Lake Erie Monsters Handing Out Bobblehead Shaquille O'Neal Dolls Friday Night

At 7-1 and 325 lbs., Shaquille O’Neal is a “Monster” for Cavalier opponents to deal with on the basketball court. Can you imagine a hockey opponents fear with the thought Shaq speeding toward them on the ice in skates with stick in hand about to hit the boards?! Although a Shaq bobblehead is considerably smaller than the man himself, this Friday, O’Neal’s bobblehead will still create a great deal of fear-free excitement for Monsters fans at Quicken Loans Arena.

When the Monsters take on the Texas Stars this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at The Q , the first 10,000 fans through the turnstiles will receive a Shaquille O’Neal Lake Erie Monsters bobblehead, compliments of FirstMerit Bank. The bobblehead, standing at seven inches in height, features the Cavaliers Lake Erie-sized center in a Monsters jersey and outfitted from head to toe in hockey equipment.

On top of receiving the Shaq/Monsters limited edition bobblehead, fans at Friday’s game will also be able to take advantage of affordable food and beverages, as it is also a Dollar Dog Night, with hot dogs and all 16 oz. Pepsi products being sold for $1 compliments of Sugardale, Pepsi and FOX Sports Ohio.

Cavaliers guard Mo Williams suffered a left shoulder sprain during Tuesday night’s game versus Toronto at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. He was examined by Cavaliers Head Team Physician Dr. Richard Parker and the Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Mark Schickendantz. Williams also received a MRI at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, the results of which confirmed the sprain. Williams is currently projected to be out for the next four to six weeks. His status will be updated as appropriate.

Last weekend at the World Championships, bobsledder Gillian Cooke gave onlookers a bit more of a view than they were bargaining for. While preparing for her run, Cooke's skin-tight pants split in half while bending over, exposing her G-string and rear end.

Despite the freezing cold air, somehow Cooke was completely unaware that her butt was exposed to the world. She focused on her run and continued to stretch.

Officials and onlookers, however, noticed and could barely contain their laughter. An official tried to be discrete and inform her.

Despite the split pants, Cooke and her sled partner Nicola Minichiello finished seventh place in the championships which took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland over the last weekend.

Cooke and Minichiello won a gold medal at the World Championships in Lake Placid in 2009, and are due to represent England at the Olympics in Vancouver, Canada in February.

Venus Williams choose some interesting attire in the first Grand Slam event of the tennis season. Williams apparently decided to forgo underwear at the Australian Open in her opening round win against Lucie Safarova. If you think that this is some funky photography, there were even more revealing shots than the ones that I choose to run in this story.

It will be interesting to see if Williams continues to flash the entire world when she plays round 2 of the tournament against Sybille Bammer.

The Cleveland Browns today announced the additions of Jon Sandusky, Keith Gilbertson, John Spytek and A.J. Durso to the clubs personnel department. In addition, the team signed defensive back Chris Roberson as a free agent for the 2010 season.

Sandusky joins the Browns as Director of Player Personnel after spending the previous nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, with the last two as Director of Pro Personnel. He spent his first six seasons with the club as a pro scout after joining the Eagles as an intern in the personnel department in 2001. A native of State College, Pa., Sandusky was a safety for Penn State from 1996-99. He is the son of former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Cleveland State students attending select Viking basketball games during the remainder of the 2009-10 season will be permitted to bring one free guest to games under a change in the student ticket policy that will go into affect beginning with the Sunday afternoon (Jan. 24) men's basketball game against Milwaukee.

Coined the "And One" program, current CSU students with a valid Viking card will be able to bring one family member or friend for free to several of the remaining basketball games this year. The program is designed to encourage greater particpation in CSU athletic events by its student body while also rewarding the students for their support.

"Our students are some of our best supporters and the team gets a lot of energy from the student section," CSU Director of Athletics Lee Reed said. "By allowing our students to bring a friend or family member to a game, we are both thanking them for their support while also helping to build greater support for the Vikings."

The "And One" benefit will be available at the following games during the remainder of the 2009-10 season:

The Cleveland Cavaliers win against the Atlanta Hawks on December 30th will stand. The NBA made the ruling earlier this afternoon weeks after the Hawks questioned the how the shot clock was reset on a crucial possession. The league stated "error did not have a clear impact on the game's outcome".

The league made the announcement with this press release that read in full:

The National Basketball Association announced today that Commissioner David Stern has denied the Atlanta Hawks' protest of their 106-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 30, 2009.

In the protest, the Hawks argued that the failure of the shot clock operator to reset the shot clock following a defensive rebound by Atlanta with 1:57 remaining in the game warranted a replay of the game from that point forward.

Commissioner Stern determined that the shot clock error did not have a clear impact on the game's outcome and therefore did not justify the extraordinary remedy of granting the protest and overturning the game's result.

The Cleveland Gladiators announced today that they have added 4 wide receivers. Ben Nelson, Cole Magner, Brent Holmes, and Chris Johnson were assigned to the team by the Areana Football One League office.

“We are excited about our talented group of wide receivers,” head coach Steve Thonn said in a press release. “Each guy brings a different dynamic to the roster and offensively, we are expecting to put up big numbers.”

Here is what we know about the players from a press release from the club earlier this afternoon.

Jose Offerman was banned for life by the Dominican winter baseball league for throwing a punch at an umpire during an argument on the field. Offerman appeared to hit umpire Daniel Rayburn in the face or neck with a fist Saturday. As you may remember, the 15 year Major League Baseball veteran had made headlines a few years back for his attack with a baseball bat that led to criminal charges. Rayburn and the other the umpires working the winter league game quit after the incident because they said the feared for their safety.

Here is the video of Offerman's latest incident: