REPORTING FROM THE JOCK-OSPHERE

Shaun Alexander: Another Vote For Olympic Football

Earlier this week it was Peyton Manning . Now, fellow We Play-er Shaun Alexander joins the fray:

"I support my friend Peyton and would love to see football get into the Olympics," he writes. "And while I fear that they would never let football into the games, that's no reason to stop trying!

"First off, I'll acknowledge that no country could compete with us, but I would love it because it would be the best guys competing hard for something even bigger than their NFL teams.

"I also think making football as an Olympic sport would raise the level of competition in the NFL every four years because all of the players would also be competing for an Olympic roster spot. You'd see maximum effort on every play, guys looking to stay in the game longer to ensure that their stats are the best ... all to impress the selection committee."

I don't ever see this happening, but man, this US squad would mop up more than the Redeem Team.

Ronda Rousey: Downtime in the Village

"I dunno, maybe I'm just stressing out about nothing," she writes. "I'm at the Olympic village, have finished fighting, have no responsibilities, waking up at 2pm and not the slightest clue of what day or date it is& Its weird living at the Olympics village, its like limbo, I've lost any real sense of time here...

Maybe I'm just so used to stressing out about something that I'm stressing about nothing, just cause its what I've become accustomed to."

Beezie Madden: Bush Jumping

The bronze medal American individual show jumper, on how she snuck into the medals:

"I have to say what a huge help McLain and Laura were to me," she writes. "It was McLain's idea to cut a big corner by jumping the decorative bushes. And Laura pointed out to me that it is allowed in the rules to jump the bushes in my entrance to the arena since it wasn't one of the obstacles. That gave Authentic a look at it so he wouldn't be surprised by it. I'm sure the course designers set the decorations that way knowing that they might be a factor."

Rod Benson: Boom Tho Loves Dinner

The NBA D-leaguer a bit out of place:

"I managed to make to down to L.A. for the Pump Foundation Charity Celebrity Dinner," he writes. "It's run by the Pump brothers, David and Dana, and is a series of silent and public auctions aimed at raising money for early detection equipment that will help fight cancer.

"Clearly, I am no celebrity, nor do I make enough money to bid on even ONE thing in the auction (a Tiger Woods autographed flag from the 18th green of the U.S. Open had an un-ebay like "buy it now price" of $60,000). The things I had in common with everybody else were that I was somehow connected to the Pump brothers and that I enjoy dinner. I enjoy dinner very much."

But how much for a signed Boom Tho t-shirt?

Paul DePodesta: Setting the Record Straight

The Padres front-office man speaks the truth on one of the team's recent draft picks:

"There's been a lot of talk around Brett on this blog, so it's probably appropriate that he completes this post," he writes. "There have been a lot of rumors about what Brett wanted. The fact of the matter is that what Brett wanted was to go to school, and I don't blame him. He's a big left-hander with a plus arm, and he's headed to Stanford. Many people have suggested that we should have paid him whatever he was looking for, but I can tell you that such a scenario rarely ends well for anyone involved. Nobody should make a significant life decision, like going into pro ball instead of attending college, because they've been convinced by a check. The minors are a real grind, and unless that is absolutely what an individual wants to pursue right now, they should continue to attend school."

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