The Knicks continue to fine-tune their perfect blend of mediocrity..

Knicks Trade Renaldo Balkman
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The Denver Nuggets acquired Renaldo Balkman from the Knicks in for guard Taurean Green, forward Bobby Jones and a second-round pick in 2010.

The Nuggets also get cash, in the trade announced Monday by Mark Warkentien, Denver's vice president of basketball operations. The 6-foot-8 Renaldo Balkman averaged 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 65 games for the Knicks last season. He has averaged 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in two seasons with the Knicks, shooting .499 from the field.

Knicks Trade Renaldo Balkman

Karma finally comes around for Sharpe James, AKA the real-life Clay Davis.. If you haven't seen the documentary "Street Fight", you should rent that and then read this story.

Sharpe James Sentenced to 27 Months
NYT

After lecturing a federal prosecutor for adhering “heartlessly” to a cold version of bureaucratic justice, a federal judge on Tuesday sentenced former Mayor Sharpe James of Newark to 27 months in prison for failing to disclose his romantic relationship with a woman whom he helped to get a lucrative deal on some city-owned land.

United States District Judge William Martini also ordered Mr. James to pay a $100,000 fine.

Mr. James’s former mistress, Tamika Riley, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution to the city.

In an angry and frustrated outburst from the bench, Judge Martini, who upheld the convictions of Mr. James and Ms. Riley last week, lashed out at the prosecutors from the United States attorney’s office in a remarkable admission. “Now I’m trying to talk about what happened here — what really happened,” he said.

Mr. James was convicted in April on fraud and corruption charges for illegally steering nine parcels of city-owned land to Ms. Riley between 2001 and 2005. She paid a total of $46,000 for the lots and resold them — often just weeks later — for a total of $665,000 without making any improvements to them. In addition to the fraud and corruption charges, Ms. Riley, 39, was found guilty of tax evasion and of lying about her income to collect housing subsidies.

via CNN

Steak and Ale Closing, Files for Bankrupcy with Bennigan's

Restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and will shut their doors, less than two months after their parent company said it was not preparing to do so.

The companies filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in the Eastern District of Texas. Their parent company - privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group - is based in Plano, Texas.

In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, a company seeks to liquidate its assets and shut down.
'Closed for business'

Employees at a Bennigan's in Plano were greeted by a sign Tuesday on the front door reading "WE ARE CLOSED. THANK YOU." Next door, a Steak & Ale sat empty in a deserted parking lot but there was no sign posted.

A waiter named Steve, who wouldn't give his last name, said the staff got a phone call Tuesday morning telling them the restaurant was closing.

Neither Bennigan's nor the Metromedia Restaurant Group returned calls for comment. A lawyer listed in the filing, J. Michael Sutherland of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal LLP, did not return a call.

According to a recorded message on the law firm's answering system, not all stores using the Bennigan's and Steak & Ale trade names have filed for bankruptcy and some franchise locations were not included in the filing.

Never been to Bennigan's, do they have those in NY?

Bennigan's Closing Chain of Restaurants
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The parking lot at the Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern in Dallas near Interstate 635 remained eerily quiet Tuesday during what would normally be the lunch rush.

Charlie Parke and two co-workers at Valspar paint company walked up to the restaurant in the 12500 block of East Northwest Highway to find the front door padlocked.

They read the sign that read “Closed until further notice.” When they were informed the chain was closing restaurants across the country, Mr. Parke said, “So 'closed until further notice' means ‘closed forever?’”

I'm posting this in the hopes that someone can explain why I should care about it.

Christie Brinkley divorce drama begins

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Christie Brinkley divorce proceedings aren't underway yet but already the spectacle has begun. You may recall the 54-year-old Brinkley filed for divorce from Peter Cook after catching him cheating with a 19-year-old office assistant. If that wasn't humiliation enough, Brinkley now has to deal with Cook's new love inserting herself into the messy divorce proceedings.

