Pop Culture Hot List

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Jun 2, 2009

Pop Culture Hot List

LeBron James puppet

Chances are James' puppet from the ubiquitous Nike ad will disappear to wherever Lil' Penny is and never be seen again. Although I still say the puppet should have conducted the postgame press conference on James' behalf after the Cavaliers were eliminated by the Magic in the Eastern Conference finals.

Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick

While the dream of a Kobe-LeBron NBA Finals died, Dick Vitale probably got his dream of a Morrison-Redick final, um, even though neither will see much of the court during the Lakers-Magic series. Three years ago, the duo was on the cover of SI, and both went on to become lottery picks. Now, Morrison is the 13th man on the Lakers' 12-man roster, and Redick scored all of seven points in the Western Conference finals.

Kimbo Slice

After bashing Slice for more than a year as a bum who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag, Dana White has signed arguably the biggest name in MMA (as far as the mainstream is concerned) to be on the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter. The show, with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans as the coaches, will likely do record ratings if Slice -- who got knocked out in 14 seconds by UFC reject Seth Petruzelli in his last fight, in October -- can make it to the Dec. 5 live finale. That's when a UFC contract will be on the line.

Andy Roddick

The only thing more classic than watching Roddick go all John McEnroe on the umpire at Roland Garros during his French Open loss to Gael Monfils was pictures of him doing his laundry by hand the night before in his hotel room with his wife, SI Swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker. If you're on Twitter, do yourself a favor and follow @BrooklynDDecker and @andyroddick; it's the best reali-tweet show going today.

Bar Refaeli

How do you deal with sagging circulation and dwindling advertising dollars in a climate that is telling you that print is dying? If you're Esquire, you do the obvious, of course: Get Refaeli naked and paint the text on her body. If that doesn't get people reading, nothing will.

Tyrese Gibson

File this under good intentions gone bad. During the Western Conference finals, Gibson, a big Lakers fan who is also promoting his new movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, sang the national anthem before Game 5 at the Staples Center. The problem was, he changed "our flag was still there" to "our Lakers were still there." Even the most die-hard Lakers fan was forced to boo the switcheroo. There are some songs you can take some create liberties with, but the nation anthem, especially two days after Memorial Day, is not one of them.

Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett

Not only will Eagles wide receiver Baskett be on fiancé Wilkinson's new reality show, aptly titled Kendra, but he's on promotional posters and billboards for the show. If his facial expressions in the photos are any indication, he will be playing the Nick Lachey to Kendra's Jessica Simpson.

Dennis Rodman and Mindy McCready

One of the greatest shows on television, VH-1's Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew, will have a sporty feel to it this season. The network announced that former NBA bad boy Rodman and country singer McCready, who made headlines when she confessed to having an affair with Roger Clemens, will be on the show. Too bad America is sick of the former and hardly cares about the latter.

Conan O'Brien

It took O'Brien all of 30 seconds into his opening monologue as the host of The Tonight Show to knock the Los Angeles Clippers, saying, "This studio holds 380 people. It's exactly like being at a Clippers game." He later showed a clip of himself at a Lakers game in the last row of Staples Center as Jack Nicholson and other celebs sat courtside. Something tells me that will be the last time Conan ever sees the upper bowels of Staples.

Eminem and Bruno

Please, people, please. Yes, Bruno falling from the sky and dropping in Eminem's lap, his head in the rapper's groin and his bum in his face, was hilarious, but if you think that wasn't scripted, you probably also thought nothing in Borat was staged and that Andy Kaufman never scripted any of his tirades.