• Taylor Swift applied the final throttle to her death-grip hold over entertainment last night, sweeping the Country Music Association Awards. According to The Envelope awards site, at 19, Swift became the youngest person in history to take home the Entertainer of the Year trophy (actually the full name for the award is Coveted Entertainer of the Year Trophy.) She is also only the sixth female in history to take that top prize. While she was at it, Swift grabbed the Female Vocalist, Album of the Year and Music Video of the Year prizes. With her goliath of an album still selling, positive buzz from SNL appearance and the lingering sympathy from her Kayne debacle, entertainment stands at a crossroads from where Swift will either become the only star in show business, or be destroyed by a vicious backlash, no doubt led by cheer captains fed up with this bleacher-sitting, t-shirt wearing nerd thinking she owns this place. Paris Hilton, are you still out there? [The Envelope]

• We have a new video game overlord. The latest Call of Duty (Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare) sold 4.7 million games on its first day out. That would be $310 million dollars in sales. In one day. Take that James Cameron. [Hollywood Reporter]

• The NFL has declared itself happy with its current line-up of TV deals, with Giants owner Steve Tisch saying at a media conference, "Right now, we feel DirecTV as the exclusive partner is really in the consumers' best interest." [Hollywood Reporter]

• Show biz's most hallowed name MGM, is headed for a fire sale. After a catastrophic few years, the company's debt holders have reportedly demanded it be auctioned off to the highest bidder. [Variety]

• Taking the next step forward in Robert Iger's full-on shake up of the entire Disney studio operation, newly installed Chairman Rich Ross announced a re-org of his team, making the various department heads report directly to him. Still to come: the much anticipated announcement of a new marketing chief. [Variety]

• Like it or not, more Fockers are heading your way. Harvey Keitel has joined the cast of the latest installment of the Meet the Parents cycle, hilariously titled Little Fockers. [Hollywood Reporter]

Limbaugh, a noted athlete, was a member of an investment group organized by sports mogul Dave Checketts until everyone remembered that he hates black people, of whom a lot are employed by the Rams and other NFL teams. After NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday that NFL owners are "all held to a high standard here, and I think divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about," Checketts officially axed Limbaugh from the bid.

We're actually disappointed, because Limbaugh and the NFL deserve one another more than they could ever know, and Limbaugh fits right in by our lights in the NFL's grand tradition of associating with people who nearly decapitate their ex-wives, raise fighting dogs, and accidentally shoot themselves in the leg. But we're not quite as disappointed as the folks at Red State, for whom it is exactly the same in all respects as the Holocaust.

This wouldn't have happened if Condoleezza Rice were commissioner. Anyway, who says racists can't own professional sports franchises?

In his show today, O'Reilly declared that the realistic discussion of Limbaugh's racist past amounts to nothing more than the "thought police" crushing the radio host's free speech: "This is 1984-type stuff, ladies and gentlemen. Thought police posture," he declared. All this because O'Reilly's research staff can't find a specific NAACP-related quote attributed to Limbaugh. He also specifically names NBC as a perpetrator.

There's also hubbub over a comment Limbaugh allegedly made about James Earl Ray, the man who shot Martin Luther King, Jr: "You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed."

But Limbaugh's not one to let someone else fight his battles, so he's using his lawyers to fight against those who claim he praised James Earl Ray. So, someone, please find proof...

Though the NFL has ignored theories connecting their rough play and "cognitive decline," like dementia, they recently had some nerds up at University of Michigan crunch the numbers and — oh no! — the jocks were wrong:

A study commissioned by the National Football League reports that Alzheimer's disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league's former players vastly more often than in the national population - including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.

But don't expect the NFL to actually do something about the problem, which many former players think should be addressed, because, according to Dr. Ira Casson, who's on the NFL's concussion committee, the afflicted simply think their brains are turning to mush:

What I take from this report is there's a need for further studies to see whether or not this finding is going to pan out, if it's really there or not. I can see that the respondents believe they have been diagnosed. But the next step is to determine whether that is so further study is needed.

Now the NFL's conducting their own study of 120 retired players. So it goes.

Tequila obviously feels the need to defend herself from Merriman, who, through his lawyer, released a statement claiming he was trying to stop a booze-saturated Tequila from driving drunk:

At the time, I was concerned about her welfare given the intoxicated state she appeared to be in and I encouraged her to stay until safe transportation could be provided. We would all do our best to help a friend if we considered their actions to be detrimental to their personal safety.

See? That's how you do it: you create shadows of doubt by making yourself look like the do-gooder maligned by a drunken terror. Tequila should take note, for her brand of mudslinging is coming off a bit, well, unhinged.

Taking on Merriman's claims that she was drunk at the time of the incident, Tequila tweeted:

I am allergic to alcohol. It has been publicly known for years. That is how I got the name Tila 'Tequila' cuz the irony. I can't drink.

As happens in the high-speed age of technology, it wasn't long until that story was called into question, what with the owner of the nightclub where it went down described Tequila as "visibly intoxicated."

But no matter, because Tequila's not only defending herself: she's totally going on the offensive against Merriman, and posted this vague, possibly defamatory message: "Steroid use makes people act aggressive....known fact." She also linked to an article on the subject.

Honestly, Ms. Tequila, you need to learn when to step back from the keyboard and let someone else do the talking. You're not exactly the most respected woman in the news, so if you want to garner public favor, you should exercise some restraint. But what do we know? We've never had a reality show.

Tila Tequila (née Tila Nguyen)—the MySpace sensation turned metasexual MTV reality star—has been dating Merriman for a while, now. She signed a citizens arrest warrant sometime around 3AM last night after calling cops, accusing Merriman of battery and false imprisonment at Merriman's house. San Diego Charger Merriman's been taken into police custody; Tequila went to the hospital and was recently released. NBC Sports estimates that

...because he's a first offender, there's a chance that neither the league nor the team will act until the legal process plays itself out.

