I Have a Confession About The US Womens Soccer Team and The 2011 World Cup. And You May Not Like It.

Earlier this morning, a producer at ESPN named Jason Romano said this via Twitter: "Hope Solo and Alex Morgan just left the office.  They were absolute rock stars while they were here.  Reaction was unlike any we've seen."  Reading his tweet got me thinking.

Ever since they beat Brazil two Mondays ago, I've heard a lot of talk about the US women's national soccer team.  And rightly so.  They were (and probably still are) the most talented women's soccer team in the world.  Names like Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, and Alex Morgan have become almost-household names, it seems.  Of course, I heard a lot of the talk about the team because I listen to sports talk radio everyday.  But as with the Olympics, anything about Team USA, no matter what sport, will be part of your local nightly news.  These girls were all over the place.  Radio, TV, the internet...everywhere.

Weekend Wrap Up: Manny Ramirez Retires, Tom Brady Cries and John Daly's Ex-Wife Is Kinda Hot

I've only seen about seven total minutes of the current season of American Idol.  And all of those seven minutes have been spent watching the lovely Pia Toscano singing.  I like to think that I know talent when I see it.

Last week Pia was voted off of Idol and apparently nobody expected it.  We're not worried about it at all though.  Our girl Pia will surely land on her feet.  If it's not something to do with singing, she always has the option of becoming a professional hot chick.  Professional hot chick is actually been proven to be the easiest job in the history of the world.  Go figure.

1. Manny Ramirez: The declining slugger abruptly retired from baseball last Friday.  It came after Ramirez reportedly tested positive for a banned substance once again.  Many are saying that it's going to be hard for Manny to make the Hall of Fame now, but as Ty Duffy of The Big Lead argues, does making it to the Hall of Fame matter as much anymore?

Duffy says, "Manny’s disgrace may keep him from the Hall of Fame, but does Cooperstown even matter? The voting process has been endlessly scrutinized. Induction isn’t the mark of immortality it was once perceived to be. It’s the collective, controversial whim of aging sportswriters many of whom (a) hold personal grudges and (b) remain willfully ignorant of the sport they cover."

2. Tom Brady: Apparently, Tom Brady is a human being and he cried.  And the video is currently on every website and blog in the world!!  With this whole lockout nonsense going on, I guess there's nothing else more exciting going on.

Aaron Rodgers Has a New Lady Friend

Life has been pretty good for Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers since they won the Super Bowl and he collected the MVP trophy.  And even though he has been locked out from returning to his job as quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, looks as though he hasn't had much trouble finding ways of keeping busy.

And by keeping busy, I am referring to adding another lady friend to his impressive roster of past lady friends.  He's been linked to SI swimsuit model Julie Henderson, country singer Hillary Scott, Erin Andrews and more recently Jessica Szohr of Gossip Girl fame (so much for these reports, I guess).  Hell, we'll even throw in Stacy Keibler.  There are photos proving that they spent some time together, and hey, they're famous.  Famous people have relations with each other all the time for the hell of it. 

His latest companion is a little lady named Destiny Newton.  She is a self-proclaimed small town country girl from the Chico, CA area, the same place Rodgers is from.  She was interviewed by Pacific San Diego magazine for being a hot bartender or something like that.

Anyway, at the pace he's been piling up girlfriends, he is due to have one or two more before the lockout ends.

A Word About Esquire's Hot Chick Bracket

My personal national champion

Who doesn't love a good hot chick bracket?  I certainly love them.  I have to admit that I've paid more attention to Esquire's hot chick bracket than I have to my own basketball-related bracket that I filled out.  It didn't help that my basketball bracket went all to hell after the 2nd round.  Thanks a lot, Butler and VCU, for that.

So over at Esquire.com, they've narrowed the list down to the Elite 8.  The matchups are (1) Brooklyn Decker vs. (7) Adriana Lima, (10) Ines Sainz vs. (4) Erin Andrews, (10) Megan Fox vs. (4) Ashley Greene, and (8) Glee Girls vs. (10) Katrina Bowden. 

As of today, the voting for the Elite 8 has closed, and the Final Four will be revealed tomorrow.  From the last vote totals I saw before the polls closed, the Final Four is going to be Brooklyn Decker vs. Erin Andrews and Megan Fox vs. Katrina Bowden.
 

There are a couple things that I think are nuts about the way the voting has panned out.  Now don't get me wrong here, all these ladies are insanely beautiful and very sexy, to say the least.  But I noticed a couple of things that caused me to wonder just a bit.  So please humor me here for a minute.

