Am I the only one surprised there’s still a Miss Universe pageant in this day and age?

Some 100 contestants representing their countries in a bid to calim the title as the Queen of the Universe, and what do they achieve along with the crown? World peace? Not really, just more reason for Donald Trump to whore himself in the media.

One teeny-weeny interesting note may be is that this year’s contest begins with a controversy.

Miss Sweden Isabel Lestapier Winqvist has dropped out of the competition because Swedes say the Miss Universe competition is degrading to women and weighed down by scandals.

The “modern” beauty contests in Sweden has no swimsuit competition in an attempt to switch the focus to intelligence and education. Oh and beuty queens can pose on FHM, too, if they so like.

The Miss Universe, on the other hand, is judged solely on an interview and swimsuit and evening gown competitions. The process has been the same since it starte din 1961. Because, well, the queen of the universe should know how to wear that swimwear, right? We can’t have some fat-ass representing us to negotiate with the Klingons.

But seriously, how many of you still watch the live telecast beamed all over the world (and we presume…)

At least for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, they’ve already done this before.

Coming to the 2007 NHL Stanley Cup Finals, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks find themselves in a somewhat similar situation when they reached the final playoff series of the NHL season back in 2003.

Veterans Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Samuel Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer all know what it’s like to be in the Stanley Cup Finals and yep, they still remember what it’s like to be on the losing end of a championship series like this.

You just know they’ll still have that bitter taste of defeat the New Jersey Devils gave them back in the Stanley Cup finals of 2003 when they face the Ottawa Senators to start the seven-game championship series on Monday. These Ducks are hoping they won’t have the same disappointment.

‘’That’s the place every hockey player wants to be, the Stanley Cup Finals,'’ Anaheim Ducks center Samuel Pahlsson said. ‘’I remember last time. We took it all the way to Game 7 and lost (to New Jersey). Standing on the wrong side of the ice, watching the other team celebrate, I definitely don’t want to do that again. I want to…'’

Lately, it seems when people talk about baseball, I begin to hear stuff about Barry Bonds and this whole steroids thing.

Enough already. It’s about time we let that go and move on. Of course, doing that is harder than you think. With a guy like Barry Bonds having a date with history while using illegal substances like steroids to get there, turning away from MLB’s major issue is next to an impossibility.

But then again, if we have two or three guys who can play good enough for people to talk about them OTHER than Barry Bonds, then maybe people will start talking about the sport and not drug junkies in the San Francisco Giants locker rooms.

One of which is baseball’s fastest rising superstar, the Japanese pitcher of the Boston Red Sox, Daisuke Matsuzaka., Daisuke, or ‘’Dice-K'’ as he is called in the States, has brought international attention back to baseball since Hideo Nomo began all that hitting streaks in the past.

With guys like Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and our little Japanese dude, Dice-K here, baseball is in good shape as far as Asia is concerned.

As far as local talents go, the States do have guys like…

What’s up with the numbers, 79 and 76?

For two games straight, the Detroit Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 79-76, in an eerily similar fashion. Back in Game 1, LeBron James passed up a shot that would’ve tied the game. Instead, Donyell Marshall missed a desperation three-pointer much to the delight of Pistons fans, including yours truly. Pistons won 79-76.

In Game 2, LeBron James again had the ball. Only this time, he took the shot. He missed. The Cavaliers AGAIN lost to the Pistons, 79-76. Jeezus… What the fuck is happening here?

Well, I’m not complaining. It’s STILL a Pistons win. However, I can’t help but worry about how the Pistons won the first two games of this NBA Eastern Conference Finals series. As big as a Pistons fan as I am, I have to admit that Detroit didn’t won those two games in convincing fashion.

In Game 1, the Cleveland Cavaliers led for most of the game. LeBron James was only held down to 10 points, his lowest output in the playoffs career-wise. But surprisingly, the other guys for Cleveland stepped up.

Man, did you saw Zydrunas Ilgauskas then? It’s like watching a goddamn seven-foot…

Yep, Paris, France will be the mecca of sports once we hit the halfway point of the calendar year.

As ya’ll know by now, the 2007 French Open at Roland Garros begins May 27 up to June 10. The clay court tournament will feature some of the biggest names in tennis like Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin.

Of course, Roger Federer will be there and I’m hoping the hot and sexy Maria Sharapova will too.

The annual tournament at Roland Garros is a whole new game with clay court king Rafael Nadal FINALLY beaten on… welll… CLAY… by none other than Roger Federer. Nadal was beaten by Federer, ending the clay king’s incredible 18-match winning streak on the surface.

But it’s not only the 2007 French Open making a big bang in France. On July 29, the Tour de France careens to a finish on the cobblestones of one of the world’s most famous streets, the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

Yeah yeah, the overall winner is already decided then but the 20th and final stage of the three-week race still is hotly contested.

On June 2, the Euro 2008 soccer tournament qualifier will take place as France takes on Ukraine at the national stadium. Seats start at 20 Euros and can be purchased online.

If soccer is not your thing then you still have the…

HELL NO, because it’s all about Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren – Mercedes camp lately.

In case you have no idea who the heck Lewis Hamilton is, he was suppose to be the young rookie driver to follow the lead of two-time defending F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso. After four rounds of the 2007 F1 Season, this was just not the case.

