC.

Read on:

A follow up to one of our very first blog postings back on Mother's Day about the ridiculous controversy over the Angels giving bags away -- NOT TO MEN -- but actually to people who might use them:

A Santa Ana judge refused Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the Angels discriminated against men by giving tote bags to women during a Mother’s Day baseball game. Instead, Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Cannon set a procedural hearing for Aug. 30.

The lawsuit, filed by Los Angeles psychologist Michael Cohn, claims thousands of men and fans under age 18 are each entitled to $4,000 in damages because they were treated unfairly during a promotion in May, 2005. Only women over 18 received the gifts.

The suit names as defendants the Angels and Corinthian Colleges, the parent company of the giveaway’s sponsor, Bryman College.

Cohn’s attorney, Alfred Rava, said the promotion was for all women over 18 and not just mothers, violating state discrimination laws. Defense lawyers plan to prove the promotion was for Mother’s Day and was not discriminatory.

Gearing up for the media blitz that'll happen at the U.S. Open starting next weekend, Nike already has its campaign to make Maria Sharapova the "it" girl -- again -- with a marketing scheme based on the phrase "I Feel Pretty."

Although, in these spots, Sharapova "dispels her pretty-girl image," according to Nike's press release.

So, what is it? She feels pretty, but she's not? What is this, some kind of Pepe Le Pew thing?

We've got some connections to pass the 30-second and minute-long commercial spots onto you, as long as you have the high-speed connections that won't crash once it recogizes the volume of womanhood that's suddenly surging through your nanospace.

Click here to see what the video looks like.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot that you can turn into wallpaper or whatever you do with such things.

The NFL had 5,000 brand-new Wilson NFL balls to use for the upcoming season, until one crazy thing happened: Commissoiner Paul Tagliabue pulled the rip chord. Oh, and all those pigskins had his autograph on them.

What's the world's richest league to do? Hey, let's give 'em away.

The league announced today that USA Football, the youth football advocacy organization that the NFL and the league's players association founded, will get those 5,000 balls. Most will go to high school programs around the country, with an emphasis on Gulf Coast schools who are recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Here's more on the story:

The only injury-related death of a major leaguer during a game happened on this date, 86 years ago.
That's the headstone at the Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio of Ray Chapman, a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, who was killed on Aug. 16, 1920, by a spitball thrown by New York Yankees pitcher Carl Mays.
Without creeping you out too much, let's see if we can piece thing together for you, CSI: Cleveland style ...

As for that video of Julius Erving starting off at the free throw line and dunking a ball in the old ABA dunk contest, we've come across something that's even more astounding. Of course, Doc didn't have the aid of a trampoline.
From a Japanese TV show, courtesy again of break.com, we present, the 6.3 meter dunk by some crazy dude trying to set a record:
http://www.break.com/index/world_record_dunk1.html

And something less extreme, but more suited for "America's Funniest Videos" is this clip of someone hitting a home run during a baseball game and smacking an unsuspecting cyclist on the other side of the fence:
http://www.break.com/index/home_run_shot_hits_biker.html

After every Winter Olympic, some of the sunny So Cal stunt junkies get a hankering to try out some of the crazy stuff they've see on T -- beyond the snowboarding. The bump in participating in stuff like the bobsled, the skeleton and the luge is key to the sport's survival, and finding the thrill seekers who may be future Olympians -- mostly, the ones who have no shot at becoming a gold-medalist in track and field or swimming or ping pong.
Four years ago, we wanted to try out for the U.S. Luge team, but the one-day event out in Long Beach fell on a day where -- OK, we went to the beach that day instead. There was no way we'd make the team, or even felt like submitting ourself through that tryout humiliation.
But coming up, at last, the U.S. Luge teamsays it's looking for future participants. They're holding an "Official Athlete Recruitment Tour" that stops in Santa Clarita on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 26-27, for kids 11 to 14 (sorry, no old fat slobs need apply).

