The NFL has been the big money professional sports league for some time now, but that won’t stop them from taking every opportunity to stack that cheese. NFL.com will be getting into the action later this summer, streaming live preseason games online for those willing to waste 40 dollars.

NFL spokesman Dennis Johnson tells Michael Hiestand of USA Today that the league will show preseason games live online for the first time this year, with games available to anyone who pays $40 for a subscription.

Of the 65 games on the NFL preseason schedule, 54 of them will be available via live stream. The only 11 that aren’t available are the ones that will air nationally on NBC, CBS, Fox or ESPN. –PFT

I consider myself a football fan, but there’s no way I could ever watch all the nationally televised games, let alone pay to watch games online. Preseason is just unbearable after the first quarter. Charlie Batch can only throw so many wounded ducks before I start pounding my head against a wall. That being said, there’s no way the NFL will come out of this deal losing money. It’s pretty common knowledge that their accountants are wizards. Video after the jump is potentially NSFW. Read the rest of this entry »

Not like that, you pervert. The former King of Cleveland’s image will be plastered all over his new furniture line, Home Court by LeBron James. There were concerns on whether or not the deal would go through, LeBron’s enormous head is known to give kids nightmares.

Will parents in Cleveland approve of their children sleeping on LeBron James

That question will be answered in the coming months, as American Signature, the company that signed the former Cleveland Cavaliers star in February, has confirmed to CNBC that it will continue with its plans to launch a collection of items inspired by James.

“Our relationship with LeBron has not changed,” Jonathan Schottenstein, chief operating officer of American Signature, said in a statement provided to CNBC. “The youth collection by LeBron James focuses on his commitment and relationship with America’s youth. We are looking forward to this introduction in the Fall.” –Sports Biz with Darren Rovell

Children should be way more afraid of LeBron than the Boogie Man. There’s no way the Boogie Man has LeBron’s vertical jump or wing span.

Muscle Squirrel wants the President to fix the housing crisis before his bracket.

For a while now, the NCAA has mulled over the possibility of expanding the NCAA tournament. Some were hoping for a 96 team bracket, while purists were hoping for no change at all. Consider the NCAA a champion of compromise (actually, don’t), as the organization announced that it’s Men’s Basketball Tournament would be expanding from 65 to 68 teams.

The final four at-large teams and final four automatic qualifiers in the newly minted 68-team NCAA men’s basketball tournament field will meet for the right to enter the traditional 64-team draw, tournament selection committee chairman Dan Guerrero announced Monday.

The “First Four” will be played either the Tuesday or Wednesday after Selection Sunday. The winners of the four games will advance to what will now be called the “second round” on either Thursday or Friday. The newly named third round — with 16 games — will be Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the tournament — regional semifinals (Sweet 16) and regional finals (Elite Eight) — will remain as they have been, as will the Final Four, which is set for Houston in 2011. –ESPN

Let me get this straight. You’re going to take teams, who didn’t win their conference, and by regulations aren’t assured a spot in the tournament and match them up against teams that won their conference, and by doing so qualified automatically? That seems a little unfair to the smaller conferences, NCAA. I don’t think Lehigh, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Winthrop, or Vermont are going to be able to compete against bigger conference opponents, who, I may add, didn’t deserve to qualify in the first place. Thank God we live in a country where an organization can sell the dreams of student athletes up the river for more money. (/Hears a suspicious knock, opens the door) O, why hello there, friend. I haven’t see you in awhile. Read the rest of this entry »

The era of the interactive athlete is pretty amazing. Chad Ochocinco has a reality dating show, Chris Cooley is all about making Youtube videos, and anybody who’s anybody has a Twitter account. One athlete who should be more interactive is John Daly. I would love to see him get his own reality TV dating series. VH-1 could call it “Hey, Who Wants to Let Me Rip A Shot Off Their Belly Button? With John Daly.” Hell, it would be more interesting than watching Khloe Kardashian waddle around for an hour every week.

Unfortunately for all of us who would love to see which blond, buxom, beauty John would eventually sleep with until he got tired of, the alcoholic golfer already has a girlfriend. I know, I’m as surprised as you are.

Anna Cladakis, the girlfriend of golfer John Daly, was reprimanded for selling memorabilia during a tournament in Europe. The former executive for Hooters was selling caps and golf balls while following her boyfriend at Loch Lomond.

Daly said that the IRS is looking for him to pay a $1 million tab. Cladakis said the proceeds from her efforts were going to charity but European Tour officials told her to desist.

“We are aware of what she is doing and have asked her to stop selling items on the course,” said Championship director Peter Adams. “The European Tour has exclusive merchandise agreements and therefore took the appropriate action.” –USAToday

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Everything pictured is scaled equally.

They say the mark of a truly great sporting event is the ability to leave people talking about it after it’s over. Game 7 of the 2009-10 NBA Finals was one for the ages – the highest rated Finals game since the Bulls and Jazz in 1998 – and as the Lakers celebrate their victory and the rest of the league prepares for the biggest free agent courtship spending war in NBA history, people are indeed still talking about the Finals. And why? Because, girlfriend, I heard from my stylist who heard from her baby daddy who heard from his niece who heard from the guy at the Redbox that Vanessa Bryant ain’t having none of Khloe Kardashian. OH EM GEE!

Khloe, of course, is famous because her sister Kim had sex with Brandy’s brother, but since nobody knew who either of them were, they made a sex tape and acted shocked and violated when it was released. Somehow that justified giving Khloe a TV show with Kim and their other sister Kewbacca. Khloe, who is married to Lakers paycheck-receiver Lamar Odom, has been having a quiet feud with Kobe Bryant’s wife this season, and now their spat is going public. And don’t blame me because you don’t care about this, blame the women in your life. This is all their fault.

Give me something to read while I get a pedicure, In Touch Weekly:

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The greatest convergence of minds since the Yalta conference

Dennis Rodman is the greatest defensive player the NBA has ever seen, and also the most insane. The man who was commonly seen dressed in drag throughout the 90s, and somehow managed to marry Carmen Electra is, not surprisingly, involved in some sketchy dealings. Rodman, who averaged almost 19 rebounds per game during the 91-92 season is now carrying bags full of 100 dollar bills on domestic flights for some odd reason.

A passenger on Rodman’s flight from North Carolina to Fort Lauderdale spotted him frantically counting $100 bills stuffed in his carry-on bag. “He was nervously chewing on a red straw,” a Page Six spy said “He must have had four or five grand in there.” Rodman’s rep told Page Six it was left over from partying after a deejay gig in Pennsylvania. “He was counting it because he thought he had been robbed, but it turns out his business manager was holding onto the rest,” his rep explained –TerezOwens

Last I’d heard of Rodman, he was playing pro basketball in Finland, but that was in 2005. If he’s playing there, he must have been in desperate need of cash flow, so how he managed to get a bag full of 100s is beyond me. TerezOwens hypothesized that it was for a drug deal of some kind, which, considering this is Dennis Rodman, has to be the most legitimate explanation. That, or he was looking to finally make the sex change complete. Rodman highlights after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »