MamaPop™

NBA Bans/Restricts Twitter Use

The National Basketball Association established new guidelines restricting the use of social media sites like Twitter by its players and banning the use of such sites during games.

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen are Pregnant!

Tom Brady is going to be a Dad - again. But this time he made a baby with his wife, Gisele Bundchen.

I know, it isn't nearly as gossip-worthy but I will tell you this - it dominates the news. Which isn't a big deal unless you are trying to find out if Brady is going to be starting for the Patriots on Monday Night Football.

The guy is listed as probable. This is a prob-a-lem since he is the starting quarterback on one of my fantasy football teams. Being the conscientious gambler fantasy football player that I am I tried to do research on the health of the man and I get this:

Shawne Merriman Arrested For Choking Tila Tequila

Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers, and former NFL rookie of the year, has been taken into custody by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department under suspicion of choking and restraining his girlfriend Tila Nguyen, best known for her MTV dating reality show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. 

Tequila signed a citizen's arrest warrant, charging Merriman with battery and false imprisonment, San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Gary Steadman said.

Hard Knocks: Or, Why I Now Care About Cincinnati For The First Time Since WKRP Was Cancelled

There's a reason HBO is an essential part of modern life: because they consistently produce some of the most compelling television on television. If you've read this site before - like, uh... ever - you're well aware that Team MamaPop brings some big love to the good people at HBO with great regularity, notwithstanding the current inexplicable infatuation with rovampic melodrama.

Their expertise extends beyond fiction, however — as the just-started new season of Hard Knocks makes abundantly clear. As has been the case in previous seasons, this five-week documentary follows the strange and immensely fascinating world of preseason NFL training camps in a unique marriage of documentary, reality TV and sports drama that transcends the appeal of professional football to create a truly compelling on-screen experience.

Jessica Simpson Has A New Football Player Boyfriend

Jessica Simpson must have some sort of fixation with NFL Quarterbacks. The grapevine is saying that she has been electronically "seeing" the third string quarterback for the Washington Redskins.

Ouch.

Not that Colt Brennan is a bad looking guy, or a bad person, it just seems like if a QB is what you are after going from the starting Quarterback for America's Team (YOUR Dallas Cowboys) to the third string, sixth round pick from Hawaii who has never taken a snap in a regular season game...

Reggie Miller Falsely Accused?

The other day I read a story about Alex von Furstenburg getting a restraining order against his neighbor, Reggie Miller, because Reggie Miller was harassing his fiancee, designer Ali Kay.

I immediately dismissed this as a dream - because it doesn't make any sense.

I watched Reggie Miller play basketball for like 20 years and he never got in any legal trouble. I never heard about him being a lecher or anything even remotely like that. Plus, the idea concept of Diane von Furstenberg's son being neighbors with Reggie Miller sadly sounds like something that I would dream about after a long night of clearing out my Google reader.

Then I read that Reggie Miller was defending himself, so it must have been real. Then TMZ had slutty pictures that the girl texted to Reggie.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Have you ever wished that reality TV was actually real? Do you like men in tight pants?  Beer commercials?

Are you ready for some football?

Yes, football.  That's right, I'm taking MamaPop into some unchartered territory here: sports talk.

Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Sued and ESPN Blackout Ensued

The Pittsburgh Steelers (or as my husband likes to call them, as he is from Pittsburgh, the Superbowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers) Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is being sued for sexual assault.  Now that is not that strange, right?  Sports stars are frequently accused of stuff.

Except, ESPN banned virtually all its TV, radio and online properties from covering this story the day it broke because the accusations in the civil lawsuit may prove untrue.  The only exception to its edict had been to let the ESPN Radio station in Pittsburgh update the case in news reports because of its local importance. But the station’s talk-show hosts have been prohibited from discussing it.

Um, all accusations in civil lawsuits may prove untrue.  People are innocent until they are found guilty.  Are we done talking about crime and civil suits before the verdict is in?  Because that would mean serious trouble for Nancy Grace.

Ice Skater Brian Boitano to Host Cooking Show, Thus Making the Lord's Creation Complete

Many years ago, some hopeful young lads from the town of South Park asked themselves, "What would Brian Boitano do?" Based on his experiences in the 1988 Winter Olympics, fighting grizzly bears with his fire breath, fighting the evil robot kings of the future, and building the Great Pyramids of Egypt and defeating Kublai Khan in the process, Brian Boitano rose to prominence as a wise sage and prophet, just like Jesus and those other dudes.
Now he turns his powers to the insurmountable challenge of....PAELLA! AUUGGHHHH!!!!!

