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From The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Eagles pick new cheerleading squad

By Peter Mucha

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Last night, in a sold-out show at the Annenberg Center, 60 women competed to make the new Eagles cheerleading squad.

Who landed the 38 spots was kept secret, however, until this morning, when the competitors could call a hotline.

"I was very impressed by the contestants last night, and I think that we have assembled an amazing group of women," said Barbara Zaun, director of cheerleading.

Judges, who included Eagles owner Christina Lurie and former Eagles Brian Baldinger and Vaughn Hebron, scored the women based on a fitness walk in swimsuits, a dance routine, and a Q&A session. The event was hosted by Vinnie the Crumb of WYSP (94.1).

"I thought it was a very tough competition this year because all the girls were beautiful. They all brought a lot of power to the table," said Madeline Kane, 20, who will return to the squad after not only winning last night's dance competition but earning the highest overall score.

All but one of the 24 women who sought to return made the squad again, said Zaun.

Among the 15 rookies are two sisters from Media - Paige and Danni-Lynn Bell - who are joining their sister, Nikki, who made the squad last year.

"I think it's amazing to have three sisters who all have similar interests, all love the performing arts, and all have the qualifications to make the squad," Zaun said.

Jamie Steinberger, 23, will be back for her third season, after winning the fitness portion competition, for which she wore a navy-blue-and-white-striped swimsuit.

"It's the easiest part of the night," she said. "We walk around in a circle and strut ourselves on the stage. That's about it."

She could, however, have done "about 75 push-ups in a row, without stopping," if the judges had asked, the West Chester University student said.

Alicia Lee, 27, of Moorestown, won in the beauty category, also judged during the fitness portion of the show. Lee, who'll be back for her third year, said she does some professional modeling, works in her neurologist father's office, and hopes to become a professional poker player.

The Q&A portion was nerve-wracking, Kane said, and the women tried to prepare backstage by questioning one another.

Kane said she was so anxious, she wasn't sure afterward how she replied when asked what qualities she'd bring to the squad.

"I think I said I'm outgoing, I'm energetic, I'm a real team player," she said. ". . . I hope I said something that good."

Steinberger, asked why she liked living in the United States, spoke about appreciating America's freedom, opportunity and diversity. "I was thrilled to get that question," she said.

Asked what she'd change about her life, Lee said she wouldn't change a thing, because otherwise, she might not be standing on that stage.

The cheerleaders, who are paid an hourly rate, make $400 to $1,000 a month and hold other jobs, Zaun said. Among them are teachers, a medical student, an operating-room nurse, an accountant, and even a Defense Department employee...

Wow! Young Michael Jordan

Via True Hoop.

Trieste (Italy) summer of 1986,Stefanel Trieste vs Juve Caserta, Nike exhibition game with Michael Jordan shattered the backboard,i recorded it in the year 1986 in a sports program of the Spanish television,i can promise you that this video is absolutely real,no fake,i have published the video with the music of the B.S.O of the movie Crocodile Dundee,Theme:Mick Meets New York

Will Isiah Thomas Top Larry Brown's Buyout Number?

Larry set the bar high with $18.5 mil, so good luck, Isiah. From ESPN.

Former New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas has been banned from having any contact with members of the team as part of his reassignment agreement with team president Donnie Walsh, the New York Daily News reported, citing a team source.

Walsh, who replaced Thomas as the Knicks' president, fired him as coach last week after Thomas went 56-108 as coach, including this season's 23-59 disaster. He has been reassigned as an advisor to the team.

According to the report, there is concern that Thomas, if allowed to have any contact with the team, could either willingly or unwillingly undermine its new coach. Thomas acquired all the players on the current Knicks roster as team president.

But the agreement does not prohibit Thomas from speaking to Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, according to the report.

Your Team, Your Town, Your 76ers are Making Moves On and Off the Court

From the Daily News.

PORN STARLET and former California gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey says 76ers forward Jason Smith is a good kisser. According to Carey, Smith was the baller she "wrapped her legs around and made out with in front of clubgoers" Monday night at New York nightspot Butter, as the New York Post's Page Six reported yesterday. The Post did not identify which player she kissed, but said she hung out with a group of Sixers.

Sources tell us the group also consisted of Louis Amundson and Shavlik Randolph. The busty blonde told us last night that Smith said he was a fan of her movies and referred to her as "a goddess" before they kissed. 76ers spokesman Michael Preston said yesterday that the team "does not comment on our players' social lives." Carey, who recently danced at the Creekside Cabaret, in Colmar, is a huge basketball fan, and was recently seen on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew." An hour after we spoke with Carey, her manager, David Weintraub, called to say that Carey misspoke when she said she and Smith had made out. Weintraub denied what we consider to be obvious, that someone on Smith's behalf contacted him seeking some type of damage control. He wasted no time explaining just how important he is and mentioning he has his own show, "Sons of Hollywood," on A&E, while trying to squash this story.

"My buddy, my buddy" - random friends

NY TIMES

You wouldn’t think of Andy Roddick and Terrell Owens as kindred spirits: Owens is the 34-year-old Dallas Cowboys star in the rough-and-tumble world of pro football, Roddick is the 25-year-old star in the genteel sport of tennis.

But here they were this week, playing cards before Roddick’s match at the Sony Ericsson Open, laughing it up like old friends.

“I wish a lot of the public saw what I saw,” Roddick said Wednesday after a morning practice. “He’s a pretty friendly guy, he’ll meet people — friends of mine — who he doesn’t really even know, and he’s nothing but nice and sweet to them. I wish the public saw a little bit more of that side of him.”

And Owens, the inimitable T. O., would like the public to more consistently see the Andy Roddick who on Tuesday plowed through the last two sets of his match against Julien Benneteau. After dropping the first set, 4-6, Roddick dominated Benneteau, 6-3, 6-2.

After that first set, Roddick went into immediate overdrive, seemingly trying to win the entire match on each point. “He was really pressing, trying to get some wins in there instead of letting things flow,” Owens said. “He’s on the cusp of really being that No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 guy. If he keeps pushing, letting the games come to him and try not to press so much during the matches, he’ll win. He just has to keep his focus.”

•

Owens said he met Roddick two years ago. “I guess we both kind of watched each other from afar,” he said, before adding: “We exchanged numbers. He has a guy out of Waco, Tex., does some biomechanics, who works on his body during his season to keep his body in shape. I use that same guy, John Patterson, during my football season.

“He keeps up with me, I try to keep up with him. Since that time we’ve kept in touch with each other and followed each other’s careers.”

What is intriguing about the Owens-Roddick relationship — aside from its apparent incongruence — is Owens’s connection to rising young stars searching for the secret of breaking through.

Two seasons ago at Seattle, Owens’s quarterback, Tony Romo, flubbed a snap for a field-goal attempt in a crucial playoff game. Dallas lost and Owens spent the off-season keeping Romo’s spirits up. Last January, Romo and his girlfriend, Jessica Simpson, took an ill-advised trip to Mexico before the Cowboys’ playoff game against the Giants. After the Cowboys’ stunning loss, Owens tearfully stood up for Romo.

In the time that Owens and Roddick have known each other, Roddick has been frustrated by his inability to regain the top spot in the rankings. Roddick said this hasn’t dominated his conversations with Owens.

“I don’t know if that’s come up too often,” he said. “I don’t like losing, and luckily I was able to win once when I was younger, but I think we’re both looking for that next step. Most people will say we’re pretty good players, but we both want to take that next step.”

This year at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Roddick announced that he was parting with his coach, Jimmy Connors, after two years.

Roddick is playing well, playing happy. He discouraged the notion that his happiness and good play are the a result of Connors’s departure. “It doesn’t have anything to do with Jimmy,” he said Wednesday. “Jimmy was great, I was happy with him also and I was thankful for his time. Personally, I’m at a good spot.”

