Talisa Soto Julianne Hough Paula Garcés Genelle Frenoy Shania Twain
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Rashad Evans turns to The Force to train for his bout with 'Shogun'
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has plenty of weapons to use against Rashad Evans, so "Suga" had to get creative when training for their March title bout. He had to turn to Jedi powers.
With his own Yoda, Greg Jackson, looking on, the padawan hones his mind-control skills. Jedi Knight will pay off, as the ability to sense danger, control minds and drain life force could come in handy against Shogun. Now, if only light sabers were allowed in the Octagon...
Thanks to Cage Potato for the heads up.
Erika Christensen Emilie de Ravin Tara Reed Avril Lavigne Bridget Moynahan
Lefty's purpose; a big moment for Mickelson
I'll be honest; I was skeptical about Phil Mickelson this season. I thought he'd struggle for the first time in his career. I thought it was going to be tough on him with his health issues. I thought the game might have actually moved past the 40-year-old Mickelson.
After Saturday at Torrey Pines, it seems I was dead wrong. Mickelson is playing as well in his first PGA Tour start of 2011 as anyone, and he has put himself in a familiar position at the Farmers Insurance Open.
He shot a four-under 68, and is tied with Bill Haas for the lead at 12-under, looking to win at this event for the fourth time in his career.
The thing is, if he doesn't win, it could dash all of that. He's hitting his irons beautifully, and seems to be in control around the greens, but if Phil doesn't win, if he can't close on Sunday at this marquee event, it could be one of those moments that we might look back over the next two years as the tournament that finally sidelined Lefty.
But he will probably win. He always seems to win when people don't think he can. Nobody thought he'd ever claim a major, and he did. He got up and down to win his only PGA Championship from a nasty lie that seemed to be a moment Phil couldn't handle. He took down Augusta National a year ago when he hadn't had his best stuff all season.
If he does win, it could be the year we've been waiting for. A resurgent Phil contending against Tiger Woods, among others, who has struggled all week with his swing.
Sunday will tell us a lot about how 2011 is going to go. A Haas win would be great. A Mickelson win could be career-altering.
Padma Lakshmi Sarah Mutch Gabrielle Union Alessandra Ambrosio Amanda Detmer
Surprisingly, TCU's AD thinks Boise's bid for home field is out of bounds
TCU has been a successful, valued member of the Mountain West for six years, winning three conference championships since 2005 and roughly tripling the MWC's annual payout to all nine members by earning back-to-back bids to BCS bowls the last two seasons. Naturally, the other members are jumping at their first chance to put the screws to the Horned Frogs before they officially hop to the Big East next year.TCU is scheduled to host newcomer Boise State in Fort Worth this fall, the first and only Horned Frog-Bronco matchup as Mountain West rivals before the former exits the league. This season also happens to be the last season in the crucial 2008-11 BCS evaluation period, the results of which will be fed into a formula to determine which conferences get one of the coveted automatic berths in the big money bowls for their respective champions beginning in 2013. The Mountain West desperately wants to be one of those conferences, and it gets to claim the successes of both Boise State and TCU over the 2008-11 evaluation period. Last year, however, was the start of another evaluation period, encompassing 2010-13. The MWC gets to count Boise State's record as part of its own numbers, but not TCU's: The Horned Frogs' record in that span will be transferred to the Big East – the conference whose automatic bid the Mountain West hopes to take for itself.
Ergo, the Mountain West as a whole actually has a strong rooting interest this fall in seeing its reigning overlord dethroned by its newest addition. And to help their cause, conference athletic directors are strongly considering moving the Boise-TCU game to the blue turf in Boise, where the Broncos have won 56 of 57 games since 2001. Oh: And TCU, as an outgoing member, doesn't have a vote.
For some reason, TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte thinks that arrangement is just slightly unfair:
"It's our home game and they told us it would be our home game and to change the rules midstream is not appropriate," Del Conte told ESPNDallas.com by phone from China, where he's visiting this week. "I'm hoping they do what we originally said, which was that it would be a home game for TCU. To me to change it is not right, but that's been the discussion."
[…]
"We've been a valued member of the conference," Del Conte said. "I don't think just because we're going to the Big East for a different opportunity that we should be treated differently."
