Playboy Andrew Bynum

By now you've probably heard all about the infamous photo of Lakers center Andrew Bynum at the Playboy Mansion. This has caused quite a stir in Southern California with hardcore Lakers fans, who apparently expect that Bynum should be rehabbing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to get his ass back on the court after suffering yet another knee injury. They argue that Bynum doesn't seem as if he's taking his rehab seriously by being out having fun. Apparently Coach Phil Jackson doesn't seem to have a problem with it. Nor should anyone else:

"I think there’s a lot being made out of that that is unnecessary. This is a young guy. I don’t think Andrew is 22 yet, is he? He’s a 21-year-old guy. He’s been out of basketball 5 1/2-6 weeks. He’s got to have some energy and vent and have some fun. Now I don’t know if putting a girl on your shoulders..."

March Madness Update 6

Fellas, sorry I've been so tardy in my update, but frankly I needed a few days to recover. For some reason, when I'm so close to winning and then have it snatched from my clutches, I tend to find that the inspiration to write does not come so freely. This was my weekend and I can't say I'm that enthused about doing this write-up either, if you want me to be completely honest. But I shall solder on for the good of the group, as always. Did I mention that had Louisville and Oklahoma won on Sunday that Matt and me would have finished 1-2 in my pool at work? I'm sure that didn't linger into my two-day funk, but I digress. As far as our little competition here, we have one certainty. And that is for the first time in a few years, Russ has captured one of the titles. Russ' Michigan State pick to reach the Final Four in the bracket gave him enough points to clinch the title. So congrats to the Italian Stallion. If you don't believe me, you can see the evidence at this link. Anyway, on to where there is still a battle -- the points standings.

Here are the current standings:
Jim J. -- 152 points
Ed -- 104 points*
Russ -- 98 points
Mike T. -- 94 points*
John -- 86 points
Pat -- 86 points
Jim B. -- 72 points*
Mike C. -- 38 points*
* eliminated from competition

UPDATE: So as you can see, there are four left standing as we head to the weekend. Jim J. (Villanova), Russ (North Carolina), John (Connecticut) and Pat (Michigan State). With Villanova and Michigan State being Nos. 3 and 2 seeds, respectively, it could mean that should either of those teams (especially Villanova) win in the semifinals, it might be enough to win. But there's way too many possibilities to consider. One thing's for certain though, if Villanova wins, it would mean a minimum of 48 points for Jim J. If Michigan State wins, it would mean a minumum of 32 points for Pat. For the No. 1 seeds, it's a minimum of 16. Seems everyone of the four still has a chance to win it all without needing some crazy quadruple bonus, and I can't remember the last time I could say that heading into the Final Four. Should make for quite a few days of nerves, hopefully the good kind. We'll see you on the flip side.

Figure Skating Forays, Fiascos

The World Figure Skating Championships are over and have left Los Angeles, in case you missed it over the weekend. The highly anticipated women's final happened on Saturday and again the skaters didn't disappoint -- except if you're that last skater at the bottom of this post. Yikes. That had to hurt. Also, if you're wondering why haven't identified any of the skaters, it's either because we wanted to protect their identities, nobody cares, it doesn't really matter or because we're just lazy. Could be all of the above. Plus, those freakin' skin-toned tights have to go. Who was the genius who thought of this?


















We feel your pain sister:

How Big A "Seinfeld" Fan Are You?

Well, the picture above proports to have 99 references to the classic 1990s television sitcom. Some are obvious, but others take a little mental digging. I bet I could find or identify 90 percent of them at least (haven't had time to really try yet) if not every one of them. See how many you can find and then if you're so inclined, click this link to find the answers. If you want to see a bigger image of this picture, click on it.

Alyssa Milano Writing Books

Alyssa Milano, one of our favorites around here, continues to draw us into her good graces. If it isn't enough that she's gotta be one of the hottest women around, she's also an avid sports fan, specifically a baseball and Dodgers fan. She has season tickets and can talk Dodger baseball with anyone. (Doesn't it just melt your heart?). Anyway, in additon to writing a blog for MLB.com, Alyssa's recently published book, "Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic," is out there for all to grab. She's even doing book signings, which is where these pictures were taken. This one happened to be in New York on Monday, but here's hoping Alyssa takes some time for her L.A. fans and has a few signings here. One thing we do know is that Alyssa will be at the Los Angeles Times' Festival of Books on April 25 at UCLA, where she will be interviewed by Times Dodgers blogger Jon Weisman in addition to taking questions and signing books.