On Monday, Roddick confirmed his engagement to Brooklyn Decker, a 20-year-old model.

•

Will this public pursuit of love be a help or a hindrance to Roddick’s pursuit of a consistent championship run?

Roddick had a breakthrough year in 2003; by season’s end, he became the first American since Andre Agassi in 1999 to finish the year at No. 1. The intervening years have been a maddening string of starts and stops. There were losses when victories were expected. He did not consistently meet even his own expectations. He seemed to try to power his way to the top and often ended up skewered like a bull running at a skilled matador.

More often than not, the matador in Roddick’s career has been his opponent on Thursday: the dreaded Roger Federer. Roddick has faced Federer 16 times in major tournaments and has won once. Federer has won the last 11.

“You have to knock those guys off and solidify yourself as a consistent No. 1 guy, night in and night out, refusing to lose, coming from behind and winning matches — that’s what Federer has done, that’s what Nadal has done,” Owens said. “Until Andy beats those guys two or three times, he’ll always be labeled as being on the cusp but never really getting to the top.”

Clearly, Federer is the mountain that Roddick must climb.

He gets another chance Thursday. T. O. will be watching.

Nazi Sex Scandal? Oh Word?

From ESPN.

LONDON -- Formula One's governing body is keeping its distance from sexual allegations in a British tabloid newspaper about its president, Max Mosley.

"This is a matter between Mr. Mosley and the paper in question," an International Automobile Federation (FIA) spokesman said.

"We understand that Mr. Mosley's lawyers are now in contact with that newspaper and the FIA has no comment."

The News of the World reported in a front page story that FIA president Mosley, 67, had taken part in a "sadomasochistic orgy" with five prostitutes that reportedly involved Nazi role-playing.

According to a story posted by the London-based Times Online on Monday, Mosley and others "re-enacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate."

A video was also reportedly posted on the News of the World Web site. A check of the site Monday didn't find the video in question...

Thanks For the Memories, AI

From ESPN.

PHILADEPHIA -- Allen Iverson did not cry as the crowd inside his old stomping grounds showered him with 35 seconds of unadulterated love during pregame introductions. He blew kisses to the crowd, he pounded his chest, and when the applause and the screaming would not cease, he cupped his hand behind his ear and made the noise level rise by another dozen decibels.

"I didn't actually have tears in my eyes, but they were burning," Iverson said. "At one point I had to hold my head up so they wouldn't fall.

"But when I'm back at my hotel all by myself later tonight, they'll come out."

In an incredibly emotional comeback to the city where he spent one of the most eventful decades any NBA player has ever experienced, Iverson was given the warmest of receptions by the same fans he tantalized and frustrated for so many years.

He had a chance to be the hero of the game, too, but his jumper from the corner with 4 seconds left was off-target, and Iverson's old team, the Philadelphia 76ers, celebrated as though they had won a championship as the final buzzer sounded on a 115-113 victory Wednesday night over the Denver Nuggets.

"I'm not saying I'm cool with losing, cuz I'm not," Iverson said, "but I can't take away from what these people gave me tonight."
...
it was a class act all around -- from Iverson himself, and from the Philly fans.

"It was emotional, and it made me feel like the time I spent here was worth it," Iverson said.

Phillies Fans: This Pretty Funny, No?

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Lenny Dykstra building reputation as investment adviser

By Frank Fitzpatrick

Inquirer Staff Writer
Lenny Dykstra might not have read books, but no one ever doubted his smarts.

The former Phillies star was a savvy leadoff hitter who could work a contract negotiation as cleverly as he worked a rookie pitcher.

Retired now and 45, Dykstra, whose baseball career occasionally was marred by messy excesses - driving too fast, gambling too much - has transformed himself into a big player in the investment world.

He lives in Wayne Gretzky's old mansion, has a private jet, a string of successful car washes, and a growing reputation as a stock-market guru.