By the way, did you know the street luge, which used to be part of the X Games, is a sport that originated in the Santa Clarita area and is still going strong, according to its Website....

Read on for more details:

We know, you're just aching to find out how you can witness firsthand the final episode of ESPN's "The Contender" boxing reality series.
There's no 20-question quiz or online application to fill out.
If you got the cash, they've got the seats for you.
After tonight's episode that airs at 8 p.m. is over, you'll be able to jump onto ticketmaster.com or sprint down to the Staples Center boxoffice and overpay for seats -- the range is from $50 to $500 -- for the Tuesday, Sept. 26 card at Staples Center between ... whoever is fighting against whomever...
"Tickets for last year’s Contender season finale sold out in 10 minutes and demand is expected to be high again this year," says the ESPN press release issued Monday.

Conveniently glossed over from Fox Sports' less-than-newsworthy conference call announcement Monday morning that Joe Buck will indeed replace James Brown as the new host for "Fox NFL Sunday" in a traveling pregame show is the titilating revelation that weather chick Jillian Barberie is no longer part of the circus.

Since the Fox pregame show will be away from the L.A. studio for all but three Sundays this fall, the recently remarried Barberie (to aspiring actor Grant Reynolds) decided the travel wouldn't work out with her weekday morning duties at KTTV Channel 11's "Good Day L.A," according to "Fox NFL Sunday" coordinating producer Scott Ackerson, who we tracked down after an hour-long teleconference with media reporters ended Monday morning without mention of the decision.

"It's all a scheduling thing," said Ackerson. "Taking her on the road with us wasn't going to work with her other stuff. I didn't want the alternative, to put her in the studio to do the weather, because to me that interaction isn't there. And since that's the case, it's time to move on and go with something else. I liked her in terms of what she did for our show. To me, it worked. But going on the road now without her, to me, that's the most disappointing thinsg about this whole new setup."

At least we can keep abreast of Jillian's career on the next "Skating with the Stars."

Frank Caliendo will continue to do his taped comedic pieces for the show. How about this for an opening skit: Dress up like Jillian and start flirting with Buck.

For Cristie Kerr, it's ginormous. How she manages to hoist this beast after winning the LPGA's Canadian Women's Open in London, Canada is pretty impressive.

Now, compare what she won Sunday to the hardware taken home by other champions on this day, and notice that the event they win isn't necessarily proportional to the thing they give 'em to take home...

Honestly, we got no clue as to who Matt Hughes or Georges St. Pierre are. Just found out the two were battling for the vacant UFC welterweight title a couple of years ago. Hughes won it when he got St. Pierre in a nasty armbar lock.
Now they'll meet again at the Arrowhead Pond on Sept. 23.
Need a ticket? We've got no connection.
Just know they go on sale Saturday (Aug. 12) at 10 a.m. The range is from $400 down to $50. Also available at the Arrowhead Pond box office, Ticketmaster, the UFC website or by phone at 714.740.2000 or 213.480.3232.
Remember, it's UFC 63: Hughes vs. St. Pierre. Be there or ... you know.

Fox Sports has called a press conference for Monday in New York, where they're finally going to announce who'll replace James Brown as the host of the "NFL on Fox" Sunday morning pregame show.
Why blow the news now and ruin the surprise?
With all the "Who's The Host?" network promos littering every Fox sports show for the last few weeks -- our favorite response, from Terry Bradshaw, is, of course, "Who needs a host?" -- the real coup would have been to wait until the very first show to unveil what's going to be announced Monday.
And that's going to be some kind of hybred thing where A-game play-by-play man Joe Buck will play host, then leave the set to call the game.
From what we've heard, the tryouts given to Jeanne Zelasko, Chris Myers, Chris Rose, et. al., were less than impressive. Buck was Plan B, and now it appears that he'll be the one asked to referee the non-essential banter between Bradshaw, Howie Long , Jimmy Johnson and the Weather Boob, plus introduce the only redeeming thing -- Frank Caliendo -- for the hour before the kickoff.
For Fox, the spin will be that this is another innovative way to do things. The reality: They have no choice.

