It looks like one of Bonds’s ex-girlfriends is going to be posing for Playboy. If you don’t remember Ms. Bell, here’s a refresher. Judging from her picture I wouldn’t classify her as a Playboy type, but with some Photoshop magic anyone can be on the cover of a magazine nowadays.

If you’re still interested in hearing more about Mr. Bonds, Larry Stone at the Seattle Times wrote a piece on the frustration he felt covering one of baseball’s most polarizing figures.

There’s an article by Live Science claiming to know the secret to baseball’s best hitters. Apparently it has to do with perception, our eyes, and other science-y shit.

Meanwhile, Kazakh cyclists are testing positive for doping. This bike is NOT black. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself)

It also appears that David Beckham is a vicious kangaroo hating, animal rights destroying lover of rare animal skin boots. Okay, so he might not be any those things, but it looks like the California Supreme Court is saying no to the previously Beckham-endorsed Predator boot in versions of Kangaroo red, Kangaroo eastern grey, and Kangaroo western grey.

It appears those off-days greatly helped Giants slugger Barry Bonds. With just one at-bat this week, Bonds was put into the starting lineup today at Wrigley Field. He’s responded by slugging two homers and driving in six runs. Bonds has a chance to get up one more time in this game. If you’re near a TV, you may want to tune in. His two jacks today bring him to 753, just two back of Hank Aaron.

Across the pond, the British Open got underway today at Carnoustie in Scotland. The first round leader in Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who fired a six under par 65. Ireland’s Paul McGinley finds himself two back of Garcia. Tiger Woods shot two under par today and made a ridiculous 90 foot putt for birdie. Notable Americans under par include Stewart Cink (-2) and Jim Furyk (-1).

On the hardwood, guard Steve Francis has announced that he will return to the Houston Rockets. Francis has agreed to a deal to rejoin the team he played for from 2000-2004. With Francis joining Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, the Rockets have a very talented squad. However, none of them have ever won a playoff series so it’s likely a lost cause. We’ll see how Rick Adelman utilizes Francis in his more up-tempo offense.

Fresh off his performance at the ESPY Awards, LeBron James will be hosting the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, which airs in September. He’s obviously not the first marquee athlete to host SNL (Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, and Peyton Manning) but he should do a nice job. LeBron’s presence in SNL may make it worth watching for one week.

If you’re looking for the rosters for NCAA Football 2008, it looks like Fairdale Kings has completed them today. He has some guidelines he’d like you to follow when downloading the rosters. If you don’t follow them, his XBOX console may be flagged. We don’t want that.