• Danica Patrick could be removing her racing suit to pose for an all-nude (yet tastefully done) pictorial for ESPN The Magazine.

(Well, it’s a start)

• And the Rick Pitino sex-tortion scandal gets more & more pitiful.

• This FIBA Americas basketball tournament is getting quite rough. If it isn’t Mexico & Uruguay throwing punches & chairs, it’s security hassling Charlie Villanueva & his mother.

• College football players could lose their hotel privileges - for home games. But keeping the kids out of the local Motel 6 could actually be a bad idea.

• Are fantasy sports bad for your relationships? Well, in Texas, it can certainly be bad for your health.

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• What Would Tim Tebow Do? Apparently sue you for using him as the basis for a minor league promotional night.

(Saint Tebow with a pair of heavenly disciples - and before you ask, no, neither of them is Lucy Pinder)

• Michael Vick makes his Philadelphia Eagles debut. Let the circus begin!

• Pass the earplugs: John Daly is in Nashville working on a studio album.

• Did Jessica Simpson place a curse on Tony Romo for trying to mack on her girlfriends?

• The Houston Texans are taking a strong stand against excessive alcohol consumption - by serving their gameday beers in smaller cups.

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We really wish we’d known this going into the whole deal, but apparently, the FIBA Americas tournament going on down in Puerto Rico is seriously bad-blooded. That whole deal with Mexico and Uruguay* going Bobby Knight on each other? That wasn’t entirely an isolated incident, it appears.

(How are you going to mess with this woman? Honestly, people.)

The latest incident wasn’t nearly as violent, but that’s only because cooler heads prevailed. The incident, after all, had the makings of the worst kind of fight: the one that participants take personally. After all, you do not mess with Charlie Villanueva’s mother. You. Just. Don’t.

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Old Zen kōan: if something happens involving Charlie Villanueva, and he doesn’t Twitter about it, can it be said to really have happened at all? Regardless, we’ve got to report that the Bucks forward is being sued for assaulting a man at a nightclub last February.

The uploaded PDF of the complaint is missing a few pages, so we don’t know many details yet. But Daniel Fischer claims the attack at Decibel nightclub, where Villanueva is admittedly a regular, was “completely unprovoked” and left him with lasting damage.

The court of public opinion seems to have already made its ruling, though.

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I hate April Fools’ Day. It’s to being funny what St. Patrick’s Day is to drinking: pure amateur hour. Every office cut-up who thinks that “Two and a Half Men” is God’s gift to comedy decides that this would be a great time to do something wacky - think Michael Scott from “The Office.” And every radio hack in America decides to start a rumor that a certain celebrity died of a drug overdose/car crash/lightning strike.

So as cranky as I am about the whole day, it’s rare when I can appreciate an April Fools’ Day stunt. But I have to doff my cap to Connecticut star Hasheem Thabeet, who managed to pull of a good prank using his (protected) Twitter account. THE ARENA reports that Thabeet Tweeted that he had failed a drug test, and would be not playing in the Final Four this weekend.

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Ever since Shaq shouted out to any of his Twitter followers while eating at a local diner, Twittering has taken the NBA by storm. More and more ballers are making their way to sign up & take part in the latest social e-fad.

(Shaq with a newly-found Twitter friend)

Of course, some players are already taking their Twittering a bit too far, such as Charlie Villanueva, who’s texted during halftime of a game, and also spilled the beans about UConn coach Jim Calhoun’s health status. Still, it appears that Twitter is becoming a permanent part of the NBA landscape - until a new & cooler social technology comes along.

So, what other pro b-ballers are sharing their thoughts through Twitter?

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For the second time in less than a week, Charlie Villanueva has made news “tweeting” from his Twitter.com account.

Earlier this week Villanueva was reprimanded by the Milwaukee Bucks for tweeting at halftime of a game against the Celtics.

Thursday Villanueva, who played for Jim Calhoun at UConn, was back tweeting. This time it was about the status of his former coach for the Huskies’ Saturday game vs. Texas A&M. Read more…