**Publishing Notice**
I’m taking the rest of the year off!!! See ya in January kids…

STEVE NASH: PATTERSON AWARD

Steve Nash earned some serious love for his philanthropy…but not really sure if anyone noticed? Apparently, Nashty was given the award during a pre-game ceremony at the Sun-Lakers game…maybe the photogs didn’t notice or care but I can’t find any photos…regardless, the Sports Philanthropy Project (SPP) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) presented the 2008 Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy to Nash’s foundation…

“It is an honor to receive this type of recognition for the work that I care about so deeply,” said Nash. “The Steve Nash Foundation is dedicated to assisting underserved children in their health, personal development, education and enjoyment of life. Steve Patterson is the kind of person that always sought out to improve the lives and well being of others and to be awarded in his name is truly an honor. I am humbled by your acknowledgement of our work in the global community. This is just the beginning and we look forward to continuing these efforts and building on the foundation we have established.” The award was created in memory of Steve Patterson, former UCLA basketball star, NBA player and Arizona State University college coach, who died of cancer in 2004 and believed in and practiced the power of sports philanthropy. Carlette Patterson, President of Patterson Sports Ventures. “My husband spent his life building partnerships on and off the court, and we hope his life and legacy will inspire more and more sports teams and athletes who have the power to create substantial change in their own backyards. The fact that Steve Nash will receive his award for work here in the same community in which my husband Steve and our family lived and worked and cherished makes it that much more meaningful.”

I LOVE MADAME TUSSAUDS

The latest hormone tickler from Madame Tussauds is Washington Wizard babe Gilbert Arenas…his ‘figure’ was unveiled yesterday at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Washington D.C., and Arenas took along 50 kids from his Zer0 to Her0 Foundation….”It is an honor to join the ranks of sports icons such as Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods by being immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds Washington D.C.,” Arenas said. “Like the Wizards, Madame Tussauds has become a fixture in the nation’s capital and one that I’m proud to be a part of.” Now, I don’t know how or if I qualify for the job, but I’d like to take a stab as one of the artists who create these treats…Gil sat for over two hours while the ‘artists’ took hundreds of (a-hem) measurements and photos, as well as selected eye, hair and skin tone matches for his figure…artists even insert each strand of hair individually…the creation of Arenas’ figure’s head took nearly five weeks to complete.

CARMELO ANTHONY PARTIES IN LA WITHOUT ME

Last night, celebrities, artists and professional athletes hit up Siren Studios in Hollywood to celebrate Carmelo Anthony and Jordan Brand’s launch of the Jordan Melo M5 basketball shoe…luckily, I wasn’t not able to attend, if I had, I suspect I wouldn’t have made it passed the “unique images of Carmelo’s daily life off the court, including candid imagery of Carmelo taking breaks between games, interacting with his fans and just enjoying life.”…The black-carpet event replicated a modern art gallery opening…adding to the modern art feel was Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith. “Tonight’s event means a lot to me because the M5 is my fifth shoe and any time you can be associated with a brand like Jordan it’s special. The shoe fits me and my game so well and it’s my favorite shoe of them all since I’ve been a part of the process since day one.” For more info visit Nike.com and trust me when I say the splash page is a must see for all Sweet Melon lovers.

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Delinda Lombardo

THAT’S AMARE

When the man hits the wells and the kids are all swell, that’s Amare…my humanitarian bells are ringing loudly for one of the sexiest philanthropists to pick up a ball, Amare Stoudemire. Last September, the beast took a trip to Africa to help make a difference for communities in need…specifically, rehabbing old water wells and fixing ‘em up so kids are given a chance to surpass the expected live span in Sierra Leone of 26 years-old.

Sexy Stoudemire went to Sierra Leone, West Africa on behalf of his foundation Each 1, Teach 1, and the Zee Community Development Foundation. Amare has already donated heaps of money to fix the wells, and even got down and dirty while doing so. But Amare isn’t one to make a trip halfway cross the world and not make the most of it, so while there, he also met with the Minister of Sports, Vice President, and President of Sierra Leone in efforts to improve the quality of life.

David Zimmerman chronicles part of Amare’s visit in the below video.

And who said one man can’t make a difference? 

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Delinda Lombardo

MATCH AGAINST POVERTY
“We are thrilled that the ‘Match Against Poverty’ is attracting more and more spectators. This is a game we all need to win.” Ronaldo

Close to 30,000 soccer fans attended Monday’s fifth edition of the Match Against Poverty…the event, organized by football legends Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo, is just a small part of their role as Goodwill Ambassadors for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The objective of the match is to raise public awareness of the fight against poverty and to convince governments of the value of working towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which seek to cut world poverty in half by 2015.

