Of all of the awesome catches Calvin Johnson has made over the years, this is the best EA Sports could come up with?

A more exciting and athletic wide receiver you will not find. Also, he doesn’t really have a confident look on his face. He’s in the middle of focusing on a ball that we assume is headed his way.

In reality he was probably posing in a photo studio and a ball was not being thrown to him.

On another note, Calvin Johnson is a Madden cover boy who I actually root for. I like his style and his character. Let’s hope he can, once and for all, kill the curse.

Peyton Hillis sure as hell didn’t.

Here are just a few pics of Calvin doin’ his thang. Any one of these pics would have been better than the one they chose.

To see the full size Madden 13 cover featuring Calvin Johnson, scroll down to the bottom.

Seau was a linebacking legend. One of the best of his time. RIP, Mr. Seau.

[Yahoo! Sports]

We all know Vernon Davis gets a little more emotional than most football players.

But no one could have guessed that his 19-year-old brother could be capable of this.

Michael Davis, brother of NFL players Vernon and Vontae Davis, has been arrested in Washington DC (Petworth to be precise). He is accused of severely injuring a 19-year-old woman by hitting her over the head with a hammer.

According to reports, he was seen dropping a backpack that contained a claw hammer while running from the cops.

It seems the woman attacked for no reason. The police also claim Davis is under investigation for three other similar attacks in the neighborhood. One of the three victims, 66-year-old Gary Dederichs, died.

Vernon Davis tweeted last night:

Just got a disturbing call from back home in washington dc. A good day gone bad! Hopefully he wasn’t involved!

When he says “hopefully”, that scares me a little bit. He doesn’t really sound that surprised.

From CBS 4 Denver:

Police heard a cry for help at about 9 p.m. and found the victim on the ground with a serious head injury. Officers said they spotted Davis running away with a duffel bag and inside they found a claw hammer. Officers believed this was the weapon used in the attack on the woman.

So. F**ked. Up.

The picture below is a picture of Davis getting arrested, courtesy of PrinceOfPetworth.com.

“Obviously, when you talk about a name like Willie Mays, when the time comes that’s a pretty great name.” — Alex Rodriguez.

Notice he said “when.” I’d like to talk a little more about “if.”

Nothing can be taken for granted in life. You are not even guaranteed another day. It’s easy to look into the future and assume that something will happen, but many times that day never comes.

Maybe it’s a promotion at work that keeps you waking up every morning. Maybe one day that girl you like will express her undying love for you. Maybe you’ll die in a car accident on the way to buy cigarettes.

Alex Rodriguez is 29 home runs away from tying Willie Mays on the all-time home run list. Last Friday, he passed Ken Griffey, Jr. with home run #331.

Go ahead and look at A-Rod’s lifetime numbers — they are mind boggling. The season he had at 20 years old goes down as one of the best ever (.358, 141 R, 36 HR, 123 RBI). It’s a travesty he didn’t win the MVP award that year.

It’s not that he doesn’t have his share of records and awards. He’s won 3 MVP awards. He’s been invited to the All-Star game 14 times. He makes more money than anyone in the game.

None of that matters in this discussion.

To A-Rod, twenty nine home runs might not seem like a lot, but he is no spring chicken. He will turn 37 in July. In this supposed “post-steroid” era, 29 home runs could be an entire season’s worth.

Look at his HR totals from the last four years: 35 in 2008, 30 in 2009, 30 in 2010 and 16 in 2011. The dwindling trend is obvious.

All it takes is one injury to the lower body and his season could be just like last year. Or even worse. He’s not hitting the cover off the ball so far this year, and at times he just looks… old.

The fact that he has a contract until he’s 42 works in his favor. Barring a career ending injury, he will likely get that $6 million bonus for passing Mays.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, the batter most similar to him by age has been Hank Aaron for the last four years. If he plays like Aaron for the next 3-4 years, we’ll be talking about him passing Bonds. Yay.

OK, so we can all agree that he will probably pass Mays. When? If not this year, surely it should be next year.

But what about our other question? Do we WANT him to pass Mays?

After his admittance of steroid use, many people immediately discounted A-Rod’s accomplishments as artificially inflated. Unfortunately, we’ll never know how inflated.

But does that matter to anyone any more? Do these records matter anymore? hardly anyone gave a damn about him passing Griffey. We all assumed he would do it. After all, Rodriguez is the fastest player in history to reach 500.

