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No, she wasn’t concerned about my ability to pick up my half of the bill. She was worried I’d had a change of baseball allegiances after living in Red Sox Nation the last few years, and since she is a diehard Yankees fan, that would be too much for her to take.

Thankfully, I had my trusty Dodgers Bank of America card to convince her that we’re still all Dodger Blue in our household.

“Come on,” I said. “We took everyone who came to our wedding to a Dodger game. You think we’d just change our allegiance because we live in Boston?”

However, as my husband works for NESN, the Red Sox are our favorite AL team, but I left that part out. I didn’t want to have to sleep with one eye open.

We learned about the Yankees’ 11th inning victory over the Twins at the reception (what did people do before iPhones?), and I’m pretty certain that some of her celebratory dancing was not only due to our friend’s hours-old marriage.

So imagine my surprise when I told her the Red Sox were down 4-0 in the seventh and she said, without any sarcasm, “That’s bad news.”

That’s when I realized the playoffs create interesting, if short-lived couplings.

You see, Toni was faced with two options.

She could root against her hated rivals, which would leave her beloved Yankees facing the Angels in the ALCS. An Angels team with nine players that hit .300 or better against her club this season. An Angels team that has held an advantage over the Yankees the last few years. An Angels team that has the added motivation of playing for a fallen teammate. An Angels team that could stand a very good chance of knocking New York out of the postseason.
Or pull for a Red Sox team that dropped nine of its last 10 games to the pinstripes.

To a true fan, it’s a no-brainer, but the kind where your heart and your head conflict. So fans find themselves taking a tryst with their enemy club – something on the side – as they continue to cheer publicly for their long-term loves.

The flings are brief, and end especially acrimoniously when the rivals meet in the ALCS or the World Series. But all is fair in love and war – and baseball.

Although when I returned home, and the Dodgers swept the Cardinals, it hit me that we might have dodged one bullet, but that another might be heading straight for us.

“If the Dodgers and Yankees are both in the World Series, no matter who wins, can we still be friends?” I texted her.

“Only for you,” she replied.

And for the second night in a row, I was able to sleep peacefully.

Drinking and cell phones.

John Mayer and just about anyone.

An undisputed college football champion and the BCS.

Add athletes and Twitter to the list.

Now I know Twitter is all the rage. I even have an account. Personally, I’m not a huge fan. I know it’s supposedly been touted as the wave of the future, even if, the public doesn’t necessarily agree. Instead of it being a quick one-hitter, I spend 10 times as long trying to figure out how to say what I want to say before the character counter goes red and negative.

It was during the infamous Ashton Kutcher-CNN Twitter race that the social networking site’s credibility began to decline in my eyes. For those of you that managed to miss aplusk vs cnnbrk (consider yourselves fortunate), Demi Moore’s husband decided he was going to challenge CNN to see who could get the most followers. Kutcher was gung ho about besting the news behemoth. For its part, CNN’s response seemed to be, “Eh.”

How does this tie in, you ask?

Because after Kutcher threw down the gauntlet and spread his “people care as much about what I have to say as they do an international news organization” message, people started thinking: “If the public cares that much about what Ashton Kutcher has to say — and I’m at least as interesting as he is – then ipso facto, the world must want to know my every thought as well.”

And so everyone flocked to Twitter like teen girls to a Twilight movie.

So we now know that when Shaq isn’t racing Michael Phelps, the NBA star responds to pretty much anyone who types an @THE_REAL_SHAQ in a message. This is clearly a much better use of time than say practicing free throws.

While there are numerous fake athlete Twitter accounts, I have to believe it actually is the real Shaq responding. And it wasn’t THE_REAL_SHAQ username that tipped me off. It’s that I have to believe it’s really the Big Aristotle because I don’t know if I could handle knowing someone  is being paid to write notes like, “What I say damit aaaaaagh aagagagagah lsu baby national champs, do u see dat bcs people.”

Then, of course, you have OGOchoCinco (none other than the former Chad Johnson himself), tweeting about fake face tattoos. Channeling the No. 1 tweep himself, Ochocinco let the world know via Twitter, “The entire twitt world and media outlets got punked, that was my twitt joke from yesterday, they follow I’ll have fun with it.”

After all, he added, his grandma would “kill” him for tattooing his face. Seriously people, how gullible are you? Come on, do you really think that No. 85 would do something completely irrational as a mere publicity stunt?