After Brinkley kicked him to the curb, Cook began dating single mom Suzanne Shaw. She's the former lover of a Park Avenue dentist who dumped her when she was six months pregnant. Because of that experience, she says she sympathizes with Brinkley. "I've been there, and I feel for her," Shaw said.

However, Shaw is concerned about the public beating she is sure Brinkley has planned for Cook and would like the former supermodel to back off her boyfriend for the sake of the kids. "He obviously made a mistake," she says. "But one mistake doesn't erase years of being a good person.

Time to hide your credit cards from the kids, a new Spongebob Squarepants DVD is dropping on the 15th entitled Pest of the West. Reportedly the Pest of the West DVD is a gritty animated adaptation of Sam Peckinpah's classic western "The Wild Bunch," and its gritty recreation of the original's violence makes it the first Spongebob DVD with an NC17 rating.

Pest of the West - New Spongebob Squarepants

The Gritty Groove Record Company was created by keebler elves in the Caucus mountains. It was once thought that the name "Gritty Groove" referred to a musical style but in fact it harkens back to the gritty grooves of the elves' shoes after they walk around in cookie crumbs all day. This is true. Look it up in Wikipedia! I'm not just making this up for google traffic. At all. Dude stop looking at me like that.

Gritty Groove Record Company

Tricia Walsh Smith is a writer and playwright, who is stepping up with big moves on her work entitled "Addictions", and has also been in the news for her lawsuit against a tv producer:

Bonkers Playwright Walsh-Smith Files Suit Against TV Writer Wainwright
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Tricia Walsh-Smith, whose new play The Last Journey was presented at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut in January, has filed suit against writer Sally Wainwright for breach of copyright, according to the U.K.'s Legal Week.

Walsh-Smith, who penned the play Bonkers in 1987, claims that Wainwright appropriated her idea for the ITV1 series, which was also titled "Bonkers." That series, which starred Liza Tarbuck, was co-produced by Sparkhouse Productions and Lime Pictures.

In a statement Walsh-Smith's lawyer said, "Following the broadcast of ITV1's pilot episode of its new comedy drama 'Bonkers,' Miss Walsh-Smith instructed us to act for her with regard to apparent breach of copyright. . . . Miss Walsh-Smith wrote the stage play Bonkers in 1987 and it was produced and toured outside London, appearing at various venues."...

The tennis player Alona Bondarenko (Alyona Bondarenko) has risen to internet fame recently thanks to her appearance in a K Swiss ad entitled "Keep it Pure".. you can see the alona/alyona Bondarenko photo and a brief interview here:

Alona Bondarenko

The "Keep It Pure" Mystery

Last week, we introduced you to Alona Bondarenko and her K-Swiss ad. Satisfied that people have now seen that (no we're not that's why we're showing it again), we contacted the WTA and asked for some time with Ms. Bondarenko.

We spoke on phone after her second round victory at the Bausch & Lomb Championships on Thursday night.

Darren: Alona, you've become quite the sensation here. Fans of the Sports Biz blog here really thought highly of your K-Swiss ad.

Alona: It's a nice picture.

Darren: I agree. Have you heard it from the players on tour?

Alona: (Chuckle) Yeah. Tennis Magazine is in the players lounge so I've had a lot of players come up to me and tell me it's beautiful...

Umm yeah. I guess every day is a slow news day on the intarwebs.

Slow news day apparently, as the hottest story is a mysterious reflection in Dick Cheney's sunglasses.

Cheney sunglasses: Odd reflections

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People are having so much fun with Dick Cheney's sunglasses -- judging from comments already logged at the chicago tribune and queries on the Internet -- that we thought we'd reprise some of the suggestions for what's actually reflected in Dick Cheney's sunglasses, flyfishing on the Snake River in Idaho:

"It's a pack of Camels,'' C. Morris wrote.

"The flashback from the WMDs he's using to blow up fish with,'' writes John E.

"Of course she's a naked lady,'' writes Dawn Miller.

"Looks like someone next to a Ski-doo,'' writes Liz.

Well, it's not a naked lady, the vice president's office assures all. And in fact an enlargement of the photo bears out the official explanation: It's a hand on the fly fishing rod.