Last week, I saw a really incredible episode of HBO’s Real Sports that I was dying to report on. I rarely watch Real Sports because the subject is something I have little interest in, but the few times I’ve seen it I was so impressed. (This week I recorded it to catch an expose on female bodybuilders and was tearing up when I learned about a PGA golf pro who had two heart transplants.)

One of the stories this week was about a scandal that former USC (and current Seattle Seahawks) football coach Pete Carroll faced that resulted in his firing. The NCAA hit USC with harsh sanctions a month ago when it came out that former quarterback running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush accepted illegal payoffs in his 2004-2005 season in exchange for favors. USC had to give up their NCAA status for two years, surrender over 30 football scholarships and return their Orange Blow trophy, won in 2005.

As part of the story, the man who bribed Bush and blew the whistle on him when he was double-crossed, a convicted felon named Lloyd Lake, was interviewed. Lake told Real Sports that he gave Reggie a tricked out car, paid him $3,000 a month, paid for his parents to go to away games, and put a down payment on a house for Bush’s parents under the pretense that Bush would hire him as his agent when he graduated. (Think Jerry MaGuire and how much money that character made.) Lake borrowed $300,000 from family to set Bush up. When he was ready to go pro, Bush went behind Lake’s back and hired another agent while shafting him for all the money he paid him illegally! His parents stole a bunch of furniture from the house Lake bought for them and just left. As evidence of his claims, Lake had a tape of Reggie’s dad promising him that all the money he invested in his son would pay off for him.

Lake’s story was absolutely believable, and while Bush has denied it he looked scared and not at all convincing in the tape that Real Sports played. (There are no clips of Lake’s interview online that I can find, but HBO does have a clip of USC coach Pete Carroll denying any knowledge of the illegal payoffs and another clip of the promo for the show.)

Anyway USC has taken down Bush’s jersey and returned his Heisman trophy as a result of the scandal. In response, Bush’s cat-faced ex girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, has chimed in with some sympathy for him.

“I don’t really think he should give [the Heisman trophy] back I think he earned it, I think he worked hard for it, and I think he deserves it. I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to take back all the hard work he put in…

“I think USC can make their decision on their end. I’m sure a lot of people financially made a lot of money off him. Are they going to just give back all the negative and keep the positive? I don’t really think it’s fair. I think he earned it and he deserves it.”

“I do feel bad for him. I’m sure he’s going through a really hard time… Knowing the type of person he is, I’m sure that he would do anything in his power to make it up to the school.. and the kids that are playing there now that aren’t eligible to make it to championships.”

[From audio of Ryan Seacrest's show tip via Bossip]

I guess I’m not surprised that Kim, who comes from a family of opportunists and grifters, would feel sorry for Bush. She probably feels that he hasn’t done anything wrong and deserved to be set up in luxury, even if he screwed the guy who got him there.

Over the weekend, Tiger Woods played the British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland. Previously, Tiger has won two British Opens - although USA Today points out that he won on the old course. If he would have won, it would have been historic. Now, I don’t really understand the scoring of golf or anything, but I do know that Tiger lost, and if you’d like to read about the technicalities of why and how he lost, this seems to be a good article. Tiger told USA Today after the game: “That’s just the way it goes. I’m not going to win all of them. I’ve lost a lot more than I’ve won. The good news is I’ve won half of them not on these venues, too. I feel satisfaction in the sense that I drove it on a string all week and hit my irons pretty good, but other than the first day, I did not putt well at all. You just can’t play and expect to win golf tournaments if you have nine or 10 three-putts for a week. No one can win doing that. Got to clean that up before I tee it up again.”

Blah. Tiger said all of this after he had his hissy fit on the course. The live feed even caught Tiger dropping the f-bomb after he missed an easy putt (Freudian) because of the wind, maybe?

It’s pretty funny. I mean, it sucks for Tiger, but does anyone else get the feeling that the new post-whore-explosion Tiger is feeling a bit like, “F-ck it, I’m letting it all hang out.” No more Sphinx, no more pretending to be Mr. Family Man. This could be Tiger, free-ballin’. Ho-Jo waitresses watch out. Wait, does Scotland have any Ho-Jo’s? Whatever the equivalent is. McGregor’s Pub waitresses.

Tiger Woods on July 15, 17 & 18, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Baseball games are the new “clubbing.” Lady Gaga has declared it, with her actions. For the second time in two weeks, Lady Gaga, in various stages of undress, showed up for a baseball game and continued to party her ass off. Two weeks ago, she showed up for a Mets game and spend most of the time flipping off photographers. She later tweeted, “A middle finger is more New York than a corporate ambush. I bleed for my hometown, and I’d die for my fans.” Amen. This time, she was photographed drinking beer, dancing, cheering and strutting in her box (Is she in a box? I don’t know. Whatever.). She’s a Yankees fan. Either that, or pinstripes are in this season.

Am I drinking the Gaga kool-aid, or is her outfit kind of cute? True, it’s totally inappropriate for a “day” look, and yes, this is the kind of outing where dads take their young children, so I’m sure there were lots of “Daddy, why isn’t that transvestite wearing any pants?” type questions. But still, Gaga looks kind of cute. Before she arrived at the game, she tweeted, “i just kicked my ass in the gym, time to wash it down with an ice cold NY beer.” Looks like she really likes New York beer.

Tennis phenom Venus Williams won her opening match at the French Open, but the talk was all about her outfit and not her game. Venus, 29, wore a “corset-style” lace tank with red piping paired with a tiny frilly skirt and nude-colored panties. The effect made her look like she was bare-assed and wearing lingerie on the court. Venus is a fashion designer and while she probably designs about as well as I play tennis, she surely knew what she was doing with that outfit. She told the LA Times that her outfit was “about illusion.”

