Algeria's soccer players Rafik Saifi, right, and Rafik Djebbour, practice Friday in Durban, South Africa. (AP)

The match against the United States and Algeria was great World Cup soccer, a tension-filled affair that eventually went the way of the USA.

On the line for both countries was a trip to the next round, so it's understandable that the losing Algeria squad be disappointed with the trip home. But slapping a female reporter to take out your aggression?

According to a report at Yahoo! Sports, that's exactly what Algerian player Rafik Saifi did during post-game interviews. Asma Salifi, a female reporter for the Algerian newspaper Competition, says she was standing in the interview area when Saifi walked by and, apparently unprovoked, reached out and hit her.

"I said nothing to him and he reached over and hit me," Halimi said to Yahoo! Sports. "So I hit him back. I said nothing to him first."

The incident, which reportedly happened in front of dozens of media witnesses, concluded when Salifi smacked the player in the mouth, at which point he hurled a sports drink bottle against the wall and left.

The Algerian team offered no official response to the attack.

Halimi says she plans to file a formal complaint with FIFA.

Richard A. Chapman~Sun-Times

For all the hype, all the promise and all the potential of Mark Prior, his career in baseball may be officially over.

Yes, for those of you wondering at that statement, his career was only mostly over after his last injury-filled flameout with his hometown San Diego Padres in 2009. But according to a report in the Trib, he was injured yet again in his latest quest, a desperate grasp at the glory days that ended far too soon.

"Mark has been through so many timelines, at this point I'm almost allergic to the word," Prior's agent John Boggs said in January. "But he's out there. He's getting himself ready. And when he's ready, I'm sure you'll hear a lot about him. Then we'll invite teams to come watch him throw. And hopefully, he'll be the next Ben Sheets."

Prior, it seems, was nailed with a comebacker in the pitching shoulder in what may be the final divine message that it's time for him to take his Cubs signing bonus - a then-record $10.5 million in 2001 - and hang 'em up in style. For that matter, the $15,00 a month the Padres were paying him to rehab without ever pitching an inning for them would make for a decent start at retirement.

The injury was not reported as serious, but he's apparently been shut down for three weeks as a precautionary measure.

As baseball fans watch Joe Mauer and Mark Teixeira, the two names most notable as Cubs draft considerations in 2001, win MVP awards with the Minnesota Twins and help slug the Yankees back to championships in New York, it's hard not to think about how Prior is synonymous with broken hopes in Cubdom.

It's a story of a career made even more sad when you consider Prior hasn't turned 30 yet and has already had multiple shoulder reconstructions.

"If I can get back to 80 percent or 90 percent of what I used to be, then that's still pretty good. I look back to those three, four years in the big leagues, and I pitched pretty well and did the things I had to do to help us win games," Prior said during Spring Training with the Padres in 2009. "I don't know if those memories haunt me, but they motivate me."

The fact that he still feels the competitive impulse to try to drag his battered arm through the violent process of major league pitching again does say something about his fire, but maybe it's better for him at this point to just put the tattered dream on ice for good.

Milton Bradley works on his birding skills. (Photo courtesy SeattleDawg18)

Milton Bradley, maybe you vaguely remember him bringing his unique skill set to the North Side Nine last season, is playing his part to perfection once again.

Just a few weeks ago, the explosive former Cubs outfielder equated himself with the likes of Kanye West and Ron Artest as baseball's bad boy:

"If I was a musician, I'd be Kanye West. If I was in the NBA, I'd be Ron Artest. In baseball, they've got Milton Bradley. I'm that guy. You need people like me, so you can point your finger and go, 'There goes the bad guy."

OK, Milton. What finger were you talking about pointing again?

Bradley, now blessing the Seattle Mariners with his talents, didn't waste any time getting into the controversy column this season. During a game Friday night at the Texas Rangers, also a former home for the hot-headed one, Bradley was caught on camera answering fans' taunts with a bird flip. The Dallas Morning News' Rangers Blog reports on the incident, which apparently was scrubbed from the tape-delayed broadcast.

Milton was unavailable for comment after the game and Mariner's manager Don Wakamatsu could only muster what will be the first of many "no comments" this season.

So, if you're keeping track, Bradley now has one finger flipped on the season, matching his hits through Friday night. Serendipitous.

Cubs fans, you're gonna miss the big lug this season, aren't you?

Mr. Cub is doing his best Papa Bear impersonation - advising one of the kids to tell the truth.

Ernie Banks tells the Trib's Fred Mitchell that he wants to see Sammy Sosa pull a Mark McGwire: fess up, come clean and move on:

"I would say just what Mark McGwire did," Banks said. "Come clean with it. Explain it to them. ... Just say: 'This is what happened.' It is hard to do, to admit this. Just admit it and live with it and understand it. I am sure a lot of people will forgive him."

Sammy has always denied using anything heavier than Flintstones vitamins, but with the Cardinals' slugging first baseman admitting to juicing during the two stars' historic homer battle in 1998, the pressure continues to mount on Sosa to say he cheated, too.

