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(Every week there are a number of stories slip through the cracks here at ShakedownSports. These are just a few of them.)

National Street Records has announced that Pacman Jones and producer Spoaty are teaming up to form a hip hop duo called “Posterboyz.” Their first single is due out later this month—it’s a song about big money, cars, and jewelry called “Let it Shine.” So basically, it sounds like a transcript of one of Pacman’s court appearances.

On Wednesday former NBA referee Tim Donaghy plead guilty to two felony charges stemming from allegations that he bet on NBA games. Fortunately for Donaghy, he managed to get down a $10,000 bet on Wednesday being the day he would plead guilty.

The Houston Dynamo have reached and agreement with Amigo energy to put the electricity provider’s logo on the front of their jerseys. The Dynamo are the 5th MLS team to sell the front of their jerseys this season. The league may not be able to emulate European leagues in terms of talent, but it’s nice to see MLS is trying to emulate them in other areas.

Earlier this week New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented A-Rod with a key to city in honor of his 500th major league home run. A-Rod then took the key and went on an all night expedition to every strip club VIP room in the city.

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Michael Rummel is a man of his word. Six months ago the Lake Forest, Illinois mayor lost a Super Bowl bet with the mayor of Terre Haute, Indiana. He finally paid up this week, donning a blue Peyton Manning jersey and making an appearance at Colts training camp. “I’m the loser,” Rummel said. Well, that sums it up pretty well.

While Rummel’s appearance seemed like all fun and games, there is an underlying problem with these kinds of bets. Every year the mayors from the territory of the underdog are forced into a losing proposition. They can’t show a lack of confidence in their team by betting with the spread or a money line, and so they have to take bad odds by only betting on the winner.

It doesn’t matter that it’s just a friendly bet, these men shouldn’t have to do that. Hopefully someday there will be a brave mayor who won’t blindly support the 16 point hometown underdog without demanding that the friendly wager include the point spread.

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–Michael Vick’s statement was clearly not written by him. [Awful Announcing]

–The Dodgers are taking a not-so-subtle jab at Barry Bonds. [100% Injury Rate]

–The Redskins starting quarterback can’t beat his girlfriend in bowling. [Baltimore Sun]

–There’s a new website that hopes to stop Barry Bonds. [Our Book of Scrap]

–This might be the end for Rod Smith. [Denver Post]

–This man is not winning diving medals any time soon. [Deuce of Davenport]

–Are newspapers creating problems by printing betting lines? [L.A. Times]

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(Every week there are a number of stories slip through the cracks here at ShakedownSports. These are just a few of them.)

Dmitri Young in on the verge of signing a 2 year, $10 million extension with the Washington Nationals. Once Young signs the extension the team will get to work on signing a 2 year extension with McDonald’s to provide Young’s special post-game buffet.

In light of the accusations against referee Tim Donaghy, the ACC announced that over the last year it has performed background checks on officials for three different sports. The league found that with the exception of the standard cheating for Duke basketball, none of the officials have ever done anything to raise a red flag.

Ted Ginn Jr., the 9th overall pick in the NFL draft, has finally agreed to terms with the Dolphins. The reason it took Ginn so long to sign was that his agent had to do extensive research to confirm that the Dolphins had in fact been dumb enough to select Ginn with the 9th pick.

Nearly a year after being diagnosed with cancer, Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester returned to the mound and pitched the Red Sox to a 6-2 victory. Lester says that he found motivation in a hand written note he received from fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. Apparently Lester felt that if Armstrong could do something as improbable as win seven Tour De France’s without being caught doping his blood, then there was no reason he couldn’t beat cancer.

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(Every week there are a number of stories slip through the cracks here at ShakedownSports. These are just a few of them.)

NBA referee Tim Donaghy is being investigated by the FBI for allegations that he bet on games he officiated. According to a law enforcement official, the bets were for thousands of dollars and were made on games during the last two seasons. In an attempt to show he’s tough on those who jeopardize the integrity of the game, Bud Selig has already banned Donaghy from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

NBC has announced that LeBron James will host this fall’s season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Normally the Cavs would frown upon a player engaging in an extracurricular activity so close to the season, but coach Mike Brown is hoping that legendary shooting guru Loren Michaels will be able to teach LeBron how to make a three pointer.

