Nick Gagalis/n.gagalismedia@latinospost.com
The Western Conference has two teams with two players each in the starting lineup, all of which play in the same arena. It will be an LA-heavy slate in the home of the Rockets on Sunday for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game. It's too bad for fans at the Staples Center that the game was there last season and not this year. We've documented each starter's history in the all-star game here.
Katherine Webb appeared on the Dan Patrick Show (video posted here) and spoke about her newly-found fame, the Sports Illustrated photo shoot, the struggle for privacy and how to navigate the media. She also mentions how she found out about the coverage of her at the BCS National Championship. The former Auburn student who is currently dating Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron issued an official thank you to Brent Musburger.
One of the biggest stories of the week in NCAA Basketball was the season-ending ACL tear for Kentucky forward Nerlens Noel. The suburban Mass. native was supposedly going to be yet another John Calipari one-and-done freshman player en route to becoming a high first-round draft pick this coming off-season. Many media outlets still have him pegged as a high pick, but his injury puts a damper on what had been an impressive season for the future NBA player. We share his stats, accomplishments, Twitter Profile and more here.
The #2 Duke Blue Devils host the North Carolina Tarheels at 9 pm EST on ESPN in one of college basketball's biggest rivalries. The ACC match-up pits the second- and fourth-best teams in the conference against each other.
The sixth-ranked Syracuse Orange battle the UConn Huskies in Wednesday's premier Big East Basketball game at 7 pm on ESPN. The Orange won all three games last season between the clubs, and the Huskies look for revenge at home. We have past highlights, the live stream and a preview of the game.
Almost ten years after they last played together, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal are finally done fighting. Bryant spoke about his recently-repaired relationship with the former Los Angeles Lakers center after Shaq was escorted out of the Staples Center by actor and comedian Will Ferrell, who was posing as an usher and intentionally singled O'Neal out.
NFL Defensive Player of the year JJ Watt had a bite to eat with another Houston sports legend on Tuesday. Yao Ming is in town for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game festivities. Both players were commanding physical presences in their respective domains, with Watt currently dominating offensive linemen throughout the NFL and Ming a year-plus removed from ruling the paint on the NBA's hard courts. Which one means more to the Houston sports community, Yao Ming or JJ Watt?
Golfer Daniela Holmqvist dug spider venom out of her leg with a golf tee. Let that sink in for a moment. Holmqvist used the most frequently broken piece of golf equipment to remove poison from a black widow spider bite on her ankle after chasing the spider away with her club. After falling over in pain, Holmqvist got back up and finished her round on Tuesday, ending the day with a 74 and a story to tell the whole world.
The NBA Western Conference All-Star Reserves feature a couple of old favorites leading their team in a renaissance season, a consistent producer throughout his career and a new crop of talent that has commanded the attention of fans everywhere in recent seasons. We give them all a look, including Tim Duncan, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
The NBA Eastern Conference All-Star Reserves feature some of the most under-rated players leading their respective teams. Whether they're over-shadowed by a teammate (or two) or play for a struggling team, they've still managed to have respectable seasons and some impressive individual achievements as well. We delve deeper into the type of seasons Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving, Chris Bosh, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Paul George, Luol Deng and Brook Lopez are having during the 2012-2013 season.
One of the best soft-court players in the history of tennis shared his disdain for hard courts, though he had a great point to make about playing on them. Rafael Nadal expressed his concern for tennis players spending significant amounts of time on concrete courts and said that the ATP doesn't care about the safety of its players by continually having tournaments on such surfaces.
Tiger Woods committed to three more tournaments this season on Tuesday. He said via his personal website that he will compete in the Match Play Championship next week in Arizona, the Honda Classic in Florida and the Cadillac Championship at Doral in consecutive weeks. We have more information on him, Rory McIlroy and the commercial they did together here.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is on newsstands now, and it features two of the most popular models right now in Katherine Webb and Kate Upton. For the second straight year, Upton is the cover model, this time clad in an open winter jacket and a bikini bottom while in the Antarctica shoot. There's a video teaser of the SI shoot here.
The fourth-ranked Michigan Wolverines are in Lansing to face the #8 Michigan State Spartans in Big Ten Conference Basketball on Tuesday at 9 pm EST on ESPN. We preview the match-up between the top-ten teams and show highlights from each team's last win.
Lydia Ko is the youngest golfer-- male or female-- to win a professional event. The 15-year-old Ko is one of many athletes to achieve early-career success. She has good company in some of the others who have won tournaments as amateurs or youthful pros in the past. We look back at some of the shining moments of young stars, some of whom have had hall-of-fame careers like Tiger Woods and Maria Sharapova.
