Mark Heisler of the LOS ANGELES TIMES has more details today on Elton Brand’s escape to Philly. Heisler notes that the Clippers tried to offer Brand a contract of $81M, but Brand’s agent David Falk stopped returning the club’s calls. Brand eventually accepted an $82M deal from the Sixers.

Heisler surmises, as we did here last Friday, that Falk is most likely behind Brand spurning the Clippers. Keep in mind though that Heisler’s sources on the matter are likely Clippers-affiliated, and the club is presently in full damage control mode.

Not many saw the Philly move coming, but two ESPN 950 radio hosts in Philadelpia, Harry Mayes and Dan Schwartzman, browbeat Brand on-air about joining the Sixers as early as June 5 (audio).

Meanwhile, Jonathan Abrams of the Times reports that Baron Davis’ agent has confirmed his client is still hip to clip.

USA TODAY reports that NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson endorsed John McCain yesterday at the National Press Club: “I’d have to pick (John) McCain. I think our core fan base, being Republicans like they are, that will be their first choice.”

FYI: NASCAR’s home state of North Carolina is currently represented in Congress by seven Democrats and six Republicans.

(We avoided Charles Woodson’s wine stains, but not this - thankfully)

When I was at the Playboy Mansion recently, they were pouring samples of a wine called “24.” No idea what it was at the time, but now the DETROIT NEWS reports that the vino is the handiwork of noted vintner Charles Woodson.

The Chicago Bears official website has plenty of fun with the fact that when Jim McMahon visited the White House in 1996 as a member of the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, he actually wore a Bears jersey.

Excerpt: “When the Packers were honored at the White House, McMahon wore a Bears jersey, enraging Green Bay fans. McMahon explained that he did it because the Bears never got a chance to visit the White House after winning Super Bowl XX. Their trip to Washington was canceled after the Challenger space shuttle blew up.”

God I miss that dude.

Paul Lukas of UNI WATCH BLOG has a bone to pick with the Brewers.

Seems he’s not too found of the club’s penchant for on-field advertising: “Can’t they leave this sh– off the field of play?“

Conveniently, that quote can also be attributed to when the Royals next visit Miller Park.

Yes, we’re all tired of Brett Favre un-retirement talk, but I have confirmed today that he will indeed be returning to Green Bay. In just 11 days.

I just can’t take how morbid some of these celebrity athlete auctions can be. For instance, Thurman Munson’s wife is set to auction off his wallet, which survived the fiery plane crash in Ohio that killed him.

I’m sure former Bengal Chris Henry would like try the same thing, if only he had a wallet.

Mike Florio of PRO FOOTBALL TALK reports that Trent Dilfer, after tearing his achilles tendon playing basketball, is retiring from the NFL.

Randy Youngman of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER is perhaps the last person in SoCal to discover that when it comes to the *Los Angeles* Angels, team owner Arte Moreno has no clothes.

Youngman on a recent sighting at a Beverly Hills restaurant:

Because we were not in Orange County, it was imperative to ask the bartender, a friendly fellow named Carlos, if he knew the man who had just left.

“Yeah,” Carlos said without hesitation, “he owns the Anaheim Angels.”

Honest. That’s what he said — without prompting.

That isn’t what the team is called anymore, Carlos was reminded.

“OK,” he said, “the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles.”

In a somewhat related story, the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES reports this week that thanks to media members calling the Tampa Bay Rays the “Tampa Rays,” former St. Petersburg (FL) City Council member Bill Foster has “made a minor crusade out of reminding everyone where that team named the Rays actually plays.”

Foster recently sent a complaint to ESPN about how anchors and analysts on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight were “repeatedly referring to Tampa, not St. Petersburg, as the home field” of the Rays.

A retiree and Rays fan firing off complaint letters? If that’s not confirmation the club calls St. Pete home, I don’t know what is.

MediaPost.com reports that with ESPN The Magazine ad sales off 16%, the WWL is offering *free* TV plugs to prospective ad buyers.

Included in the plugs is the “Five Good Minutes” segment on the “PTI.”

One small detail: to get in the door, you’ll need nearly $600,000 for three mag ad pages.

Then again, if it means getting close enough to Bob Ryan to get a contact buzz off his bourbon breath, I’m in.

Problematic ad page sales though isn’t stopping ESPN from launching something called ESPN The Magazine Mexico. In a wild guess, you probably nailed that the periodical is a Spanish-language version of ESPN The Magazine.

The first issue features Cristiano Ronaldo on the cover and is already on sale in Mexico. So that mean the inaugural issue has already made it across the border and is available at the guacamole bar of your nearest Los Angeles-area El Pollo Loco location.

I wrote yesterday that the pollution in Beijing is going to be the number-one talking point during and after the summer Olympics. Not, of course, by IOC-endorsed NBC, but by the rest of the media and everyone watching from near and far.

And we’re going to be reading plenty of stories about Olympic teams avoiding the city at all costs until the competition. The PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS reports this week that Australia’s track athletes, “(to) avoid any smog-related ailments, … will not march in the opening ceremony Aug. 8 and will remain in Hong Kong to train until the meat of their schedule begins Aug. 15.”

The entire British team will “train in Macau until those athletes are called upon to compete.” Both locations are “about as far from Beijing as New York City is from Miami.”

What about the Americans? I’d like to think the folks running our team aren’t your garden variety (Olympic) village idiots

If a MLS player goes “beserk” on a team employee in the woods …

Jim Souhan of the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE works out with Vikings starting center Matt Birk. Excerpt: “There is a difference in our workouts. Birk, a surprisingly lean-looking 317 pounds, uses dumbbells the size of Mack truck tires. I use small, pink, plastic dumbbells that say ‘Rainbow Pony’ on the side. Otherwise, we go through roughly the same routine.”

SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY has Jayson Stark weighing in (sorry) from ESPN’s insider membership area with the most crucial stat to come out of the latest Brewers-Indians player swap: “The combined official weight of Brewers teammates P CC Sabathia and 1B Prince Fielder, making them only the third pair of teammates in MLB history to join the ‘270-270 Club.’ The official weights of Sabathia and Fielder are 290 and 270 pounds, respectively .”

At one time it appeared that Stephon Marbury’s “Starbury” shoes would one day be a household brand. But with the number-one retailer of the shoes, Steve & Barry’s, gone belly-up, that prospect now appears much dimmer.

Larry Stewart of the LOS ANGELES TIMES updates us on the dumbass guy who is trying to sit in every Rose Bowl seat in 48 hours:

Jim “Mouth” Purol, the Anaheim stuntman who plans to sit in every seat at the Rose Bowl to raise money for a charity, began the task Monday and plans to finish it by Friday. He goes for about 12 hours at a stretch, then sleeps on a cot in a locker room.

Jess Waiters, Rose Bowl assistant general manager, said late Tuesday Purol was about one-third through the 92,522 seats.

So the guy “goes for about 12 hours at a stretch, then sleeps on a cot in a locker room“?

For a minute I thought they were talking about ARod’s last off day.