KITTY TREATS…

Just when I thought he couldn’t get any hotter, Camilo Villegas went and grew some facial hair! Adding a sexy contrast to his blond tufts, this is both a good thing and a bad thing. Yes, it’s a good thing to add a bit of manliness to this beast, but it also brings Camilo to another level. A level destined to bring even more attention, and competition his way (and ours). So be prepared to start sharing our Kitty-kat. His days of obscurity are over, as his newly sprouted growth seems to be symbolic of his own growth on the PGA tour.

Please send thank you emails to the USA network for giving us some delicious Camilo coverage during the tournement. And of course, we must thank Camilo himself for a steamy first round. Villegas completed the first round at the Buick Championship 4-under par and tied for 5th place.

TOUR DE FARCE?
On the eve of the biggest cycling event in the world, a “doping scandal” has wreaked havoc on the Tour De France. Favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso are out of the race, as are more than 50 other cyclists who have been implicated in a Spanish doping probe. Tour Director Christian Prudhomme proclaimed: “The enemy is not cycling, the enemy is doping.” Back in May, police carried out arrests and raids, confiscating drugs and frozen blood believed to have been readied for banned, performance-enhancing transfusions. Since then, the identities of the riders who allegedly had contacts with a doctor among those arrested has leaked in Spanish media. On Thursday, more leaks seeped out of the media and Spanish authorities released details from the probe to Tour organizers. T-Mobile received information implicating several of its riders, team spokesman Luuc Eisenga said. “The only thing I can tell you is that the information is clear enough and didn’t leave any doubt.”

Some of the riders who got spanked for allegedly “doping” in the Tour De France (From top, L-R) Germany’s Jan Ullrich and Spain’s Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile/Ger), Italy’s Ivan Basso (CSC/Den), Spain’s Francesco Mancebo(AG2R/Fra), Spain’s Joseba Beloki, Isidro Nozal, Australia’s Allan Davis, Portugal’s Sergio Paulinho and Spain’s Alberto Contador (Astana-Wurth/Spa).

GOOD GUY AWARDS

Hotties Deuce McAllister (Saints), Peyton Manning (Colts- above), and Chris Duhon (Bulls) all have big hearts and have been named the ’06 Sporting News No. 1 Good Guy Award winners. The three beasts were selected due to their “magnificent involvement and commitment to the maddeningly slow [Hurricane] Katrina relief efforts.” At least $62M in Katrina relief has been raised by the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR and PGA Tour, as well as by teams, players and fans. Just another reason to love the athletes…

CONDOLENCES

A sad time for Lakers player Lamar Odom. Odom’s 6 1/2-month-old son, Jayden, died Wednesday night, apparently suffocating while sleeping in his crib in New York. Baby Jayden was born Dec. 15 and both Lamar and his wife are asking for their privacy at this time. The hot baller came to the Lakers two years ago in the trade that sent Shaquille to the Heat. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lamar and his family.

SHUT IT!
Barry Bonds’ retarded trainer, Greg Anderson may be facing jail time if he doesn’t start singing. A federal grand jury is fishing for information that would implicate Bond on perjury charges, and Anderson has refused to testify. The federal judge will rule next week whether Anderson should be found in contempt of court.

BE SAFE AT THE CUP

Awesome posters (above) will be carried on “advertising vans” driving through such promiscuous cities as Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham, where the World Cup games will be shown on big screens for fans in hot, hot, hot Team England. The copy reads “Here’s to a clean sheet lads” alongside a small picture of the limited-edition “England Supporter” condom pack Durex has produced for the World Cup. This is what I call brilliant advertising. The only improvement that could be made? Put a photo of Beckham on the condom wrapper…

WORLD CUP HOTTIES
A Google Trends analysis of searches shows that “David Beckham” is a more popular Internet search term this year in Indonesian, Norwegian, Hungarian, Turkish, Danish, Swedish and Spanish than it is in English. The adidas PR Manager said over 300,000 Beckham replica jerseys are sold each year worldwide. The study shows that you guys really are paying attention. I beam with pride as I report that Wayne Rooney has become “almost as popular on Google in England and Ireland this year as ‘David Beckham’” Nice work people…

Speaking of hot English players, you may want to pick up a copy of the July edition of British GQ. The 2006 World Cup issue features sexy Frank Lampard on the cover and touts him as “England New Golden Boy.” Ditto on that GQ.

Speaking of England…if you watch the hotties in action tomorrow when they take on Portugal, I can almost guarantee you will react like Michael Ballack did during the Germany game. I say goddamn!

A LITTLE BIT OF FIGHTING

Hotheaded Argentinean players weren’t too happy about getting spanked out of the Cup by those oh-so-fine Germans. Some sexy ‘face-squeezing’ went on during one argument today and unfortunately, the little referee bastard (far right) Lubos already had his yellow card in hand before breaking up what could have been a hot fight. After 56 of the 64 matches, referees have issued 25 red cards and 310 yellow, more than any previous World Cup tournament.

