Power House Athlete Couples

Well, we all knew the time would come...As this semester and fabulous assignment (that may have become a new summer hobby for me) draw to a close, I’d like to end in true popculture fashion.  Going back to the foundation of this blog and rating top athletes based on the superficial aspects of their lives will serve as a light, yet entertaining send off.  For my last official (graded ;)) blog post I will count down some adorable powerhouse athlete couples.  Enjoy!

Maria Sharapova (tennis) and Sahsa Vujacic (NBA)

Although the power from this “powerhouse” couple may be coming all from Maria Sharapova, boyfriend and Lakers basketball player Sahsa Vujacic doesn’t seem to mind too much; (way to be progressive Sahsa).  Despite riding the bench for the Lakers he landed one of the hottest female athletes of the decade who also happens to be on top in the tennis world.  Good for these two!

Mia Hamm (soccer) and Nomar Garciaparra (MLB)

These two have been married since 2003, and although Normar left the Red Sox right before they won it all in 2004, he still has his wife’s two gold medals to look at.  Who says baseball and soccer players can’t get a long!? These two have certainly found a way to make it work.

Heather Mitts (soccer) and AJ Feeley (NFL)

Heather and AJ are currently engaged to be married.  Even though Feeley is a backup QB in the NFL life is far from gloom for him being that his fiancé was named ESPN’s sexiest female athletes of the year and has a couple gold medals to go along with it.  Nothing wrong with the girls running the show in my eyes!

Candace Parker (WNBA) and Sheldon Williams (NBA)

These two love birds have been married since November 2008.  They had their first baby girl back in May of this year; adorable b-ball family; hopefully their little girl has her mother’s and skills on the court though...

Misty May-Treanor (volleyball) and Matt Treanor (MLB)

Married in 2004, this powerhouse couple proves once again that it’s okay for the female to wear the pants in the relationship.  Misty May is well known for her beach volleyball performance (the uniform doesn’t hurt either), winning gold medals and being apart of the winningest female volleyball duo of all time, not the mention the abundance of endorsements she receives.  Hubby Matt Treanor plays in the MLB, but lets just say his greatest accomplishment is landing Misty.    

Amanda Beard (swimming) and Carl Edwards (racing)

Although these two broke up in 2006 they are still a note worthy powerhouse athlete couple.  Although they were only together a short while, with Beard’s seven gold medals and Edwards 40 Nascar wins they could have been the most successful athlete couple of all time!

Andre Agassi (tennis) and Steffi Graf (tennis)

Bring on the tennis couple! Married since 2001, this couple has combined for over 150 titles.  We will be expecting big things for their son and daughter in the future; they have two great coaches after all.

Malia Jones (surfer) and Luke Stedman (surfer)

Malia Jones married the Aussi surfer Luke Stedman in 2007, and has led very successful careers.  They had their first child in 2009 (Spike); not the greatest name, but I’m sure he won’t have any trouble picking up the ladies once he masters the craft of surfing. 

Anna Kournikova (tennis) and Sergi Federov (hockey)

This is Kournikova’s third time getting mention on this blog; props to her for that.  She and Sergi Federov divorced in 2003 after a minute marriage, but she’s been newsworthy for less in her life than this.  Sergi claims they were married in 2001, but Anna says vows were never exchanged. Regardless of what really went down, they’re a fun couple to mention. 

Gabrielle Reece (vollyball) and Laird Hamilton (surfing)

With the longest standing marriage of them all, we have Gabrielle Reece and Laird Hamilton married since 1997.  Reece has been featured in Playboy and Hamilton has been described as “one of the baddest dudes on the planet).  Way to enforce the “good guys finish last” stereotype you two. 

Relationships will come and go, but the pictures you take together will be on the internet forever (lucky for us). 

Infamous Athletes

Hello bloggers, today I’m going to back to my old style of blogging.  Yes the podcast and video were a fun way to switch it up, but I’m tired of listening to the sound of my voice, so enjoy this one of a kind, written blog; I know I will.

Today’s post is about those athletes we love to hate, or in many cases, love to defend.  Today I’m going to rattle off a few of the past few years most controversial athletes.  Let’s face it, no one wants their dirty laundry aired for the entire world to see, but fortunately for us, we got to watch these athletes go down in flames. 

