The Round Rock Express (minor league baseball team outside of Austin, TX) has a new pitcher: ‘Rojo’ Johnson.

- SPORTSBYBROOKS is in disbelief over Marko Jaric’s ability to convince Victoria Secret model Adriana Lima (right) to marry him.

- DEADSPIN has video of an Indiana high school basketball game where Spencer Krhin scored 11 unanswered points in 46 seconds to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat.

- DEADSPIN also pulls together some numbers about the Connecticut men’s basketball team to see if Jim Calhoun’s numbers were right. (It seems they weren’t.)

- YARDBARKER brings us video of the budding bromance between Nate Robinson and Will Ferrell. Sooooo cute!

Is it a bad omen when your mascot catches on fire before the biggest game of the season?

From SPORTSbyBROOKS.com:

Team introductions are a chance for the home team to get fired up. However, the ORLANDO SENTINEL says that the Jacksonville Jaguars took a different approach yesterday when coming out for their game against the Tennessee Titans, actually setting their mascot on fire. Apparently Jaxson de Ville got a little too close to the pyrotechnics as the team charged out of the locker room, causing his stuffed ears to go up in flames.

Luckily, he was able to rush off the field and get put out before he did his full impersonation of Michael Jackson shooting a Pepsi commercial. (I guess that makes him the Jackson-Ville Jaguar. Get it?) But I think it’s safe to consider your mascot bursting into flames as a bad omen, and perhaps it was as the Jags blew a 14-3 halftime lead and fell to the Titans, 24-14.

Mike Bianchi of the ORLANDO SENTINEL said after the game that the locker room “smelled of a dying team.” Usually, that’s only said about the Raiders, when the staff forgets to clean well enough to clear Al Davis’ “old man smell” out of the team offices. Clearly Jack Del Rio Death Watch is on.

I know there’s a human being trapped in those suits, but I can’t help chuckling when I think about a mascot setting on fire. Blame it on Will Ferrell’s character in “Old School.”

Will Ferrell and Pete Carroll pranked the USC football team for Halloween…

On a whole, the 2008 ESPY’s were pretty damn funny this year, from Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s mock audition tapes to Darren Howard’s dance moves.

I thought ESPN had a rather odd choice for host, going with musician Justin Timberlake, until he got on stage, that is. Dude is pretty funny – especially his sports “research” montage where he gets up close and personal with Terrell Owens, Ozzie Guillen and Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy.

“Who cares man, this guy never plays anyway!” Freaking funny.

Here is Ferrell and Rielly’s pre-show demands for ESPN to host the 2008 ESPYS: