Former Redskin Quarterback Doug Williams

According to reports, Virginia has the green light for 2011 to host a professional football team right here in one of the 7 cities of Virginia. Talks of possible venues that are under the microscope to host the games are: ODU, NSU, and Harbor Park in the city of Norfolk, VA. It is also reported that former Redskins Quarterback Doug Williams will be the general manager. Some may ask what brought the idea of bringing back a professional football team to Norfolk, VA. Well do to the success of the ODU Monarchs football program; they have managed to get the phones ringing. Virginia businessman Jim Speros gave Hampton Roads Sports Commission Executive Director Jack Ankerson a call a few months ago.

Now when you here pro football we are not talking about the NFL, nor is it being promoted as such but the Virginia sports world is talking about the United Football League (UFL). The UFL is owned by a consortium of private investors, including William Hambrecht of WR Hambrecht + Co and aol CEO Tim Armstrong, who founded the league. Paul Pelosi, William Mayer, Mark Cuban and other investors are also part of the UFL ownership team.

The United Football League at one point was looking to give Pro-Bowl Quaterback Michael Vick a shot upon his release from jail before he was granted the opportunity to have a second chance with the NFL.

The UFL “provides high-quality professional football during a traditional fall season while embracing innovation and fan interaction. The UFL serves its local communities with pride and dedication, and aims to provide every fan with an exciting and memorable game experience. The inaugural 2009 champion Las Vegas Locos will battle the Florida Tuskers, Hartford Colonials, Omaha Nighthawks and Sacramento Mountain Lions for the William Hambrecht Trophy in 2010. The UFL will continue to grow” and just maybe come 2011 professional football will be right in our back yards.

For more information on the UFL go to (www.ufl-football.com)

Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers drops a single into the rap game entitled the “Champions”. When you listen to the lyrics it puts you in a state of mind of being nothing but a winner. I could see this as a possible theme song in years to come in a documentary about the Lakers during the Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant era.

Listen to the song below, give your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 7 & 1/2!!!!

With the economy improving slightly–but ever so slowly–it’s nice to be able to save a little bit of money when dating. Let’s face it, dating can get IS expensive! Between dinners (the finest cuisines), movies (which you need to take a loan out for now), and gifts (roses are an arm and a leg), a lot of these expenses can fall on, dare we say it, the fellas.

According to MSN.com, here are a 15 recession-friendly dates given by their readers that everyone can enjoy:

1. Go to the movies for cheap: There are ways to do movie dates on a budget: “Find second-run theaters. They cost about $2 per person per show. Or go to a matinee of a current movie.”
2. Make it a lunch date: “Order from the lunch menu — it’s cheaper than dinner and the portions aren’t that much smaller.”
3. Take a free cooking class: “Go to Williams-Sonoma and attend one of their cooking demos.” You’ll have some new recipes to try instead of going to a restaurant, so you’ll save even more money.

4. Rethink tool time: Cooking stores aren’t the only places with free how-tos: “Hardware stores like Lowe’s and The Home Depot have DIY seminars. You can both learn to fix things, and it’s fun and free!”
5. Make a reservation, for dessert: “We go to our favorite ice-cream shop and get sundaes, then drive around town and get in some quiet time.”

6. Make it a Wii Night: You’ve already invested in a Wii, now use it for date night. “We have date-night Wii tourneys and make some interesting bets to spice things up. Anything goes, from doing dishes to sexual favors!”

7. Hit the links: “A really fun date is going to the golf course and playing just nine holes. I did that recently with my husband. Even if you guys aren’t good, it’s still fun.”

8. Volunteer together for a feel-great date: “Volunteer together somewhere. One of my favorites was volunteering for a local farm to harvest veggies that are then sold at ridiculously low prices to people in need. We had a blast and felt great about helping. Cost: gas money.”
9. Step up to the plate: “My husband and I take a bat and a ball to a local school and play around.” Get into it with knee-high socks, baseball hats or even your favorite team’s jersey.

10. Get crafty with your home improvements: Decorate and date! “My husband and I do silly, crafty things. For example: We’ll go to A.C. Moore or Michaels craft store and buy things that we can make to decorate the outside of our house!”

11. Go on a field trip: Soak up culture free of charge: “Our neighborhood library has free passes to local museums. You can check out the passes like a library book.”

12. Read about it: “If you look in any local paper, you can usually find an entertainment section full of cheap activities in the next few days.” Stick to your own neighborhood so you won’t have to use extra gas or waste travel time.

