Well, somebody certainly ate their Wheaties. Yesterday rookie Michael Pineda struck out nine in six sharp innings, and Miguel Olivo and Luis Rodriguez each homered to help the Seattle Mariners beat Detroit 7-2. The win completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers. It's the first time the Mariners have swept a three-game set against Detroit since July 2003. The Mariners are now in Boston to face the Red Sox for the weekend. Game one is this afternoon at 4.

Major League Baseball is stepping into the social media fray after Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen sent out Twitter messages on his personal account moments after getting ejected Wednesday night. Senior vice president of baseball operations Peter Woodfork confirmed yesterday that MLB has not had to deal with a player, coach, or manager sending out social media messages while a game was still in play, and there is no standard policy on how to discipline the action. MLB's rules state that all social media messages -- Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. -- must stop 30 minutes prior to the first pitch. Messages can resume after the game at the individual club's discretion. Getting ejected from a game does not exempt an individual from those rules. Guillen's case is being reviewed by the staff that is headed by new executive vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre. Joe Garagiola Jr., who is directly responsible for on-field discipline, is expected to decide what punishment, if any, is handed down.

UPDATE: Ozzie Guillen has been suspended two games for his actions -- including tweeting -- during Wednesday's loss to the New York Yankees. Guillen was ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Todd Tichenor over a called third strike on Paul Konerko. Shortly after the ejection, Guillen tweeted: "This one is going to cost me a lot of money this is patetic [sic]." A second message soon appeared: "Today a tough guy show up at yankee stadium." He apparently was referring to Tichenor. Guillen is serving the suspension during games today and tomorrow against the Baltimore Orioles. He'll also have to pay an undisclosed fine.

The Rainiers are in Reno for a 4-game set with the Aces. Game one last night was tied at 12 through 8 innings. Still tied after 9, 10, and 11. Reno scored in the bottom of the 12th to win it 13-12. Game two of the series is tonight at 6:00.

The Sounders are home this weekend hosting Toronto tomorrow night at 6:30.

Not surprisingly, the Carolina Panthers made Cam Newton the No. 1 pick in yesterday's NFL Draft. Meanwhile, in what many are calling the first shock of the 2011 Draft, Jake Locker is heading east. The U-Dub quarterback was drafted by the Tennessee Titans with the eighth overall pick in the first round. Locker started every game he was healthy enough to play in the last four years for the Huskies and led Washington to its first bowl game appearance since 2002, a 19-7 win over Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl

The American Idol judges used their once-per-season save on Casey Abrams weeks ago, but fans of the show decided his time was finally up and eliminated him last night. The 20-year-old Abrams, an unconventional but versatile musician who plays piano, guitar and upright bass, had not appeared in the bottom three since the judges trumped fan voting and decided to keep him in the running on March 24th. The five remaining finalists are James Durbin, Lauren Alaina, Jacob Lusk, Haley Reinhart and Scotty McCreery. The finale airs on May 24th and 25th, when viewers choose the next winner and he or she lands a recording contract.

Its official, American Idol Season 10 is getting ready to sing for their fans this summer. The American Idols Live tour kicks off on June 6th in West Valley City, Utah and wraps up on September 9th in Rochester, New York. The lineup features the top 11 finalists of season 10: Casey Abrams, Haley Reinhart, Jacob Lusk, James Durbin, Lauren Alaina, Naima Adedapo, Paul McDonald, Pia Toscano, Scotty McCreery, Stefano Langone, and Thia Megia. The Northwest stop is July 8th at Comcast Arena in Everett.

Steven Tyler is not only busy with new Aerosmith music and his gig as a judge on Idol, but he's also working on a new solo career. In fact, he recently filmed a video for his first-ever solo single, "(It) Feels So Good." Steven recruited Norwegian-born, LA-based director Ray Kay for the clip, which Kay described as having "a lovely, sexy summer feel." It was shot in LA and premieres on an upcoming episode of American Idol. The single is out on May 9th and available digitally on May 10th.

Tuesday, Charlie Sheen is at Comcast Arena in Everett. Meanwhile, the re-launch of Two and a Half Men without Charlie is beginning to take shape. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that series co-creator Chuck Lorre has presented close associates and Men co-star Jon Cryer with his plan to take the top-rated CBS sitcom in a new creative direction. According to an insider, Lorre has told Cryer this reboot would involve a significant role for him and the introduction of a new, yet-to-be-cast character. When exactly Men would return is another open question. Two sources say a mid-season re-launch is more likely than a fall return.

Bon Jovi haa announced that guitarist Richie Sambora will miss concert tour dates amid reports that he is heading to rehab. In a statement released yesterday, the group said its support for Sambora was "absolute" and that he remained a member of the band. But it also said he would miss an undetermined number of concerts and that it looked forward to his "healthy return." Neither the band nor its publicist would confirm or deny reports that Sambora planned to enter rehab. He went to rehab a few years ago.

As his son gets ready to become a college student, Kid Rock is proud to play the dad role in his family. In an interview with Esquire, he says, "[Kenny Chesney] texted me real early in the morning…He asked me, 'Were you up all night?' I said, 'No, no, I'm getting up for my son.' He said, '…don't worry, I'm not going to tell anybody you were up this early, because it'll ruin your image.' I go, 'You can't ruin my image.' Make no mistake, Bob Richie's up early in the morning taking pictures of his son on the first day of his senior year. 'Kid Rock' is passed out in a hotel room somewhere with four scantily clad women." Kid's son, Robert Richie Jr., turns 18 in June.

Looks like a great weekend coming up.  Stop by the Dragon Boat Festival tomorrow at Port Plaza on Budd Inlet and see Kris Marshall and the Roxy Road Show.  Then Sunday, see Jerry Farmer at Yelm High School.  He's there with the Roxy Road Show for the Nisqually Valley Home, Garden & Trade Show.

Trivia Answer: Roger Clemens then of the Boston Red Sox. Clemens attributed his switch from what he calls a "thrower" to a "pitcher" to the partial season Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver spent with the Red Sox in 1986. The Mariners, by the way, finished that year with 67 wins and 95 losses. Mark Langston was on that team as were Dave Valle, Alvin Davis, and Dave Henderson.

Who are these guys? And what have you done with the Mariners? These guys sure aren't playing like the Mariners we've become accustomed to here of late. Today, for example, rookie Michael Pineda (or somebody who looked a lot like him) struck out nine in six sharp innings, and Miguel Olivo and Luis Rodriguez each homered to help the Seattle Mariners beat Detroit 7-2 to complete a three-game sweep of the Tigers. It's the first time the Mariners have swept a three-game set against Detroit since July 2003. Last night, Erik Bedard pitched seven impressive innings and picked up his first win since June 2009. Justin Smoak homered and drove in a career-high five runs to help the Seattle Mariners rout the Detroit Tigers 10-1. The Ms are moving on to Boston for a weekend series with the Sox starting tomorrow.

The Rainiers are in Reno to open a 4-game set with the Aces. Game one tonight at 6:00.

The Sounders are home this weekend hosting Toronto on Saturday.

The NFL is falling behind in its court fight with the players over the future of the $9 billion business. The federal judge who lifted the lockout two days ago dealt another blow to the league late yesterday, denying its request to put her ruling on hold pending appeals and guaranteeing more limbo for all 32 teams, thousands of players and millions of fans.

Kate Hudson announced on the Today show yesterday that she is engaged. In a surprise statement, the 32-year-old actress confessed she's set to wed Muse frontman Matt Bellamy. The pair already has a baby on the way.

The British military held a dress rehearsal in the early hours of Wednesday morning in preparation for the Royal Wedding, set to take place Friday. People magazine reports about one-thousand military members, in full uniform, did a dry run of the events set to take place on Friday. Spectators said that personnel were very good about trying to block the view of where Kate Middleton will be positioned on the big day.

An elderly Pennsylvania couple called police after finding ten-thousand dollars worth of marijuana in a package on their front porch. Reports are that the UPS package contained five pounds worth of high-grade marijuana. In an attempt to track the sender, authorities looked up the return address, which led nowhere since it was bogus.

Adele is back on top. Her album, 21, returned to the summit of the Billboard 200 chart after a week at number two to make way for a hot debut from the Foo Fighters. With sales topping 150-thousand copies last week, 21 has now sold almost 1.3-million albums in the US alone. The album has also returned to the top spot on the UK album chart.

Colbie Caillat had a pretty cool experience earlier in the week. She took to her Twitter to write that she got to perform the National Anthem at the White House Easter Egg Roll while standing next to the Obamas, and that it was "one of the best moments" of her life. She went on to call the President and his family "so sweet, real, down to earth, and engaging." Check it out here.

Almost Famous director Cameron Crowe has been working on a new documentary about Pearl Jam called Pearl Jam Twenty and now the filmmaker tells Rolling Stone magazine that the movie is due out in September. He also said it's made up from "the best souvenirs of the past, some fabled footage you've heard exists but have never seen, and some interviews."

This summer, Paul McCartney is releasing two more albums from the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. 1970's McCartney and 1980's McCartney II are being reissued as the re-mastered original albums and as a double-disc special edition package that includes the re-mastered album as well as seven bonus audio tracks and a DVD.

Adopted and rescue shelter canines are soon to be considered top dogs in New York. Two New York state lawmakers are pushing to make these average mutts the official state dog. United Press International reports that several states, including Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, already have state dogs. This move is in an effort to boost the state's dog rescue operations.

Bruno Mars is talking a bit about working with Cee-Lo Green on the hit song Forget You. Bruno told Q magazine that he had wanted to collaborate with the singer "for years," and that when he finally got into the studio with him, he as "a little nervous." But it seems that everything worked out well, as they ended up writing the tune "in two hours."

Trivia Answer: Bruno Kirby who was born on this date in 1949. Kirby was a popular character actor through the late 1980s and early '90s. Early television appearances included the series Room 222 and The Super, but it was his role in The Godfather Part II, as the young Pete Clemenza, that raised his profile in Hollywood. He can be seen in the pilot episode of M*A*S*H, playing the character Boone, though he has no lines. Kirby and comedian Billy Crystal made a popular screen team in When Harry Met Sally... (1989) and City Slickers (1991). Both featured Kirby's character as the opinionated best friend to Crystal's character. However, Kirby refused to sign on for the sequel City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold unless script changes were made. Kirby's character was replaced by a new character played by Jon Lovitz, and the movie, while successful commercially, it did not reach the popularity of the first and was panned by critics. Kirby was very allergic to horses, and needed daily allergy shots on the set of City Slickers. Like his character in This Is Spinal Tap, Kirby was a fanatical fan of Frank Sinatra. Kirby died on August 14, 2006, at the age 57 from complications related to leukemia.

Felix Hernandez was sailing pitches all over the Comerica Park bullpen as he prepared to face the Detroit Tigers last night. He was worried before the game. Luckily for Felix, he was facing his favorite victims -- the Tigers. He allowed two earned runs in six innings to move to 7-0 in his last eight starts against Detroit, a streak dating back to 2007. The game featured one of the strangest homers in Comerica Park's 12 seasons -- a play that's sure to be on every blooper reel. The Ms' Miguel Olivo led off the second with a routine-looking fly to deep left that Ryan Raburn struggled to find in the sun. While still short of the warning track, Raburn lunged back, only to deflect the ball high into the air and into the Tigers' bullpen for Olivo's first homer of the season. Tigers starter Phil Coke was routed by Seattle for the second time in a week, giving up seven runs in 4 1-3 innings. In his two starts against the Mariners, Coke is 0-2 with 13 runs allowed in eight innings. Justin Smoak rejoined the Ms in Detroit after spending time on the bereavement list due to a death in his family. He homered in the 4th inning. Skipper Eric Wedge said that Smoak asked to go right back into the lineup. Last night's final was 7-2. The Ms and Tigers wrap up the series at 12:40 this afternoon.

The Tacoma Rainiers got out of Salt Lake with another win yesterday as they downed the Bees, 8-4. An off day today. They open 4-game series at Reno against the Aces tomorrow night.

And again for Timothy Noel Smith (who I think is a Canucks fan), a note that the Canucks beat the defending Stanley Cup champ Blackhawks last night in Game 7. The Canucks avoided a historic playoff collapse by knocking Chicago out in the first round with a 2-1 win lastnight. The same Canucks that had been knocked out of the last two playoffs by the Blackhawks. Vancouver won the first three games before the defending champions roared back with three straight victories, threatening to spoil the Canucks' Presidents Trophy-winning season by becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to erase an 0-3 series deficit. Instead, Vancouver is hosting Nashville in the second round.

NBC's The Voice premiered last night with coaches Cee-Lo Green, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera listening to auditions while not seeing the singers. Cee-Lo says the blind auditions are a major reason why he joined the show. He admits the show is inspired by American Idol, but feels it is different enough to succeed. The Voice, hosted by Carson Daly, returns tonight with more blind auditions.

Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly reports that tonight, the six remaining American Idol hopefuls pair off into duets and take on the music of the legendary Carole King.

Dan McKeague, a sales manager for a few radio stations in Minneapolis, recently quacked his way past the likes of Jeff Foxworthy and Richard Lewis – and some 12,500 others -- to become the new voice of the Aflac insurance company.The married father of two is replacing comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who was fired for making jokes on Twitter about the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Now McKeague will be the one you hear when the Aflac duck opens its beak during TV and radio spots -- a job that could net him a six-figure income in residuals. He has done local voiceover work and decided to submit his audition online. Aflac whittled the finalists down to 20, then eight, and then ... McKeague. Aflac's marketing head Michael Zuna said, "Dan impressed us with his vocal range and acting ability."

Katie Couric said yesterday that, as expected, she is stepping down as anchor of the CBS Evening News, five years after her much-hyped appointment as the first woman to single-handedly host a nightly newscast on a major US television network. Couric moved to CBS News in 2006 after 15 years as co-host of NBC's top-rated morning show, Today. She didn't make clear whether she was leaving CBS altogether or when her departure would become effective. The network itself shed little additional light in a brief statement saying, "There's a lot to be proud of during Katie Couric's time at the CBS Evening News. CBS News, like Katie herself, is looking forward to the next chapter." Katie's five-year contract with the network -- at a salary reported worth $15 million a year -- ends in June, and Couric's career future has been the subject of media reports for weeks. There was no immediate word from CBS as to who might fill in for Couric at the Evening News while the network seeks a permanent replacement.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Go-Go's album, Beauty and the Beat, the band is re-releasing a re-mastered and expanded edition on May 17th. According to a press release, it's available in a two-CD package and as two digital collections. And if all that weren't enough, the ladies are be going on a US tour beginning at the end of May – the gals play a show at the Woodland Park Zoo on Sunday, August 14th. Beauty and the Beat features the songs Our Lips Are Sealed and We Got The Beat.

