Media Watch:Phil Steele's Got a Secret: For the uninformed, Steele publishes a very unique college football preview magazine loaded with interesting information and weird phrases like VHT's and PS#'s. Basically, he is a preseason God.But he's been hiding something. Specifically, his real identity. Although his last name Steele would make him an instant legend in the porn world, his birth name is the kind of name that gets you beat up on the playground as a kid: Seman.
Nick Saban Still Has Disdain for the Media: See, it's apparently the media's fault for interviewing the players in the first place. If they would just go away or not report what was said in the interviews, all would be fine. Just post Saban's statements and don't try to even think about what they mean.
Well, At Least It's Not Big 'N Rich: There's new theme music for college football on ESPN and it has nothing to do with coming to your city. It is, however, weird: 50 Cent, Kelly Rowland and Perry Farrell and his group, Satellite Party, are adding to the list of music/sports-world promos. Add another to the pile of Great Moments In ESPN Executive Thinking. If you're interested, a youtube video of this song after the jump.
Golf:The Debriefing: If Tiger Woods Doesn't Care, Why Should I? The FedEx Cup might totally bomb. That big reason would be that Tiger Woods is considering not playing in the first tournament of the playoffs. He may want to take the week off, and hang out with is wife and kid, and that's more than understandable. He's not obligated to care about an event because the PGA Tour wants him to.
Becks:
Beckham Gets His First American Goal: D.C. goalkeeper Troy Perkins seemed to take particular care in setting up the wall in front of Beckham, but it was to no avail, as Perkins was caught helpless leaning to the near post as the shot curled away from him and into the net.
Not-So-Random YouTube Magic: Beckham's First Goal in a Galaxy Kit
MLB:Kanye West Names Song After Barry Bonds: Talk about some serious respect -- Bonds is the inspiration for a song about evolution. What you won't hear on Kanye's album is the track "Reggie Miller," nor the hit jam "Bless BALCO." Hope this album drops soon, you know, before Barry retires -- or gets indicted. Whatever, so long as Stacey Dash is in the music video, I'm sold.
Turn Down the Volume, Or How to Get D-Backs Fans Back to the Ballpark: Despite the year's success, the D-Backs have had woeful attendance, and Phoenix folks (via BBTF) are hitting on the reasons why. Here's a hint: turn it down! "The lights flash to tell me when to cheer and make noise and the loud music gives me a headache by the end of the game. I want to watch the game and cheer for the players. Can't they entertain the fans before the game and then let us watch the baseball game?"
Matt LeCroy's 'Dancing With the Stars' Audition: The video is actually the third of a three-part series -- don't miss out on the first and second clips. Considering they're all less than a minute long, I'm guessing they were filmed by a sneaky teammate with a camera phone -- here's to hoping "Part 4: the shower scene" doesn't hit YouTube next.
NFL:
Report on Michael Vick: 'Very Good Chance He Will Plead Guilty': There seem to be two complicating factors. First, Vick still wants a deal in which he can serve less than a year in prison, and so far prosecutors are balking at that. And secondly, Vick wants some assurance that a guilty plea won't lead to a lifetime ban from the NFL, and ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will offer no such guarantee.
Marques Colston Owns That Football: Let me just say that this spot is about a billion times more impressive than any that preceded it. And probably because Colston did this in one take.
NFL Head of Referees on Sav Rocca Hit: 'This Should Have Been a 15-Yard Penalty': Although it's legal to hit a punter who's running down the field while the play is still going on, Barnes should have been flagged because the hit was helmet to helmet. So next time you drill an unsuspecting punter, Mr. Barnes, make it shoulder pad to shoulder pad.
NBA:WNBA, Oklahoma Might Not Mix Well: A storyline (understandably) forgotten amid the Sonics-to-Oklahoma hysteria is the fate of the WNBA's Seattle Storm. The 'Oklahoma City Storm' would seem to be on shaky ground from the start; a key WNBA demographic is the gay/lesbian, and gay/lesbian culture does not exactly thrive in Oklahoma.
Random YouTube Magic: Oakley Smacks Up Pippen: If this was planned in advanced, the young Pippen had some poor judgment and low self-esteem. And if it was improvised, well, Scottie doesn't look too good in the natural order of things. Something tells me that no player, even a rookie, would let this be captured and broadcast on national television in 2007.
Tim Donaghy Video Spoof: 'Goodfoulers': With the earlier news from today about Tim Donaghy surrendering to the authorities, it seems like the perfect time to show you this video spoof of the Donaghy scandal. If you like "GoodFellas" and you're at all familiar with the Donaghy case, I believe you will enjoy this immensely.
NCAA Football:
Georgia Tech's Quarterback Is Awesome: Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey was less than pleased to see his quarterback, Taylor Bennett, involved in contact following his only interception in Saturday's full-pads scrimmage at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Gailey was even more upset to see the resulting altercation escalate into a short-lived melee involving as many as 15 to 20 players.
Holley Mangold Gearing Up for Senior Year: Mangold is, according to her coach, one of the team's strongest offensive line players. And as she prepares for her senior season at Alter, which made it to the state championship game last year, she has a few small-school college coaches interested in her services. I wouldn't want to line up against her.
Worldwide:Australia Tops In Medalmaking: Unusual Maps has a fascinating illustration of the world filtered by the number of Olympic medals won per million people. The results surprise: among the top countries for number of medal athletes per million you'll find Australia, Norway, Belarus, Cuba, Bulgaria, and Hungary as the leaders in producing Olympians per capita in the world.
Australians and Norwegian BASE Jumping Do Not Mix: While the jumper did puncture our theory of complete and total Australian invincibility by dying during the jump, we can only hope reports surface of him taunting the ground "to hit him with your best shot" just before impact.
The Quiet and Unprecedented Death Of Discovery Cycling: Consider if Man U, the Yankees, or the Dallas Cowboys vanished overnight. That may be exaggerating just a tad for effect, but that's effectively what just happened to cycling: an instant disappearance of what was the most dominant squad in the sport over the past decade.
Greg Norman Won't Give Estranged Wife $100 Million Without a Fight: Two months ago, golfer Greg Norman and his wife had seemed to reach an agreement on a divorce settlement that would have her getting about one-third of the $300 million fortune he made in his golf career. But now it seems Norman doesn't feel so agreeable.
