Month: June 2009

Since Monica Seles flew up the world tennis rankings, more and more women have joined the grunting ranks of the WTA, sending loud shrieks into the stands as they hit the tennis ball. Some opponents of the shriekers have complained that it is distracting, and now the International Tennis Federation is considering penalties for grunting […]

Michael Phelps has a new children’s book out titled, How to Train with a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals. It chronicles all the work Phelps put in to train for the Beijing Olympics (e.g., he napped for the equivalent of 273 days over six years, and that’s not including his nighttime sleeping). Of […]

Every year in New Zealand there’s a nude rugby international match to celebrate National Nude Day, which is the brainchild of a former All Black. This year, the match was interupted by a streaker, of course fully clothed. Anyone else cringing at the thought of playing rugby nude, and not for prudish reasons? Every year […]

L.A. Lakers win title. And after 15 titles, Lakers fans still riot in the streets when their team wins. Police arrest 25 scumbags, police officers hurt. Adam Morrison (right) now has more titles than Charles Barkley and Karl Malone. Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup, become first major pro team in 30 years to win […]

There is not much to say about the Los Angeles Lakers’ 99-86 efficient dispatching of the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to give the Lakers their 15th NBA title. Game 5 was a yawner with zero suspense and it was clear the better team won. After three straight thrillers, the Lakers […]

American-born Giuseppe Rossi, who left New Jersey for an Italian team in Parma when he was 12, scored two goals as Italy beat the U.S., 3-1, in a FIFA Confederations Cup game in South Africa. The explosive play by both sides caused fans to rock the sports complex in Pretoria. Rossi, a powerful striker with […]

Donahoe, top, and Jordan The gay porn angle was the secondary focus on ESPN "Outside The Lines" look at the dismissal of Paul Donahoe and Kenny Jordan from the University of Nebraska wrestling team after they posed naked on Fratmen.tv. (Complete video segment below). It wasn't as if ESPN was trying to downplay any gay […]

In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh Penguins' seventh-game Stanley Cup victory at Detroit, Red Wings star Nicklas Lidstrom revealed the reason he missed the final two games of the Western Conference semifinal series against Chicago: he had surgery after being speared in the testicles by Chicago's Patrick Sharp in Game 3 of that series. Lidstrom […]

I attended the Gay Pride Parade in Los Angeles today and visited the Pride Festival in West Hollywood. I’ve been to four of the last five New York parades (or “marches” as organizers in NYC call them) and had been to most of the five before that in L.A. As I walked away from the […]

Thanks to Adam Rose at the LA Times for this clip he did from UCLA's annual Undie Run, a way for students to blow off steam during finals week. A nice diversion for your weekend: Thanks to Adam Rose at the LA Times for this clip he did from UCLA's annual Undie Run, a way […]

Former Wisconsin Badger wide receiver Luke Swan was a contestant on Michael Irvin’s show 4th & Long, competing for a training-camp spot with the Dallas Cowboys. Swan was booted from the show this week because of a groin injury (his football career has been plagued by injuries). Swan was a member of the Kansas City […]

I've seen quite a few news items — AP and others — about The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez by Selena Roberts becoming a book-business case of "three strikes, you're out." In spite of a nationwide retail slump in bookstores, Harper Collins was evidently hoping to pull off the old magic trick that has worked […]

Check out the back page of today's Philadelphia Daily News after the jump — specifically, the bottom left-hand corner of the page (although the "Rockin' Raul!" stuff is pretty exciting, unless you're a Mets fan)… Check out the back page of today’s Philadelphia Daily News after the jump — specifically, the bottom left-hand corner of […]

Artie Lange, from the Howard Stern show and author of Too Fat to Fish, was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. Lange is a big sports fan and gambles on games a lot. Kimmel asked Lange if he was watching the NBA Playoffs (which are on the same network as Kimmel), and Lange gave a […]

All I remember from watching the music video for Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart many years ago was mood lighting. But the new “literal” version of the video, in which they song’s lyrics describe what you’re seeing in the video, put front-and-center tons of homoerotic sports. Wet swimmers, a locker room, hot fencers, […]

Michael Vick is a free man: Falcons cut all ties with the convicted felon. Alabama receives huge athletics sanctions from the NCAA. I wonder how many Div. I programs have been punished in the last five years and if it’s even worth it to have standards anymore. Bolt’s spikes are still golden. Rush Limbaugh could […]

After we posted the item about the naked French pole vaulter, I kvetched that American athletes are mostly afraid of posing nude, and when they do it’s usually women. Well ESPN, of all entities, may be to the rescue. ESPN The Magazine is reportedly planning an October 2009 “Body Issue.” The magazine editor-in-chief Gary Belsky […]

Game 7 hero Max Talbot A couple of months ago my friend Kurt and I were walking around downtown Philadelphia after lunch. We passed a steakhouse that opened recently and has become a favorite spot for celebrities. We saw a guy with a beard and some bruising on his face outside the restaurant and we […]

Cincinnati Bengal (and former Philadelphia Eagle) Dhani Jones will film a second season of the Travel Channel series Dhani Tackles The Globe, in which he visits other countries and participates in sports popular in those lands. (When is the exotic "hockey in Canada" episode, I wonder?) Renaissance man that he is, Jones made the announcement […]

If the Yankees were just 3-4 against the Red Sox this season, they’d have a 2-game division lead. Another example of the horrible nature of sports agents: Boras wants crazy money for a rookie pitcher. Only 100 fans saw the Washington Nationals lose in the 12th inning. And why did they leave Montreal? Tea leaves […]