Pop Culture Hot List

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Aug 11, 2009

Pop Culture Hot List

Shaquille O'Neal and David Beckham

This is easily becoming the best feud to hit Los Angeles since Shaq was rapping about Kobe and his backside. After Beckham denied Shaq's challenge to score a goal on him ("I don't see him calling Kobe out. ... I think Kobe could score against him") Shaq fired back. While in L.A., the Big Diesel said, "There's no way you'd score on me. ... How many goals did you score for the Galaxy?" O'Neal later took to Twitter and called Beckham's time in L.A. a disaster. We're awaiting your response, Becks.

T-Pain and the Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins, who count Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony as minority owners and have a business deal with Jimmy Buffett, are really taking their need to align themselves with every celebrity under the sun to a whole new level. Now, their poor fans have to endure a new fight song -- courtesy of T-Pain and Pitbull -- that sounds as bad as you think it would. If the Dolphins are going to play this song after every touchdown, you might actually get some fans rooting for three-and-outs just to keep their sanity.

Rodney King

Just when you thought you wouldn't see anything more depressing than a boxing match between Jose Canseco and Danny Bonaduce, there is news that King will be fighting former Pennsylvania police officer Simon Aouad next month in Boothwyn, Pa. From "Can't we all just get along" to "Let's get it on" 18 years later.

Anderson Silva

After Silva was booed for lackluster fights in his last two appearances, fans were simply stunned by the ease with which he toyed with Forrest Griffin at UFC 101. Silva knocked out the former light heavyweight champion with what can only be described as a fadeaway punch while Griffin helplessly flailed away like a child chasing after a classmate in recess. If anyone still doubts that Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, perhaps he should consider joining some second-tier promotion and beating up on scrubs for a couple of years to convince his critics.

Twitter

The true impact of Twitter wasn't felt until late last week when athletes and fans alike were left in the dark with no place to tweet about what they were eating for breakfast or what they were watching on TV. At least the brief outage meant that no other NFL players would be fined for complaining about the food at training camp and tech-savvy reporters got a reprieve from being reprimanded for breaking company rules for doing the unthinkable -- tweeting during practice.

Paula Abdul

As sad as it is, American Idol is a juggernaut that is run by Simon Cowell and, to a far lesser extent, Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson and Abdul. The show is like the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s with Simon playing the part of Michael Jordan and Abdul as Horace Grant, jumping ship with some good years still ahead. It will be her loss as Victoria Beckham steps in and plays the role of Dennis Rodman, making everyone forget about Abdul.

Reggie Bush

Even though Bush and Kim Kardashian have split, that doesn't mean he's no longer connected to the Kardashian family. He's still chatting it up with Khloe and Kourtney on Twitter, which is convenient considering the two sisters have their own reality show starting on E! next week. What are the odds that the sisters conspire to get Reggie and Kim back together on their show? Just saying.

New York Yankees

Things are finally returning to normal in the world. Football is back, Britney Spears is on tour and the Yankees are once again sweeping the Red Sox. The only thing more amazing than the Yankees' performance after losing eight straight to Boston was Alex Rodriguez's clutch hitting in the four-game series.

John Hughes

It was a sad day for fans of 1980s cinema last week when the writer-director died. Few had the kind of run that he had with Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Vacation, Sixteen Candles, Home Alone, Uncle Buck, Weird Science and Planes, Trains & Automobiles. You could argue Judd Apatow has had similar success this decade, but Hughes never fooled his audience with a two-and-half-hour drama advertised as a comedy.

Tiger Woods

A week after making news more for some possible flatulence than for winning the Buick Open, Woods once again showed why he's the best closer in sports (sorry, Mariano Rivera). Tiger rallied to win the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, becoming the first player in PGA Tour history to win seven times on the same course. Thankfully, David Feherty and his ultrasensitive microphones weren't around to steal the spotlight this time.