By Matt Moore
This pretty much says it all. Ron Artest and Hope Solo will appear on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" contest.



That's Ron, in case you were having a hard time figuring out which is which.

Artest is due to join the Cheshire Jets in the United Kingdom this fall (if he can sort out his insurance issue) to play during the NBA lockout, but apparently he's got some extra time to take to the dancefloor. Now we'll get to see if he can (dancing cliche) as well as he can (basketball cliche). One thing's for certain, he'll have to (dancing/basketball pun). Right? Right?

Artest had said Monday on Twitter that he didn't have time for DWTS due to all his other commitments, but that, obviously, was a swerve job. Interesting question. He was introduced as Ron Artest, but if he makes it long enough, they'll have to rewrite all their graphics to reflect his new name on September 16th, Metta World Peace. It's too bad he and Solo won't be teamed together. Metta World Peace dancing the waltz with Hope Solo rings of a certain optimism we could use in this world.

Speaking of Solo, it's a big cash-in on her popularity earned in the U.S. Women's World Cup run. We like her chances more than Ron's, but then again, that's mostly because she's nimble and we like her ability to respond to criticism better. Seriously, if you're one of those judges, how do you tell Ron his footwork is sloppy? That's got to make you nervous, despite his new sunny disposition.

(Image courtesy of YouTube)

Posted by Matt Moore

In between potentially being fined $1 million dollars and laying off his employees despite making their combined salary about nine times over from endorsements, Michael Jordan is still living the life. He's at Lake Tahoe for the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship this weekend, and in the process, wound up making a friendly wager with a spectator.

Courtesy of Busted Coverage (via The Basketball Jones) comes video of the exchange. Here's Jordan making the bet, from a distance:




And here's him winning whatever the bet was, and collecting his winning with a cold-blooded jaunt.




Brutal. All that's missing is the shrug.

My favorite part of this is the guy in the white shirt behind the rope line who wants Jordan to high-five him... and Jordan predictably leaves him completely hanging.

Nice to see that Jordan maintains A. his competitive spirit, B. his love/obsession with winning and C. his borderline addiction with gambling. Some things never change. And hey, he's not wearing Mom Jeans.