Tiger Woods

First in front of the firing squad we have the talented and newly discovered, freaky, Tiger Woods.  In November of 2009 the National Enquirer published a story about Tiger’s extramarital affairs with Rachael Uchitiel, then two days later he left his home in his Escalade and crashed in a fire hydrant, a tree and several hedges.  This was the beginning of the end for Tiger; as in the months to follow the world was informed of all of Tiger Woods many transgressions over the years, a few other tidbits that we could have gone without knowing.  A number of Tiger’s sponsorships dropped him and finally Tiger spoke about the scandal.  He apologized saying, “I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to," he said. "I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them. I was wrong. I was foolish."

 He announced a few weeks later that he would be returning to golf for the Masters Tournament on April 8 (he finished in forth place).  Shortly afterward, Woods' coach since 2003, Hank Haney, resigned the position; he was replaced in August bySean Foley.  The rest of the season went badly for Woods, who failed to win a single event for the first time since turning professional, while nevertheless finishing the season ranked #2 in the world.

Since then Tiger has rejoined the ranks of winning golfers, and I think for the most part, the world has given him, after all, he’s only human!

Michael Vick

I’m going to try and keep this next one brief, as I cannot even bear the thought of this athlete’s extra-curricular activity.  I’ve been reminded by numerous individuals that Michael Vick is an outstanding football player and I should not judge him based on what he did, however I find this quite hard to do.  For those of you who have been living under a rock or like me decided to block out the details of his actions I’ll do a quick summary.  Vic was staging dogfights in garage of the family’s home and disposing of them in absolutely inhumane ways. 

By August 20, Vick and the other three co-defendants agreed to separate ple bargains for the federal charges^. They were expected to each receive federal prison sentences between 12 months and five years.

On August 24, Vick filed plea documents with the federal court. He pleaded guilty to "Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Unlawful Activities and to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture". He admitted to providing most of the financing for the operation and to participating directly in several dog fights in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  He admitted to sharing in the proceeds from these dog fights. He further admitted that he knew his colleagues killed several dogs that did not perform well. He admitted to being involved in the destruction of 6–8 dogs, by hanging or drowning. The "victimization and killing of pit bulls" was considered as aggravating circumstances that led prosecutors to exceed the federal sentencing guidelines for the charge. He denied placing any side bets on the dogfights

On August 27, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson accepted Vick's guilty plea.

To all those Vick fans out there I’ll say this, great football player; yes, decent human being; not a chance!

Donte Stallworth

My next pick for controversial athletes is one of the many professional athletes who get off easy with nothing more than a slap on the wrist for crimes that would send regular Joe Schmoe to jail for a long time.  Interesting how that works...  Donte Stallworth, an NFL player for the Washington Redskins who in 2009 hit and killed a pedestrian in Florida.  Stallworth admitted to drinking the night prior to the accident. He had taken a taxi home from the bar and had gone to sleep. The next morning, he woke up and drove to get some food and had no idea he was still drunk. According to early reports Stallworth was legally drunk at the time of the accident news sources reported that his blood alchol  was 0.12, over the nationwide legal limit of 0.08. 

Stallworth was charged with DUI and second degree manslaughter on April 1, 2009; he surrendered to police on April 2, 2009, and was released on $200,000 bail.  He pled guilty, and received a sentence of 30 days in jail, plus 1,000 hours of community service, 2 years of house arrest, and 8 years probation. He has also received a life-time suspension of his Florida state driver's license.

On July 10, 2009, Stallworth was released from jail after serving 24 days of a 30-day sentence.

The Associated Press reported on June 16, 2009, that Stallworth and the victim’s family reached a financial agreement, avoiding a civil lawsuit. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.

On August 13, 2009, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated that Stallworth would be suspended for the entire 2009 season without pay. Stallworth was reinstated after Super Bowl XLIV.

My only hope is that Stallworth and all other professional athletes learned something of value from this horrific accident (other than they can commit a crime and not spend the rest of their life in prison). 

Social Media Round Table; Video Special

Today's blog post features me alongside fellow bloggers and friends Mark Hebert, Ivo Frankovich, Quinton Rossini, and a repeat appearance from Vincenzo Liburdi. In this special edition video post my peers and I discuss aspects of social media. Specifically highlighting Twitter and it's various features and ediquette/responsbibility that goes along with it. Enjoy our round table banter!

