Last summer, Ben Gordon was offered a 5-year, $50M contract extension from the Chicago Bulls but whined that as the team’s leading scorer, that wasn’t enough.  Now its only a few weeks from camp and Gordon’s contract status is still in limbo.  He still thinks he deserves something similar to the $71M deal the Bulls recently gave to Luol Deng, but the Bulls disagree.

As a restricted free agent, his options are limited.  He can sign an offer sheet with another team – which the Bulls can match – but no one with ample cap space remaining (read: Memphis Grizzlies) is willing to pony up for his services.  Or he can force a sign-and-trade, but again, no one wants to pay him a penny more than the Bulls already offered and he rejected.  It appears his contract demands are too absurd for any NBA team to consider for the streaky combo guard from UConn. (more…)

After her less-than-stellar answer to a simple question concerning maps during the “Miss Teen USA” pageant Lauren Caitlin Upton appeared on the Today show to redeem herself.

Matt Lauer and Ann Curry, ever the defenders, hand-fed South Carolina’s finest cartographer her dignity by strategically answering the questions they asked before Upton had a chance to.

Curry: “…And it was the first time you had actually been on national television. Here you were competing and it was…it was…just one of those moments when you were asked this question…I’m sure everything came at you at once.”

Upton: “Yes. Everything did come at me at once.”

Moments later Lauer chimed in with an assist:

Lauer: “Please don’t let it get you down. I mean…and I know the fact that it’s on YouTube and a lot of people are watching it right now probably has to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand you think it’s kind of funny; on the other hand it’s not all that funny to you, is it?”

Upton: “Um, no, but then again looking back on it I am sitting here laughing at myself.”

Her answer mirrors Lauer’s 50/50 split of the incident being funny/not funny.
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