Out of nowhere, Lewis Hamilton is making headlines all throughout the F1 racing circuit. Heck, this guy is driving like he has been here for five, six years and now, McLaren find themselves in a dream season with two drivers, each capable of bringing home both the drivers’ and constructors’ championship titles.

Of course, Fernando Alonso is not happy about it. Not one bit. Hell, after moving from Renault to McLaren to resume what is now his two-year reign as champion of F1, he’s losing his grip on his title. And to make things worse, he’s losing it to a goddamn teammate.

The pressure is on Alonso now to remind his McLaren teammate just who is the team’s No.1 driver. The only problem is, many people believe Alonso can’t compete with the young Lewis Hamilton.

Renault’s team manager Steve Nielsen has joined the chorus in casting doubt over Fernando Alonso’s ability to compete with Lewis Hamilton. Alonso and Nielsen worked together at the Anglo-French team and won both the Drivers’ and…

For the Utah Jazz, EnergySolutions Arena has lived up to its namesake.

It is at the EnergySolutions Arena where the Utah Jazz bounced back from a 0-2 deficit against a team from Texas, the Houston Rockets, during the opening rounds of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

A month later, the Jazz again find themselves in a similar situation, down 0-2 to yet another team from Texas, the San Antonio Spurs. And yep, they’re counting on the EnergySolutions Arena to give them the ENERGY and SOLUTION to beat the powerhouse team from San Antonio and get back to this seven-game NBA Western Conference Finals series.

The Utah Jazz are right where they were a month ago, making everybody wonder just how much longer they could last in the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

As of April 24, they had lost two games to the Houston Rockets by a grand total of 17 points, appearing overwhelmed at times and failing to perform in critical stretches of the game. However, things changed when that series moved to EnergySolutions Arena, and the Jazz hasn’t looked back since.

After losing by eight and nine points to San Antonio in the NBA Western Conference finals, they just need to rely on the same energy and solutions they used against the Houston Rockets.

The problem? They’re no longer playing Houston…

Yep, Chelsea superstar Andriy Shevchenko wants to play in Major League Soccer (MLS) too.

Shevchenko claims soccer, yep, he called it soccer, is growing in the United States and the Chelsea star wants to be a part of it before he calls it a career. Although he won’t be making the change anytime soon, he wants to play in the States at some point of his career.

‘’Soccer is growing in the U.S. and I’d like to be a part of that. I played there last summer against the MLS All-Stars and I saw myself that it’s definitely improving,'’ Andriy Shevchenko said.

Andriy Shevchenko joined the English Premier League, signing a £30 million last summer with Chelsea FC after an awesome season with AC Milan in the Italian Serie A. However, since moving for the Premiership in England, Chelsea fans are yet to see the Shevchenko who became such a household name in Italy.

He failed to reproduce the kind of form that Chelsea paid AC Milan for. To make things worse, Shevchenko was sidelined with a groin injury that forced him to miss most of the English football season, including his team’s 2007 FA Cup win over…

Unfortunately, there won’t be any TWISTS nor TURNS in the 91st Indianapolis 500. They’ll just accelerate and go LEFT.

But of course, behind every big race, there’s always a couple of stories to look forward to as raceday comes closer and closer and as dull as oval track races like this will be, the 91st Indianapolis 500 definitely has its fair share of behind-the-scenes drama any casual racing fan should take notice.

Of course, stating the obvious, Sam Hornish Jr. will come into the race as one of the heavy favorites to win the event’s 91st annual offering. He is after all, the defending Indianapolis 500 champion.

Right behind him is Dan Wheldon. Surprisingly, the defending Indy 500 champ won’t be the overwhelming favorite, Dan Wheldon is. During the last three years of (dull) oval track racing, Wheldon has nosed ahead of Hornish as the IndyCar Series’ most formidable oval ace.

Wheldon dominated the 2005 season and came within a point of making it two straight titles, losing out to Hornish on a tiebreaker for the 2006 title.

Wheldon, or ‘’Daring Dan'’ as he is called these days, wants to dominate the 2007 season. A win in the Indianapolis 500 will definitely put him on track for…

I guess these guys who missed the 2007 NBA Playoffs will just do ANYTHING to kill time eh? That includes humping Oprah Winfrey.

Kidding… Kidding… Stephon Marbury didn’t really HUMP Oprah Winfrey and as badly as Oprah Winfrey would want that, she still has Dr. Phil to satisfy her never ending desire to be butt-fucked these days.

Yep, New York Knicks superstar Stephon Marbury DID HAVE a date with Oprah and it was in the Oprah Winfrey Show. Stephon was in the show to promote his famous $14.98 discount Starury sneakers. (Quick… go buy one now…)

In a very cheesy attempt to spread the word on his $14.98 discount Starbury sneakers, the New York Knicks point guard taped a 12-minute segment with Oprah Winfrey in her Chicago studios. For some reason, Marbury was excited about it.

‘’I'm really excited,'’ Stephon Marbury said. ‘’Last summer at my basketball tournament, I said I wanted to change up the world, and people thought I was crazy.'’

‘’To team up with people like Oprah and be in the presence of her; her voice speaks to a tremendous amount of worlds, the way she’s perceived. Being able to do her show, we’ll be able to…'’