FREDDIE BARNES

Bowling Green wide receiver Freddie Barnes is quietly putting together one of the greatest seasons in college football history. Going into Friday night’s game against Toledo, Barnes has 129 receptions. The all-time college record for most receptions in one season is 140, set by Manny Hazard by the University of Houston in 1989. Barnes has Friday’s game and a possible bowl appearance to break the record.

RON ARTEST LATOYA HOLMES-IVEY

Via SPORTSbyBROOKS and Youbeenblinded

According to an Indianapolis tv station, Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest and his sister are being investigated for welfare fraud. Artest’s sister is suspected of receiving $34,000 in public assistance while simultaneously taking money from the NBA star to pay all of her bills. Police raided the home of Latoya Holmes-Ivey and her three children.

Artest was apparently turned in by one of his former CPAs.

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JACK MAI

A former assistant scouting director for the Sacramento Kings has been barred by the NBA for betting on games. Kings owner Joe Maloof confirmed that Jack Mai was fired after it was discovered that he was gambling on NBA games.

According to the Kings, Mai has been “disqualified from further association with the NBA and its teams.” The NBA added Mai’s reinstatement “was not possible.”

The Maloof family, which owns the Kings, allows betting on NBA games at their Las Vegas casino, The Palms. However, employees of NBA teams are forbidden from betting. The league had originally barred the Maloofs from taking bets on professional basketball games at The Palms as a condition of their owning an NBA franchise. However, in 2007, after the NBA All Star Game was played in Las Vegas, Nevada gaming authorities lobbied the NBA to lift their gambling ban at The Palms. In 2008, the league relented and started allowing The Palms to post NBA odds and take bets on basketball games in their sportsbook.

If Internet chat rooms are to be believed, the NBA doesn’t have to worry about the possibility that Mai fixed any games. Mai was apparently a terrible gambler who constantly bet the Kings to win last year when the team suffered through a 17-65 season. Mai’s house is reportedly currently in foreclosure.

MARIA KRULL

A Cincinnati grandmother is in jail after being arrested for driving with a blood-alcohol level more than five times the legal limit. Maria Krull registered a .415 blood alcohol level after being pulled over on Wednesday. She had her five-year-old granddaughter in the vehicle at the time of her arrest.

TOM COUGHLIN

It turns out New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin DIDN’T have a three-way sexual encounter with two young women. What kind of person would even think such a thing was possible? Well…

Police in Philadelphia have arrested what his lawyers are calling a man with mental “disabilities” for sending threatening e-mails to Coughlin. The 30-year-old man sent letters to Coughlin threatening to release details of a nonexistent sexual tryst between the Giants coach and two women unless he was paid $20,000-30,000.

Awesome!

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TIM LINCECUM

The all-time record salary that a pitcher has ever been awarded in salary arbitration is $6.25 million. Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants wants $23 million this year.

The baseball world is abuzz following an article by Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports yesterday that reports Lincecum’s agent, Rick Thurman of Beverly Hills, was going to submit a figure of $23,000,001 during the pitcher’s salary arbitration hearing this year. Lincecum has pitched two full seasons in Major League Baseball and has won two Cy Young Awards. The only other pitchers in National League history who have won back-to-back Cy Young Awards are Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson.

Lincecum’s agent is making a simple argument. Since his client is the best pitcher in baseball, he deserves to be paid as such. Thurman’s logic seems to be gaining traction. Several articles actually support Lincecum and his salary demands which would blow up baseball’s current salary structure. Under the current collective bargaining system, players can make astronomical salaries via free agency but must wait six years to qualify. During the time that a player is with his original team, he qualifies for salary arbitration after his second season.

Currently, teams like the Marlins, Royals and Padres are able to keep payroll low by using young players. For example, Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson, Lincecum’s fellow teammate on the National League All Star team last season, made $1.4 million dollars last year. Johnson went 15-5 for the Marlins. Compare that to Lincecum who went 15-7. It’s not inconceivable that an arbitrator might award Johnson a salary similar to Lincecum’s. A Lincecum arbitration win raises the salary bar for Johnson and every other young starting pitcher in baseball. Johnson’s own agent certainly doesn’t see his client’s current worth as anywhere near that. According to published reports, he recently submitted a four-year $38 million contract offer to the Marlins. Since the Marlins payroll for the ENTIRE TEAM was $21,811,500 in 2008, you can see how the possibility of a $23 million award for Lincecum has the entire baseball world trembling.

MICHELLE OBAMA “MONKEY PICTURE”

An incredibly offensive, racist, photoshopped image that morphed a picture of first lady Michelle Obama into the face of an ape made the rounds on the Internet yesterday with lighting quickess and embroiled Google in controversy.

The term “Michelle Obama monkey” became the number one Google search in the U.S. yesterday after word of the picture spread across the Internet. Google originally refused to take down the image then ran a disclaimer (see below) apologizing for the picture before removing it from their search engine entirely.

TIM DONAGHY: SHOWN HERE WITH THE CHILDREN HIS WIFE SAID HE BEAT-AT LEAST THE DOG SEEMS TO LIKE HIM

The HBO television show “Real Sports” has an interview with convicted gambler Jimmy Battista this month. Battista was a childhood friend and co-conspirator of disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy.

In Donaghy’s plea deal with the government, he claims to have bet $30,000 on NBA games. Battista says Donaghy lied and the figure was more like $120,000. Battista also says Donaghy talked with bookies before EVERY single game he officiated during the time he was betting on NBA games.

Despite the fact that Donaghy bet on over 100 NBA games, the NBA still maintains that he never “fixed” games. Technically, Donaghy was not convicted of fixing games. He plead guilty to federal charges of “affecting the point spread” of games. HBO is the first media entity to ask one of the people convicted in the Donaghy scandal, on the record, the direct question: “Did Tim Donaghy fix games?” Battista tells HBO, “”Uhh. No comment. But I will say that he wasn’t getting paid unless we covered the spread.” That led to a story on ESPN.com today asking, “Did Tim Donaghy Fix Games?”

HBO shows some pretty damning tape against Donaghy in the Battista piece, and the New York Times pounds the NBA for never interviewing Battista. The Times story also says Donaghy bet on a staggering 79% winners.