13. Pack for a picnic in the park: Pack a great picnic basket: blanket, bottle of wine, cheese, fruit, etc. — but be warned: “We did this once to be cheap, and ended up spending about $70. So, make sure it’s an inexpensive bottle of wine and cheap cheese.”

14. Take a staycation: You don’t even have to leave the city limits: “We live in San Francisco, so we visit the Japanese Tea Garden and pack a lunch. You’ll get to experience a little bit of another country right inside Golden Gate Park.”

15. Have a theme night: “Schedule a theme dinner and movie night at home.” Create a menu based on the movie you’re watching (i.e. spaghetti for a Francis Ford Coppola flick) and make it together before watching.

Fellas, with these fun and cheap ideas, maybe your date will chip in and pay

What are some of YOUR favorite cheap date ideas?

 Crude oil from a BP well has literally been poring into the coastal region for over 45 days with no stop in sight. Over the past week, several measures have been taken–such as plugging and capping–to cease the oil from spilling into the ocean, however, nothing has worked. Although a recent cap that was put on the well has stopped the oil from gushing out just a tad, it is still spewing at an alarming rate.

 On Monday, Coast Guard Thad Allen, the federal government’s response manager for the oil disaster, said it will take years to clean up the damage from the oil disaster. According to federal authorities, an estimated 780,000 gallons of crude oil have been gushing into the sea every day.

 The total amount of crude being collected from the ruptured undersea well responsible for the disaster increased Sunday to roughly 466,000 gallons — or 11,100 barrels — according to estimates from BP and Allen.

On Saturday, BP indicated it had increased the amount of crude being funneled to the surface to roughly 441,000 gallons. The oil is being funneled from a containment cap installed on the well to a drilling ship on the ocean surface.–CNN.com

President Obama visited the Gulf Coast last week and was briefed by Allen on Monday. His main concerns are getting the oil cleaned up and maintaining the safety of the workers:

The president also expressed concern for the health of workers now trying to clean up the spill. Scientists are “not seeing huge elevations of toxins in the air or on the water” near shore, he said. “But that may not be the case out where people are actually doing the work.”

The EPA will continue to constantly monitor air and water quality, as well as check toxin levels in seafood from the Gulf, he said. “This is a resilient ecosystem” and there are “resilient people” in the Gulf, he asserted. “They’re going to bounce back.”

Although BP has made progress in cleaning up the spill, Allen warns that there is still a lot of work that must be done and said it’s too early to call BP’s efforts a success:

“We’re making the right progress. [But] I don’t think anyone should be pleased as long as there’s oil in the water,” Allen said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The oil “is an insidious enemy,” Allen said. “It’s attacking all of our shores, it’s holding the Gulf hostage, basically.”

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Allen described the current state of the spill as a series of pools, ranging from 20-100 yards to several miles in length.

“The spill has disaggregated over a 200-mile radius around the wellbore. It’s not a monolithic spill. It is literally hundreds and thousands of smaller spills,” he said.

Even more alarming, tar balls have been found on the beaches of Florida and on the coasts of Alabama. With the hurricane season in full-effect, it’s no telling what could happen if the oil from the Gulf is spread across the east coast. 

The oil spill seems to be a lose-lose for everyone. Birds and other wildlife have been found covered in oil. Fishers, Crabbers, and Shrimpers in the Gulf now have no jobs because their product is either deceased or covered in oil. In a chain reaction, any seafood found unharmed will be alarmingly high in price at any restaurant, causing people to not want to buy/sell any seafood. With over 70% of the United States’ oysters coming from the Gulf Coast, it’s easy to imagine what the lives are like of the people who fish and gather seafood for a living. 

During the Dateline NBC special, a few people interviewed mentioned that this oil spill is even worse than Katrina because there seems to be no end in sight. Many questions on social networks have been geared toward BP and the government: Do you think BP is doing enough? Do you think the President is doing enough? Why aren’t people boycotting BP gas stations?

Tell us your thoughts on the Gulf Coast Disaster.

(Written by Chris Ballard for Sports Illustrated.com)

In the dark tunnels of Staples Center Sunday night, after the Celtics somehow beat the Lakers 103-94, former Rockets sharpshooter Brent Barry stood against a wall, talking to a reporter. Suddenly, he stopped mid-sentence and turned his attention to a thin, bald man in a crisp, gray suit with a crooked smile on his face. The two men exchanged words, then Barry returned to the reporter. “Sorry man,” he said. “I had to talk to Jesus.”

