A reader stumbled across this pretty sweet Facebook photo of Tennessee basketball player Steven Pearl – coach’s son, averaging 7.7 minutes per game – getting handsy with a dasiy duke-wearing UT coed who appears to be downing a shot at a Knoxville drinking establishment. The photo reminded us of what young Pearl told SI back in 2007: Read the rest of this entry »

Steve Phillips, the ESPN baseball analyst who recently spent 45 days in sex rehab, was on the Today Show yesterday. His appearance (for whatever reason, NBC removed the video from its site) prompted – one can assume – an outpouring of support for Brooke Hundley, the former ESPN production assistant who he slept with at least twice last summer. Read the rest of this entry »

New Orleans 117, Orlando 123: Much-maligned Vince Carter erupted for 48 points and the Magic rallied from 17 down to beat the Chris Paul-less Hornets. It’s a big week for the Magic, who have a day off before traveling to Chicago and Cleveland for back-to-backs heading into the All-Star break. The Magic are six games behind the Cavs for the 1st seed in the East. Darren Collison, the UCLA rookie filling in for CP3, had 27-9 with four steals for his third straight pretty good game. Much too early to tell if he could be the team’s next point guard should the financially-strapped franchise have to trade Paul. Read the rest of this entry »

Left to right: Anne V, who we think will be on the 2011 cover; in bodypaint, Abbey Clancy, WAG of England soccer player Peter Crouch; Jessica White, the former girlfriend of Terrell Owens; and also in bodypaint, Sarah Brander, WAG of awesomely-named soccer player Bastian Schweinsteiger.

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Brooklyn Decker is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl, and after the jump, one shot of tennis player Ana Ivanovic. There will be plenty of coverage on the issue later … great time to be a male in college … pathetic that this nurse is on trial … does the NYT have anything on the Governor of New York or not? … US soldier waterboards his daughter … never heard of Anna Torv. She’s purdy … stowaway on Delta flight found dead … how does a newspaper get the Super Bowl score wrong? … glad we didn’t get stuck at this hotel Super Bowl week … man tries to buy crack with a credit card … lap dances for Haiti! …

“Sumo’s enfant terrible Asashoryu, one of the sport’s most successful wrestlers despite a career dogged by scandal and controversy, has quit amid claims that he drunkenly attacked a man outside a Tokyo nightclub.” [Independent] Read the rest of this entry »

Like any other championship game, it’s been an array of emotions since the final seconds ticked away in Super Bowl 44. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Berman, one of ESPN’s longest tenured on-air talents, is being heavily pursued by the NFL Network, a source tells The Big Lead. According to the source, the NFL Network is putting the full court press on Berman – whose contract expires May 10, on his 55th birthday – and it isn’t a sure thing that he’ll return to Bristol. ESPN PR had no comment. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s Michael Strahan, his fiancée Nicole Murphy, a random and The Captain. The photo was taken at a Pro Bowl pre-Grammy party two Sundays ago. I don’t understand why they were wasting their time at the Grammys when the most important game of the year was on. Read the rest of this entry »