2009 March Madness Update 5

The Elite Eight pairings are set and the picture is coming into focus as far as who seems to be hitting their stide. The races for the brackets and points titles are still as tight as ever, but we will try to sort it out in the next few paragraphs. As far as tonight's games, three of the four were blowouts, and the one that wasn't saw Michigan State eliminate last season's champion, Kansas, in what was the game of the night. Elsewhere, Louisville absolutely dismantled Arizona, Oklahoma eased past Syracuse and North Carolina made quick work of Gonzaga. There are no teams seeded lower than No. 3 among the final eight. As far as the brackets, Russ is in first place and got all four of his picks correct Friday. Pat was the only other player to equal Russ in that regard. The current bracket standings can be found at this link, but you'll see there is a little more separation among the leaders than after Thursday's games. Still, that doesn't mean that too many more competitors have been eliminated. Seems to me that about six people still have a real chance to win this thing.

BRACKET ANALYSIS: Since we're getting down to the wire, I thought I'd offer a look at each player's picks the rest of the way and what they figures to need to win it all.

Russ

Where he stands: First place. Picked seven of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Michigan State, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, North Carolina.

What he needs: If Michigan State comes through, Rusty might win this thing since he's the only one to have the Spartans in the Final Four.

John

Where he stands: Second place. Picked five of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Louisville, Connecticut, Duke, Oklahoma.

What he needs: Since Duke has already been eliminated, John probably needs all three of his other teams to win this weekend to have a chance.

Jim B.

Where he stands: Third place. Picked seven of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Louisville, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma.

What he needs: Louisville will be key for Jim since that would put a damper on Russ's status above him. Oklahoma winning would be another key pick since the majority of players have North Carolina in the FF.

Mike T.

Where he stands: Tied for fourth place. Picked two of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Kansas, Purdue, UCLA, North Carolina.

What he needs: Nothing can help Mike, unfortunately, since three of his FF teams are already eliminated. Sorry Mike. Let's blame Will.

Mike C.

Where he stands: Tied for fourth place. Picked five of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma.

What he needs: Since one of his FF teams is out (Memphis), Mike would need all three other FF teams to win, but it might not matter since those are all popular picks and would likely cancel out any progress he might make.

Jim J.

Where he stands: Sixth place. Picked five of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, North Carolina.

What he needs: Seems that Jim would need all three of his picks other than Memphis to win. Any stumble and it should be lights out.

Pat

Where he stands: Seventh place. Picked six of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, North Carolina.

What he needs: Nothing will seem to help Pat since Jim J. is 10 points ahead has the exact same FF picks.

Ed

Where he stands: Eighth place. Picked five of the Elite Eight teams.

Final Four picks: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, North Carolina.

What he needs: See this space on Pat's entry above.

On to the points standings ...

POINTS STANDINGS:

Jim J. -- 128 points

Ed -- 104 points

Mike T. -- 94 points*

Russ -- 82 points

John -- 78 points

Jim B. -- 72 points

Pat -- 54 points

Mike C. -- 38 points*

* eliminated from competition

ANALYSIS: Another day, another new leader. This time it's Jim J. who has taken over the top on the strength of Oklahoma's 13-point victory over Syracuse. That gave Jim 24 points and made for a 60-point Sweet 16 romp for him. Jim. B, though in sixth place, was the other big scorer Friday when Louisville beat Arizona by more than 30 points (39 to be exact) to invoke the rare quadruple bonus, good for 16 points since Louisville is a No. 1 seed. Russ scored 12 points with North Carolina's win but also lost his other team, Gonzaga, which was North Carolina's victim. The other point scorer Friday was Pat, who got eight points when Michigan State ousted defending national champion Kansas. Speaking of Kansas, the Jayhawks' loss was the end of a miserable night for Mike T. as he lost not only that team but also lost Syracuse earlier to eliminate him from competition and joining Mike C. on the sidelines. Louisville's victory also meant no big scoring points for Ed, who lost Arizona and could have taken control had the Wildcats pulled off the upset. John was not in action. So here's whose alive heading into the Elite Eight:

Jim J.: Oklahoma, Villanova

Jim B.: Louisville, Missouri

Russ: North Carolina

John: Connecticut

Pat: Michigan State

Ed: Pittsburgh

Saturday's matchups: Connecticut-Missouri, Pittsburgh-Villanova

Sunday's matchups: Louisville-Michigan State, North Carolina-Oklahoma

I'll let all of you figure out the scenarios at this point. That is all for now.

