No, the title of this blog post is not a joke. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is not only going to dress up as one of Santa’s little helpers, but also rappel down the side of a building.

Cashman agreed to descend from the Landmark Building in Stamford, Conn., this Friday and Sunday as part of the Stamford’s Heights and Lights event. The Yankees GM will be in full elf costume, according to Stamford Downtown president Sandy Goldstein, when he jumps off and then rappels down the 350-foot building.

Earlier in the week, Goldstein asked the Yankees GM if he was scared and Cashman replied “Sandy, nothing is scarier than general managing the Yankees.”

The bizarre story of the alleged harassment of Azteca TV reporter Ines Sainz took a new twist on Tuesday. The NFL is looking into some comments that Redskins running back Clinton Portis made on the Mike Wise Show on 106.7 The Fan in Washington.

When Portis was asked if he was familiar with the Sainz situation with the Jets, the veteran running back said he wasn’t, but did say, “You put a woman and you give her a choice of 53 athletes, somebody got to be appealing to her.” Portis later said, “Somebody got to spark her interest, or she’s gonna want somebody. I don’t know what kind of woman won’t, if you get to go and look at 53 men’s packages.”

Click here for more on this story from The Washington Post, including the complete audio of Portis’ comments.

Cusick passed away Tuesday afternoon, just before he was scheduled to be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame on Wednesday night. He will now be inducted posthumously. Below is an example of Cusick’s brilliance as he bids farewell to the old Boston Garden:

Check out the Manny Photo Montage accompanying Mike FM’s 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover parody. For more, visit 937mikefm.com

Former Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez has cut all ties to the Boston Red Sox and the New England area, except for one last piece of house keeping – his Boston penthouse condo.

Manny recently put his plus condominium on the market for $8.5 million this week.

Manny's Apartment

Michael Doherty of City Life Real Estate, the listing broker for the 37th-floor condominium at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, tells the Boston Herald it’s the “most magnificent apartment” in Boston.

In addition to panoramic views of the city, the 4,500-square-foot condo has four bedrooms, six bathrooms and three valet parking spaces.

Ramirez paid $5.8 million for the condo in 2001, and put it on the market for $6.9 million in 2005.

(Source of this story is from the Associated Press)

Charles Colaw

Bob Mantz, international columnist for Bob’s Blitz,  writes that “Arod’s claim of being young, stupid, naive – all blown out of the water. His cousin Yuri was training with Charles Colaw (pictured left) prior to 2004. Doesn’t sound like a bumbling comedy show to us. Yuri knew bodybuilding as Colaw was / is a distinguished trainer and bodybuilder.”

Arod digs deeper: Thursday, November 11, 2004 – Examiner-Enterprise: ‘Fitness training means more than just getting into shape‘ by Trevor Persaud.

Quote, “Clients come to him ranging from college students with absolutely no money, exotic dancers, Hooters girls, doctors, doctors’ wives and CEOs. He’s even worked with Yuri Sucart, the personal manager of baseball great Alex Rodriguez.

Why are all these people coming to Charles Colaw?”
With eight certifications from nationally recognized schools such as the Cooper Institute, Colaw has worked at the popular 24-hour fitness gym in Dallas – which is where he trained Yuri Sucart and worked out with other big names, such as NFL player Tony Dorset, Jr. Sucart, he says, could get him tickets to Rangers games whenever he wanted. While working there, his superiors “wrote me up” for being outspoken about his faith.

Click here to read the rest of Bob’s blog post on A-Rod and his cousin’s connection.

Let’s be honest, the delivery of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition was always a circled day on the calendar for many adolescence  – mainly for the fact that you wanted to grab it out of the mailbox before your parents knew it was even there.

Bar Refaeli

The annual edition has come along way since the Kathy Ireland days. Not only is there more skin, but millions can now access the world’s most beautiful women with a few clicks of the mouse at SI.com. As a guy in the industry, I would love to see the amount of page views and advertising revenue that the online feature rakes in.

This year’s publication supposedly features the next budding star in the modeling industry, Bar Refaeli (pictured right), who has been romantically linked to Leonardo DiCaprio. Hard to imagine, but I think Leo actually traded up from another familiar face who he had previously dated. Some would say blaspheme, but I say everyone wins here.

A local beauty shares the pages of the mag with Refaeli – Alison Preston. Alison is a member of the Boston Celtics Dance Team. Congratulates to Allison for representing Boston and the Celtics organization, even though some would still say Red would be rolling in his grave (In February 2004, Auerbach told the Globe, “They’re just waiting for me to die so they can get cheerleaders.”).  Well Red, I think your franchise has done just fine with the girls in green.

