The polls close for THE IRON REF in a matter of hours, and I need your help. I’m facing off against some dude who goes by The Russianator. I’m sure he’s a good guy…and probably commie. So, get moving! Voting ceases to be at 5 p.m. EST.

Rating Rider Cup Wives (Cuzoogle)
Seven Things Gilbert Arenas Now Has Time For (The World of Isaac)
Week Three NFL Power Rankings (NE Patriots Draft)
Meet Matt Ass-Hell (Hugging Harold Reynolds)
Touchdown Monkey, Colts Commercial (NESW Sports)
More Dirty Angels Photos in Anaheim (The Sports Culture)
Gators LB Spikes Call Volunteers “Quitters” (Moondog Sports)

I’m competing this week in Hugging Harold Reynold’s IRON REF. When I agreed to do this, HHR told me I could hand select my opponents. So when I sent in that photo of me admiring fine arts in Paris with my bio, I indicated I’d like to face-off against the creator of Soveryposh.com and my buddy J Dot Domingo, who once had a blog about his fake ex-girlfriend. Since The Chief doesn’t appear to be interested in me rigging the contest, why not go for broke I thought?

Go vote for my post about Michael Phelps, Lil’ Wayne, and divine intervention – sounds like a campaign you could stand behind, right?

Even if you morally object to what I have to say, there’s more Weezy over there where this came from to…

My respect has always gone out to surfers and their brand of aquatic athleticism. Hence, I watch Point Break every time it’s on Spike TV (if you’re like me, there is no surprise that Swayze has yet to succumb to cancer)

Um, Swayze played a bank robbing surf ninja in that film, and you’re going to give him weeks to live? Secondary to that, the royalties off starring in a film that’s played 1400 times a year on cable (a 50/50 split, approx. 700 airings each on Spike and TBS) must be pretty lucrative – good enough to pay for high-end cancer treatment, I’d imagine.

Swayze rules (given); but as much as I love Point Break for its intricate plot lines and its determination to portray Gary Busey’s character as the sane one, I’d rather watch Kate Bosworth and Michelle Rodriguez hit the surf in Blue Crush any day (it would be my second favorite surf movie, and Surf Ninjas is a distantly distant third). With that said, we turn our attention to the ASP World Tour and women’s pro surfing. The ladies are competing in Rio De Janeiro this week, and are already in to the quarterfinals of the Billabong Girls Pro Rio. The tournament runs until Sep. 18, with the winner taking home $85,000.

Go to ASPWorldTour.com to learn more, and check out photos from flickr of the Roxy Team:

How’s that for Friday reading?

They’re calling it a cross between recess and boot camp.

If you’re looking for a workout routine that combines jump rope, tug-o-war, relay races, and punk rock tunes, then Punk Rope might be for you.

Punk Rope is available on DVD online at PunkRope.com. This drill is called shark tag, I believe…

Links:

Punk Rope on Flickr

Check out Metro’s interview with GZA, who is on tour performing seminal album ‘Liquid Swords’ in its entirety.

‘Dark Knight’ plans rerelease (via Pop Candy)
More fall movies coming to the NBA (Cuzoogle)
What If FanHouse Had Its Very Own Large Hadron Collider? (FANHOUSE)
Armored cars for NFL players? (The Shutdown Corner)
Do Not Call Kevin Garnett 7 Foot Tall, Craig Sager (NESW Sports)

At yesterday’s 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, a huge pileup occurred in the final seconds of the women’s 5000 meters, with six of eleven racers getting taken out in the last 500 m of the race.

Canada’s Diane Roy, who set a Paralympic record with a time of 11:45:03, was awarded the gold. But after three of the nations competing protested, officials decided the race would be re-run.

In other Paralympics news, the Brits are raking in the medal count.

Anthony Lappe made it a perfect 11 out of 11 for Britain in cycling events, with a gold in the men’s sprint for the visually impaired! Here he is pictured with pilot Barney Storey, whose wife Sarah Storey won gold for Britain in cycling as well.

Check out highlights of yesterday’s events from Paralympic.tv’s YouTube channel – including Lappe’s gold medal (world record setting to boot) run, and that wild crash…

Links:

After crash, women’s wheelchair 5,000 will try again (Universal Sports)
Paralympics: Swimmers and cyclists add five golds to British haul (The Guardian

With the first position on the waiver wire – as a result of having the most abysmal week in the league – I’ve locked up Matt Cassel on my Fantasy Team.

The New York Times reports:

The New England Patriots, sifting through their quarterback options in the wake of Tom Brady’s season-ending knee injury, sent free agents Chris Simms and Tim Rattay home Monday afternoon without even working them out, Coach Bill Belichick acknowledged in a conference call Tuesday.

(Belichick Declines to Sign Simms and Rattay)

…and I picked up Daunte, just in case.

Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews were ousted today as MSNBC’s anchors for election coverage, with claims being made that they were too overtly liberal on-air.

Before there was Keith the bleeding lefty, there was Keith, SportsCenter mainstay. From 1992 to 1997, Olbermann was one of the go-tos for ESPN, before he was sacked there unceremoniously.

Here’s a few of Keith’s best clips from that era, including the report on Bret Favre entering rehab (where he’s talking so fast he almost seizes) and a Boston Market commercial where he invokes the term ooie-gooey (sp.)

I’d check her out for a hot second…

Link:

Meghan McCain on her book, dad