(If you’re going by stats, sure looks like it)

During his weekday L.A. Sports Live show with co-Host Andrew Siciliano, Thompson wondered aloud, “is Kevin Love the best American big man in the game?”

Thompson cited Spain’s Pau Gasol as the best overall post player in the NBA, but after that, he gave every indication that he thought Love was number-two amongst paint purveyors.

(Pts/Reb/Asst) / Rebounds per 48 min)

Ahead of Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire and anyone else you can name.

(Efficiency / Double-Doubles)

As amazing as it may seem, if you were to make the call solely on statistics, Thompson is, somehow, right.
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That would include Lakers vice president Jeanie Buss, who happens to be Jackson’s longtime girlfriend. With former Lakers assistant and Jackson protege Kurt Rambis headed to the Timberwolves, Buss made a somewhat surprising observation recently on ESPN Radio in Los Angeles: Rambis’ departure could mean that Jackson could stick around in LA longer than anticipated. (more…)

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• Baseball phenom Bryce Harper don’t need no education, plans to skip final two years of high school to become eligible for next year’s MLB draft.

• Posing for a new photoshoot, Anna Kournikova shows she’s still A-OK.

• “Joe Buck Live” makes its long-awaited(?) debut, and Artie Lange insures that it’s a memorable one.

• The mom of porn star Catalina Cruz used to work as a secretary for former Cleveland Browns coach Sam Rutigliano.

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• Now that’s what you call a road test fiesta! Thanks, Top Gear!

• Could Coach K depart Duke to land as head honcho for the Lakers?

• Eddie Van Halen is very hot at Nike for ripping off his guitar to design their new shoes.

• The Stanley Cup takes a dip in Mario Lemieux’s pool.

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From Love’s Twitter feed, your finest source for breaking NBA news: “Today is a sad day … Kevin McHale will NOT be back as head coach this season.” As of this writing, however, the report has not been confirmed by the Timberwolves.

More from Love on Twitter:

P.S. I am not a breaking news guy…I had no idea no one knew..I’ll tell them I stayed at a holiday inn express last night. Always works…. about 6 hours ago

And from The MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE:

Upon seeing the posting, a person in the league was told McHale sent a text message to Love indicating he was not coming back. The person requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

New team president David Kahn and a Timberwolves spokesman did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.

McHale and Love grew very close during the rookie’s first season in Minnesota, especially after McHale left his front office position to take over as coach in December.

During a breakfast with media members on Monday, Kahn said no decision had been made and he hoped to meet with McHale again this week.

Now on to the wacky world of baseball. To prove what kind of a game we’re dealing with, both Willy Taveras (0-for-his-past-32) and Chipper Jones (0-for-21) got hits for the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday against Cincinnati. But it was the Reds’ Killer Rain Delay Tarpaulin of Doom which stole the show. When it was all over, there were two lengthy rain delays, one very embarrassed groundskeeper and a 7-2 Cincinnati victory.

The unfortunate lass above being swallowed by the tarp is Robin Habisch, whose colleagues have evidently never heard of the Army motto “No man left behind.” Attempting to roll out the tarp during heavy rain and wind during the top of the third, the grounds crew finally got the upper hand, only to have Habisch disappear underneath the fabric.

She groped around underneath, burrowing Bugs Bunny-like, until at last finding freedom. This all delighted Brandon Phillips, who mocked her relentlessly in the dugout afterward. And she even got interviewed by FSN.

Heavy rain resulted in the 1-hour, 54-minute delay in the top of the third inning. A member of the grounds crew lost her footing as she helped drag the tarp over the infield, leaving her trapped briefly. She got to her feet and found her way out unharmed, receiving an ovation from the 19,127 wet fans.

Crew chief Joe West herded the teams back onto the field with a steady rain falling and sections of the warning track submerged. Only two outs later, the rain turned back into a downpour, resulting in another delay of 21 minutes.

Laynce Nix drove in three runs with a groundout and a pair of doubles and Phillips had three hits, as the Reds ended a four-game losing streak.

And now from the land of personalized jerseys we get this Cardinals head-scratcher, which may be a reference to a St. Louis icon with whom I’m unaware (”Come on, catcher Pickles Dillhoefer, the Ghost Man! Jeez!”). But more likely, as pointed out by JOE SPORTS FAN, “Ghost Man” represents that imaginary runner used in pickup games when you’ve only got three or four players per team (also popular in Wiffle Ball).

