George Karl

Basketball fans all know of George Karl and wish him well in his latest medical battle … details in today’s High 5:

KARL BATTLES ON: The next time you think you are having a bad day, think again. Denver Nuggets coach George Karl is battling neck and throat cancer. Karl has had other battles. He has had both hips replaced, overcome prostate cancer in 2005 and had to watch his son, Coby, fight through thyroid cancer in 2007. Karl is a close friend of St. Louis University coach Rick Majerus, who said of his buddy, “George would give you the shirt off his back, even if it was the only shirt he had.” Karl has always come across as a straight-forward, honest guy. He hopes to be well enough to coach in the NBA playoffs this spring. So do the rest of us, George.

Kim Kardashian shown Sunday at NASCAR event

COP OUT: The Little Woman and myself saw “Cop Out” over the weekend, the new Bruce Willis-Tracey Morgan film. While it didn’t stink, it was far from what I was expecting. It’s a classic case of the trailer being better than the movie itself. For one thing, there was simply too much going on in a flick that is designed to be a comedy first. It will not be remembered as one of director Kevin Smith’s finest efforts.You may remember Smith making healines a couple of weeks ago when Southwest Airlines deemed him too fat to fly on their planes. Now that was funny.

THE KIM WATCH: Did you see our favorite non-celebrity celebrity, Kim Kardashian, take part with Carroll Shelby Sunday to announce, “Gentleman, start your engines!” prior to the NASCAR race  in Las Vegas? She was introduced as “America’s sweetheart.” Oh that Kim!

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Fatima Blush?

SONG THAT SHOULD BE A CLASSIC BUT IS NOT: “Traces of Love” by the Classics IV. (The late Dennis Yost was the lead singer of this late-1960s group. Yost died in Ohio in December 2008, the result of serious brain trauma following the fall down a flight of steps. He was 65.)

The Peas

If you like music, you’ll like today’s High 5:

GOOD DAY FOR SOME TUNES: It’s cold outside, there’s snow on the ground and it’s a good day just to stay inside and maybe listen to some music — until NASCAR comes on, of course. Might be a good time to dig out some of the oldies. Nothing like rekindling those memories. And in case you were wondering, the No. 1 song:

A year ago today was: “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. (I love the Peas!)
5 years ago: “Gold Digger” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx. (You can have Kanye West.)
10 years ago: “Come On Over Baby (All I want Is You)” by Christina Aguilera. (Sometimes I don’t mind Christina.)
20 years ago: “Praying For Time” by George Michael. (Whatever happened to Wham!?)
30 years ago: “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen. (Remember when every high school pep band in the world played this?)
40 years ago: “Cracklin’ Rosie” by Neil Diamond. (I was a sophomore in high school.)
Other memorable No. 1′s on this date:
1969: “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies. (I wore the this .45 out back in the day.)
1968: “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. (I never could stand this song. It just goes on and on and on and on and on …)
1967: “The Letter” by the Box Tops. (Lead singer Alex Chilton was only 16 at the time. Amazing.)

KA-CHING: U2 leads Billboard‘s 2010 Money Makers list, earning more than $108 million in 2009. Bruce Springsteen was second with $57 million and Madonna third with $47 million. AC/DC and Britney Spears round out the top 5 with $43 and $38 million, respectively. Billboard compiles the list from monies earned through tours, CD and digital sales, publishing royalties and more

AND THE LIST GROWS … : Gatorade has ended its sponsorship relationship with embattled golf star Tiger Woods. That makes Gatorade the third bigtime sponsor to drop Woods since revelations of his marital infidelity. The others: Accenture and AT&T.

FINAL THOUGHT: The Winter Olympics close today, which is good. As wonderful a spectacle as the Games are, two weeks are enough. There are only so many evenings of Dick Button, slush and the drunken Candaian women’s hockey team a guy can take.

WHATEVER HAPPEND TO?: Jean-Claude Killy.