Have a safe and happy hottie filled holiday weekend.
As always, thanks for reading. Delinda

San Diego is currently undergoing an intense heat wave, bringing throngs of tourists to this oh-so-fine city where a great number of them will visit the San Diego Zoo. One such tourist was spotted this morning with his daughter and two hot bodyguards as he took in such sites as floating hippo’s and social apes. Who was this luscious, prissy tourist? Non other than Kobe Bryant. Didn’t see Mrs. Kobe with him, although I suspect she was there. And oddly enough, people were leaving Kobe alone. Well, most of them anyway…

TO SHAVE OR NOT TO SHAVE

Just as I was thinking how crusty Adam Morrison’s mustache is, I discover a terribly shocking video. The second EA Sports ad for “NBA Live 07” featuring the big crybaby, Adam Morrison, is currently airing and I believe, should be pulled immediately. The disturbing 30-second spot opens with a close-up of Morrison’s mouth and mustache, before panning back as he speaks to show his whole face. Morrison: “My mustache speaks to me. It tells me the right combination of ingredients to keep it flaxen. It says together we will return the NBA to the glory of the mustache days: Pistol Pete, Kurt Rambis and Clyde Frazier. And in the off-season, my mustache and I will drive around in a muscle car solving mysteries. Times will be good. My mustache is very wise. ‘NBA Live’ EA Sports: it’s in the game.” Funny thing, as soon as the spot aired, Morrison dropped from first to third in the NBA draft. My vote: Shave pa-leeze!

SUPERMAN

Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will feature a “Superman Returns” paint scheme for Saturday’s Nextel Cup Pepsi 400 at Daytona Int’l Speedway. Brandon Routh, the super sexy stud who plays Superman in the movie, will serve as grand marshal!

RAFAEL NADAL: TOO HOT FOR WIMBLEDON?

Tennis Athlebrity Rafael Nadal is so hot, he’s got the officials fainting. The sexy beast, looked on after a court official fainted during second round action in the Men’s Singles at Wimbledon, today. Gotta say, I don’t blame the official one bit, it’s a very successful ploy to use if you really want to meet your hottie.

WORLD CUP HOTTIES

Tomorrow, the stage is set and the hotties are back in action after taking a few days off to prepare for the big showdown. Game one is Germany vs. Argentina, and with it comes a confusing plethora of hotties. I’ve honed in on one such stud, Torsten Frings (far right), who resembles that sweet thing Ace of American Idol fame.

Germany’s Michael Ballack (L) and Jens Lehman have been extremely effective in getting me to cheer for their team.

WIGS AND JIGS
So yesterday, I took the day off to tool around and do a little research. I was on the hunt for the Oakland A’s who were in town playing the Padres. Spotted at the mall was pitcher Dan Haren. Haren was sporting an awesome Oakland A’s green shirt with brand new green sneakers. He moseyed around for a while on his own, before I got distracted by the Wigs. (*Keep reading for an explanation). Also spotted walking through town was the incredibly sexy Eric Chavez. Chavez was hand in hand with a very lucky lady. Had she not been there, he would have needed a bodyguard. Dude is hot, period.

Now, the Wigs. Up until yesterday, I thought I had seen it all, but oh, how wrong I was. Unbeknownst to me, the North American Irish Dance Championships are in town. My only experience, thus far, with Irish dancing has been the spine-tingling Riverdance and the sounds of my father waking from a Riverdance nightmare. Now I have my own nightmares.

I fell upon the competition by mistake when I entered the lobby of the Marriott hotel, and was immediately assaulted by a sea of children. But not regular children. Damien Omen type kids. Coming at me from all angles were little girls wearing big make up, big Wigs, weird dresses, and tiaras. The sounds of clicking shoes echoed in the lobby and in an Alice in Wonderland like dream, my jaw dropped. Most were in street clothes-leaving on their Wigs and make-up-which only added an extra element of fear to the situation. *Several Wigs actually went shopping at the mall.

I pressed on until I found the makeshift gift shop filled with Wigs, dresses, shoes, tiaras, dolls, socks and scary, pushy parents. I tried to understand the difference in the Wigs. A table displayed the Jordan 2, Megan, Sinead, and Grainne styles, all in a variety of colors. You could even purchase hair-care products for your Wig. Young girls eagerly tried on dresses as their parents beamed with pride while shelling out $1500 for a dress. A father was testing the elastic in a pair of special dance socks. One woman was looking for the right Wig for her daughters dress. Competitors were testing out new shoes, making sure they had the “loudest tap.” You could hear the coaches over the tapping “Tap one up, six down tap, tap, tap…” the Irish music blaring in the background. And I hadn’t even gotten to the competition yet!

Forcing myself onward, I entered the ballroom where the dancers were being judged. Its fair to say that it’s the closest thing to being in the Twighlight Zone that I’ve entered encountered. Camera in hand, I frantically tried to snap photos through the tears of laughter emanating from my friend, Debba and myself. These young girls win every award for the scariest people on earth. Nothing could have prepared me for it, and nothing will speed up my recovery. As soon as the video footage is edited, it will be uploaded and shared for all to see. And yes, I am also going to notify Child Protective Services.

I’m spent. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda

ANYONE ELSE EMBARRASSED FOR RANDY MOSS?

On Saturday, Oakland Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss opened his Inta Juice store in his hometown of Charleston, W.Va. The once-hot baller looked right at home as he made yummy smoothies for adoring fans. Moss, who is a partner in the Fort Collins, Colo.-based juice bar franchise, plans to open additional stores in Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina.