He meant Shuttlesworth, of course, or at least I think he did. After all, were the son of God to take an interest in shooting jumpshots, he could do worse than coming back as Ray Allen in the first half last night. Allen hit threes from the right corner. He hit ‘em from the left corner. He hit ‘em after running around a half-mile or so of screens. And, the true sign of a guy in the zone, he even hit one after having to scramble to pick up an off-target pass from Rajon Rondo, usually a surefire rhythm-breaker. Allen began the game 7-for-7 from behind the line and finished it 8-of-11. What’s more, only one or two were open looks — in the first half he had Kobe Bryant chasing him, and by the second half, the Lakers were sending a big to double him on the perimeter (for which the Celtics made them pay by dumping down to their own bigs). Allen was so gassed after the game that he could be seen rummaging past the bottles of water in the cooler in the Celtics locker room to dig down to the good stuff. “I don’t need low-fat tonight,” he said, plucking a bottle of Gatorade to go with the box of takeout he’d been handed. “I need high calorie.”

That Allen had a great shooting night was not a surprise — at this point his career, it is more surprising if he doesn’t have one. But plenty about Game 2 was. Like the Celtics winning even though Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce got stuck in traffic and never made it to the game (or at least it seemed that way). And the Lakers losing even though their two big men combined to score 46 points on 13-20 shooting, while pulling down 14 boards and blocking 13 (thirteen!) shots. And Rondo hitting a huge jumpshot late in the game (or any jumpshot, for that matter).

Usually you can get a feel for a series after two games. A style of play emerges. Themes arise. But not these Finals. Boston could go home and finish it off. Or the Lakers could win two of three. It’s been that screwy. So instead, as the series shifts Eastward, let’s look at the few things we have learned so far:

1. The Lakers are playing Ron Artest Roulette. At least, offensively. On defense, Artest did an admirable job on Pierce again, helping hold him to 10 points on 2-11 shooting (though to be fair, Pierce should get some of the credit, as he missed layups and generally looked out of sync). But on the other end of the court, Artest was as bad in Game 2 as he was good in Game 1. After swinging the ball, limiting his dribbling and hitting open threes on Thursday, Artest spent Sunday giving hundreds of CYO coaches nightmares. He jacked shots, bricked threes and, in one surreal sequence in the final minutes, dribbled around the court while all four of his on-court teammates, the entire Lakers bench and 19,000 Lakers fans told him to PASS THE DAMN BALL. When he finally stopped his dribble, instead of giving it to a teammate Artest instead double-clutched and missed a three. Naturally, afterward he proclaimed himself “happy” with his offensive game and said he felt he’d played “great.” He was no doubt the only one. (For the record, he finished with six points on 1-10 shooting with three turnovers).

This leaves the Lakers in a bind. If they’re going to play Artest 40 minutes for defensive purposes, as they’ve been doing, they need at least some offensive contribution from him. But since he’s essentially unmanageable — though Phil Jackson did say he was going to have “a conversation” with Ron — they are basically at his mercy. To win in Boston, they need the Good Ron. We’ll see if Phil can coax it out.

2. The Celtics can’t win without KG … unless they can. The theme after Game 1 was how young, crafty Pau Gasol kicked the butt of old, gimpy KG. Then the same thing happened in Game 2. Gasol finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Garnett finished with six points and four boards. And yet: Boston won. After all the talk about how Gasol’s pseudo-criticism energized Garnett, he continued to look tentative and, well, gimpy — which is probably the best sign possible for the Celtics. If they can win, in L.A., with Garnett playing 23 ineffective minutes, then they have to feel pretty good.

3. The refs are going to be a factor. After forcing fans to watch 67 free throw attempts in Game 1, the refs gave us 67 more on Sunday. Let me be the first to say: Thank you, Monty McCutchen, Mike Callahan and Ken Mauer. It is easy to harp on referees, who have one of the hardest jobs in sports, but in this case, it’s warranted. Sometimes, when a game becomes too physical and players bump and shove and threaten fights and T’s are called, refs suddenly call it really tight. Well, that’s how the refs have called it in both games, even though it wasn’t in reaction to any fighting/banging/bumping. And that’s a shame. So instead of watching Garnett, we are getting Shelden Williams. And instead of Kobe, we get Sasha Vujacic. So far, the response of the players has been to shrug it off. During his postgame presser Sunday night, Gasol used a variation on the phrase “play through it” three times (he also suggested the Lakers needed to “hustle a little more”).