HBO profiled Dykstra on this month's episode of Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. Here are a few excerpts supplied by the show:

Host Bernard Goldberg: "Is it true you once said you don't read books because they might hurt your batting eye?"

Lenny Dykstra: "Yeah. You got to rest your eyes, man, plus it makes you think too much."

Goldberg: "Reading?"

Dykstra: "Too confusing."

Goldberg: "Reading?"

Dykstra: "Yeah, I still don't like to read."

Goldberg: "And I'm supposed to follow your investing advice?"

Dykstra: "Only if you like money."
...

The Phillies' Cheap Azz Costs Them Big Dollars

From ESPN.

...The Phillies -- and the folks at MLB who "advise" clubs on salary-arbitration filings -- thought they were going to nail this case because no player with two-plus years' service time had ever made anywhere close to $10 million.

Matter of fact, Howard was asking for more than twice the $4.5-million salary the previous record-holder, Justin Morneau, had earned in this service class.

So by comparison to Morneau, the Phillies' offer of $7 million actually might have seemed generous. Not by coincidence, that offer happened to be exactly as much as Albert Pujols collected in his first year of arbitration eligibility in 2004.

The problem was, the arbitrators didn't buy the comparisons to either Morneau or Pujols. Turned out, the guy they were looking at was Miguel Cabrera.

Apparently, the panel tossed Pujols out of the argument because his salary wasn't determined by the arbitration process. It was the first year of his long-term, seven-year, $100-million contract.

And the arbitrators ostensibly decided Morneau wasn't a comparable enough player because Howard has outproduced not just Morneau, but just about everyone else in the sport since he arrived in the big leagues.

So that left Cabrera. And it appears the panel couldn't justify giving Howard less than the $7.4 million Cabrera cashed when he won his arbitration case against the Marlins last year.

"I really think that if the Phillies had filed above Cabrera's number, that would have made a major difference," said one baseball man familiar with the case. "At least at that number, even if he'd lost, the arbitrators could have said it's the largest award ever."
...

Moishe: You Should Have Worked Harder on Your Post Moves, Less on Your Bar Mitzvah Chanting

From the NY Times.

Keith Van Horn earned $4.3 million on Tuesday, for nothing more than a signature and a flight to New Jersey. Aaron McKie earned $750,000 a few weeks ago for a few pen strokes and a trip to Memphis. Retirement from the N.B.A. has never been so profitable.

In a league with a salary cap, a luxury tax and a collective bargaining agreement as thick as a bank-vault door, general managers occasionally need extreme measures to make a trade. Two recent blockbuster deals illustrate the point.

The Dallas Mavericks could not have acquired Jason Kidd on Tuesday without Van Horn’s participation as a trading chip sent to the Nets to balance salaries, per N.B.A. rules. Van Horn last played in 2006. The Los Angeles Lakers could not have acquired Pau Gasol from Memphis on Feb. 1 without using McKie — who was working as a Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach — in a similar sign-and-trade arrangement.

McKie has yet to play a minute for the Grizzlies. It would be surprising if Van Horn plays for the Nets before his contract expires in June. They are virtual ghosts on their rosters, appearing in name only. (McKie’s official page on NBA.com still shows him in a Lakers jersey.)

To the general public, it looks like a shell game — a feat of economic gymnastics that has nothing to do with basketball or the wisdom of a particular trade. And that is essentially an accurate summation.
...
This is all made possible because of the N.B.A.’s arcane rules governing trades. Generally speaking, teams that are already over the salary cap have to balance salaries in a trade — taking back as much as they send away, give or take 25 percent.
...

Sixers Fans: Chris Webber is a Thief and Billy King was an Enabler

From Tom Moore at PhillyBurbs. Click here for other sports related posts that Morty and Moishe Recommend...

Could Webber have brought Gasol to Sixers?

The 76ers cannot get involved in any NBA trades involving big names.

They didn't have a player to match up, salary-wise, with Shaquille O'Neal, who went to the Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. But the 35-year-old O'Neal is too old to provide the Sixers with the long-term help they need.

As for Pau Gasol, the Grizzlies wanted an expiring contract for him. The Sixers' biggest deal that's ending this summer is Kevin Ollie ($3.4 million), which wasn't nearly enough. Memphis opted for the Lakers' offer, which featured the expiring contract of Kwame Brown ($9.1 million).

But what if the Sixers didn't buy out Chris Webber for 85 cents on the dollar 13 months ago? If he had honored his contract, Webber would've been in the final year making $21 million this year. Could the Sixers have acquired Gasol ($13.7 million) for Webber's expiring deal? In that scenario, the Sixers would've had to take another player from Memphis to come within 25 percent of Webber's salary.

While he's not a very good defender, the 27-year-old Gasol is exactly what the Sixers need on offense — a big (7-foot, 260 pounds) power forward who can score inside with both hands and rebound. His career averages are 18.9 points and 8.8 rebounds.

In the Lakers' 117-113 victory Friday at Orlando, Gasol accumulated 30 points — on 12-for-15 shooting — and nine rebounds.

Such a move would've wiped out the $10 million below the cap the Sixers are headed for in July, but it also would've eliminated the biggest hole in the Sixers' roster.

One Last Think Piece for the Weekend From Moishe's Favorite Writer

Chuck Klosterman on ESPN.com

...
While writing "Metaphysics," Aristotle outlined the three concepts of perfection as follows:

1. Something that is complete.

2. Something that is so good that nothing of the kind could be better.

3. Something that has achieved its purpose.
he '72 Dolphins were "perfect" by virtue of Aristotle's first and third definitions (the squad was a self-contained, untarnished unit that won the championship). The Patriots cannot make similar claims unless they win Feb. 3 (and if they lose, everything turns to smoke). However, they can already allege to embody that second designation of perfection: When one considers the advent of free agency, the salary cap, the enforced distribution of talent and the realties of present-day professional football, it's possible New England has built a team "so good that nothing of the kind could be better." Some of this was a product of chance (Brady was not drafted until the 199th pick in 2000), and some of this was a product of other teams' failures (the Packers could have acquired Randy Moss in 2007 for a third-round pick). But most of this has to do with the way the Pats perform: They have the most talent, combined with the most unselfishness, fueled by the greatest desire to unilaterally dominate. Their most consistent criticism has been running up the score against already humiliated opponents, a condemnation almost never applied to contemporary teams at the pro level. The Patriots are not literally perfect, but they are perfect enough to be historically singular.

Which is why it would be so much more interesting if they lose
Man o' War is arguably the finest horse who ever lived, and one of the best arguments for thoroughbred perfection. It is, however, very difficult to name any horse he raced against, except one: Upset, the only ungulate who ever beat him. This is how it goes. When measuring -- and particularly when remembering -- the greatest performances in the history of any sport, the moments that matter most are almost always tied to situations when that entity failed. Very often, those specific failures are the essential details people recall about dynastic achievement. The memory of perfection is inevitably tied to the memory of lost perfection.
...

Something tells me this is a Belichick trick - Morty, have I inherited your sketicism?

The New England Patriots have sauntered through the rest of the league this year. But on the verge of perfection, their leader came up gimpy.

Photographs and video show quarterback Tom Brady wearing what appears to be a walking boot on his right foot while in New York on Monday. A video of Brady in the cast is available on TMZ.com.

The Boston Herald reported that Brady -- flowers in hand -- was visiting the apartment of his girlfriend, supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Since the photographs of Brady in the walking boot were taken, he has been spotted wearing both cowboy boots and black dress shoes. He did not appear to be limping while walking.

To get everyone hyped for tonights Jones v. Trinidad fight - Morty has a fitski on Jones

Is it my glaucoma or do Randy Moss and Dukie look like they could be related?

Hope for Sixers Fans: Lou Williams

Lou is 6'1" and blocks a 7' player, and then dunks on the other end of the court.