The guy who provided this here site with The Tip That Shook The Nation — involving Chris Berman and a certain leather-clad female — of course earned a place in our our mythical Tipster Hall of Fame. And in our hearts. But he's slipping, unfortunately. His once great fastball is now merely a languid change-of-pace. Just witness this actual phone conversation from Tuesday night:

HIM (THE TIPSTER): I was gonna call you before. I have a good story.
ME (ME): What?
HIM: A friend of mine, very reliable, said he saw A-Rod at a hotel with two blondes.
ME: When was this?
HIM: Two weeks before the Stray-Rod story broke.
ME: What?
HIM: Yeah, when the Yankees were playing in Oakland. My friend said he saw A-Rod at the Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. He was saying 'A-Rod's such a pig! There were two women who looked like sluts making him a blonde sandwich! He was flaunting it! They were all over him!'
ME: Goddamn it!
HIM: Sorry.
ME: We could have scooped Stray-Rod!
HIM: Sorry, it slipped my mind.
ME: Slipped your mind??
HIM: I was watching Berman do the home run derby and then I remembered.
ME: Dick!
HIM: Shut up, you're such an asshole.
ME: You are dead to me.
HIM: Well, it was just ...
ME: Dead!
HIM: Prick.
ME: Are we still on for golf?
HIM: Yeah.
ME: Dipshit.

The whole thing has left me questioning the very nature of God, and tips to sports web sites. Hopefully our man will redeem himself in a grand way somewhere down the line. Let's pray he gets the chance.

Meet A-Rod's Lady [Deadspin]

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