'Do You Leak Urine?'

Part of my commute to work isn't exactly one of the most scenic around. Apart from the rock quarries, dirty man-made lakes, dust clouds and billboards touting the lap-band procedure as far as the eye can see, there's not much to see. But I did notice this billboard recently. Kinda hard to read since I took this photo with cellphone camera while driving 70 mph. This what it says:

Do You Leak Urine

When You Laugh Or Sneeze? 1 in 3 Adult Women Do

And yes, that's a spigot showing a leaky faucet if the message of the adversitement wasn't already clear enough just by the words. Others have noticed this billboard, including someone at the blog, Ramblings/Memoirs of a Dirty Pirate Hooker, who posted this lengthy and humorous observation regarding these recent observations about these billboards.

2009 March Madness Update 4

Fellas, originally I was going to do an update after tonight's games, but then I thought it might be valuable to sort of look ahead at the same time, so I will try to do an update after each day from here on. Anyway, the first set of Sweet 16 games have been played and the Big East is once again asserting itself as the best conference in the nation this season. Three teams (Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Villanova) have punched their tickets to the Elite Eight and two more (Louisville and Syracuse) have a chance to nab their own spots tonight. But even though one conference seems to be dominating the tournament, the same can't be said for our races in the points and brackets standings. We have unprecendented competition brewing and it surely figures to go down to the wire. There is a mere 12-point spread separating first place and sixth place in the bracket standings, which can be viewed at this link. Incidentally, Jim B. was the only player to go four for four in the bracket Thursday. Russ had three of four correct and everyone else had two or fewer. In the points standings, we seem to have a new leader every day and with point values going up and nearly everyone still having a team or teams alive, it seems everyone (sans one exeception; more on that later) has a chance to pull it off.

POINTS STANDINGS (after Day 5)

Ed -- 104 points

Jim J. -- 104 points

Mike T. --94 points

John -- 78 points

Russ -- 70 points

Jim B. -- 56 points

Pat -- 46 points

Mike C. -- 38 points

ANALYSIS: Jim J. zoomed into a tie for the lead when his top pick, Villanova scored its second rout in a row, this time over Duke and Coach Rat Krzyzewski (showing a good rat face in the picture to the left), scoring a whopping 36 points. This victory also ended any hopes for Mike C. to stay alive as he lost his final team. Earlier in the night, Mike C. lost his other remaining team, Xavier, in a five-point loss to Pittsburgh that seemed as it could go either way for a while there. The other big point scorer of the night was Jim B. with Missouri, as the Tigers took out Memphis, Pat's top pick, and scored Jim B. 24 points. Pitt's victory, though only worth four points, allowed Ed to keep pace in that top spot with Jim J. One player alive with one team remaining is John, who scored eight points with top-seeded Connecticut's victory. Mike T. is in third though he didn't score any points Thursday nor did he have any teams competing. Russ also didn't score any points Thursday after losing Purdue in its loss to Connecticut. Russ was the only player to come into the Sweet 16 with three teams alive.

FRIDAY PREVIEW: Today's four other Sweet 16 games can take our points standings into a number of directions. Perhaps the biggest game is Louisville (Jim B.) vs. Arizona (Ed). An Arizona victory would earn Ed a minimum of 48 points, so you can that things could quickly get out of hand in the standings race should that occur. Ed pulled off a similar scenario last season when 10th-seeded Davidson made a run to the Elite Eight and ultimately was the difference as to why Ed won the points title. In another matchup today, North Carolina plays Gonzaga, but Russ owns each of those teams, thus assuring him of at least one more round of competition, but also guaranteeing his personal field will dwindle to one. Elsewhere, Oklahoma (Jim J.) takes on Syracuse (Mike T.). So far the No. 3 seeds have won the first two games in the 3-2 matchups, so that could be a good omen for Mike T. The final matchup is Michigan State (Pat C.) vs. Kansas (Mike T.). Here's another chance for Mike T. to take control of the points race depending on the outcome, though can we expect the three seeds to go four for four this round? If so, Mike T. will be in great shape. If the threes already shot their wad, Mike could be in trouble. Next update to come after tonight's games.

