With all the phonies out there (as Holden would say), how can you ever make sure if the person you're talking to on the 'net is really who they claim to be? Sure, sure, that's why we have awesome shows like To Catch a Predator, and now video gchat (holla!), but when it comes to celebrities, it's best just to assume the worst: that your I_Am_Paris superfan on MySpace is actually a 45-year old guy named Norbert from Wisconsin.

But once in awhile you get a legit celebrity, trying to take back their good name on the blogosphere, will actually come out and confirm their identity with a phone call to a reporter.

Which is how we now know that Shaquille O'Neal is now an avid Twitter-er.

CONTINUED »

The Olympics are over. If you have been reading Stereohyped for the last two weeks, I'm sure you know that it saddens me greatly. In honor of the "Redeem Team's" gold-medal win over Spain, here's a clip of 1992's infamous Dream Team. Goodbye, Olympics.

LeBron James graces the cover of next week's Time, and it's a far more flattering photo than the last James cover that made headlines. Surely, you know what I'm talking about. In the issue, which tells us the 100 athletes "to watch," James makes a promise that, after that humbling bronze medal win four years ago in Athens, the men's basketball team would definitely bring home the gold medal at the Olympics this year.

Who wouldn't jump at the chance to see our possible future president wearing those ridiculous basketball/booty shorts of yesteryear?

March Madness is a sports event that I usually get into despite my general lack of interest in sports. Since my alma mater didn't make the tournament this year, I'm less inclined to pay attention, but I still filled out a bracket using completely uneducated guesses. Above, enjoy the infamous 1983 championship win by NC State, a victory that surely ruined a few brackets. But it's the possibility of an underdog going all the way that gives March Madness it's charm, right?

• It's a sad state of affairs when ticket sales plummet after Jay-Z's named the headliner of a music festival. [SP]

• Ten reasons to set your Myspace page to private. [MTV]

• Obama's Mama: a very interesting woman. [NYT]

• Watch Black Magic, the new ESPN basketball documentary, this Sunday. I've heard good things. [ESPN]

• Snoop really markets himself relentlessly, doesn't he? I guess that's why he's still in the game after all these years. [AHH]

• It's really sad when one can find a more lasting love on I Love New York than on The Bachelor. [People]

• Omarion defends Chris Stokes against child molestation allegations. He said Stokes was always like a father figure to him. [SOHH]

• Kobe Bryant is the youngest player in NBA history to score 20,000 points. Sports. Yay. [EUR]

• Check the difference in enthusiasm — IDRIS ELBA! YAY! [BV]

• Marion Jones's sad steroids evidence. [TSG]

I don't know where I've been, but the seedy, sexist underbelly of the Knicks franchise is being exposed in a $10 million sexual harassment suit filed by Anucha Browne Sanders, a former executive at Madison Square Garden, against Knicks coach and basketball legend Isiah Thomas. Sanders says she was fired because of her complaints about Thomas, who she says called her bitch and a ho and claimed not to "care about white people." He also told the former college basketball player he loved her after a friendly game of horse.

For sheer entertainment value, I think, genius orator Stephon Marbury took the stand yesterday, when the case went off in a slightly different direction. Marbury was forced to admit that he lured Sanders' intern into his car for sex (after his cousin had speculated out loud about the attractiveness of her genitalia) and that he called Sanders a bitch (but not a black bitch, he is quick to say) when she told him he couldn't give away any more free tickets.

I concluded, from looking at the photos from outside the courtroom, that Marbury was happy to be there despite the somber proceedings. But that's probably because it's Thomas on trial and not him. And, I mean, who doesn't have sex with an intern at some point? Isn't that what they're there for?

[NYDN]

Eddie Griffin, a 25-year-old NBA player with a history of DUIs, died early Friday when a train collided with his car. Griffin had apparently driven over the railroad barrier into the path of the oncoming train. Last year, Griffin crashed his car into an SUV while he was drunk and masturbating to porn, according to witnesses.

This is sad, but, uh…I've got nothing.

[SI]

This has nothing at all to do with politics, but I just figured we would all want to see an afro'd, booty-short wearing Barack Obama playing basketball in the '70s. Happy Friday!

It turns out that the Game got arrested this weekend because he's a sore loser on the basketball court. Apparently, someone made him mad enough to pull out a gun and make threats during a game a few months ago. Now he's paying for it, starting with $50,000 bail.

Something about all of this waving around he's doing — guns at the bball court, wads of cash in a holding cell — makes me think that he may be trying to overcompensate for some things. Things that would be less impressive than cash and guns if he were to wave them around, if you know what I mean.

[Starpulse]

Although its referees allegedly harbor some subconscious racial bias, the NBA gets an A- for (diversity) effort. The authority on race and gender in sports, Richard Lapchick, gave the NBA the highest grade among men's sports leagues for the 15th year in a row. But what's holding them back from a perfect score? I wonder if the minus after that "A" had something to do with the fact that white men keep winning league MVP.

[Newsday]