- With the Preakness’s decision to restrict alcohol in the infield, STEADY BURN fondly remembers the good ol’ days of the Terrorlawn.

- 20 SECOND TIMEOUT provides a nice breakdown of the All-NBA voting.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS informs us that USC head coach allegedly gave $1,000 to one of O.J. Mayo’s handlers after Mayo signed his letter of intent as a high school senior.

- DEADSPIN has a few quotes from former NFL-er Tony Banks, who says he used to date Dirk Nowitzki’s girlfriend/fiancee.

- THE LOVE OF SPORTS lists 10 Guys You Love to Hate, and it’s a good one.

There’s a weird story coming out of Dallas and it involves the Mavs’ best player, Dirk Nowitzki.

Dallas police officers went to Nowitzki’s house to arrest Cristal Taylor after confirming the existence of warrants for her arrest in Texas and Missouri, according to Dallas Police Department spokesman Lt. Andrew Harvey.

Sources close to the situation confirmed to ESPN.com the warrants were discovered when Nowitzki’s team of legal advisers hired a private investigator to research Taylor’s background, amid growing concern among those closest to the player inside and outside the Mavericks’ organization. Two Dallas television stations (KXTA-TV and WFAA-TV) have reported Taylor to be Nowitzki’s fiancée.

Taylor was still in Dallas County Jail on Thursday on $20,000 bond after being taken into custody on warrants accusing her of violating a probation sentence for two counts of forgery and one count of felony stealing in Missouri and a theft-of-service charge for failing to pay for an estimated $10,000 in dental work in Beaumont, Texas.

She was booked into jail Wednesday as Cristal Taylor, but authorities in both states have linked numerous aliases to the 37-year-old, including Crystal Ann Taylor, Christian Julie Wellington, Christian B. Travino, Crystal Nobles, Christy Nobles, Kristi Briana Westerhauf, Cristal Taylor Westerhaus, Christa A. Westerhays, Deborah Jackson, Shana Mancini, Crista Santiago, Crystal Ann Santiago, Crystall Ann Taylor and Kristin L. Rogers.

When pressed about the nature of his relationship with Taylor, after talking to reporters for some seven minutes, Nowitzki said three times that he would not comment further and asked if there were any more “basketball questions” before the interview was halted.

This story has a mug shot of Ms. Taylor/Wellington/Travino/Nobles/Westerhauf/Westerhaus/Westerhays/
Jackson/Mancini…ah, forget it. If you’re expecting her to be a knockout, be prepared for disappointment.

The first thing that jumps to mind — can’t Dirk do better than a 37 year-old, average-looking felon? What’s he thinking here? How does he get into this situation?