The ultimate decision falls to university presidents of the member schools, who meet next month. Something tells me that when the potential dollar figures start flying across the conference table, their idea of the "appropriate" course of action may not be the same as Del Conte's.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
Maggie Grace Luján Fernández Charli Baltimore Denise Richards Jennifer Sky
Fedor breaks from training, wears Speedos to take polar bear plunge
Fedor Emelianenko will always be a mysterious character. The former PRIDE champ, who had a 10-year unbeaten streak snapped last year, still operates in old-school fashion. He continues to train in remote parts of Russia and last week he even took the polar bear plunge. From Bel.ru:
Even 20-degree frost has not prevented today, Epiphany, the faithful bathe in Stary Oskol river waters. In one jordan plunged ordinary citizens, officials and athletes. Multiple world champion in MMA Fedor Emelianenko on this day specially arrived in Stary Oskol, to purify themselves and gain strength and health for the whole year.
The black tights are a nice touch although Fedor's body type, 6-feet, 230 pounds, is probably better suited for the red trunks worn by fellow "Russian" pro wrestler Nikolai Volkov or currently sported by Japanese star Ikuhisa Minowa.
Fedor is set to kick off the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix with a fight in New Jersey on Feb. 12 against Antonio Silva.
Nicollette Sheridan Amber Heard Veronica Kay Mýa Natalie Imbruglia
Roethlisberger in the Super Bowl: a bad thing for the NFL?
Now, I don't care what Jeremy Piven thinks about the Super Bowl. Nothing personal, but he's got his reasons for watching or not watching the game, and I've got mine. We probably don't have a lot in common as football fans.
But the sentiment he's expressing, I don't believe is an uncommon one. The Super Bowl is for casual viewers -- the people who watch because watching is what people do. Like Jeremy Piven, probably.
Most viewers don't care that the actual football itself promises to be epic. The general public isn't moved by Ben Roethlisberger's ability to keep a play alive vs. Green Bay's ability to hack down a quarterback. Most casual viewers don't care that Aaron Rodgers has the hottest arm in the game and now has to overcome Troy Polamalu and James Harrison.
What casual viewers do care about, though, is Roethlisberger's history of being accused of (but never charged with) sexual assault.
Here we are, at the beginning of Super Bowl week, and the words "rape," "rapist" and a host of other terms just as unimaginative as Piven's are seeing some heavy mileage.
At least, that's been my experience, and apparently that of Jeremy Piven's pals, too. I'm guessing it's been the same for a lot of people.
How big of a concern is that for the NFL? Does it worry about the negative publicity inspired by Roethlisberger's presence? Is this a bad thing for the sport of football?
The one thing we know the NFL loves is a non-controversial, sterilized, tame atmosphere. If you celebrate a touchdown by pretending the football is a pillow, you get hit with a fine. If your socks are the wrong color or worn at an unacceptable height, you get hit with a fine. Everyone falls in line. Everyone has to be the perfect little Stepford football player. There is no room for individuality.
Things about the Super Bowl that it can control, the NFL makes as bland as it can. Commercials that take even a moderately controversial stance get rejected. The meetings to decide who gets to play the halftime show, I picture being run by Lieutenant Steven Hauk.
Discussion of a social issue or even cheap jokes about it are not what the NFL wants on its Super Sunday agenda. But they are very likely to happen at your Super Bowl party.
If the public is upset about it, it's apparently not planning on showing it by withholding its viewership. Adweek expects the game to be the most-watched television program of all-time (currently, the record is held by last year's Super Bowl, which narrowly beat out the 1983 final episode of M*A*S*H*). About 110 million people are expected to watch.
Advertisers aren't afraid, either. They're still putting down $3 million for 30-second spots.
Ultimately, those are the things that count, because that's where the money comes from -- television ratings and corporate advertisers. The television audience is still growing.
I don't think the NFL would want to make a habit of having sexual assault be a common topic among Super Bowl viewers, but it's not going to hurt it financially. If it's detrimental to the league's image at all, it's no worse than any other recent off-the-field scandal through which the league has thrived.
By anything measurable, Roethlisberger's off-field problems seem to affect nothing. I don't think anyone would argue that it's good for the game, but is it bad? It's nothing the NFL can't handle.
Shanna Moakler Portia de Rossi Jolene Blalock Nichole Robinson Monet Mazur
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