 

If you like what you hear from any of my special guests you can find thier blogs at theoepsteinforpresident.blogspot.com- Mark, theirateitalian.blogspot.com- Vince, frankovfootball.blogspot.com- Ivo, lightsouthockey.blogspot.com- Quinton.

Popculture Podcast ft. Vincenzo Liburdi

Hello bloggers! Welcome back to popculturesportsworld; today instead of a regular blog post, I have a podcast to share with you all.  For the purpose of this post I sat down and had a chat with the “Irate Italian” himself; Vincenzo Liburdi.  Together we went through each of my blog posts, and Vince gave me his own personal thoughts and opinions as well as a general male perspective.  Hope you enjoy this special post!

If you like what you hear here today, you can check out Vince’s blog at www.theirateitalian.blogspot.com

GIANT Embaressment for Gisele

This past weekend a record 111.3 million people tuned in to watch one of the biggest events of the year.  Fanatic fans and Super Bowl party goers alike watched as the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17.  There was a lot of hype surrounding both teams’ quarterbacks leading up to the big game; Tom Brady and Eli Manning.  But with the ‘W’ going to The Giants on Sunday’s game, it appears that Eli Manning came out on top, receiving MVP, not to mention a new Corvette. 

With another Super Bowl all wrapped up, Giants fans are free to celebrate and gloat for year, while Patriots fans are bummed, angry, or even play everyone’s favourite game; the blame game! And it appears that no one will play it better  this year than Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen. 

After the game fans reportedly heckled the supermodel, crying out "Eli rules!" and "Eli owns your husband," Bundchen kept a tight smile on her face and kept walking (classy move I must say, unfortunately that class didn’t last too long). 

While waiting for the elevator, she let some of those pent up frustrations fly,

"You have to catch the ball when you're supposed to catch the ball," she said angrily to those around her.

"My husband cannot fucking throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times."

I’m all for showing support for your husband Gisele, and  to be honest, who hasn’t gone off on a bit of a tirade before, the only difference being when us less famous, non supermodel, people with non pro athletes spouses go on a tangent, there aren’t reporters and cameras around to capture our every word.  Sorry Gisele, but maybe next time when you want to give your opinion on the game, don’t chirp your husband’s own team, that doesn’t look good on anyone, especially you.

Heres a small clip of Gisele going off after being chirped by some Giant's fans...

Homerun Hitters

I spend most of my blogs discussing a variety of different athletes who lead successful careers and/or news worthy lives.  Today I’m going to dedicate a post to just two individuals/teammates that have had, and continue to have outstanding success on the baseball field, as well as off the field with some leading ladies (insert cliché’ homerun joke here).

Alex Rodriguez, or affectionately known by many as A-Rod, Yankees third baseman  is considered one of the best all around baseball players of all time.  He is the youngest player to ever hit 500 homeruns and the youngest to hit 600 homeruns! In December 2007, Rodriguez and the Yankees agreed to a 10 year, $275 million contract; the richest contract in baseball history!  Then of course there was that whole steroid allegations thing... but one thing at a time here.

Alright, so we know A-Rod is good, and has the stats and payroll to show for it, but his fame goes a bit further than this.  Rodriguez has been tied to celebs like Cameron Diaz (oh, of course! Who could forget that ‘romantic’ moment of Cameron feeding her beloved A-Rod popcorn at the super bowl).  Aside from Cameron D there has been Kate Hudson, Madonna, and most recently, WWE star and playboy bunny, Torrie Wilson. 

It's obvious Rodriguez has had his fair share of high profile relationships, but what about those more “brief encounters”, better known as the one night stand.  While Rodriguez aims to keep those discretions under wraps, his fellow Yankee, Derek Jeter could probably use some better PR and in my opinion manners, in that area. 

Jeter has also been tied to celebrity honeys like Tyra Banks, Vanessa Minillo,  Brazillian supermodel, Adrianna Lima and Minka Kelly.  However it was released recently, Jeter’s one night stand protocol; after doing the deed with his flavour of the night, he so generously sends them home in a car with gift baskets of autographed memorabilia.  Jeter’s ‘gentlemanly’ routine was leaked after he unknowingly hooked up with the same girl twice and followed up by re-giving his gift basket with signed Yankees and Jeter swag.  Way to keep it classy Jeter.  With that dish, there is no denying the guy can play on the field; ball field (clarification necessary in this case).  So here are some of Jeter’s accolades.   

