by FOXSports.com

Comment

If Tony Gonzalez and his wife, October, are wearing clothes in their new PETA ad, they must be threadbare. A day after the AJC broke the news of the two appearing nude in the ad, the Falcons tight end said it's not entirely true. "We had clothes on," Gonzalez said Wednesday. The couple will appear as part of the "Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign, according to PETA officials. "We should be protecting animals, not sacrificing their lives for the sake of fashion or luxury," says Tony Gonzalez. "October and I have changed many of our habits in light of the inhumane treatment of animals that occurs not only in the fur industry but also on factory farms." Now in his 13th season in the NFL, Gonzalez, 33, was traded to the Falcons in April. He appears destined for the Hall of Fame, and he credits his vegan diet for his fantastic physique. -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

NFL star has dinner with Faith Hill

Chris Johnson said Wednesday that he considers himself an entertainer of sorts. So, perhaps that's why Johnson spent his Tuesday with another famous Nashville entertainer - dining with country music star Faith Hill at Swett's Restaurant and giving her an autographed jersey as well. "It went real good. We had a 45-minute lunch at Swett's," Johnson said. "She's a real big fan, and I'm a fan of hers too now." -- Nashville City Paper

CBS' Jim Nantz new woman has champagne taste

The new woman in Jim Nantz's life is Courtney Richards, 29, a vice president at IMG, which represents the CBS sportscaster. Nantz, 50, met her on a book tour last summer -- after his 26-year marriage to Lorrie Nantz had hit the rocks. While Lorrie will get $1 million a year from Jim, Courtney was being subsidized $500 a month by her father five years ago, when she told the Wall Street Journal, "I have champagne taste on a beer budget . . . I love what I do, but the bottom line is that I'm not making enough to pay for myself." Nantz makes $7 million a year. -- NY Post

Brad Pitt's baseball movie Moneyball finds new director?

Brad Pitt's baseball movie Moneyball may have found a new director in (500) Days Of Summer's Marc Webb. The Sony project has been put on hold since Steven Soderbergh quit, but The Hollywood Reporter claims Webb is in talks to take over after meeting with Brad, the movie's producers and Sony executives in recent weeks. But Capote director Bennett Miller is also being considered for the position. The movie will tell the story of how unorthodox general manager, Billy Beane - played by Brad - transformed the fortunes of the Oakland As by putting his faith in a stat-based recruitment system. -- Herald.ie

World Series of Poker champ orders 15 bottles of champagne

World Series of Poker champ Joe Cada, ordering 15 bottles of champagne Tuesday at Pure for family and friends in the VIP section he rented. Shadowing him was a film crew shooting a reality show pilot. They chose him because he's from a city near Detroit, and the idea was to put together a story of an average Joe trying to hit it rich. Both Cada, 21, and the TV project hit the jackpot. And if the buzz is correct, so did Cada's brother, who reportedly put down $100 on him to win -- at 7,000 to one! -- Las Vegas Review-Journal

Yanks Derek Jeter forced to turn down drinks

"If I had shots with everyone that offered, I'd be drunk all the time" -- Derek Jeter to Hudson Terrace owner Michael Sinensky. -- NY Post

Dodgers 87-year-old scout, gets a 56% pay cut

After spending the last couple of weeks choking on the McCourt divorce numbers -- $6,000 a year for birthday parties? -- Dodgers fans can finally relax. Your favorite team has figured out how to pay for it all. They're taking it out of George Genovese. "I was like, 'What did I do?' " said Genovese, 87, a crooked grin rising from beneath his thick glasses and shock of gray hair. Genovese, perhaps baseball's most notable living amateur scout, was sitting in the aging easy chair in his tiny North Hollywood home recently when he received a solemn phone call from one of his Dodgers bosses. He was thereby informed that his annual part-time salary was being slashed. From $18,000 to $8,000 -- a 56% pay cut. -- LA Times

46,693 beer caps create NASCAR shrine

Sam Thornton always wanted a gar-age to do his mechanical tinkering, but what he got instead is a shrine. The walls are covered with more than 46,693 Coors and Budweiser bottle caps arranged in designs of the number of his favourite NASCAR drivers. The many shelves are filled with 67 replica model cars ranging from some of his favourites from the 40s, 50s and 60s to the modern racing machines he watches each weekend. "I'm not responsible for all those beer caps," laughs Thornton, a retired Chrysler employee. "I'm only 73 and I wouldn't be 73 if those were all mine. "People collect them and bring them by the bag full. I still have a little bit of wall to cover." Sprinkled amongst all the motorhead paraphernalia are mementos to his other great sporting passion -- hockey and more specifically the Montreal Canadiens. Next to his collection of Patrick Roy photos and artwork, Thornton proudly shows off Denis Potivin's stick autographed by the entire New York Islanders team from the club's run of four straight Stanley Cups in the early 1980s. Thornton said he never planned to turn his garage into a sports viewing mecca. He always just wanted a garage and used some of his Chrysler buyout money to build it six years ago. -- Montreal Gazette