Friday Wrap Up: Sno-mageddon 2011, Rex Ryan, the NBA Trade Deadline, and Cam Newton

Well we survived the week.  We also survived the much-anticipated Sno-mageddon 2011.  Pfft.  Thanks a lot Matt Zaffino.  You too, Mark Nelson.  Don't forget you, Andy Carson.  Jerks.  Thanks for getting my hopes up.  The so called winter storm warning didn't even get me one lousy day off work.  Here, I thought I'd be snowed in both Thursday and Friday, but noooooo.

Next time I sure ain't going to get my hopes up.  I hate snow anyway.  I just wanted to days off of work.  I'm convinced snow sucks unless you're, like, eight years old or younger.  Yeah, playing in the snow when you're eight years old is great.  But when you're an adult and have to actually do adult things (go to work, go to the store, drive anywhere), it completely sucks.

So screw you Sno-mageddon 2011.

Anyway, here's what has been thrown around in the world of sports this past week.

1. The NBA trade deadline was pretty awesome, wasn't it?
For the first time in at least a few years, the NBA trade deadline was pretty interesting.  Lots of deals went down, especially on that last day.  If you didn't get a chance to keep track of all of them, here is a pretty good list from Yahoo! Sports of all the details.

Besides the Blazers pulling a fast one on the Bobcats, there were a couple other deals that caught my eye.  For one, Baron Davis must be pretty pissed off today.  Getting traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers will piss anyone off, no matter what team you come from.  Like everyone's been saying, we're not going to see much of Davis in a Cavs uniform, I don't think. 

And how about the Nets trading for Deron Williams.  That was pretty ballsy, right?  I think it's a good move for both sides.  But how pissed off do you think Jerry Sloan is right about now?  He gets ran out of town by D-Will, and then management ships Williams outta there.  Could Utah maybe have hinted about this to Sloan a couple weeks earlier?  Utah is not going to be very good for a couple years now, if you ask me.  But if they would have kept Sloan as head coach, they would still have been a decent team.

2. I'm sorry Auburn fans, but Cam Newton is going to get nailed by the NCAA eventually.
I've mentioned this idea before, but The Big Lead brought up the point again this past week.  In a post titled, "When will the NCAA find dirt on Cam Newton?", TBL states that "you can be sure the NCAA will take many more months to find something – anything – to nail Auburn on. According to Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News, the NCAA is still getting its sleuth on, but hasn’t found anything new.....I’m of the belief that it’s a “when” situation, not “if.”"

Our resident expert on all things SEC, Clay Travis, who writes for Fanhouse.com, also wrote this article back on November 15, 2010, predicting practically the same thing...that "Scam" Newton is going to get busted.  Travis says, "It might take 10 days, it might take two years, but the ineligibility ruling is coming.....In the meantime Auburn fans can continue to bury their heads in the sand and blame everyone but the Newton family for the plague of Biblical proportions that is about to rain down on their football program."

The way the NCAA has handled the whole Cam Newton mess has been embarrassing.  It's obvious that they didn't rule him ineligible during this past season because they wanted a great national title game matchup with the two undefeated teams going head to head.  Because they're so cowardly, they'll have no problem ruling Newton ineligible and stripping Auburn of the national title so long after the fact, that no one is going to care.  And then they'll be able to say that they enforced the rules, upheld the integrity of the game, blah, blah, blah and feel good about themselves.

Meanwhile, Auburn will suffer and no one else will care.

Friday Wrap Up: Albert Pujols, Dale Sr., Stupid Alabama Fan, and NFL Mock Drafts

SI Swimsuit Rookie Kate Upton

Well the weekend is finally upon us, folks.  And yes, I say that every Friday, but it never gets old.  And, for me at least, this weekend is extra kick-ass because it's a three day weekend.  I don't have any special plans or anything, but having the extra day off is good enough for me.

So here's a few stories that are being tossed back and forth in the sports world.

1. Albert Pujols wants to get PAID.

The St. Louis Cardinals and slugger Albert Pujols have been trying to work out a new contract and the world might just come to an end if they can't get a deal done, apparently.  I am a huge baseball fan, and I really don't care at all about this story.  I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on where Pujol's should end up and if wherever he goes, it's going to be the best thing for baseball.

I would actually be pretty pissed off if he ended up on the Yankees, but that's only because I hate the Yankees.  I am at peace with the fact that, in the sports world I currently live in, any player who reaches a certain level of "stardom" is going to play for the Yankees or at least have the Yankees chasing them.  It's just the way it is.

