AMBASSADOR BECKHAM

Fulfilling his role as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, Sir Golden Balls David Beckham spent last weekend in Sierra Leone. “He arrived yesterday as an ambassador of Unicef to see our work in the field. He visited several child survival programs in the north of the country, around Kabala, near the border with Guinea,” said Alison Parker, a spokesman for the UN body. Sierra Leone’s Infant and maternal mortality are among the highest in the world especially because roads, schools and hospitals were devastated by the civil conflict. “He’s here as a guest of UNICEF,” Parker said, “He’s covering programs on child survival in Sierra Leone; visiting a number of UNICEF programs in the northern part of the country on malaria prevention and immunization.” Parker added.

D’ BECKS AND THE DOGG

By now, you should be hip to the Snoop-Beckham connection. The two created quite a buzz after Beckham appeared on Snoop Dogg’s Fatherhood. (An episode not to be missed). But the dynamic duo has much higher aspirations than just eating friend chicken at Roscoe’s. Snoop Dogg and David Beckham are looking to “save lives” in California’s poverty and crime-stricken areas. Their vehicle for change? Football and soccer. “We’re going to be trying to save lives,” announced Snoop, a championship coach for his son’s junior football team. “We will be going in to do different things and I hope someone cares. I hope this proves I do other things than go to jail, smoke weed and go back to jail. With me, the media is usually most concerned with conflicts and altercations.” What? Snoop smokes weed? Ludacris.

HAMILTON ADDS ANOTHER TROPHY

Every year, the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy is presented to the most successful British or Commonwealth driver in the FIA Formula One World Championship. So I guess it’s a no-brainer that Lewis Hamilton picked this one up after finishing last season one point behind champion Kimi Raikkonen. “Lewis’ arrival on the F1 scene last season made a huge impact, capturing the public’s imagination not only in this country but around the world,” commented Colin Hilton, Chief Executive of the Motor Sports Association. “His performances have given us a great platform on which to raise the profile and develop the sport in this country.” Indeed. The Hawthorn Memorial Trophy was first presented by the Hawthorn family in memory of Mike Hawthorn, who became Britain’s first Formula One world champion in 1958 but tragically died a year later. Hamilton is the 18th driver to win the trophy, but the first to do so in his maiden year of Formula One competition.

IF YOU’VE GOT TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS
I guess we can now officially call poker a sport? STATS provides data collection and analysis for 85 sports leagues including the NFL, NBA and MLB, will now deliver stats and information from every past and present World Poker Tour final table. STATS’ information will detail “playing style” along with situational analysis, breakdowns and trends for a more complete portrait of each World Poker Tour player. Examples include how often a player plays a pot; how often they take a hand to “showdown”; and the average bet size relative to the pot by player. Like I said, if you’ve got too much time on your hands and aspire to be at the WPT final table, then maybe this database is for you. (www.worldpokertour.com)

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