The game was played between ‘Friends of Zidane’ and the ‘Friends of Ronaldo’ and ended in a 2-2 draw. “The aim of such a match is to make people aware of the problem of poverty in the world,” said AC Milan star Ronaldo, who is still battling an injury and was substituted in the first half by seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher. “We don’t forget where we have come from and we are uniting in a good cause,” former France international Zidane, who grew up in a poor neighborhood of Marseille. The match was played in the central Moroccan city of Fez. Proceeds will as in previous years benefit anti-poverty projects in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Need more? There’s pa-lenty of video footage available on Youtube!

GREAT GOLDEN BALLS OF FIRE

Inter Milan’s sexy Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been awarded ‘The Ball of Gold’ after the Swedish Soccer Award 2008 Gala dinner at the Globen Arena in Stockholm…the beast won gold for ‘best Swedish soccer player of 2008’…another one of our Golden Balls, David Beckham, has proven he’s got much more than the Midas Touch…an offer has been made on a home in London where Golden Balls lived for the first two years of his life. The Victorian terraced house-sans the Beckham connection-is valued around $365,000…but the Beck’s connection was sniffed out by an ‘unnamed’ Australian businessman who collects Beckham memorabilia and dude offered up $1.4M for the pad…

MARADONA MADNESS

I haven’t quite gotten used to our furry beast, Diego Maradona, being named Argentina’s coach, but I am certainly ready for the shenanigans…oh, and they’ve already started. Coach Diego lost his pendant during a training session…one of the ball boys later found it and was oh-so graciously mauled by the beast.

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Delinda Lombardo

Million Dollar Hawk: Tony Hawk That is.

In 2002, Tony Hawk established the Tony Hawk Foundation to assist low-income communities create well-designed skateboard parks. Over the years, the Foundation has given away over a million dollars in grants and assistance…and last weekend, action-sports legends joined Hawk for the fifth annual Activision Presents ‘Stand Up For Skateparks.’ All in all, the event raised over $1M big ones for T-Hawks Foundation.

The shindig went down at an exclusive estate in Beverly Hills, with attendees including Shaun White (L), Anthony Kiedis, David Spade, Perry Ferrell, Chris “BigBlack” Boykin, Kathy Ireland, Bam Margera, BMX legend Mat Hoffman, Jamie Lee Curtis (far right with Andy Macdonald) and Mia Hamm (C).

The one-day-action-sports carnival even included a special acoustic performance by Social Distortion, and a Vert Demo on Hawk’s personal ramp-where he was joined by White, Bucky Lasek, Andy Macdonald, Kevin Staab, and BMX riders John Parker and Dennis McCoy.

But Tony Hawk never seems to stop donating and building his empire at the same time. Bidding is open for Hawks Jeeps being auctioned off for his foundation…(photos by Jody Morris and Colin Vincent)…and just today it was announced that Hawk has teamed up with NBTY, a leading children’s vitamin supplier…the company has created the Tony Hawk HuckJam brand of vitamins. The chewy gummy vitamins are shaped like miniature skateboard decks, skateboard wheels and Tony’s signature hawk skull…aside from being fun to chew on, they are said to provide a good source of 11 vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin C and Vitamin B-12…

New events have been added on the celebrity athletes’ charity events calendar page including the Suns Celebrity Waiters event, and more importantly-Carmelo Anthony’s Thanksgiving event-which I’ll write about as soon as I’m done having a Sweet Melon heart-attack.

It never gets old…

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Delinda Lombardo

Creative Way to Raise Money?

Money may not grow on trees, but it might grow on the faces of several DC athletes. X Games babe Travis Pastrana, along with Ryan Smith, Lindsey Robertson, Devun Walsh, Dane Reynolds, Nate Adams, Allan Cooke, Chad Kagy, Corey Bohan, Mike Clark and Ken Block have all agreed to grow a “Mo” this month while raising money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Movember (www.movember.com) is an annual charity movement where men lose their facial hair inhibitions and commit to grow and groom a Mo (Aussie slang for moustache) for the entire month while collecting donations for the Prostate Cancer Foundation…and for those woman cringing at the idea of a Mo on a man, think twice. My choice for hottest Mo to grace a face goes to Scot Pollard (above) of the Boston Celtics. Dude rocked the hell outta his Mo. (Pollard is not part of the MO growing movement, the photo is simply to illustrate how fine a Mo can be.)

We all know David Beckham would rock a Mo as well. Golden Balls kicked it courtside with Marc Anthony during the Lakers-Clippers game at Staples Center last night…other notable faces in the Lakers crowd included actor the Game (C) and his precious offspring, Jonah Hill, Andy Garcia and Will Ferrell (R).