After writing the the ensuing paragraph I decided I needed to make a food run … see if you feel the same after scanning today’s High 5:

MMMMMM … : What’s tastier? Those Big Macs, Whoppers, Subway footlongs, Thickburgers, Arby’s roast beef sandwiches, Wendy’s combos, bacon cheesburgers at Dairy Queen … or is it something else somewhere else? Here’s your chance to tell us. Vote in the poll on the right-hand column and we’ll try and determine the official fast-food site of the daily High 5. Maybe the winner will send us some free stuff.

QUINCY’S LOOKIN’ REAL GOOD ABOUT RIGHT NOW: Have you seen pictures or film of the storm that’s battering the eastern part of the nation? Good ole Quincy, Ill., looks like the Caribbean right now compared to back east as an unrelenting winter storm unleashed multiple dangers across the Northeast on Friday, blasting the east with hurricane-force winds that fanned a New Hampshire hotel fire, flooded parts of Maine, dropped 2 feet of snow on parts of New York and cut off power to more than 1 million homes and businesses. Travel throughout the region was almost non-existent. Yeah, Quincy looks mighty suh-weet right now.

PUT THE LIDS ON … PLEASE?: Speaking of Quincy, I have a mild beef with the city’s trash collectors. How much trouble would it be to put the lids back on the garbage cans, rather than simply throwing them in the yards? I don’t know how many people have told me they have lost garbage can lids because they have blown away or become “lost” because of the trash collectors’ practice. I have very few complaints about our fair city, but this is definitely one.

HIS WORDS, NOT MINE: Sure, he was kidding, but it was what most Americans have probably thought for many, many years. “It’s easy being vice president — you don’t have to do anything,” said Joe Biden earlier this week.

PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: James Laurinitis, Scott Brown, Lou Dobbs, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Pink, Crystal Bowersox, Matt Underwood, Nate Robinson, Robinson Tejada, Miguel Tejada, Cousin Brucie, Earle Bruce, James Earl Jones, Effie James, Stephanie Zimbalist .

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian and NASCAR, together as one on Sunday … read all about it in today’s High 5:

THE KIM WATCH: Huge news, Kim Kardashian fans! Our favorite non-celebrity celebrity will appear in two places at once on Sunday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Besides attending the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, Kardashian will have her face on the hood of NASCAR driver Mike Bliss’ No. 36 car, according to www.stockcarspin.com. The advertising move is part of a partnership Tommy Baldwin Racing has formed with Lighthouse Beauty and Kardashian to promote the television personality’s Sephora fragrances. Oh that Kim! 

MILESTONE: iTunes solid its 10 billionth song this week. None of those have been to me.

CONAN UPDATE: Us reports that one month after exiting The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien has taken to Twitter, launching his own account. “I had a show. Then I had a different show. Now I have a Twitter account,” O’Brien Twittered. That was actually funnier than 99 percent of his material when he was on NBC.

FIRST CONCERT: I was reading an article about Hollywood types recalling their first concerts and it started me thinking. I think — and that’s the key word here, think — mine was Gordon Lightfoot, Yes or Loggins and Messina. It was my freshman year in college and I think saw all three of those that year, but I can’t remember in what order. That would have been … ummm … 38 years ago. Holy crap.

BATTER UP: Baseball fans, rejoice! MLB Network begins its second season of “30 Camps in 30 Days” on Wednesday. Baseball’s 24/7 channel (No. 213 on DirecTV) features the Detroit Tigers on the first day at 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (CST). For baseball junkies, MLB Network is akin to Nirvana. I can’t imagine life without it.

Adam Lambert

Adam Lambert, Sarah Palin, Charlie Sheen, Razor Shines … they’re all in today’s High 5:

GET READY: This could be good. Really, really good. NBC has confirmed Adam Lambert will perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 2. That’s the same night former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will appear on the show. Audiences will be curious to see how Palin, the 2008 vice presidential candidate known for her conservative views, reacts to the racy performance style of the openly gay former American Idol runner-up. Wow. This could be great, great theater. And who says Leno is not making a concerted effort to drum up big ratings when he returns to late night on Monday?

