Olympic Hottie Lolo Jones has sadly so far fallen short in her quest to win a medal but she has a new avenue towards Olympic glory, the Winter Games. 

Only three weeks into trying the bobsled, Jones was selected as one of six pushers for the US squad as it gears up for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. This after her first run had her finishing only .05 seconds off the leader. Joining Jones on the squad is gold medal winning sprinter Tianna Madison. 

While neither track star is a guarantee to make the final team (there are only 3 push slots available) they're at least putting themselves in a position towards success. Track athletes have long been sought after in the bobsled world because of their speed and explosiveness can be well utilized in getting the sleds underway. 

At the least, we get to fantasize about the uber-sexy Jones in another spandex body suit—and this time with a HELMET. 

SEXXY

[ESPN]

When Stephen A. Smith isn't yelling on ESPN he makes sure to drop in some N-bombs on live TV. His latest came while dismissing talk that Kobe might not play in the Lakers' season opener; Stephen A. lands a solid "nigga please" before the hosts quickly move away.

Solid!

Some men are shallow and care deeply about what they look like every day before they go out the door, and some men are Drew Gooden who clearly doesn't care. We've seen the journeyman forward with some unfortunate looks before (none worse than this tarantula goatee he rocked) but his latest haircut, Tweeted out by teammate Marquis Daniels, shows that Gooden will NOT be showing up on any best dressed or best-looking lists anytime soon.

That's just awful. AWFUL.

Also, Gooden's head is weirdly shaped. There, I said it.

[Marquis Daniels]

The longest NFL field goal is 63 yard but on Thursday a Washington high schooler demolished that record booting a most-impressive 67(!!!) yard field goal to force overtime.

With the score 55-52, Central Valley High kicker Austin Rehkow attempted a field goal from his own 43-yard line! Amazingly, not only does he boot the ball through the middle of the uprights, he looks like he had some leg to go back a few more yards. 

Amazingly, that 67-yarder isn't the longest in football history, in 1985 a high schooler nailed a 68-yarder and two other kids have also knocked home 67-yard kicks. But still! Fucking impressive.

I particularly like how amped the left official is at calling the ball through, he looks so psyched just to have seen it happen.

Central Valley High went on to beat Shadle Park in OT, 62-55.

[Beer Mug Sports]

Man of the People Congressman Paul Ryan visited with his Republican base, the 1%, with a campaign stop at the Cleveland Browns' training center on Wednesday. Joining Ryan on the trip was longtime Browns fan, and big-time football fan (and occassional NFL Commissioner candidate) Condeleeza Rice. 

Unfortunately, while Rice has no trouble identifying the players (she took special time to talk with fellow Alabaman Trent Richardson and spoke about how she owns a Josh Cribbs jersey), Ryan clearly didn't do his homework in advance. Speaking to the players Ryan made sure to congratulate Brandon Weeden on his first NFL victory that coincided with the QB's 29th birthday.

There was just one small problem: Ryan congratulated backup QB Colt McCoy instead... But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good story!

Bemused at the error, "[a] few of the Browns players began laughing quietly while others looked away before the candidate realized his mistake."

There's that attention to detail that you want in a person vying for the #2 position in the US goverment.

[Fox Sports]

Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans hasn't had a particularly impressive NBA career yet, appearing in only 49 and 29 games respectively in his two years in the league will do that. Suffice to say, this display of athleticism that he showed off in a preseason game against the LA Clippers as he blocks Ronny Turiaf, dunks over Turiaf and then gets all the way on defense to make a stop is sure to be his best NBA highlight to date.

Someone wants to make the team!

Formerly the Yakima Bears, the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise is moving locations to Hillsboro, Oregon. As part of the move the team held a contest for a new name, the winner: Hops.

After all, what goes better together than baseball and beer (and don't give me any malarky about that shitacular "Hot dogs, baseball, apple pie, Chevrolet" commercial)?

The decision wasn't an easy one as there were over 400 submissions for potential new names before the team decided upon Hops. While the Hillsboro area itself is not known for its hops production, Oregon is second in the nation for its growing of hops for brewing.

Initially, the name alone didn't do it for me but seeing the logo designed and all, I'm into it.

Go HOPS!

[Oregon Live]

During the filming of New York Jets' interation of Hard Knocks, Rex Ryan became enamored with fullback John Conner (left). Apparently, that love is over. On Wednesday the Jets released the 2010 draft pick with an injury settlement. The team hasn't ruled out bringing back the fullback, nicknamed "The Terminator" but needed the roster spot he was occupying as the team's backfield is suffering a slate of recent injuries. 

While the team said they might bring him back in the future, they won't be able to do so for at least six weeks (plus however many weeks they settled for) as per league rules. Conner joins the failed, miserable Fox show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on the list of things that we'll probably never see again.

[ESPN New York]

Kevin Love had a breakthrough season for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2011-2, even earning a place in the MVP discussion. That success led to him getting a place on the US National team at the Olympics and Wolves fans were eagerly awaiting their star to return and team up with phenom point guard Ricky Rubio and guide the team to postseason success. Unfortunately, Rubio remains sidelined from ACL surgery but Love is still magic on the court.

Here is a sweet highlight from the Wolves' Tuesday preseason game against Israel's vaunted Maccabi Haifa team where Love pulls off a nifty no-look tap pass to Nikola Pekovic for an easy bucket.

Pretty awesome!

Alas, don't get too used to it, during practice on Wednesday Love broke his hand and will now miss the next 6-8 weeks. But hey, we'll always have that play against Maccabi!

You might have heard, they take their high school football very seriously down in the Republic of Texas (see: Here, here, here, here, here, and here); they even take their MIDDLE school football very seriously it seems and nothing gets in the way of the action on the field, not even the school band.

The Hudson Middle School in Sachse, a suburb of Dallas, had the ball on offense and so the school band, sitting in the stands did what they would normally do, play music. That went against what the referee on the field thought was appropriate.

"He was shushing us," said 13-year-old trombone player Maegen Benavidez.

It went beyond simple homeroom "shushing" though, the ref ultimately through a flag on the band, penalizing the football team because the band was, in his impression, "too loud."

Not wanting to hurt their team, the band left before halftime.

Also leaving the stadium early, the ref. Told what had happened, a school athletics board spokesman said that they have asked for that referee to never be assigned to any future athletic event in the Garland school district.

Apparently there is an NCAA rule whereby bands can cause penalties to the team on the field but that is not the case in middle school football and, according to the spokesman, Chris Moore, never will be.

"This was a first," Moore said. "The first time in the history of the district. First and last time it happens here."

An exciting side-note, the Hudson Middle School's mascot? The Hawk. They're the Hudson Hawks! If Bruce Willis were still alive he'd be sure to find this exciting.

[WFAA]