I remember saying to an old buddy, “I can’t wait until A-Rod passes Bonds so he isn’t the home run king anymore.”

Many people I know felt the same way. How stupid he made us all look.

I most definitely look at him differently now. Don’t misunderstand, I still look at his career stats and shake my head in amazement. It’s hard to believe how awesome he has been for so long. No matter what, he will go down as one of the best ever.

Who doesn’t love watching history in the making? About 10 years ago, I wanted A-Rod to break all the records. I wanted to be able to tell my grandkids I watched him play.

Of course by the time I have grandkids modern medicine will be so advanced steroids will probably seem like wooden teeth.

Nothing inside me is rooting for him to break another record. Likely he will pass Mays and Ruth, with a series of uneventful seasons batting .247 with 14 HRs.

And if I had to guess, no one will care.

You have to commend them for trying. I mean, when the NCAA eventually comes knocking on your door, you can always point to the photo that went viral.

You know, the one reminding recruits what the rules are while they drop a deuce? Yeah that one.

People need something to read, but they’ve got some pretty fierce competition. According to one study, 87% of Android users admit to using their phone while on the can. That means the other 13% are f**king liars.

From Reddit commenter bobmcgee: “I saw some in the men’s room of the Balch Fieldhouse. And I think there were some in the Coors Event Center too.”

They might as well put them everywhere. You never know when the message might sink in.

The sign reads:

Buff Compliance Brings You: Tips For The Toilet [see picture below for the rest]

For those of  you who don’t know, Radiohead is my favorite active band. They have been since I first saw the “Just” video.

Believe it or not, that was the first Radiohead song I had ever heard. I had never heard “Creep” because I was mostly into West Coast gangsta rap at the time of it’s release.

Regardless, Radiohead performed at Coachella last night in California. It was, overall, a wonderful show. The setlist included my favorite, Pyramid Song.

They played for almost two hours (20 songs) and all of it was caught on video below. Enjoy.

Below is the full Radiohead Coachella 2012 video.

= = = = =

Radiohead Live at Coachella, April 14, 2012 Setlist

1. Bloom
2. 15 Step
3. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
4. Morning Mr. Magpie
5. Staircase
6. The Gloaming
7. Pyramid Song
8. The Daily Mail
9. Myxomatosis
10. Karma Police
11. Identikit
12. Lotus Flower
13. There There
14. Bodysnatchers
15. Idioteque
16. Lucky
17. Reckoner
18. Everything In Its Right Place
19. Give Up the Ghost
20. Paranoid Android

= = = = =

If you’re interested, here is a super high quality recording of Radiohead Live at Bonnaroo 2006. It’s a fully mastered mix straight from the board.

Italian soccer player, Piermario Morosini, tragically died on the pitch during a match.

The video is heartbreaking to watch. He tries to get up a few times, but eventually gives up. It reminds me of Hank Gathers. So sad.

RIP from JOCKpost.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, I’m afraid. And I can’t help but feel like Bobby P’s getting served a big fat slice of karma pie. Somewhere, Arthur Blank is smiling.

According to LBS, Bobby Petrino has not only been crashing motorcycles with Jessica Dorrell, but he been texting (possibly sexting) some other chick named Alison Melder. Now, this woman is much different than Jessica Dorrell.

Jessica is the all-American, volleyball playing “good girl.” We couldn’t find a single slutty picture of her online (if they exist, however, they’ll probably be out soon.)

Alison, on the other hand, is Bobby’s bad girl. When Bobby is feeling a little naughty he hits Alison up on the rill.

OK, I am making all of this up. Really, I know nothing. But you can imagine that’s about how it went. This whole thing has a very Tiger Woods-y feel to it, with a pinch of Brett Favre sprinkled in.

I can’t wait to find out about girls Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6. But please, God, I beg of you, no pictures of Lil’ Bobby.

CLICK HERE FOR JESSICA DORRELL PICTURES

So here she is. The chick that blew up Bobby Petrino’s life.

Of course, it’s not her fault. I mean, he is an awfully attractive guy.

Don’t even get me started on Petrino. I have despised this slimeball ever since he left Louisville. I laugh each and every time someone is stupid enough to hire him.

Anyway, you’re not here to read me blather on about the fall of yet another “big time” college football coach. You’re here for pictures of Jessica Dorrell. While you’re here, check out her Arkansas volleyball page (I’m curious to see how long they keep THAT up).

