The other day, New England Patriots receiver Danny Amendola Tweeted that he’d be donating $100 for every reception he recorded this season, as well as $200 for every dropped pass, to the Boston Marathon Relief Fund, and he received a mostly-gracious response. There were a few guys, though, who took offense to the Tweet and accused Amendola of being desperate for attention, and I could understand if people make the case that he’s trying to fill the big shoes of Wes Welker in terms of winning over Pats fans, but why the hell do we care? He’s awesome for doing anything.

Amendola’s new Pats teammate, Julian Edelman, and guy who should be my best friend, Bradley Cooper, also paid tribute, as they visited Jeffrey Bauman, Jr. in the hospital after he lost both his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing. Despite the intensity of his injuries, Bauman still provided the description of one of the bombers that led to today’s insane manhunt.

So people can criticize athletes all they want for being hungry for attention or seeking fame, but if that is the case, then more athletes need to seek attention, because it’s f*cking awesome when they do.

While today may be singer and actor Marc Anthony’s 43rd birthday, you can bet your salsa-loving butts that this week has been a non-stop fiesta of epic proportions. In fact, the real birthday fun actually took place Monday night in Miami, as Anthony invited some of his biggest celebrity friends to join him in the owner’s box as the Dolphins hosted the New England Patriots to open their NFL season.

Anthony is one of a handful of celebrities who enjoy a minority ownership of the Dolphins, including singer Fergie, Serena and Venus Williams, Gloria Estefan, Jimmy Buffett, and Jennifer Lopez, who was happily married to Anthony until the couple recently filed for divorce. While it’s not exactly the terrible saga of Frank and Jamie McCourt, you have to at least appreciate that even a divorce involving 1% owners can be incredibly awkward.

Thankfully, Anthony has some truly wonderful friends to help him through these hard times. As we saw on Monday night, Will Smith – the most popular actor in the world – stood by his good friend’s side and threw him one heck of a birthday week kickoff party as the Dolphins were curb stomped before their eyes. But this went far beyond a football game. Smith, Sean Kingston, Pitbull, Dwyane Wade, Fergie, and her drunk husband Josh Duhamel were all on hand to make sure Anthony got jiggy with it.

And you know, I like to think it went a little like this…

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It feels like the U.S. Open has turned into the NBA Playoffs, what with rain causing the tennis tournament to last the better part of a month, but we’ve definitely seen our fair shares of excitement. For instance, did you catch that semifinals match between Roger Federer (3) and Novak Djokovic (1) on Saturday? Hoo boy, that was some tennis excitement. Djokovic’s come-from-behind win in the 5th set was far and away the highlight of this year’s Open, but today’s Finals matchup between Djokovic and Rafael Nadal (2), who defeated Andy Murray with much less excitement in the semifinals, will probably be the stuff of legends as well.

On the women’s side, 9th-ranked Samantha Stosur defeated Serena Williams 6-2 and 6-3 to win the Women’s Championship, and of course Williams blamed it on the officiating. Williams yelled, “Come on” during a rally and umpire Eva Asderaki docked her a point for a code violation. That’s when Williams became a little miffed.

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Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez doesn’t know exactly how many people in the NFL are using human-growth hormone, but when he looks at somebody and they’re a lot bigger than him, he’s awfully sure they’re on drugs. So says an interview with IndyStar.com reporter Bob Kravitz.

“How many guys are on it, that’s hard to say,” Gonzalez said. “It could be 10, it could be a hundred or more; either way, it’s too much. But around the league, you see guys on Sunday, and things don’t add up; they don’t look right. I see guys I saw in college, now they’re in the NFL and they look totally different.

“I don’t know how prevalent it is at this point, but to say that it’s not being used, that’s wrong.”

Sure, Anthony Gonzalez might be the football playing equivalent of that guy who shows you a picture of Megan Fox from now and a picture of Megan Fox from eight years ago to prove she had an ear job, and sure, Bob Kravitz makes it sound like Gonzalez showed up to training camp with a sword and shield to fight HGH use in pro football, but he makes a good point. HGH can give you a lot without taking a lot away, and it would be pretty shocking if a colossal portion of professional athletes wouldn’t throw in with that.

And then, uh, then he compares life to a Bradley Cooper movie.

“Before testing, the only way you got caught was if you were arrested with it or ended up on a supplier list.”

He added, “If I could give someone on Wall Street a pill that gives them all the intelligence they need to beat the market — a little bit like (the movie) ‘Limitless’ — and it was illegal but there was no fear of getting caught, I can promise you there would be people lined up around the block for that pill.”

So … voice of reason, whistle-blower, or a guy who gets his mind blown by terrible movies?

[h/t Shutdown Corner]