Pearl Jam has been named the 2011 Planet Defender by non-profit environmental advocacy organization Rock the Earth. According to Spinner.com, the band is being recognized for their "ceaseless environmental activism throughout their illustrious 20 year career." The band has strived to have zero net emissions for their tours by offsetting carbon emissions with huge donations towards tree planting.

Kid Rock regrets his stage name now that he's hit 40 because a middle-aged man shouldn't be rocking the moniker Kid. Kid -- who was born Robert Ritchie -- selected his alter ego when he was a teenager, and he accepts he may have made a mistake. He says, "The only person who had a dumber name than me was the Fresh Prince. Hey, it sounded like a cool rap name when I was 16, but it stuck, and now it's me. I'll be an 88-year-old man (saying), 'Call me the Kid!'"

Trivia Answer: Sheena Easton -- born Sheena Shirley Orr -- who turns 53 today. 9 to 5 was the title of Easton's first single release in the United States, although it was renamed Morning Train (Nine To Five) to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton's hit movie title song 9 to 5. Morning Train became Easton's first and only #1 hit in the US Before 1981 was over Sheena had a top 10 hit in both the US and UK with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme For Your Eyes Only. The song was nominated for the Best Female Vocal Performance in 1981 and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 1982. Easton's US success culminated in her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1981. In 1987, she sang on Prince's #2 hit, U Got the Look, and also appeared in the video. Prince and Sheena were Grammy nominated for Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group in 1987. The tabloid press linked the two romantically, which she has always denied. Though married four times, today Easton is a single mother to her two adopted children, and currently resides in Henderson, Nevada.

Seven weeks into the NFL lockout, players have an early triumph over the owners in court. U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered an immediate end to the lockout Monday, siding with the players in their bitter fight with the owners over how to divide the $9 billion business. The fate of the 2011 season remained in limbo: The NFL responded by filing a notice of appeal questioning whether Nelson exceeded her jurisdiction, seeking relief from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. Hours later, the league filed a motion for an expedited stay, meaning it wants Nelson to freeze her ruling to let the appeals process play out.

The Mariners were off yesterday. They open a three-game set with the Tigers in Detroit at 4 this afternoon. Seattle is expecting Justin Smoak to be back. He's been on bereavement leave following the death of his father. The funeral was Saturday in North Charleston, S.C.

Former Texas Rangers president J. Thomas Schieffer was hired by Commissioner Bud Selig on Monday to run the Los Angeles Dodgers, less than a week after Major League Baseball took over operation of the franchise from owner Frank McCourt. In seizing control of the franchise, MLB told the Dodgers that any expenditure of $5,000 or more would have to be approved

A long, wet night ended with smiles on the faces of the Tacoma Rainiers. Dustin Ackley's opposite-field two-run double in the top of the 12th inning spurred Tacoma to a 5-4 victory over the Salt Lake Bees. It was the second win in the past 12 games for Tacoma. The Rainiers are 5-14 on the season. They wrap up the series with the Bees tonight, they're off tomorrow, and in Reno Thursday.

Lindsay Lohan, fresh from her latest stint in jail, is appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight, according to NBC. In a last-minute addition to the lineup, Lindsay taped her appearance yesterday, but officials at the network declined to reveal what was discussed. Lohan was sentenced to four months behind bars on Friday for violating her probation, and jailed for about five hours before her legal team scrambled to post $75,000 bail. Her latest legal woes stem from the alleged theft of a $2,500 gold necklace while she was on probation for a 2007 drunk driving and cocaine possession incident. Lohan was ordered to stand trial on June 3rd but the jewelry charge was reduced to a misdemeanor from a more serious felony, and will cut to one year her maximum time behind bars if eventually convicted.

The Royal Wedding is this Friday and as England and the rest of the world gear up for the festivities, some astounding facts have come out about the ceremony. ABC reports that the whole day will cost about 34-million dollars, with an estimated 100-million pints of beer expected to be served in British pubs on the day of the celebration. Five-thousand police officers will be on hand to protect the Royal Family and their wedding guests. There will also be 187 horses in the bridal procession and 35 bomb-sniffing dogs to check out the scene. It's also estimated that one-million extra people are traveling to London to check out the Royal Parade.

On the topic of the throne, apparently the "Numi" is the new ultimate toilet when it comes to bathroom luxury. The lengthy list of amenities includes things like a motion activated lid, a deodorizer, feet warmers and music. Yahoo! News reports that the one downside is that the robo-toilet doesn't include the engineering team required to fix it if something goes wrong.

Saturday Night Live has announced its lineup for the last three shows of the season. Tina Fey is hostong on May 7th, Ed Helms appears on May 21st and the last show is ramping up to be a doozy, with Justin Timberlake hosting and Lady Gaga as the musical guest.

Cue the promotion machine: Lady Gaga is set to release her Judas video next week on American Idol. Interscope Records made the announcement on Twitter, adding that more details are on the way. Gaga is set to perform the track on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday. As previously mentioned, she's also performing on Saturday Night Live on May 21st. Gaga also makes a May 27th appearance on Good Morning America that kicks off the show's summer concert series. Meanwhile, the premiere of Gaga's highly anticipated HBO special, taped at New York's Madison Square Garden in February, airs May 7th. And Glee goes Gaga. Glee's Born The Way episode is airing tonight.

Do we finally know which three people are joining Simon Cowell as the four judges on the forthcoming American version of The X-Factor? Well in an interview with Deadline.com, Cowell said that it's looking like he's going with a lineup of L.A. Reid, Cheryl Cole, and none other than his former American Idol co-star Paula Abdul. Of course, it should be noted that neither Cheryl nor Paula have finalized their contract yet, so things could still change.

If you're a fan of Annie Lennox waiting for her next tour, you better get comfortable. The singer has said it's unlikely she will ever tour again, especially after some recent health problems. The former Eurythmics member explained on her website, "It just wears me out mentally and physically, and my back and left foot are rubbish." She goes on to suggest that in the future, performers may tour using holograms.

What could very well be one of "the" tours of the summer has just been announced. Train and Maroon 5 are heading out on the road together on a co-headlining trek. It all kicks off on July 22nd in Chula Vista, California and wraps on September 24th in Woodlands, Texas. The openers are Gavin DeGraw for the first leg and Matt Nathanson for the second. The trek includues a stop at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn on September 13th.

Kings of Leon have also announced a summer tour. The group is heading out on the road with Band of Horses as their support. The trek kicks off July 25th in Orange Beach, Alabama and right now, goes through September when they wrap up in Seattle. That Seattle show is scheduled for September 12th at Key Arena.

Trivia Answer: Gary Wright who turns 68 today. The biggest song he had? Dream Weaver which was #2 on the charts for three weeks back in 1976. The record sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in March of 1976. It was also later featured in the Wayne's World film and soundtrack, as well as in the 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt. His follow-up single -- also in 76 -- Love is Alive also reached #2 and stayed there for two weeks. Although The Dream Weaver was a hit album and would go multi-platinum, his subsequent releases did not catch on, either critically or commercially, and his career quickly stalled. In 2008, Wright toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. He currently lives in California with wife Rose. He has two adult sons.

It was Western Washington's warmest day of the year so far ... and it fell on a Saturday, no less. If we needed a reminder of how great our weather can be, it got served up in grand fashion Saturday. Here in Olympia, we hit 69, Shelton got to 68, the Tacoma Narrows and Joint Base Lewis McChord topped out at 66.

The Oakland A's earned a series split with a 5-2 win over the Seattle Mariners yesterday. The series started off well enough with the Ms taking the first two of the four-game set but it went downhill from there as the Ms lost on Saturday and then dropped the finale yesterday. An off-day for the Ms today as they travel east and open a series in Detroit tomorrow.

At least Franklin Gutierrez now knows what caused all of his stomach problems for nearly a full year. Now comes seeing if the treatment will finally get Seattle's Gold Glove center fielder back on the field. Gutierrez visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last week, where he was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome as the cause of his stomach issues that first popped up last summer.

The Tacoma Rainiers came up on the short end of a 10-5 score yesterday in Salt Lake City. The Rainiers and the Bees meet again tonight in Utah.

Fredy Montero scored in the 19th minute and the Seattle Sounders remained unbeaten in five games, beating the Colorado Rapids 1-0 Friday night. Seattle is 2-0-3 in its past five games -- 2-2-3 overall. Coming up Saturday, the Sounders are hosting Toronto FC.

Timothy Noel Smith reminded me on our Facebook page to not forget about the Canucks. So ... After a wild and eventful night at the United Center, the Chicago Blackhawks have pulled off the improbable. They've drawn even after losing the first three games to the Vancouver Canucks, the team with the best record in the NHL this season. Now, do the defending Stanley Cup champions have one more left? Chicago scored a 4-3 victory, sending the spirited and physical opening-round series back to Vancouver for Game 7 tomorrow night.

Rio led the box office in North America for a second weekend, and remained the top choice internationally for a third round as the worldwide haul for the Brazilian bird cartoon flew toward $300 million. According to studio estimates yesterday, Rio sold an estimated $26.8 million worth of tickets across the United States and Canada over the weekend. Madea's Big Happy Family, the latest outing from prolific actor/writer/director Tyler Perry, opened at No. 2 in North America with $25.8 million. The debut was in line with expectations but fell short of Perry's previous comedies. Water for Elephants, a romantic drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Twilight hunk Robert Pattinson, came in at No. 3. The Easter Bunny live-action/animated hybrid Hop slipped one place to No. 4. The horror sequel Scream 4 tumbled three to round out the topfive at No. 5.

The Royal Wedding is coming up this Friday.

It's hard to believe that May is just around the corner. Tons of albums are being released next month. Some of the new music on the way: U2 is rumored to be putting out a new album sometime next month, confirmed album releases include Death Cab For Cutie's new album Codes and Keys, Beastie Boys' Hot Sauce Committee Pt 2, and a solo album from Eddie Vedder called Ukulele Songs.

Bret Michaels has stepped in for Jerry Seinfeld at an upcoming charity golf tournament, filling the place the comedian left vacant when he decided against making an appearance because of Donald Trump's affiliation with the event. Seinfeld was "increasingly uncomfortable" with Trump's recent questioning of President Obama's citizenship so he withdrew from the Eric Trump Foundation's September 13th benefit for the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Michaels, a fan of Trump and St. Jude's, took his spot and told HollywoodLife.com, "We should never allow the spirit of generosity to be overshadowed by divisive political beliefs." Last year, Michaels won Trump's competition show The Celebrity Apprentice.

No diving in the kiddy pool is a rule that doesn't apply to Professor Splash, who is also known as Darren Taylor. Taylor, a Denver resident, broke the shallow water diving record when he launched himself from a platform 36.3 feet in the air. Below him there was only a blown-up kiddy pool filled with 12 inches of water. According to Yahoo! News, Taylor walked away from the stunt unharmed. And yes, he's also available for parties and events.

One Wisconsin teen went to her prom in a dress made of Starburst wrappers. The teen's mom started on the dress, matching shoes, and clutch about six years ago. Style List reports that each wrapper had to be carefully folded eight times and creased with tweezers. To complete the ensemble, the girl's date wore a matching Starburst vest. He, apparently, didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.

Trivia Answer: Joseph Francis Buck -- Joe Buck -- who turns 42 today. He's the son of Jack Buck, best known for his work announcing games of the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals. Jack Buck received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. Before joining Fox, Joe called play-by-play for the then-Louisville Redbirds, a minor league affiliate of the Cardinals, and was a reporter for ESPN's coverage of the Triple-A All-Star Game. In 1991, Buck did reporting for St Louis' CBS affiliate. Also, in 1991 Joe followed in his father's footsteps by broadcasting for the Cardinals on local television and KMOX Radio, filling in while his father was working on CBS telecasts. In the 1992–95 season he was the color commentator for University of Missouri basketball broadcasts. Buck continued to call Cardinals games after being hired by Fox Sports, initially with his father on KMOX and later on FSN Midwest television. As his network duties increased, however, Buck's local workload shrank, and prior to the 2008 season it was announced that Buck would no longer be calling Cardinals telecasts for FSN Midwest. This would mark the first time since 1960 that a member of the Buck family would not be part of the team's broadcasting crew. In 1994 Buck was hired by Fox, and at the age of 25 became the youngest man ever to announce a regular slate of National Football League games on network television. 1996 he was named Fox's lead play-by-play voice for Major League Baseball, teaming with Tim McCarver, who had previously worked with Joe's father on CBS. That year, he became the youngest man to do a national broadcast (for all nine innings and games, as a network employee as opposed to simply being a representative of one of the participating teams) for a World Series, surpassing Sean McDonough, who called the 1992 World Series for CBS at the age of 30. McDonough had replaced Jack Buck as CBS' lead baseball play-by-play man after the elder Buck was fired in late 1991. Buck became Fox Sports' lead NFL play-by-play man in 2002 (taking over for Pat Summerall), teaming with Cris Collinsworth and Troy Aikman as color commentators and Pam Oliver as the sideline reporter. Buck is only the third announcer to handle a television network's lead MLB and NFL coverage in the same year (following NBC's Curt Gowdy and ABC's Al Michaels).

Felix Hernandez took a shutout into the eighth inning and Adam Kennedy's home run was all the Seattle Mariners needed to beat the Oakland Athletics 1-0 last night. Felix allowed four singles. He struck out eight and walked three before leaving after a season-high 126 pitches. Game two of the 4-game series coming up tonight at 7.

The Tacoma Rainiers fell four runs down before getting their first out last night at Cheney Stadium, eventually losing to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, 13-1. They wrap up the series tonight at 7.

The Seattle Sounders are in Colorado to face the Rapids tonight at 6:30.

Today is Earth Day.

The Northwest entry on American Idol is gone.  Stefano Langone, the 21-year-old from Kent received the fewest viewer votes on Idol this week. Langone, a wild-card finalist rescued by the Idol judges, appeared as one of the show's bottom-three vote getters a total of four times. Next Wednesday, the remaining finalists perform songs by Carole King.  Another singer gets dismissed Thursday.