Not everyone loves Twitter, though. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has banned his players from using the site, calling it “stupid” and saying it was a distraction. Apparently, the coach didn’t like his players voicing their displeasure over a season-opening loss or his tardiness to a team meeting to the Twitterverse.

Add Jets coach Rex Ryan to the list of those who believe Twitter is for twits. Receiver David Clowney found himself benched, at least in part, due to Twittering gone wrong. It appears Clowney mentioned his lack of playing time to his digital followers, which in turn got back to Ryan via team media personnel.

Clowney maintains the message — which was relayed to Ryan — was incorrectly conveyed to his coach, and that’s what led to the misunderstanding.

However, the real misunderstanding is that anyone really cares about 99.9 percent of things these athletes are doing. We care how they do on the field/court/wherever else they compete, and we kind of care if what they’re doing away from the game affects their performance.

But does anyone really care that Rangers reliever C.J. Wilson rolls “t shirts and light jackets into a nice little burrito” when he’s packing. Or do we really need to know this tweet from Pacers forward Danny Granger: “if i wake up in the morning with no clothes on and no sheets on my bed what does that mean? i coulda swore i had clothes on.”

I understand the key to social networking success is consistency and interactivity, but when it comes to it athletes tweeting, I believe in taking the high school football blowout rule – know when to take a knee.

After years of covering other sports, no matter how many hockey fights I see, I still can’t believe the blasé attitude about fisticuffs and the fact that the referees just let them go at it.

A close quote runnerup came from Alberts, who said of Thornton and the fight, “We are buddies, obviously. He just said that was for the play on Savvy [Marc Savard] when Savvy ran me after I hit Sturmy [Marco Sturm]. It’s just part of the game and we’ll be friends after it.”

I can’t think of many other situations where you punch someone in the face and he defends for it.

“I hope Chicago loses,” I told my husband last night.

“What are you anti-American?” he asked.

He was joking, but I’m sure there are people that will interpret my statements that way.

But it’s not about being anti-American. I’m all about America. However, I don’t think the Olympics should be.

I have been alive for seven Olympics. During that span the United States has hosted two of them and seriously bid on two others (the New York’s 2012 bid and Chicago). There are 205 National Olympic Committees – 192 of which are from sovereign nations.

Why do we think that we should get the Olympics every fourth or fifth go-round?

Despite all the controversy surrounding the lead up to the Beijing games, from human rights protests to pollution concerns, having the games in China meant something to the Chinese people. It symbolized something larger than a sporting event. It provided the nation with a platform to present itself to the world in a positive light.

The Olympics allowed China, for two weeks, the opportunity to shed the image of over-industrialized Communist regime and to display the beauty and culture of the world’s most populous nation. Americans – and the world – were allowed to see a side of China that we never had.

That is the Olympic spirit: to bring out the best in the world, to see the good in other nations, to put your best foot forward, to try your hardest and succeed.

I have felt with these last two Olympic bids that we as a nation feel it is our right to host the Olympics, that we should get it again. Instead of ceding that sense of entitlement and permitting other nations the opportunity to host the world’s greatest sporting event, we spend millions on bids that I would have been shocked to see go through.

The last time we hosted the Summer Olympics was 1996. (We hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics as well.) In all, the United States has been awarded the Olympics four times – 1904 in St. Louis, 1932 and 1984 in Los Angeles and 1996 in Atlanta. That’s more than any other country.

Not only has Brazil never hosted the Olympics Games, no South American nation in history has.

I admired the FIFA plan that enabled the World Cup 2010 to be awarded to South Africa. The policy dictated that the event would be rotated between the organization’s confederations, which are divided geographically. FIFA decided the 2010 World Cup should go to a nation from the African confederation and South Africa emerged as the winner. FIFA has since abandoned the policy due to challenges it presented, but the intent was correct. The idea was to spread the event around to the world.

Why did we as a society feel that it was our turn to have the Olympics once more? The International Olympic Committee certainly didn’t. I  saw that coming, even if oddsmakers didn’t.

The IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee have some issues, and as a nation, we’ve definitely enjoyed a higher approval rating on the global stage. But contrary to what some are saying, I don’t believe this defeat much to do with the rest of the world’s perception of us as a nation or backroom bickering between national and international governing bodies. Although, none of that helped the cause.

