Queen of Sports

Avril Lavigne In Hot Water After Tampa Bay Rays Performance

Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne threw out the pitch at Tropicana Field before the Tampa Bay Rays game on Saturday and followed it up with a post-game concert. Well, Avril’s in a bit of trouble now after she went on an expletive rant when she had technical problems with her microphone during the first song of her set. The Rays bill their Saturday concerts as “family-friendly” and had approximately 24,717 people in attendance.

After Avril’s rant, the crowd began to boo and she responded by saying “things like that happen at a live performance, especially at a baseball stadium.”

On Sunday, the Rays released a statement expressing their displeasure at Avril’s behaviour:

“The Rays demand profanity-free performances from all of our concert performers and we are extremely disappointed by the language used in last night’s show. It is not consistent with the family-friendly atmosphere that Tropicana Field is known for.”

Towards the end of the performance, Avril apologized to the crowd saying “We had so much fun tonight and we want to take the tirade out and say thank you to the Tampa Bay Rays. I am truly sorry if anyone was offended by my language.”

We bet the Rays will be on alert for their future summer concert performers. Other acts already scheduled to take the stage are Goo Goo Dolls, Miranda Lambert, Mirande Cosgrove, REO Speedwagon and The Wiggles. We are guessing that last one won’t present an issue!

Photo: Splash News

Tony The Tiger Throws Out First Pitch At Dodger Stadium

Check out Tony the Tiger taking the mound at Dodger Stadium. The famous Kellogg’s mascot threw out the ceremonial first pitch this weekend as the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the Florida Marlins. The Dodgers and Marlins played three games with LA taking two of the three.

Perhaps this is a step in improving the Dodgers image since the opening day Giants fan beating and the ugly McCourt divorce. Definitely a family friendly move!

Photo: Splash News

Happy Birthday Joe Namath!

Happy birthday to “Broadway Joe” Namath who turns 68 today. Namath, who spent all but one year of his NFL/AFL career playing for the New York Jets, is a legend in the sport of football and an icon in the NFL’s history. Namath notably guaranteed the media that his  AFL Jets would beat the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969, then made good on his word. The win was a first for any AFL team and helped seal the deal for the NFL/AFL merger.

Namath’s “Broadway Joe” nickname stems from his on-field and off-field antics including wearing fur coats on the sidelines, and appearing in many television advertisements including one for Noxzema that also starred a then unknown Farrah Fawcett. Following his football career that ended after part of one season with the Los Angeles Rams, Namath acted in several movies and guest-starred on several television shows.

Namath was inducted into the football Hall of Fame in 1985 after his last and final retirement from football in 1977. He retired after playing 140 games, in which he threw 173 touchdowns.

Playboy Begins Ranking Top 23 Air Jordans Today

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A couple weeks ago, Playboy released a video on the Internet starring Playmate Francesca Frigo as Mars Blackmon announcing the magazine’s upcoming SoleMates feature of the top 23 Air Jordans of all time. That rankings debut today. Sneaker expert Matt Halfhill of NiceKicks.com ranked the sneakers and Playboy models will be featured to illustrate the list.

Men love their sneakers and men love Playmates, so Playboy is capitalizing on the feature and charging $4.95 to view the rankings with a three-day trial to join the magazine’s Cyber Club. The trial renews after three days at which time the standard $19.95 monthly rate is kicked in. We wonder how many suckers will fall for forgetting to cancel their trial and be stuck paying 20 bucks a month all because they wanted to see someone else’s opinion on which Air Jordans are the best. Or maybe we’re just missing the point and there are some guys out there who Playboy capitalizes on that will pay anything to see a nude or half-nude female.

Dwight Howard Hosts Memorial Day BBQ For Fans

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard invited fans in central Florida to a Memorial Day BBQ at a lock park in Orlando yesterday.

The impromptu gathering was paid for entirely by Dwight who invited fans via his Twitter account. Dwight, who has over 2 million followers on Twitter sent out the message “Hey peeps in Otown. We should have a super BBQ. Wassup.” He noted that he wanted to hang with the fans and didn’t want it to turn into an autograph session.

Dwight and the guests enjoyed catered BBQ and played football while a DJ spun some tunes. The BBQ started at 2pm but as word got out the total in attendance was in the hundreds. Check out this video of Dwight playing quarterback:

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Photo: Splash News

Athlete Sighting: David De Gea

Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea was spotted at Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain. He and his girlfriend, Spanish pop star Edurne were returning from Paris, France. The 20-year-old soccer stud plays for Atlético Madrid.

Cute couple!

Photo: Splash News

Queen Of Sports 101: Overtime & Shootouts In NHL

The Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks will be competing in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. While shootouts do not happen in Stanley Cup playoff games, we thought we’d explain how overtime works in the playoffs and how shootouts work in regular season NHL games.

In overtime, the team that scores the first goal wins. However, it is not that simple. In regular season games, if the score remains tied after five minutes of overtime then it goes to a shootout. A shootout works with each team naming three shooters. The team with the most goals wins. If none of those shooters score a goal, then the game goes into sudden death mode with the first team to make a goal becoming the winner. Each player must take a shot before any player shoots for a second time. Scoring involving a shootout win is different from a normal regulation game. Teams that lose in overtime or with a shootout get one point, while the team that wins gets two points.

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, there is no shootout and overtime is 20 minutes. The team with the most points at the end of the 20 minutes wins the game. The overtime periods continue until someone wins. The longest NHL overtime game in history was a playoff game that went to six overtimes that lasted 116 minutes and 30 seconds in 1936 when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons.

Watch the first game of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoff finals on Wednesday at 5 pm PST on NBC.

Jim Tressel Resigns As Ohio State Head Coach

After being caught in a lie attempting to cover up his knowledge of NCAA rules violations by some players on the Ohio State football team, head coach Jim Tressel has now resigned. He was suspended for two games and fined $250,000 during the season, but after reports came out involving other possible rule violations and his honesty couldn’t be trusted by the organization anymore, Tressel leaving seemed inevitable.

Assistant coach Luke Fickell will take over Tressel’s position next season, until the team lands a new coach. Urban Meyer is the hopeful succesor, with strong ties to the school and a winning coaching career.

Athlete Sighting: Kris Humphries And Lewis Hamilton With Their Ladies In Monaco

Kim Kardashian tweeted this photo of her and new fiance Kris Humphries in Monaco with pop singer Nicole Sherzinger and her boyfriend, British Formula One race car champion Lewis Hamilton. Kardashian and Humphries attended the AmberLounge Fashion Show on Friday then had dinner at the Palace with Prince Albert and his fiance the following night.

Photos: Twitter

Jason Terry Ready To Have Trophy Tattoo Removed If Mavericks Lose

This past October, before a preseason game and during a team get-together which featured a tattoo artist on-hand, Jason Terry elected to get a tattoo of the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy on his arm. Symbolizing his belief in the team’s ability to go all the way, the superstituous basketball player has declared he will have the tattoo removed assuming it is bad luck should the Mavericks not win against the Heat in the playoffs. While he is preparing for removal of the tattoo, he still believes in his team’s ability to win the championship.

And should the Mavericks win the Playoffs, Terry left room on his arm to add more ink like the date of the championship.