The College Football Hall of Fame adds 20 inductees at its ceremonies in South Bend, Ind., today, and one of them is sure to be booed.
Anthony Davis, the former San Fernando High flash who became known as the "Notre Dame Killer" during his days at USC, takes the response as a sign of respect.
"The fact that more than 30years later they still remember me, I feel blessed," Davis told the Associated Press on the eve of his induction. "I don't feel offended at all."
Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State), Cornelius Bennett (Alabama), Joe Washington (Oklahoma) and Roosevelt Leaks (Texas) are among the 20 who'll get their due at the College Football Hall of Fame enshrinement dinner. But Davis is sure to bring the biggest response.
Davis scored six touchdowns against the Irish in 1972. He had four more in 1974.
Second to Ohio State’s Archie Griffin in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1974, Davis still ranks third on USC’s career rushing list with 3,724 yards.
His best memories, though, are his games against the Irish.
For more on the ceremony, read on ...

After the most recent Heisman Trophy ceremony -- the one Reggie Bush won -- outgoing USC quarterback Matt Leinart caused more Internet buzz when some cameraphone pictures of him sweaty and liquored up with some hot chicks at some New York club made the rounds. That's not even including this one that showed up in our email basket recently from a concerned bystander who again found Leinart mugging more with Fox Sports Net's Lindsay Soto, surfer Bron Heussenstamm and Greig Carlson.

(And before other sports sites start cherry picking this photo to start disparaging rumors about Soto as some kind of media lush who's looking for attention, just stop right there, OK? The point here is Leinart, the goofball, not Soto, the budding Carolyn Hughes. She was in the same establishment that night, with plenty of other media people, and happened to agree to this photo with Leinart, not knowing he'd be doing the tongue thing).

Leinart, you all recall, stayed in school one more year because he didn't care about money. He wanted one more year of the college experience. That included one more trip around the nightclubs where he could get sloppy and act like a college kid.

Then reality sunk in. And as of today, he still hasn't started the pro football experience. The guy who refuses to sign autographs for anyone won't autograph a contract for the Arizona Cardinals because, as Leinart's new American Idol, Tom Condon, says, they're arguing over the guaranteed signing bonus.

Well la-de-da.

Tuesday, when the Dolphins reached an agreement with 16th-overall pick, defensive back Jason Allen, to a six-year contract and thus ending a 10-day contract impasse, that Leinart as the only unsigned first-round pick. Leinart will miss the Cardinals' exhibition Saturday against Pittsburgh, and likely the following Sunday's exhibition against New England, losing valuable time and making him almost useless to any fantasy league players (which really is the bottom line here).

And all we get are more pictures of Leinart sticking his tongue out at everyone. Real mature.

For the best take on this, read Scott Bordow's column from the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Ariz. The heat's on Matty so sign. At least in that part of the country, it's a dry heat. And Matt's dad can always foot the bill for a house until the kid's ready to start paying the rent.

If not Snoop Dog, then Ricky Bobby.
That's who USC football coach Pete Carroll decided was worth inviting to the team's practice Thursday night to lighten things up.
As if USC alumn Will Ferrell hasn't promoted his "Talledega Nights" flick into the dirt -- it's already made $63 million in the short time it's been release, and should be in the Top 10 of 2006 movies pretty darn soon -- he decided to stay in his Ricky Bobby personna and confuse the USC players after Carroll told them they'd go out to see the movie last night.
Carroll, as you can see, was also decked out in a NASCAR jumpsuit ....
Guess you had to be there...
For more, the USC Trojans Website has all the skidmarks.

