Pop Culture Hot List

SI Staff | Jul 22, 2009

Pop Culture Hot List

Terrell Owens

AP, Raphael Mazzucco/SI

As if his dating SI Swimsuit model Jessica White wasn't already good enough, we get to see how Buffalo's hottest couple hooked up on Owens' new reality show. And in one episode, White saunters around Owens' pad in lingerie waiting for him to come home. Is <i>The T.O. Show</i> scripted? Of course, but so are 99 percent of ''reality'' shows. This just happens to be one of the more entertaining ones. Think of it as a cross between <i>Entourage</i> and <i>Three's Company</i> with a dash of Victoria's Secret. Now how can that be bad?

Richard Jefferson

D.Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images

The only thing worse than dumping your fianc&#233; before your wedding day is dumping her via e-mail. While Jefferson technically did that, he clarified that he actually broke up with his bride-to-be, former Nets dancer Kesha Ni'Cole Nichols, in person before the confirmation e-mail. He also gave her a six-figure parting gift to "help her move on." That's still a dirty move in our book, expensive but dirty nonetheless.

Kenyon Martin and Trina

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

It seems that athletes can't get enough of celebrities. The latest couple to grace the pages of a magazine for a gratuitous photo spread are Kenyon Martin and his rapper girlfriend, Trina, who used to date Lil' Wayne. We didn't agree with Mark Cuban before, but we'd be all for heckling Martin at this point after looking at those airbrushed photos.

David Beckham

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Sure, Becks got a standing ovation from his A-List fan club, which included Posh, Tom Cruise and Kate Beckinsale, upon his return to Los Angeles, but he was rightfully booed by the L.A. Galaxy loyalists not sitting in luxury suites. Things got so heated at one point that Beckham even confronted the crowd, pointing his finger at fans and attempting to climb over an advertising board to get closer to his hecklers. I think it's safe to say this whole Beckham experiment has gone about as well as his wife's post-Spice Girls career.

Tom Watson

Robert Beck/SI, Gary Bodgon/SI

Oh, that terrible putt on the 18th. The 59-year-old's miss on the final hole of regulation at the British Open -- and subsequent struggles in the playoff with Stewart Cink -- spoiled what could have been one of the greatest sports stories of all time.

Shaquille O'Neal

STR/AFP/Getty Images

The Big Diesel will star next month in <i>Shaq Vs.</i>, an ABC reality series that pits him against top athletes in their respective sports. This probably explains why the new Cavalier has recently been challenging Michael Phelps and Lance Armstrong to races on Twitter. While seeing him in the pool or on a bike would be great, the competition everyone would love to see is Shaq -- who's a big UFC fan -- in the Octagon against Brock Lesnar. Well, everyone except for LeBron James, of course.

ESPYs

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

You know an awards show is bad when a network spends 96 hours trying to fix it up and still can't make it work. So many jokes fell flat at the annual awards show that, during the taping, ESPN spent five minutes asking the crowd to laugh and clap so the network could record it for later use. Maybe next year ESPN can get a host who actually elicits some laughter and applause.

Tony Romo

AP

It looks like Romo is recovering just fine after his split from Jessica Simpson. He finished second at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe, and has been spotted at Hollywood hot spots, um, getting his mind off Jessica. Maybe, just maybe, come September Romo can start making headlines for what he's doing on the field as opposed to his exploits off it.

Lamar Odom

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

The Lakers' free agent forward finally reached out to owner Jerry Buss after his agent ignored the team's four-year, $36 million offer to talk to the Heat about a five-year, $34 million deal. Now, I'm no mathematician, but that Miami possibility doesn't seem like the kind of deal for which I would leave a defending champion.

Roy Halladay

AP

The Mets reportedly rejected a deal to get the Blue Jays' ace, who is the biggest name on the trade market. Just as well. I'd rather know I wasn't going to make the playoffs now instead of finding some dramatic way to fall short as the Mets routinely do.