Maria Verchenova is a 23 year-old female golfer that could be the next Sharapova-style Russian athlete. She has the height of a model and sex appeal to match. She has skills to match the looks. In 2004, at age 18, she won the Russian Amateur Championship and the next year secured victories at the Latvian and Slovenian Amateur Championships.

Golf is not very popular in Verchenova’s home country. Verchenova is hoping to have the same affect as her similar named countrywoman. She already has her own website at www.mariaverchenova.com and is on the European Tour. She may not only vitalize golf for Russia but also women’s golf in the U.S. if she comes and plays in the states.

After getting the boot on “Celebrity Apprentice,” it looks as if former Pistons star Dennis Rodman is headed for rehab for his ongoing battle with addiction, according to e-online.com. He is going to rehab because of his alcohol dependency.

Rodman, who also played for the Spurs, Bulls, Lakers and Mavericks, has agreed to enter an outpatient program where he’ll regularly see a counselor.

He was a member of the Bad Boys from 1986-93, and helped Detroit win two NBA titles.

It seems there are no great hitters or pitchers who don’t use performance enhancing drugs. Bonds, McGuire, Canseco, Clemens, A-Rod and now Manny Ramirez. Goodbye Dodgers season and goodbye baseball’s reputation! How can you say baseball is great when all the players think they have to cheat to compete. Are all the new players going to have asterisks next to their name in the Hall of Fame. We should just say there is the old era and the new era.  The question is do baseball fans want excitement and home runs or do they want players staying clean and keeping the traditions alive.

“You can’t have arguably the greatest pitcher of our era, arguably the two greatest players of our era and now another very, very good player be under this cloud of suspicion and not feel like it has ruined it for everybody,” Atlanta star Chipper Jones said.

The MLB is cracking down hard and obviously no one is going to get away with substance abuse. Manny has been suspended for 50 games! This is one of the biggest suspensions in sports history. I hope the Dodgers had a clause in Manny’s contract that said “if you get caught abusing substances we deduct any games during the suspension from your pay.”

Before Thursday night’s game at Dodger Stadium, general manager Ned Colletti told reporters, “It’s a dark day for baseball and certainly for this organization. This organization will never condone anything that isn’t clean.”

“I’m always surprised when something happens like this,” Torre said at an afternoon press conference at Dodger Stadium. “In Manny’s case, I did speak to him today. He feels very badly. He’s trying to gather his thoughts. It doesn’t mean these guys out here like him any less. It’s something I think he needs support to get through this. The worst thing a person can be is a disappointment to someone else, and I think Manny feels that way.

“We still continue to need Manny, and we’re looking forward to getting him back, but we’re not going to have him for a period of time. This is a man’s game, and we’re going to have to perform without him. Whether you lose somebody like this or to injury, there are a lot of similarities. Players just have to suck it up and go after it.”

“We share the disappointment felt by our fans, our players, and every member of our organization,” Dodgers chief executive officer Jamie McCourt said in a statement. “We will welcome Manny back upon his return.”

“It’s kind of shocking that he got caught up in anything, honestly. Manny likes to play stupid, but he’s a pretty bright guy. And he’s definitely aware of a lot of things that he tries to act like he’s completely oblivious to,” said Cincinnati pitcher Bronson Arroyo, Ramirez’s former Boston teammate.

Manny had this to say:

“I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner] Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [Dodgers manager] Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”

The suspension began Thursday. If there are no postponements, Ramirez will be eligible to return July 3.

NBA superstar Dirk Nowitzki’s girlfriend Cristal Taylor is not who Dirk thought she was. She is wanted on a theft service charge out of Jefferson County, Texas and a probation violation from St. Charles, Missouri. Police have stated that she may have as many as eight aliases.

To make things worse, a friend of Nowitzki confirmed the pair’s relationship and said she is Dirk’s fiance and is pregnant. Hopefully this is not true for Dirk’s sake.

Officials in Beaumont said Taylor was indicted in 2006, but fled before serving any jail time. According to documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News, Taylor was accused of failing to pay for dental work in an amount more than $1,500 and less than $20,000.

Houston officials said Taylor was arrested in that city in 2000 when she refused to display her ID to police during a routine traffic stop.

The initial crime in Missouri was two counts of forgery.

The source close to Taylor said she was puzzled as to why Nowitzki has made no effort to get her out of jail or to inquire about her status.

Taylor’s arrest came after Dallas members of a FBI task force were tipped off that Taylor was at the address of Nowitzki’s home.

Sounds like a case of a con artist trying to trick an NBA player out of his money.

Nowitzki made this statement to the press:

“It’s pretty obvious that I’m going through a tough time in my personal life right now,” Dirk said. “Like I always have, I want to kind of keep my private life private. I really am not at the stage where I can talk about it yet and feel comfortable talking about it. I’m more than happy to answer basketball questions, but I think at this point, I just can’t talk about it.”

Nowitzki is currently playing for the Mavericks against the Nuggets in the NBA playoffs. They are down 0-2 in the series.