Pretty sure Sergio Garcia doesn’t have the sex appeal to officially sport a Mo…Sergio the ‘Spitter’ Garcia is now terrorizing Phil Mickelson-declaring he wants to replace him as the world’s second best golfer by taking his HSBC Champions title this week…whatever Sergio. I love it when you tease Tiger, but step off my homeboy Phil…who I only mention because he’s hustling on the greens alongside my flashkat Ian Poulter and Burberry babe Adam Scott-who would both look exceptional with a Mo.

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Delinda Lombardo

CHRIS PAUL

How about a big plate of Chris Paul for lunch? Seriously. You can now walk into any ‘Copelands’ restaurant and order a big ol’ plate of CP3 with extra sauce and a side o’ fries and not feel guilty about it because it’s for charity…On Saturday, the Hornets’ All-Star babe, hosted 240 boys and girls ages 7 to 16 at Lakefront Arena for his inaugural Chris Paul Basketball Camp, where he also announced a couple of new charitable initiatives-one of which is the signature Chris Paul dish with proceeds benefiting the Al Copeland Foundation and the Chris Paul Basketball Camp.

“I’m here for the kids, ” Paul said. “I love them, I love when they ask the craziest questions. They asked ‘Do you like basketball?’ You never know what you are going to hear when you are out there with the kids. That’s what it is all about. I think of myself as a big kid…I think of some of the opportunities they have to meet an NBA basketball player, and I just want to give them hope.”

More hope from the balling do-gooder comes with the announcement that he’s also teamed with country music star Garth Brooks and his ‘Teammates For Kids Foundation,’ a nonprofit charity that donates money to other charities based on the accomplishments of athletes. Teammates For Kids has donated more than $68 million in cash, gifts and scholarships through players and teams in the NFL, NHL and MLB…no surprise that Chris Paul was chosen as the foundation’s first NBA partner. Under the plan, Teammates For Kids will triple Paul’s contribution to his charity. “Chris is going to be like our arrangement with every other athlete — whatever he pledges . . . it’s our job as a foundation to triple that money, ” Brooks said. “We are very lucky to enter this sport, and we are very lucky to have had a great conversation with the players association and the league up in New York last week.”

GRANT HILL AND THE SUNS

Another one of our smoking hot ballers with a massive heart, Grant Hill (Phoenix Suns) hosted the Paint the Planet Orange kickoff event last week at Balsz Elementary School in Phoenix…Hill was joined by new Sun Matt Barnes and his sexy tattoos as they dropped in on kids during the weeklong campaign which included appearances at various charitable organizations…Also, on Friday, October 31, join the City of Phoenix Graffiti Busters Project (47th Avenue Food Store, beginning at 2 p.m. 4723 W Thomas Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85031) The Suns have teamed up with the City of Phoenix’s Graffiti Busters project to clean up the city as Suns stars Amare Stoudemire, Robin Lopez and Sean Singletary along with Mayor Phil Gordon and The Gorilla help paint the planet orange when they paint over destructive graffiti. The City of Phoenix’s Graffiti Busters program sends crews to remove graffiti reported through the hotline and also coordinates with other public and private agencies to remove graffiti. More info HERE.

SAN LONGORIA SPURS

Its been a long time since I’ve given any love to the Spurs…still wince when I do…but I must…mainly because NBA Hall of Famer, George “The Iceman” Gervin (far R), fired the starting gun for the 2nd annual Spurs Hope & Possibility 5k to benefit the Achilles San Antonio chapter at the Center for the Intrepid and the Spurs Foundation.

Spurring on participants were Ime Udoka, Jacque Vaughn and Tim Duncan (far right as well)…also at the event were Bruce Bowen, Roger Mason, Manu Ginobili and Tony Longoria-Parker.

And as much as I hate running, I suspect I would have clocked a sensational time had I known Kurt Thomas would be there to quench my thirst…

**Please visit Look to the Stars to read my interview with former talk show host Jenny Jones. She is improving this world one person at a time and hands down, ranks as one of my favorite celebrity philanthropists.

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Delinda Lombardo
delinda@athlebrities.com

Life Rolls On ‘Night by the Ocean’ Benefit

Just discovered a great event and awesome foundation thanks to those blue eyes of Kelly Slater…the Life Rolls on Foundation held their 5th Annual “Night by the Ocean” Benefit last Sunday…also bringing a wee-bit more attention to this event was Prison Break babe Dominic Purcell.

