Watchdog

Programming note:

My close, personal friend Marisa Miller is scheduled to be a guest on "Best Damn Sports Show Period" Friday night.

When we spoke at the SI party before the Super Bowl, she talked about how her parents met while surfing off the California cost, and how she is a lifelong surfer herself.

Here is a picture of her with much less makeup and much more clothing than usual.

See how responsible and respectful I can be, Glauber?

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

Based on this video, a link for which is prominently displayed on Newsday.com's main sports page and which features my close personal friend Marisa Miller, I am going to have to assume my policy of trying to be conservative and discreet in posting pictures of scantily clad young women on the blog is not necessarily an approach shared by the powers that be at Newsday.com.

Yikes! (Possible NSFW issues here.)

I stood inches away from Gisele Bundchen on the elevator at Giants Stadium before the Patriots-Giants game tonight.

She got off on the eighth floor, headed to a suite to watch her favorite quarterback play for the Pats.

I got off on the ninth floor and wandered into the press box.

The rest is kind of a blur.

Well, that was fast . . .

Natalia Sokolova (see post below) just e-mailed to report that the injured Jeremy Shockey has been replaced by Larry Fitzgerald and Marion Barber III as hosts for her New Year's Eve party in Hell's Kitchen. (Tickets start at $100 and benefit the Jack Brewer Foundation.)

Fitzgerald's season will be over then, and Barber will be just starting his bye week, so . . . party on!

OK, I believe I have thoroughly exhausted this topic now. It's been fun, Natalia. Get well soon, Jeremy.

See you later (or tomorrow) readers. Don't forget to vote for WatchDog as the best sports blog of 2007.

I just got some unfortunate news from my e-mail pal, former Playboy Playmate Natalia Sokolova. (That's her in the picture, demonstrating her dual interests in football and adult beverages.)

She relayed the development that Jeremy Shockey will be unable to co-host her New Year's Eve party in Hell's Kitchen because of the broken leg and ankle damage he suffered Sunday.

Presumably it would be dangerous and/or painful for him to be in a crowded club so soon after his surgery Friday.

Ms. Sokolova said she plans to announce a new co-host "shortly." I already politely turned down her invitation to attend, so I guess it won't be me.

I'll let you know when this matter is resolved. There are plenty of other pictures of Ms. Sokolova to choose from for future posts.

I didn't hear Tom Hammond on the NFL Network game Thursday night, because I was busy being annoyed about the Mitchell Report and watching hockey games on my computer (more about that in Sunday's newspaper).

Not surprisingly, though, I have heard second hand that Hammond sounded good in place of Bryant Gumbel, who was reported to be unwell.

Hello? Steve Bornstein? Perhaps if Gumbel realizes he's just not cut out for this particular line of work it would be a good idea to reach out to Mr. Hammond.

That's it for me. It's been a wacky week, highlighted by my long-awaited encounter with Don Ohlmeyer and invitations to two late-night Manhattan parties from a former Playboy Playmate.

(That's her in the picture, looking hopeful that I will accept the invite.)

It's pretty much all downhill from here.

Enjoy "Fishing with Roland Martin" on Versus at 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

The recent ad on Craigslist was too juicy to ignore, and soon became a sensation on blogs far and wide:

It solicited “the city’s hottest girls’’ to join Jeremy Shockey at a New Year’s Eve party, and it promised free admission and an open bar to women who responded to this challenge:

“If you think you can dress, dance and drink the part, then please send one head and one body shot, as well as your name and contact info to brunofierce@gmail.com."

Nice try, Bruno, but the organizer of Shockey’s party, former Playboy Playmate Natalia Sokolova (Miss April, 1999, if you’re scoring at home) insisted “none of the people involved have any idea who that is . . . I really need to find out. This was not good for us.’’

Sokolova - that's her in the picture, in one of the tamest shots I could find - said she assigned an assistant to e-mail a “hot picture of one girl to see who it was.’’

She said that the proper procedure for packing a club with attractive women is not Craigslist but rather established modeling agencies and databases. She knows the ropes; she stopped modeling several years ago and now runs a company called Exquisite Planning.

It is handling the New Year’s Eve bash at HK Hell’s Kitchen, which in addition to Shockey as a host is advertising visits by other players, including Michael Strahan. (Don’t worry, guys. I won’t tell Coughlin.) Also, “one or two more Playmates.’’ (Again, Tom doesn’t have to know.)