Game Plan
• READ
The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac
Ever wonder what would happen if Bill James and Mars Blackmon got together? Produced by the writers of the hoops blog FreeDarko, the illustrated Almanac combines player analysis with witty cultural commentary (whose jersey should you wear to a wedding?). Welcome to the 21st-century NBA, where style counts as much as stats.
• SEE
Back Back Back
Jose Canseco's acting career hasn't taken off, but you can see him onstage. Sort of. Playwright Itamar Moses's off-Broadway play follows Raul, Kent and Adam (thinly disguised versions of Canseco, Mark McGwire and onetime A's teammate Walt Weiss), who wrestle with the morality of steroid use and how it strained their friendship. Until Juiced: The Movie drops, this has to do.
• WATCH
Alexi Lalas pay off a bet
During the MLS playoffs, former player/exec and ESPN analyst Lalas said that if the New York Red Bulls beat Real Salt Lake, he would shotgun a can of the beverage that gave New York its name. They won, and he did—but first he made a funny video documenting his training for the explosive moment. (Watch it at Goal.com.) Remember, kids, shotgunning is 50% mental and 60% physical.
• FOLLOW
The winter meetings
Shotgun marriages, big paydays, regrettable decisions—what took baseball's off-season bazaar so long to get to Las Vegas? The meetings begin in Sin City on Monday; when they wrap, CC Sabathia, Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira could have new teams. With round-the-clock coverage on XM (radio) and MLB.com (video), what happens in Vegas won't stay there.
• WATCH
Conference title games
The SEC (Alabama-Florida), Big 12 (Missouri-Oklahoma) and ACC (Boston College--Virginia Tech) settle championships on Saturday. Is 'Bama beatable? Does Mizzou have a chance? Will BC ever run out of Fluties? Former QB Doug's nephew Billy Flutie helped the Eagles get into the ACC final with a TD pass on a fake field goal against Maryland last Saturday.
The Pop Culture Grid
How do sports stars fit in? | First pet | Most I'd pay for front-row inauguration tickets | My signature cologne is ... | ______ is hazardous to my health | Craziest thing I ever ate |
ELTON BRAND Sixers F | A dog named Frederick | $10,000 | Fahrenheit by Christian Dior. Old school | Television | Caviar (top) |
GARY BRACKETT Colts LB | A mutt named Battlecat | $100 | Bond No. 9 | Smoking | Liver |
DAN ELLIS Predators G | Of all the disgusting things, an albino gerbil | $1,000 | Baldessarini by Hugo Boss | A puck to the head | A fly |
RODDY WHITE Falcons WR | A blue pit bull named Psycho | It's priceless; it's like Genesis | Versace. It lays the women flat out | Cigarettes | A rib dish by my personal chef |
INSIDE THE GRID
BRAND knocked back the tiny fish eggs with his agent, David Falk, and Brackett, who grew up in New Jersey, partook, reluctantly, of his father's wild game. "My dad used to hunt," he says. "He'd fry things with the food, and he always had the liver going. I was never a fan." But why did the goalie swallow the fly? "I had a bet when I was younger to eat one, and I took it down," Ellis says. "It was a little crunchy, but you get through it."
PHOTO
JOEL SARTORE/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC/GETTY IMAGES (FLY)
PHOTO
JAMES LANG/US PRESSWIRE (WHITE)
PHOTO
KYLE TERADA/US PRESSWIRE (ELLIS)
PHOTO
JOHN BIEVER (BRACKETT)
PHOTO
DAVID E. KLUTHO (BRAND)
PHOTO
LAWRENCE MANNING/CORBIS (NO-SMOKING SYMBOL)
PHOTO
KOKI IINO/MIXA/GETTY IMAGES (GERBIL)
PHOTO
WESTEND61/GETTY IMAGES (CAVIAR)
PHOTO
©2008 JOAN MARCUS (PLAY)
PHOTO
ANDREW MCCLOSKEY (RED BULL)
PHOTO
MARTYN GODDARD/CORBIS (VEGAS SIGN)
PHOTO
MIKE ZARRILLI/GETTY IMAGES (FLUTIE)
TWO PHOTOS