Check out this incredible shot by Phil Mickelson, who hits it backwards out of a bunker:

Check out the degree of difficulty on this shot…

Here’s the latest episode of Kenny Mayne’s “Mayne Street”…

For some reason, I didn’t find this one to be very funny. What did you think?

- SPORTSbyBROOKS has the low down on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and his new plan to have ESPN blacklist certain blogs.

- DEADSPIN details why the Angels’ stadium sucks, including the view of the 57 freeway.

- THE LOVE OF SPORTS writes about the miracle of the USA National Team advancing to the semifinals of the Confederations Cup.

- YARDBARKER has a preview of the 2009 NHL Draft.

- Sadfans.com has this crazy video of a brawl between a Yankees and Marlins fan at a recent game in Florida:

- DEADSPIN has video of a very bitter Artie Lange crapping all over Joe Buck on the debut of his new show on HBO. (Side note: I love Paul Rudd.) (Side note #2: Talk show hosts are supposed to be self-deprecating and/or funny. Joe Buck is neither.) AWFUL ANNOUNCING has some follow up on the exchange, while THE BIG LEAD wonders if Lange hadn’t appeared on the show, would there be any buzz?

- BRANDON MARSHALL clears the air on his blog. He’s leaving Denver.

- YARDBARKER notes that it wasn’t the T-Wolves that broke the news about Kevin McHale’s departure. It was Kevin Love, via Twitter.

- Click over to SPORTSbyBROOKS for the most misleading post headline I’ve ever seen. Read the post and then try to remember what it was supposed to be about. Those who make it to the end will be treated to a shot of Pam Oliver’s badonkadonk.

SI.com put a collection of videos together of sports controversies that we’re painfully awkward to watch on film.

Here are a couple of my faves:

The only one of these I saw live was the Broadway Joe one, which was incredibly hilarious. Poor guy had to go to rehab after that, when anyone one of us would have wanted to kiss Suzy Kolber after having a few pops at a football game, too. Sad.

You know what else is sad? Jim Rome got popular after being a sniveling little punk. Loved the table flip from Everett, although one punch to the Rome’s jugular was certainly in order, so it’s a shame he stopped himself.

I don’t know how old the man is who threw this pass, but scouts need to get to Pittsburgh ASAP and recruit this guy:

Just judging by this video, I think we can determine that this guy has great size, arm strength and accuracy. As long as his receivers are all 70-feet high, he should succeed at any level…

This pretty much sums up the Magic’s performance in the final minute of regulation of Game 4. Keep an eye on the blonde standing up behind Mark Jackson.

Yes, Courtney Lee missed the game-winning alley-oop last night and the Magic went onto lose Game 2 and find themselves down, 0-2, heading back to Orlando.

Here’s the video…

I’m seeing some people describing it as his “Nick Anderson moment” while others are referring to the play as a layup. It wasn’t a layup. It was an alley-oop, and it was a difficult shot. If you see where Lee catches the ball — he actually catches it underneath the backboard as his body continues to rise. He has so much momentum going towards the baseline that his head is actually under the backboard when he attempts the layup. Complicating matters, seven-footer Pau Gasol came over to help, which made the shot that much more difficult.

Impossible shot? No, it was definitely make-able, but on average I’d say that a player successfully converts the shot maybe 30% of the time. Had the pass not led him so much, it would have been a much easier shot. That’s not to say that it’s Hedo Turkoglu’s fault either. It is a tough play to convert with Lamar Odom’s length right in your face.

It’s a shame, really, because the Magic didn’t get any calls down the stretch and still had a chance to tie the series and make things really interesting as both teams head back to Orlando. Now, barring three wins at home for the Magic, a Laker title looks inevitable.

Wearing a NY Yankees cap — ha! — LeBron James answers a few questions in the aftermath of his team’s loss in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Key points:

At the 2:54 mark, he (sort of) answers a question about whether or not he’ll sign an extension this summer.

At the 3:25 mark, he (sort of) addresses his feelings about playing in Cleveland long term.

At the 4:27 mark, he (sort of) answers a question about what the Cavs need.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS details the budding feud between Fran Tarkenton and Marcellus Wiley over what Tarkenton said about Brett Favre.

- As a caucasian baller myself, I could be offended by the tribute that WITH LEATHER posted, but I’m not. It was funny, especially the part about Dirk.

- DEADSPIN has video of some of the cooler kids in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, including one little dude who likes cookies more than Erin Andrews.

- THE LOVE OF SPORTS takes aim at Brett Favre, for obvious reasons.

Check out this funny video of comedian Mike Polk’s “hastily made videos.” Ernie Johnson does a nice job of setting them up…

Ron Artest responded to Chris Webber and Charles Barkley making fun of the way he talks…or didn’t talk…

I don’t know about you, but this guy is really growing on me.

Yesterday I posted about Cubs’ starter Carlos Zambrano being ejected during a game against the Pirates after going bananas on home plate umpire Mark Carlson.

Well here’s the video of Big Z’s tirade:

Love the bat-to-the-cooler part, although it kind of reminds me of one Andrew Bernard’s reaction in an episode of “The Office” when Jim hides his cell phone in the ceiling tiles and he can’t find it.

Classic.

Wisely, I might add…

The NBA announced Wednesday that it has rescinded Howard’s sixth technical foul of the playoffs, which he was given for taunting Anderson Varejao after a layup in the fourth quarter of the Magic’s 116-114 overtime victory Tuesday night. Cleveland’s forward had draped his arms around Howard in a failed attempt to stop him from scoring.

Howard’s total of technicals for the postseason is thus back down to five. Players receive a one-game suspension after reaching seven technical fouls and further one-game suspensions for every other technical thereafter.

I don’t like taunting, but what Howard did wasn’t taunting. He didn’t stand over Varejao for any length of time or show him up. He made a nice play and celebrated; he should be allowed to glance at the player he just worked over for a split second. Heck, the refs let Mo Williams whip the ball at Howard in Cleveland, and he didn’t get a tech.

- SPORTS BY BROOKS has an update on Jenn Sterger (pictured). Did you forget who she is? Yeah, me too.

- BLACK SPORTS ONLINE takes J.R. Smith to task for flashing “gang signs” in Game 4.

- CAMEL CLUTCH BLOG has video of Jose Canseco’s first MMA fight. (It didn’t go well.)

- DEADSPIN has the story of an umpire who convinced a catcher to let him call the pitches for Randy Johnson for an entire game.

- BLEACHER REPORT has fashion hits and misses from the French Open.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS has photos of Reggie Bush’s girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, playing football on the beach. (One question — how in the world did the photographer fail to get a shot of her infamous derrier?)

- DEADSPIN informs us that Ricky Rubio’s camp is trying to keep him out of Memphis and Oklahoma City, but Sacramento would be okay. Wait, what? How is Sac-Town any better than OKC? He’d rather play with Kevin Martin than Kevin Durant (and Russell Westbrook)?

- Regular readers know I have no love for Laker fans, but Ryan Kane of LAKE SHOW LIFE does a tremendous job of calling out Sasha “The (Self-Proclaimed) Machine” Vujacic about his poor play this season.

- ZONER SPORTS has video of Brian Kenny’s entertaining interview with Floyd Mayweather. The two go at it pretty good.

- DEADSPIN has the story of Warriors PR Director Raymond Ridder, who spends his free (or is it on-the-clock) time posting positive comments about management (under an assumed name, mind you) in the Warriorsworld forums.