Whistles and whispers circulated through the stands at Court Suzanne Lenglen on Sunday, a reaction brought about not by Venus Williams’ play at the French Open, but rather by her outfit.

With a lacy black overlay giving it the illusion of being see-through, and bright red trim on the bodice, Williams’ corset-like get-up made her look as if she were ready to perform in a 19th century Parisian cancan chorus line. Her game, a mix of power and nimbler-than-usual footwork on this day, was very 21st century, and befitting a star of the show.

The red clay of Roland Garros never has been Williams’ best stage — her seven Grand Slam titles all came at Wimbledon or the U.S. Open. At this year’s French Open, she is assured of at least one more performance, thanks to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over former top-10 player Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the first round.

Williams explained that her look was “about illusion,” which, she noted, is “a lot of my motif this year” when it comes to clothes design. She also said she might not wear that particular dress again on court. Then again, perhaps she will. She’s not sure. Either way, Williams comes to a tournament with eight to 10 outfits, just in case the victories keep coming.

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And she plans a lengthy stay in Paris this time around, perhaps capped by a title.

“I always — goes without saying — believe I can win,” said Williams, whose biggest hitches Sunday were eight double faults.

Williams lost in the third round at each of the last three French Opens and only once has been beyond the quarterfinals in 13 previous trips: She lost to younger sister Serena in the 2002 final.

There are others who will have some say in that, of course, including defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who also won in straight sets Sunday, and top-ranked Serena, whose first-round match is Monday.

Venus is back at No. 2 in the rankings for the first time since May 2003, and was not shy about saying she wants to bump her sister off the top spot.

“It feels good to be moving up the ranks. Obviously, when you get to 2, of course, the next dream is 1,” she said.

[From The LA Times via NY Daily News]

Venus will have to work harder on the court to beat her sister, Serena, currently ranked at number one. She’s already eclipsed Serena in the number of headlines for the year so that’s something. If you Google Venus Williams one of the recommended suggestions is “Venus Williams French Open Outfit.” All Serena Williams has is a wardrobe malfunction while in a bikini last December and the number one ranking. As for whether this is appropriate or not, USA Today has a poll up in which 43% of respondents say officials should have made her change before the match. I like a good outfit scandal and think that Venus and whoever had the authority to veto her outfit knew exactly what they were doing letting her go out like that.

This is kind of disappointing, except for all of the hot, half-naked men. Vanity Fair’s June issue is devoted to soccer (or “football”) and the World Cup, which starts soon, in June as a matter of fact. The complete online article is here, but Vanity Fair also released an excerpt and a couple of photos. I know the cover is poor quality, I’ll change it out when I find a better one. Here you go (there’s video of Annie Leibovitz’s photo shoot at the bottom):

In 38 days, it begins. The World Cup captivates more people around the globe than any other event, sporting or otherwise. Every four years, in pubs and corporate boardrooms, thatched huts and flophouses, fans of “the Beautiful Game” gather around televisions and transistor radios—and now, for the deep of pocket, iPhones and 3-D flat screens—to cheer for their heroes. They watch and listen by the billions, holding their breath at every corner kick, falling to their knees or leaping for joy at every goal scored. That this year’s tournament is in South Africa, where apartheid was the law of the land until 1994, only adds to the heightened sense of celebration—this is about a whole lot more than just soccer.

For the June issue of Vanity Fair, Annie Leibovitz set out to capture some of the sport’s biggest stars, including Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, and Brazil’s Kaká. Leibovitz’s portraits are, well, revealing. And underwear has never looked so patriotic. In America, these men might not enjoy the same name recognition as the stars of the N.F.L.—that game that we call football—but for most of the planet, they are more than just showstoppers. They are gods.

A. A. Gill, in his accompanying June-issue essay, captures just how important football (don’t you dare call it “soccer,” he warns) and the World Cup are to the 6.8 billion of us who live on Planet Earth. “Football took to the world pitch at about the same time as the modern independent nation-state,” Gill writes. “After a flag, a national anthem, and a press release decrying Yankee imperialism, the next thing newly minted nations do is build a stadium and come up with a national grudge match.”

Grudges old and new will be settled (or worsened) beginning on June 11, as South Africa opens the World Cup in Soweto against Mexico. Must-see games abound from there on, with England vs. U.S.A. (June 12) and most any matchup from the so-called Group of Death—Ivory Coast vs. Portugal (June 15), Brazil vs. Ivory Coast (June 20), Portugal vs. Brazil (June 25)—topping the list from the opening round.

You don’t have to be a footie fan to enjoy the tournament. (How many of you follow swimming when it’s not the Olympics and Michael Phelps?) To keep up with all the news and festivities, check in every day with our soccer football blog, Fair Play, which will be filing from South Africa . And as you’re watching and reading, remember the closing quote to Gill’s essay, from the great Scottish player and coach Bill Shankly: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

[From Vanity Fair]

Sort of interesting. Wasn’t it at the last World Cup that Frenchman Zinedine Zidane head-butted that Brazilian Italian dude? Yes. That was kind of awesome, and if soccer players promised more stuff like that, maybe American audiences would finally embrace soccer completely - although I’ve read it is becoming more popular here.

Anyway, the video is great - and what’s really nice is to see how friendly players of different nationalities are with each other. Plus, most of them are smoking hot, with insane bodies. Swoon.

All images courtesy of Vanity Fair. Cover courtesy of Just Jared.