Elka Graham is an Aussie swimmer whose life is heading upstream. She’ll be racing for gold at this summer’s Olympics in Beijing. She’s already had some small-screen stardom as a contestant on Australia’s version of “Dancing With The Stars”. She’s engaged and will be married later this year. And McDonald’s has just signed her to a big marketing deal.

And as if things couldn’t be better for Elka, she’s just achieved a new honor - being named as the “face” of a horse breeding group.

Wait, what? Read more…

• David Beckham gives a valuable tip - $900 on a $100 check:

• Asking Austrian attendees to strip for a soccer stadium shoot is the naked truth.

• A Chicago-area pilot makes a landing on a golf course - just to get his son to tennis practice on time.

• Suzy Kolber gives birth to a beautiful baby girl - and names her after a Jets QB?

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Mike Florio of PRO FOOTBALL TALK reports today that “Suzy Kolber is a new mother, according to an ESPN spokesman who confirmed what apparently was mentioned at some point late Wednesday night on the air.”

“We reported several months ago (more than three and less than nine) that Kolber is pregnant. Our own MDS told me that he saw her while he was covering the Vikings-Bears Monday nighter in December for AOL, and that she obviously was expecting something other than an alcohol-induced fondling from a retired quarterback.”

Florio has also tracked down the sex and rather coincidental name of Kolber’s new daughter. Read more…

As the NFL Combine gets into full swing, practices are also starting up for some indoor football squads. And one female sports reporter is getting an in-depth look of the lesser-known leagues - by suiting up with a team.

The COLUMBUS (GA) LEDGER-ENQUIRER has the story on Rachel Baribeau, a reporter for local radio station WEAM 1580, who’s been banging with the big boys out on the practice field. Read more…

No crosstown trips necessary for USC football fans - for now.

• In case you didn’t know, Roger Clemens was in Washington today.

• Those crazy Chris Berman clips have been booted off YouTube.

• Is Michael Wilbon swiping NBA All-Star ideas from bloggers?

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Hat tips to Michael David Smith at the AOL FANHOUSE for finding this USA TODAY piece by its sports media columnist, Michael Heistrand, in which NBC’s Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Andrea Kremer and producer Fred Gaudelli take shots at ESPN for cutting back the roles of sideline reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya on Monday Night Football next year.

It’s worth noting that both Kremer and Gaudelli worked for ESPN before heading to NBC, but they take the Four-Letter to task — Kremer saying that the network’s demotion of Kolber and Tafoya sets back women, with Gaudelli adding that it’s more proof of ESPN being better with studio programs than live sporting events.

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A media source has told PRO FOOTBALL TALK that Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber will no longer be part of the Monday Night Football crew.

The reasons aren’t entirely clear, but it definitely strikes a little gender imbalance into the crew.

No more boy-girl-boy-girl-boy pictures, at least for now. We can at least hope they work a little Erin Andrews into the mix, right? As for now, PFT takes a stab at the reasoning.

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Some Cowboys fans are already perturbed with Tony Romo spending precious playoff preparation time in Cabo. So, don’t tell them that the QB also found time to do an interview with Cosmo.

TSD MAGAZINE leafs through the pases, and finds Tony lucky to enough to make the mag’s list of their Fun Fearless Males of 2008. Apparently, Romo’s career is “something akin to a jet plane taking off — it’s gone up, up, up, at an incredibly fast speed.” And like a plane, he’s crashed & burned just as quickly in his last two playoff games.

But that’s not stopping the ladies to want to learn all about the Dallas dreamboat. And in their upcoming February issue, Cosmo’s not afraid to ask the hard-hitting questions.

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