If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery then Adele should be feeling pretty good about herself. Two of the biggest shows on television had people cover her songs this week.  First, on Glee, it was Gwyneth Paltrow singing her tune Turing Tables, and then on American Idol, contestant Haley Reinhart gave Rolling in the Deep a shot.

It's going to be a festival-filled summer for Lifehouse. It was just announced that the band is heading to Europe in June, playing different festival shows in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom..

Yesterday, word was that Lady Gaga did not approve Weird Al Yankovic's parody of Born This Way, titled Perform This Way. Now Gaga has given the thumbs up about the song. According to MTV News, Gaga's manager never forwarded her the parody and told Yankovic that she did not approve of the song. When Gaga found out, she cleared the song and admitted that she is a big Weird Al fan. All the proceeds from the song and video go to the Human Rights Campaign.  Check the tune out below in yesterday's post.

Lindsay Lohan back in court today for the preliminary hearing in her felony theft case. UPDATE: Lindsay Lohan taken to jail after being sentenced to 120 days for violating probation with arrest in necklace theft case.

Earlier this week, the world's oldest man celebrated his 114th birthday. The former postal worker from rural Japan was born on April 19th, 1897. According to Reuters, the man claims that the secret to his longevity is eating sparingly and stopping when his stomach is 80 percent full. He told local officials that he plans to see his 120th birthday.

Douglas is a black cat beloved by all of those who work at one New Zealand port depot. But the feline, a mascot of sorts, disappeared about month ago. After asking around and even calling the SPCA, workers worried Douglas was gone for good. Three weeks later, the cat was found in southern Australia. Douglas had apparently climbed into a shipping container which was sent across the Tasman Sea. Shortly after being found, the feline was returned back to his New Zealand home.

Hoppy Easter from all your peeps here at 94.5 Roxy!

Trivia Answer: Peter Kenneth Frampton who came alive 61 years ago today. In 1966, Frampton became a member of The Herd. He was the lead guitarist and singer, scoring a handful of British teenybopper hits. He was named "The Face of 1968" by the UK press. In early 1969, when Frampton was 18 years old, he joined with Steve Marriott of The Small Faces to form Humble Pie. While playing with Humble Pie, Frampton also did session recording with other artists, including: Harry Nilsson, Jim Price, Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as George Harrison's solo All Things Must Pass in 1971, and John Entwistle's Whistle Rymes in 1972. During the Harrison session he was introduced to the 'talk box' that has become his trademark guitar sound. After five albums with Humble Pie, Frampton left the band and went solo in 1971. He had minimal commercial success with his early albums. That all changed with Frampton's breakthrough best-selling live album, Frampton Comes Alive!, in 1976. Baby, I Love Your Way and Show Me the Way were singles. Do You Feel Like We Do, despite its length, was also popular. The latter two tracks also featured his use of the talk box guitar effect. The album stayed at the top of the charts, at number one, for 10 weeks, on Billboard's Top 40 album chart for 55 weeks, and on the Billboard 200 charts in total for 97 Weeks. It was the top selling album of 1976, beating Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac for the top spot, and was the 14th best seller of 1977. The album became the biggest selling live album at the time of its release and sold over 6 million copies in the US, 16 million worldwide. Frampton Comes Alive! is 6 times platinum. Peter is currently on tour and performing the Frampton Comes Alive! album in its entirety. He's at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville doing just that coming up on August 12th.

One day after putting up 13 runs, the Seattle Mariners' offense reverted to more familiar ways yesterday. They managed just four hits against Detroit Tigers starter Rick Porcello. It wasn't enough to overcome another improved-but-still-mediocre outing by Erik Bedard. Ms lose 3-2 . The Oakland As are in the Northwest for the weekend. Game one of the four-game set is tonight.

Riding a six-game losing streak, the Tacoma Rainiers were looking for something -- a big hit or a big pitch. They got both against Colorado Springs last night as the Rainiers scored a 4-3 comeback victory and picked up their first win in six tries at remodeled Cheney Stadium. The same two squads meet again tonight at 7:00.

Major League Baseball is taking the extraordinary step of assuming control of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team increasingly paralyzed by its owners' bitter divorce. Once among baseball's glamour franchises, the Dodgers have been consumed by infighting since Jamie McCourt filed for divorce after 30 years of marriage in October 2009, one week after her husband Frank McCourt fired her as the team's chief executive. Frank accused Jamie of having an affair with her bodyguard-driver and performing poorly at work. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said yesterday that he will appoint a trustee to oversee all aspects of the business and the day-to-day operations of the club.

The Seattle Sounders are at Colorado tomorrow night.

Katy Perry is singing on tonight's American Idol results show. Meanwhile, Idol castoff Pia Toscana has already set up herself up with another TV gig. Pia is performing Tuesday on Dancing with the Stars, while professional dancers Mark Ballas and Karina Smirnoff dance. It's rumored that Pia is dating Mark. She says they're just friends. She alsosaid she's open to dating a celebrity.

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler is about to grace the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. He previously appeared on front of the periodical in 1976 and 2001. The new issue with Steven hits shelves next Friday -- the 29th.

Coming up on VH1 on May 13th, it's VH1 Storytellers: Kings of Leon. The show features songs from the band's decade-long career as well as the stories behind their music. The episode kicks off the 15th anniversary season of the show.

When Regina Mayer's parents refused to get her a horse for riding, the German teenager turned to Luna, the family cow. After hours of training, tons of treats and countless caresses, Regina and Luna can now be seen taking long rides through the countryside. Not only that, the teenager taught her cow to jump off beer crates and logs. Regina joked with reporters at The Huffington Post, saying that Luna "thinks she's a horse."

As tornadoes ripped through Askewville, North Carolina, witnesses saw Molly, the donkey and star of the town's annual Christmas pageant, being lifted into the funnel cloud. Everyone thought Molly was a goner, even her owner. But luckily, after the storms cleared, she was found in a ditch about 300 feet away from where she was last seen. Just a day later, Molly was up, grazing and already preparing for this year's Christmas show.

Could we be seeing Lady Gaga's new video for her song Judas in just a few days? NME is reporting that there are rumors floating around that the clip may debut on Easter Sunday. It would certainly keep consistent with the religious imagery that's being portrayed in the video, with an actor playing Judas Iscariot and Gaga herself playing Mary Magdalene.

According to PopDust.com, Lady Gaga did not approve Weird Al Yankovic's parody of Born This Way, titled Perform This Way. The song, which you can hear below wiith a lyrics scroll, was supposed to be the first single from his upcoming album. It did not receive Lady Gaga's approval so as of now, it will not be featured on the effort. In the parody, he pokes fun at all the strange costume choices Gaga has made over the years and compares her to Madonna. At the end of the clip, Weird Al states that all proceeds from the song and video would have gone to the Human Rights Campaign.

UPDATE: Word is Gaga has now approved.

ESPN has compiled a list of just about every country in the world, and the athlete from each who makes the most money. It turns out soccer players make a lot of dough. As far as the U-S goes, the biggest moneymaker is none other than Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, who earns 32-million bucks a year. See the full list by clicking here.

Trivia Answer: Anderson MacDowell -- we know her as Andie MacDowell -- who turns 53 today. In Greystoke, by the way, her lines were recorded by another actress because her southern accent was too pronounced for her to play the role of an Englishwoman. That other actress? It was Glenn Close. In 1985, Andie had a small part in St. Elmo's Fire. In 1989, director Steven Soderbergh cast her in the independent film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Her performance led to a series of starring roles in films such as Green Card, The Object of Beauty, and Short Cuts. In the 1990s, MacDowell achieved stardom due to the box office success of the 1993 comedy by Harold Ramis, Groundhog Day, and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), opposite Hugh Grant. Groundhog Day and Four Weddings and a Funeral remain MacDowell's biggest box office hits. MacDowell appears in print and television advertisements for the cosmetic and haircare company L'Oréal. MacDowell currently resides in the town of Biltmore Forest near Asheville, North Carolina. She is an avid hiker and general outdoorswoman.

Even when the Seattle Mariners don't hit, they still walk better than everyone else. And when they do both, they actually win, too. By a lot. Or, at least they did last night. Detroit Tigers starter Phil Coke spotted the Mariners four runs on four walks and just one hit in the first inning, then the M's exploded for another five runs -- this time on four hits -- in the seventh inning en route to a rare 13-3 blowout win at Safeco Field. That's more than a whole series' worth of offense for a club that entered the night averaging just 3.2 runs per game. The Tigers pitching staff helped them raise that number. Seattle tallied 11 walks in the game, bringing to its Major League-leading total to 79. Ms and Tigers wrap up the series today at Safeco. The Oakland As arrive tomorrow and are in for the weekend.

The Mariners placed first baseman Justin Smoak on the Bereavement List yesterday, recalling outfielder Carlos Peguero from Triple-A Tacoma to replace him on the 25-man roster. Manager Eric Wedge said Smoak returned home to be with his family. Justin's father last his battle with cancer at the age of 54. Players may stay on the Bereavement List for a minimum of three days, and a maximum of seven.

The Tacoma Rainiers are still winless in their new digs. They fell to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox last night, 6-3. They'll try again tonight with the Sky Sox at Cheney Stadium.

The world's oldest man celebrated his 114th birthday yesterday with a breakfast of grilled sea bream, miso soup and red-bean rice. And the Japanese man announced he'd be living to the age of 120.

Today is Lima Bean Respect Day.

On American Idol tonight, the Top 7 are perform hit songs from after January 1, 2001. The contestants on Idol, by the way, got to work with a pretty big name this week -- Bruce Springsteen. According to the show's Twitter account, the Boss stopped by the studio to help the remaining seven singers learn how to deliver a song with confidence. A spokesperson for Idol wouldn't comment on whether Bruce is appearing on the show but if he does, it'll theoretically be tonight or tomorrow night. Interscope's head honcho, Jimmy Iovine, is the season-long mentor on Idol. He helped engineer Bruce's iconic albums Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town.

Anaheim, California, police say they're investigating two death threats made against Rebecca Black, the 13-year-old singer of the YouTube hit song "Friday". One threat was phoned in and another emailed.

A new study finds that the most contented country on earth is Denmark.

According to WorldOfJustin.com, Justin Timberlake is hosting an upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live. The site is also reporting that Lady Gaga will be the musical guest in near future. Another rumor floating around is that Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, and Will Ferrell are also hosting over the next few weeks. SNL's season finale is on May 21st.

Duh. Losing. First came word this week that Charlie Sheen won't be returning to Two and a Half Men. Now, according to TMZ, a judge has ruled that everything stays the same in Charlie's custody agreement with Brooke Mueller, which means Charlie's bid for sole custody has been shut down. Both parties are keeping the custody rights they reached back in March.

David Heyman, the producer behind Harry Potter, is planning a new animated film project that features ten Beatles songs. The movie is reportedly about a dung beetle trying to woo a ladybug. He explained that getting the rights to the songs was "not easy" but he is very "excited" about the movie. Heyman isn't yet revealing which tunes are to be in the movie. No word yet on when the flick will be in theaters.

You won't be seeing much poker on ESPN anymore. With the US government shutting down almost all of the online poker sites in America, reports are that the sports channel will "remove poker advertising and programming" from the channel, except for the World Series of Poker. Read more about ESPN's decision as well as about the latest with what's going on with online poker, at Bloomberg.com.

Instead of getting presents for his seventh birthday, one Pennsylvania boy only wanted to help the troops overseas. Jacob Miller's mom sent out invitations, asking everyone attending his party to not bring gifts. Instead, guests could bring personal care items for packages that would be sent to deployed troops. The Express Times reports that the party was a huge success. Everyone participated and brought pre-paid phone cards, toiletries and magazines amongst other things.

A six-year-old Oregon boy decided to take the family van for a drive. He crashed into several mailboxes before swerving into oncoming traffic and striking a pick-up truck head on. Both drivers only received minor injuries. According to The Oregonian, when police questioned him about why he was behind the wheel, the boy said that he was hungry and on his way to get food.

Trivia Answer: Ryan O'Neal -- born Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal, Jr. -- who turns 70 today. His daughter is Tatum O' Neal. He appeared in guest roles on series that included The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Bachelor Father, Leave It to Beaver, and Wagon Train. O'Neal gained enormous popularity from 1964 to 1966 on the hit prime time ABC soap opera Peyton Place (with fellow newcomer Mia Farrow). O'Neal's film career took off beginning with his role in Love Story in 1970, earning a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1973, he was #2 in the Annual Top Ten Box Office Stars, behind Clint Eastwood. He starred in a series of films for director Peter Bogdanovich, beginning with the screwball comedy What's Up, Doc? (with Barbra Streisand in 1972); following were Paper Moon (with daughter Tatum O'Neal in an Oscar-winning role in 1973), and Nickelodeon (in 1976 and again with Tatum). Ryan was also known for his decades long relationship with the late Farrah Fawcett. He was in a long-term, off-and-on relationship with the late actress until her death. In June 2009, O'Neal said he asked Fawcett again to marry him. O'Neal said that the wedding would happen "as soon as she can say yes." No ceremony took place before Fawcett's death on June 25th of 2009.

Fielding errors in the outfield, wild pitches, and more poor hitting with runners in scoring position led the Ms to come up short again last night. Of course, no amount of offense is sufficient when the bullpen implodes and allows six runs in one inning, as the Mariners did. The Ms lose 8-3 to the Detroit Tigers at Safeco. That the bull pen went into meltdown mode was no surprise, given the fact that Jason Vargas was Seattle's starting pitcher. He hasn't won a game since August 14th and is now riding a string of 12 consecutive decisions without a victory. Ms and Tigers again tonight.

The Tacoma Rainiers, meanwhile, solved their offensive problems last night, but their pitching and defense failed them. As a result, their bottom-line problem continued in a 7-6 loss to the Sacramento River Cats. It was the Rainiers' fifth loss in a row, eighth in their past nine games, and it dropped them to 3-9 on the season and 0-4 in renovated Cheney Stadium.

Mariners closer David Aardsma is set to begin a rehab stint with Tacoma tonight as he recovers from offseason hip surgery. The Rainiers are hosting the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. If all goes well with the Rainiers, Aardsma could be back with the big club in less than two weeks. Meanwhile, center fielder Franklin Gutierrez's rehab with Class A High Desert was over before it began. Gutierrez felt ill before his first scheduled appearance and flew back to Seattle to meet with Mariners doctors. Word is that Gutierrez is headed to the Mayo Clinic for his ongoing stomach problems.

Gwyneth Paltrow is on Glee tonight (again?) where she once again is playing substitute teacher Holly Holiday.

