Intentional? Accident? Who cares, it counts! (Getty Images)

Catching up with our year-long Fireball Cup competition, recognizing excellence in the field of NASCAR brawling. Our reigning champion holds onto his throne, but there are challengers starting to line up. As we've been away doing silly things like Olympics and golf, we freely admit that we may not have remembered all the fights in the last few weeks. You'll get your chance to weigh in below.

Recall our rules, which can and do change on a whim:

• Verbal/Twitter exchange; slightly aggressive driving leading to issues: 1 point
• Bumping cars in an aggressive, making-a-point fashion: 2 points
• Spin, non-critical: 3 points
• Spin, critical: 4 points
• Out of car, punches thrown: 5 points

Fireball Cup stats, updated:
• Kevin Harvick battling Amber Cope both on the track and on Twitter: 2 points
• Kurt Busch getting infuriated with Trevor Bayne at Daytona in July: 1 point
• Brad Keselowski pulling an aggressive (though possibly unintentional) spin of Kyle Busch at Watkins Glen: 3 points

Which gives us current standings of:

Sheryl Crow, meet Andre Drummond. (Getty Images)

"I'm not saying I didn't like 'Picture' — heck, I'm in Detroit now; I certainly can't speak ill of the Kid — but ... I mean, I guess I'd just prefer to hear you get a little more 'Strong Enough' with it. A little more Lilith with it. I've got some bass tracks I've been working on that I think you'd really dig. ... And seriously, [EXPLETIVE] Lance Armstrong." — Detroit Pistons rookie center Andre Drummond, probably.

Best caption wins the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Good luck.

In our last adventure, lo those many days ago: Team USA gets its Edvard Munch on.

Alex in Wonderland (USP)There are 1,000 stories on any fantasy night. I'm here to tell you a few of them.

• Alex Cobb was born in Boston and he pitches for an AL East club, but the Pacific Time Zone has been good to him. He was on his game in Monday's victory at Seattle (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K), pounding the strike zone early and often and daring the Mariner hitters to beat him. He's now allowed a mere six runs over his last 28 innings (21 strikeouts against just three walks), though it's been primarily built on three road starts in the AL West (at Seattle, at Oakland, at Anaheim). When you're getting ground balls 58.5 percent of the time, good things can happen.

Cobb returns to the OC on the weekend, something you might be interested in, and he'll face the Athletics under the catwalk after that. But I'm not trusting him at Arlington at the end of the month (don't feel bad, kid; I'd bench Cy Young at that place). If you feel like a Cobb Salad, it's ready to order in 84 percent of Yahoo! leagues. Nobody wins friends with salad, but sometimes it can help your place in the standings.

• The Padres bullpen cleaned up nicely in a 4-1 victory at Atlanta, with Luke Gregerson recording an eighth-inning strikeout and Dale Thayer cruising in the ninth (10 pitches, one punchout). There's no reason for Bud Black to deviate from this plan going forward; while Gregerson has more experience and is probably the better pitcher, both late innings are important. Thayer is still unowned in 87 percent of Yahoo! leagues, save chasers.

(AP)Gary Carter famously abstained from using profanity on the ballfield, a fact that was oft repeated in many obituaries when the Hall of Fame catcher died of cancer in February.

It's really cool, then, to hear that Carter is now being credited for the genesis of one of obscenity's best euphemisms. In adding the word 'F-bomb' to its dictionary this week, the folks at Merriam-Webster said the former Mets and Expos catcher was the source of its first known public utterance almost 25 years ago.

And, no, this is not an Onion article.

From the Associated Press:

Kory Stamper, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, said she and her fellow word spies at the Massachusetts company traced it back to 1988, in a Newsday story that had the now-dead Mets catcher Gary Carter talking about how he had given them up, along with other profanities.

But the word didn't really take off until the late '90s, after Bobby Knight went heavy on the F-bombs during a locker room tirade.

