Sports Redux: Why Britney Spears Is a Sport in Her Own Right

We were diligently writing today's Redux and thinking of lecturing Dan Shaugnessy for committing the major journalism fallacy of assuming everyone "stopped eating and sleeping" when Dice-K touched down in Fort Meyers. Not everyone is tracking every move of Dice-K.

Everyone is actually obsessing over tracking every move of Britney Spears. OK, that's not true. But the 24-hour-cable-news channels are, anyway. You probably already heard about it - Britney Spears up and shaved her head.

While celebrity gossip is technically not a sport, and Britney Spears has nothing to do with Boston (thank goodness!), celebrity gossip is something on which you can bet. Bodog.com is running bets on whether or not Spears is pregnant with her third child.

It might be more appropriate to run bets on whether the "singer" will just give it up already and move into a trailer with a guy named "Rooster."

Anyway, the big news today is the NBA Slam Dunk contest, in which Boston Celtic Gerald Green will compete. Green played an instrumental role in the Celtics defeat of the Bucks. Former Celtic and no-look slam-dunk winner Dee Brown is also rooting for Green - you can hear a full interview with Dee Brown at Just My Show. (Which also has an interview with the Love Boat's Ted Lange - these guys are comprehensive!)

One person who won't be cheering anyone on in the slam-dunk contest is admitted homophobe Tim Hardaway, who got his just desserts. Earlier in the week, he responded to NBA player John Amaechi's coming out with the statement that he hated gay people. The NBA responded by booting him from All-Star festivities. Other players are quickly issuing statements. The Pistons' Chauncey Billups deftly sums up why Hardaway's comments were so dim-witted: "He, of all people, being an African-American should know better because of the way we have been discriminated against for so long."

Maybe Hardaway can go to whatever rehab Isaiah Washington is attending, although we're not sure if there is a rehab out there that will cure a guy for being an asshole. (Geez, we've used that word a lot - but there's a lot of that kind of behavior going around!)

Shot of Britney Spears bald from tmz.com, tvgasm.com, and any other website in the know. Seriously, if you're a betting person, start betting on Britney's getting pregnant again and moving into a trailer now!