This week Nashville Predators fans held a rally to encourage the purchase of enough season tickets to convince the team not to move. To add an extra incentive, rally organizers took a page out of the the Major League playbook and removed a piece of clothing from a cardboard cutout of owner Craig Leopold every time a season ticket was purchased.

The NFL has fined Joey Porter $141,176 for punching Bengals tackle Levi Jones at a Las Vegas blackjack table last March. The fine is one of the biggest is the history of the NFL, but Roger Goodell explained that he needed to send a message to Porter because human violence is often a gateway to more destructive behavior—such as engaging in animal violence.

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Erick Lindgren is one of the world’s most well known poker players, but after what he did last week he may become one its most well known golfers. It all began when Lindgren was sharing a few drinks with his friend and fellow poker pro Gavin Smith. At some point the following bet was proposed.

“Did Erick Lindgren want to play 72 holes of golf after a night out on the town? All he had to do was shoot under 100 for all four rounds at one of the toughest courses in Vegas, carry his own bag, and do it all between sunrise and sunset – in 108 degree heat.”

Just to recap, the prop bet required Lindgren to play four sub-100 rounds from the pro tees while carrying his own bag in 100+ degree heat.

Smith originally made the bet for either $50,000 or $100,000, but word of the wager soon spread and numerous other poker pros took a piece of the action. The group of pros included Phil Ivey, who went in for $200,000. By the time Lindgren arrived for his 6 a.m. tee time more than $300,000 was at stake.

Lindgren breezed through the first two rounds, and though he struggled in the third, he managed to shoot a 92. In the fourth and final round Lindgren finally hit a wall. He collapsed in the middle of the 13th fairway, an apparent victim of heatstroke. After a short rest Lindgren somehow recovered and won the bet by finishing the round with a 94. When all was said and done Lindgren’s winnings totaled $340,000.

So how does it feel to win $340,000 in a bet? Well, according to Lindgren not so good. Despite the money Lindgren says he felt so bad afterwards he regretted taking the bet. He reportedly shed 10 pounds on the golf course and the next day he still wasn’t sure if he would ever feel right again.

Lindgren’s agent (who used to represent PGA golfers) says what Lindgren did was the most amazing thing he had ever seen on a golf course. My vote still goes to Jean Van De Velde, but one thing is for sure—Michelle Wie couldn’t have won the bet, and not because of the heat or her endurance, but because she probably wouldn’t have been able to break 100 in her first round.

Above is some video of Lindgren’s day—it ends with the standard “You’re the Best” musical montage. If you want more, below is part two of the video.

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Maxime Talbot wants to be like Lennox Lewis. No, the Penguins winger doesn’t want to take his fisticuff skills into the ring—he wants to win the World Series of Poker. Talbot has won a spot in next month’s main event, and if he wins (Vegas odds–12,000:1) he could walk away with nearly $10 million. Penguins fans need not worry, Talbot says that even if he wins he’ll keep playing the sport he loves. The real question for Talbot is if you’re a man who likes to party, what do you do when you win $10 million? (Answer: Whatever it is, don’t invite Pacman Jones)

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Although ESPN would like you to believe the World Series of Poker doesn’t actually happen until it’s broadcasted next month, it has in fact already begun. Last night Phil Helmuth Jr. won a record setting 11th World Series bracelet by taking home the title in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event. Helmuth’s bracelet, along with the Spurs impending championship, proves that sometimes the biggest whiners are also the biggest winners.

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In honor of Bob Barker’s retirement I present the greatest “Price Is Right” clip of all time. This clip illustrates everything that makes Bob Barker so great. He’s intelligent, patient, honest, and never afraid to call somebody out for being stupid even on national television.

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From the L.A. Times comes a lengthy story about a battle over horse racing gambling that shockingly revolves around…drumroll… money!! Apparently there are two competing horse racing TV networks. The network that reaches a larger audience, TVG, also takes bets. The other, HRTV, is affiliated with gambling sites, but does not actually take bets itself. The different networks are each associated with different tracks, and the networks cannot take bets for races on their rival’s tracks. That means that while TVG can take bets on next month’s Belmont Stakes, it couldn’t take bets on the Kentucky Derby and will not be able to take them on today’s Preakness. None of this really makes sense to me, but it’s safe to assume there are a lot of degenerate gamblers who are unhappy about not being able to bet on the Preakness through their TV’s.

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