Back Porch Current Events

Marv Albert and 50 Cent had a reported "interaction" backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live that generated a ton of press -- obviously whenever two people like Marv and Fitty interact in a reportedly violent manner, it's gonna be news.

Turns out the the whole thing was entirely overblown. Marv and 50 never had any sort of violent interaction and, from what FanHouse has learned, and which the AP is now reporting, it was all a giant misunderstanding.

Bill Simmons, ESPN's most popular Twitter personality, once shunned the medium but now clocks in at well over 1,000,000 followers. But it looks like he'll be seeing significantly less Twitter action over the next two weeks: he's had his Tweeting privileges yanked by ESPN for some aggressive remarks he made to ESPN-affiliated radio station WEEI in Boston.

Well, kind of -- he's still apparently allowed to tweet about his book tour, which has only one stop remaining in Las Vegas for early December.

Under the guise of the United We Serve initiative, President Barack Obama teamed up with Drew Brees, Troy Polamalu and DeMarcus Ware to school a bunch of kids in tag football on the White House's South Lawn. All in the name of stressing the importance of fitness for America's youth.

Via the press release: "In support of NFL PLAY 60, all Thanksgiving weekend games will raise awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic and showcase the NFL and its clubs' commitment to help reverse this trend."

Hey, sometimes sedentary, preteen gamers need a little tough love when it comes to actually getting outside long enough to break a sweat. Or maybe I'm overselling it a bit. Slow-motion, NFL Films-inspired video of the 90-second public service announcement after the jump:

Of all the headlines I read today, the one you see above is now second on the "didn't see that coming" list after "Al Roker Loses Mind Previewing Weather for Sunday Night Football". Apparently, 50 Cent and his entourage went after Marv Albert backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live last night.

At least if you believe the Los Angeles Times (or if you prefer to get your news from more reputable sources, here ya go):

Jimmy Traina (who made SI's Hot Clicks a must-read since taking it over a few years ago) dropped some spicy news today: The Who are going to be this year's performer at halftime of the Super Bowl.

Of course, the Super Bowl performer is always a huge name and the announcement is always a huge deal -- so this causes some problems for the NFL (at least in terms of getting to announce it). The NFL neither confirmed nor denied Traina's post saying, "When we have something to announce, we'll announce it."

Cryptic. But Traina is standing by his story, telling FanHouse that "I'm confident in my sources."

In not-so-shocking news, Mike Tyson has been arrested for a "scuffle" at a Los Angeles airport involving photographer Tony Echevarria, according to police. Tyson, whose public behavior track record hasn't been great, was arrested and released on $20,000 bond, according to television reports.

Per usual, there are differing accounts as to exactly what happened:

The photographer told police that Tyson struck him once, airport police spokesman Sgt. Jim Holcomb said. The photographer fell to the ground and was treated for a cut to his forehead at a hospital.

Tyson's spokeswoman Tammy Brook said the boxer was traveling with his wife and 10-month-old child when he was attacked by an overly aggressive paparazzo. "Mike acted in self defense as a father protecting his child," she said.

The Philadelphia Spectrum will soon be demolished, and although its farewell show was a Pearl Jam concert, it will always be remembered primarily through sports. The video above celebrates some of the Spectrum's greatest sports moments.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

There are close to 4.5 million Native Americans living in about 565 federally recognized communities across the Untied States. Many of these communities have been neglected, and unemployment in some areas is as high as 80 percent. The shortage of funds results in little to no organized youth sports activities. Diabetes and obesity are fast-growing problems.

Check out the video after the jump.

Neither the Daily Show nor the Colbert Report delve into the sports realm all that often. However, the current Philadelphia-New York rivalry has apparently stoked enough passion in Jersey-born Jon Stewart (he's right in the middle, yo!) for him to send correspondents Jason Jones and John Oliver out on the street to measure the rivalry.

But, per usual, they're not just looking at the fans -- they're deciding which fans are more awful (or "bigger douches" as the clip actually says like 150 times; should you be afraid that such a phrase will not be popular on your office speakers, consider yourself forewarned). And they have real, live clips, which are hysterical, of course. "Clash of the Cretins" video, courtesy of the CC Insider, after the jump.

Is it all the rage to make silly comments in the announcing booth these days? Because, between Bob Griese's taco pop and what Gus Johnson dropped on Sunday, well, it sure seems like announcers are becoming less aware of what they say these days.

Oh, you didn't hear what Gus dropped as Tennessee's Chris Johnson was ripping off a long touchdown run? How about: "First down and 10. Johnson ... gets his shoulders square! Watch out! He's got gettin' away from the cops speed! Touchdown!" Emphasis there was mine (as much as it can be with Mr. Johnson, anyway) and sure, he's got a pretty good reason to think that CJ might be running from the cops -- after all, the Titans running back did attend ECU (I kid, I kid). But my pro-Wolfpack biases aside, if Gus happens to be -- as Brian Powell pointed out -- say, Jim Nantz, this probably doesn't go over quite as well.

Vid after the jump, natch.