Among the press releases we've received via email for one reason or another:
"With football season quickly approaching, Newcastle Brown Ale is launching an incredible sweepstakes that will award one lucky beer-drinking, football-loving person a brand new home entertainment system (complete with a 50-inch Philips Plasma TV) and the ultimate Super Bowl party catered at the winner’s own home."
OK, we're listening ...
"And just in case the killer party makes one’s significant other a bit jealous, Newcastle is including a $250 gift card for a local cleaning service to tidy up once the party is over."
Hmmm. Not bad. Continue ...
"To further keep the peace, Newcastle has thrown in a five-day trip to Beverly Hills along with $2,500 in spending money for use at some of the world’s premier retail shops. Thus the winner receives “one prize that gets you into trouble and one prize that gets you out of trouble� with a raging Super Bowl party and a great vacation to follow."
Wow, that is the best of both worlds ... what do I do to enter?
"For complete contest information please visit www.newcastlebrown.com .
OK, I'm there and I'm filling out the form and there's this fine print in red letters ...
"This promotion void in CA ...."
Guess which beer I'm using now to unclog hair drains in the bathroom sink?

That wisenheimer who jumped from the upper deck at Yankee Stadium last season and landed on the netting behind home plate? That's the last game he'll ever see there.
A New York judge barred 19-year-old Scott Harper of Armonk, N.Y., from Yankee Stadium for life after the lad pleaded guilty Wednesday to reckless endangerment. He could face jail as well, the Associated Press reports.
Harper's criminal sentence, to be handed down Sept. 19, will depend on the outcome of another case in Westchester County for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, state Supreme Court Judge Troy Webber said.
The district attorney's office recommended 30 days in jail; Harper had faced up to a year.
Harper dropped about 40 feet onto the large net, which stops foul balls from flying back into the stands, during the eighth inning of an Aug. 10, 2005, game against the Chicago White Sox. The game was delayed for four minutes while he was removed.
After the final out, Harper was carried from the ballpark on a stretcher, his head immobilized in a neck brace, and taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released.
Harper told three friends with whom he was sitting that he was going to test whether the net would hold his weight and then jumped, police said.
After landing, he sat with his head in his hands for a few moments before climbing on the net back up to the middle level of seats while players watched and the crowd roared. He then was hoisted over the railing and led away by security.
He later said he was not trying to recreate a scene out of "The Scout" where Brendan Frasier makes a grand entrance into Yankee Stadium from the roof top.

Bobblehead collectors alert:
Saturday, Aug. 12, is "Rodney McCray Bobblefence Night" when the Triple-A Portland Beavers face the Tacoma Raniers.
McCray, the former University of L.A. High and West L.A. College star, hit just .214 in 67 big-league games over three years with the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets. But he made his mark as a video highlight when he was playing for the minor league Vancouver Canadians on May 27, 1991 at Portland's old Civic Stadium.
Chasing after a fly ball deep into right center field hit by Chip Hale, McCray ran right through the wall -- tearing up the Flav-R-Pac sign -- as a pannel of the plywood fence flipped up upon impact, sending McCray on the other side.
The ball bounced off the wall and ended up as a triple.
“I’m honored and tickled to death,� McCray said of the event. “I never get tired of talking about (the crash). It’s kind of like the skier who epitomizes the ‘agony of defeat’ – I’m the guy who ‘crashed through the wall. Usually it’s the big league superstars who get their own bobblehead, so I’m very excited.�
The first 2,000 fans through the gates will receive a bobble-headed likeness of McCray and a swinging Flav-R-Pac fence panel. The Beavers will also dedicate right-center field at their PGE Park as "McCray Alley."
For more on the play, read on ...

Maurice Clarett , pictured here in happier days, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon after a highway chase early Wednesday that ended with police using Mace on the former Ohio State running back and finding four loaded guns in his sport utility vehicle, the Associated Press reported today.

Officers used Mace to subdue Clarett after a stun gun was ineffective because the former Fiesta Bowl star was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, Sgt. Michael Woods said.

