Sports Saturday

In Tampa, today is a perfect day for football - now that the rain has passed. Luckily, I've got tickets to the Bucs-Jaguars preseason game tonight. Let's hear it for a quarter and a half of NFL-caliber ball.

So, let's do this thing. And if I seem a bit distracted, it's because I'm still listening to analysis of Joe Biden's speech in Springfield a few minutes ago. How about that for Joe-mentum?:

Let's start in Tampa, where a familiar name has popped up on the local prep scene. Eric Dungy, son of Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, will play for Tampa power Plant High this season. Dungy led Park Tudor High in Indianapolis with 27 catches for 331 yards as a sophomore last season. He'll team with top quarterback recruit and Georgia commitment Aaron Murray at Plant. Says a Rivals.com analyst of Dungy: "He's a definite D-1 guy for sure."

Also in local prep action, consensus top 10 hoops recruit John Henson will play at Sickles High after transferring from his high school in Austin, Texas. The 6-foot-10 Henson, a North Carolina commit, moved to Tampa after his father took a new job in the area. What a story. The dude grew 5 1/2-inches last summer on his way to becoming a blue-chipper. Henson still might want to sleep on that bench press a bit - he weighs only 200 pounds.

I haven't been able to read the Olympic coverage of all the major media outlets but the Los Angeles Times, in particular, has been doing a great job in Beijing. Among other things, they've called out IOC President Jacques Rogge for chiding Usain Bolt and they've come up with a tongue-in-cheek way to measure the medal count using the Medals Per Capita formula. In case you're wondering, Jamaica is No. 1, Bahamas is No. 2 and Slovenia is third. Lagging far behind are the U.S. at No. 42 and China at No. 68.

Two-time British Olympian Matthew Syed confirms, quite personally, that athletes are all about the bow-chicka-wow-wow in the Olympic Village. "A British runner (anonymous again: athletes are not supposed to talk to journalists unaccompanied by a PR type, least of all about sex) said: 'The swimmers finished earlier in the week and it was like there was an eruption.'"

Sports Illustrated comes up with six good reasons why the Jamaicans are running away, so to speak, from the rest of the world. Having Usain Bolt on your team can't hurt. And a suspect drug-testing program.

Speaking of Bolt, The Palm Beach Post kills a rampant online rumor (maybe) about the Miami Dolphins being interested in signing the Jamaican speedster.

How does out-of-sight, out-of-mind Montana manage to garner a little national spotlight, if only for a second? By instituting a fantasy football lottery. I'm not sure how it'll work out but much props for the creativity.

Jason Whitlock shows some love for a man who sorely needed it when he was alive, Gene Upshaw. But it's never too late.

Shawne Merriman might play this season after all, with two torn knee ligaments. Ugh. I can't see how that's a good idea but, then again, I'm no doctor.

And, finally, my homie Zen sends along a link that combines two of my favorite things: football and women. It's a celebrity-heavy list, if you ask me: Elisabeth Hasselback, Gisele Bundchen and two former Playboy Playmates.

Ok. That's enough for today. Enjoy Saturday - one more week until football season kicks off. I can't wait.

UPDATE: This will be my first football season as a resident of Florida, which excites me to no end - as long as my favorite copy editor doesn't require too much of me on weekends. One of the benefits: I'm currently watching a 1986 showdown between Florida and Florida State on the Sunshine Network. Ah. This will never get old to me.