Number one seed and oh-so-arrogant Roger Federer spanked Richard Gasquet in the first round of the mens singles at Wimbledon yesterday. Federer was sporting a jacket that had been made for him by Nike. The jacket has a crest that included a tuft of grass, the Swiss cross, the symbol star sign (Leo), an F for his surname, and three racquets that represent his three Wimbledon titles. Federer now has another reason to be arrogant, he won his 42nd straight grass-court match. “It’s nice to get any streak,” Federer said. “I’m still going, so even better if I can maybe postpone it and make it even last longer. I’m surprised myself I’ve kept it that long. To come through today was my only wish, not to break the streak, but to have it come together is nice.”

Meanwhile, Athlebrity favorite, Rafeal Nadal and his biceps took the court against Alex Bogdanovic this morning at Wimbledon. The sounds of his beautiful grunting, spanking Alex were not in vain, and our little Spanaird advanced to the next round. Yummy. Mad props to Spin magazine for recognizing the beauty of our Rafi, but points deducted for his placement on the list. The magazine’s “25 Hottest Stars Under 25” ranked sports hotties Lebron James 2nd, and Nadal 25th. They must have a blind editor running that mag, Rafi, 25th? Not!

Steve Nash has inked a three-year deal with Clearly Canadian beverages. The company will use sexy Nash primarily for “its core sparkling flavored waters and a line of enhanced waters” which will break later this year. Clearly Canadian President said of the brand, “Despite the name, most of our sales are in the U.S. We were looking for a Canadian that is also well known in the U.S. and Steve was an easy choice there.” Um, maybe Nash was an easy choice because there is only one other NBA player from Canada, Jamaal Magloire. Nash, who is during a “media tour” today, will begin appearing on in-store advertising within a month and his picture will be on around five million bottles beginning in July. The sexy baller has quite a list of Athlebrity achievements, including endorsement deals with Nike, FedEx, Wheaties, MDG Computers and ProTrade.

THE CRYING GAME…Remember the big crybaby Adam Morrison? The former Gonzaga Univ. forward is “on the cusp of signing a Diabetes-related contract” that might top a multi-year, seven-figure deal with adidas he reportedly signed last week. Morrison also has deals with Topps and EA Sports, and all the companies that have signed with Morrison are planning to donate a portion of his pay to Diabetes-related causes. All this is very sweet, but let’s have some fun shall we? An EA Sports ad for “NBA Live 07” has the big- guy poking fun at himself. It opens with Morrison shooting baskets on a lonely outdoor basketball court, followed by a close-up of him talking about his crying on the court after Gonzaga was spanked by UCLA in the ’06 NCAA Tournament. Morrison says to the camera, “Yeah, I cried. I cried on national television. So what? Failure hurts. In that moment, winning was everything. I’ll move on. I’ll cry again. I hope I never lose that intensity. More people should cry, and when I get to the NBA more people will cry. ‘NBA Live’ EA Sports: it’s in the game.”

Mensa Reject Gilbert Arenas was dumb enough to get a ticket in Miami over Memorial Weekend for standing next to his friend. (which translated into-oh-no- disorderly conduct) but wasn’t smart enough to appear in court this morning. Arenas missed his arraignment as did his attorney! The reject has been out on $1,000 bond and forced Circuit Judge Samuel Slom to slam down his gavel and issue a bench warrant for Arenas arrest.

And finally, did anyone watch hot Ukrainians spank the Swiss out of the world Cup yesterday? Team captain Shevchenko made my pulse go haywire with his fancy footwork, and more importantly, when he took off his shirt, but I almost fell off my chair when I spotted Artem Milevskiy.

I will not be quiet! In a sea of yellow uniforms and hot blond players, Milevskiy emerged just in time to quench my thirst for a tall, dark, hot soccer player. And oh my, did he deliver.

And finally, I leave you all with one of the hottest commercials in the world. Thanks to John Terry’s number one fan for sending this my way. I have never wanted to be a soccer ball so badly. Click on the TV and be prepared to appriciate the beauty of Chelsea Blue.

That’s it for today. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda
*Publishing notice- Athlebrites will not be posting tomorrow, July 28th, and will return on Thursday.

KING JAMES GOES BIKING
The second-annual LeBron James King for Kids Bikeathon in Akron Ohio was in full swing this weekend. LeBron met with the Mayor of Akron at Lock 3 Park on Friday to thank the community for its love and to unveil the event’s newest sponsor: Microsoft. Microsoft’s Windows Live is taking the bikeathon global by creating a website (www. Lebronsbikeathon.com) which allows fans to take a virtual tour of the ride with King James and other hot celebrities. Lebrons charity bike event has more than 20 other sponsors, each dishing out anywhere from $5,000 to excess of $50,000.

FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE

We’ve all seen those crazy fans at the World Cup with their face-painted babies, attempting to raise a true fan. And it may actually work. Research shows that most children are loyal to the same team their parents are. And just to ensure your little fan is properly brainwashed, there is an ultra-scary company out-there to help you. Team Baby Entertainment, which was just purchased by Former Disney Chair & CEO Michael Eisner, is a “start-up company” that makes college-sports booster videos aimed at children ages 6 months to 5 years!

