Interesting to note that Nasvhille police have still not confirmed that Sahel Kazemi, the 20-year-old mistress of Steve McNair who was found dead with him on Saturday, was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Local authorities, after leaning to rule the crime as a murder-suicide, have now seemingly changed their stance on the killings. (Something that comes as zero surprise to me.)

(Photo of Sahel Kazemi inside condo where she and McNair were murdered)

How else can you explain police now telling the TENNESSEAN that an investigation will “take many days of interviews with their families and friends and witnesses who saw the 36-year-old McNair out on the town Friday night before police will rule whether the deaths were a murder-suicide or a double homicide.”

And then there’s this:

It will be weeks before toxicology tests reveal whether either of them had alcohol or drugs in their systems. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives are tracing the gun’s registration to determine whether it belonged to McNair or someone else. McNair is licensed to carry a handgun in Tennessee.

BALONEY. The police will know the results of those toxicology tests in a couple days. Not to mention the gun registration. The local authorities are sandbagging the timeline to get the media off their back in the case. So we’ll forget about it - and allow them to be more effective in the investigation. And that’s fine by me.

There are just so many details of this case that don’t add up. McNair’s friend not calling police for an hour after discovering the bodies. McNair reportedly having his life threatened at a local bar the night before the killings. McNair’s wife saying she hadn’t seen him in two days. (I’m not accusing her of anything by the way.)

(Myspace message of Keith Norfleet, Sahel Kazemi’s ex-boyfriend)

And then there’s Kazemi’s ex-boyfriend Keith Norfleet, who in an interview with the TENNESSEAN, knew intimate details about Kazemi’s relationship with McNair. He also stated that he made a Saturday morning visit to McNair’s condo - but never said why. What the hell?

(Keith Norfleet, Sahel Kazemi’s former longtime boyfriend)

Last night I posted the rather ominous message on Norfleet’s now-private Myspace account. Perhaps even more interesting though is the since-deleted status message of one of Norfleet’s friends on Myspace, “Jett Jackson“. Jackson’s account has since been deleted, but I saved a screen shot of it. Posted after the jump. Read more…

One of the major criticisms leveled at the world’s most prominent athletes over the years has been that they are too unwilling to take a stand on issues or criticize anyone or anything, for fear of upsetting sponsors and consumers. Two people often targeted in this criticism are Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, the world’s two most recognized athletes. “Republicans buy shoes, too,” the old saying goes, and we’re left with press conferences that feature a lot of vanilla cliches.

So it came as something of a surprise on Friday that Tiger, while discussing his pretty awesome commitment to allowing children free admission to his own AT&T National golf tournament this weekend, lashed out at the New York Yankees’ new much-maligned stadium.

Read more…

American sports has a good many polarizing figures that sports fans love to hate. Praising names like George Steinbrenner, Mike Krzyzewski, Bud Selig, or Bill Wirtz at a sports bar is a good way to start a fight in many cities, for many different reasons. You’ve got contempt for fans (Wirtz), dunderheaded management (Selig), annoying self-righteousness (Coach K), and unbridled arrogance (Steinbrenner).

But what if you could roll all those loathesome qualities up into a single person and add a dash of racism and a spoonful of admiration for Hitler? If such a terrible person seems like someone only seen in the movies, then you haven’t heard of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. No, not the F1 boss who likes Nazi hooker orgies - the other one.

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Obviously, the details will end up shaking themselves out in the coming days and weeks, but the past 24 hours have seen a confusing mess of conflicting details regarding the murder of Steve McNair and the as-yet-unclassified death of Sahel Kazemi.

Many high profile murder-suicides (if that’s what this is) tend to feature troubled, unhappy relationships and disturbed individuals (think Chris Benoit or Phil & Brynn Hartman). But if Sahel Kazemi’s family is to be believed, nothing could be further from that profile. That leaves one possibility, in the family’s mind: there must have been a third person involved.

Read more…

Here’s a couple more new photos of Sahel Kazemi, the 20-year-old mistress of Steve McNair.

Both were found dead in McNair’s downtown Nashville condo on Saturday.

Another photo of Kazemi with McNair’s Escalade after the jump.

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With another 4th of July in the books, it’s important that we as Americans take a look back and appreciate the things that best embody this great nation of ours. I’m talking, of course, about the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. As you no doubt already know (in part because we mentioned it earlier today), Joey Chestnut reclaimed our country’s honor with a record 68 hot dogs consumed. Hooray for America.

But what you may not have known is that this record was far from the most impressive hot dog eating accomplishment of all time, and far from the sexiest. Oh, yes, hot dog eating can be disturbingly sexy. Check it out.

(Video & photos after the jump.)

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Happy Fourth of July weekend, even though it’s almost over. I hope you’re out barbecuing instead of reading blogs, and I hope your barbecue is something like this.

Read: cute girls in short shorts, freely flowing beer, and ill-advised horseplay. But sometimes those factors combine in a magical way, like in this video that represents everything good about America. Read more…

Remember Rinku and Dinesh? Those Indian reality TV show contestants who can throw kind of hard, but not really, but that’s still good enough to get you a contract with the Pirates? They finally got some game action yesterday.

Rinku Singh got knocked around a little in his inning of work; Dinesh Patel was better. And neither embarrassed themselves or the Pirates organization, which is a moral victory for everyone. And, as always, the two recapped their afternoon in hilarious broken English on their blog.

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I was forwarded a couple more photos this morning of Sahel Kazemi, the 20-year-old mistress of Steve McNair. Both were found dead yesterday at a Nashville condo rented by the former NFL quarterback. Here is a photo of Kazemi on top of the Escalade McNair purchased for her.

(Escalade McNair Bought For Mistress Kazemi) 

Three days ago Kazemi was charged with DUI for driving the same vehicle while “high” - with McNair in the passenger seat.

After the jump is a photo of Kazemi on top of the car she previously owned before McNair upgraded her. Read more…

The good thing about restricted free agency is that it allows teams to hang on to their young talent, to give them time to become fan favorites and maybe even franchise players some day. It really would have been nice if the Blackhawks would have taken advantage of that.

In a move that seems like something more out of the “Dollar Bill” Wirtz era, the Chicago failed to deliver the paperwork to six of their young players before the deadline passed, so by the letter of the law, those aren’t Chicago’s players anymore.
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