Dave Bing represented Detroit when he played for the Pistons. Now he will represent the citizens of Detroit as their new mayor. He was elected yesterday after sweeping the incumbent from office. Detroit has tons of problems and could use a fresh start.

“The real work starts now,” Bing said to loud cheers during his victory speech.

“What we will bring … is efficiency, transparency, honesty and integrity back to the mayor’s office,” he said.

With all but two of 629 precincts reporting, Bing had 52.3 percent of the vote, or 48,951 votes, to 47.7 percent, or 44,703 votes, for Ken Cockrel Jr. Both are Democrats.

Bing is 65 and will be mayor through 2009, serving the balance of the term that belonged to Democrat Kwame Kilpatrick, who resigned in September and went to jail after admitting he lied during a civil trial to cover up an affair with his chief of staff.

Bing must run again in the regular Aug. 4 nonpartisan primary and win the Nov. 3 general election to hold the mayor’s seat for a full four years.

The founder of steel manufacturer The Bing Group announced his run for mayor the day after Kilpatrick stepped down as part of pleas to two criminal cases.

Cockrel, 43, was City Council president before Kilpatrick’s departure automatically promoted him to the mayor’s office. He’ll go back to that job now.

Congratulations to Mr. Bing!

Stephen A. Smith was known for his loud mouth brash antics and controversial topics. He had his own show called Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith. His ESPN TV and radio shows were canceled. Smith was in negotiations with ESPN for a contract renewal but when they offered a lower amount than he was making he declined. His contract will expire after the NBA playoffs.

Quite frankly, that is one ESPN commentator I’m not going to miss. He is always very abrasive and makes every issue about race. I understand bringing it up occasionally, but implementing it in the majority of your articles and shows? Then it becomes an agenda. If he really needed to push his anti-racism message, why is he not staying on ESPN for less money? It is the best platform for getting your message out to a wide audience if that is your goal. I think there is a place for politics and a place for sports, the two don’t mix.

Police had to use a Taser to subdue Ex-NBA star Jayson Williams. There were reports that Williams was violent and suicidal.

Police responding to a call around 4 a.m. say Williams was found intoxicated and agitated in the Manhattan hotel room. They say there empty bottles of prescription pills were strewn around.

Officers stunned him with a Taser, handcuffed him and took him to the hospital.

He was then taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation.

Williams played nine seasons in the NBA before retiring in 2000. He was convicted in 2004 of trying to cover up the shooting death of his hired driver.

Williams, who was hosting a party for a charity basketball game that included several Harlem Globetrotters, had hired 55-year-old limo driver Costas “Gus” Christofi to drive for the event.

Alain Bernard is a member of the French team that lost in Beijing this past summer against Jason Lezak and the U.S. swimming team during the 4X100 relay in an stunning upset. The French earned the silver for that event in which Lezak overtook Bernard at the wall.

Bernard won the gold 100m freestyle and the bronze for the 50m freestyle in the summer Olympics last year.

He has now regained some glory for himself when he broke Eamon Sulllivan’s (of Australia) time of 47.05 in the 100m freestyle, which he made during a semifinal in the Olympics last year. Bernard was just under the 47 mark with a 46.94 record time.

Alain Bernard broke the record in front of his home country during the French championships last Thursday

“To become the first swimmer to go under 47 seconds and in France in front of my fans, that is huge,” Bernard said.

It is a sad day that Madden is leaving NFL announcing. The NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol has decided that Cris Collinsworth will replace the legendary announcer on Sunday Night Football.

“[Cris] will step into the role with [Al] Michaels immediately,” Ebersol said in a conference call with reporters.

I think nobody can truly “replace” Madden. He was essentially the voice of football. Collinsworth is okay, but sometimes he gets on my nerves. Bob Costas wouldn’t fit because he’s too proper for football. I’m glad there not using somebody like Dennis Miller, he was unbearable and not funny.

I just think Collinsworth might not really play off Michaels well. It helps to have the smart and eloquent guy mix words with the down to earth football guy (Madden). There really isn’t a guy out there that is just like Madden that can jump into the role right now. So in the mean time, we’ll have to settle for Collinsworth.

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed because of a tragic car accident this morning. He died after undergoing surgery at a University of California, Irvine Medical Center at 6 am PST.

The young rookie had a bright future as he had recently been called up from the amateurs and pushed into the starting rotation of the Angel’s banged up pitching line. He was killed when a minivan ran a red light, hitting Adenhart and causing a three car pileup just after midnight. The driver of the vehicle that caused the accident tried to flee the scene before being caught by police within a mile of the crime scene. The driver, Andrew Thomas Gallo faces manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and negligence charges for not rendering help at the scene of an accident.

Adenhart had just started for the Angels the night before the accident in a 6-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics but did not factor in the decision. He allowed seven hits over six scoreless innings, struck out five and walked three. It was his fourth career major league start.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Adenhart’s family and loved ones.