The 30-minute videos show children “in football jerseys and cheerleading outfits running, dancing and playing” to schools’ fight songs. The video’s are nothing short of frightening and should be outlawed. Once your little face-painter is properly schooled, they can take their team loyalty to the grave. MLB and Eternal Image Inc., a designer of funeral products, have reached a licensing agreement that allows demented fans to take their teams with them when they die. Attempting to reel in Mensa rejects, the deal allows Eternal Image to decorate its caskets and urns with the names and logos of any MLB team. “This new line of team-specific funeral products opens a whole new market for our company — a market that is just waiting for a way to make team loyalty a ‘final’ statement of a great passion in their lives,” Clint Mytych, chief executive officer of Eternal Image, said in a statement. This certainly makes burial services for Church of Athlebritolgy members more festive, but pa-leeze wait until 2007 to die, as the caskets and urns aren’t available until then. Price to be buried with your team? Caskets are about $3,000-3,500 and urns $600-1,000. And no, I didn’t make this up.

THE LONG ARM OF THE NBA

Heart stopping World Cup hottie Torsten Frings, from Germany, checks into his hotel sporting a Spurs jersey! Unfortunately due to delays in overseas broadcasting, nobody informed him the Heat won the title this year and the Spurs are sooooo ‘not in’ anymore.

WORLD CUP ITALIANS

Allesandro Del Piero and his thighs did some edible soccer field gymnastics as he and the rest of the hot Italians eliminated the hungry Aussie’s with 30 seconds left of regulation time. Francesco Totti scored on a penalty kick to advance his unbelievably hot Italian team to the next round.

After scoring, Totti caused me to again consult the DSM. (The DSM is an awesome reference book used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders). Luckily, I found nothing associated with being sexually aroused by Hot Thumb Sucking Italians.

In answer to our prayers and the victory, the hand of God came down and ripped the shirts off the Italians…it is indeed a beautiful game.

Power tripping? Is anyone else sick of this little bastard and his cards? We know you got a pocket full of cards, but for the love of Athlebrities, let the boys play!

And finally, if the Athlebrity Gods are listening, pa-leeze, do NOT show me another photo of Brazilian transvestite Ronaldinho kissing a soccer ball. Tomorrow, my money is on team Ghana and Ghanian midfielder Sulley Muntari. Try to kiss that Ronaldinho!

That’s it for today. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda

THE CHURCH OF ATHLEBRITOLOGY IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!

Anyone got a DSM? As I was enjoying the England vs Ecuador game, I wondered if there is a sexual disorder that affects fans and causes uncontrollable ‘pleasure’ while viewing the game?

Watching Beckham bend it like he does, flanked by John Terry, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, and Ashley Cole, I got on my knees and thanked the Athlebrity gods for such a beautiful game. (Sans Peter Crouch of course). And it looks like I’m not the only one -awesome fans in the UK were on thier knee’s praying after England’s victory.

England spanked Ecuador 1-0 and has advanced to the semifinals, compliments of Beckham’s delicious point winning free kick and not-so-hot vomiting. “The last two days I’ve been struggling, even in training,” Beckham said. “Wazza (Wayne Rooney) said to me before the game, `You’ve been terrible the last two days, so you’re going to get one tonight.”‘ How is it possible that Beckham still looks hot, even when he’s puking? (Sorry about the photo Beck’s, send me to purgatory for a stint.)

Beckham was far from terrible, but what’s up with Wayne Rooney? Was the little bulldog ‘outted’ after the match? Rooney was elated with his teams’ victory, but was found later in the locker room snuggled up to an Ecuadorian jersey? Like I always say…what goes on in Germany, stays in Germany.

Watching his daddy play, Brooklyn Beckham finally sports a new haircut- one that distinguishes him as a boy! The hot Brits will take on those oh-so-sexy boys from Portugal on Saturday July 1st.

RUB A DUB-DUB!
And in my continuing quest of How the Hell Do I Get That Job……

Delicious Brazilian Robinho teases me from the tub and makes me wonder what the hell his buddy is doing to him to cause such an awkward grin?

Happy Sunday. Delinda

THE KITTY KAT HAS LANDED!

Remember the good old days, when you could walk the greens next to your favorite lawn kat? Well those days are over and Tuesday has been declared a national holiday by Athlebrities. Why? Because on Tuesday, the July issue of G.Q. magazine hits the stands, and with it comes the much anticipated, Athlebrity break through of our favorite lawn-kat, Camilo Villegas.

Camilo Villegas is featured in a two-page spread that contains photos of the 24-year-old Colombian treat that were taken in April at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. The sexy beast is shown strolling, not crawling, down a fairway with a female caddie and lounging by a pool sporting those oh-so-hot Lindeberg clothes. The spread’s subhead describes Villegas as having “a closet full of tight trousers, a set of boxer’s biceps and more screaming female fans than Justin Timberlake.” On Villegas being one of the new faces of the PGA Tour, Commissioner Tim Finchem told the magazine, “Golf needs to look more like the rest of the country and the rest of the world and it’s heading in that direction.” I’m heading in the direction of GQ’s main offices, I can’t wait until Tuesday to get my paws all over this latest addition to my porn collection! Purrrrr…

Sexy F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve has taken a step in the Mensa reject direction and released the debut track from his new rock album. However, hotness and his statement earn him a pass. “My job is still racing cars, my job is not music — that’s a hobby. As long as my job is still racing cars, I will concentrate on cars, so I don’t expect to be touring or anything because it takes too much time and I don’t have the time at the moment to prepare.”