You may have seen Alison at the Celtics games, but if you haven’t, check out her S.I. Swimsuit photos & video by clicking on the image below:

Alison Preston

According to a WIS News 10 report out of South Carolina, eight arrests have been made stemming from the photo of Michael Phelps smoking marijuana from a water pipe.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Leon Lott in particular,  has been under fire from fans of Phelps all over the world for continuing to pursue this matter. Lott says the picture (seen to the right) in question indicated a law was being broken in his jurisdiction. He said he couldn’t ignore the violation just because Phelps is rich and famous.

WIS News also learned that the County Sheriff has located and confiscated the bong in the Phelps photo. The station’s sources say the owner of the bong was trying to sell it on eBay for as much as $100,000.

Phelps is not one of those charged at this point, but the sheriff’s department has strong evidence that matches the photo to the house where the party occured.

A couple of thoughts come to mind after reading this story:

• Too bad for Phelps he wasn’t caught at a party in Massachusetts instead of South Carolina
• I can’t believe the owner of the bong was dumb enough to sell it on ebay – wait, yes I can!
• Does Michael Phelps also enjoy going to the dentist?
• Phelps will certainly show up on a David Letterman Top 10 List, twice.
• Will Phelps REALLY lose sponsors?
• This situation certainly explains Phelp’s diet
• It also explains why former Cowboy Nate Newton is such a fan of Phelps

“I’m full-bore with my practice sessions and have no restrictions.” A quote from not only golf’s greatest player, but perhaps the most successful athlete in sports history – Tiger Woods.  I bet Padraig Harrington, who won two non-Tiger majors, and the rest of the PGA field paid close attention to that statement.

Tiger has been spotted at Orlando Magic games from time to time, but has kept his public and press appearances to a minimum since he won the U.S. Open last summer at Torrey Pines (His 14th career major), after which he immediately had reconstructive surgery on his left knee, thus ending his 2008 golf season.

So why has the Tiger emerged from the jungle? Another Tiger cub has been born. He and his wife, Elin, recently gave birth to their second child  – Charlie Axel Woods.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A name that sounds more like a Major League movie character or perhaps a Top Gun pilot. It is said that Tiger has a great respect for Charlie Sifford, the first black to become a PGA Tour member, and Axel is a Swedish name that means “father of peace,” according to the Web site birthcare.com (his wife Elin is Swedish).

The world has known Tiger since he was two years old, when he made an appearance on national TV with Bob Hope,  and the public continued to watch in amazement as this phenom grew into a worldwide icon. Who doesn’t love Tiger Woods, besides some of the guys he consistently beats on the Tour.

No doubt that the golf industry as a whole suffered from Tiger’s absence, both financially and on a general fan interest level – The Tiger Effect.

Tiger himself was not immune to the recent economic woes that our country is currently facing, but having him back in action certainly can’t hurt the golf industry and the economy as a whole this year. But after all, Tiger is human, as evidence by some of his humorous commercials, so he will undoubtedly need some help in pulling our nation forward in these uncertain times.

What is for certain is that Tiger always lives up to the hype and expectations, which is amazing considering the bar that we all have set for him. And “we” includes his fans, the press, his peers on the tour, his family, his late father, his sponsors, and even his detractors.

As Vern Lundquist said – “In your life have you seen anything like that!” I guess the next question would be, will we ever see anything like this again? So sit back and continue to enjoy the career of one Tiger Woods.

In a world of falling stars, his still shines the brightest.

Bonus LEEINKS:

Tiger Woods 09 – Walk on Water

Tiger Woods makes a tackle

Tiger juggling

Tiger impersonating Charles Barkley’s Golf Swing

Let’s cut to the immediate definition of “bromance” for those readers that are not familiar with this term as defined by the Urban Dictionary.  [Side Note: The Urban Dictionary is a very entertaining read, but does have some adult language]. Glad we are all on the same page now so that we can relate to Felger & Dino’s Bromance segment on today’s Dennis & Callahan Show, which had stemmed from this Barstool post.

It is always amazing how topics like this simply light up the phone banks. I still haven’t decided if all of these Felgerisms are pure premeditated acts of genius or if he simply stumbles on these topics to incite listener interaction.  I wonder what his wife thinks? Pete Gustin, creator of all Pete’s Bits, sure doesn’t mind as he continuously gets lay-up soundbites from Felger. One thing I do know, is that Felgie can get the fellowship of the miserable riled up like no one else on the station.

Back on topic – Bromances. So what were some of the ones identified by Dino & Felger:

- Seth & Evan from Superbad

- Nomar & Lou Merloni

- Steve DeOssie & Fred Smerlas

- Tom Werner & John Henry

- Michael Holley & Michael Smith

- Lance Armstrong & Matthew McConaughey

Here are a couple more Bromances of my own to add to the list:

- Maverick & Goose from Top Gun

- Mario & Luigi from Mario Brothers Video Game

- Batman & Robin

- Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson

- Brad Pitt and George Clooney

- Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Feel free to add to the list of bromances by leaving a comment on this blog post!!