Here's how this latest chapter goes:

The latest in the FCC vs. Time Warner Cable vs. the NFL Network:
According to the Sports Business Daily, Time Warner invited about 40 football-related bloggers in various markets to participate in a conference call concerning its carriage dispute with NFL Network. What this means is, TW has taken a proactive approach into getting bloggers on their side, rile them up and report to their constituents just how much the NFL Network is screwing them.
The Jets Blog operator Brian Bassett said in a story in something called Cablefax Daily: “I started doing this for fun, but when a multibillion dollar organization wants your help mobilizing a grassroots campaign against some policies by the NFL Network, it makes you think that this isn’t just a hobby anymore.� That's just the kind of thinking TW is looking for.
Someone at something called Endzoner.com wrote: “I feel like these guys are unable to comment with any sort of candor, since they’re actively engaged in negotiations with the NFL.�
Trade and consumer reporters were not invited to the call, by the way.
As for our boys at Deadspin.com, editor Will Leitch declined participating on the call, telling SBD: “I really don't need to sit on a conference call for a half hour, asking questions that, in such a canned setting, I'm not going to get an even slightly interesting answer to."
Welcome to the world of being a TV-radio columnist for the Daily News, Will.

Floating around the Home Depot Center with snowboard/skateboard icon Shaun White was a circus event unto itself.
The autograph seekers. The girls. The photo ops. The girls. The chance to see this 19-year-old bad-ass from Carlsbad in all his glory, and in one piece.
And there were girls.
We documented most of what went on in our story that appeared in today's newspaper. Here's the link.

But for more snapshots we were able to procure during our trip around the park with Shaun, take a look, careful not to get a Sharpie stain on our T-shirt:

Eight-five years ago today -- on Aug. 5, 1921 -- Harold Arlin of KDKA radio in Pittsburgh called the first radio broadcast of a baseball game from a seat behind home plate at Forbes Field using a wireless telegraph and a converted telephone. The Pirates beat the Phillies, 8-5, in an hour and 57 minutes, and then proceeded to go on an 85-year losing streak (except for the Mazeroski blip in the early '60s).
Here's the real piece of trivia: Arlin's grandson, Steve, pitched for the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians in the early '70s. In a game on Aug. 30, 1972, again in Pittsburgh, Pirates Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Prince turns the mike over to Harold Arlin -- on the same radio station, KDKA -- to call a few innings while Steve Arlin pitched against the Pirates for the Padres.
To read up more on Harold Arlin, go here ...

Before you pack up the kids to go watch someone lacerate a another liver at the X-Games, check out some our favorite clips from the popular Website Break.com, one of the top generated video sites that seems to prove that the "Jackass" generation of today could be the innovators of the X-Games for tomorrow:

Ball-Ball: The Greatest Sport Ever: http://www.break.com/index/ball_ball_greatest_sport.html

Extreme Escalator Dive Mishap: http://www.break.com/top_rated/escalator28.html

Jumpin' Around The Neighborhood: http://www.break.com/top_rated/jumpinaround30.html

Another Mall Jumper: http://www.break.com/index/bigjumper1.html

The Russian Jumper: http://www.break.com/index/the_russian_jumper.html

Extreme Tubing: http://www.break.com/index/tuber_goes_airborne_and_wipes_out.html

And finally: http://www.break.com/index/tubingtakeoff23.html

Remember, no people were injured in the making of these videos. Yeah, right.

Next week, KSPN-AM (710) will announce the hiring of Mia Harris as its new afternoon update anchor. Harris, who'll start sometime later this month, comes from a sports-talk station in Miami and worked in TV for the Miami Heat, for the NBA in New Jersey and for ESPN in Bristol, Conn. Harris replaces Dave Stone.

The reason that's of any relevance at this point in time is because USC radio play-by-play man Pete Arbogast may be so emotionally crushed by this news that he could be the lead story on the 11 o'clock news tonight being talked off the roof at Sportsman's Lodge.

Seems that Pete -- and please note, we don't go so far as to call him "The Voice of the Trojans" -- has had a posting on WeAreSC.com fan website -- signed on as "SCVOICE", under the entry "I NEED YOUR HELP" -- where he's been enlisting -- no, begging -- readers in the fan's forum to call, email and send Western Union telegrams to the execs at KSPN and lob his name for that job that became open only for a brief window earlier this week. Pimp-daddy Pete even gives out his email address for those who want to contact him, if only to have him speak to their fraternal organization or at a local bar mitzvah.

