That’s not her.

But THIS IS, THIS IS, and THIS IS.

If you are like me, you pretty much forgot about this little Columbian number until I just mentioned her a few seconds ago. Also, if you are like me, you miss seeing her little behind rhythmically shaking on MTV every day. I don’t actually watch MTV anymore but it would be nice to know that if I did, Shakira would be on there. Apparently, she has a two new albums coming out this year, one in English and one with entirely different songs in Spanish for those of you who habla espanol.

I have both versions of Enrique Iglesias’ Escape. Does that make me gay? Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that. Oh well.

February 9^th is also Bill Veeck’s (a former baseball owner) birthday, but he’s dead now and you’ve never heard of him. You should’ve, because he’s one of the most influential figures in baseball history. You don’t care, but I’m going to tell you stuff about him anyway and if you complain, I’m taking my Louisville Slugger to your kneecaps…

- He was one of the first to install lights in baseball stadiums for night games

- He was the first to put player names on the backs of their jerseys

- He signed the first black player in the American League, Larry Doby

- He signed 3’7” midget Eddie Gaedel for a one-game contract – he got walked

- It was his idea to have Harry Carey sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7^th-inning stretch

- He was the first to install “exploding” scoreboards and have fireworks after home-runs

- He was responsible for a bunch of other really cool stuff that I don’t even know about.

If for some unbelievable reason you are not aroused by the thought of sexily-dancing Columbians or innovative baseball entrepreneurs, I have another celebrity birthday for your face:

John Kruk – The “Chris Farley of Baseball” (I made that up) - one of the sexiest men ever to play the game outside of Fernando Valenzuela and Rod Beck, and now one of the funniest (albeit sometimes unintentionally) analysts on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. He also only has one testicle, I think.

p.s. – Less than a week till pitchers & catchers report to spring training… Man I can’t wait. I also can’t wait till Hilary Duff turns 18, but that’s different.

Word of the Day