A restaurant in Denmark was named best in the world for the second year in a row. Noma, in Copenhagen, was voted best by more than 800 international restaurant industry experts.

Today is the day for anyone wanting a job at McDonald's. The company plans to hire as many as 50,000 new workers nationwide.

Elton John is returning to the Las Vegas Strip for a three-year run at Caesars Palace. The five-time Grammy winner announced Monday he'll return with his "Million Dollar Piano" show to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas starting in September. Tickets for the first 16 shows go on sale April 25. John completed his first run at Caesars Palace in April 2009. "The Red Piano" was originally slated to run for three years, but was extended to a five-year run because of audience demand. John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

Adam Levine has no plans to become an actor, although he did say that he might have an interest in becoming an "action hero." Apparently there's a big difference between the two, as the singer wrote on his Twitter, "Acting involves skill and some form of education. Action hero involves pushups and that slightly self deprecating roguish charm."

Children of the '80s, get excited. According to the New York Daily News, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson are planning to head out on tour together, performing cover songs as well as their own hits. Tiffany told the paper, "We want to journey through the '80s and all the artists who influenced us."

A man has been arrested on suspicion of taking more than 100-thousand dollars worth of jewelry from Jon Bon Jovi's Beachwood, New Jersey home. According to Reuters, 21-year-old Nicholas Tracy was found in a bathroom of one of Bon Jovi's neighbors' homes, and allegedly stole more than 500-thousand dollars from different properties in the neighborhood. Tracy has been charged with a combined seven counts of burglary and theft.

After repeated burglaries at a southeastern Mississippi pharmacy, the pharmacist decided enough is enough. The thief reemerged last week and as usual, went straight for the Lortab, a kind of painkiller. But this time he got a surprise. According to Yahoo! News, since the burglar was only stealing Lortab, the pharmacist filled the painkiller bottle with kidney beans and not drugs. The thief got away with nothing more than a light snack.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The United States Postal Service has released a new stamp featuring a picture of what they thought was the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately for them, they selected a photo of the wrong Lady Liberty. The New York Post reports that the stamp actually pictures the replica statue at the New York-New York Casino in Las Vegas. The Postal Service admitted to the slip up and is taking action to prevent mistakes like this from happening in the future.

Trivia Answer: Dudley Stuart John Moore -- Dudley Moore -- who was born on this date in 1935. He was often known as "Cuddly Dudley" or "The Sex Thimble", a reference to his short stature and popularity with women. Moore was married and divorced four times: to actresses Suzy Kendall, Tuesday Weld, Brogan Lane, and Nicole Rothschild. He maintained good relationships with Kendall particularly, and also Weld and Lane. Moore dated and was a favorite of some of Hollywood's most attractive women, including the statuesque Susan Anton. In the late 1970s, Moore moved to Hollywood, where, in 1978, he appeared in Foul Play with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. The following year saw his breakout role in Blake Edwards's 10, which he followed up with the movie Wholly Moses! The latter was not a major success. Soon thereafter, Moore appeared in Arthur, an even bigger hit than 10, which also starred Liza Minnelli and Sir John Gielgud (who won an Oscar for his role as Arthur's stern but compassionate manservant) and Geraldine Fitzgerald. Moore was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award but lost to Henry Fonda (for On Golden Pond). He did, however, win a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy. In 1984, Moore had another hit, starring in the Blake Edwards directed Micki + Maude, co-starring Amy Irving. This won him another Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy. In September 1997 Moore underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in London, and subsequently suffered four minor strokes. In September of 1999, Moore announced that he was suffering from the terminal degenerative brain disorder progressive supranuclear palsy, some of whose early symptoms were so similar to intoxication that he had been accused of being drunk, and that the illness had been diagnosed earlier in the year. He died on March 27th of 2002 -- a result of pneumonia, secondary to immobility caused by the palsy.

Michael Pineda is giving the Seattle Mariners hope they have found a formidable pitcher to pair with Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez atop their rotation. The 22-year-old Pineda, he with a 99 mph fastball, held Kansas City to one run and three hits over six innings. Brendan Ryan had a tie-breaking two-run single and the Mariners beat the Royals 3-2 yesterday to snap a four-game losing streak. Pineda is now 2-and-1 with a 2.33 ERA in three starts. He's held opponents to 13 hits and struck out 16 in 19 1-3 innings. The Royals took three of four from the Mariners and are the only team in the American League that has not lost a series this season. The Mariners are back home hosting Detroit tonight.

Not a good homestand for the Tacoma Rainiers. They lost the opener in the newly refurbished Cheney Stadium Friday night, losing 6-5 to the Sacramento River Cats. Then they lost Saturday and Sunday to the Cats both by a score of 3 to 1. The Rainiers get one more shot in this series. Tacoma is hosting Sacramento again tonight.

Alvaro Fernandez scored in the 91st minute to lead the Seattle Sounders to a 1-1 tie with the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. Fredy Montrero had an assist for Seattle, which has one win and three ties in its last four games. The Sounders are at Colorado on Friday.

Moviegoers around the world headed to Rio for the weekend. The 3D animated misadventure of a Brazilian macaw scored the biggest opening so far this year at the North American box office, and was the top choice overseas for a second weekend. The film sold an estimated $40 million worth of tickets across the United States and Canada, coming in at the top end of expectations. It also provided some rare good news at the box office where sales so far this year are down 19 percent to $2.65 billion. The previous best launch this year was the $38 million bow for the Johnny Depp cartoon Rango, which remains the biggest release of 2011 with $119 million. Rio, by the way, ended the two-week reign of another cartoon, the Easter-themed Hop. Opening at No. 2 in North America with considerably less success was Scream 4, the first installment in the horror franchise in 11 years. It sold about $19.3 million worth of tickets across the US and Canada. Industry insiders had expected the bloody reunion of David Arquette, Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell to open in the mid-$20 million range. Hop slipped to No. 3, Soul Surfer came in at No. 4, and Hannah rounded out the top five.

Your income tax forms have to be in the mail by midnight tonight (I don't want to talk about it.  Sent off a bunch of money to Uncle Sam over the weekend).

Let the royal wedding programming begin. Tonight Lifetime airs William & Kate, a movie focusing on the early days of William and Kate's relationship. And ABC's 20/20 gives us William & Catherine: A Modern Fairytale with Barbara Walters looking closely at the fairytale romance of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Charlie Sheen is not in talks to return to Two and A Half Men. Sheen himself started that rumor late last week, but Warner Brothers and CBS have released a statement that explains that Charlie will absolutely not be heading back the sitcom.

Cee Lo Green said Friday he did not want to be a judge on upcoming new TV talent show The X Factor because he saw little fresh in the concept. Cee Lo, however, said yes to a job as one of four celebrity coaches on rival new singing show The Voice because he said it felt fresh and positive. Regarding X Factor -- the new U.S. venture by former American Idol judge Simon Cowell, which comes to Fox television in the fall of 2011 -- Cee Lo said, "I knew the name and I knew the parties involved. But as an enterprise, I didn't see what made it distinctive enough. It kind of seemed like shows like Idol had run their course. And I liked this one better." Green joins Christina Aguilera, country star Blake Shelton, and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine as the mentor-judges on The Voice, which pops up on NBC one week from tomorrow.

Former President Bill Clinton's childhood home has been dedicated as a national historical site.

Playboy has chosen the University of Colorado-Boulder as its Top Party School for 2011.

Katy Perry has made chart history. Her tune Firework recently reached four-million downloads, making her the first artist ever to have four songs sell four-million digital copies. Her first three are I Kissed a Girl, Hot N Cold, and California Gurls.

Adele is apparently very generous. A source tells British paper The Sun that because of the success of her most recent album, 21, workers at her company, XL Recordings, have been given a bonus of around 15-hundred dollars. The source said that everyone from "top record producers to the office cleaners" got a cut. 21 just reached Platinum status here in the US and is sitting atop the Billboard album chart.

Paul McCartney has announced his first US show of 2011. It takes place on June 10th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. During the set, expect the former Beatle to perform some of his greatest hits from his time with the Fab Four as well as Wings classics plus newer material.

In June, Adidas begins selling the adiZero Crazy Light for $130. The shoe weighs in at just 9.8 ounces, making it 15 percent lighter than the nearest mid-top basketball shoe and half-an-ounce lighter than the next low-top.

A new study suggests that there is yet another good reason to lose weight -- dropping pounds may improve your memory and concentration. USA Today reports that the logical conclusion behind this is that as the body becomes healthier, so does the brain. The study involved 150 people who averaged 300 pounds. Those who lost 50 pounds after receiving gastric bypass surgery showed a significant improvement in several cognitive abilities.

One man used a peculiar weapon during a fight with his girlfriend in Flint, Michigan, last week. The woman threw him out of their apartment, so the guy picked up a bike and threw it at her. Yup. He's been drinking.

Then there's the guy in Louisville, Kentucky, who's in trouble after attempting to smuggle food out of a grocery store by concealing it in his shorts. Cops say Steven P. Malone was seen stuffing four pounds of chicken down the front of his shorts Sunday afternoon.

A British farmer is "dyeing" to prevent his sheep from being stolen. In an effort to keep thieves away from his flock, John Heard dyed all 250 of his sheep orange. The dye apparently has no harmful side-effects and eventually wears off. Heard's idea seemed to work seeing as all of the sheep have all stayed put.

Trivia Answer: Canadian Rick Moranis who is 58 today. Moranis was born in Toronto, Ontario, and went elementary school with Geddy Lee, frontman of the band Rush. His career as an entertainer began as a radio disc jockey in the mid-1970s, using the on-air name of "Rick Allen" at three Toronto radio stations. He followed that with his work at SCTV. Moranis enjoyed particular success portraying "Bob" of the fictional Great White North hosts Bob and Doug McKenzie. "Doug" was played by fellow Canadian actor Dave Thomas, a friend and writing partner of Moranis who was instrumental in bringing him to SCTV. After his SCTV work, Moranis had a busy film career that lasted over a decade. In a 2004 interview, Moranis talked about the kinds of films he enjoyed the most: He said, "On the last couple of movies I made - big-budget Hollywood movies - I really missed being able to create my own material. In the early movies I did, I was brought in to basically rewrite my stuff, whether it was Ghostbusters or Spaceballs. By the time I got to the point where I was "starring" in movies, and I had executives telling me what lines to say, that wasn't for me. I'm really not an actor. I'm a guy who comes out of comedy, and my impetus was always to rewrite the line to make it funnier, not to try to make somebody's precious words work." He left the film industry in 1997, six years after the 1991 loss of his wife, Anne, to liver cancer. He later explained that he "pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. "I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it."

The Seattle Mariners managed just six hits in a 5-1 loss at Kansas City last night in a game that was called after 7½ innings because of rain. The Mariners are batting .218 with 44 runs in 13 games, and dropped to 1-7 when they score fewer than four runs. The Ms and Royals meet again tonight at Kaufman Stadium.

Mariners center fielder Franklin Gutierrez is scheduled to begin a rehabilitation assignment tonight at Class A High Desert. Rumors had him in Tacoma tonight but general manager Jack Zduriencik said, "We wanted to be able to be sure that Franklin's work would not be disrupted by weather as he began his rehab assignment. By sending him to High Desert we're confident he can get early work, batting practice, and time in games uninterrupted." Gutierrez has not played since a March 19th spring training game as he battles a stomach ailment. No timetable was given for his return to the big league club.

The Tacoma Rainiers couldn't hold on as Fresno scored a 3-2 10-inning victory in the final game of Tacoma's season-opening road trip. The Rainiers unveil their newly renovated Cheney Stadium tonight. Tacoma is hosting the Sacramento River Cats for the home opening series.

This year taxes aren't due until Monday, April 18th. Today is Emancipation Day in Washington D.C., when the district celebrates the freedom of the slaves. It's a local holiday, but the law says tax day may not fall on a weekend, or a holiday.

The women ended their losing streak on American Idol last night as Paul McDonald became the first male contestant this season to be eliminated from the top 13 of the show. The 26-year-old Huntsville, Alabama singer, whose elimination was predicted by a number of bloggers, exited by fulfilling judge Jennifer Lopez's request that he sing Maggie May. Kent's Stefano Langone finished in the bottom three for a second consecutive week, where he was joined by Haley Reinhart, whose Call Me was judged to be among the weakest performances. Had Reinhart gone home, as many expected, Lauren Alaina would have been left as the only female with a shot at winning the American Idol title. Four women -- including presumed front-runner Pia Toscano last week -- have so far been voted off this year by the public.

Lady Gaga is performing at the MTV Video Music Aid Japan on June 25th. Gaga is the first performer to be announced for the 10th annual MTV Video Music Awards Japan, which are being dubbed the Video Music Aid Japan this year.

ABC has gone and canceled All My Children and One Life to Live. The last episode of All My Children airs in September while One Life to Live goes off the air in January 2012. The soaps are being replaced by an hour long show about food called The Chew and another show, tentatively called The Revolution, about maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Combined, All My Children and One Life to Live have aired 20,000+ episodes.

Charlie Sheen and the makers of Two and A Half Men traded accusations yesterday over whether the door was still open for the actor's return to the No. 1 television comedy. Warner Bros. Television strongly denied claims by Sheen that the studio was in talks to reinstate him, and made clear there was no chance of the fired star returning to the show. But Sheen's lawyer insisted that there had been discussions this week about Sheen going back to his role as a womanizing bachelor. Sheen, formerly the highest-paid actor on US television, was booted out of the CBS series in March. Charlie, currently on a bizarre Violent Torpedo of Truth stage tour, claimed this week he was in talks with his former bosses and that there was an 85 percent chance he would return. Attorneys for Warner Bros. wrote in a letter to the actor's lawyer, "Those statements are false. As you know, there have been no discussions, there are no discussions and there will be no discussions, regarding his returning to or having any involvement with the series." Sheen's lawyer, Marty Singer, told The Hollywood Reporter in response, "That's ridiculous. There absolutely have been discussions. As late as this Tuesday there have been discussions about Charlie coming back and everyone was involved." Singer did not say who was involved in the talks. Last month, there were unconfirmed reports that CBS chief Les Moonves wanted Sheen back. But the Warner Bros. letter yesterday appeared to rule out any hope of a reconciliation with Sheen, who has continued to trash his former bosses and some of his co-stars. Charlie in the Northwest coming up May 3rd when he does whatever he does at Comcast Arena in Everett.

