Byline: Dwight Perry; The Seattle Times
Who knew a hair style could lead to so much fun?
Jared Allen certainly won't take long to mullet over.
As the Vikings defensive end, one of the finalists to grace the box of Madden NFL 11 video game, told ESPN.com: 'If I make the cover, I'm going to straighten my mullet and make it as trashy as possible. You have to highlight the tools that got you there.'
Send in the curlers
'In an effort to stop Canadian commentators from saying they are wearing clown pants,' wrote Calgary blogger Derek Wilken, 'the Norwegian men's curling team is going to quit coming to games in one car.'
Winter Gamesmanship
* Canadian Olympic fan Dean Pirozzini, to The New York Times, after yet another of his countrymen got edged out for a bronze medal: 'We always said there should be a fourth medal. Aluminum. We'd clean up in that.'
* Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, on trying to decide whether to watch the Winter Olympics or the Westminster Dog Show: 'Best in Show or Best in Snow? Kiss and Cry Area or Scratch and Sniff Area?'
* Renowned soccer wife Victoria Beckham, to TheFrisky.com, not impressed with the men's figure-skating outfits: 'I wear the feathers in my relationship.'
Suits her just fine
Lana Jewelry got a bunch of free advertising when model Brooklyn Decker sported one of the Chicago outfit's $655 necklaces on the cover of this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
'It doesn't hurt that her top is kind of off,' owner/designer Lana Bramlette told the Chicago Sun-Times. 'I feel bad for the swimsuit designer, but ... '
Olympic quiz
Q: What do they call the baddest dude on the Winter Olympic ski slopes?
A: Whistler's mutha.
Pass the Kleenex
What, you thought the Olympic Games were a sporting event?
'The people NBC needs to woo aren't sports fans,' blogged Dashiell Bennett of Deadspin.com. 'They broadcast the Olympics for people who like stories about polar bears and gymnasts with rare diseases and speedskaters whose sisters have cancer. ... It's a miniseries that happens to have some sports in it.'
Aliens among us
Cardiff University's Chandra Wickramasinghe, a leading British scientist, told the London Daily Telegraph that new research 'overwhelmingly' indicates that the first 'seeds of life' on Earth were deposited from space 3.8 billion years ago.
At least that explains Johnny Weir and Dennis Rodman.
Frankly speaking
Turns out that slugger Frank Thomas' official retirement announcement was a milestone moment in more ways than one.
As Reggie Hayes noted in the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel: 'It was the first time in five years that a Major-League Baseball player held a press conference that didn't include the phrases 'I made a mistake in judgment' or 'I only used it for health reasons.' '
Political football
Bills right tackle Brad Butler, just 26, says he's retiring from the NFL to devote his efforts toward his No. 1 passion -- politics.
Pundits predict he'll specialize in voting blocks.
Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com
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