For a humorous profile of someone we consider a decent broadcaster (he's become much more of a misguided Trojan homer in his later years) check out this Wikipedia entry that reads as if he personally dictated it. We'll spare you the punch lines.

But for something even more misguided, read his appeal to the shut-ins who support USC (keeping in mind that no matter how many replied to his post, a station management source says they received only about a half-dozen emails in his support):

Good enough to get into print, but not enough space to fit in the paper, in the aftermath of today's sports media column and notebook:

-- Women's skateboarders Cara-Beth Burnside, who eventually won the vert competition, and silver medalist Mimi Knoop, along with their agent, met with ESPN executive vice president for content John Skipper on Wednesday night, upset that the females were getting the short end on money and TV time during this weekend's X Games.
Through their talks, ESPN agreed toup the winning fees to $15,000 for gold, $10,000 for silver and $5,000 for bronze for competitors in the women's Vert and Street. The total purse for both events had been just $8,000.
They also got ESPN to agree to show some of the women's events on television next year. None of the women's vert competition made it on Thursday's broadcast.
"We had a very positive meeting and we listened to their feedback," Skipper said in a statement. "Just as we have grown women's sports in general and for Winter X, we plan to do so for Summer X."

And there's more ...

Andrew Morbitzer sold the Barry Bonds 715th home run ball that fell into his hands while he was buying a beer at AT&T Park on May 28, and he stands to get a huge chunk of the $220,100 that someone just spent on an eBay.com auction that ended today at noon.

We kept track of how the auction winded down at the Website established for the sale. Check it out to see how the 69 bids went as the clock ticked down to the deadline.

Winning bidder Marc Chase is an exotic car merchant who owns dealerships in La Jolla, Las Vegas and Silicon Valley. He plans to use the ball to show off at his car businesses.

Morbitzer, a 38-year-old marketing director, said he might use the proceeds from the ball to place a downpayment on a home in San Francisco. He also said he planned to donate 10 percent of the proceeds to the charity Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America.

Experts predicted that the ball would fetch around $100,000 at auction, far less than the $500,000 some experts say it could have commanded absent the controversy surrounding Bonds.

And in a related note, the reporters at the Onion have news for you: Bonds isn't the only one roided up.

This morning, the FCC ordered Time Warner Cable to immediately reinstate the NFL Network back onto the cable systems it acquired from Adelphia Communications Corp. This will affect the millions in L.A. who had the NFL Network snatched away from their TV screens on Tuesday and can't wait to watch the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies on Saturday.

"We direct that Time Warner reinstate carriage of the NFL Network on all of its newly acquired systems on the same terms under which it was carried prior to August 1, 2006, until we are able to resolve the NFL's Petition on the merits," the FCC said.

The order also calls on Time Warner to respond to the NFL’s petition by August 15. The NFL then has until August 20 to file a response.

For more background, see our previous blog entry posted Wednesday.

Let's review ESPN's selection of programming for the calendar year 2006:

The Spelling Bee: Somehow, we've just kind of accepted at this point, although our desire would be to put it on the Learning Channel, not for two days over ESPN and then ship the finals to prime time on ABC. This isn't an episode of "Kids Got Talent," OK?

Poker: Out of control. Everyone has to have a card show now because of the ratings. That porcupine has left the forest.

The Hot Dog Eating Contest: A Fourth of July staple now. Ship it to the Food Channel and have Rachel Ray host it. Again, it's not a sport. It's a think people do, then puke.

Dominos: It's a thing you call when you want pizza, not something you should be made to watch.

The World Series of Darts: Get drunk, throw sharp objects at a wall.