It was the most rebounds by any player so far in the 2011-2012 NBA season. After a few rough games, he finally has something to be happy about.

His response?

“I shot the ball like s**t, man.”

Nothing beats telling it like it is.

OK, this looks really bad. It’s such a blatant bird-flipping it almost seems Photoshopped.

Not this one. This really happened.

Unfortunately it is not the display of insubordination you’re hoping for. Sergio Garcia has been battling an infection in his finger and was asked by a reporter what finger was hurting. Instead of answering, Garcia just showed him.

Still, that had to feel damn good.

We’ve been waiting for this moment for a while. Ever since we posted concept (aka fake) pictures of the new Nike NFL Elite 51 uniforms for the 2012 season our servers have been blowing up.

The wait is over now and the speculation has ended. Nike has released images of the new gear and, while it’s pretty cool, it certainly isn’t the drastic change many had hoped for.

Not to say EVERYONE was hoping for change. Many of our commenters were quite upset at the possibility of their beloved uniforms changing.

Tradition still matters and Nike didn’t stomp on it, to say the least.

In a little bit we’ll be posting pictures of each team individually. The close up pics are pretty nice.

By the way, all of these pictures came from Nike’s American Football Facebook page. We thought it was kind of a pain how they made you click around, so we thought we’d do you a favor and put each team right here.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Diego Chargers

Tennessee Titans

OK not only is she a Ben-Gal, but she is also a high school teacher. She’s already a 15-year-old’s dream chick.

Maybe since tryouts are coming up, she’s going the extra mile to show she’s a true Bengal.

A while ago Sarah Jones appeared in the news after she sued theDirty.com for defamation. The site said something about how she had STDs or something. No big deal, right?

It apparently ruined her reputation at the school and she resigned.

She is in the news again, but it ain’t pretty. She has been arrested for allegedly sleeping with a student.

Not only that, but her mom has also been arrested for trying to cover it up.

Keep it classy, Kentucky. At least you’ve got two teams in the Final Four. It’s not like you’ve got old people fighting in a dialysis center.

And DAMN she looks hit in her mug shot. I take back all those hot for teacher jokes.

Some tragic news comes from South Africa where a rugby team, the Motherwell Rugby Football Club, was swept out to sea while swimming on the shores of Cape Town after practice.

15 players were rescued, but one could not be resuscitated. Five others are missing; although the search continues, they are preparing for the worst.

According to Mncedisi Mazomba, a player-manager for the team, they regularly practiced on the beach.

More from the AP report:

Oregan Hoskins, president of the South African Rugby Union, said: “To have their afternoon turn into a day of tragedy is shocking for the whole rugby community and our thoughts go out to their family,” Hoskins said.

Capt. Andre Beegte, a police spokesman, said helicopters were being used as the search continued Monday.

Searchers patrolled the coastline on horses and all-terrain vehicles, and police divers also were called in, Beegte said.

Our thoughts also go out to the families. Very tragic news indeed.

From their Facebook page:

Friends, Motherwell RFC is humbled by the amount of support we have received from the greater rugby community so far. We wish to thank everyone for their support and words of encouragement. We also wish to particularly thank the Nelson mandela metro Municipality, EPRU and SAPS for their support so far. However, the search for the remaining 5 bodies is still on, there has been no luck yet.

Normally I would say that this is sophomoric and generally mundane. But when it’s Charles Barkley, it immediately becomes awesome.

Dwight Howard does it too: not as awesome.

Go ahead. Grab and cookie and try it yourself. You know you want to.

According to TMZ (*cough* the most reliable news source on the planet), Davy Jones has passed away at age 66 due to a heart attack.

So please, dust off your Monkees records and give ‘em a play.

I’ve just spent the last hour watching the 6’3″ phenom dunk the ball in ways I thought weren’t possible. His vertical is at least 45 inches.

Dobbs won the 2012 Sprite Slamdunk Showdown with a blindfolded dunk over a few people. It’s even hard to explain — the video is below.

Haters hate on his videos, claiming they are on short rims. LeBron just witnessed the man himself. His hops are real.

Although I hate that he mimicked LeBron’s chalk throw. Piss on LeBron. And Dobbs’s website is pretty lame too. He needs to have his videos up on the front page.

But none of that matters when it’s just him, the ball and rim.

The video below is mostly Dobbs talking about his childhood and teenage years. It’s a pretty typical story of drugs and God and maturity, but it takes courage to put it all out there. So again, I kind of leave respecting the guy more.