WHAT A BUNCH OF BULL: ESPN’s suspension of Pardon the Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser for remarks he made, on his radio show, about an outfit worn by colleague Hannah Storm is simply not right. For what he said he should have apologized — which he has — but to be suspended for two weeks without pay is ridiculous. If he had said something similar about a male associate there would not be this firestorm. Here’s what Kornheiser said: “Hannah Storm in a horrifying, horrifying outfit today. She’s got on red go-go boots and a Catholic school plaid skirt … way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now.” (She’s 47.) “She’s got on her typically very, very tight shirt. She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body … I know she’s very good, and I’m not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won’t … but Hannah Storm … come on now! Stop! What are you doing? … She’s what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy at this point.” Suspension worthy? Come on! It’s 2010, not 1910.

WHAT’S PLAYING TODAY IN THE STEVEMOBILE?: “Sweet Baby James” by James Taylor.

PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: Jeremy Roenick, Nick Markakis, Crystal Bowersox, Lilly Scott, Bono, Dick Button, Scott Hamilton, Felipe Alou, Lou Klimcock, Barney Schultz, Mike de la Hoz, Vic Davalillo, Harry Connick Jr., Junior Walker and the All-Stars, Bingo Smith, Razor Shines, Jackie Chan, Chan Gailey.

DARN IT: CBS has announced production of TV’s top-rated comedy, Two And a Half Men, has ben halted while comedian Charlie Sheen is in rehab for some sort of substance abuse(s), presumably cocaine and alcohol. That’s a shame, not only for Sheen, but because that is one hysterical show

"The Nature Boy" in his younger days.

They say the only bad publicity is no publicity. I’m not sure that applies to Ric Flair in today’s High 5:

“NATURE BOY” IN DOMESTIC DISPUTE: I was really disappointed in myself Tuesday when I came across the news that pro wrestler Ric Flair had been involved in a domestic dispute with his wife. Being a longtime fan of the squared circle, I can’t believe I missed major news like that. The Washington Post reported that police say the wife of Flair has been charged with assaulting him in their North Carolina home. In a statement, Flair called the incident an unfortunate disagreement and said he did nothing wrong. Authorities say officers were called to Flair’s home in south Charlotte on Sunday night. Flair said his wife attacked him after they went out for dinner. He had minor injuries, but refused treatment from paramedics. Police charged 41-year-old Jacqueline Beems with simple assault. She was released from jail a few hours after her arrest. The 60-year-old platinum blond nicknamed “The Nature Boy” is currently wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling after a long career with World Wrestling Entertainment and other companies. You know, maybe the Nature Boy just needed a career jump, a little publicity. I think the ultimate bottom line, however, is that Slick Ric needs to retire. He is threatening to destroy the legacy he worked for so many decades to craft. Time to hang up the trunks, Ric.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Bobo Brazil. (Sorry, one final wrestling reference.)

SONG THAT SHOULD BE A CLASSIC BUT IS NOT: “Love Is All Around” by Wet Wet Wet.

McDONALD’S GETS THE NOD: The best (for you, health-wise) fast-food fries in America are the ones served at McDonald’s, according to the authors of the best-selling weight-loss series “Eat This, Not That!” and “Cook This, Not That!” “Out of the big three fast-food joints (Mickey D’s, Wendy’s, and BK), you’ll find the least caloric, least salty fries underneath the golden arches,” say authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. “The key to ordering a smart side dish is portion sizing— and McDonald’s has that under control.” McDonald’s fries are guilty of just 230 calories and 11 grams of fat per serving. In comparison, those Texas cheese fries with jalapeno sauce at Chili’s will cost you almost 2,000 calories and 150 grams of fat.

CURLING OBSESSION CONTINUES: Time magazine reports, “During curling’s run in the Olympics every four years, much of the sports-viewing world gets either strangely addicted or totally bemused by watching the old guys push stones and sweep brooms in what often looks like shuffleboard on ice. But at this year’s event, emotions seem to be at an all-time high. Every day, capacity crowds of 5,600 are filling the Vancouver Olympic Centre, mostly to cheer on Canada.” Writer Sean Gregory reflects: “The atmosphere is even more electric than the scenes in arenas for other sports, like figure skating. There are two sports in which the Canadians expect nothing less than gold: hockey and curling, and not necessarily in that order.” That’s probably because Canada is home to 729,000 of the 1.1 million curlers around the globe. I have to admit, I have been watching more of this than any other Olympic sport. And as fascinated as I am about it, after more than a week of the Olympics, I still have no idea how you score points.