Cubs opening outdoor ice-skating rink in Wrigley Field parking lot

Sneed hears the Cubs plan to build an outdoor ice-skating rink along Clark Street in the parking lot just west of Wrigley Field. The stats: The temporary rink will open ASAP (probably in mid-December) and run through February. Skate rental and ice time will cost about $10. The cash will be used to fund the $300,000 operation, which will not make a profit, a source said. (Word is the ice rink, which is largely credited to Ald. Tom Tunney, will be run by the Chicago Park District. No word yet on where the Zamboni will be parked.) -- Chicago Sun-Times

Chiefs sign linebacker off deer hunting trip

LB Justin Rogers, whom the Chiefs re-signed to fill Goff's roster spot, was in Basehor on a deer hunting trip Wednesday when his father called and said he was rejoining the Chiefs. Rogers said Wednesday that he was in a tree stand and that his agent called his father to tell him the news. "I shuffled down the tree and headed over here to practice," Rogers said, adding that he took his dad's call around 9:30 a.m. and drove straight to Kansas City's practice, which began around 11 a.m. Rogers said he had been hunting since about 5:30 a.m. and saw several deer before his phone rang. "Drove straight here," he said, "and suited up." -- KC Star

Student suspended over Bengals 'Who Dey' haircut?

Dustin Reader, an eighth-grader at Garfield Middle School, received an in-school suspension Monday because of a haircut he received over the weekend in honor of the Cincinnati Bengals. His barber, Chris Campbell of the B Street barbershop Razor Sharp, cut Bengal stripes on the sides of Reader's head and a large capital B on the back to resemble the team's helmet, and on Sunday, he colored his head and scalp to match for the game. The colors were washed out for school on Monday, according to his parents, but he barely got off his bicycle at Garfield when he was sent to his principal's office. Because it's a discipline issue, school officials would not talk about it, but confirmed the suspension was for violating the school's code of conduct, which prohibits "unnaturally colored hair, extreme/distracting makeup, haircuts and hairstyles." -- Dayton Daily News

Vince Vaughn loves Chicago Sports

Three days after hanging out on the sidelines at the Bears-Arizona Cardinals game at Soldier Field, actor and Lake Forest native Vince Vaughn sat in the front row for Wednesday's Blackhawks-Colorado Avalanche game at the United Center. -- Chicago Tribune

John Riggins wants job on network NFL pregame show

John Riggins has sought a place on one of the network NFL pregame shows, without success, though he was seriously considered at one point as a panelist for Fox's NFL coverage. "Hell yeah, you'd like to work at the highest level," he says. -- Washington Post

Cowboys Tony Romo plays one round of golf a year during season

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said he expected a decent contingent from his hometown in Burlington, but his parents are handling all the arrangements. As for the little bit of free time the Cowboys get on Saturday, Romo said he's not going to try to get in a round of golf, a sport he could probably play professionally. "I play usually about one round of golf a year during the season and it's usually so bad that it makes me make sure that I don't play again," he joked. -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Chris Gotti mistaken for Yankees star

Chris Gotti sitting with Irv Gotti and Ja Rule while cheering on Phil Ivey at the World Series of Poker and wearing a Yankees cap that had picture-taking spectators mistake him for CC Sabathia. -- NY Post

Karl Swanson protects Redskins owner from hits by public & media

At times like these, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder counts on a trusted lieutenant named Karl Swanson. As Snyder's self-described public-relations "henchman," Swanson, 59, has been tending to Snyder's image for at least a dozen years. When controversy calls -- as it repeatedly has since Snyder became one of the Washington area's most prominent citizens -- Swanson is close behind, ready to tell the boss's side of the story. Swanson has spoken for Snyder when Native Americans have challenged the team's name as racist; when the owner's wife, Tanya, was called to court to testify in a lawsuit filed by a former nanny for allegedly unpaid wages (the nanny won nearly $45,000 in back pay in 2007); when controversies have raged about ticket and concession prices, parking at FedEx Field and tailgating restrictions. At times, Swanson has literally run interference for his employer. When journalists have sought comment from the Redskins owner in public, the linebacker-size Swanson has often gotten in front of the media mob, shielding his boss from questions. Swanson is Snyder's proxy because Snyder rarely speaks for himself. -- Washington Post

Ex-Laker Rick Fox's girlfriend's show canceled

Fox has finally pulled the plug on Eliza Dushku's struggling sci-fi series, "Dollhouse." Which leaves the Watertown homegal lots more time to spend with her squeeze, ex-Celtic Rick Fox! "Dollhouse" will finish its current 13-episode run with a big finale, according to the Hollywood Reporter . The show, currently benched for November sweeps, returns Dec. 4. -- Boston Herald

Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens face off in online roast

NFL stars Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens have been brought together by Klondike ice cream to try their hand at a little comedy -- roast style -- with the Klondike "Ocho - TO Thicker Shell Face-Off," -- PR Newswire

Freddie Roach is no 'yes man'