THE NBA SEASON HAS ENDED, AND THE TROPHY NEEDS A VACATION.

The Miami Heat’s Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy is setting sail on an international cruise-ship tour beginning this weekend. This Sunday, when the “tour” kick-off, Trophy will greet guests and crew aboard the 2,794-passenger Carnival Valor while it is docked at the Port of Miami. Monday, Trophy takes a first-class flight Italy, and then visits Hong Kong before going back to Italy where he will hang out with Andrea Bocelli. Eventually, Trophy will come back to Miami where he’ll chill at the American Airlines Arena. Trophy will bank more than 18,000 frequent flier miles “I was asked if I wanted to bring any players along with me” said Trophy, “but everyone was busy.”

Not busy were the Mavericks. Clean shaven Dirk Nowitzki (L) and Josh Powell cleaned out their lockers and exchange digits (L) while Adrian Griffin (R) gets in trouble for trying to contact Trophy about the trip. Trophy informed him that only “Heat players” were invited to go with him.

Shaq and his Heat rode in a parade on Biscayne Boulevard this afternoon to celebrate bringing the Trophy home. The shin dig began at the American Airlines Arena and traveled south on Biscayne Boulevard to Southeast First Street and then returned north on Biscayne Boulevard back to the arena for a rally with the hot Heat players. In true Miami style, Heat President of Business Operations said in a statement. “We invite all of South Florida to keep the party going and come celebrate with your White Hot Miami Heat along Biscayne Boulevard and at our house.”

Heat players also were expected to attend a party Friday at Mansion. “I’m going to live it up,” Dwyane Wade said, “because we deserve it.” And word of caution, unless you got a serious “hook-up” in South Beach, you ain’t getting into Mansion.

VICTOR CONTE = MENSA REJECT

In a shocker yesterday, it was revealed that Victor Conte has been identified as the source for the SF Chronicle’s reporting on the steroid scandal. E-mails seized by federal authorities identified the reject after an online court filing accidentally revealed confidential information. The filing details conversations between the asshole Chronicle reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada and bitter Victor Conte, who jokingly suggests in one message that he be placed on the newspaper’s payroll in exchange for information about grand jury testimony by elite athletes. (Anyone look into this yet?) It wasn’t clear whether Conte provided the reporters with grand jury transcripts, but it does show Conte discussing the testimony of athletes about their steroid use. Sections of Wednesday’s government filing were redacted to protect sensitive material concerning the grand jury’s investigation. But those passages are revealed when the document is pasted into a word processing program. Great work on behalf of the court, and fantastic work by the crew at The Smoking Gun!

And as promised, Motorola’s exclusive mobile phone content deal with Church of Athlebritolgy God David Beckham is being rolled out in Asia and Europe during the World Cup. As part of the deal about 20 lucky people who buy Motorola phones during the tournament will win a personal training session with Beckham in Madrid. Guess I’m heading to Asia.

WONDER TWIN POWERS ACTIVATE, FORM OF JOHN TERRY - PA-LEEZE!

John Terry, the hot little teammate of Beckham’s, got under God during a training session today, and sent my libido into somersaults. Look for the hot English studs in round 16 on Saturday where they’ll face the scary Ecuadorians.

That’s it for now. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda

DWYANE WADE IS ALL THE RAGE

Sexy NBA MVP Dwyane Wade made an appearance on NBA TV and chatted about the new Wheaties box cover at the NBA Store in New York today. Since the Heat victory, Wade has become the poster child for Athlebrities. Wade has shot up the charts faster than any other Athlebrity I can think of and his potential is unlimited. He has earned our love because he plays wicked ball, is hotter than hell and perhaps the most humble athlete I’ve seen interviewed.

HEAT BALLS: Nikco Sports will market a limited edition, full-sized commemorative championship basketball to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of South Florida. The regulation-size Spalding basketball is licensed by the NBA, and has all of the official markings and logos of the Miami Heat, along with the words “World Champions” printed on each ball. Only 5,000 basketballs will be produced, priced at $99 each. Get ‘em while you can.

Michael Jordan, the original Athlebrity, still looks edible after all these years. Jordan, who recently became a managing member of basketball operations for the Charlotte Bobcats, watched his hotties workout at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, N.C., today. Michael Jordan is timeless and I can only specualte as to what he was talking about in the above photo…

Hot Lleyton Hewitt has plenty to celebrate. He just settled a $2.5M legal dispute with the ATP after the series fined him $160,000 for allegedly “*refusing to do a pre-match television interview” during the ’02 Masters Series in Cincinnati. Hewitt sued for defamation in the Supreme Court of South Australia after the ATP reduced the fine to $35,000. *This is a major no-no for an Athlebrity- you do the interview, period. However, Hewitt is hot enough to allow a free pass on this one. And you know if it were Roger Federer I’d be singing a different tune.