How’d that get in there?

She loved sports and had a few crushes. But my grandma’s biggest crush — by a long shot — was Gary Carter.

Growing up in central Ohio, the Expos and Mets weren’t on TV very often. But she made sure the game was on when Gary Carter was playing.

A little background on my grandma. She was the woman who took me to the baseball card store every weekend. I still collect baseball cards to this day. And every time I open a pack of cards I still feel like that 7 year old sitting on her couch while she excitedly asked me to rally off each of the players’ names as I leafed through the pack.

She wasn’t too outspoken about Carter until my grandfather passed away in 1985. As a kid, it felt a little like she was being unfaithful. But she didn’t care, she thought it was funny.

I didn’t care for Gary Carter’s looks much. I didn’t like curly hair and butt/dot chins always creeped me out. I just didn’t understand her attraction, personally.

She would make sure that she watched his at-bats. I’d be sitting there and she’d be in the kitchen making pigs-in-a-blanket. She would yell in from the kitchen “Is Gary Carter up yet?”

I’d yell back, “No, not yet. Two more batters.”

When he came to the plate, I would alert her and she would come in. Even though they were playing my beloved Reds, she still rooted for Gary Carter to hit a home run.

No matter what he did, after his at-bat she would walk back into the kitchen, shaking her head, exclaiming “Oh that HAIR!”

She outlived most of her friends. She still had family, but it was not strange to hear her tell me of a friend of hers who had died. It hurt her deeply every time.

My grandma passed away a little over a year ago. Even just a few days before her passing, we were watching some NFL game. It didn’t matter who it was. At 32 years old, I immediately felt 7 again.

And as I read of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter’s passing, my thoughts immediately go back to my grandma and her huge crush on Gary Carter.

It would have hurt her to hear of Carter’s passing. She can’t blog, so I’m expressing my condolences to his family on her behalf. He lived a wonderful life that ended way too soon.

If you were talking to someone and missed the beginning of the play, it might have looked like Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw was hot dogging. Seems logical: It’s not every day you see a running back sit down backwards into the end zone.

What we really saw was a mental meltdown. Bradshaw’s brainfart happened right before our very eyes — on what is possibly the world’s biggest stage.

It was only part of the awesome though. Let’s step back a little.

With just under 4 minutes left, Elisha was about to do what he does best. He calmly drove the offense downfield like we knew he would — milking just the right amount of clock. (whew, that was close).

The sideline shots of Bill Belichick confirmed it. He wore the look of a man who was two steps from death’s door. The worst part: he had to wallow in it, helplessly. At this notion, he took action.

He told the defense to let the Giants score. Let’s think about this. In order to make this call, Belichick had to be absolutely CERTAIN that the Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes would nail the layup. So much for what happened just one game ago.

What was he to do? HOPE that the kicker would miss? That’s not his style — and it CERTAINLY was not how he was going to go down. Not this time. You gotta love it.

At the same time, Tom Coughlin is playing a different game. The Giants needed to drain as much time as possible, while leaving enough time for just one play. Surely he told the team to take a dive before scoring a touchdown.

Enter Ahmad Bradshaw.

He has spent his entire life rushing for the end zone. It’s impossible to imagine how many touchdowns Bradshaw has scored in his life. When he sees the end zone, his natural tendency is to enter it. Makes sense.

He has also spent his entire life dreaming of this moment: scoring the game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. His dream was unfolding right before his eyes and the logical part of his brain was telling him to sit down at the 1. We all know what happened next.

After he scored there was a weird pause when everyone on the Giants’ sideline looked at each other like, “Damn, that’s sweet that we’re winning, but I think we just played right into Darth Belichick’s hands.”

At that time the Patriots probably felt like they had new life. Belichick looked a little more spry, but Tom Brady had little left in the tank. Surely they all believed that they had just one more miracle left.

Instead of doing actual research, I will pose the question to you: Does anyone remember any touchdown that was scored in a Super Bowl that the scoring team didn’t actually want to score?

I can’t.

But it will have to do for now if you just have to see what the hell everyone is talking about.

Old Milwaukee, in my opinion, sucks. Not because of the commercial, but because of the taste of their beer. That’s all I’ll say about that.

I like that there is no dialog. Nothing he could have said would have actually been a fair payoff for the buildup.

It aired only in North Platte, Nebraska. Hopefully someone there can provide us with a better copy soon.