KTJ Reaches Cruising Attitude

 
Tuning in to TNT on Thursday night is like coming home after a long, rough day and having the hubby draw you a hot bath and a Scotch on the rocks -- you just know in the end that someone is looking out for you.

And so it is with Sir Charles, Kenny "The Jet" Smith and Ernie Johnson. (At this point in the 2008-09 season, having exchanged vows w/the NBA in '07-08, TCL refuses to even acknowledge WTF MarC Fein is....)

So, we were all the more thrilled to see KTJ decked out in more than his usual respectable finery recently, to mull the fate of one-man leper colony Stephon Marbury. (That Starbury-Steve-n-Barry's head tat is really moving the $25 sneakers now, isn't it?)

Let's just say right here, right now that here at TCL we are rather brazon Kevin Garnett fans -- OY! his skillz! his 'tude! his fashion sense! (Oh, puh-leeze with that LeBron pre-game, wannabe chalk-to-the-heavens thing -- who can forget 2003-04?) And KG's nerdy and sweet sweater vests over baggy white oxfords set a trend that was quickly adopted across a league desperate to distance itself from a Thug Life archetype it had once shamelessly promoted.

Anyway, what with fashion stuck in a rut b/c of the economy, one must appreciate Kenny The Jet's little yellow tie-on-shades-of-gray tweaks to KG's basic creed -- the sleek sports coat over his vest and dress shirt, with the rumpled kerchief adding that little extra touch of WTF cares?

Given that the economy has put middle America in a more conservative mood, such that low-slung jeans have given way to prim, high-waist Mom dungarees and decolletage -- Alas! -- has become but a breathtaking decadence, one must celebrate what small sartorial advances we come by these days.

 

The Long & Shorts of Rafa Nadal

 
Word is Rafael Nadal postponed a long overdue update to his on-court apparel until he could get through the U.S. Open.

Um, and the reason the world No. 1 would want to continue picking his butt is?

Will giving up butt-picking turn out to be something like kicking the smoking habit? Where the quitter frets about finding something else to do with his hands?

May TCL suggest Rafa stop with the Eurosexual posing already, and take up the time-honored American athletic tradition of adjusting one's cup?

Whether or not he reaches the finals at Flushing Meadows and beats Roger Federer once there, the Spaniard would go a long way toward winning hearts in the U.S. if he would give up on those lame muscle shirts and clam diggers.
 

Terrell Owens: Above & Beyond

 
Our first thought upon seeing Terrell Owens at the ESPY's?

Excuse me, Monsieur Maitre'De. Here's 20 bucks. Can you direct us to Grauman's Chinese Theater? Maybe arrange a fast taxi? Then we're hoping to get from there to Koi in time to catch someone at least as famous as Avril Lavigne dining on overpriced sushi. Can you help us out?

But go figure. Mr. I've-Been-Totally-Screwed-By-The-Media had to go and help an ESPN reporter, of all people, after the doofus got himself hit by a decidedly un-Hollywood-glam Honda Civic during ESPN's red-carpet celeb weekend.

So, yeah, okay. T.O. looks like he rented his suit from the estate of the costume mistress for the extras from "Casablanca."

His good-guy-ness, especially while dressed like a hopeless dork, puts a entirely different spin on all the I'm-All-That casting he's endured from the MSSportsM over the last few years.

TCL has always known T.O. had it in him.

Though, admittedly, we wish he'd dressed better for the occasion.
 

In the Wheelhouse: Lourdes Ciccone Leon

 
"Really, Mum. A girl can only stand so much.

"It's bad enough everybody being, like, 'Oh, Lourdes, you look JUST LIKE Madge when she was young!'

"You've had me 'following in your footsteps' for just about forever -- what with taking ballet, tagging along to Kabbalah, pimping me in your so-last-century Madonna get-ups.

"(Admit it, Mum, it was me who turned you on to Ed Hardy. Because, uh, yeah, like you know the first thing about fashion. So chav.)

"But now you're dragging me to a dumb baseball game? Oh, and it's not about you? Not about selling 'Hard Candy'? Not 'Back in NYC -- without hubby Guy' photo ops?

'Oh, I see, yes, right, it's about introducing little David to the American Past...

'Um, Mummy? Who is that? ... Which team? I don't know which team! ... That guy there, in pinstripes. No. 13.

'You know him, really? Geez, whoever said you were a bee-atch? You're the awesomest Mum ever!

'What a brilliant idea to show little David all about baseball! Maybe Mr. Rodriguez could come over and show him how to play....'
 

Daily Diva: Carrie Underwood at Bat

 
How cute is Carrie Underwood, stepping up to the plate for the 18th Annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge?

We're not quite sure about the black batting gloves here, especially since she's on base. (Note to CU: Base runners stick their gloves, fingers up, in a back pocket. Cool players have gone one step further, eschewing gloves for a different sort of "flappage.")

That said, the country music superstar looks like (and apparently played like) she had some game.

That would be a 100 percent improvement over whatever baseball-like substance Naomi Campbell struck out with for "Ugly Betty."

Underwood, "American Idol's" Season 4 winner, also beats the heck out of Victoria Beckham's baseball star-turn. (Might be time to sweat the technique.)

Come to think of it, Carrie has a better voice, too. Sorry, Posh.
 

Daily Diva: Ana Ivanovic Wins Cute

 
Ana Ivanovic cruised past Dinara Safina in straight sets -- 6-4, 6-3 -- on Saturday at Roland Garros to win her first Grand Slam title.

And how ooo-la-la she was doing it!

The 20-year-old Serb has a sort of Katie-Holmes cuteness that's appealing. (Not everyone on the women's tour has to work the diva angle -- much as that gives TCL something to do.)

And, in IOHO, her duds for this year's French Open were the extra little spark that got her the win.

See, Ivanovic lost the 2007 FO (to Justine Henin). Why? Because no way the pink-on-cabernet number she wore was going to get her more than a lousy silver platter. Not paired with black socks and white court-shorties, anyway.

But the little number above has some sass! Especially because of the bubbly melon color.

Speaking of bubbles, we're not big fans of bubble hemlines (which make us think of maternity clothes. Or desperate-for-an-idea fashion designers). But this bubble skirt works -- the bubble is a tiny bubble, which added a little bit o' flirt to the skirt.

Not that Ana needed any help in that department.
 

Dinara Safina: Into the White

 
Dinara Safina reached her first Grand Slam final Thursday with a straight-set victory over fellow Russian ugly duckling Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The yeah-baby! kicker is that the always-on-the-verge-of-chunky Safina reached the semis by detonating on two of her Motherland's hottest blond bombshells -- Maria Sharapova in the fourth round and Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals.

TCL just wishes someone -- her former-coach mom! her smoking hot, one-time men's No. 1 brother! -- had warned Dinara: No tighty tennis whities!

The scourge of the less-than-slender, white is especially dangerous for someone whose proclivity toward cankles rivals that of former chubby Lindsay Davenport.

Then there's the TMI Factor: Petty pants or no, we don't want to see what's up under that nasty, wet turquoise flap.

Finally, cotton makes sweathogs of us all. Safina has raked in over $3.3 mil in career earnings -- she couldn't get sponsor Adidas to outfit her in ClimaCool?

Then again, we're assuming Safina cares.

Could be she's just reaching out to fans in her native Russia, where looking good while wearing little isn't exactly a priority.