REPORTING FROM THE JOCK-OSPHERE

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: In the Navy

The good: Junior respects the heck out of the young U.S. Navy men and women. The bad: Goose doesn't make it out alive! (Raise your hand if you also saw that Top Gun joke coming. All of you? Great.)

"Brad and I paid a visit to all the sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt before we headed up to Richmond for the race a couple weeks ago," he writes. "It was a really cool trip. We landed on the deck of the carrier on our second attempt—I think they were just messing with us the first time around. Then we had lunch and toured the huge aircraft carrier before we went back up to the flight deck to watch planes take off and land. That was just incredible. I was really impressed with the maturity of the young sailors."

Jarrett Bush: Check Out My Friend

Packers CB Jarrett Bush interrupted his offseason yoga and spin classes (Hey, they're keeping him flexible, OK?) to take in some track and field at the Pac Ten Championships at Arizona. Specifically to see his good friend Jacquelyn Johnson work over the competition:

"I think she broke the meet record, the stadium record and the Pac 10 record, for the heptahalon for points," he writes. "She might be able to beat me in a race. And even more crazy is that her coach after she is done running she wants to go pro. She will def'ly be at the summer Olympics in Beijing. I tried to see if I could go but we will be in the middle of the football season. So you're watching TV and you see the Olympic trials or the nationals meet..…keep your eyes peeled for this girl…she is a force to be reckoned with."

Paul DePodesta: To Score Or Not to Score, in Petco Park

Pauly D strikes a familiar pose as he delivers his latest, beautifully crafted oration:

"So big deal—Petco suppresses run scoring, and we all already knew that. What is interesting to me is the relative aspect of this puzzle. Scoring runs in an absolute world isn't as important as in the relative world in which we compete—you win by scoring more runs than your opponent, not by scoring a certain number of runs."

DePodesta is a Harvard grad. Philosophy?

Kyle Harrison: Hitting the Links

The Los Angeles Riptide's Kyle Harrison shot some video on his latest trip to the golf course. And he's not unsure of his driving skills:

"You can see how TERRIBLE my golf swing is," he writes. "I think my boy mentioned it in the video, but I've gotten an award before for the worst golfer to ever play at this course in Southern California. Now, in my opinion, that's not even right, how are you even going to have an award like that? Messed up."

The swing? Not as bad as advertised. The jeans, skate shoes and dancing on the course? Questionable.

Chris Cooley: Notes from the 'Man Room'

The 'Skins Chris Cooley broke in the newly furnished "Man Room" at his home with a poker tournament. ESPN the Mag wasn't there to represent, but we could have told ol' hot pants this:

"There's no way to get a good read on someone's hand when the entire room is screaming the chorus of 'Livin on a Prayer,'" he writes. "It was amazing that the final table had wound down to four players and there was more concern for 'Shot Through the Heart' than winning the cash."

Mark DeRosa: Two-Timer

The Cubs second baseman on his gloves throughout his playing days:

"I only have two gloves. I was a guy who used a bunch early on, and felt I had to use a bigger glove at third, and use the same glove up the middle at short and second, and a different glove in the outfield, and a first baseman's glove," he writes. "I don't do it anymore. I'm comfortable using my infield glove all around, and in an emergency, if I'm going to first, I get Derrek (Lee) to give me his glove and get by with that, and one outfield glove. It's more of a comfort level. You start putting too many gloves on your hand, you start getting a false sense of security, and you lose sight of moving your feet, and getting in position to make plays. It's worked for me."

Diana Taurasi's Endorsement

Obama for president. Charles Barkley for VP.

Evan Bartsch contributed to this report.

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