Friday, March 23, 2007

Things haven't exactly been going David Beckham's way since he signed his
lucrative contract to join the Los Angeles Galaxy in January. First he
suffered a serious knee injury that will sideline him until the end of April
and possibly May and now he's having a difficult time finding a new home in
Los Angeles. While many outlets had soccer's royal family all but moving
into the former mansion of Meg Ryan in Bel-Air last week, the asking price
for the seven-bedroom, six-bathroom house is apparently too high for the
Beckhams. While the palatial palace is no bargain at $20 million, you'd
think that after inking a reported $250 million deal that Becks wouldn't
worry about paying a little extra for a place that Victoria apparently fell
in love with after she toured the estate. After all, in the immortal words
of Tony Montana, what's a mill here, a mill there? Despite the setback the
Beckhams still have plenty of time to find their American dream house. Becks
isn't scheduled to make his MLS debut until the end of July. I had the
chance to play in the Los Angeles Avengers' Charity Poker Tournament
benefiting PADRES Contra El Cancer on Sunday. The highlight of the event was
getting to play next to Eva Longoria, who was sporting a Spurs hat, and
faring far better than me after I got knocked out before I could even order
my second drink. Maybe if I'd stuck around longer I would have told Eva that
Tony Parker's song Balance Toi is finding its way into a surprisingly high
number of club mixes even though most people moving to the beat have no clue
what "Tony P" is singing. With March Madness in full force, the fine folks
at Portal B Ball have answered the prayers of hoop fans looking for a pickup
game during lunch breaks, tailgates or while stuck in traffic. (OK, maybe
the last one's not so safe, but it's just a thought.) The newly patented
product lets you a attach a regulation hoop to a standard trailer hitch on
the back of your car and play a half court game or a full court game by
parking two vehicles opposite each other. Yeah, the latter idea should
definitely not be tried while in a traffic jam.
So, some user named "mannyramirez1524" with no feedback score wants to sell
a grill on eBay and gives the following description: "Hi, I'm Manny Ramirez.
I bought this AMAZING grill for about $4,000 and I used it once... But I
never have the time to use it because I am always on the road. I would love
to sell it and you will get an autographed ball signed by me =) Enjoy it,
Manny Ramirez." Sure, likely story. That is until you look at the pictures
and see, well, Manny being Manny in front of the pricey Jenn-Air grill.
While bidding on the item ends March 28, Manny will likely have to sift
through the fake bids to find a real buyer, unless the current high bidder
is serious about paying $100 million for it. When Manny was teased by David
Ortiz about the item yesterday, the slugger, who signed an eight-year,
$160-million contract with the Boston Red Sox in 2001 said, "I need the
money."