So, how have you spent your Thanksgiving holiday today? Gathered ’round the hearth with friends and family? Enjoying a turkey feast followed by the inevitable background football game? Engrossing yourself in NFL games you could care less about to escape Uncle Harry’s halotosis?

Here’s how Ron Artest has spent his:

Artest has been machine-gunning Tweets this afternoon about the welfare fraud investigation story about him that broke this morning. Read more…

I was just admiring Natalin Avci’s Twitter background image - in which she’s featured on all fours in bra and panties on a bed - when I read one of her latest Tweets:

“I know the Lord is gonna reward me for all the sacrifices I’ve made for my family, career & remaining abstinent!”

The last 48 hours have been a touch trying for Ron-Ron, so I highly advise he not click-through.

Read more…

After Stephen A. Smith’s spotlight-grabbing scoop yesterday that Allen Iverson was retiring, which included a live appearance on ESPN SportsCenter to make the announcement, Smith is now backtracking. From his Iverson *retirement* story on his blog:

(Kicked to the curb: S.A.S. knows just how A.I. feels)

Immediately after word came out that Iverson had announced he was retiring, sources close to him said he was having a change of heart.

“Word” came out? Uh, Stephen, no one else reported it but you, because we all know Iverson has no intention of retiring.

ESPN’s Ric Bucher gives us a clue why.

The more likely scenario is that Iverson finally figured out that no team in the league wanted his bad act anymore. And he went crying to Smith, who then ran with a trumped-up, *official* retirement announcement that Iverson moments later retracted. (Funny, don’t remember S.A.S.’ follow-up phone call to SportsCenter about that.)

Not coincidentally, Stephen A. buried the “change of heart” graf in his blog piece, giving no indication that his story of Iverson’s retirement was already dust in the wind. Read more…

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER reported this week that Tiger Woods is cheating on his wife Elin Nordegren with 34-year-old New York City resident Rachel Uchitel.

The story places Uchitel at Woods’ Melbourne hotel when he was recently playing the Australian Masters. It also includes an on-the-record account of the relationship by Ashley Samson, an acquaintance of Uchitel.

There are three possibilities as to why Uchitel was at Woods’ hotel in Melbourne at the same time he reportedly was. She could be stalking him, meeting him for a tryst or it could be complete coincidence.

After initially lying about why she was in Australia, she admitted to an Enquirer reporter that she’d met Woods “twice” in her life, though she maintained she wasn’t there to meet him. But then why is she halfway round-the-world at his hotel in Melbourne?

From that, I think we can most likely rule out the coincidence possibility.

What about Uchitel being a stalker? Read more…

6 News in Indianapolis, via YouBeenBlinded.com, reports that Ron Artest and his sister, 36-year-old Latoya Holmes-Ivey, “are at the center of a welfare fraud investigation.”

Police and housing authorities raided the home and her three children rent at 336 E. Burgess Ave. Wednesday morning.

Artest’s sister reportedly received up to $34,000 in “taxpayer-supported rent assistance” because she claimed no income. But investigators indicated she was also allegedly receiving money from Artest for all of her bills.

Most importantly, Artest was allegedly behind the scheme, directing his sister to apply for federal assistance. Read more…

It’s USC-UCLA week which means the main statues on each campus get extra protection from vandalism. USC duct tapes the entire Tommy Trojan statue and has students stand guard round-the-clock.

(SbB Girl Cecilia in front of Tommy Trojan statue on USC campus)

UCLA has no such student guard patrols, and only drapes a tarp over the Bruin to prevent vandalism.

(SbB Girl Jenna next to Bruin Bear tarp on UCLA campus)

The result? The L.A. TIMES reports USC students plundered the UCLA symbol overnight, drenching it with gallons of Cardinal & Gold paint. It’s the first time I can remember the statue getting vandalized, so you know what that means: TV News choppers!

I’m happy to report that several USC fans have enthusiastically sent me more previously unseen photos of the Bruin Bear vandalized in red and yellow paint. Read more…

UPDATE: Official, Hawkins back for 2010.

UPDATE: CBS 4’s Vic Lombardi Tweets Wednesday night: “We know the decision…do you really think Bohn is gonna fire Hawk on Thanksgiving? C’mon. He’s coming back.”

UPDATE: Maybe the Hawk isn’t grounded after all, as the big Denver newstalk radio station, KOA-AM, is reporting this afternoon that Dan Hawkins will return as Colorado coach next season.

CBS 4’s Vic Lombardi in Denver today is reporting:

Two sources inside the CU football progam told CBS4’s Vic Lombardi that Hawkins recently met with Unversity Chancellor Phil DiStefano and came away from the meeting with the understanding that he’s safe for another year no matter what happens on Friday against Nebraska.

Lombardi also reports “Colorado Athletic Director Mike Bohn said he could not confirm anything until he returns to Boulder on Thursday.”

But wait, there’s much, much more!

Read more…

Ken Hoffman of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE recent posted a piece @ Chron.com about Pete Rose’s astonishing acumen as manager of his 20-something Asian girlfriend Kiana Kim’s nude modeling career.

Then came reader reax.

An undaunted Hoffman responded to those missives by completely ignoring the criticisms and offering us even more essential information about the background of Rose’s soon-to-be-nude girlfriend.

Read more…

David Clark Scott of CSMonitor.com reports on a bizarre, golf-related court ruling in Canada recently. Justice Arthur J. LeBlanc recently ruled that running up to the ball to whack it, like Adam Sandler in the movie Happy Gilmore, should be considered a legal breach of “the standard of care owed to other players on the course.”

“I am convinced that the “Happy Gilmore” shot,” wrote Judge Le Blanc in his decision, “would have been less controllable than a normal tee shot, both because it involved a run-up to the ball (rather than an aimed shot from a stationary position) and because the defendant had been drinking throughout the day

Uh, Ohhh-kay. So why the heck did this even come in a Canadian court? Read more…

UPDATE: New, previously unseen photos of Rachel Uchitel, Tiger Woods‘ alleged mistress, can be found here.

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER reports that Tiger Woods has been cheating on his wife Elin Nordegren with a 34-year-old “New York party girl” named Rachel Uchitel.

(Photo credit: National Enquirer)

In the Enquirer’s Dec. 7 issue, Michael Glynn reports that Woods’ alleged brunette mistress has a “reputation for dating married celebrities” and has had trysts with Woods in New York, Las Vegas and Australia, where Woods recently played in the Australian Masters.

(Photo credit: National Enquirer)

It was at Woods’ hotel in Melbourne where the Enquirer confronted Uchitel about the relationship.

(Photo credit: National Enquirer) 

Read more…