But why would anyone want to be Ghost Man? That guy sucked … he usually got on base with a single, which is lame when there’s only three fielders. Then, if you played by the same rules that I did, he advanced only one base per hit; two for a double, three for a triple — the Steve Balboni of pinch runners. So if he’s on second and you single cleanly to right, he’s too slow to score. Nice use of $300.

Other stories to ponder after figuring out exactly how many helium balloons it would actually take to lift your house …

• New Zealand golf officials are experimenting with shortening official rounds to nine holes. This is met by cheers from everyone except caddies.

• It wasn’t a good day for Arkansas TV reporter Mike Irwin, who was trying to do a live remote from the CWS in Omaha when fan pandemonium broke out (below). Instead of rolling with it, though, Mike got pissed, and called for security. Why would I imagine that this is exactly how Joe Buck would have handled it?

• It goes to 11, and stops: Gabe Kapler’s four RBIs help the Rays end the Rockies’ 11-game winning streak.

• Speake High of Danville won the Alabama 1A softball title on Tuesday, days before the school is scheduled to close forever. Take that, downsizing.

• Delicious Pudge, anyone? Houston’s Ivan Rodriguez ties the MLB record for games played at catcher, at 2,226. Carlton Fisk immediately announces unretirement.

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And so, according to the MIAMI HERALD, the family of Mario Reyes, the man Donte’ Stallworth stands accused of killing in a March DUI accident, have been described by prosecutors as “the primary force” in a plea deal that is expected to be accepted today. And rather than spending years and years in prison, Stallworth may only have a short jail stay:

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to driving drunk when he struck and killed a pedestrian on the MacArthur Causeway in March, The Miami Herald has learned.

Stallworth’s attorney, Christopher Lyons, confirmed that the case was expected to be resolved Tuesday in court. Lyons declined to detail terms of the plea, which are not yet public.

While this is good news for Stallworth and his family, it doesn’t mean his NFL career is back in play; even after the jail stay imposed by the judge, Stallworth will still have to be reinstated by the notoriously unsympathetic Roger Goodell.  This will be a remarkably tough decision for the commissioner; no matter what length of suspension he decides on, it’s still going to be met by (not entirely unreasonable) protests of “Oh, so that’s how many games a human life is worth?”

But all the same, the person who’s really going to be haunted by the specter of death here is Stallworth, not Goodell. That he, even accidentally, killed a fellow man is a fact that will saddle him long after he’s gone from the league.

*UPDATE*: Stallworth gets sentenced to 30 days in jail & two years of house arrest.

Okay, we need a fun story after all that. So, as we warned you earlier, Joe Buck’s talk show career just started last night. And, judging by what AWFUL ANNOUNCING found, it may have ended last night too.

The milquetoast play-by-play announcer for FOX had put together a decent, meh-but-not-terrible first episode, with appearances by Brett Favre (more on him later), Michael Irvin, Chad Ochocinco, and other famous members of the sports world. And then to close it out, he had on longtime friend Paul Rudd, a practically non-existent Jason Sudeikis, and, inexplicably, Artie Lange.

The audio is ludicrously NSFW, but if you’ve got earphones and/or a door to your office, you’ll want to check out Lange single-handedly derailing the show:

And then yes, Favre. Favre Favre Favre. He was the first guest on the show, and allowed make unironic claims like he’s not looking for attention. While he’s on, y’know, a nationally televised talk show. And to his credit, the fact that this is his first public appearance while ESPN has hammered coverage of his dalliance with Vikings management into viewers’ brains (we think Ed Werder’s been tasked with rifling through the trash down at Favre’s ranch in Mississippi) should be noted. That said, this happens every damn year, and it’s so tiresome. Here we are in June, with training camps underway. Teams want to have their summer rosters in place. So is Favre going to play this year? “Maybe.”

(Here we go again.)

Also, the fact that Favre’s first public comments aren’t to ESPN should be noted as well. So rather than think of Favre as a caricature of an attention whore or drama queen or whatever, perhaps it’s best to - yes, we know this is neither fun nor easy - recognize the shades of gray and think that while he knows how easy it is to attract attention after spending two decades in the spotlight,  part of him actually is a country-bred bumpkin from Mississippi who would play football forever if he could.

