Derrick Rose quickly went from the NBA’s 2009 Rookie of the Year (and the Chicago Bulls’ savior) to the center of an NCAA investigation into allegations that he had someone take the SAT test for him so that he could play at Memphis.
According to the Chicago-Sun Times, his high school grades were even altered to help him stay academically eligible.
The investigation has once again brought attention to the NBA’s age regulation rule, in which players have to be at least 19 years old in order to play professional basketball.
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports, asks: “Why the heck did he have to …read more

As luck would have it, just tonight I was sitting in my living room and I could see into the upstairs window of my neighbor’s house.  Their son was jumping on the bed and getting considerable height.  I kept thinking that it looked like he was having a lot of fun and it appears that he wasn’t the only one with bed-jumping on his mind!

Olympic gold-medalist, Shawn Johnson, decided to warm up for her performance on Dancing With the Stars this week by jumping on the World’s Biggest Bed in New York’s Bryant Park!
The gymnast led the kick-off of InterContinental …read more

The city of Des Moines has created a fun promotion assisted by Olympic gymnast, Shawn Johnson. If you click on the widget below, you can send a personalized message to a friend, family member, or fellow Shawn Johnson fan from Shawn Johnson herself. Yes, the message encourages them to relocate to Des Moines, but the whole thing is fun anyway. Give it a try.

Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, the Hamm Brothers and other US Olympic gymnasts are still on tour with Disney’s “Tour of the Gymnastic Superstars.” Here’s a brief clip of what goes on behind the scenes at the tour, plus a few works from Nastia Liukin about her plans after gymnastics.

Shawn Johnson, the Hamm Brothers, and other gymnastic stars are touring the country in the Disney-produced Tour of the Gymnastics Superstars. The video below shows Johnson performing on the balance beam:

The Disney-sponsored 2008 Tour of the Gymnastic Superstars kicked off on Sunday, September 7 in Reno. The 36-city tour features stars from the US mens and womens Olympic gymnastic teams, including Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, as well as favorites such as Paul and Morgan Hamm and Shannon Miller. The Tour will criss-cross the United States until November 16. For times, dates, and locations–and to buy tickets–click on the icon above.

Did you watch the Oprah Olympics show yesterday? It was a tear-jerker, but fun. No one does the patriotic, inspriational thing quite like Oprah. If you missed the show, I’ll be posting clips from it as they become available. Below is a segment with US Gymastics Gold Medalists, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. Take a look:

Ortega Mexican Food Products is sponsoring a sweepstakes for which the grand prize is a chance to meet Shawn Johnson, Morgan Hamm, and Paul Hamm in person during their World Tour of Gymnastics Superstars event in St. Paul, Minnesota this fall. Included in the prize are admission to the event on November 9 (2008), backstage passes, roundtrip airfare, one night’s hotel accommodations, and $500 spending money. The sweepstakes is open to residents of the 48 contiguous US states plus Washington DC who are 13 years or older. You can enter once daily from now through October 15.
There are …read more

Oprah Winfrey hosted 150 US Olympians for the taping of her season premiere yesterday in Chicago’s Millenium Park. She invited the whole team and most were able to attend, including Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Shawn Johnson, and Nastia Liukin. Also on hand was Chicago’s Mayor, Richard Daley. He and Winfrey made clear their hopes that the 2016 Games will be held in Chicago. The episode will air on ABC on Monday, September 8 (2008). Below is just a peek at what happened yesterday:

Shawn Johnson, the 16-year-old Gold and Silver Medalist in gymnastics, was greeted by more than 8000 people at the Wells Fargo Arena in her hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. Here’s a little of the welcome home ceremony: