Blonde ambition

She's big-haired. She's bad. And she's still making news.

Tonya Harding is prepping for the Mixed Martial Arts Extreme Cage Fight War Jan. 24 near Detroit.

On the Web site tonyaharding

.com, the former figure skater says her goal is "having enough money to go hunting and fishing and go to the big four-wheel-drive mud bogs. And every once in a while put on a really pretty dress and go to dinner at a place like Applebee's or something."

Don't you just hate when people become famous and then go and get uppity on you?

Rewrite too long

You can't plan too far ahead.

Or maybe you can.

An ad for Wilson commemorative footballs found its way to YouTube last week (YouTube. )

The commercial, obviously produced ahead of time for TV, said, "Now you can purchase a 2008 national champions Oklahoma Sooners game football!" and added, "Only 2,008 of these limited edition, hand-numbered footballs are being made."

Which, in hindsight, is about 2,008 too many.

Still, if you can get your hands on one of those footballs, buy it. It may be worth something someday.

In a "Dewey Defeats Truman," "Giants Win Super Bowl XLIII" sort of way ...

Billikus maximus

This from St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Jeff Gordon on the state of sports in the Midwest:

"As for Rick Majerus at SLU, it is too soon to tell if his splashy hire is paying off. He made great strides on the national recruiting scene, and the Billikens opened their wonderful on-campus arena.

"But the Billikens are still a pack team in a pack league, the Atlantic 10. Will Majerus last long enough to take the Billikens back to the Big Dance?

"We'll see. He has a lot of heavy lifting to do, just like most of our region's sports leaders."

Speaking of heavy lifting, what are they going to do if they win the Atlantic 10 championship and have to carry Majerus off on their shoulders?

Total fakeout

There's attitude, then there's attitude.

According to Colin Cowherd of ESPN radio, at least one Utah football player got in the faces of Alabama players during the Sugar Bowl's coin toss Jan. 2.

A source overheard the Ute player shouting they were going to kick the Tide's backsides and added, "You have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into!"

Still, it's hard to blame the Tide for inattention.

It's not like anyone watching had any idea what they'd gotten themselves into, either.

The juice

One of 10 sure signs you've been watching too much football, according to David Letterman: "You refer to orange juice as "FedEx orange juice.'"

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E-mail: rock@desnews.com