• A sad way to start the baseball week: Phillies announcer Harry Kalas & former Tigers pitcher Mark Fidrych both pass away on the same day.

• But it was nice to see Brian Bosworth help save an Oklahoman’s life.
• Wedding bells have rung for a couple of tennis stars: Andy Roddick ties the knot with [...]

• Sick of ESPN’s baseball coverage only showcasing the Yankees, Red Sox & Mets? Padres pitcher Heath Bell feels the same sourness.

• Fights, stabbings, gunplay – just another Opening Day at Dodger Stadium.
• John Calipari greets the Memphis faithful one more time – but not without some bodyguards.
• Former Duke basketball star Greg Paulus gets [...]

Ah, love is in the air in the tennis world. And I’m not talking about Billie Jean King canoodling with Elton John at a Bud Collins-hosted Streisand listening party.

(Roddick finally nails it to the floorboards)
This week Andy Roddick will finally close the deal with Brooklyn Decker, marrying the SI swimsuit model. While Decker isn’t [...]

• Andy Roddick roasts Novak Djokovic in the Aussie Oven Open quarters.

(Novak can’t wait to get back to those shivering Serbian winters)
• Oscar De La Hoya paid $5 million for MMA event – and he didn’t even have to fight!
• A friendly reminder to Super Bowl attendees looking for adventure – the Tampa area does [...]

In yesterday’s Speed Read, we mentioned how it was obvious that the Australian Open was a little hotter this year, based purely on the gallons of sweat dripping off many of the top seeds. Well, yesterday the year’s first tennis major officially jumped the shark and morphed into an episode of Survivor, with Andy Roddick [...]

Novak Djokovic, just a year removed from becoming Flushing’s instant darling after unveiling his array of tennis impressions (he served it just like Sharapova! Uncanny!), has managed nearly as quickly to become more unpopular than Armando Benitez in the Big Apple.

After dispatching Andy Roddick in four sets in the US Open quarterfinals, Djokovic celebrated with [...]

• Jay Mariotti says so long to the Chicago Sun-Times, as the jovial jaunty journalist sees his future going down the Intertubes.

• Jose Guillen was oh so close to giving an annoying fan a Royal thrashing.
• A postal worker in Maine tries to make off with a rare baseball card he stole from someone else’s [...]

Ah, supermodels. Can’t live with ‘em. Can’t live with ‘em. No, really. I can’t live with them. It’s apparently against “the law” or something. Like, if I just let myself in the door with a few tools I stole from the locksmith and sleep in their beds while they’re not there, this judge gets all [...]

• HOME RUN DERBY tosses up images of Misty May-Treanor throwing out the first pitch at yesterday’s Diamondbacks-Marlins game.

You probably didn’t recognize her at first, since she wasn’t in a bikini being butt-slapped by George W. Bush. (Although she did pose for pics with John McCain.)
• LARRY BROWN SPORTS types up word that Dodgers manager [...]

Andy Roddick has a thing for pulling out. He was a last minute scratch at the French Open with a shoulder injury. And he’s already announced that he won’t be representing the United States in the Olympics this summer. Why can’t the other A-Rod seem to stay in a big tennis tournament?

Because he’s too busy [...]