Lingerie League Puts 'Fun' into Fundamental Basketball

If the looming NBA lockout has bred anything but thoughts of NBA stars playing overseas, watching games live on ESPN at 3 a.m. and long winter nights yearning for a Blake Griffin dunk highlight, you're wrong.  No Lakers, no problem.  Mix a little Kobe Bryant and Kardashian sisters and you get the Lingerie Basketball League.  Only from the beaches of California could an idea like this make you forget about David Stern.  It's similar to Lingerie Football-- only with even less padding.

The professional women's basketball league debuted July 23 and, as the league's slogan says it's, "Where Beauty Meets the Hardwood."

The players wear little more than brightly-colored panties, garters and sports bras.  Even a flagrant foul is pretty easy on the eyes and 'driving the lane' just got a whole new meaning.

The Los Angeles-based league has four teams:  The Beauties, The Divas, The Glam and The Starlets-- and the girls can play.  See for yourself:

The league uses most of the same rules as traditional women's basketball.  There is a 35-second clock, two 20-minute halves, but uses a high-school 3-point line.  A held ball results in a jump ball between the Amazonian beauties and the "Red Light Special" gives a player 60 seconds to score bonus points.

Trash talking is rampant although there hasn't been a dunk yet.  That's OK, because the fans are there to see good, fundamental basketball skills.

Some women's rights groups have already condemned the league-- so what else is new-- but the league has shown to be gaining popularity pretty fast.

How the LBL expects to gain fans around the country when all four teams are based in L.A. is a mystery--oh yeah, they play in their underwear.

Still can't see the WNBA following suit.

Shaq Yuks it Up on Conan O'Brien's Late Night Show

Shaquille O'Neal's appearance on Conan O'Brien's late night talk show last night began with the 7-foot-1 former NBA player walking out onto the stage donning a Conan look-a-like red wig.  Hilarious.  Then the 7-foot-1 Shag then proceeded to maul Conan side-kick Andy Richter on the guest couch and later tried squeezing his 300-pound frame into a little go-kart for a  race with the host.  Let's put it mildly to the big guy-- none of it really worked.

Fans of Coco-- what does that mean?-- were rolling in the aisles and the two Big O's were slapsticking themselves silly,  but it was the same old Shaq routine.

 The four-time NBA champion, who never met a camera he didn't like, appeared on the TBS show as a cross-promotion for his new gig on TV.  Shaq had been hired by TBS sister station TNT as an NBA analyst.

The charming O'Neal is no stranger to the small screen and has appeared on Saturday Night Live and even had his own reality show, but some of his shtick is getting thinner than Conan himself.  What diet has that guy been on?

Even his first appearance as an analyst on TNT wasn't without controversy after the mumbling Shaq took a personal shot at Miami Heat player Chris Bosch after Shaq's former NBA championship team  lost in the NBA Finals. 

Superman (or whatever name O'Neal goes by these days) may not be a Hubie Brown (at least he's more appealing to the eye) in the analyst department, but Shaq doesn't take himself seriously and, if you can understand one out of every three words he says, O'Neal is sometimes pretty funny-- and not in a "Shazam" kind of way.

Yankees-White Sox Game Has Rain Delay Without Rain

Phil Hughes was ready to make his most important start of the season when officials at U.S. Cellular Field delayed the start of the game due to rain--only problem was, it wasn't raining.  The New York Yankees pitcher was warming up to face the Chicago White Sox when the grounds crew started rolling out the tarps and it was announced that the start of the game would be evaluated 45 minutes later because radar showed rain.  The sky was dark but the only moisture was the sweat on the players and fans in the sweltering humidity.

It was unusual, even by baseball standards, to delay a game before even one single raindrop fell or a pitch was thrown.

The game finally started at 7:55 CST, with nary a drop of moisture, and the skies looked a lot more threatening while the tarps were being rolled up, then when they were laid out earlier.  The temperature dropped 9-degrees in that hour of time.

Ohio University Ranked No. 1 Party School In Country According to Survey

We're Number One...in knocking back the cold ones.

According to the annual survey by The Princeton Review released yesterday, Ohio University was named the Top Party School in the country.  The Athens campus, sitting in the foothills of the Appalachians, reached the top spot for the first time.

The survey is based on 62 categories which include drug use,  alcohol consumption and popularity of the Greek System.  It also takes into consideration more mundane concerns like access to professors, hours of study and libraries.

The home of the Bobcats made the leap from No. 2 last and was tops in beer-drinking among the 376 colleges and universities surveyed.

Rex Ryan Shows Off Plaxico and New Tattoo in Jets Training Camp

Plaxico Burress made his big debut in New York Jets green today, but his arrival in training camp was not as big as the prominent new tattoo gracing head coach Rex Ryan's right leg.  It looks like Ryan used his down time, during the lockout this summer, to get his calf inked with what looks like Japanese artwork-- maybe a dragon or a serpent.

