Queen of Sports

Sports Date Of The Week: Miami Heat vs Los Angeles Lakers

Last weekend, we were treated to a showdown between some of the best in the NBA. This weekend, we get another showdown: this time it’s between two of the best teams in the league. The Miami Heat, who currently hold a better record than the Los Angeles Lakers, will be heading to Los Angeles on Sunday.

After Dwyane Wade‘s hard foul on Kobe Bryant which almost kept him out of tonight’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, tensions between the two teams should be heightened.

Catch the game with friends, your significant other, or solo at a sports bar or at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:30 pm PST.

Michael Jordan’s Highland Park Home On The Market For $29M

The longtime Highland Park, Illinois residence of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan has just been put up on the market for a whopping $29 million.

Jordan lived in the nine-bedroom home for over 15 years. It was built between 1993 and 1995 and extensively remodeled in 2009. The 56,000-square-foot home features an indoor basketball court, five fireplaces, nine bedrooms, more than 15 bathrooms, (that’s a lot of toilets to clean!) a tennis court, putting green, and deep-water pond.

The home was sold to a trust after Jordan and his wife Juanita divorced in 2007.

Check out some more photos of the home:

Photos: John S. Eckert

Tim Tebow Dating Taylor Swift?

Sources spotted pop starlet Taylor Swift and Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow chatting it up at a pre-Oscars bash on Friday night before dining together. The two were seen arriving together at Toscanova Italian restaurant in the Century City mall. After dinner, Tebow then walked her out before heading back into the restaurant.

While the meeting could have been strictly platonic, for business, or otherwise, TerezOwens.com reports his sources have confirmed that the two are actually dating.

We think they’d make a great couple! The 22-year old Swift would be dating more in her age range. Tebow is 24 years old. Swift previously dated 31-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal and 34-year-old John Mayer.

What do you think of these two as a potential couple?

Photos: Glenn Harris / PR Photos and Jockey.com

Spike TV Hires Kimbo Slice To Compete With TUF

Spike TV, who lost the programming rights to new episodes of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, is competing with FX by airing “The Ultimate Fighter Fridays,” a new series that will use old UFC footage.

The series will use heavyweight fighter Kimbo Slice, one of the UFC’s biggest draws known for his street fighting past, to try to leverage viewership. Slice will discuss never-before-revealed details about his experiences on the show and what the camera didn’t catch. Kimbo appeared on season 10 of the show, which was the highest-rated of all the 14 seasons. The Friday night series will air beginning March 9.

The Ultimate Fighter 15 airs on the same night, on FX, with a new live format. The bantamweight series features coaches Dominic Cruz and Urijah Faber.

Linsane Graffiti Mural In New York City

A huge mural done by Bronx-based street art group Tats Cru of New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin is yet another sign of devotion to the basketball star the Big Apple has displayed.

The 11-foot image reportedly required over a dozen cans of paint and took almost three hours to complete. Lin is depicted holding the Earth as a basketball over his shoulders, with pigeons flying through the galaxy in the background.

Photo: Tats Cru / Splash News

Dwyane Wade: Breaking Kobe’s Nose Was Unintentional

After last weekend’s NBA All-Star Game, everyone was talking about how Dwyane Wade went in for a hard foul on Kobe Bryant and ended up bloodying and breaking his nose.

It was widely reported that Wade made no attempt at apologizing to the Lakers star, but Wade is now saying that’s not true. Wade says he apologized upon seeing the blood drawn from Bryant’s nose, and again after the game in Orlando on Sunday.

“I don’t care what I’m portrayed as,” Wade said at a practice after the All-Star break. “It’s unfortunate, obviously. I don’t want to ever hurt anybody in this game, especially on a freak play like that. It’s unfortunate. I send my apologies. But it’s not intentional. If it’s something I did intentionally, it’d be a different story.”

Bryant wasn’t completely hindered by the foul, however, he went on to finish with 27 points, surpassing Michael Jordan as the All-Star Game career leading scorer.

The hard foul didn’t help the East win the game, the West took the victory with a final score of 152-149.

NFL Reschedules Season Opener Around Presidential Speech

The NFL season opener has traditionally been played on a Thursday night, but has been rescheduled for next season to avoid conflicting with President Barack Obama’s Sept. 6 speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Commissioner Roger Goodell announced yesterday the football season will open up on a Wednesday night, Sept. 5. The full 2012 schedule has not been released yet but we do know the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants will be hosting the season opener at MetLife Stadium.

The NFL hasn’t a had a game scheduled for a Wednesday night since 1948.

Tide Scores Unpaid Product Placement In Daytona 500

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One sponsor of the Daytona 500 got a little more than the average advertising seen in a NASCAR race. When Juan Montoya hit a safety truck carrying jet fuel yesterday, the track went up in flames just after both drivers were able to exit their vehicles safely.

Track workers hosed down the fire, then were captured on TV using Tide laundry detergent to clean up the mess and spill on the track. No one might have known before the incident that NASCAR tracks regularly use the Proctor & Gamble product to clean up fluid spills, according to one NASCAR official.

Now they do, and the product placement wasn’t even paid for. We’re ready for a NASCAR-related Tide advertising campaign in the future. If it clean jet fuel off a race track…

Athletes Added To The Dancing With The Stars Lineup

The latest installment of the TV show “Dancing with the Stars” will feature a new all-star lineup, among them is tennis great Martina Navratilova and Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver.

Navratilova will be dancing with Tony Dovolani, and competing against other stars who include: “Family Matters” star Jaleel White, Maria Menounos, singer Gladys Knight, “The View” star Sherri Shepard, and country singer Gavin DeGraw.

The show returns for its fourteenth season March 19 on ABC. Check out the full line-up here.

Photos: ABC

Athlete Sighting: Luis Suarez

Liverpool FC star Luis Suarez was spotted leaving the posh San Carlo restaurant in Liverpool with his wife yesterday.

Suarez became a controversial player after being banned for eight matches last year due to alleged remarks made against Man U player Patrice Evra deemed racist by the Football Association. Upon returning from the ban, he was handed a yellow card in his first game back for kicking a player on the opposing team. Later, his refusal to shake Evra’s hand following a game made him even more scorned.

The rumor is the Uruguyan will likely be traded this summer for a large sum of money. His impressive stats make him a hot commodity but after the controversy, Liverpool is supposedly eager to trade him off.

Photo: Pete Goddard / Splash News