Universally regarded as one of the biggest busts in NFL history, JaMarcus Russell may have reached another new low. The former Oakland Raiders' number one overall draft pick has been dropped by his "life coach," former NBA star John Lucas. Lucas was attempting to help Russell get into shape so he could have another shot at the NFL, but word is Russell's "lack of effort" made it so they had to part ways. Russell was cut from the Raiders in 2010, and was recently arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

A group of researchers in Sweden says organ donations would go up if the cost of a person's funeral were picked up in exchange for an organ. The organ donor would receive around $5,000, which could only be used for funeral expenses when they pass on.

Next time swiping that fluffy hotel robe crosses your mind, you better think twice. Word is that washable chips from Linen Technology Tracking are being sewn into hotels' robes, linens, and towels. The chip uses real-time, meaning hotels will be able to know where that plush bathrobe is at any given moment. This inventory control trend could soon be on its way to a hotel near you.

Trivia Answer: Linda Perry who turns 46 today. She was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. At the age of 21, she moved to San Francisco. Although she had been involved in music and pursued some sort of musical interest while a teenager, her arrival in San Francisco marked the actual beginning of her career in music. Waiting tables, doing coat check, and working at a pizzeria, she lived in a very small room without a window and would play her guitar and sing her own songs out on the street in the city. People started recognizing her as "that chick with the big voice." After some time spent paying dues as a solo singer at Bay Area clubs and coffeehouses, Perry composed her first professional song, called Down On Your Face, and was recruited into the band 4 Non Blondes by its founder Christa Hillhouse in the middle of 1989. After several years of playing locally and negotiating with various record companies, the band finally signed with Interscope Records and released its debut album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, in late 1992. The album, featuring Perry as lead singer and dominated by her compositions, was an immediate success and spawned a hit single, the Perry-penned What's Up? (often erroneously called What's Going On?, since that line is sung repeatedly in the chorus).

Down by a run and facing a fifth straight loss, Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista came through with a three-run homer off Seattle Mariner reliever Chris Ray in the eighth inning yesterday afternoon. It was the start of a six-run inning by the Blue Jays, who avoided a three-game sweep by the Ms by pulling off an 8-3 win. The Ms now move on to Kansas City for a 4-game set with the Royals. Game One tonight at 5:10.

Mariners top prospect Dustin Ackley, trying to shake off the cobwebs of an early-season slump, hit a home run and continued to bat in the leadoff position as the Tacoma Rainiers beat Fresno 3-1 in Pacific Coast League action in Fresno last night. The Rainiers and Grizzlies wrap up their series tonight. Tacoma plays its home opener at the newly-renovated Cheney Stadium tomorrow night against Sacramento.

The Rainiers not only unveil their renovated stadium tomorrow night, they may have a Gold Glove center fielder in the lineup and another big leaguer on the way. Franklin Gutierrez, who has spent the past three days working out with the Mariners as he recovers from stomach problems, is expected to join the Rainiers for at least three games on a minor league rehab stint. A few days later, injured Mariners closer David Aardsma also may be ready for a minor-league stint.

After three days of jury deliberation, Barry Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice yesterday, but a mistrial was declared on three other counts, including perjury. The guilty verdict stems from Bonds' hindrance of a federal grand jury's investigation into doping allegations. Bonds sat stone-faced through the verdict, displaying no emotion. His legal team immediately asked that the guilty verdict be thrown out and US District Judge Susan Illston did not rule on that request. Bonds faced four felony charges stemming from 2003 testimony that he had never knowingly used performance enhancing drugs. He also claimed that personal trainer and childhood friend Greg Anderson had never injected him.

J-Lo strikes again. Jennifer Lopez was named People Magazine's most beautiful woman in the world yesterday, capping a career comeback fueled by her new job on top-rated American Idol. The 41-year-old New York City-born singer and actress joined former winners Halle Berry, Jennifer Garner and Beyonce Knowles to top People's annual list of the world's most beautiful people. Jennifer, who is married to singer Marc Anthony and took time off to have twins in 2008, has enjoyed a revival in popularity since becoming a judge this year on Idol. Since signing on with Idol, Lopez has been named the celebrity face of products ranging from beauty firm L'Oreal, to Venus razors and the Gucci children's clothes collection.

Kelly Clarkson returns to American Idol tonight. The season one winner also came back last year to perform as part of the big goodbye tribute to Simon Cowell.

No surprise here: The parents of that Detroit-area toddler who was accidentally served a margarita mixed cocktail in a sippy cup have sued the Applebee's restaurant chain. The lawsuit seeks in excess of $25,000.

A billboard company has apologized after placing a billboard for the TV show The Walking Dead ... right next to a funeral home in England.

My Chemical Romance has re-done their single, Sing, to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. The new version of the track is called SingItForJapan and is now available on iTunes. All proceeds from the song's sales go to the Red Cross.

It was only a matter of time, and now it's official. Adele's album, 21, has been certified Platinum. The singer's sophomore effort is back at the top of the Billboard album chart after spending the last two weeks in the third position. Her sales are now just over one-million -- and that's only in the US. Adele's debut album, 19, is also in the top 50, and recently reached Platinum status as well.

Dave Stewart is the latest guest Daryl Hall welcomes on his Live from Daryl's House web series. The renowned producer and former Eurythmics member chats with the Hall & Oates singer and then performs a set with him. The pair plays Eurythmics tunes, music from Dave's upcoming album, The Blackbird Diaries, and Daryl's song Dreamtime. Check it out when it debuts tomorrow at LFDH.com.

According to Reuters, Green Day's 2004 album American Idiot is being adapted for the big screen. Tom Hanks has been hired by Universal to produce the film version of the album, alongside the band. Reports claim that Broadway director Michael Mayer, who helmed the stage version of the album, will work on the film and Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black is in talks to pen the screenplay.

What do Tom Cruise and Axl Rose have in common? They both use the same voice coach. The actor has enlisted the help of Axl's voice teacher to prep him for his role in the upcoming film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Rock of Ages, which features classic rock hits from the '70s and '80s. According to TheWrap.com, Cruise is working with the coach five hours a day. The flick is due out on June 1st.

Catherine Zeta-Jones has checked herself into a mental health facility. The actress's rep told CNN that Zeta-Jones is being treated for Bipolar II Disorder, which is less severe than Bipolar I Disorder. Three months ago, her husband, Michael Douglas, announced that he had beaten his throat cancer.

With only a few weeks left on her contract, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric said yesterday that she hasn't made any decisions about her future. Katie said, "I'm in the middle of figuring it out -- figuring out where would be the best place for me, what would be the best job for me." Couric became the first female solo anchor of a U.S. weekday network evening news broadcast in 2006. Her five-year contract expires in early June, and her future career plans have been the subject of intense speculation. Couric admitted that she was "looking into and considering" working in syndication, saying the format was appealing because of the "creative freedom, to pick subjects, to really dig deep, to have a smart, intelligent conversation" and have "a little more wiggle room...to show my personality." She says she plans on coming to some sort of a decision fairly quickly. Says Katie, "I'm hoping in the next few weeks because it's important for everybody to move forward and so I'm hoping soon...sooner rather than later."

Tea-cup piglets, pygmy hedgehogs and meerkats are all on the list of trendy must have pets, but what's next? Daily Mail Online reports that there is a growing adoration for the soft fur and house trainability of skunks. Nearly two-thousand of the smelly black-and-white creatures are kept as domestic pets and breeders are catering to the increasing demand. One breeder assured potential owners that if they are trained properly when young, there is no need to worry about them spraying.

Trivia Answer: Sarah Michelle Prinze, known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar, who turns 34 today. She was Buffy Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a role for which she won six Teen Choice Awards and the Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actress and received a Golden Globe Award nomination. As Kendall Hart on All My Children, she won the 1995 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series. Gellar met her future husband Freddie Prinze, Jr., during filming of I Know What You Did Last Summer, but the two did not begin dating until 2000. They were engaged in April 2001 and married in Mexico on September 1, 2002. In 2007, Gellar legally changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze in honor of the couple's fifth year of marriage. Gellar and Prinze have a daughter, Charlotte Grace Prinze, born in September 2009.

Michael Pineda picked up his first major-league win as Seattle edged Toronto, 3-2, in the second of three games at Safeco Field. Ryan Langerhans clubbed a two-run home run. Pineda lasted 7 and 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two while allowing two runs -- one earned -- on five hits. Pineda's change-up is 89 to 90 miles an hour. The Ms go for the sweep as they wrap up the series with the Jays this afternoon.

Injured Seattle Mariners catcher Adam Moore will miss more time than was originally thought, as doctors found an "extensive tear" of the medial meniscus in his right knee during arthroscopic surgery yesterday. The doctors report that the surgery was successful, but that Moore will face a four to six-month rehabilitation. Moore injured the knee last Wednesday in Texas after blocking a pitch in the dirt

The Fresno Grizzlies parlayed 19 hits and three Tacoma errors into a 10-2 victory over the Rainiers in Pacific Coast League action yesterday afternoon. The top three hitters in the Fresno lineup, combined to go 10 for 14 with three doubles, a home run and five runs batted in. The Rainiers and the Grizzlies meet up again tonight at 7 in Fresno.

The NFL announced its preseason schedule yesterday -- assuming the lockout is over in time for games to be played in August. ESPN's preseason slate begins with the San Diego Chargers hosting the defending NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks on Thursday, August 11th. Seattle hosts Minnesota in week 2. The Seahawks are on the road at Denver in week 3. The Hawks wrap up the preseason hosting the Oakland Raiders. The preseason schedule, of course, is contingent on the players and NFL owners reaching a new collective bargaining agreement. The old one expired March 11th after talks with a federal mediator in Washington broke off. Mediation is set to restart tomorrow in Minneapolis and US District Judge Susan Richard Nelson is still considering a request from the players to lift the lockout imposed by owners after the players dissolved their union.

Today is Scrabble Day.

Seattle's Museum of Flight won't be home to a space shuttle orbiter. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden made that announcement yesterday. However, it will get the shuttle full-flight simulator. The shuttle orbiter Atlantis is going to the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, Endeavour goes to the California Science Center, in Los Angeles, and New York's Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum gets Enterprise, which was used to test atmospheric flight. The National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C., was already slated to get Discovery and give up Enterprise, which it currently displays. The Museum of Flight broke ground last year on a $12 million, 15,500-square-foot, glass-fronted Human Space Flight Gallery that would have housed a shuttle and will now instead feature the trainer.

Lindsay Lohan may have gotten herself a job. She made a surprise appearance at a New York City press conference with John Travolta for the film Gotti: Three Generations, and the film's executive producer said he and the actress have had serious talks about casting her in the movie. The fact that the embattled actress sat front row at a press conference for the flick seems to show Lohan is very close to being cast.

Bradley Cooper is reportedly in early negotiations to star in a remake of The Crow.

On American Idol tonight, the remaining eight perform songs from the movies.

Which US carrier is statistically the worst company flying? For their latest Airline Quality Ratings, researchers at Wichita State University and Purdue University graded US-based carriers based on four statistics: on-time performance, denied boardings, lost luggage and customer complaints. For the second year in a row, American Eagle scored at the bottom of the barrel.

A massive island of debris is working its way across the Pacific Ocean, the remains of that tsunami that devastated the Japanese coast last month. The debris, which comprises trees, houses, cars and human remains, is slowly floating eastward. And scientists say it's likely to reach the western coast of the continental United States ... in two years.

Apparently the practice of ending one's marriage via mobile phone is quite common in Tajikistan. It's done using the "triple talaq." The husband simply needs to text "I divorce you" to his wife three times and the deed is done. But now the "triple talaq" (talaq is the Arabic term for divorce) by text message constitutes a breach of Islamic law.

Jimmy Fallon, Bob Dylan, Old Spice guy Isaiah Mustafa, and Justin Bieber are some of the people nominated for Webby Awards this year. The Webby Awards are being held in New York City on June 13th with the winners being announced before that, on May 3rd.

Paul McCartney is rumored to be working on a compilation album where some of his greatest hits are covered by his favorite musicians. According to England's The Sun, Kiss, The Cure and Billy Joel are among the musicians hand-picked by Sir Paul to appear on the effort.

A Buffalo, New York cemetery could be the setting of another classic Disney story. According to Reuters, a goose has taken up residence in one of the cemetery's large urns where she recently laid eggs. And a young buck is right by her side, standing guard. For four days, the deer has positioned itself between the goose and anyone who has attempted to approach it. Nesting season has just started and the gestation period for this type of goose is up to 31 days, so this buck could be at it for some time.

A Maine pothead has started Marijuana State University. Just a hunch, but I'm guessing classes don't start until the afternoon.

Trivia Answer: Ron Perlman who turns 61 today. Perlman made his feature film debut in Quest for Fire in 1981. After various minor and supporting roles in films and television series, his breakthrough role came when he played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast, opposite Linda Hamilton from 1987 to 1990. This earned him a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series in 1989. He went on to play roles in many films and television series. His most notable film appearances were in films such as The Name of the Rose (1986), Romeo is Bleeding (1993), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994), The Last Supper (1995), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), Alien Resurrection (1997), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Blade II and Star Trek Nemesis (both 2002) and two Stephen King story-to-movie adaptations, Sleepwalkers and Desperation. His appearances in television series include Highlander: The Series, The Outer Limits, and The Magnificent Seven. He is also the narrator of the post-apocalyptic game series, Fallout, and is currently the narrator of the television series 1000 Ways to Die on Spike.

The Seattle Mariners homestand continued last night as they hosted the Toronto Blue Jays. You should have stayed at the park. Or stayed awake in front of your television (me, too!). Or set the DVR. Heck, even if you were one of the members of last night's record-low crowd of 13,056 at Safeco Field, it's still not likely that you saw the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-7. But they did. It's also not likely that you thought Luis Rodriguez, subbed in at third base for an injured Chone Figgins in the fourth inning, would be the game's hero. But he was. And it's highly unlikely you thought the Mariners would snap their seven-game losing streak when Corey Patterson hit a two-run home run off Mariners ace Felix Hernandez in the sixth inning, giving Toronto a 7-0 lead that seemed as safe as any. But with maybe a couple thousand fans still in the crowd, freezing but at least intrigued for once, Rodriguez ended a 10-pitch at-bat by lacing a drive into the right-center field gap off Toronto reliever Shawn Camp with two outs that scored Michael Saunders and Ichiro, ending the game, ending the skid, reversing the notion that last night's game would be the bleakest yet. Would you believe this Mariners team -- the one that hit 9-for-52 with runners in scoring position during its losing streak -- came from seven runs down to win a game for just the fifth time in franchise history? The same two teams meet again tonight. 

