"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!"

In case you missed it, our favorite blogger Lil Wayne was all over ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. this morning. First, he was on First Take matching wits with Skip Bayless, and later, he sat down with Frank Dale and Joe Mead to talk hoops in the NBA Today podcast.

We've created a monster!
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"Rochelle, Rochelle!" (Yes, that is 50 Cent with Bette.)

WHEN IT COMES TO THE BEST POP CULTURE REFERENCES TO TONYA HARDING, WE'LL GO WITH ROCHELLE, ROCHELLE

[Ed's note: Not sure what All-World Power Rankings is? Please click here.]

The attack on Nancy Kerrigan was fifteen years ago today. Quite simply, Tonya Harding might be the most ridiculous person in world history. In addition to the Kerrigan incident, she went through that whole routine with her laces, has had a series of incidents involving her truck (including one policeman calling her story "very implausible") and also appeared on FOX's Celebrity Boxing against Paula Jones. Jeez. As ya might expect, her life has been referenced in popular culture many times. We now attempt to rank the best attempts at adding humor to what's essentially a tragic tale.

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Who you got?

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, who also pens "The Flem File" on Page 2. He's written some big-time NFL pieces for The Mag, including the security package and the cover story on Jeremy Shockey earlier this season. Point being: the dude knows a lot about the National Football League, information he normally deals out in a back-and-forth with one (lucky?) fan per week in his "Dear Flem" piece.

So this week, we let fans ask him questions about the four playoff games this weekend. Best Divisional game of all-time? How much money is due Darren Sproles? Should Giants fans be scared right now? Here we go now.
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EA Sports

NHL 3 on 3 Arcade gives Jon hope for the future of EA Sports.

If you're a die-hard gamer, 2008 hit some of the highest highs in the history of cyber sports. From NHL 09's EA Sports Hockey League, to the ability to play an online dynasty in NCAA Football 09, to the style and presentation of Sony's MLB 08, games not only did their sports proud, they provided some truly innovative experiences the likes of which had never been seen on home consoles.

On the other hand, 2008 will also be remembered for some of the lowest lows that, as a gamer, I've felt since the NFL decided to sell the exclusive license (or to some, their souls) to EA.
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"I need life-changing advice, Spike." ... "Yeah?" ... "How will the cameras pick up the sheen on this jacket?"

Stephon Marbury has always been one to say what he feels, regardless of any New York or national media fallout that follows. He's been called a little crazy, but he's never been accused of not being real. Good thing he blogs.
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Reebok

Fearing for the well-being of pitchers, baseball governing bodies have placed mandatory training wheels on bat technology in recent years and plan to implement new rules in the next year that experts claim will bring batted-ball speeds back to the mid 1980s. But the standards have a gaping loophole, one that Reebok has proudly jumped through and is about to profit from—mightily.
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Snowboards, now!

Pop culture recs: (1) Some info on Spielberg's upcoming Tintin movie; (2) What will be the must-see films of 2009? ; (3) So funny that this is a top Google search right now; (4) Eh, we were hoping this was true; (5) "Lessons from Sand."
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Jamie Dixon gets fired up coaching the Panthers.

What is "Clip Reel?"

With the Pittsburgh Panthers at No. 1 right now—we are aware No. 1 in January doesn't always pan out to No. 1 on the first Monday of April—this question arises: could Jamie Dixon grab the brass ring before his mentor, UCLA's Ben Howland? Interesting. Perhaps more interesting: Dixon himself. In addition to (probably) being a top five coach in the game, he was a good player down at TCU; anyone remember "The Miracle" shot? Time to take a brief look at the man helming the nation's top college hoops program.
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In this March 2007 photo, Tim Jankovich is second from the left (between Danny Manning and Bill Self) on the Kansas bench.

Illinois State, currently undefeated, plays Bradley tonight at 8:05pm.

Two years ago, Tim Jankovich was an assistant to Bill Self at Kansas. He left to take the head job at Illinois State in March of 2007. Departing just before a national championship run might seem like bad timing, but Jankovich's arrival in Normal, Illinois couldn't have come too soon for the Redbirds.
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"People confuse me for Peyton all the time."

While the NFL MVP Award is a de facto acknowledgment of the best offensive performance of the season in a pivotal role, the Defensive MVP Award does the same for the other side of the ball. This year's winners, oddly, are both beyond the age of 30. James Harrison of Pittsburgh won the defensive honor yesterday at the age of 30, and Peyton Manning captured the MVP, his third such honor, at the age of 32.

And the roads to such awards—how mirrored could they possibly be?
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How did this even work?

THERE ARE A TON OF CHOICES FOR BEST FIESTA BOWL GAME EVER. WE'LL TAKE BOISE STATE/OKLAHOMA.

Want to see more "All-World Power Rankings?"

Funny story by way of introduction: senior year of college, one of our roommates was dating one of our best friends. She was a Miami fan, and he lived in Arizona. He goes to the '03 Fiesta Bowl (OSU/Miami), which OSU of course won, and brings her back a t-shirt. "Here, I got you a Miami shirt!" He was completely oblivious to why this wasn't a good decision, and the shirt wound up in the trash almost immediately. We wish he bought us a t-shirt to commemorate that game, honestly. It was so epic, and yet: is it even the best Fiesta Bowl ever?
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