Romo Held Close by a Tiny Dancer

Reporting from the Jock-o-sphere.

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"Never stop holding me, tiny dancer! Nevaahhh!"

Like the rest of Internet users who are trying to be "hip" and "with it," athletes are finally starting to come around to Twitter. We know Shaq and Lance Armstrong have been running the two strongest athlete accounts, but there are a few others that are pumping out 140-character or less messages as well. (Here's a comprehensive list of tweeting athletes. Still much smaller than the amount of pros blogging.)

One of these athletes is Jason Richardson. After LeBron James announced he was tentatively in for the slam dunk contest next year, he chirped back at him with a tweet a few days back:

"So everybody heard about LeBron in dunk contest next year? " he writes. "Well my word is if he's in it then I'm going to get in it. Who u think will win?"

Your turn to respond, Twitterati.

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If you want to know what it's like being famous in public (we already know), look no further than Chris Cooley's tale of attending a recent UWC match. After he went into the ring for an interview, he got bombarded by fans:

"In a way I was stoked that I did get crazy cheers in the ring and a ton of 'Cooley' chants, but after I sat down the photograph/autograph bombardment was on," he writes. "I'm telling you right now, it was on. I'm probably blowing up Facebook albums, because there is no way I took less than 300 pictures. I do have a new favorite fan encounter though. It goes something like this 'Just shake my hand! Cooley! Just a f---ing handshake! Please! Cooley! I'll just wait, whenever you're ready. Just a handshake.'

"Ok, so I know I'm starting to sound like a b--ch, I could have just went Ovi style. Straight face, don't mess with my s--t, there is absolutely no way I'm turning my head and smiling for your picture. I just almost feel guilty, every one's so excited."

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Bill Romanowski gets around. It was only a few months ago he was hanging out backstage with Dave Matthews. The other weekend, Romo found himself at a party with Elton John, and it turns out he owes a lot to the man.

"For any of you who have read my book, you may realize that Elton John's song 'Tiny Dancer' had a big impact on my career," he writes. "When I was a freshman at BC and my coach knocked on my door to tell me I made the starting team, I was filled with emotion and I jumped up to turn on some music from the radio. The song playing at that moment was 'Tiny Dancer.' From then on, I listened to 'Tiny Dancer' before every game I ever played. It always transported me back to my first big break in college and continues to inspire me to accomplish more."

"Having said all that, with Elton John being at the party, I walked up and introduced myself. I told him how his music had made a really big impact in my life and in my profession. I told him the relevance of his song, 'Tiny Dancer,' in my football career and he actually reached out to shake and kiss my hand as a gesture. He was clearly honored and inspired and I felt fortunate to be able to share my experiences with him."

Bill Romanowski … almost famous?

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With Jordan Farmar blogging for Playboy, you'd assume he'd be writing about the female form at least every here and there, right? With a little inspiration from Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Bar Refaeli, he did just that in his latest entry:

"An Israeli model, gorgeous Bar Refaeli, made it onto the prestigious cover of the issue," he writes. "She's got a cool, healthy look. I've been to the Holy Land a couple of times, and I found the Israeli women to be beautiful. With great skin, pretty hair. Many Jewish people from around the world returned to Israel after the nation's creation, and you're getting all these mixes, and yes mash-ups, going on, creating some beautiful people, and girls."

Odds and Ends

Bengie Molina is focusing on catching and not hitting early on in Spring Training … Baron Davis is still touting ibeatyou.com … Jennie Finch breaks the blog record for most exclamation points in an entry … Tommy Lasorda is living it up in Mexico.

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