New York Yankee girlfriends not friendly with each other
It looks as if the girlfriends of Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and third baseman Alex Rodriguez won’t be having any sleepovers, either.
Since dating Rodriguez this summer, actress Kate Hudson has apparently struck out with Jeter’s girlfriend, actress Minka Kelly.
“There’s been visible coldness between Minka and Kate,” a source told the New York Post. “I don’t know if it’s a personal thing, or just an extension of the ongoing A-Rod-Jeter rivalry.”
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Trivia time
What was the University of Georgia’s mascot before it became a bulldog?
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Role reversal
The New Jersey Nets are losing their identity. And it’s not only because they no longer have stars, such as Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson or Vince Carter.
The Nets, who finished 25th last season in league attendance, are trying to boost their numbers by marketing the opponents’ top players.
Fans who buy a 10-game ticket plan will receive five reversible jerseys, featuring a Nets player on one side and an opposing player, such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade or Kevin Garnett, on the other.
“Many of our fans like the opposing players and teams and that’s great,” Nets chief executive Brett Yormark told CNBC.com. “When you come to our games, the concessionaire is selling the opposing team’s jerseys, so why not give them away?”
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Take your pick
Forget film study, playbooks and the NFL Network. Football’s biggest sign of evolution is the drastic changes between Nintendo’s Tecmo Super Bowl, released in 1991, and the soon-to-be-released Madden NFL 10.
Sports Illustrated’s “Tale of the Tape” shows the wide disparity between a game that values simplicity and a game whose players’ ratings are scrutinized each season by players and fans.
Among the key differences:
* Number of offensive plays: Tecmo’s eight to Madden’s 200.
* Highest-rated quarterback: Tecmo’s QB Eagles to Madden’s Peyton Manning.
* Its resolution: Tecmo can be played on 8-bit, and Madden can be played on HDTV 1080i.
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Trivia answer
A goat was introduced when Georgia played its first intercollegiate football game against Auburn in 1892. After the Atlanta Constitution’s Cliff Wheatley described how Georgia “bulldogged” Virginia in a scoreless tie Nov. 6, 1920, the program made the switch.
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And finally
Before Louisville men’s basketball Coach Rick Pitino apologized Wednesday for having sex with a woman who later was charged with trying to extort him, a colleague asked Sports Illustrated’s Jeff Pearlman to rank the following professions in order of sliminess: politician, boxing promoter, strip club proprietor, pimp and Division I college coach.
He described college coaches as people who “do absolutely everything to hide the reality.”
“They flash winning smiles, wear designer suits, toss around the phrase ‘student-athlete’ as if it possesses more than an ounce of genuine meaning,” Pearlman wrote. “They are used car salesmen, peddling the concepts of ‘team’ and ‘community’ and ‘family’ while negotiating a $5-million personal services contract with Reebok or Nike.”
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