Gameplan
• CHECK OUT
Manny being minor
With his 50-game ban ending on July 3, Manny Ramirez gets into shape thisweekend with the Inland Empire 66ers, the Dodgers' Class A affiliate. Is hisjewelry secure? The last time he played in the minors, with Triple A Pawtucketin '02, Manny lost a diamond earring while sliding and held up the game so hecould search for it.
• WATCH
Beach volleyball worlds
Ah, volleyball hotbeds: L.A., Sydney ... Stavanger? The Norwegian port hoststhe world championships June 26--July 5 on sandy courts laid on town docks.(Watch on Universal Sports.) There will be a new women's champ: The U.S.'sMisty May-Treanor (Achilles injury) and Kerri Walsh (motherhood) won't bethere.
• OBSERVE
A sabermetric mismatch
How weak is the majors' lowest-scoring team, the Mariners? Their on-basepercentage was .311 through Sunday; since 2003 only one AL team has gotten onbase less often. (Detroit's OBP was .300 in '03.) This weekend the M's play theDodgers, who had held foes to the fourth-lowest OBP (.323).
• READ
Kid lit from Michael Phelps
The Olympic champion has a beach read for the kiddie-pool set: How to Trainwith a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals. The title doesn't roll off the tongue, butthe story, which describes Phelps's training regimen, is endearing. He swamenough before the Olympics to go from Baltimore to the North Pole and back!
• MONITOR
NFL Rookie Symposium
Draftees gather in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on Sunday for four days of adviceon financial and social issues. Lesson No. 1: Don't do what Aqib Talib and CoryBoyd did last year. The ex-Buccaneers mates fought during a budget and financestalk. Some people have very strong opinions on stocks versus bonds.
The Pop CultureGrid
Justin Speier
Inside the Grid
Schierholtz and Salinas are on to something. This monthreality TV fixtures Heidi and Spencer Pratt accused NBC of torture during theirstint on the survival show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (The networkdenied it.) Says Salinas, "They're not relevant in the first place, but itnever ends with them."
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VICTORIA AROCHO/AP (RAMIREZ)
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HOLLY STEIN/ICON SMI (BEACH VOLLEYBALLER)
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MITCH STRINGER/ICON SMI (MARINER)
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LEON HALIP/US PRESSWIRE (QUARTERBACK)
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DARRYL DENNIS/ICON SMI (SPENCER AND HEIDI)
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ERICK W. RASCO (BEER)
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JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (WEAVER)
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SARA WOLFRAM/MLS/GETTY IMAGES (SALINAS)
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DAVID WALBERG (SORENSTAM)
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HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES (SCHIERHOLTZ)
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STEPHEN HIRD/REUTERS (FOX)
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CORBIS (VAMPIRE)
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