A twelve-time All Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter has been a central figure of the Yankees during their success of the 1990s and 2000s due to his presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and base running. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,088), games played (2,426), stolen bases (329), and at bats  (9,868). His accomplishments include four Silver Slugger Awards and five Gold Glove awards.

Congrats to these two amigos for an outstanding baseball career, but must you be so crass with the ladies?

Jack of all Trades

Hello again bloggers, I hope I gave you enough time to collect yourselves after that steamy first post. This next blog will not show as much skin as my first post; however it will serve to be equally entertaining. I’m going to discuss a few athletes who have conquered their craft as professional athletes and also took the plunge into other careers. This is not a countdown list, just a collection of some big names that became newsworthy with new or supplement career choices. Enjoy!

Steve Yzerman
I’ve had numerous requests already for some coverage on Steve Yzerman, so at the risk of losing any followers, here he is!

Stevey Y is best known for his long career playing for the Detroit Redwings, although I’m not a Wings fan (go leafs go!) there is no denying the legendary status of this player. Yzerman won numerous awards during his career, including the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1989, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1998, the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward in 2000, and the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance in 2003. He was a ten-time NHL All-Star, a First Team All-Star in 2000, and a member of the All-Rookie Team in 1984. In 2006, Yzerman officially retired, finishing his career ranked as the sixth all-time leading scorer in NHL history, having scored a career-high 155 points (65 goals/90 assists) in 1988–89 which has been topped only by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Yzerman's #19 jersey was officially retired on January 2, 2007 during a pre-game ceremony at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. In 2008, he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Since his successful hockey career has ended, he has been the executive director for the Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2010 Olympics, and he currently holds the position as the general manager for the Tampa Bay Lightening and has been nominated for the NHL general manager of the year award.
For all this terrific success during his professional hockey career and for making the transition to corporate positions look so easy, Steve Yzerman gets a huge shout out on my blog.

Lamar Odom
I will admit that I can sometimes be a sucker for a good reality show, especially if it involves the Kardashian calamity. But at risk of giving Kim K. and her now ex hubby Kris Humphries any more press for their short lived marriage, I’m going to give the recognition to Lamar Odom for his move to reality T.V. Lamar, affectionately known as “Lam Lam” by his wife and reality T.V. co-star Khloe Kardashian, plays for the Dallas Mavericks and has in past years played for Miami and Los Angeles.

Lamar has taken his turn on the big screen with appearances in T.V shows such as Entourage, Modern Family, and Minute to Win It, and most recently, his own reality T.V. show Khloe and Lamar. I’ve spent a few more hours than I’d like to admit watching their home life, but must acknowledge that he’s a great player on the court and a warm and quite funny individual at home.

Lance Armstrong
I began following the Tour de France a few years ago when my sister convinced me how exciting bike racing could be; and I must admit, it truly is! It was here that I first truly began to appreciate Lance Armstrong and then, Team Discovery for all their hard work and talents. Lance Armstrong has won seven consecutive Tour de France races. He battled and beat cancer and came back as an even stronger competitor before announcing his retirement in 2005.

Since then, Lance has founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation which supports people affected by cancer. This foundation has become one of the top ten funding cancer research groups; commonly recognized by the yellow Livestrong bracelets. Livestrong is now a large part of the athletic apparel industry and that is all thanks to Lance and his work and dedication to finding a cure of cancer. He currently works with a variety of different charities.  For this legendary cycling career and inspirational battle with cancer and now work with charity, Lance gets a spot on my list.

Anna Kornakova
Alright, so I promised bloggers in my previous post that Ana Kornakova would eventually earn a spot in this blog. So although I don’t quite particularly enjoy throwing her in with the likes of Lance Armstrong, this is a popular culture sports blog, and what is more pop culture than an appearance in an Enrique Iglasias video?!

Anna is Russian American retired professional tennis player. Her beauty and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide, despite her never winning a WTA singles title. Although she never had too much success on the court, there are not many individuals who did not see her music video debut alongside Latino hottie Enrique Iglesias. At least she found success somewhere!

I am sure there are plenty more "jack of all trades" in the sport industry, so if your very rattled that I skipped your favourite awesome athlete whose done big things outside of thier sport, give me a post and I'll work in an honourable mention for him or her. Cheers!