SI's Tom Verducci thinks Pujols is as good as gone.  ESPN's Michael Wilbon wants his Chicago Cubs (of course) to do whatever it takes to get him to Chi-town.  SI's Jon Heyman reports that Pujols apparently is not interested in a 9 year offer for around $200 million from the Cards.  And St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Jeff Gordon lays out a plan that makes it possible for the Cardinals to afford Pujols long term.

All I know for sure is that if this situation doesn't get resolved soon, I am going to hate Albert Pujols by the end of baseball season.  This story will make every sports fans' ears bleed plenty before the end of the season.

2. Harvey Almorn Updyke Jr.

Geez, this guy's a real asshole isn't he?  No doubt our favorite Auburn grad Lindsay McCormick thinks so.  Here's the story, if you haven't heard the details.  I mean, this is a real douchebag move Harvey, man.  And how smart do you have to be to actually call a national radio show and tell everyone what you did in detail?  No need to answer that, but you get the point.

Listen, guys like this are the exact reason why we haven't progressed farther as a society.  Seriously.  I hope he gets the whole ten years in the slammer because of how stupid he is.  He deserves it.  Better yet, while he's in prison, he should get to have a TV in his cell, but a TV that only plays Auburn football games.  That'd be a good punishment for this idiot.

And if you or any part of you thought what this clown did was cool or funny or 'not that bad', you are an idiot too.  Plain and simple.  Here's part of what Clay Travis, who is where I go for everything SEC, had to say about what happened:  "Seriously, has a football rivalry truly come to this? That you have to worry about a drive-by on a college campus? That you have to assign additional officers to protect campus relics? Is this Tehran or Tuscaloosa? Auburn or Beirut?......And I don't see it getting better anytime soon. Not until some sense of sanity returns. Not until the fans with the college degrees actually take charge of this rivalry."

SI's Andy Staples and ESPN's Mark Schlabach were both pretty pissed about it too.

'SI Swimsuit Day' Should Be A National Holiday

Today is the day that Sports Illustrated unviels all the greatness from this year's SI swimsuit issue.  It has truly become a magical day over the past few years.  And it definitely should be celebrated across this great nation.  We have many, many fond memories of the SI swimsuit issue throughout the years.  It's practically a staple of American society, right?

Up to this point in time, our favorite SI swimsuit model of all time has always been Marissa Miller.  But we have to admit, Brooklyn Decker is making a pret-ty strong case to take that spot over in our hearts.

Brooklyn Decker had a great year last year, and this year, she is just phenomenal.  Wowza!

SI.com is defenitely going to require some more analysis in the coming days...

Friday Wrap Up: Super Bowl XLV Edition

Well we've made it through the much ballyhooed week of Super Bowl media coverage, and we're ready to just sit back and enjoy the game. 

Since our beloved New England Patriots haven't made an appearance in the big game in a few years, it's been a while since we've had a true rooting interest.  But games like this are more enjoyable for us anyway, because we get so worked up for Super Bowls that the Pats have played in, that we haven't been able to sit back and relax at all.

In fact, we're so nervous that we have to go into a separate room to watch the game so that annoying Super Bowl party goers don't bother us, and in turn, make us even more nervous.  That's how crazy we get when New England plays in the Super Bowl.

On a completely unrelated note, if Molly Qerim was watching all those Super Bowls with us, we probably wouldn't have given two sh*ts whether the Patriots win the game or not.  She'll distract a fella from time to time.

Crap, we just forgot what we were writing about.  See?  It's already happened.  Oh, that's right...

1. Here's a lengthy article where among lots of other things, The Sports Guy lays down his rules for cities that should be able to host the Super Bowl.  Couple of the highlights are:

--If MTV would never film a "Real World" season in your city, you probably shouldn't host the Super Bowl. 

--If your location doesn't quadruple the chances that a player on one of the two teams will get arrested, you shouldn't host the Super Bowl.

Friday Wrap Up: There Will Be No Football This Weekend

There will be no football this weekend for the first time in a long time.  We have the Super Bowl next weekend and that's it.  What are we going to do to pass the time?? 

Former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Sarah Shahi is here to help take us into the weekend though, and that should help soften the blow.  She's got this new show on USA called Fairly Legal that looks decent, but I haven't had time to check it out yet.  Maybe I'll get to that this weekend sometime, since there won't be any football.

1. Royals pitcher Gil Meche is retiring from baseball, and giving back the last $12m of his contract to the Royals.  This story is pretty amazing, not to mention very refreshing to hear.  An modern athlete that is not out for every dollar he can get?  Pretty few and far between these days.  Tyler Kepner has a story in the New York Times that is a great read. 

But Meche knew the Royals really signed him to start games and log innings. His deteriorating shoulder, surgically repaired twice in 2001, would not allow him to do that. As a divorced father of three, he believed his children — ages 7, 5 and 3 — needed him more than his teammates did.