But when you have Banks on your back, it takes the movement to a whole new level. The Hall-of-Famer is easily one of the iconic faces of the organization. If Sammy has something to tell the world, having Banks in his corner to help him through the media maelstrom is about as good a guardian angel as you can get.

"I will just explain it to him and how the people are," Banks said. "I don't think he really understood that. People are for you; they want to see you do well. They are forgiving people. We haven't won in over 100 years, so this audience here is pretty special."

The Watch is officially on. Brett Favre is doing his now annual retirement song and dance.

Favre, who spent the NFC Championship game getting pounded into the turf courtesy of the Super Bowl-bound New Orleans Saints, tells ESPN's Ed Werder he's leaning toward ending his career. Again. For now.

In fact, the 40-year-old, who said after his valiant, but losing effort in the Louisiana Superdome Sunday night that he felt more like 49, said he's "highly unlikely" to come back. If true - and until the middle of training camp, nothing is certain - Favre will end a brilliant career on an interception at the end of regulation.

Of course, the man's probably too beat up to get into his Wranglers by himself, so this declaration may end up meaning very little, as Favre retirement announcements often do. So Vikings owner Zygi Wilf would be well-advised to keep the corporate jet available and coach Brad Childress should have his Escalade gassed up for the trip to the airport.

And all NFL fans need to come to grips with the beginning of the Favre Watch season, which runs through mid-summer. Maybe we can make a drinking game out of it or something.

Get ready for the Internet to explode again: A journalist, author and recovering sex addict himself is reporting that Tiger Woods IS seeking out treatment for sex addiction.

Benoit Denizet-Lewis reports that a source with knowledge of the golfer's treatment has confirmed Woods is at Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Miss., according to a story at nydailynews.com.

"We mock or it we say it's not a real addiction," said the journalist and regular New York Times Magazine contributor. "But it's very much the real deal."

The rumors about Woods seeking treatment have been percolating for several weeks as the maelstrom of Woodsgate quieted down just a bit. This is sure to spin the frenzy machine back into full gear - in addition to the Daily News, ESPN already started picking up on the story Tuesday afternoon.

Denizet-Lewis, who also contributes to the sports blog Deadspin, says that rehab for sex addiction is no different that any other addiction treatment course. He says Woods will have to sign a celibacy agreement - no masturbation, even - and will be enrolled in 12-step programs, art therapy and a most-likely cringe-inducing bought of raw truth.

"He'll do like everyone else - get up early, eat the same food and go through the same emotions. ... It's a really intense experience," Denizet-Lewis tells the Daily News.

Now, surely everyone is just gonna lay back and let the man recover in peace, right?

OKBlitz is reporting that former Oklahoma Sooner and oft-injured Bears defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek was arrested following some sort of bar-fueled dust-up in Norman, Okla.

Dvoracek was charged with public intoxication, assault and battery and interfering with an official process, according to the report, at Seven47.

Dvoracek played 13 games in four years for the Bears after being the definition of an injury-prone player. He missed all of the 2009 campaign after tearing his ACL during the preseason, and has ended each year of his NFL career on injured reserve.

If the charges are true, this is the most hitting he's done in a while.

Brittny Gastineau has reached another life milestone. Reality show star. Model. Reconciled half-sister.

The abandoned daughter of former New York Sack Exchange standout Mark Gastineau finally got to meet Killian Marcus Gastineau, the until-now secret son her dad fathered when he ran off with Brigitte Nielsen in the 1980s - before she took up with Flavor Flav, of course.

People.com has a bunch of detail on the heartwarming meeting that clearly has really impacted Brittny's life for good:

"It was very weird and surreal," says Brittny, who hasn't been in touch with her father for several years. "I didn't cry. I'm too tough to cry. But we hugged, we talked about old stories. He said he watched Gastineau Girls in Italy, so he knew what I looked like.

I asked him a million questions, but he doesn't speak English. He's really cute. He's like 6',5", blonde. He looks exactly like Brigitte."

Another precious moment born of reality TV - and a philandering sports star. Sigh.

Video turned up on YouTube that's apparently Adam James giving a brief tour of his holding pen, now infamous as the pit where former Texas Tech head footbal coach Mike Leach's career went to die.

It's a dark, grainy cell phone video that doesn't show much, but you get the idea that's it's a somewhat small tech closet and no great pace to spend three hours.

Royce White came to Tubby Smith's Golden Gophers squad as one of the most highly-touted recruits in the country at forward. He leaves it with nothing more than the hope of having the highest amount of pageviews for his video resignation.

White says he's leaving the Minnesota basketball team because of his legal troubles and the stress they are causing his family and the program.

White has been a suspension machine since heading to the University of Minnesota. First losing time - and doing time - for a theft and assault on a Mall of America security guard incident, and most recently for a dustup over accusations involving a stolen laptop on campus.

Seems that White has had enough, as he discusses in his video, and is leaving the team to concentrate on getting his life in order. Nobody can deny him that worthy goal, but the self broadcast is a little odd. Hopefully it all works out in the end.

Minnesota athletics director Joel Maturi said that White hasn't informed anyone in his department about a decision.

White is currently indefinitely suspended from the team