You’ve read about our hot Puma golfer from down under, Geoff Ogilvy, now its time for you to appreciate those beautiful blue eyes of his. After Ogilvy became Australia’s first major championship winner in more than a decade, he arrived home to take a break from the strenuous game before he hits the greens at the British Open at Royal Liverpool next month. “My goal will be to give myself a chance,” he said. “The British Open is my favorite tournament of the year … I like the golf courses and I like the history.”

When Wayne Rooney was asked how he felt about Nike pulling its fantastic billboard, he reacted properly (L). Meanwhile, the new billboard (R) is expected to be up soon.

Speaking of ad’s, Northern Rock pulled a series of hot ads featuring England’s sexy forward Michael Owen, after he was forced out of the World Cup by a knee injury. One of the company’s ads included the text, “Can we have him back in one piece please?” Guess not!

Give me some MILK!
Look for Freddy Adu in a new “Got Milk?” ad that debuts in the July 4 in SI, and we got confirmation on the David Beckham “Got Milk?” ad… mark your calendars for the end of August.

Hernan Crespo is hot…. anyone see an interesting tan-line going on? And pa-leeze don’t kill my fantasy, let’s pretend he didn’t take it off to play in the World Cup.

So no more US hotties ripping it up in Germany. After the spanking received by those superfly Ghanaians, our boys are officially out of the Cup.

Following the teams 2-1 loss, ESPN’s Eric Wynalda said of U.S. coach Bruce Arena, “I’m going to be the first one to say that [he] screwed up this World Cup for the U.S. team.” Wynalda is never short on words, and I am never short on photos…

Maybe this is why the US lost? Kasey Keller (L) vs. Richard Kingston (R). I love me some Keller, but I’ve never seen him do this. Enough said?

That’s it for today. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda

GO PARIS!
The reports are unconfirmed and coming in by the buckets. Paris has gotten her skinny little paws on another one of our hotties. This time, its sexy NHL beast Jose Theodore.

“We have never been involved in our athletes’ private lives, and we won’t change that” – Avalanche Senior VP/Communications & Team Services Jean Martineau, when asked about reports of G Jose Theodore being involved with Paris Hilton. The Avalanche may not wanna get up in Jose Theodore’s personal business, but we sure as hell do. Apparently, Paris is done with Matt Leinart, or more likely, Matt Leinart is done with Paris. Doesn’t matter- our favorite Athlebrity hound (aside from Alyssa Milano of course) was rumored to be “holding hands and exited the party” with Theodore at the Much Music Awards in Canada last week. During the show, Hilton told Canada.com: “I’m single, and I love it. This is the first time that I haven’t had a boyfriend, so I’m having so much fun just getting to know myself and just focusing more on my career.” According the entertainment show eTalk Daily, the “couple” were at the Courthouse bar in Toronto, other reports claim Paris and Theo slipped into another club then headed to Hilton’s hotel. One question for Paris, why waste time stopping at all the bars first?

NO RAIN ON KING JAMES

LeBron James, along with his business partners in LRMR Development, LLC, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Parkside Townhomes, on Wednesday, in Cleveland, Ohio. James is a major investor in the $4.7 million housing project in one of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. “We’re very excited about refurbishing and bringing great things to what we call the hood. Everybody else may call it the city but we call it the hood…that’s where we grew up at and we never ever had an opportunity like this.”

As for not winning the NBA MVP Award? “It just makes me hungrier,” James said “The best team won it this year, D-Wade and the Miami Heat. But the NBA doesn’t stop in one year. I’ve got a long time to get mine.” So will King James stay with the Cav’s? On July 1, the club will offer him a five-year, $75 million maximum contract extension. That date has been inked on the Cavs’ calendar since they drafted James in 2003. “I’m very happy here with our team and I’m very excited about our future,” he said. “I’m confident we’ll get something done. I’ve got confidence in the organization and what we’ve done together.”

WORLD CUP HOTTIES AND HAPPENINGS

Cheers to all the World Cup players and fans!

Ivorian forward Didier Drogba, although not playing, supported his team following their victory in the opening round Group C match between the Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro. The Ivory Coast came from behind to win the match 3-2, which gave Drogba a great reason to take off his shirt. Thank you Didier, thank you.

RED CARD THESE CZECH’S

Can we pa-leeze get Dolce & Gabbana to hit these boys up! Pavel Nedved (L) has me seeing red, as do his co-hotties (L) Czech forward Milan Baros (L) and teammate Tomas Ujfalusi.

If I keep finding photos like this, I am seriously going to have a heart attack- David Beckham and Fredrik Ljungberg embrace and Michael Essien has me asking, again, how the hell do I get that job?

THE LONG ARM OF THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

I love this photo, which illustrates how far the long arm of the beautiful game can really extend. Here, Hindu ascetics play soccer on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad, India. I’ve been to Allahabad, which sits at the junction of two sacred rivers, the Yamuna and the Ganges. This junction is also known as Sangam, and every 12 years, it’s visited by thousands of Hindu pilgrims fighting for a space in the holy waters. And trust me, if you get in their way, they will kill you. If you ever take the trip, I highly suggest you bring a soccer ball for a distraction.

That’s it for now. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda

WHO IS THE BEST TEAM IN THE NBA?

The Miami Heat spanked the bitter and angry Mavericks last night 95-92, to win their first NBA Championships, and giving Dwyane Wade his much deserved (MVP) Most Visually Pleasing Award.

