As the New York Yankees prepared to turn out the lights on one of the most famous stadiums in the world, Yankees’ third basemen Alex Rodriguez was getting himself prepped for the occasion. Rodriguez didn’t take photos or try to take home pieces of the ballpark. No, nothing like that. Alex decided to take a trip to the beauty salon.

From the New York Post via FanIQ:

ALEX Rodriguez wasted no time embracing single life. With the ink not yet dry on his divorce, the All-Star was spotted Thursday getting his blond highlights touched up at the Frederick Fekkai Salon. Wearing faded jeans and skin-tight blue T-shirt, A-Rod embraced his feminine side when stylists wrapped his head in a plastic helmet and put him under a heat lamp, reports The Post’s Lukas I. Alpert. Later, A-Rod asked his yes-men if “it should be darker,” to which they responded with stunned silence.

Alex Rodriguez should have read the fine print before signing that deal with the devil. Yeah it got him a quarter of a billion dollars, but the “Priss/Jackass Clause”, as in A-Rod will always come out of any situation either looking like a priss or a jackass, doesn’t allow Alex to enjoy his money. Only A-Rod can wind up in the paper for getting his hair done and embracing “his feminine side.” Alex Rodriguez will hit a World Series winning home run before you hear of Albert Pujols or Ryan Howard in a situation like this.

Brett Favre took the field for the first time as quarterback for the New York Jets and went 5-6 for 48 yards and had a 4-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller. Favre looked good all things considered and will have two more warm-up games before opening the season September 7 against Chad Pennington and the Miami Dolphins. Hopefully Brett just shows up and plays football without any talk of retiring. He wouldn’t want to piss of Troy Aikman or Hitler again.

Brett Favre, New York Jets, highlights, video, youtube

Team Usa cruised to a 92-69 victory over Greece in their third preliminary game in the Beijing Olympics. Dwyane Wade’s ball saving alley-oop to Kobe Bryant was the play of the game, which you can see above if YouTube hasn’t pulled the video yet.

The Greeks were supposed to represent Team USA’s first challenge in Beijing. They were for the first quarter, but the American defense and Chris Bosh pushed Team USA to a 19 point halftime lead. The U.S. shot 35 percent from 3-pt. range (7-20) for the game and continued to miss open three point looks. The poor shooting from distance and the occasional lapse in team play were the only negatives for Coach K’s crew. Next up for the Redeem Team are the racist picture posing ballers from Spain.

Team USA,
Greece,
highlights

Team USA basketball got off to a good start in their quest for gold with a 101-70 whooping of host country China. LeBron James tore up the first half while Dwyane Wade was the team’s leading scorer with 19 points. Team USA struggled shooting the ball early but got it going in the second half to cruise to victory.

Yao Ming sprained his ankle in the game but he did return to the game. Before he got hurt he welcomed Kobe Bryant to China:

Team USA, China, basketball, video, youtube

Team USA defeated Russia 89-68 in their fourth of five Olympic tuneup games. The Russians slowed the game down and, held Team USA to their lowest point total and 29 points below their 118 point average. The bigger story after the game was Jason Kidd not playing in the second half by coach’s decision. I thought J-Kidd was being given a rest, but there are rumblings that say Jason Kidd is the odd man out in the three point guard rotation.

Team USA, basketball, video, youtube

Antonio Margarito defeated Miguel Cotto with an 11th round TKO Saturday night to claim the WBA welterweight championship. Cotto went down twice in the 11th round, and both times it looked like he was intentionally taking a knee to get a break from Margarito’s punches. Miguel Cotto’s corner smartly threw in the towel after the second time down. Their man was getting destroyed.

I had Cotto ahead four rounds to two at the halfway point. Cotto was out boxing Margarito and landing clean shots. Antonio Margarito was attacking the body early and it paid off because Miguel Cotto was beaten and tired in the end. The second half of the fight was controlled by Margarito’s size and power. Miguel Cotto’s blood covered face at the end of the match is all the proof you need. Antonio Margarito’s performance shows why guys have been avoiding him for the last few years.

Video to follow, but for now here’s a recap by Kevin Iole and the AP.

Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, boxing, TKO

Team USA basketball began their quest for the gold with a 120-65 blowout of Canada in an exhibition game in Las Vegas. Dwyane Wade looks to be recovered from his injuries, and Carmelo Anthony continues to play well under international rules, but there’s not a lot to be learned from this game. Canada sucks. Chris Sheridan of ESPN broke down Team USA’s defensive performance, and early on it looks like giving up uncontested shots and lack of size are the team’s weaknesses. Team USA will play Russia and Lithuania next week which will give us a better read on the squad.

Team USA, Canada, video, youtube

The new Apple iPhone comes with features such as 3G speed, maps with GPS, and corporate email, but the best addition is served up by Major League Baseball. The iPhone 3G will be released July 11, and will give baseball fans data from every game and highlights moments after they happen.

That’s right. Minutes after Boston and Tampa Bay have a major fight on the field and everybody laughs it off as boys being boys, you’ll be able to watch the bruhaha on the iPhone.

Adam Ritter, Vice President of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, lays out what the new iPhone can do for baseball fans. (via MLB.com):

“It’s a good example of the popularity of baseball. MLB At Bat will constantly update all the data of each game. You not only get to see all the data, but a couple of minutes after that, you get to see the play that put your team ahead or that great defensive play.

It’s going to be very exciting as a fan. You’re going to get video and highlights in an application and see your favorite Major League players. You start with the quality of the content, and then consider the device itself, the screen resolution, the fact that it’s twice as fast and will connect on wi-fi — it just looks beautiful.”

Baseball highlights and a price of $199 (8GB) or $299 (16GB)? I’m sold. And with the prices that low, I won’t be pissed off when they drop by $100 a few months after release.

iPhone, Apple, 3G, MLB, highlights