The Tacoma Rainiers were in Fresno last night to face the Grizzlies. Fresno won 7-6. They do it again today. The Rainiers open at home on Friday hosting Sacramento.

Today is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

Mitt Romney has entered the race for the White House in 2012. The Republican is forming an exploratory committee to raise money. Romney made the announcement yesterday on YouTube.

Topping the list of Forbes magazine's wealthiest fictional characters are a miserly duck and one of the living-dead. Scrooge McDuck is number one on the magazine's Fictional 15 list with an estimated worth of 44-billion dollars. Twilight's Carlisle Cullen came in second with 36-billion dollars. Reuters reports that while the list, which has been compiled since 2005, is all in good fun, the number crunching is serious business. Their methodology is similar to how the group calculates real billionaires.

After a heartbreaking season last year with the loss of Captain Phil, fresh blood joins the crab fleet as the 2010 crab season begins.

Jessica Biel has reportedly been offered one of two main female roles in the upcoming Total Recall remake.

Annie Lennox is being honored.  According to BBC News, the Eurythmics' singer is receiving the Silver Clef award, which is an annual honor recognizing an artist for their "outstanding contribution in music."  The Silver Clef organization said that Annie is "an outstanding musician and philanthropist," who has had her influence "felt globally."  The ceremony takes place in London on July 1st.

It was reported over the weekend that the Catholic League is upset with Lady Gaga over her forthcoming music video for Judas, in which she plays Mary Magdalene. Well, this isn't the first time that an artist has come under fire for things that members of the church have considered blasphemous. You'll remember that in 1989, Madonna's video for her song Like a Prayer was condemned by Catholic leaders because of the imagery in it, which included a black Jesus and statues that were crying blood. Jog your memory by checking the out the video.

Vince McMahon, the chairman of WWE, is ready to change things up. According to the LA Times, Vince is saying that he wants to "give his company a makeover," and it's all going to start with the name. WWE will no longer stand for World Wrestling Entertainment, rather it will just be WWE. He said, "I think every brand has to re-create itself. I want everyone to look at us in a vastly different way than they have."

A wildlife photographer had a close encounter with a polar bear. Tom Leeson captured the moment on film as the bear pressed its face against the window of Leeson's truck, bearing its teeth. According to The Telegraph, the close call happened on the northern coast of Alaska. Leeson said if the window had broken, the only weapon he had at his disposal was the tripod for his camera.

A woman who was dumped by her boyfriend got revenge. She painted his house and car red after he married another woman. The Romanian woman crept into his house at night and painted the walls, doors and windows then attacked his car.

Trivia Answer: David Michael Letterman who turns 64 today. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Only Letterman's friend and mentor Johnny Carson has had a longer late-night hosting career. Back when NBC decided to select Jay Leno and not Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show, it was an embarrassment to Carson, who had all but promised the succession to Dave. Letterman maintained a close relationship with Carson through his break with NBC. Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman's show. Carson's final television appearance came May 13, 1994 on a Late Show episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson still kept up with current events and late-night TV right up to his death that year, and that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a onetime producer for both men), Carson got "a big kick out of it." Letterman would do a characteristic Johnny Carson golf swing after delivering one of Carson's jokes. In a tribute to Carson, all of the opening monologue jokes during the first show following Carson's death were written by Carson. Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication. 

Just an absolutely awful weekend for the Mariners. It started off good enough with the Friday night pre-game festivities:  Ichiro getting his Gold Glove, Felix getting his Cy Young Award, Edgar Martinez showing up with a picture of Ichiro breaking Gar's hits record ... unfortunately there was a game.  A game the Mariners lost to the Cleveland Indians, 12-3.  Saturday, Seattle lost 2-1 and then yesterday, Asdrubal Cabrera welcomed Erik Bedard back to Safeco Field with a solo homer and the Indians beat Seattle, 6-4.  It was the seventh straight victory for the Indians. The Mariners were swept on their home opening weekend, and have now lost seven in a row. The Ms welcome in the Toronto Blue Jays for a three-game set starting tonight.

The Tacoma Rainiers, meanwhile, split their season opening series in Sacramento with the River Cats. They lost 6-2 on Thursday, won 3-1 on Friday, won 4-2 on Saturday, and lost 11-3 yesterday. The road trip continues as they head to Fresno for four before their home opener on Friday.

O'Brian White scored his second goal in two games and set up another to give the Seattle Sounders their first Major League Soccer victory of the season -- a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday. The Sounders are back in action next Saturday at Philadelphia.

Disney is rumored to have already begun work on a third film in the Tron film series.

U2 made history yesterday when their 360º tour became the highest grossing tour of all time. The band has grossed over 558-million dollars from the tour. The trek, which finishes in Nebraska on July 30th, will have made a staggering 700-million dollars by its conclusion. They play Qwest Field on Saturday, June 4th.

Gwen Stefani has a lot to be proud of in her career, but it seems that her personal life is what she's calling her "biggest achievement." She's on the cover of the latest issue of Elle magazine, and in the interview inside, she said that she and husband Gavin Rossdale have been together for 14 years and she's "so proud of that" because "it hasn't been the easiest journey."

P!nk has teamed up with PETA to write a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to take a close look at how animals are being treated by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The open letter gave three different examples of animal mistreatment, and asked that a member of his staff meet with a representative from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for further discussion.

In Des Moines over the weekend nearly 700 Drake University students joined in an effort to break the Guinness World Record for largest custard pie fight Saturday morning. The record required more than 671 participants.

Some retailers are charging customers for trying on clothes. The stores are tired of people coming in, trying on clothes and shoes, and then leaving and buying the stuff online. Customers at some ski shops are being hit with a $50 "fitting fee" to try on ski boots. The charge is refunded if they buy a pair of ski boots in-store.

New York City has an increasing rat problem after last year's Health Department budget cut. One city official is demanding that the 1.5-million dollars be restored to the budget due to the increase in complaints about rodents. However, paying close to two-million dollars for pest control may seem like a bit much, but the city collects triple that amount in pest-related health violations annually.

Government statistics released last week assert that bank robberies in the United States most often take place on Fridays in the mid-morning. The FBI reported a decrease in these crimes since 2009 but the numbers are still concerning. At close to a thousand, California had the most robberies last year. On the other end of the spectrum, North Dakota only had two.

Bravo has canceled The Real Housewives of D.C. Oh no! How will we cope? Oh yeah, we can still watch The Real Housewives of Orange Country, The Real Housewives of New York City, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and The Real Housewives of Miami.

Trivia Answer: Louise Lasser who turns 72 today. Lasser appeared in the Woody Allen films Take the Money and Run, Bananas, and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), as well as being one of the voices for his spoof dubbing of a Japanese spy movie What's Up Tiger Lily? She also had a brief cameo in his 1980 film Stardust Memories. She became a household name for starring as the neurotic, unhappy housewife Mary Hartman on the outrageous soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman which aired five nights a week in 1976-1977. In 2000, Lasser appeared on a panel with her former cast members of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills -- an appearance taped for the museum archives.

After nearly two months in Arizona and a six-game road trip to open the regular season the Mariners and new manager Eric Wedge are ready to come home. But Wedge's debut takes a backseat tonight when Seattle hosts Wedge's former team, the Cleveland.Indians. This home opener is all about Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus, who died from a heart attack on Nov. 10. Tonight will be the first time in franchise history that Niehaus isn't behind the mic for a home opener. For 34 seasons, Niehaus was the narrator for baseball in the Pacific Northwest, from the first pitch in franchise history, through the final out of the 2010 season. There was already a public celebration for Niehaus' life at Safeco Field in December and the Mariners are wearing a memorial patch dedicated to Niehaus on their uniforms this season. Those moves were only a precursor to what will be a highly emotional pregame ceremony tonight. A stretch of 1st Avenue South outside of Safeco Field is being renamed Dave Niehaus Way, after the city of Seattle approved the move earlier this week. Marilyn Niehaus, Dave's widow, is throwing out the first pitch surrounded by her family. Her husband threw out the first pitch when Safeco Field opened in 1999. In addition to the Niehaus celebration, the Mariners are honoring last season's American League Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez -- only the second Seattle pitcher to win a Cy Young -- and celebrating the Gold Gloves earned by right fielder Ichiro and center fielder Franklin Gutierrez. Oh yeah, they're also trying to snap an early four-game losing streak that included a disappointing sweep at the hands of AL West favorite Texas.

Seattle is also making a roster move today after backup catcher Adam Moore was diagnosed with a medial meniscus tear in his right knee. Moore was injured late in Wednesday's loss to Texas and will require surgery that has yet to be scheduled. The pending roster move could have a trickle-down effect as the likely replacement, Josh Bard, is not on the 40-man roster and some juggling would be required to clear a spot for him.

The Tacoma Rainiers kicked off their 2011 season -- their defense of the PCL Championship -- last night in Sacramento against the River Cats. The lost the series opener 6-2. They'll try again tonight at 7.

The Seattle Sounders host the Chicago Fire tomorrow afternoon at 1 at Qwest Field.

LeBron James' mother Gloria was arrested early yesterday morning on assault charges. According to the Associated Press, the elder James allegedly struck a valet at a Miami hotel and "had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath when police arrived." Apparently, Gloria has had problem with alcohol before - she was arrested for DUI in 2006.

An American Idol shocker. Pia Toscano was sent packing last night in an elimination that drew booing from the audience and visibly angered the judges. A clearly upset judge Jennifer Lopez buried her face in her hands and said "I have no idea what just happened here. I'm shocked. I'm angry." Veteran judge Randy Jackson echoed her words, saying "This makes me mad". He told Toscano, who switched from her usual ballads to an up-tempo performance this week, "You're one of the best singers in here." The 22-year-old Toscano is from Queens, New York City. She went home to a standing ovation from the judges followed by a performance of I'll Stand by You. Lots of consonants in use in the blogosphere. Most of them Ws, Ts, and Fs.

Foo Fighters perform on Saturday Night Live tomorrow night.

In his opening monologue when he hosted Saturday Night Live last weekend, Elton John said that Lady Gaga was the godmother to his son Zac. Some people just assumed he was joking, but in fact, he was stating the truth. According to PerezHilton.com, Elton and partner David Furnish did indeed ask Gaga to be their son's godmother. The gossip site saying that it's "100-percent true."

News broke this week that Tina Fey is five months pregnant. The 30 Rock star announced on an episode of Oprah that she and her husband, Jeff Richmond, are expecting their second child.

Dancer Karina Smirnoff has bared all for Playboy. The Dancing with the Stars dancer appears on the cover and inside the upcoming May issue.

The Pittsburgh Film Office announced this week that The Dark Knight Rises is being filmed in Pittsburgh, beginning this summer.

Duran Duran fans are in for a treat. According to a press release, the band is releasing a limited vinyl collector's edition of their new album All You Need Is Now. Only 500 are being made, and each is being individually numbered and signed by the band. They're first available on Record Store Day, April 16th.

Bob Dylan played his first ever gig in China on Wednesday night. The singer performed a set that was pre-approved by Chinese authorities and included songs like All Along the Watchtower, Like a Rolling Stone, and Highway 61 Revisited. Five-thousand fans watched the two-hour show, which did not include any material authorities deemed politically sensitive, like the song The Times They Are A-Changin'.

Last week, a bank worker in the UK was fired for making comments about her new boss on Facebook. In a sarcastic status update, Stephanie Bon compared her salary to the salary of the bank's new CEO. She wrote, "LBG's new CEO gets $4000 an hour. I get $7. That's fair." Word quickly got around the office about Bon's comment on the social-networking site and it wasn't long before the CEO had heard about it too. According to The Daily News, shortly thereafter Bon was escorted from the office building and removed from the bank's payroll.

Got a lead foot? Then consider moving to the Lonestar state, where a measure approved by the Texas House would raise the speed limit to 85. Texas and Utah are the only states that now allow speed limits of 80 miles per hour.

Hmm. Munchies run amuck? About $19,000 worth of salty snacks were stolen from a Canadian Frito Lay warehouse sometime between Friday and Tuesday. The stolen goods include Lays and Hostess chips, Doritos, Tostitos, peanuts, salsa and dips.

Then there's the Ohio man charged with a misdemeanor after taunting a police dog. When the K-9's partner investigated the noise, he found Ryan Stephens making barking and hissing noises at the police dog inside the patrol car. When the officer asked Stephens why he was harassing the animal, Ryan said "the dog started it."

Trivia Answer: Félix Abraham Hernández who turns 25 today. King Felix is getting his Cy Young Award tonight in the pre-game festivities leading up to the Mariners home opener. In addition to the fastball, his repertoire of pitches also includes a hard curve, a changeup, and a slider, all of which he can throw extremely well (he avoided the slider early in his career because the team was concerned it might injure his arm). When at his best, he can induce a steady procession of groundball outs and strikeouts, with very few balls being hit in the air. Like some other pitchers, he wears a long-sleeved undershirt beneath his uniform jersey. While typically this is done to keep the pitcher's arm from getting chilled, he wears it even in the hottest weather. For him it serves to keep perspiration from running down his arms and interfering with his hand's grip on the baseball. The 2008 season was a good one for Felix. On June 17th, he became the thirteenth AL pitcher ever to throw an "immaculate inning" -- striking out the side on exactly nine pitches. Then on June 23rd, in his only plate appearance of the season, Hernández hit his first major league home run -- a grand slam -- off Johan Santana of the New York Mets. Felix became the first American League pitcher to hit a grand slam since Cleveland's Steve Dunning hit one on May 11th of 1971. Felix was the first to do so since interleague play and the DH rule began. It was also the first home run ever hit by a Mariners pitcher.

Another tough-luck loss for Felix Hernandez yesterday -- even before getting his AL Cy Young Award from last season. Hernandez and the Mariners are off today before their home opener tomorrow against Cleveland, new skipper Eric Wedge's old team. During pregame festivities tomorrow in Seattle, Felix is being presented the Cy Young Award he won last season despite only a 13-12 record. That game starts a stretch of playing games on 17 consecutive days.

The Tacoma Rainiers launch their 2011 campaign tonight. They're in Sacramento facing the River Cats at 7:00 tonight.

The Seattle Sounders are still looking for that first win of the season. They host the Chicago Fire Saturday afternoon at 1:00 at Qwest Field.

Put down that vacuum. Today is No Housework Day.