Answering my prayers, and Dwyane Wade’s, God finally got Alonzo Mourning to take off his shirt.

While Zo (L) and Wade arrive back to the city of love, James Posey has me in a frenzy trying to get my Supertwin powers to “activiate, form of, the NBA trophy.”

I’m not sure the Mavericks even saw the Heat coming. Certainly, Wheaties knew the Heat were going to win, as they will issue a special-edition commemorative package honoring the NBA Champions, a special edition box which was passed around the Heat locker room following their victory. The 18-ounce Heat Wheaties box will be available nationally beginning in the next 2-3 weeks. The box features the dynamic duo of Shaq and Dwyane Wade on the front and a hot Heat team photo on the back. This is the second Wheaties box appearance for O’Neal and the first for Wade.

While Miami was in par-tay mode, Dallas wasn’t taking the loss very well. Three people, all Mavericks fans, were arrested on misdemeanor assault charges, and one was treated at the scene after a fight in the arena parking lot. Police said “tension from the game” contributed to the incident. After Mark Cuban was fined $250k for lipping off the other night, he continued to be a bad sport and bad influence on his fans. “I’m fine with the fine. I accepted it. It’s a business expense.” Cuban, on the NBA fine. The classy Cuban gave the interview while on a stair-climbing machine in the Mavericks’ locker room with his back to reporters!

Adding insult to injury, Mavericks fans, acting as classy as their owner, loudly booed the Commish during the hot, hot, hot, post game trophy presentation. Not accepting the fact that they got outplayed, the Mav’s fans are looking to place blame. “If we believe that the last great conspiracy theory in Dallas was JFK’s death, the second greatest conspiracy theory was that David Stern wanted the Miami Heat to win the championship,” said fan George Graffy, 41. “I’m bummed, I’m going to go drink heavily. It will not be a good night,” said James Jones, a Mensa reject who sported a suit, tie and a blue mohawk for the game. “I paid $1,200 for these tickets, and we did not win,” cried Ashleigh Adams. But my all-time favorite Mensa reject fan is Korby Keene, whose intelligence is poignantly reflected in his statement: “We got the coach. We got the team. We wanted it all this year, though. The Heat aren’t that good. The refs gave them the game.”

TWO TICKETS TO PARADISE
Fox Soccer Channel’s Max Bretos and Bobby McMahon, the hot hosts of the network’s “Ticket to Germany,” will be available by phone to offer commentary on the U.S. team, as well as on all the action-taking place in Germany. Today through Friday the 23rd, hotties will field calls from fans starting at 5:00 PM (PT) “Ticket to Germany” is a cool half-hour show offering in-depth World Cup analysis. The show pays special attention to Team USA, those hot Brits that make up the English team, and even has MLS Athlebrity and eternally sexy Cobi Jones working his on-screen magic.

WE CANT IGNORE BRAZIL ANYMORE
So yesterday, as I was getting my coffee from the Brazilian drive-through, one of the girls working there was puzzled by the fact that I was sporting my Italian team jersey. I informed her that the Italians are the hottest team…and so are the Czechs, and English, and the Swedes…The US might get more attention if they let it all hang out. My reluctance to cheer for Team Brazil evaporated in eight seconds.

Names, stats etc, not important here, our priorities are straight, these guys play for Brazil, and that’s wall we need to know. I suspect you may tune into their next game?

YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?

The hot new Nike ad featuring Wayne Rooney (see yesterdays blog) has caused quite a few panties to wad up. Wayne Rooney in a sexy “Christ-like pose … drenched in blood-red paint and screaming a war-cry” drew complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) watchdog group “on religious grounds within hours of the advert being posted” according to the London Daily Mail. An ASA spokesperson said that the people who had complained about the ad saw it in either a 60-foot roadside billboard in West London or in national newspapers, and “all thought the picture was a reference to the crucifixion.” Wieden & Kennedy, London, which produced the ad, would not discuss it, but a Nike spokesperson said that it “would not be shown nationwide or in other countries.” NO! The spokesperson said, “It was intended solely as a celebration of Rooney’s return to the team and is based on his own trademark goal-scoring celebration, nothing to do with the crucifixion at all…the red paint is not meant to be blood, it’s just echoing the body paint which fans cover themselves in and the rest of Wayne’s body is painted white. It’s the flag of St. George, and nothing else. … If we have offended anyone on those grounds, we would stress it was unintentional and we apologize.” I stress that the ad is one of the hottest Nike has produced in a long time and the ASA needs to chill out. The World Cup has effectively brought the Beautiful Game into our homes and for a few “religious” nuts to bring us down is unacceptable. Next thing you know, the ASA is going to be cracking down on the church of Athlebritolgy, which as you all know, is ruled by English team captain, David ‘God’ Beckham. Seems fitting that Wayne Rooney is now being compared to Jesus Christ.

