UPDATED: NEWS AND NOTES

--John Legend visited Steeler training camp, and because of his Legendary status, got to meet Mike Tomlin, Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, and James Harrison. Next up in the Celebrity Fan at Camp Experience: Kentucky hoops coach John Calipari on Thursday. The Steelers better not end up on probation because of this. [Kiss 96.1 Morning Freak Show, WYKT.com]

--The Pirates blew a 2-0 lead en route to a tough 4-3 loss against Arizona on Wednesday night. Garrett Jones hit his 11th home run, while Andy LaRoche added his fifth. But the Buccos only had five hits all night, giving them six hits in the last 18 innings. Just think, only 55 more games to go! [Trib]

--Some guy is selling his Pirate fandom on eBay. The high bid is currently at a very appropriate one cent. [eBay]

--Think things were bad for the Pirates? When Chris Brown is one of your fans, it officially just got worse. [Elvis Has Left]

--Is letting Fast Willie enter his contract year sans extension a form of disrespect? Sure, why not. [Bob Smizik Blog]

--How is 2008's "Best outfield in baseball" (Bay, Nady and McLouth) faring in 2009? [Rum Bunter]

--Here's a revised look at the Pirates' top 10 prospects, post-roster blowup. Sorry locals, no Neil Walker to be found. [Baseball America]

--Could the planets align for the Pirates to get wunderkind Bryce Harper next year? [PB&G]

--Brian "The Beast" Minto, who hails from Butler, will be dueling with Donnell "The Real Touch Of Sleep" Holmes on August 14 at Pullman Park. Minto is 33-2 with 21 KOs, while The Real Touch of Sleep is 31-0 with 27 KOs. When Minto wins, will the '72 Dolphins pop some champagne? [East Side Boxing]

--Troy Polamalu: two sport star? No, he's too busy dominating the NFL. [Trib]

--Longtime NHL player and coach Tony Granato is the new Pens assistant coach, replacing Tom Fitzgerald, who moves to assistant to the GM. Fun fact: did you know Granato's sister was a pretty famous hockey player back in the day? [PG]

--Lastings Milledge's shoes are deemed too bright by MLB's uniform police. So much for an attempt at making the Pirates stylish. [PG]

--Nipsy's Ssshhhh t-shirts are upsetting Flyer fans. That's a shame. [Philabright.com]

--JoePa finally got into social networking, and here's a look at his initial foray. Nicely done, Mr. Gallo. [ESPN.com]

--Dave Dameshek is counting down the top 20 movie fight scenes of all time (with video). This link takes you through #6-20, with the top five TBA. [ESPN.com]

--The Janne Pesonen Experiment is officially over, as he'll be playing in the KHL next season. Gotta go straight to the source on this story. [Pesonen and the Pens]

--Will the Big East soon raid the ACC? You know what they say about payback... [ESPN Big East Blog]

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CROSBY AND WHITNEY OUT TONIGHT

If I may take a moment to interject some non-Ovechkin-related Penguin news, it's been announced that both Sidney Crosby and Ryan Whitney will miss tonight's game against the Islanders: Crosby due to a sore groin, Whitney to a family matter that took him home to Boston. They will be replaced by Janne Pesonen and Kris Letang, respectively. This might be one of Pesonen's final shots with the club, and considering Dan Bylsma's familiarity with him, that just might happen.

The Pens will be sporting their blue uniforms tonight, and by my calculations, they're an underwhelming 2-4-1 when donning the alternates. Of course, with Crosby out of the lineup, Evgeni Malkin will probably score six goals, so the good and bad vibes all balance out in the end.

Crosby, Whitney out of Penguins lineup [PG]
About the Islanders - 2-25-09 [Empty Netters]

Send your news, tips, and links to Mondesishouse@gmail.com.

NEWS AND NOTES

--Taping my ESPN.com podcast with Dave Dameshek at 4 PM today. Be sure to click back later tonight for the audio link.

--We also have Koz's Penguin Preview Extravaganza ready to go and up in a little bit. That's two reasons to check back.

--G-Dubya just signed the bailout! Happy financial times will be here again. I hope. [Yahoo!]

--Highly-touted Janne Pesonen just got sent to Wilkes-Barre, surely disappointing at least one blogger we've come to know recently. [PG]

--Two members of the Jags' secondary might miss the Sunday-nighter with the Steelers. Now all they need is injuries to their top two running backs, defensive end, nose tackle, and guard. [PFT]

--Steve "Is Live" Braband features an injured Steeler fan who was recently bit by a monkey. [Steve is Alive]

--Steelers move up to #6 in this week's cumulative power rankings. Hey, as long as they qualify for a BCS bowl... [Real Clear Sports]

--South Park is cast using NFL personalities; it's a must-click. [World of Isaac]

--Cedric Benson, Chris Henry, Tank Johnson, and Pacman Jones will all be on the same field at the same time this Sunday. May God have mercy on us all. [The Money Shot]

--Here's an argument for Mario as the second best hockey player of all time. [Sixty Feet, Six Inches]

--So what NFL team does Sarah Palin support? And a better question, as Sean points out: who jogs while wearing a football jersey? [Sean's Ramblings]

--Don't forget the big Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock contest tomorrow night. [Epic Carnival]

--A woman is accused of being disorderly in public -- while wearing a cow suit. [WLWT.com]