For iPhone users, there's a new calorie counting app called Meal Snap. You take pictures of your food and, seemingly like magic, it counts your calories. It sounds impossible but Meal Snap's ratings in the App Store are high.

A brewery in New Zealand launched a Breakfast Beer today. What is a 'Breakfast Beer'? It's a dressed-up name for beer with cherry flavoring. Yawn.

By the time the royal wedding gets here 10 billion people are expected to watch. Never mind there are just under 7 billion of us on planet Earth. Last month we heard that somewhere around 1.5 billion people could be expected to watch or listen to at least part of the wedding live. Now that number has risen to 2 billion.  At this pace 10 billion should be no problem.

Whatever happened to the sweetest face on the big screen, Meg Ryan? Well, she got plastic surgery and chose a few bad film roles. But now Meg's going to direct a feature film entitled Into the Beautiful, a comedy drama about old friends reuniting.

A sculpted guitar made of concrete has been unveiled in Aberdeen, as a memorial to Kurt Cobain. The dedication of the sculpture was timed to coincide with the 17th anniversary of the Nirvana frontman's death in Seattle in 1994. The sculpture was placed in a park near the Young Street bridge where Cobain often spent time as a child. The bridge is mentioned in the Nirvana song,  Something in the Way.

In a major Grammys overhaul designed to reduce the bloated structure of the music industry's top awards, organizers said yesterday they are slashing the number of categories to 78 from 109 for next year's ceremony. Many existing categories are being merged, while some are being dropped outright with contenders from different musical genres required to compete in new, all-purpose categories. The top awards -- album, record and song of the year, and best new artist -- remain untouched. Television viewers won't notice the changes, since only about 10 awards are announced during the three-and-a-half hour telecast. The rest are handed out earlier in the day during a fast-paced ceremony that is broadcast on the Internet. The R&B field suffered one of the biggest cuts, with the number of awards cut in half down to four. The three R&B vocal performance awards for males, females and groups have been merged into a single R&B performance award. Among other changes, the separate awards for male and female vocal performance are now combined into a new pop solo performance category. Similarly a new award, rock performance, replaces the separate awards for rock solo vocal performance and rock performance by a duo or group with vocals. The two metal and hard rock categories have also been merged. In the pop, rock and country fields, the prizes for instrumental performance have been dropped.

LeBron James, soccer team owner? According to the Wall Street Journal, the NBA star has signed a deal to have a minority stake in the Liverpool Football Club, which is owned by Fenway Sports Group, the same people who own the Boston Red Sox. About becoming a sports team owner, James said, "The first time I stepped on an NBA court I became a businessman. This is a great opportunity for me."

Gwen Stefani is on the cover of the most recent issue of Elle magazine, and she had some interesting things to say in her feature interview. The No Doubt lead singer spoke about how it was "hard" being pregnant because she felt "disgusting." She also was asked about the newer crop of singers, like Lady Gaga and Rihanna, being inspired by her, and she said that she doesn't think they are. Her reasoning? Well, she "usually puts pants on," while those two tend not to.  I'm still not quite sure what that means,

It's official -- Jordin Sparks is opening for the New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys on their NKOTBSB tour later this spring. The former American Idol confirmed the news on her Twitter, saying that she's "super excited" to be a part of the trek. Things kick off May 25th in Rosemont, Illinois. They're all in the Tacoma Dome on Friday, July 8th.

Angelina Jolie was spotted sporting an addition to the tattoo she has that represents her six children. Jolie has map coordinates on her left arm representing the birthplaces of her six children with Brad Pitt. There is now a seventh set of coordinates added to the tattoo. Did she and Brad adopt a new child? As of now, sources are saying no.

Wildlife experts in Hanoi, Vietnam have captured a 440-pound giant turtle in order to administer medical treatment. In the past few months, the turtle has surfaced more frequently than ever and appeared to have pink sores on its shell, causing alarm. Thousands of people crowded around the lake to watch the scene. Reuters reports that the creature is the size of a car door and has a head as large as a human's head.

A 23-foot tall teddy bear will be at the epicenter of Manhattan next week. The 35,000 pound piece of art is called Untitled (Lamp/Bear) and is the work of New York-based Swiss artist Urs Fischer. Fischer sewed together a one-foot tall teddy bear and then scanned it with a 3-D laser to generate drawings to create the sculpture. The bear is complete with button eyes and a lamp that lights up for night time viewings. The US collector that plans to sell the bear and lamp has already turned down a $9 million private offer and plans to make more moolah at the May 11th sale.

Trivia Answer: Edmund Gerald Brown, Jr. -- Jerry Brown -- who turns 73 today. He's the son of Pat Brown, who was the 32nd Governor of California and was in office from 1959 throught 1967. He himself served two terms as the 34th California governor from 1975 to 1983. Now, he's the current and 39th governor. Brown was formally inaugurated as governor on January 3rd of this year, the 28th anniversary of the end of his last term. If he decides to run for a fourth term in 2014 (and wins), he'll be unable to run for a fifth term in 2018 due to term limits.During his first term as California's Governor, he was the sixth-youngest Governor of that state. Upon his inauguration as California's 39th Governor, he became its oldest serving governor. At the age of 73, Brown is also the oldest currently serving governor in the United States. Both before and after his first two terms as governor, Brown was elected to a number of state, local, and party offices. He has previously served as Attorney General of California, Mayor of Oakland, chairman of the California Democratic Party, California Secretary of State, and a member of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees. Brown sought the Democratic nominations for President of the United States in 1976, 1980, and 1992, as well as the United States Senate in 1982 but was unsuccessful in these attempts. 

Well, the Texas Rangers started the day still undefeated ... much to the chagrin of the Seattle Mariners. Alexi Ogando pitched six scoreless innings in his first major league start and Josh Hamilton hit an RBI double as the Texas Rangers got by the Ms 3-2 last night. The defending American League champion Rangers are the first team to five wins. The only other undefeated teams are Baltimore (4-0) and Cincinnati (4-0). Seattle's Michael Pineda made his major league debut and looked good. He kept Texas from hitting a home run. He gave up four extra-base hits over six innings. He stuck out four and walked one. The 22-year-old Pineda became the first Seattle pitcher to make his major league debut in a start since Felix Hernandez on August 4th of 2005. Pineda is the first Mariners rookie to be in the opening day rotation since Freddy Garcia in 1999. The Ms and Rangers wrapped up the series earlier today and Felix Hernandez already has another tough-luck loss -- even before getting his AL Cy Young Award from last season. Hernandez and the Mariners were hurt when newly converted second baseman Jack Wilson made consecutive errors on potential inning-ending double plays that led to three runs and went on to a 7-3 loss to the still undefeated Texas Rangers. Felix allowed four runs, two unearned, in seven innings. He struck out six and walked three. The Mariners are now 2-and-4. They have a day off tomorrow before their home opener against Cleveland, new skipper Eric Wedge's old team, that starts a stretch of playing games on 17 consecutive days. During pregame festivities Friday in Seattle, Felix is being presented the Cy Young Award he won last season despite only a 13-12 record.

The Mariners are wearing a Dave Niehaus memorial patch this season. The patch is now available to the public. Proceeds from the sales benefit the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Fans can pick up their own patch for $10 at Mariners team stores starting Friday -- Opening Day at Safeco Field.

Coming up tomorrow, the Tacoma Rainiers get their 2011 campaign underway. They are at Sacramento.

Saturday, the Seattle Sounders try again to come up with that elusive first win of the season as they host the Chicago Fire.

Texas A&M defeated Notre Dame 76-70 last night to win the NCAA women's basketball national championship

Wendy Williams is saying goodbye to the Dancing With the Stars ballroom -- and to the cross-country treks she made as she juggled taping her daily talk show in New York and performing on the dance show in Los Angeles. The TV host was dismissed last night Tuesday from Dancing after coming into the episode in last place. She earned 15 points out of 30 the previous night for her foxtrot with professional partner Tony Dovolani. Returning to dance on Monday will be actors Kirstie Alley, Ralph Macchio and Chelsea Kane; athletes Hines Ward, Chris Jericho and Sugar Ray Leonard; singer Romeo; reality star Kendra Wilkinson and model Petra Nemcova.

Tonight on American Idol, the contestants perform songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, accompanied by guitarist Jeff Beck.

Sing it with me now, "Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground." Remember that guy on Idol? Well, a new law in Arkansas prohibits droopy pants and low-cut tops in academic settings. According to Reuters, the Arkansas governor has signed a bill banning clothing that exposes underwear or too much skin. Arkansas' teachers and administrators now have the law on their side concerning this issue.

Are you ready? Extreme Couponing debuts tonight. That's the title of a new TLC show that debuts tonight. Extreme Couponing follows extreme bargain hunters -- the everyday people who save hundreds of dollars in a single trip to the store.

The first ever Comedy Awards air this Sunday on Comedy Central, Vh1, Spike TV and more. The show features a ton of guests like Alec Baldwin, Andy Samberg, and Tina Fey, and honors Eddie Murphy as a Comedy Icon. The Comedy Awards air Sunday night

Kate Middleton won't have to sign a prenup before marrying her prince. Apparently prenups are rare in England and aren't 100% legally binding.

The Verizon iPhone drops way fewer calls than AT&T's, according to an independent study. In a survey of iPhone users, those on Verizon dropped calls at a 1.8% rate, while those on AT&T lost them 4.8% of the time.

3 Doors Down fans get the chance to hear the band's new album this summer. The group just announced that their album, Time of My Life, comes out on July 16th. Time of My Life is 3 Doors Down's fifth studio album.

Adele has made UK chart history. According to the BBC, her latest album, 21, has set the record for longest time at number one by a female solo artist, after being at the top for ten-consecutive weeks. It breaks the record of nine set by Madonna's Immaculate Collection back in 1990. By the way, her debut album, 19, is still at number two on the chart.

Hard Rock International is helping Ringo Starr spread his message of peace and love with the launch of the Ringo Signature Series: Edition 28 T-shirt. The shirt boasts Starr's original artwork and 15 percent of the proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In fact, after he announced the new shirt, Starr made a 17-year-old brain cancer survivor's wish come true, giving him an autographed drum kit. Get your shirt now at HardRock.com.

The Go-Go's are heading out on a tour. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of their hit debut album Beauty and the Beat, the Our Lips Are Sealed ladies are trekking all over the US and Canada. On Sunday, August 14th, they're at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

Trivia Answer: Bret Boone who turns 42 today. Bret's grandfather Ray was an infielder for the Indians, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Athletics, Milwaukee Braves and Boston Red Sox. He played from 1948 to 1960. Bret's dad, Bob, was a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, California Angels and Kansas City Royals from 1972 through 1990. He was later a manager with the Royals and Cincinnati Reds. Bret's brother Aaron is a third baseman who has played with the Reds, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Florida Marlins, and Houston Astros. On the last day of the 1998 season, the Reds helped him make baseball trivia history by starting the only infield ever composed of two sets of brothers: first baseman Stephen Larkin, second baseman Bret Boone, shortstop Barry Larkin, and third baseman Aaron Boone. Boone's home run explosion from 19 in 2000 to 37 in 2001 led to speculation of steroid abuse. Boone was fingered as a steroids user in Jose Canseco's book Juiced. Canseco said in a 2001 spring training game that he was stunned at Boone's physique, and the two chatted about what Boone was taking. However, Boone has since denied taking steroids, and said that the conversation never took place. He even pointed out that he never played against Canseco during the 2001 spring training.

Connecticut beat Butler 53-41 last night to give Jim Calhoun his third national championship, something only four other coaches have done. The Huskies did it with defense holding the Bulldogs to a Final Four-record low 18.8 shooting percentage (12 for 64). Connecticut capped one of college basketball's best postseason runs, winning six games in the NCAA tournament after winning five games in as many days to win the Big East title. It was the second straight year Butler lost in the championship game. Last year they were beaten 61-59 by Duke.

Erik Bedard allowed just three earned runs over five innings and the Mariners made some huge plays to keep the game close. But there weren't enough of them to offset the dropped line drive by Ichiro that cost Seattle a pair of runs. Nor the missed opportunity at the plate in the fifth inning when, with Ichiro on third and one out, Milton Bradley went down swinging and Jack Cust struck out. Bradley wound up with three hits in the game and doubled and scored a run in the eighth to make it close. A stellar double-play turned by Jack Wilson will certainly go down as a season-highlight in six months. But when all was said and done, it just wasn't enough. The Mariners -- despite out-hitting the Rangers -- fell 6-to-4. The Rangers hit two more home runs and now have 13 this year. Ms and Rangers again tonight in Arlington, Texas. M's pitcher Michael Pineda makes his debut.

When baseball gets under way at Safeco Field this week, it'll do so at the corner of Dave and Edgar. The Seattle City Council unanimously adopted a measure yesterday that gives a secondary designation of 1st Avenue South between S. Royal Brougham Way to Edgar Martinez Drive South as Dave Niehaus Way South. The city already has the street signs printed and is unveiling them Friday afternoon at 4 with Niehaus' family at the corner of 1st Ave. S. and S. Royal Brougham Way. The City says it's an honorary naming of the street and workers are installing brown street signs with Niehaus' name above the standard green signs that denote 1st Ave. S. The Mariners have paid the city the $1,000 cost of printing and installing the signs.

For the first time in 19 years, the Tacoma Rainiers are going to be locally owned. The team announced yesterday that Mikal Thomsen is taking over the reigns of the Triple-A minor league baseball club and lead a group of 15 -- most of who are from the South Sound area. Thomsen is a native of University Place and has been attending Rainier games for several years. He said, "This is fun. We get to own a baseball team, in a great stadium located in a great city. It doesn't get much better than that." The Rainiers are the defending Pacific Coast League Champions and minor league affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They open the season Thursday at Sacramento. Their home opener is April 15th when they host Sacramento.

The NBA has announced who will be inducted in their latest Hall of Fame class. According to Sports Illustrated, Dennis Rodman will be the most recognizable name in the bunch, which also consists of Chris Mullin, Tex Winter, Mo Cheeks, Teresa Edwards, Tara VanDerveer, Artis Gilmore and Arvydas Sabonis.

Today is One Day Without Shoes Day.