ON LINE DATING SITE FOR RED SOX FANS
I love this guy! According to the Boston Globe, Tim Lampia has founded an online dating service for Red Sox fans called MatchingSox.com that “works like most other dating sites, with a search tool that turns up matches according to gender, age, and location.” The site is not affiliated with MLB or the Red Sox. Users fill out standard information about themselves, but also “list whether they bat left or right and their favorite players.” Also, their photos “show up on the screen like baseball cards.” While membership costs $4.95 a week, or $34.95 annually, Lampia said that he “has yet to make any money” since starting the site last March. MLB asked him to stop handing out leaflets at Red Sox games to promote the site and giving out “free game tickets for blind dates,” saying that he was “improperly using league material.” For that reason alone, I will promote this guys and his site. MLB needs to suck it up- this is a fantastic idea for fans of any team, and I give props to Tim Lampia for this genius idea.

That’s it for today. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda

RED HOT CAMPAIGN

Motorola, The Gap, Emporio Armani, Converse and American Express will jointly launch a new brand this fall called “Red,” which will cover a “range of their products in conjunction with U2 singer Bono.” A portion of sales will go to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.” Motorola is already making a Red version of its Sliver phone; the Gap will produce a new line of clothing for the Red brand; Converse will sell those hot Africa-inspired kicks, and hello Armani! Armani is selling Red sunglasses in Europe. Best part of the Red campaign? The models sporting the sexy shades are hot, hot, hot, English soccer Athlebrities David James, Sol Campbell, Jamie Carragher and Robert Greenand. Go to www.joinred.com to support the campaign or to just drool over the English hotties.

OGILVY HAS ANOTHER ATHLEBRITY ACHIEVEMENT

Adding another Athlebrity notch to his sexy Puma belt, Geoff Ogilvy appeared on David Letterman last night, where he read the top ten list: “Top Ten Things That Went Through Geoff Ogilvy’s Mind After Winning The U.S. Open.”
10) “This is one of those things you never forget, like seeing John Daly in the locker room naked.”
9) “I wish I hadn’t put all my money on Phil Mickelson.”
“Even I’ve never heard of me.”
7) “Now I can take a vacation from the grind of playing golf all day.”
6) “Crap - - I’m gonna have to go on Letterman.”
5) “After all these years, I can finally use my ‘World’s Greatest Golfer’ mug.”
4) “I can quit my day job at Outback Steakhouse.”
3) “What would Retief Goosen do?”
2) “I hope this victory isn’t overshadowed by America’s World Cup excitement.”
1) “Thank you, BALCO!”

OH, THAT CRAZY CUBAN
Today, the NBA spanked Mark Cuban with a $250,000 fine for his actions following NBA Finals Game Five Sunday night, when the Mav’s lost. It was reported that Cuban had a stare down with the Commish before storming off the court. Cuban, in a piece posted prior to the fine, updated his blog: “The games are not rigged. That’s a complete insult to the players on the court and the incredible amount of effort they put into preparing for and playing the games. … The NBA couldn’t rig the games if it wanted to.” Also, in response to the report in the Miami Herald that he “screamed” at NBA Commissioner David Stern after Game Five, Cuban writes, “Didn’t happen. Didn’t say a word to the man. Not a single word. And that was absolutely by intention.” The Commish: “Mark has a way of looking over in the direction of wherever I happen to be sitting [in] the occasion of calls or game action he doesn’t particularly like.” The Miami Herald reports Cuban, following the game, “turned to Stern and other NBA officials who were seated at the scorer’s table and was overheard to shout venomously in the jubilant din, ‘(Bleep) you! (Bleep) you! Your league is rigged!’” It makes me wonder, why doesn’t the “league” just take the $250,000 and hand it over to Michael Alan? Mr. Alan is the 63 year-old Miami Heat fan that was whacked in the head by a basketball thrown by Dirk Nowitzki during game 5. The reject Nowitzki was fined $5k for “kicking the basketball” into the stands, but Mr. Alan has a few things to say about the incident. Alan told the Miami Herald on Monday he was suffering from headaches and was having trouble eating because his jaw hurt. “It was like a mule hit me,” said Alan. “It knocked me down into my seat. If I continue to feel the way I feel, I will go to an attorney. I want somebody to say, ‘I’m sorry.’”

WORLD CUP

Athlebrities favorite little bulldog, Wayne Rooney missed England’s opening match, but hasn’t missed out on his endorsement deals. In England, a giant billboard showing a shirtless Rooney painted with the Cross of St George is causing traffic jams. Nike ‘swooped’ in and capitalized on Rooney fever by running ads in newspapers and on this fantastically delicious billboard.

Michael Essien. Pronounced S-E-N- is without question one of the hottest players in the World Cup. If you’ve watched a Ghana game, you must have noticed him by now. The Chelsea midfielder is on the verge of Athlebrity status as he leads World Cup stunner Ghana into the second round. While he may have already convinced the US team that he could destroy their Cup dreams, he has not destroyed mine, in fact, he’s made them better. Yummy!

Meanwhile, the US team had trouble getting out to their training session today. The hotties scrambled to get out of the building via the window because someone had locked the front door and trapped them inside!

After escaping the locked door, Landon Donovan and Brian McBride chased after Michael Essien and team Ghana, who apparently tried to trap the US team and scare them out of the match.

HOLLA!

I hate to say this, but come on, how much hotter can the Czechs get? Defender Tomas Ujfalusi, left, and his teammate Pavel Nedved, right, attended a closed practice session today. All I can say is good call on having the session “closed”.

Thats it for now. As always, thanks for reading. Delinda