Thanks to Deadspin's Erik Malinowski, here's the 1988 Newsday mention, which came via a notebook item from Mets beat writer Steve Marcus:

(This month, Puck Daddy asked bloggers for every NHL team to tell us The Essentials for their franchises — everything from the defining player and trade, to the indispensable fan traditions. Here are the good folks from Canes Country, giving us The Essentials for the Carolina Hurricanes.)

By Canes Country

Player

I will say Ron Francis is the defining player for the franchise, but not necessarily for the more obvious reasons, such as his status as a Hall of Famer and his numerous record holding statistics.

When "The Franchise" signed with Carolina in 1998, there was a message sent around the hockey world that the Hurricanes would step up money wise and sign a legitimate, high quality free agent.  It also showed the players of the league that a top notch free agent was willing to take a chance on Carolina. The Ron Francis signing was the first step in legitimizing the franchise at its new location. He turned out to be the best ambassador a club in a non-traditional market could ask for. (Bob Wage)

(Honorable Mention- Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Staal)

Season

It's hard not to go with the 2005-06 Cup year because there were so many memorable moments during that season with the greatest of them being when the clock ran out in Game 7 against Edmonton. As Carolina fans, we are really fortunate to have witnessed an incredible run like that and getting to see our team lift the Cup is something most Caniacs will never forget. Nothing can compare to it, really.  (Corey Sznajder)

Reuben Foster, a senior linebacker at Auburn (Ala.) High, is one of the top two football recruits in the country. When he recently shifted his verbal commitment from Alabama to archrival Auburn, it was considered as much a fair accompli as it was a shocking coup for the Tigers, a move that seemed in the works ever since Foster left his LaGrange (Ga.) Troup High home for Auburn in the first place.

Auburn linebacker Reuben Foster — Rivals.com

Now the NCAA seems to have developed a similar level of skepticism, leading to a formal interview with Foster and his mother, Anita Paige. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first confirmed the NCAA meeting, the collegiate sports body is concerned about the possible involvement of a booster in Foster's collegiate switch.

Meanwhile, Paige is so adamant that nothing improper begat her sons change of heart that she has said the entire family -- primarily herself and Foster's younger sister, with other extended relatives possible -- are planning to get Auburn tattoos to match the wild ink Foster had put on his own arm after his commitment to the Tigers.

For her part, Paige said there was much more to Foster's decision to change his future destination than simple cultural and competitive matters. Strikingly, the shocking loss of a cousin who played at Auburn may have helped push the senior toward the Tigers.

(Lincoln Journal Star)

Nebraska's 70-year tradition of releasing red balloons into the air after the first touchdown of every game has been put on hold because of a helium shortage.

Yes, a helium shortage.

The Lincoln Journal Star is reporting that Nebraska will release a paltry 2,000-2,500 balloons - half of the normal haul - into the air after the first touchdown the Big Red score against Southern Miss in the season opener on Sept. 1, but after that fleeting moment, the tradition that has been around since the 1940s will be no more.

"That way, Big Red fans can take pictures with both their cameras and their minds while media and staff photographers commemorate the occasion with photos that just might define a historical footnote," Randy York wrote on Huskers.com.

I think we can all blame global warming on this unfortunate turn of events.

Getty Images

The Giants call on Steve Weatherford when they decide to punt. A Giants fan named Bryan Wheeler called on Weatherford when he decided to go for it.

And by "go for it", I mean that he decided to propose to his girlfriend. He did it at Giants training camp, with some help from Weatherford. As Weatherford walked off the field, he handed Wheeler a football, which looked to everyone else like a friendly training camp souvenir. When Bryan showed the ball to his girlfriend Jacklene, though, it had a special message: "Jacklene, Will You Marry Me? Love, Bryan".

Jacklene said yes, and these two crazy kids will be trying the knot. Weatherford explained how it all went down, via Giants.com:

"I think he contacted our community relations people and requested that the craziest guy on the team help him out," Weatherford said. "I don't think he had to look too far down the roster … Obviously whenever you get to do something like that, it's flattering because it makes you realize how important you are to a lot of people. The guy hopefully, cross your fingers, is only going to get married once, and I was the one to help him get engaged."