Kim Kardashian

When Jay Leno returns to The Tonight Show March 1, he will do so with some big-time stars to help him reclaim his king of late-night status … all that and more in today’s High 5:

HE’S (ALMOST) BA-A-A-A-A-ACK: Jay Leno returns to the NBC late-night lineup March 1 with comedian/singer/actor Jamie Foxx, U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and country music star Brad Paisley. That’s not bad for opening night, but it gets even better. The following night Sarah Palin (one of our faves!) will be featured with another U.S. Olympic star, snowboarder Shaun White. Also lined up that first week are Olympian Apolo Ohno, Avril Lavigne and Morgan Freeman. The following week’s guests will include Simon Cowell, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Dana Carvey, Colbie Caillat and — are you sitting down? — our favorite non-celebrity celebrity Kim Kardashian! Special K is tentatively booked for March 11.

CONAN O’BRIEN UPDATE: There is none.

COUNTDOWN BEGINS: The third installment of the Twilight franchise, Eclipse, is scheduled to arrive in theaters June 3. How I miss those brooding vampires, werewolves and Kristen Stewart, the actress who should have received an Oscar nomination for her role as Bella in New Moon.

OLYMPIC FAVORITES: According to an ongoing Time online poll, skier Lindsey Vonn is American’s favorite U.S. Olympian, earning 38 percent of the vote. Snowbaorder Shaun White is second with 33 percent, followed by short track skater Apolo Ohno with 23 percent. The poll breaks down the vote state by state, and in Illinois White (38 percent) is the favorite while in Missouri it is Vonn (41 percent).

Dave Clark Five

ROCK BAND THAT NEVER RECEIVED THE CREDIT WAS DUE: Dave Clark Five. (The DC5 represented the second leg of the British Invasion of the early and mid-1960s, right after the Beatles. To this day, many thought Dave Clark was the lead singer, but it was actually the late Mike Smith. Clark played the drums. The band was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. Smith, a keyboardist, died two weeks after the group was inducted. Clark, who played drums at the front of the stage and relegated the guitarists and keyboard to his rear and sides, formed the band around 1959. Heavily promoted as having a “cleaner” image than the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five made 18 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, more than any other British group. In spite of their huge success for a period, bolstered by the movie and a television special, the major hits dried up after 1967′s “You Got What It Takes”. The DC5′s efforts to embrace the prevailing trend of “psychedlia” were not successful. The band disbanded in 1970. In March 2008 a 28-track collection, The Dave Clark Five: The Hits, was released on iTunes.)

YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP: Valentine’s Day. (This movie, plagued by ongoing  bad reviews, proved to be a one-weekend wonder, plummeting 69 percent  for a $17 million second-weekend take and an $87 million 10-day figure. It will cross $100 million next weekend, but critic Scott Mendelson of the Huffington Post says the once-assured $150 million mark will now be an uphill battle.)

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Sheena Easton.

OK, I’m warming up to a little more of the Olympcs TV coverage, but only a little … all that and more in today’s High 5:

CURLING, ANYONE?: Surprisingly, the sport that has drawn me in is curling, both men’s and women’s. Especially interesting was Saturday night’s pulsating 7-6 win by Canada over Great Britain in men’s play. The standing-room only partisan crowd in Vancouver broke into “Oh Canada!” during the match, inspring the Canadians past the Brits. Now that’s curling! (Most of the curling is being seen on cable outlet CSNBC.)

REALLY?: Tiger Woods’ caddie, Steve Williams, says he won’t tolerate any heckling of his star player whenever the world’s No. 1 golfer returns to competition. Williams said he would ensure Woods has a level playing field whenever he returns to golf. Good luck with that, Steve.