Meche told the Royals’ general manager, Dayton Moore, that he did not want any of the paycheck due him. No settlement, no buyout, no strings. The Royals had been roundly criticized for signing Meche in the first place — he was 55-44 with a 4.65 earned run average in six seasons for the Mariners — and Meche believed they had already paid him enough.

There Will Be No Official Packers Or Steelers Eye Candy At The Super Bowl

I wish Tampa Bay was playing instead...

While the talking heads at ESPN are already breaking down the X's and O's of the Steelers and Packers, the intricacies of each team's defenses and what team has the early advantage and why, I'm concerned with something far more important.  Where the hell are all the cheerleaders going to be?

There won't be any from either of the teams that are squaring off in Super Bowl 45.

Yes, it's true.  The Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers do not have official team cheerleaders.  And the reason they don't have team cheerleaders is...well I have no clue.  I don't have enough time to research it.  Plus, whatever the reason they had for making the decision to get rid of the cheerleaders is a stupid reason, plain and simple.  But I did see somewhere that the last time the Steelers had cheerleaders (called the Steelerettes), it was around the late 60's, early 70's.  That is far too long if you ask me.

But c'mon people, having cheerleaders cheering for your football team is the American way dammit.  Not having them should be against the law, or should get you slapped, or something.  Not to sound like a major chauvinist or anything, but I really, really like cheerleaders.  They're great in every way.

Believe it or not, there are six NFL franchises that don't have cheerleaders, for whatever reason.  The Steelers, Packers, New York Giants, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and the Cleveland Browns have all shut down their team's cheerleaders at one point.  The fact that Detroit and Cleveland don't have cheerleaders is understandable though, because who wants to watch chicks from Detroit and/or Cleveland dance around in front of them at a football game.  Ya know?  We're kidding about that.  But seriously...  

Luckily, I'm guessing that since the Super Bowl is being held at Jerry-World, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will make sure that there are plenty of hot women dancing on the sidelines and everywhere else for that matter.  That's because he is a true American hero, folks.  God bless Jerry Jones for doing this.
  

Friday Wrap Up: Brooklyn Decker Stops By To Say Hello And Brighten Your Day

Happy Friday everyone.  Seems like it's been a long week, right?  At least for me, it has.  Maybe it's the clouds and grey skies.  Luckily, Brooklyn Decker is here to make us forget about the grey skies.  Hell, she can help you forget anything you need some distraction from. 

1. Aaron Rodgers isn't that bad of a guy after all.  Earlier this week, a video of the Green Bay QB was making the rounds through the internet.  It is a video of Aaron Rodgers walking by a fan at an airport that is dressed in all pink breast cancer swag.  When watching the video, it looks like Rodgers purposely ignores this lady and snubs her autograph request.

Every column and blog had their shot at Rodgers during this past week.  But Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com sets the record straight about what kind of person Aaron Rodgers really seems to be.  Good stuff.

2. Blake Griffin's hot girlfriend is just some random hot chick, and not really his girlfriend.  This whole thing got really confusing today when Brooks over at SPORTSbyBROOKS posted the story breaking down how this fake "Blake Griffin's girlfriend" rumor got started.  It's a good story and it looks as though, for some stupid reason, someone started this internet rumor.  Well, all I know is that whoever actually calls Jasmine Shein his girlfriend, he is a lucky, lucky man.

Then, like an hour later, John Canzano of the Oregonian tweeted that Blake Griffin says he met his girlfriend on Facebook, which is in line with the original rumors that SPORTSbyBROOKS debunked.  So Blake Griffin may or may not have a hot girlfriend and he may or may not have met her through Facebook.  Or something.  Anyway...(UPDATE: Looks like Canzano has since deleted that tweet, but below is a picture of it.)

3. Homeless dude wins ESPN.com fantasy football contest.  And he won it all on the last week, when at the very last minute, he decided to start Tim Tebow, instead of Matt Cassell and Josh Freeman.  Pretty freakin' incredible if you ask me.  This season, I qualified for the playoffs with my crappy 8th seeded team, and very nearly made a Cinderella-like run and won the whole damn thing.  But geez, I needed like an ounce of this guy's luck and the title would have been mine.  Maybe next year, I guess.  Pretty crazy story though.

The best part of the story is this sentence: "My fiancee says she's never going to say a word about fantasy football when I'm on the computer again," Harrington said.  Yeah, I bet she won't.

4. The Oregon Duck cheerleaders are the hottest damn group of hotties in this fine country.  Watch the video and then google them sometime.  Anytime.  Just do it.  You'll enjoy it.