There are 176 countries that have never played host a Summer Olympic Games. While not all of them have the financial resources, infrastructure and other logistics necessary to put on an event of this caliber, the IOC is not so strapped for potential hosts that it feels it needs to go with a candidate that’s received the nod four times before.

It was exciting to watch the Brazilians celebrate. Their enthusiasm was contagious, their joy palpable. What would the overwhelming reaction have been stateside if Chicago emerged victorious from Copenhagen? A shoulder shrug and an ‘Oh, neat.’ We wouldn’t have, as a collective nation, poured into the streets, cheering, dancing and waving flags. We wouldn’t have felt we finally had a moment that we could point to and say, ‘That was one of the moments when we arrived on the world’s stage.’ We, honestly, wouldn’t have cared that much.

Rio wanted it. Rio needed it. Rio deserved it. That’s why Rio got it. And I was glad to see it happen.

How else can you explain the Khloe Karadashian-Lamar Odom nuptials?

This is a guy that is willing hold out for a few more bucks when it comes to contract negotiations, but he can’t hold out more than a month before marrying the least famous of the Kardashian sisters?

Odom was with his high school sweetheart for something like 12 years – they had three children together– and couldn’t make it down the aisle, but meets Karadashian and four weeks later, they’re at the altar?

It hurts my brain to even try to figure out what is going on in Odom’s head.

I kept watching for the reality to set in or a postponement or the epiphany that would have to hit someone caught up in this circus. During the “Does anyone object?” part, I imagined someone, anyone would shout, “Yeah, maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

Bruce Jenner. Phil Jackson. The officiant. The parking attendant. Kanye West.

I kept thinking this is a reality TV stunt. It’s ratings grab. Well, I still subscribe to that theory.

Even when they started doing things like sending out invites (Mine must have gotten last in the mail.) and registering for gifts at Williams-Sonoma (Seriously, you can’t just buy whatever you want when you have that kind of money?), I couldn’t believe it would really happen.

And then it did — supposedly.

See, this is what I figured would happen, and what I am betting probably did occur:

It’s kind of like what happened with Eddie Murphy. And let’s keep in mind that being compared to Eddie Murphy hasn’t been a compliment since the 1980s, maybe the early 90s.

But remember like two years back when the funnyman dumped the Spice Girl who was pregnant with his baby (not to be confused with the one married to David Beckham), and started dating Babyface’s ex-wife. Then out of nowhere, Murphy and the former-Mrs. Babyface – aka Tracey Edmonds were married on some tropical island, shocking everyone. Then something like two weeks later, the newlyweds split, only to reveal that “Surprise again!” it wasn’t a legally-binding marriage.

Reports support this speculation, even if Kardashian family members argue the contrary. (In an odd the six-degrees-of-separation twist, the fact that Babyface sang at the Kardashian-Odom wedding has to mean something.)

You see, it might possible to pull together a wedding in a week, but evidently a prenup takes a little longer. Word is Odom’s lawyers are working overtime to get one in order to protect the player’s ass(ets). He signed a $33 million contract with the Lakers this summer and already had millions in the bank from his decade in the NBA. Here’s to hoping those rumors are true, because if not, Lamar has certainly put the dumb in Odom. (That last link has what may be one of the best lines I’ve ever read: What does Odom have to do to prove to the people who cover him that he’s an idiot, light himself on fire?)

This “technicality” has many believing that the ceremony filmed last weekend was just for show – or more specifically, the show.

Now, it’s very possible the two could legally tie the knot once they have a little time to get things hammered out. For example, the wedding invite didn’t include Khole’s middle name. I’m guessing it is because Odom was in charge of creating the invites and he had no idea what hers was.

It’s clear the Lakers odds of winning a ring (9-5) are far better than the line on this marriage working out (roughly 1 million to 1), but no matter what, it’ll be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

I’m not sure if this will make me tune into Keeping Up with the Kardashians, but I will pay a little closer attention during the inevitable courtside shots of Khloe during every Laker game.

And every time she flashes on my TV screen, I’ll be half-expecting her to be holding a sign that says, “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.”

When asked what he’d give the Big Aristotle (1 being K-Fed, 10 being Jay Z), LeBron didn’t even hesitate. Here’s to hoping their lovefest lasts. (Actually as a Lakers fan, here’s to hoping it doesn’t.)

This week, she died. She was 27.

I know this is the part where sports writers are supposed to say times like these serve to remind us how trivial sports can be. That losses and tragedies are thrown around in sports, but it’s moments like this that remind us what a loss really is.