Freddie Roach, a former journeyman boxer who trained at the foot of Joe Frazier's Hall of Fame cornerman Eddie Futch, is the honest voice in the ear of the world's top pound-for-pound boxer. "With all the people around me, it's hard to find a real friend, a die-hard person like Freddie," Pacquiao admitted recently after a workout at Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. "We're honest. We don't lie to each other. The strategy we share is nothing but the truth. And I'm lucky to have him in my corner." As the 30-year-old Pacquiao (49-3-2) prepares for Saturday's fight against WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, boxing historians place his partnership with Roach among the elite of the sport's all-time fighter-trainer connections, along with Muhammad Ali and Angelo Dundee, Joe Louis and Jack "Chappie" Blackburn, Frazier and Futch, Emile Griffith and Gil Clancy and Thomas Hearns and Emanuel Steward. -- LA Times

Former Red Sox narrates baseball documentary

Former Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin narrates the new flick "Touching the Game, Alaska," a movie about baseball in the Land of the Midnight Sun by the Boston filmmakers who did "Touching the Game, the Story of the Cape Cod Baseball League." Terry Francona, J.D. Drew , Jacoby Ellsbury , Bill Lee, Dave Winfield, Jered Weaver and many more Big Leaguers are interviewed in the flick about the Alaska Baseball League . It will be released Nov. 30. -- Boston Herald

Nuggets K-Mart enjoys Chicago

Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin and Blackhawks right wing Dustin Byfuglien were spied (separately) hanging out at Market, where Dan Aykroyd is slated to introduce his Crystal Head vodka, 9 to 11 p.m. Monday. -- Chicago Sun-Times

McEnroe takes Subway around NYC

John McEnroe getting off a downtown D train at Rockefeller Center -- NY Post

Vegas Bookies Perfect in NFL!

NFL games have had a point spread of "Pick'em" this season - which means neither team was favored. Of the remaining 126 games, the favorite has won against the spread 63 times, and the underdog has won against the spread 63 times. Amazing but true: the Las Vegas point spread has split the NFL's results perfectly down the middle for the entire season to date! -- Pregame.com (R.J. Bell)

Riggins emerges with unvarnished opinions about the Redskins

To his listeners John Riggins is a truth teller, a voice-of-the-revolution and, as he puts it, "a little bit of a radical." To critics he's just an opportunist out to build the audience for his WTOP radio show, "The Riggo Report." He pleads guilty to all charges -- and he has no intention of hitting mute. "I certainly can be diplomatic if I want to, but the chances are that I probably don't really want to, 'cause it takes too much energy," he says. "For me it does. I'm not that intelligent. Otherwise I'll get caught in my own BS. I try not to do that." -- Washington Post

Several Texans eye opportunities off the field

At least eight Texans players make regular weekly appearances on one of the city's four sports talk stations. They not only talk football; they discuss food and pop culture, and, on occasion, they serenade teammates. If past performance is any indication, a couple may take to the air as a profession, as was the case with former Oilers Gifford Nielsen, Warren Moon and Spencer Tillman and former University of Houston quarterback Andre Ware. -- Houston Chronicle

Manny Pacquiao at Vegas hot spot

Boxing star Manny Pacquiao, dining Wednesday on the patio at Picasso with a large group. -- Las Vegas Review-Journal

TruTV to launch NFL show

Skein, which premieres Feb. 8, will examine the personalities who work behind the scenes and help make the league such a financial goliath. Net is working with NFL Films to provide coverage for the production. First episode begins with the NFL's season-opening game in Pittsburgh, when the Steelers defeated the Tennessee Titans. Other events to be shown include the league's annual game in London, the opening of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl. Steve Sabol of NFL Films and Anthony Horn are exec producers. -- Variety

Tom Brady's wife takes stroll with her helicopter pilot

While her husband was busy preparing for the Colts, Gisele Bundchen took a stroll in the Back Bay yesterday with Stuart Matsumoto, her helicopter pilot instructor. The supermodel, whose due date is believed to be next month, is seeking a pilot's license. She has already passed the written exam. -- Boston Globe

Online gaming conglom pays $12.3 million for TV rights

World Poker Tour, which airs its events on Fox Sports Net, has been sold to online gaming conglom Party Gaming. Party Gaming paid $12.3 million in cash for WPT in addition to 5% of all future gaming revenue and 5% of ancillary earned by WPT, which will continue as its own entity under the Party Gaming umbrella. WPT is about to enter its eighth season of televising poker tournaments from around the world. Previously, org was a top draw on Travel Channel for five seasons before moving over for a year to GSN. Takeover was amicable as both entities have worked together in the past. WPT said it earns 30% of sponsorship revenue from Party Gaming. WPT recently changed its TV format, switching from a two-hour event to two one-hour shows when telecasting a "final table" -- where up to nine players play until a winner is crowned. -- Variety

Listen to Ben Maller this weekend on the vast Fox Sports Radio Network. Ben's shows broadcast live from 1am till 6am (est) Saturday and Sunday's. Check your local radio listings for the FSR affiliate in your town, listen to XM Satellite Radio Channel No. 142 or online at FoxSportsRadio.com Say hi to Ben at Facebook.com/benmaller. Get special rumor updates and follow the life and times of Ben Maller on Twitter at Twitter.com/benmaller Interact with Big Ben's fans and talk sports on Ben Maller's forum Questions, comments and news tips can be sent to Ben via e mail at Ben@BenMaller.com.