Over 500 celebrities, surf stars and supporters stepped out in full force to support the Life Rolls On Foundation which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for young people affected by spinal cord injury. Sponsor Disaboom kicked in $75k while saluting the efforts of IMG Sports & Entertainment for their efforts in promoting positive images of people with spinal cord injury.

Don’t know how many of you have tried surfing before. Living in San Diego has given me pa-lenty of time on a board and I can tell ya its not easy. After watching autistic kids surf via the aid of ‘Surfers Healing’ I vowed never to have a bad day. And now, as we face this insane economic crisis, let’s keep it in perspective. Most of us can walk, talk and enjoy the freedoms that some can’t. The Life Rolls On Foundation rightly deserves some serious attention…as do those with spinal cord injuries. Combine ‘em both- add a few waves and a splash or two Kelly Slater into the mix and ya got yourself one hell of a foundation.

The black tie gala was held at the historic Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom, and the red carpet (complete with wheelchair access) was walked by: Kelly Slater, Nicky Hilton, David Katzenberg, Jenna Fischer, Brooke Burns, Dominic Purcell, Morgan Spurlock, Rob Machado, Brandon Boyd, Jeffrey Donovan, Brandon Jenner, Linda Thompson, Brandon Davis, Jason Davis and David Chokachi.

This years fundraiser was the largest ever for the Foundation and raised a whopping $340,000 thanks to heavy bidding during the cocktail reception…guests enjoyed dinner by Wolfgang Puck…Highlights of the evening included Kelly Slater underwriting Life Rolls On Foundation’s upcoming family fair for kids with spinal cord injury, Brooke Burns buying a trip to Tavarua Island, David Katzenberg winning a surfboard signed by Dean Morrison, Jeffrey Donovan winning a trip to Costa Rica, Jenna Fischer sponsoring a They Will Ski event to give children with SCI the opportunity to ski this winter and Sal Masekela donating $10,000 to the foundation.

Scheduled host for the evening, Sal Masekela, couldn’t make it due to a flight delay, so LRO founder Jesse Billauer took to the stage. Morgan Spurlock opened the ceremony followed by contributions from Dominic Purcell, Brandon Boyd, Rob Machado, Jeffrey Donovan, Jodie Nelson and Josh Billauer (Jesse’s brother).

About Life Rolls On: Founded in 1999, Life Rolls On Foundation (LRO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for young people affected by spinal cord injury. Utilizing action sports as a platform to push the bounds of possibility after SCI, Life Rolls On produces quality of life programming, raises awareness about spinal cord injury and funds research to find a cure. With a network of more than 70,000 supporters worldwide, LRO is one of the fastest growing, contemporary charitable organizations in the country and has been featured in national print, television and radio. In 2007, the organization received its first EMMY® nomination for Best National Public Service Announcement. For more information, visit www.liferollson.org. Also be sure to check out thier YouTube Channel.

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Delinda Lombardo
delinda@athlebrities.com

I SEE YOU BOYS

Let’s see what’s been going on with some of our NBA hotties…first and foremost, gotta give mad love to one of the most active and vocal humanitarian ballers in the league. Etan Thomas. The Washington Wizard is currently in Barcelona taking part in the NBA Europe Live Tour and the above photo, without question, goes down as one of the most unique I’ve seen in a long time…Tiptoe’s anyone?

Also gotta throw my arms around the tree-trunk physique of Vlade Divac (above). Although Vlade looks wasted in the above photo and seems to have fallen off the radar, he hasn’t fallen off my libido’s radar. The sexy Serbian isnt wasting anytime in pursuit of bettering the world after a life of hoops, instead, hot stuff has become an ‘adviser in Serbians government’ where he will be in charge of humanitarian issues and sports, and will work with Vice Premier Ivica Dacic. “I’ve named Vlade Divac as my adviser for foreign policy, the diaspora, sport and humanitarian work on the basis of his international reputation,” said Dačić. Vlade said he took the post in order to help promote humanitarian work in Serbia, where he now lives and runs a humanitarian organization. His foundation recently launched a campaign called “You Can Too“ which has helped relocate refugee families from collective centers to new homes in the country.

Various LA Lakers teamed up with Toyota and the NBA to create the seasons first ‘LA Lakers Reading and Learning Center at the Boys and Girls Club of East L.A’. Ya all know what it does to me when I see these men take it down a notch and kick it with the kids. (L-R) Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum, Clyde Drexler, Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony…

…while, do I dare say-that my domino’s are dancing like Mexican jumping beans at the thought of a lil one-on-one competition with Sasha Vujacic (far right) or a private reading session with Fisher (far left) before bedtime…

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Delinda Lombardo
delinda@athlebrities.com