Burress, the ex-New York Giants Super Bowl hero appeared on the sidelines of the Jets Florham Park training camp this afternoon.  The ex-con, who signed a one-year $3.017 million contract with Gang Green on Saturday, cannot participate in practice until Thursday due to the new labor rules.

The controversial Burress, who always expressed a desire to play under Ryan, must have really meant what he said.  The wide-out appeared at the facility three days before he can even run drills.

It's been over two years since the 33 year-old Burress has touched a football in an NFL surrounding but says he is in good shape.

Burress, who will wear his old No. 17-- Braylon Edwards' number-- was even given an additional $17,000 by the Jets because of his connection to the number.

Phil Hughes Pitching for Final Spot in Yankees Rotation

Now that New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman didn't acquire any new arms before the trade deadline and we can finally put those Andy Pettitte un-retiring rumors to rest, manager Joe Girardi has to figure out what to do with the six starting pitchers he has left.  His dilemma, who is the odd man out after he whittles his rotation down to five--the dead arm of Phil Hughes or the hot hand of Ivan Nova?

"We just talked about tweaking our rotation a little bit.  Do you give guys an extra days rest?" was Girardi's rhetorical question.

Girardi hasn't made any decisions, but it is a sure bet he won't be going with a six-man rotation.  That scenario wouldn't bode well with CC Sabathia or A.J. Burnett-- who both prefer to pitch on normal rest and what the ace CC wants, he's going to get.

On the other hand, Hughes has to pitch a near perfect game against the Chicago White Sox this Tuesday night to keep a slot.  The righthander's sparkling 2010 season can only carry him so far.

Girardi seemed defensive when asked about Hughes' 1-3, 8.14 ERA this season since returning from the DL for an inflammation of his right shoulder.  Hughes fastball has hovered around the 92-93 mph since coming back.

"You're evaluating [Hughes] on his last three or four starts," Girardi said.  "We believe this guy still has a huge upside; he won 18 games last year, and we want to see him continue to progress.  How many guys won 18 games last year?  Not too many.  We have to continue to evaluate him, if we think he's going in the right direction."

There's a lot wrong with that statement.  Maybe Girardi is waiting for Doc Brown to pull up with the "Back to the Future" DeLorean.

First, Girardi can't live in the past and,  has to put a lot of consideration on who stays in the current rotation on a pitcher's last few starts.  Secondly, Nova still has the slight chance of winning 18 games this season, even with time spent on the DL.  Hmm...let's see, 18 W's last year or 18 this season?

Nova pitched well in the night-cap of Saturday's double-header-- his first start since being called up from the Yankees Triple-A club in Scranton. Staked to a comfy 12-run first-inning, Nova held the Baltimore Orioles to six hits and two earned runs over seven innings. He is 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA including going 4-0 with a 3.41 ERA over his last five starts.  Nova knows how the business works.

"That's a decision I don't make," he said.  "Of course, I want to be here."

If Hughes pitches lights-out on Tuesday, Nova could be going back down to the minors.  Girardi indicated it would be "a natural move" to send down but would weigh other options.

Now if Hughes gets rocked, it would leave Girardi no choice but to demote Hughes to work things out.  The only rationale for keeping a struggling Hughes in the rotation is if either Bartolo Colon or Freddy Garcia gets injured or falter badly and that doesn't look like it's going to happen.

For now, Girardi is standing by Hughes.

"We'll talk about this after Sunday," said Girardi.  "His stuff in his last [start] was closer to where it was last year.  I'm not ready just to throw away what he did last year."

It looks like we should have some answers after the road trip to Chicago.

St. John's Gets Verbal Agreement From Top Forward Ricardo Gathers

St. John's head coach Steve Lavin hasn't let up in his quest to become the best college basketball recruiter in the nation.  Yesterday, Ricardo Gathers of Reserve, La., who was named 2011 Louisiana Mr. Basketball, gave a verbal commitment to play for the Red Storm.

Gathers, a 6-foot-7, 240 pound power forward whom his AAU coach, Scooter Owens,  called a cross between Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, chose the Red Storm over LSU, Baylor, Oregon, Kansas, Syracuse, California and Connecticut.

According to Rivals.com, the man-child Gathers is the 43rd top-rated player in his class and the 11th rated power forward.

The four-star recruit led his team, the Rebels, to their second straight Class A State Championship and has numerous videos on YouTube highlighting his thunderous slams.  Gathers has been called the most powerful dunker in high school.

Gathers is a man among boys.  He averaged 20.7 points, 16.2 rebounds and 3.9 blocked shots last season.

Lavin scored a big-time coup in getting the agreement from the highly-recruited Gathers.  The St. John's head coach, who is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer,  had the third-ranked recruiting class for the upcoming season.  Gathers is another major coup for Lavin in only his second year in New York.

"I picked St. John's because of the coaching staff," said Gathers. "I liked the way coach Lavin communicated with me throughout the process."

The senior broke a lot of hearts when he didn't pick local school LSU.

"I can't wait to play in New York," said Gathers.  "Watching the movie 'He Got Game' got me really excited about playing there."

Maybe Lavin should send videos of the Spike Lee to all future recruits.