TIGER BABY

Less than 24 hours after Tiger finished second at the U.S. Open on Father’s Day, Elin gave birth to the luckiest baby on the planet. Their first cub, a daughter, Sam Alexis Woods was born early Monday morning. “Both Elin and Sam are doing well and resting peacefully,” Woods wrote on his website. “We want to thank our doctors and the hospital staff for all their dedicated and hard work. This is truly a special time in our lives and we look forward to introducing Sam to our family and friends over the next few weeks. We thank everyone for their well wishes and continued respect of our privacy.” His website also notes that photos of baby Sam will soon be available.

AGE OF INSANITY

Last night, while watching Age of Love, I swear I heard cougars around the world growling at their TV’s. And I couldn’t stop asking myself why in the world Mark Philippoussis would tarnish his Scudly image by appearing on the show. Notorious for dating much younger kittens, Philippoussis couldn’t hide his dissatisfaction when the Cougars were introduced. Now, I’m well aware of what goes on behind the scenes during the filming, editing and production of these reality shows. I thought for sure he had been tipped off, but if he had, he’s one hell of a good actor because the horror on his face was priceless.

“There’s a loss of privacy, sure, but it’s a good chance for people to get to know me, beyond ‘Mark the tennis player.’ I’m a simple guy, very easygoing. I just want to find someone that makes me happy, who makes me smile. And to have 13 women fight over me brings me joy.” – M.P. (ESPN) I, for one, have my money on a Cougar taking home the Scud, and not a Kitten. (After, I suspect, he bangs all the kittens?). The Cougars and Kittens have yet to meet…and when the bikini-clad kittens were shown frolicking in their room like a bunch of dizzy blonds, and the Cougars were shown in their room reading and doing needlepoint I about lost it. Come one people, that ain’t what Cougars do in their spare time. We hunt! ESPN’s Page Two Sam Alipour put it perfectly: The nearly extinct and highly territorial cougar, or Puma concolor, is a lean but mean stalk-and-ambush predator. Though the cougar prefers to dine on deer, it’s safe to assume it’d eat a kitten if desperate. Read more from Sam here, because I can’t take anymore of this ridiculous, yet entertaining, downfall of Mark Philippoussis.

LEWIS HAMILTON E-BAYS GO KART
After Lewis Hamilton won the US Grand Prix victory, bids for his customised McClaren Mercedes kart on Ebay went through the roof. The final price listed before the auction ended was about $83, 682. The winning bidder even gets the chance to collect the vehicle from Hamilton himself. “It is brand new with only one careful owner and this kart was customised for me, it is pretty fast, just how I like it. For anyone who aspires to be a Formula 1 driver, this is for you.” Proceeds from the sale of the kart, which is worth about £2,000, will go to baby charity Tommy’s.

ALEXI LALAS RIPS ON EPL

I really, really wish Alexi Lalas didn’t open his pie-hole. Seems that someone is a little touchy when it comes to soccer in the states and has gotten his panties in a wicked twist. “There’s no accounting for bad taste,” Lalas said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. “That a segment of the world worships an inferior product (WHAT?) in the Premiership is their business. English football now has the haves and the have-nots. (WHAT?) It’s just that the Premiership have become so skilled in presentation. They took a page out of American football and so now they have Saturday Showdowns and Super Sundays. I love it. This is high-calibre marketing - taking an inferior product and improving it through packaging.” (Yeah, Kinda like what YOU are doing with Beckham?) “The experts in England talk about David Beckham as if he’s going into semi-retirement. (HE IS!) It’s insulting to say Beckham is on his way to Hollywood when he’s coming to play in one of the most competitive leagues in the world (NOT). There are a lot of stars who would struggle here. (Name one aside from Becks?) There’s this delusion that if it’s English then it’s great. But a whole world exists outside of England. (yeah, Italy) That’s reflected in the difficulties they had when everyone ran to the Premiership. Maybe it’s OK for the fan but, for the average development of the players, their game is struggling.” Throw stones much Lexi?

HOUSE OF HISTORY

German national football team goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had written information about Argentina’s football players before the World Cup quarterfinal match Germany vs Argentina. His cheat sheet listed various ways in which the Argentinean babes shoot their penalties (”Elfmeter” in German, “Riquelme - left high” or “Ayala - wait long, right”) And now the little paper, which Lehmann consulted before the shootout, has become famous. So if you really need to see it in person, you can fly to Germany and see it at the “House of History” in Bonn.

REMEMBER THIS?

Hopefully ya all remember this awesome campign from adidas? The “Bonded by Blood” campaign centered around New Zealand’s “All Blacks” rugby team, via, TBWA/Whybin, Auckland and was the Grand Prix winner in the Promo category at the Cannes Lions Int’l Advertising Festival, according to Brooke Capps of AD AGE. The campaign included a series of limited-edition posters that featured the blood of the team’s players. And now, there’s a fantastic video available of the hotties making the poster. I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to needles, but I watched enough to see a few topless beasts romping around the set. The video is available at SBJ.Com.

PRINESS KOBE CAUGHT ON TAPE?

An amateur video said to be shot in late May shows Lakers Princess Kobe Bryant “viciously criticizing the team’s management and the franchise’s best young prospect,” Andrew Bynum, according to Howard Beck of the N.Y. Times. A spokesperson for the nutballs who shot the footage, said that it was taken at a shopping center in Newport Coast, California. As a So-Cal native, I’ve never heard of Newport Coast and can only assume the idiot meant Newport Beach and was referencing the Fashion Island shopping mall. The money-hungry video hounds have posted a LAME teaser of the video on YouTube and have been “peddling it to news media outlets for the last two weeks.” Their well-informed spokesperson also said that they “intended to release the video by the end of the week, provided that it raises enough money through Web donations.” (LOL). Web-donations? Good luck. But the group says it will make the video public “after they have pre-sold 50,000 copies online” at $1.99 apiece, “to ensure they will make at least [$100,000] by making it public.” (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 6/19).

FORBES ANNUAL CELEBRTIY LIST

Tiger Woods, U2, Beckham, Mickelson, Princess Kobe, Shaq, A-Rod, Ronaldinho, M-Jordan, Federer, Jeter, Rossi, and Kimi Raikkonen are just some of the Athlebrities who made the cut. Tiger Woods once again led all athletes with $100M in pay last year, ranking second overall behind only Oprah on FORBES’ annual Celebrity 100 list of the world’s most powerful and best-paid celebrities. The NBA and golf led the list with four beasts each, while F1 had three drivers included. Earnings estimates are for June ‘06-June ‘07. Figures include dollars earned solely from entertainment income. (FORBES, 7/2 issue).

As always, thanks for reading. Delinda
delinda@athlebrities.