Interestingly enough, ESPN rushed to the story on this one. They certainly didn't have a problem holding out on Ben Roethlisberger's rape allegations. They cited the reason for that one as lacking an official criminal complaint, but given Deadspin's breakdown of the accusations against him, ESPN's Innocent-Until-Proven-Black policy remains in full effect.

Tequila's been out of the spotlight for a while, and this is definitely going to put her back in it. Public opinion of her's going to be interesting, given that (A) this is the male-dominated sports community looking at (B) someone who's lived their life as a sex symbol and (C) has lied time and time again about her sexual orientation for profit. Also of interest: the photos TMZ has before the spat of Tequila giving Merriman a lap dance earlier in the night.

Finally, domestic abuse scandals: two's a trend? This one's gonna get ugly. Don't bother reading the comments on TMZ or on Twitter about this. You won't like what you'll see. These things bring out the worst in people: primal reactions elicit primal opinions. Or as one TMZ commenter put it:

23. While I don't know exactly how it went down, I do know that Tila Tequila is a grade A narcissistic beeyotch. I'm 90% sure she deserved what happened. Kudos to Merriman for having the balls to set her straight. Maybe she will act a little less annoying going forward.

Posted at 1:40PM on Sep 6th 2009 by Charles

Ugh.

Players and coaches are still allowed to use social media networks, but will not be allowed to post updates from 90 minutes before kickoff until after the traditional postgame press conferences. (Please let the media print your banalities first.) So, no "@ the coin toss. should i take tails?" or "@carsonp: I WAS OPEN!" and mercifully, no one pulling a BlackBerry out of their sock in the endzone. Of course, if the penalty is just a fine that may not stop some.

One other tidbit from the article that I was not aware of—referees are forbidden from using social media at all times. I guess it's because no one would want to have to explain to Jeff Triplette that those 5,000 Facebook "friends" only became fans so they could tell him he sucks.

Tweet delete: NFL bans social media in games [ESPN]

Chrebet, an 11-year New York Jet wide receiver, "left football after his ninth concussion...." Here are his financial credentials:

Chrebet had 66 receptions for 726 yards as a rookie and a career-high 84 catches during his second NFL season in 1996. He had at least 600 receiving yards each of his first eight seasons, including 1,083 in 1998, before concussions forced him to miss the final eight games of the 2003 campaign.

Look at those numbers—he must be really good at investing! Especially if a couple years after signing a $17 million contract he needs a job at a bank!

Enjoy your "retention award," Chrebet; unlike in professional sports, it will not be tied in any measurable way to your performance!

Morgan Stanley Hires Ex-Jet Wayne Chrebet as Adviser (Update2) [Bloomberg via Deadspin]

Bad newspaper news daily roundup: The Washington Post's ad revenue fell by a third in the first quarter; the Chicago Tribune newsroom is pissed off that the marketing side was surveying readers about coming stories; and layoffs at Poynter, the institute for excellent journalismism! Excellence is now too expensive.


The head of the AP says he's gearing up for a big fight with Google News, over stealing news content for free. Somebody's gotta do it, right? Just pay em something, Google. The sushi budget. Anything.

There was some fear that the NFL Network might "go dark" on Comcast today as its contract expired, but have no fear: the NFL Network will not go dark. Just imagine what could have happened with no NFL Network here in the off-season.


WHCInsider.com: the new website where you can go to read about the DC press corps. Hopefully it's very scathing, or what's the point?

The NYT Co's last minute math error in its negotiations with the Boston Globe reportedly has the reporters there now disbelieving everything the company says, right down to how much money the paper's losing. Hey guys, it's a moot point. Slightly less terrible performance is not enough to save you.

After all, there seems to be a recent trend of top-notch athletes sputtering out when their superhot sig others show up to watch the big game. Just a few weeks ago, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had his worst game of the season when Jessica Simpson turned up at Texas Stadium (wearing a pink Dallas Cowboys jersey, no less). And traveling even further down memory lane, we recall Andre Agassi's final, teary loss at the 2006 US Open. Who was in his player's box that day? None other than Agassi's forehand smashing wife, Mrs. Steffi Graf! Are you listening, Sean Avery? As tempting as it may be to bring Lake Bell or Elisha Cuthbert or whatever beautiful babe you'll be banging come May to a Stanley Cup playoff game, your best decision will probably be to just leave them at the hotel room.

The remaining 15 teams would, if they agreed, be signed up with Ticketmaster over the next five years. Some organizations, including the New England Patriots, ban sales of tickets above face value, making their willingness to join with any reseller questionable. Barry Diller has no such qualms: His IAC, which currently owns Ticketmaster, is considering a spinoff or sale of the property as it looks to break itself up into several different entities. He'd be glad to sell Ticketmaster to the highest bidder.

According to sources who actually have cable, ESPN's cameras are zoning in on the uncomfortable Quinn, who is doing such things as adjusting his tie, loosening his tie, and playing with his tie in nervous anticipation. The thick/pretty piece of manmeat is jittering like an Eskimo without a parka, and the colossal plummet is schadenfreudelicious! Tune in, at least until some unlucky GM makes the mistake of drafting dude.

ESPN draft commentator Tony Kornheiser: "Somebody please pick this kid!"

Still no pick at 12th, with the Bills on the clock. Tune in yourself to see how old Quinn is when he actually gets drafted!—LEON, WITH THE BOY TAYLOR IN TACOMA

ESPN's Coverage of the NFL Draft [ESPN]