THE KIM WATCH: This was a message from from our favorite non-celebrity celebrity, Kim Kardashian, on Facebook, “This has been such an exciting week. Not only is the season finale of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (tonight), but The SPINdustry, the show I was executive producer on, is premiering right after! I get so excited every time I see it mentioned in a magazine or in the TV listings!! The show got a bunch of mentions in the press this week, so I hope that means people are excited to see it!” Oh that Kim. She is always so humble.

WHAT’S PLAYING TODAY IN THE STEVEMOBILE? “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies. (A guy named Ron Dante was the lea singer for this song, No. 1 in 1969. Dante was a famous sessions musician at the time and also fronted several other studio-only groups, notably the Cuff Links who scorched the charts with “Tracy..) From 1973-81 he was Barry Manilow’s record producer and sang backup on “Mandy,” the No. 1 song of 1974.)

POLITICAL PREVIEW?: Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a strong opponent of government spending, won a blowout victory Saturday in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference presidential straw poll. With participants naming “reducing the size of federal government” as their top issue, the 74-year old libertarian hero captured 31 percent of the nearly 2,400 votes cast in the annual contest, usually seen as a barometer of how the GOP’s conservative wing views their potential presidential candidates. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished second with 22 percent of the vote, ending a three-year winning streak at CPAC. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin finished third with 7 percent of the vote, followed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 6 percent and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence at 5 percent. (Sorry, but I can’t see Paul as any sort of viable player in the 2012 presidential race. For one thing, he’ll be 76 at the time. For another thing, Palin, Mike Huckabee and probably Romney are the names to remember. And if you’re interested in a real longshot, how about Sean Hannity of Fox News?)

Tiger Woods’ comeback started Friday, but there’s still a long way to go … read all about that and more in today’s High 5:

HMMMMM … : Tiger Woods’ first public appearance Friday drew mixed reviews when he apologized for his transgressions. Here’s a sampling :

– Neal Pilson, a former CBS Sports president who now heads his own sports consultancy, Pilson Communications, said, “I don’t think Tiger can ever recapture what he had, but he can be a viable representative down the road. There are lots of potential advertisers out there.”

– Michael Cherenson, a former chairman of the Public Relations Society of America, said Woods’ words were spot on, but his tone lacked the conviction of a sincere apology. “People don’t listen with the ears but with their stomachs and I’m not sure he struck the right chord,” Cherenson told Reuters. “I say this with tongue in cheek, but he was probably more persuasive with his mistresses.

– Michael Gordon, chief executive of Group Gordon Strategic Communications in New York, gave Woods an overall “B” rating for his performance. The next step would be for the golfer to sit down for an interview with a top journalist and show he is willing to answer tough questions, Gordon said.

I think most figured Tiger would be back playing golf by The Masters in early April, but now I’m not so sure. This is one messed-up guy. But remember that America, especially its sporting public, is a forgiving bunch. It won’t be easy, but Tiger will regain his pedestal — to some extent — but that could be a year or more away.

THE “SPECIAL K” WATCH: It sounds like our favorite non-celebrity celebrity, Kim Kardashian, will be teaming up with New Orleans Saints running back/boyfriend Reggie Bush to launch  a “unisex” fragrance. “Reggie and I have talked about doing a fragrance together — something that is kind of unisex,” Special K said. SkowBizspy.com reports that Kardashian admitted that her boyfriend prefers her natural look. “He just likes my natural sexiness,” she said. “He likes my natural scent.”

 JUST A THOUGHT: The new film from director Tim Burton, Alice In Wonderland, looks scarier than Shutter Island from Martin Scorsese. I’m hoping to see both in the near future, but those Alice In Wonderland trailers are giving me the creeps.

SPEAKING OF CREEPY MOVIES: I have seen multiple reports this week hinting that Saw VII could be the final film in the series. It’s due in theaters Oct. 22 and rumor has it is being shot in 3-D. What would Halloween be like without a Saw movie? All good things must end, I guess.

YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP: The turf at Flinn Stadium in Quincy, Ill.