Ridiculous Skate Photos O' Day

If you visited here a few days ago, then you no doubt caught our rant on the fact that figure skating should not be considered a sport. Well here are a number of more examples why:

An argyle sweater automatically disqualifies you from participating in a sport:


Wearing a beret automaticaly disqualifies you from participating in a sport:


See comment above:


Horned-rimmed glasses, gloves AND sequins? This definitely disqualifies you from participating in a sport:


When you can't tell where one person's arm ends, where another person's leg begins and who's on top, you have disqualified yourself from participating in a sport:


A beret, scarf and possibly cufflinks? No, no, no, no no. You have disqualified yourself from participating in a sport (and can't even pull off the unemployed actor look with any style for that matter)


Hello? If you have time to do what this sailor is doing, you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport. (Wonder what he's looking at):


Ditto from above (this shade of yellow on ANY part of your "uniform" disqualifies you too):


Stockings and garter on the girl and pinstripe pants and a starched collar on the guy? Do I have to say it again?

Beauty Of March Madness XI

Just in the nick of time before tonight's first Sweet 16 games are played, SI.com finally posted its final of four galleries featuring cheerleaders from the first two rounds of the tournament. This one, the "West Bracket Cheerleaders," makes up for the one posted before this. A lot of good shots, especially early on with Washington.

Cheerleader Lauren From Oregon

It's a proven scientific fact that Oregon cheerleaders -- and I mean the ones from the University of Oregon in Eugene -- are some of the hottest there are in all the NCAA. If you don't believe me, there's more previous evidence at this link. If you're really, daring you might want to click this one too. Anyway, this is Lauren, an Oregon cheerleader that SI.com has so graciously decided to feature. In the gallery, which can be found here, there are pictures not only of Lauren, but of many of her cheerleading teammates.

Beauty Of March Madness X

The latest gallery to be posted by SI.com was the "Midwest Bracket Cheerleaders," but I must say that, to me, it's the weakest of the three we have featured here. And so much potential, what with the USC cheerleaders a part of the bracket. Sure, there were several Trojans shots, but not the kind of quality we have come to expect. There also was only one photo of Arizona cheerleaders, which usually turn out some gems. There's plenty of Louisville and it's pretty good. Also, after being treated to 44-image galleries, this one is only 33.

Ridiculous Skate Photos O' Day

The World Figure Skating Championships are in Los Angeles this week and I'm reminded once again how I've never (and never will) view this activity as a sport. It's an event. It's art even. It's something that takes incredible skill. But it's NOT a sport. Same way synchronized swimming is not a sport. When makeup, silly costumes and choreography set to romantic music are involved, you can rest assured that you are not competing in a sport. If you're wearing sequins on any part of your "uniform" or body, you can be certain you are not participating in a sport. Like I said, it takes incredible skill to do what some of these people do, but so does ballet and improvisational theater, and I'm not going to paint my face, drink a beer, chow down on a dog and sit in the crowd to watch these things unfold before my eyes. So, anyway, in honor of the WFSC in action all this week, here is our new feature pointing out the ridiculousness of it all.

If Saturday Night Fever-like poses are an everyday thing for you, you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport:


If you make it a point to voluntarily be upside down, you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport:


If open-mouthed gestures, or simply trying to look sexy while you're in the middle of competition, are part of what scores you "points," you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport:


If simulated make-out sessions and the fondling of your partner's breast are on the agenda, you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport. (Though nice going with that. Great work if you can get it I suppose.)


If a skate blade comes intentionally within inches of your carotid artery and your name is not Clint Malarchuk, you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport:


If you and Rob Lowe have been mistaken for each other in public at some point, you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport:


If by your appearance you'd be mistaken for the villain in the opera "Carmen" (Is there a villain? I'm not even sure), you have automatically disqualified yourself from participating in a sport:


More to follow the rest of the week.