But when I think of Justine, many of my most vivid memories involve sports.

How we met freshman year during preseason track. We weren’t obsessively dedicated, realizing it was Division III and that an Olympic career wasn’t a major aspiration.

How she loved the Jets with the rare kind of passion reserved for sports fans.

How she would challenge anyone who dared question her knowledge of the NFL game, spouting off stats and dissecting offensive schemes and defensive formations.

How she would recount the story of wearing her older brother’s football gear around the house as a toddler so you could clearly envision her trying to tackle him, despite being less than three feet tall and weighing probably 25 pounds.

How she nicknamed the bouncer at a college bar we frequented “Deuce,” because he always wore a Deuce McAlister Saints jersey, and how the two of them commiserated when it became apparent that neither of their teams would be making the playoffs that season.

How her fiancé, Adam, is the only man who accomplished what I believed up to that point to be impossible – replacing Chad Pennington as the love of her life.

How she loved Adam so much that she became a Mets fan, after loudly supporting the Yankees in the way only those who boast loud Westchester County accents can do the first four years I knew her.

As I watched Mark Sanchez drive down the field last Sunday, I thought of Justine. I bet she’s enjoying this, I thought. And the next time I thought of her, it was because I learned she had died.

From here on out, when I see a green and white N.Y. jersey, I will think of her loud laugh and her dry wit. It was a sense of humor not everybody got, but that made for hours of entertainment when you did. I will forever be grateful for the times we shared and memories I have. I am sad that we will never have anymore.

But every time I hear “J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!” it will remind me of Justine. I will see her counting down the days until the season begins and pacing frantically before the television on game day. I will remember her as she lived, vibrant, healthy and full of life.

Sometimes, sports aren’t trivial. Sometimes, they remind us what it means to live.

The quote came from an interesting NY Times piece on how court cases brought by athletes appealing suspensions could impact drug testing as well know it.

It certainly seemed so last week – a week marked by more meltdowns than a summer evening at Disneyland.

From Capitol Hill to the U.S. Open to MTV, is nowhere sacred anymore?

First, Rep. Joe Wilson had uncontrolled outburst in the middle of Obama’s address to the nation, exhibiting the biggest breach in decorum we’ve seen from a Congressman since the caning of Sen. Charles Sumner by Rep. Preston Brooks – who coincidentally also happened to be from the Palmetto State.

No matter what you think about Obama, you have to admire the way he kept his cool and carried on. The stroke of a true professional – be in politics, sports, you name the field – is the ability to carry on without missing a beat in situations that might rattle someone else.

Then there was Serena Williams totally losing her cool at the U.S. Open, threatening to shove the ball down an official’s throat. That’s right, you can’t cheer during a tennis match, because the sports follows some sort of “civilized rules,” but you can curse at an official for what amounts to chump change. (I’ve never gotten that first part – a pitcher can be expected to throw a pitch over the roar of a crowd with a full count or sink a free throw with a season the line as people wave thunder sticks, but tennis players can’t hit the ball if someone is cheering?)

Even Roger Federer lost his temper in an uncharacteristic outburst from the Swiss tennis great.

But, in true fashion, Kanye West had to one-up everyone. And he managed to do so – grabbing the mic from teen singer Taylor Swift as she attempted to accept her MTV Moon Man. How bad was West’s outburst? Well, it started a cultural phenomenon. There’s “Where Will Kanye Interrupt You?” Facebook quiz. The numerous sites dedicated to depicting Kanye’s interjections through history.

You know, like this:

Kanye’s outburst went viral – and it was only a matter of time before he was expressing his displeasure at the U.S. Open and interrupting Wilson’s interruption of Obama.

Speaking of the president, he summed up the Kanye situation as well as anyone.  Yes, Obama weighed in. O.K. so not technically. Instead, a reporter who apparently doesn’t quite get when things are on- and off-the-record (and we’re not even talking about the person than leaked the audio to TMZ) let slip what the leader of the free world really thinks about the hiphop superstar – he’s a jackass.

There’s been a rush to group these outbursts together as being indicative of some larger trend in society and searching for some deeper meaning. Others have argued they do not belong on the same conversation. I’m not sure if these fits are reflective of some cultural downward spiral. I’m more inclined to believe they simple represent an age-old problem, magnified by a tabloid-story-obsessed public, an that is the undeniable fact that the world is full of people that act like jackasses.