But there are two more things ESPN has coming up on its schedule you need to be aware of:

Saturday, 1 p.m.: The 2006 Bratwurst Eating Contest, immediately after the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Maybe this is where The Giant Chorizo, recently ejected from the Sausage Races at Miller Park in Milwaukee, can find new work.

Aug. 21: A one-hour special on the 2006 World Sport Stacking Championship . If this had something to do with Pamela Anderson Rock (is that her name now? didn't she star in some show called "Stacked" on the WB) we might understand. Instead, it's a bunch of ADD kids with plastic cups ... here, look at the website and see if you can figure how they're being exploited.

Kind of makes the Little League World Series and the Soap Box Derby look like legit TV events, eh?

Allow us to chime in on the dispute that erupted as expected this week between the new, improved Time Warner Cable system and its dropping the NFL Network from subscribers as it aims to renegotiate its subscribers fees dea, which is causing the NFL to fight back with FCC intervention:

We refuse to get sucked into the latest cable-vs.-network arm wrestling match that’s always going to make the customer cough up more per month than they should. Escallating rights fees for any sports channel cause these seemingly annual battles, and when the two multi-millionair businesses start trying to air out their sides in the media, it just serves to frustrate the wallet-punched consumer, and we're not going to let them use us as their mouthpieces. Time Warner has a Website set up to do just that: www.nflgetreal.com. The NFL Network has its own link for those who want to call their cable systems at www.nfl.viewerlink.tv/

If you have Time Warner and the NFL Network was dropped, call both parties and complain to them. Loudly. Or better yet, punt it and buy a DirecTV or Dish Network system.

So as we said, we could see this coming, there was plenty of warning, we’re aware of this situation, we’ll keep you up as best we can on when its settled.

At one of our favorite sites, Sports By Brooks, it's been revealed that Prince will be the haltime show for CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XLI in Miami this coming February.

If that holds up, then, yes, we expect more American males in the 12-78 age demo to party like it's 2007, fork out the cash and flip over to Lingerie Bowl IV -- and if you're 78, you may need an IV.

Ringleader Brooks Melchior, by the way, could field an entire league of his SportsByBrooks girls (order 'em now for your bachelor party or bar mitzvah), but that's a whole other story you'll have to bring up with him.

Today, that esteemed Hollywood-based T-and-A group that has lured enough PPV cash out of our pockets the last three years announced its four-team Lingerie Bowl lineup to play again at the Coliseum (including the roster for the L.A. Temptations) on its very difficult to download website as well as in a press release.

The highlights, if you will::
= Jenna Jameson won't play, but will be on the "broad"-cast team.
= The sideline "reporters" are Playboy models Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson and supermodel Joanna Krupa.
= The "coaches" are Jim McMahon and Brian Bosworth.
= Williiam "The Fridge" Perry will compete in one play from scrimmage.
= Michael Buffer will ... do something, probably something to do with getting ready to rumble.
= The partipants are no one you'd recognize. And they have a cheerleader named Shantelle, who has her own Website, but if you go there, you'll be disappointed.

The press release also has this testimonial:
"This is truly Must-See TV!" -- NBC NEWS, Fred Rogan
It must also be news to Fred (who actually spells his name Roggin, unless they're referring to Joe Rogan, the guy from "Fear Factor") that he's part of NBC's new division.

Rehydrate, they all tell you. They just don't tell you with what.

So whipping through the checkout line at the local Trader Joes, in a rush to get to the beach before the best parking spots were taken, my eye catches a stack of red bottles -- which, in the scheme of things, was what it was supposed to do.

Traderade.

OK, catchy name, probably a natural fruit juice, didn't even make the connection to it wanting to be included in the sports genre of beverages. Could have been just another verison of Two Buck Chuck's cheap wine.

First few swigs later in the day cause me to detect something more than a raspberry overload. Kinds salty. Not too sweet. I finally figured out after reading the label that this was, indeed, competition for Gatorade, Powerade -- make the name connection yet? -- and whatever other high-sodium, potassium-enriched, sugar-loaded sports drinks are out there.

Which got me thinking about comparsion shopping ...