DAVID STERN: DOESN’T EXACTLY COME ACROSS AS ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LATEST DAVID ALDRIDGE ARTICLE

Gee, I guess this is why David Aldridge keeps getting fired. It’s also what makes him a great writer and reporter.

In an item in his column entitled “The Morning Tip” today, Aldridge calls for the suspension of NBA owner Donald Sterling and relates an unflattering anecdote about NBA commissioner David Stern, portraying  him as racially insensitive. What’s stunning about Aldridge’s article is that it appears on the league’s OFFICIAL WEBSITE, NBA.com.

Aldridge tells the story of how Stern once asked him why he thought so many black women had children out of wedlock. The TNT broadcaster says he didn’t ascribe anything “sinister” to the conversation at the time. Now, however, in light of Stern’s NOT suspending Sterling following his recent record civil rights fine, Aldridge says “the discussion seems more telling.”

DAVID ALDRIDGE

Last week, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling paid the Justice Department the largest housing discrimination fine in U.S. history. Over the weekend, we wrote about how NOBODY was even mentioning the story of Sterling’s discrimination fine.

Remember the controversy over talk show host Rush Limbaugh possibly owning the St. Louis Rams a couple of weeks ago? Compare his FICTICIOUS quotes to the quotes actually made by Sterling, which Aldridge reprints in his Tuesday column. Sterlings are fare worse AND he actually said them. The quotes come from the court documents in a civil lawsuit filed against Sterling by tenants of the Ardmore apartments in Los Angeles. Sterling told a property supervisor the Ardmore smelled badly:

“because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they’re not clean. And it’s because of all the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day.”

The Justice Department sued Sterling for housing discrimination. Sterling admitted his guilt by settling and paying the largest housing discrimination fine in U.S. history. Sterling claims he’s not a racist and notes that he was given a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Los Angeles branch of the NAACP. He literally bought the award. Sterling also points out that he gives Clippers tickets to thousands of underpriveleged black children. Aldridge writes, “That’s great. Can they live at the Ardmore?”

NOTED RACIST DONALD STERLING: SHOWN HERE IN A RARE PHOTO OF HIM ACTUALLY TOUCHING A “SMELLY” BLACK PERSON

Glenn Beck’s “A Christmas Sweater: The Picture Book” debuted #1 on today’s New York Times bestseller list of children’s books. It is the largest selling debut of any children’s book in history. It also marks the first time ever that any author has appeared on four different New York Times best seller lists in one calendar year.

THE REAL “REAL MRS. DEREK FISHER”

Earlier today we posted some of the dirt about Gibert Arenas’ girlfriend provided by the website. www.playerwives.com . Here are some more “Fun Facts from the site:

Rookie Wayne Ellington of the Timberwolves used his rookie signing bonus to pay for his girlfriend’s breast implants:

Famed Carmelo Anthony baby mama and former MTV VJ LaLa Vazquez received only a 6.8 rating on her physical attractiveness in polling of other women on the playerwives.com “rate Her” section:

LeBron’s girlfriend is cheap. Despite the fact that the couple lives together and James makes $24 million a year in salary (in addition to his$100 million shoe contract), his girlfriend only bought him one pair of pajamas and a backscratcher for Christmas last year.

The song played at Shane Battier’s wedding was Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” :

Peja Stojacovic’s wife is a Greek fashion model who has appeared on the cover of Esquire magazine. She received an 8.8 rating from the catty women of playerwives.com:

Big Baby Davis’ girlfriend was a captain on the Tufts University basketball team:

Mehmet Okur’s wife is a former Miss Turkey:

Devin Harris met his wife in a bar:

This is Michael Jordan’s girlfriend:

Lakers point guard Derek Fisher has a deranged stalker whom he received a restraining order against in 2005. The woman legally changed her name to Symone “Fisher” despite the fact that the two were never married. According to Playerwives, the woman regularly sends Fisher “love letters” to update him on the growth of their ”non-existent children.” She has even set up a MySpace page called “The Real Mrs. Fisher.” Here’s the real “Real Mrs. Fisher.” She’s the one with the cancer-stricken baby:

LAURA GOVAN

SPORTSbyBROOKS.com is reporting that the fiance of Gilbert Arenas has been having an affair with fellow NBA All Star Shaquille O’Neal. The site even provides a racy e-mail exchange between Shaq and Laura Govan.

Govan is engaged to Arenas, who plays for the Washington Wizards. They have been together (off and on) for eight years and have two children together. Most of what is known about Govan can be gleaned from the website Playerwives.com. The site has a breakdown of “Fun Facts” for the wannabe NBA gold digger which is a GOLD MINE of gossip. Thanks to Playerwives.com we find out that:

* Shaq is poking Ms. Govan even though she’s six months pregnant

* In 2003, Arenas managed to duck a child custody subpoena by claiming to have “the flu” and missing a nationally televised game. Govan’s lawyers had planned to serve Arenas live on-camera. Arenas skipped the game with the full knowledge and blessing of the Wizards.

* In fact, Arenas spent virtually all of 2004 successfully dodging process servers who apparently think all tall black men look alike. Several of Arenas’ teammates were actually served with papers when they were mistaken for the wacky guard.

In addition to the “Fun Facts,” gossip, and marriage scouting reports on NBA players, playerwives.com also has lots of photos of the wives and girlfriends of NBA players. Hilariously, the site (designed by women) also has a voting enabled ”Rate Her!” feature which allows other women to log onto the site and vote on the physical attractiveness of each wife or girlfriend of an NBA player. Govan scored a miserable 5.4 out of 10 in the Playerwives “Rate Her” poll.

BILL MARTIN

Michigan AD Bill Martin grabbed the jacket of a student and pushed a female student in a pair of seperate confrontations. That’s the findings of a report issued by the authorities in Michigan. The shoving of the female student occured during a September 12th confrontation at the Notre Dame game. As he pushed her aside, Martin reportedly told the girl, “Honey, I’m the athletic director.”

Ann Arbor police informed Martin they were investigating the incident three days later. Martin announced his impending retirement the same day.The other incident happened at a home game against Delaware State.

Martin has apologized for the incidents and expressed “regret.”

The band Aerosmith is looking to replace lead singer Steven Tyler after 40 years. Guitarist Joe Perry made the announcement on his Twitter page yesterday.

Aerosmith’s last tour was cut short in August after Tyler fell off the stage, breaking his shoulder. After the incident, none of Tyler’s bandmates visited him in the hospital. Perry and Tyler have been feuding for years and reportedly have not collaborated on a song in a decade.

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LARRY JOHNSON

The Kansas City Chiefs have released troubled running back Larry Johnson. Johnson was just 75 yards away from being the club’s all-time leading rusher.

Johnson had monster seasons for the Chiefs in ‘05 and ‘06, rushing for over 1,700 yards each season. However, this year he has been abysmal. Johnson is averaging a freakishly low 2.7 yards-per-carry.

Oh well, there’s always the possibility of working for Jim Zorn.

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Both Fox News and CBS are reporting that accused gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was a fequent and enthusiastic visitor to a Texas strip club near the army base where he shot 41 people. Hasan killed 13 in a Fort Hood shooting spree last week.

The Fox News story says Hasan recently spent “six or seven hours” at the Starz strip club in Killeen, Texas where he was a frequent visitor. According to Fox News:

“Hasan’s presence at the club paints a starkly different portrait of the alleged killer from that offered by his imam and family members, who have described him as a devout Muslim, and one who had difficulty finding a wife who would wear a head scarf and would pray five times a day.”

The article also quotes one of the Starz dancers as saying she was “shocked” that Hasan was the gunman because he was a good tipper.

Meanwhile, the FBI says it is “reassessing” a past investigation of Hasan that concluded he was not a threat.

MAJOR NIDAL MALIK HASAN

Despite losing to unranked Navy over the weekend, Notre Dame’s bid to play in a major bowl game this year is still very much alive.

The president of the Gator Bowl was quoted TODAY as saying he would love to have the Fighting Irish in his bowl game. However, he doesn’t see that happening because ALL FOUR of the BCS bowls are still actively pursuing Notre Dame.

Even following the Navy loss, ESPN ran a story today titled, “Notre Dame keeps BCS hopes alive.” Notre Dame is still BCS eligible if they win out against Pitt, U-Conn, and Stanford.

Is it possible to go to a Bowl Championship Series game and still get fired? Charlie Weis may find out.

The University of Oregon today reinstated suspended running back LeGarrette Blount. Blount had been suspended by the Ducks after his punching of Boise State linebacker Byron Hout following a season opening loss.

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The Pac-10 formally approved Blount’s reinstatement. He was eligible to return last week but Oregon coach Chip Kelly wanted the running back to return to the more fan-friendly environment of a home game.

LEGARRETTE BLOUNT