But then again, we don’t know where the annual retirement charade fits into either side. And how many years in a row is this? Eight? C’mon, man.

Here are more stories to consider as you mourn Shawn Johnson’s euthanization…

• Look, this is clearly not the appropriate forum to discuss the ongoing turmoil in Iran. We’re not nearly qualified enough to comment on it, and that’s not what you’re here to read anyway. That said, if you’re wanting to find out more about watching the seeds of revolution occur in real-time, Andrew Sullivan’s blog is a good place to start. So why even bring it up? Only for the most epic picture in tOSU history, via 11W (click here for higher res, pops):

(Your move, Michigan.)

• YAHOO! SPORTS says Denver’s “troubled” (…by what? His impossible-to-shake ladybeating habit?) wideout Brandon Marshall has contacted Broncos ownership and demanded a trade. This has already prompted the Broncos to acquire Bears WR Brandon Lloyd. So then the Bears are in the market for a WR now? Hmmm… who’s their quarterback, again?
• In the NBA draft, super scorer Jodie Meeks is definitely gone from Kentucky, while Luke Harangody has withdrawn from the draft to return to Notre Dame. Harangody’s decision is strange, especially when you consider the similarly overbulked white guys who have gone on to star in the NBA, such luminaries as, um…
• The federal judge in charge of the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy case has rejected their sale to Jim Balsillie, the Canadian billionaire who intended to move the franchise to Hamilton. This is a victory of sorts for the NHL and Gary Bettman, who has incredibly poor judgment.
• UCLA held another Undie Run, and why yes, we do have video, thanks to JERSEYCHASER.COM. And wait, is that Kevin Love?

• According to the CELTICS BLOG, Boston GM Danny Ainge is reportedly shopping Kendrick Perkins and Bill Walker to Memphis GM Chris Wallace for the #2 pick in the draft. The Celtics aren’t actually that enamored with anybody in the draft; they just want to see first-hand how easy it is to rip off Chris Wallace.
• Mostapha Al-Turk wants to appeal the loss handed (fingered?) to him by Mirko Cro Cop in UFC 99 this past weekend. We can think of at least one reason why Dana White thinks this is a good idea.
• Speaking of MMA, as CAGEWRITER notes, ESPN may want to choose their words just a bit more judiciously when it comes to describing Wanderlei Silva:
• Orlando’s 2010 hopes take a hit as the ORLANDO SENTINEL reports Hedo Turkoglu will opt out of his contract and file for free agency. It’s a shame; Dwight Howard is the “face” of the franchise, but anyone who watched the Magic’s playoff run could tell Turkoglu was the MVP of the team.
• Earth to Joe Morgan: People can fact-check you now really easily. Stop making things up.

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After crunching the numbers, the paper found that there are 46 white Americans out of 432 players on current NBA rosters, about 1.5 per team. Which makes sense - anyone who watches the Lakers would could Chris Mihm as half a player.

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(The perfect gift, especially if the recipient is named Alexander.)

The Rookie Relief For St. Jude’s program has auctions open until November 20 on jerseys for almost all of the 1st rounders from this year’s draft (Russell Westbrook and D.J. White are still unaccounted for, probably because they hate sick children), plus several former 1st-overall picks and a handful of other veterans.

Even better, Love will match all donations up to a total of $12,500. So those of you with a kind enough heart to be regular donors to St. Jude’s will see your money go farther - in addition to owning a nice jersey that a very tall man has scribbled on.

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The premise? The Sklars play Leyland and Leif Topps, who find out that their uncle has sold the company business to a corporate conglomerate owned by Michael Eisner. They struggle to keep the mission of Topps cards afloat as the mean penny-pinching executive plots their downfall. Also, there’s a stalker. And sports cameos by Andre Ethier, Russell Martin and Kevin Love. So basically, whatever B-list athletes happened to be hanging around in LA that day and were down for getting a free lunch.

Is it any good? Check out an episode for yourself after the jump:

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• BREWERS BLOG boo-hoos news that Corey Hart is not happy hearing all the malcontents at Miller Park.

• The L.A. TIMES shoot up word that former UCLA star Kevin Love would like nothing better than to dunk on Tyler Hansbrough.

• WITH LEATHER tries to figure out which GQ get-up best suits Brett Favre.

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