From my daily path in Venice Beach, California, the past seven days:

(Wait, you didn’t know I worked bike rental on weekdays?)

(NOT Jimmy Piersall)

(Chuck Nevitt Lives!)

(Skateboarder with first-ever flame retardant gear endorsement deal)

Not to be too much of a sentimentalist here, but the commercialization of sports sucks. We’ve got no problem with the astronomical salaries or ubiquitous advertisements - those are nothing new- but it seems like nothing can be done in sports anymore without first gauging the impact on corporate sponsors and TV networks. Nothing’s done […]

Of all the reasons to disapprove of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, one of the most compelling is the concern over the effect they may have on youths in sports. There’s no question that a teenager has no business injecting themselves with powerful steroids or other enhancers that could have unforeseen adverse effects on their still-growing […]

Over the years, college football’s BCS system has come under fire from just about all corners. Coaches hate it, the Senate wants it abolished, even cartoon characters are against it. In fact, it’s safe to say that apart from the corporate fatcats getting rich off of the biggest scam in sports, there really isn’t anyone […]

You really have to give Barack Obama for sticking to his claim of being a diehard White Sox fan. Most guys might back off a little bit after botching the name of the home ballpark where the team called home for 100 years. But Obama was back on the bandwagon on Friday, crowing this to […]

There have been few athletes who have dominated pop culture the way Shaquille O’Neal has over the past 15 years. He was one of the first to fancy himself a crossover star between the worlds of sports and entertainment. Sure, you might think that Michael Jordan was there first, dominating the NBA, sneaker market, and […]

You might have heard that California’s finances are in such dire straits that Lenny Dykstra is shaking his head in disgust. In order to close a $26 billion budget deficit, the state was forced to pass a budget that includes drastic cuts to services such as health care and education. In fact, things are so […]

A few months ago, the swine flu epidemic turned the international sports scene into absolute chaos. Soccer teams in Mexico were forced to play in empty stadiums, and high school games and tournaments across the US were threatened. It was a total mess, but fortunately American professional sports were spared any damage.

But that’s all changed, […]

Remind me not to go to an “all-white party” hosted by Houston Texans fullback Vonta Leach. Because from what THE ROBESONIAN is reporting, it seems like his last party at the Blackwater Grille in Lumberton, NC turned into an “all-white plus black-and-blue and blood-red party.” (And an “all-white party” at the Blackwater Grille? Oh, the […]

After months of teetering on the verge of disaster, Affliction was pushed over the edge this week when Josh Barnett dropped out of his heavyweight title match against Fedor Emelianenko scheduled to headline its August 1 PPV after failing a drug test. Yesterday the company announced that it was canceling the “Trilogy” PPV and has […]