Pop Culture Hot List

SI Staff | Feb 10, 2009

Pop Culture Hot List /

Pop Culture Hot List

Alex Rodriguez

Baseball's last great hope for erasing the embarrassing steroid era confirmed that he used performance enhancers. Baseball will recover, but a "Closed for Rehabilitation" sign will likely hang outside the Hall of Fame for a good while.

Bar Refaeli

Leonardo DiCaprio's girl becomes the first Israeli model to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit issue. Something tells me this is one issue with which everyone in the Middle East can be happy.

Los Angeles Lakers

Andrew who? The Lakers are not only undefeated since losing their star center, but also Kobe Bryant went for a record 61 points at the Garden and the Lakers halted winning streaks by both the Celtics and Cavaliers. There's no truth to the rumor that the Lakers will stage an injury on each of their subsequent road trips to yield similar results.

Charles Barkley

Sir Charles might not play a role in TNT's coverage of the NBA All-Star game in his current hometown of Phoenix, but he will be returning to the studio right after the league's midseason exhibition. After all, if Subway can forgive Michael Phelps for taking a bong hit, TNT can surely let Sir Charles slide for his indiscretions.

Chris Jericho

There's apparently some people out there who still think wrestling is real and that "bad guys" need to be heckled and spit on in the parking lot. After a WWE show in Canada an unruly crowd surrounded Chris Jericho's car and one woman spit on the actor, er wrestler, setting off a mini riot. No word if the same crowd also berated a shopping mall Santa Claus for not coming through on the presents he promised to deliver last year.

Tiger Woods

Well, at least Woods has something to keep him busy as he prepares to return to the links. He and his wife, Elin, announced the birth of their second child, a boy named Charlie Axel. Who knew Woods was such a big Guns N' Roses fan?

David Beckham

It looks like the Galaxy and MLS are playing hardball with AC Milan, who want David Beckham to remain in Italy full time. Good for them. Make Milan overpay for the overhyped and overrated "Golden Balls" the same way they did a couple years ago.

Alyssa Milano

Milano, who writes a blog for MLB.com and has a sports clothing line for female fans, will release a book in March about her love for America's pastime, entitled, Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic. The forward to Milano's first book was penned by Dodger manager Joe Torre. Finally a book involving Torre that doesn't have him throwing his former players under the bus.

Billy Beane

Beane's reputation (and ego) may be getting a huge boost if a proposed Steven Soderbergh film based on Michael Lewis's book Moneyball: The Art of Winning An Unfair Game is made. Not only will Beane's philosophy for building a baseball team hit the big screen, but also Brad Pitt is reportedly in line for the role to play Beane. What? Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney weren't available to play the role of a baseball general manager.

Tony Parker

Eva Longoria isn't the only one venturing into the business world these days. Her husband, Tony Parker, recently purchased the second largest share of ASVEL, France's most successful professional basketball team. Parker, who plans to move to France with Longoria after he retires, says he will serve as the club's Director of Operations, which apparently isn't a demanding job if he can do it on the side while playing for the Spurs.

Published Feb 10, 2009

SI STAFF