Former MVP Quarterback Steve McNair Shot In Apparent Homicide

Steve McNair and his girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, were found shot and killed over the holiday weekend in her apartment, by a semiautomatic pistol owned by her, purchased two days before the killing.  McNair was shot twice in the head and twice in the chest, and his girlfriend was shot once in the head.

Authorities classified McNair's death a homicide but have not decided how to classify Kazemi's.  Sounds like she shot him and then shot herself to me.  But the police are also interviewing Kazemi's former boyfriend, Nashville Metropolitan Police Department Spokesman Don Aaron said.

Kate Hudson's influence over Alex Rodriguez

Last year's fling between Madonna and Alex Rodriguez always struck me as an insane coupling of celebs. I was far more comfortable when those two went their separate ways although, post A-Rod, Madonna's hook-up with Jesus Luz and the inherent biblical implications were difficult to block out.

Regardless, Alex has moved on and I'm no scientist, but I do believe that A-Rod has a thing for blondes (case in point: Madonna, Madam Kristin, and oh yes, the ex, Cynthia). These days, he is kicking back with Kate Hudson, though kicking back implies sitting around which these two aren't really doing.

Make Mine a Montage

For the second time this year, a sports team in my home city, Pittsburgh, won a major championship and provided me with at least a week of sports-related good mood when the Pittsburgh Penguins brought home the Stanley Cup. Of course, the win itself was awesome and capped off a truly exciting season and getting to celebrate has been terrific. But one of the best parts of a big sports event are the montages. I. Love. Montages.

The Rumors of Kim Kardashian's Engagement Were Greatly Exaggerated

Kim Kardashian could really use a new new publicist. When her current new PR person referred to Reggie Bush as Kardashian's fiancee in an interview with Star magazine the media went wild.

Which would be fine except Bush never proposed.

This is like a public relations Shakespearean tragedy. Now Star, the publicist, Kardashian and Reggie Bush all look like jerks.

My Favorite Testosterone-Fuelled Commercials of Playoff Season

I don't think anyone has ever accused me of being a "girly girl." I'm only marginally interested in make up and I hang out with dudes a LOT. Much of our conversation is peppered with phrases like, "yer mom," and we watch sports and grunt and bump chests and it's grand.
As I've documented very well on this site, I get irked when commercials aimed at women (or men) are condescending or just plain silly and beat on the dead horse of traditional gender stereotypes. However, there are a few commercials that I've seen during the Stanley Cup playoffs that certainly play into those stereotypes. But they're so funny, I just have to give them a hand for cracking me up. (By the way: GO PENS!)

I Pity The Fool Who Doesn't Want To Hear Mr. T Sing

I have no interest whatsoever in baseball games, but the idea of celebrities singing at them thrills me to no end. So much so, that when I found this video of Mr. T singing at a Cubs game I decided not to write about Brooke Shields like I had originally planned, how she regretted waiting until she was 22 to lose her virginity.  Because seriously, wouldn’t you rather see a 80’s TV icon singing at Wrigley Field than read about Brooke whining about who didn’t come between her and her Calvins?  Besides, it got me thinking about who she lost her virginity to and doing the math I figured it might have been Michael Jackson, and the thought of it made me tense and unable to write.  So thank the Gods for Mr. T and baseball games.

(But just getting back to Brooke and her virginity for a minute, she also could have lost it to any of these studs she dated back in the 80’s: Ted McGinley, Dean Cain, John F. Kennedy Jr., Michael Bolton, Prince Albert II of Monaco.  Who was it Brooke?  Can you give us a hint? Is he dead or alive? Actor or royalty?  Has he ever sang at a Cubs game?)

Beef Supreme: American Gladiator Coming to the Big Screen

Crappin. You. Negative. American Gladiators, the gold standard of spandex and foam and jousting and steroids, is going to be adapted into a full-length feature film.

Kanye West Track Selected as Official Soundtrack of 2009 NBA Playoffs

YOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! SOME PEOPLE ARE LETTING KANYE BE GREAT!