Songs for Japan is out today. Over 30 big acts have joined together for the worldwide release, a compilation of 38 chart-topping hits and classic tracks. John Lennon, Bob Dylan, U2, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Bon Jovi, REM, Adele, and more are included. Proceeds from the album's sale benefit the disaster relief efforts of the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Linkin Park is headed to Japan. The band is currently raising money for the country in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami through their Music For Relief organization. They're playing four shows there in September

The Cars are preparing their first new album in 24 years and they've just announced that they're also touring behind it. The record is called Move Like This and it's due out on May 10th. That same day, the guys will kick off a trek in Seattle. These are the real Cars. Bassist and co-vocalist Benjamin Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2000, but the remaining members -- guitarist/vocalist Ric Ocasek, guitarist Elliot Easton, Hawkes and drummer David Robinson -- comprise the rest of the original group that ran from 1976 to 1988. They play Showbox SoDo in Seattle on May 10th.

Next month, Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler releases his autobiography, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, but he's not the only member of the band with a book. Bassist Tom Hamilton told the Boston Herald that he's writing a tell-all autobiography. He explained the book "will be inspirational and full of excitement and exhilaration -- along with lies, cheating sex, drugs and everything everyone really wants to read about." No word yet on when Tom's book is due out, but Steven's hits shelves on May 3rd.

Lady Gaga kicks off Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series. It was officially announced yesterday that Gaga is playing a number of tunes in New York City's Central Park on Friday, May 27th.

Kid Rock has just announced that Sheryl Crow is joining him on the road as he goes out in support of his most recent album, Born Free. Sheryl hooks up with Kid beginning July 2nd in Cincinnati, Ohio, and stays on tour with him through September 3rd in Houston, Texas.

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric is weighing several options to take her career in a new direction when her contract ends, including a possible daytime talk show. The 54-year-old Couric became the first female solo anchor of a U.S. weekday network evening news broadcast in 2006. Her five-year contract expires in early June, and her future career plans have been the subject of media reports for several weeks. She's been unable to raise the CBS Evening News out of third place in ratings for nightly news programs where competition is tight with rivals NBC and ABC. If she leaves for a syndicated talk show, rumors are it would likely be a daytime program with a launch in September 2012.

A source close to Lindsay Lohan says she is auditioning tomorrow for a role in the upcoming Superman remake.

Last Friday, Irish airline RyanAir announced the introduction of "child-free" flights by October of this year. The airline conducted an independent survey and learned that out of the one-thousand passengers surveyed, half would pay higher fares "to avoid other people's little monsters when travelling."

What are you going to do with your tax refund check? According to a poll, 74% said they will save the money or pay a big bill. Experts seem to concur that although people have the intention of saving the money, 74% is much higher a number than those that actually do save their refund.

Two Chicago police officers are charged with assault after giving a 22-year-old woman a ride home, entering her apartment, and playing strip poker with her. According to the Sun-Times, the victim was intimidated by the officers and afraid to say "no" to their sexual advances. After having enough, she ran outside and called for help. A witness told police that he saw a naked man running down the hall and another man in a Chicago Police uniform walking away from the scene. The two officers in question have been relieved of their duties and an investigation has been opened.

Trivia Answer: Charlton Heston -- although throughout Heston's life he was known by friends as Chuck and his wife always called him Charlie. He was born John Charles Carter. His stage name Charlton Heston is drawn from his mother's maiden surname (Charlton) and his stepfather's surname (Heston), and was used for his first film. Following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, Heston and actors Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and James Stewart issued a statement calling for support of President Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968. He opposed the Vietnam War and in 1969 was approached by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate. He agonized over the decision and ultimately determined he could never give up acting. He reportedly voted for Richard Nixon in 1972, though Nixon is unmentioned in his autobiography. By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican. When asked why he changed political alliances, Heston replied "I didn't change. The Democratic party changed." He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. Charlton Heston died of Natural Causes on this date in 2008 at his home in Beverly Hills, his wife of 64 years Lydia by his side.

It was a good opening weekend for the Mariners. In the season opener Friday night, Felix Hernandez showed why he's the reigning Cy Young winner. He tossed a complete game 5-hitter -- the first opening day complete game victory in franchise history -- as the Ms beat Oakland, 6-2. Then on Saturday, Ichiro moved his hit total as a Mariner to 2,248 to become the franchise leader when he passed Edgar Martinez. The milestone came on the 10th anniversary of Suzuki's major league debut. The Ms won that one, too, 5-2. The A's avoided a season-opening weekend sweep against their AL West rivals, however, snapping back with a 7-1 win yesterday. Nonetheless, the Ms win their opening series and are 2-and-1 as they head to Texas to face the Rangers for a three-game set. The Rangers, by the way, just swept the Boston Red Sox. Game one for the Ms and Rangers is tonight at 5:05.

Cheney Stadium hosted an Open House on Saturday. It was the first chance for people to look inside, see what is new and get a feel for what it'll be like when the Rainiers start their home schedule in just under two weeks. The Rainiers' first game at Cheney Stadium is April 15th against Sacramento. They open the season in Sacramento on Thursday.

Kentucky, after a 12-year absence, was back in the Final Four with a seemingly good shot at winning its eighth national championship. Actually, the Wildcats had 61 shots … and missed 41 of them. Connecticut, meanwhile, made enough plays down the stretch to hang on for a 56-55 victory Saturday night in an NCAA national semifinal before a Final Four-record crowd of 75,421. UConn seeking its third national title takes on Butler to night for the championship.

The Seattle Sounders went into the weekend looking for their first win of the season. They're still looking. Khari Stephenson scored the tying goal in the 52nd minute Saturday night, and the San Jose Earthquakes kept the Sounders winless with a 2-2 draw. Seattle is now 0-2-and-2. Saturday they're back home hosting the Chicago Fire.

After hearing chants of "Refund! Refund!" and being booed, even Charlie Sheen knew his Violent Torpedo of Truth had bombed on its debut in Detroit on Saturday night. Sheen staged a live variety show to prove to the TV producers who fired him that he was on the mend from more than a year of legal troubles and drug and alcohol abuse. Sheen's My Violent Torpedo of Truth: Defeat is Not an Option show was meant to prove that he still had what it takes to please audiences but critics panned it and audiences thought it could use work, at best. Sheen and his troupe proved awkward at best. Fans had thought they might hear inside stories of the drug-and-drink-fueled parties and wild nights that hospitalized him and sent him to rehab. But they never heard a single tale and nearly every one of Sheen's monologues and comedy skits had to be aborted due Sheen's inability to handle the rowdy, unhappy audience. Early reviews from critics were just as bad. The Hollywood Reporter said, "Call it 'tiger blood' or 'Adonis DNA' if you will. Just don't call it entertainment." At the second show, last night in Chcago, Charlie Sheen got a standing ovation before and after the show. Sheen made some changes to his road show. He used a talk show-style format last night in Chicago, with an interviewer asking the actor questions about his life. The changes seemed to help. Unlike in Detroit, audience members weren't booing or getting up and leaving in droves. Some said the show wasn't great, but it had amusing moments. So, with the show evolving, we still really have no idea what will happen when Charlie is at Comcast Arena in Everett on May 3rd.

The Washington State Department of Transportation says avalanche danger on the North Cascades Highway has delayed the annual spring opening of the road. Work crews plan to start clearing State Route 20 next Monday. The work is expected to take six weeks. A transportation spokesman says it may be the latest spring opening in 20 years.

Money may not buy happiness, but beauty buys both money and happiness, according to a worldwide study. Researchers found that beautiful people are generally happier than uglies like me. And beauty delivers economic results, which leads to even more happiness.

A palace official confirms Prince William won't be wearing a wedding ring. For centuries only royal wives in England have worn wedding rings.

Kate Middleton will have SIX stylists working on her hair on her big day. Kate's royal 'do will be touched up and restyled for each event of the day.

Adam Lambert did not make a good impression at Lady Gaga's 25th birthday party recently. According to UsMagazine.com, gossip blogger Perez Hilton said that the former American Idol contestant showed up at the function in Los Angeles,"beyond drunk. Super sloppy embarrassingly drunk," and also that Lambert punched a hole in the ceiling of the restaurant where the party was being held. Witnesses told the mag that Gaga had to have her security kick him out.

An Illinois teen texted friends saying she'd been robbed and shot in the foot. It was an April Fool's Day prank.  The police issued the girl a $100 ticket for disorderly conduct and a $50 for skipping school Friday.

A New York dentist called police Saturday after a package containing 31 pounds of marijuana showed up at his dental office. The drugs, which had been sent from Texas, were valued at around $50,000.

Trivia Answer: Robert John Downey, Jr. who turns 46 today. The film was a huge success; the opening weekend for Iron Man is still in the top 20 openings of all time. He reprised the role of Tony Stark in the 2010 sequel, Iron Man 2. He is back as Tony Stark next year in The Avengers and in the third movie of the planned trilogy, Iron Man 3, due to open in 2013. In addition to receiving commercial success, Downey's performance in the first Iron Man film received rave reviews. Downey was nominated for -- and won -- a number of end-of-year awards from critics and film associations around the world. Downey's other 2008 films included Charlie Bartlett and the Ben Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder, in which he portrayed an Australian method actor overly engrossed in his role as an African-American soldier. He received his second Oscar nomination for the film, in the category of Best Supporting Actor. In 2009, Downey starred as the titular lead character in Guy Ritchie's adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, released Christmas 2009. Soon after, Downey won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for that portrayal of the famous detective. 

The Seattle Mariners have finalized their opening day roster. They added infielder Luis Rodriguez and outfielder Ryan Langerhans to the 25-man roster. The Mariners also placed starting center fielder Franklin Gutierrez on the 15-day disabled list with stomach gastritis. He's joined on the 15-day DL by closer David Aardsma, who continues to recover from hip surgery, and infielder Matt Mangini, who has a strained right quad. All three moves were retroactive to March 22. The Mariners open the season tonight as they face the As at Oakland. First pitch at 7:10.

The Tacoma Rainiers start playing ball Thursday. Their season opener is in Sacramento.

The Seattle Sounders are still looking for their first win. They try again tomorrow night in San Jose.

Washington Husky guard Isaiah Thomas announced yesterday that he's forgoing his senior season with the Huskies and entering the NBA draft and won't return to school no matter what happens. It was a surprising decision by the junior, who in the moments after the Huskies lost to North Carolina in the third round of the NCAA tournament indicated he planned to return for his final season on Montlake. Instead, the talented, undersized guard is going to take his shot at the next level.

Aerosmith is in the middle of writing a new album, but they're putting something out to tide fans over. An album called Tough Love: Best of the Ballads comes out May 10th. The 12-track disc includes Cryin', Crazy, Livin' on the Edge, Janie's Got a Gun and Dream On. Meanwhile, the New York Post recently reported that Aerosmith couldn't work on their new album because of Steven Tyler's American Idol judging stint, but the Steven's attorney says that is the furthest from the truth - adding that Steven's contract was specifically negotiated to allow for working with the band.

Naima Adedapo and Thia Megia are no longer standing on American Idol. Both were dismissed last night so now we're down to the Top Nine. We'll lose another next week.

Cee-Lo is doing his best to help out volunteer firefighters. According to the Associated Press, he's rerecording his song Forget You, changing the title to Thank You, as a part of Duracell's campaign to help people donate batteries to volunteer fire departments. Cee-Lo has a personal interest in this, as he credits volunteer firemen for saving his mother's life after she was in a serious car accident.

My Chemical Romance kicked off their tour this week in Oakland, California. They, along with Neon Trees, play Showbox SoDo in Seattle on Sunday.

Adele is taking the UK album chart by storm. Billboard reports that her sophomore album, 21, has been at number one for nine straight weeks. It's the first time anyone has done that since The Beatles 1 compilation was at the top in late 2000 and early 2001. She's also the first solo female to spend that long at number one since Madonna's The Immaculate Collection back in 1990.

Saturday Night Live this weekend features Elton John as the host and as the musical guest

Betty White has been tapped to host a new hidden-camera show for NBC. According to a press release, the show will star a group of senior citizens who play pranks on unsuspecting younger people. The show is tentatively called Betty White's Off Their Rockers.

Leonard Nimoy has joined the voice cast of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Nimoy will portray Sentinel Prime.

New York Magazine is confirming that Bill Murray has signed on to play Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a new movie about the American president. The film is an adaptation of a radio play called Hyde Park On the Hudson and starts shooting in July.

Filmmaker Ken Burns is working on a documentary about the Vietnam War. He's done docs on the Civil War and WWII.

Rosie O'Donnell is heading to Oprah Winfrey's OWN network this fall. The comedian is hosting her own talk show and OWN has already purchased 130 future episodes of it.

Whoo-hoo!  Tomorrow is International Pillow Fight Day.

New York can rest easy. The escaped Bronx Zoo Cobra has been found safe and sound. The 20-inch-long Egyptian Cobra was found yesterday by zoo officials, coiled in a secluded, dark corner of the reptile house.

Being a leader at an organization is a great step forward in a worker's careers, but many admit the title comes with challenges. According to a new CareerBuilder survey, more than one-quarter (26 percent) of managers said they weren't ready to become a leader when they started managing others.

PETA, the organization that has long advocated for our furry friends to be spayed and neutered, is now extending an offer to humans. A Virginia-based branch is running a contest through April 27th. The prize? A free vasectomy. To enter, write and submit an essay about "Why PETA should neuter you" and get your feline or pup either spayed or neutered.

Police in Ohio said a woman who called 911 from the trunk of her car. Had she been kidnapped to be held for ransom? No. She told officers she had accidentally trapped herself in the rear of the vehicle.

A Florida man who caught his wife cheating took a cue from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. While wielding a chainsaw, Timothy Brooks broke into the hotel room of his wife and another man. Brooks got in three punches in before the other man alerted police. Luckily, no one was seriously harmed. According to the St. Petersburg Times, police arrested Brooks on several counts, including three for criminal mischief, and found the chainsaw lying on the ground nearby.

It's April Fools' Day. So who created it? Actually, it doesn't really have an origin. However, it dates back to being the original day for New Years. The churches changed their calendar and made January 1st the first day of the New Year. Those who still celebrated the new year in April were considered "April Fools." It was last year that Starbucks got into the spirit of things. They ran an ad introducing new coffee cup sizes: A shot-like glass called "micra" and an enormous bucket size cup called "plenta."

Trivia Answer: Gordon Jump who was born on this date in 1932. Most of us know him as Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson in the series WKRP in Cincinnati. He also played the Maytag Repairman in commercials for Maytag brand appliances, from 1989 until his retirement from the role in July 2003. He also appeared in the ninth and final season of Seinfeld, where he played George Costanza's boss at a playground equipment company over two episodes. Jump died in 2003 at his home near Los Angeles.