Saturday smorgasbord: Chicago White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy is concerned about leaks in the saga involving Milwaukee Brewers left fielder and reigning National League Most Valauable Player Ryan Braun. Well, other than the first one that produced a high testosterone reading. It might be an overreaction to say Peavy was pissed off — or on.
* Speaking of Braun, he looked incredibly sincere Friday (Feb. 24), when he addressed the media after having his 50-game suspension lifted Thursday after an arbitrator ruled in his favor because there was a chain of custody problem in the way his drug test was handled. Not to be confused with the sincerity of, say, someone such as Rafael Palmeiro.
* Congratulations to Chicago scribe Sam Smith of being named winner of the Curt Gowdy Print Media Award by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. “Unquestionably, Sam Smith is one of the most influential writers in basketball history,” Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “I can’t say I always agreed with everything he wrote, but I assure you I read it all with interest.” No word on what the over/under will be for Sam’s trade rumors in his acceptance speech.
* Congratulations also to former Bulls forward Chet “The Jet” Walker on being voted into the basketball hall. If things go as planned (and occasionally they actually do), he will be on the March 1 edition of “Sports & Torts” with David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon on talkzone.com. And, yes, another reminder that you can advertise on the show. Information and rates are available by emailing david@injuryinillinois.com.
* Former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause and former Bulls assistant coach Johnny Bach were not among the finalists, although they reportedly were on the early list for this year’s nominations. One of these years, Krause will be voted in. About the only way to keep him out would be for the Hall to establish a height requirement.
The Chicago Slaughter lost its Indoor Football League game Friday to Lehigh Valley at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The editorial staff at elliottharris.com would be happy to pass along the final score and some of the highlights, but some of us were distracted by chatting with a MMA ring girl, with members of the Slaughter Special Ops team and lastly with a dancer from the Arendaline Rush Dancers of the Arena Football League’s Chicago Rush (she apparently was there to cheer on her friends and/or to check out the competition). At least some of us were able to shoot some video of the Slaughter dancers:
Speaking of MMA round-card girls, here is a photo of Arianny Celeste, who is in Japan for UFC 144, which is to be held Saturday (Feb. 25) in Toyko. She is shown with Azusa Nishigaki of Japan. This is part of the elliottharris.com effort at understanding different cultures and world relations.
Well, either that or merely an excuse to run a photo of the two of them. You can decide for yourself, if that is going to make you feel better about the whole thing.
Anyway, it was the best some of us could do on short notice.
What better way to spend the weekend than with some quality time with April Rose. Especially video of her and friends from Mardi Gras. Here are a three Maxim-produced efforts that feature some body-painting, bead throwing and more:
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