4. Andrew Bynum will also be a factor … unless he isn’t. If that’s what playing with a torn meniscus does to a guy, then all the cool kids might be trying to tear theirs on Monday. Bynum was a force on both ends, using his length to finish plays and dissuade attacking players. Afterward, asked about his performance, he called it “wasted now.” Like most of the Lakers, he verged on morose, saying “we played bad basketball down the stretch.” What has to worry Los Angeles is that Bynum — considered an X factor in the series — was this effective and the team still lost. As Bryant pointed out in his postgame presser, the problem “has nothing to do with scoring. Nothing. It’s all defensively.”

And, finally, the good news …

5. We could be in for an epic series. In the playoffs, where so often it comes down to minor coaching adjustments and defensive grunt-fests, there is something to be said for a high-scoring, unpredictable series. Let’s hope it continues that way.

(Written by Chris Ballard for Sports Illustrated.com)

There’s always been a ‘friendly-war’ between Blackberry and iPhone users, but looks like the winner this week is the Apple iPhone. As if the old iPhone didn’t do enough—order food from your phone, calculate your menstrual cycles and hold every social networking site possible—this iPhone has blown the other one, and other phones, off the map.

On Monday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the company’s newest smart phone, the iPhone4.  On sale nationwide June 24^th, it comes in two colors (black and white) and will cost $199 for 16GB of storage and $299 for 32GB of storage.

“We think it’s the biggest leap we’ve taken since the original iPhone,” Jobs told an enthusiastic audience at the company’s annual developers conference. “We’re really proud of it.”

The biggest difference between the iPhone4 and the current iPhone 3GS? Well, this phone is only 9.3 mm thick, which is 24 percent slimmer than the current one; it also has a glass back and metal sides.

According to CNN.com:

The device will have a front-facing camera for video conferencing, and the camera on the back will have an LED flash, Jobs said. The phone will have a 5 megapixel camera with a backside illuminated sensor, which he said is fairly new to smartphones. It also will have a 5X digital zoom

Jobs referenced the phone’s new operating system — announced in April — which he called “iOS” and which will allow multitasking — letting users surf the Web on their phones, for example, while listening to streaming radio through Pandora. It’s “the most advanced mobile operating system in the world,” he said.

Something else to make iPhone users happy: the new phone will have a better battery life that includes 7 hours of talk time on 3G (2 hours more than the previous one) and 10 hours of web browsing in Wi-Fi.

Despite the massive hype that greets every iPhone announcement, the BlackBerry, made by Research In Motion, is still the top-selling smartphone on the market. It is geared toward business clients and doesn’t have all of the features that touch-screen phones do.

With Jobs’ describing the Apple App Store as the “most vibrant app community on the planet,” the new iPhone4 is sure to be downloaded in the hands of many current and new users when it hits stores on June 24^th.

Visit your local Apple store or www.apple.com for more iPhone4 informaiton.

 Sandra Bullock made her first appearance on TV since her husband’s cheating scandal by attending the Spike TV Guy Awards on Saturday night. The MTV Movie Awards was her second appearance since the explosion of her personal life, and she truly lived it up in true ‘MTV style.’  On stage to receive her Generational Award, she pulled Johansson close and the two made-out. Bullock and Johansson’s husband were up for an award in the best-kiss category but lost, so this was a joke to make up for losing the award.

 Wonder how they got Bullock, named America’s sweetheart, to go along with this? Guess Sandy wanted to take the attention off of her personal life, even if only for a few seconds. What did you think of last night’s MTV Movie Awards?

Many may know that Sony Pictures scraped their plan for a fourth Spider-Man film with Tobey Maguire as the web slinger and directed by Sam Raimi for a reboot taking place during the high school years of Peter Parker to be helmed by Marc Webb. This project will be filmed in 3D . The Hollywood Reporter has listed Josh Hutcherson, Jamie Bell, Alden Ehrenreich, Andrew Garfield and Frank Dillane as front runners for the role. Though no reaction has been made from Sony Pictures with the recent muscle flexing shown with the Betty White SNL campaign and even Justin Bieber’s overnight rise to pop superstardom things look promising. My spidey Tense is telling me this is not the last we have heard of Donald Glover and this role.

1.  Custom-made micropavé engagement ring with round brilliant diamond.

Price upon request, greenwichjewelers.com

2.Platinum engagement ring with large center diamond and round side diamonds (side diamonds are approximately .38 carat total weight).

For more details, see ajaffe.com.

As we reported a few weeks back, James’ mom has been in the spotlight lately for allegedly sleeping with her son’s teammate, Delonte West. Talks of a trade to New York for James have been pretty heavy.

 Both Kobe and Shaq ATTEMPTED careers in rap! What do you think about a Lebron James and Drake Collaboration?