yahoo.com -- Ways Lawrence Phillips could have spent this past Sunday: (a) antiquing, (b) turning himself into the police for a previous domestic violence charge, (c) cooking up a batch of his World Famous Squash Casserole, (d) getting into a heated argument at a pickup football game and then driving a stolen car onto the field to terrorize the kids.

Guess what he opted for.

yahoo.com -- Girls soccer team loses 50-1 when goalie opts to attend a rock festival rather than show up for the game. In other news, Vince Carter has officially met his match.

seattlepi.nwsourc.com -- Scott Spiezio shows off the new tattoo he got depicting his current girlfriend. Apparently he was acting "on the advice of teammate Bobby Madritsch." I have a "friend" like this -- we refer to him as Iago.

tailgating.com (Ali K.) -- Check out the self-proclaimed "Commissioner of Tailgating." He lists his name as Joe Cahn, but I'm pretty sure this is just a festive Rob Reiner.

usatoday.com -- The major beer breweries are competing to be the next official sponsor of the NFL. I think the NFL should shock everyone and go with an upscale winery. The ads could be hilarious. Hire someone with that "refined and obnoxiously superior" look, like Pierce Brosnan, and film him comfortably sprawled out on an expensive leather couch, pretentiously sipping his wine while proclaiming, "Excellent, Cowboys! They cannot stop your advances with the pigskin!" It would be a marketing flop, but I'd laugh.

I'm official now. Thanks to a friend who works for the Hawks, I got to attend the Joe Johnson press conference on Friday. Although I'm sure it was a rather routine proceeding, from my vantage point it might as well have been Watergate breaking. Let's just say that I was rather excitable. A brief rundown of the highlights:

• The whole "Blue Chips"/"He Got Game" atmosphere was nice. The press conference took stage at mid-court of Philips Arena, replete with highlights of Joe on the Jumbotron and his name, picture, and stats flashing throughout the arena.

• There was ongoing applause while the participants (Joe, GM Billy Knight, Coach Mike Woodson, and owners Michael Gearon, Jr. and Barry Levenson) arrived at center court, but the loudest cheers were saved for Billy, who was treated like a returning martyr. Ironically, Belkin undermining him has ultimately validated the job he's done.

• The actual press conference was rather uneventful -- cliché answers ruled the day -- save for one moment. When Woodson was asked to elaborate on plans of running Joe at point, he began discussing the influx of big point guards in the East, such as Wade, Hughes, Billups, Arenas, etc. As he continued with the matchup problems Joe will cause, Joe began nodding his head fervently to no one in particular. I liked that.

• The unquestioned highlight, however, was Josh Smith's random entrance at the end. It was a nice surprise seeing him come out, but the clincher was the two posse members behind him, both silently flanking him in their matching "J-Smoove" t-shirts. Other than the outstanding perks involved, I'm not sure what the difference is between a posse member and fraternity pledge.

Continued...