5. Why no one remembers the Mark Sanchez rape case.  Personally, I don't even remember hearing about this.  Nothing against Mark Sanchez, but this is pretty interesting stuff.  Everyone has been killing Ben Roesthlisberger for his off-the-field miscalculations and problems.  But he may not be the only one that has his share of issues.  The Deadspin article ends with this, and it seems to be the point of the article: "There's a story everyone wants to tell about Sanchez, and his getting popped on a rape accusation doesn't fit."

Anyway, folks.  Have a good and safe weekend.  Catch you all later.

Who Cares About The NFL Quarterbacks That Are Playing This Weekend...Let's Talk About Their Hot Girlfriends!

This weekend will no doubt provide a great couple of conference championship games.  But who cares about that right now.  Let's take the girlfriends (including ex's) of the four quarterbacks and rank them!

One of the things that Mark Sanchez, Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger have in common is that they are all linked to, or have been linked to somewhat famous young ladies.  It's funny, being a starting quarterback in the NFL will do that for you.

I have used no special formula in these rankings.  Just on pure hotness.  Here ya go.

1. Kristin Cavallari (Jay Cutler)
2. Erin Andrews (Aaron Rodgers)

3. Jamie Lynn Sigler (Mark Sanchez)

4. Jessica Szohr (Aaron Rodgers)

5. Missy Peregrym (Ben Roesthlisberger)

6. Natalie Gulbis (Ben Roesthlisberger)

And here is the corresponding eye candy for you, in order.

Here's A Little Mid-Week Morale Boost

This is for all you Oregon Duck fans who are still bitter and sad about losing to the Auburn Cam Newtons on Monday. 

You may have lost the national title game.  But your smokin' hot cheerleaders won the national title of hot cheerleaders.  You should be very proud.  Well done, Oregon.  Well done.

[ FratHouse Sports ]

Erin Andrews Was Interviewed In GQ Magazine

Yes, it's such a cliche now-a-days, but we'll check out any interview done with Erin Andrews.  We're men, and we love hot chicks and sports.  Give us a break, okay?  She was interviewed in GQ towards the end of December and mentioned how she is still on edge about fans and how crazy they can act sometimes.

"Not just the way I work, but the way I live my life has changed. I used to be the person that would run up to fans, throw my arms around them, and take pictures. And while I'll still do that, I'm not really good with people running up behind me. That frightens me. We had an incident on College GameDay this year where a kid flipped over the fence and tried to get onstage to give me a hug, and I panicked. You know, when you've been stalked and you've had death threats your outlook is a little different, unfortunately, you're not as carefree and easy-going as you were, and you're very guarded. You gotta be safe! There are some crazies out there."

We still love EA.  We also wish she would do more than just sidelines at football and basketball games, but maybe in time.  Here's a picture of her and equally lovely Marissa Miller at this past year's ESPY awards.

[ GQ Interview ]

Sounds Like Aaron Rodgers Is Quite The Ladies Man

Back on December 16th, we found out that Aaron Rodgers was dating the one and only Erin Andrews, and had been for a while.  And boy were we impressed.   

That news barely had time to sink in, though, before we saw this little story.  According to TotalPackers.com, Rodgers is now dating/hanging out with/seeing Jessica Szohr.  Szohr is an actress who is most known from the show Gossip Girl and was recently in box office "hit" Pirhana 3D.  Oh and she is really, really friggin hot.

Szohr is the fourth major hottie that has been linked to our boy Rodgers in the past couple of years, along with Andrews, swimsuit model Julie Henderson, and country star Hillary Scott.  That is pretty much Tony Romo territory, without all the hype.

Szohr was spotted with Rodgers at a recent Milwaukee Bucks game.  And the day before that, Szohr showed up to the Packers game against the Giants with Joe Jonas and his girl, Ashley Greene.  Sources over at TotalPackers.com were told that Jonas, Greene and Szohr were sitting in Rodgers' private box seats.

We're not sure if the switch from Erin Andrews to Jessica Szohr is an upgrade or a downgrade for Aaron Rodgers.  That is another post for another day, I guess.  If it was me, I would have stuck with Erin Andrews.  Every dude's got different taste though, right?

Szohr, Greene and pretty boy at the Packers game

[ TotalPackers.com ]

Ranking The Hotties From 'The Hills'

My buddies and I were having a heated debate about these fine ladies today, after seeing a couple of people talking about it on Twitter.  So naturally, I had to quickly cement my ranks in writing.

Kristin Cavallari > Audrina Patridge > Whitney Port > Lauren Conrad

Rank them and hit the comments below.  I'm curious to see what people say.