Ron Artest and Hope Solo now have something in common besides their mutual love of defense.

The duo will represent the sports world on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars," which revealed its cast of aspiring twinkle-toes Monday night.

Solo and Artest join an eclectic group of famous people who hope to jive, shimmy and tango their way to the coveted Mirrorball Trophy. Some of the more interesting names who will put on their dancing shoes for season 13 include Nancy Grace, Chaz Bono and Kristin Cavallari.

As goalkeeper for the U.S. Women's soccer team, Solo won her way into American hearts by leading her team to the World Cup final in July.

Artest, on the other hand, has been hard at work trying to win back the public after his role in a 2004 riot during a basketball game in Detroit. Fans planning to vote for Artest may have to be willing to adapt, however. The Los Angeles Lakers swingman's application to legally change his name to Metta World Peace was held up yesterday due to outstanding traffic warrants.

"Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg recently impersonated several tennis stars from the past 30 years in a photo shoot for New York Times Magazine. The results were just fantastic.

The funnyman recreated iconic images of John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi and a few others with accurate, yet humorous style.

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon has football on the brain.

After his team beat the Seattle Mariners on a walk-off grand slam from Johnny Damon Sunday, the skipper donned a Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet and spoke a modified version of football-speak.

Among the highlights here are Maddon referring to the Mariners as "the Seahawks" and a mid-question swig from a Gatorade bottle.

Maddon's bit earned him a thank-you text from Bucs coach Raheem Morris, who's been known to sport Rays gear.

Things got heated during Saturday's NAPA 200 in Montreal. They got really heated and, well, sort of weird after the race.

Patrick Carpentier's crew chief, Jerry Baxter, sought out Steve Wallace after Wallace spun out Carpentier while attempting to go three-wide during a turn. When he found him, he did something quite unexpected.

Yep, Baxter reached into Wallace's car and pulled his hair.



"Only girls pull hair," Wallace said after making sure his follicles were OK.

Georgetown's trip to China turned into a full-fledged international incident when a brawl broke out between the Hoyas and Bayi Rockets Wednesday night.

The melee was highlighted by players exchanging punches, chairs being thrown and spectators peppering Georgetown with water bottles, according to the Washington Post's Gene Wang, who was covering the exhibition game.

The ugliness was immediately preceeded by a hard foul on the Hoyas' senior guard Jason Clarke by the Rockets' Hu Ke.

Coach John Thompson III pulled his team off the floor for good after the melee and fled the arena.

"Tonight, two great teams played a very competitive game that unfortunately ended after heated exchanges with both teams," Thompson said in a statement. "We sincerely regret that this situation occurred. We remain grateful for the opportunity our student-athletes are having to engage in a sport they love here in China, while strengthening their understanding of a nation we respect and admire at Georgetown University."

Potential controversy lurks when Michael Vick speaks. Even more so when he's speaking about the dogfighting conviction that cost him two years in jail.

So it's no surprise that some of his comments made in a GQ article are raising eyebrows.

"[The media is] writing as if everyone feels that way and has the same opinions they do," Vick told the magazine. "But when I go out in public, it's all positive, so that's obviously not true ... You got the family dog and the white picket fence, and you just think that's all there is. Some of us had to grow up in poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods, and we just had to adapt to our environment. I know that it's wrong. But people act like it's some crazy thing they never heard of. They don't know."

After his release from prison, Vick was fiercely contrite about his actions, but this particular interview reveals a slightly different attitude.

"For a while, it was all 'Scold Mike Vick, scold Mike Vick, just talk bad about him, like he's not a person,'" he told GQ. "It's almost as if everyone wanted to hate me. But what have I done to anybody? It was something that happened, and it was people trying to make some money."

And then there's his desire to own a dog once again.

"I miss dogs, man," Vick said. "I always had a family pet, always had a dog growing up. It was almost equivalent to the prison sentence, having something taken away from me for three years. I want a dog just for the sake of my kids, but also me. I miss my companions."

White Sox fans nostalgic for the days when Frank Thomas ruled the South Side will be happy to know that they'll soon be able to reminisce over a frosty Big Hurt Beer.

The drink, which is supposed to become available in the Chicago area later this month, is, as you might expect, a heavy hitter. At 7.0 percent alcohol, the lager is described as "crisp" and "full-flavored" on the drink's website.

Thomas, of course, was recently toasted by the White Sox in the form of a life-sized statue inside U.S. Cellular Field.

Bottom's up, Big Hurt.

With the NBA lockout threatening a 2011-2012 season, players are being forced to confront the issue of what they'll do with all that potential free time should there be no basketball.

Delonte West apparently has a plan. The Boston Celtics guard tweeted last week that he filled out an application to work in the exciting world of home furnishing.

"It's official.. Pride 2 the side.. just filled out a application at Home Depot.. Lockout aint a game.." West micro-blogged.

West was forced to look for a domestic job after a judge put a kibosh on any potential overseas gig due to a weapons charge.

He would be following in the footsteps of Ron Artest, who applied for a job at Circuit City while he was a rookie with the Bulls.

Everything LeBron James does now is news, so when a nameless player picks his pocket and dunks on him during a Nike event in China, you can expect the internet to notice and get all viral about it.

You'll remember that a similar video, showing Xavier's Jordan Crawford dunking on James, became the Zapruder film of sports videos two years ago.

To be fair, it doesn't look like James was 100 percent committed to blocking this particular dunk.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats wide receiver Dave Stala is no stranger to elaborate touchdown celebrations. In fact, his hacky-sack-inspired dance last month led the Canadian Football League to revisit its end-zone guidelines.

His latest effort is an homage to the dizzy bat race. Stala had cause to spin, spin, spin after catching a 10-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Glenn during the Tiger-Cats' victory over the Toronto Argonauts Saturday night.

Admittedly, I'm a little rusty on my CFL knowledge, but it seems Stala should have plenty of dance routines in his pocket given his penchant to score. This was his league-leading seventh touchdown reception of the year.