Women Surfers Shouldn't Be Judged By The Beauty Of Their Skin, But By Their Talent On The Board

Your morning roundup for March 6, a day of toeing the " No shark's fin soup, you're cheap" classist line.

• A Sunday think-piece from Australia ponders whether the Kournikovacation of women's surfing is a good thing. It quotes Jamie Mather, 19, who thinks the sport has become prettier on a variety of levels.

" They're surfing a lot more powerfully and with style. A few years ago they were ugly and weak. You could tell they were a female surfer. ... Previously, it was the more butch and not good-looking ones who were winning." [ Courier Mail]

• Though Duke was the No. 4 team in the country, they finished second in the ACC thanks to last night's 81-67 road loss to the Tarheels. [ Herald-Sun]

• KCTV5 in Kansas City and CBS affiliates in Columbia and Springfield, Mo. have their almost-Heidi moment. Late in the second half of the Kansas/Missouri Border War, they switched over to the start of the Michigan-Michigan State game, so viewers missed a failed Missouri comeback. [ The Missourian]

Jerry Caraccioli, executive director of communications for CBS Sports in New York, told The Star on Saturday that the problem was "a combination of sunspots and a satellite transponder issue." [ TMC.net]

• New Jersey Nets 137, Toronto Raptors 136. Triple OT, London. [ NJ.com]

• NASCAR garage fight lands driver Robby Gordon on probation and Kevin Conway, who's suing Gordon for $27K earned through the Sprint Cup rookie of the year award, referring questions to the Las Vegas Police Department. [ FoxSports]

• Two guys from a town about 50 miles from Pittsburgh got in trouble for their Super Bowl party menu. That's because a friend dimed them out for killing deer out-of-season, butchering Bambi in the garage and serving their guests fresh venison. [ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

• The murder trial involving former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle's alleged love triangle has gotten underway. The victim was Gayle's former girlfriend. The suspect was allegedly Gayle's "part-time real estate agent, part-time sex partner." [ CLTV] (H/T Choo)

• The Bengals are even the laughing stock of Cincinnati football. The Cincinnati Commandos, an indoor football team which went 11-1 to win the Continental Indoor Football title last season, takes promotional shots. [Yardbarker] (H/T Kevin N.)

• On the plus side, July 2 is Dusty Baker bobblehead/toothpick-dispenser day in Cincinnati. Get your Reds/Indians tickets soon! [ Last Angry Fan]

• Fat Ragu lookalike Jayson Stark writes that "Opponents have figured out Phillies." Though he used to live there, " Fat Ragu lookalike Jayson Stark hasn't figured out how to spell Philadelphia in his subheds." [ ESPN] (Let the "Tally Hickey's Typos Party" begin!)

• In the Sunday soccer roundup ... FIFA President Sepp Blatter says the English FA should've punished Manchester United's Wayne Rooney for elbowing Wigan Athletic's James McCarthy in the head [ Daily Mail], and bans potentially "dangerous" snoods while saying goal-line replay technology will be tested for another year [ Guardian].

• The Celtic/Rangers fallout continues with questions about racist banter [ Bob's Blitz].

• (Ashley) Cole of Duty has sprung up online. [ The Sporting Rave]

• And, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, subject of a Sports Illustrated profile breathing life into hopes for a potential U.S. World Cup win someday, downplays reports of an attempted knife attack at La Coruna airport last week [ Daily Mail].

• Man U/Liverpool started at 8:30 a.m. eastern. It's on Fox Soccer Channel. [ Liverpool Echo]

A few stories you might've missed.

Paradong: Brett Favre's alleged proclivities were the star of a Mardi Gras parade float.

Designated Driving: When Coco Crisp of the Oakland A's got pulled over for suspicion of DUI, his "secret service" security team was following in another car.

Linguistics: Bart Scott of the New York Jets now owns the rights to the phrase "Can't Wait." Jets fans won't wear that out too quickly, right?

Drunken Hookup Failures: " As a gentleman, I kindly offer to pick the wheelies up and put them in the hot tub and they both act insulted like I just asked them for a hummer."