We told you earlier how Arizona Cardinals fullback Reagan Maui'a told ESPN he had met Lennay Kekua, which is rather odd because she doesn't actually exist. But also buried in that report was Kekua's reference to another famous Samoan football player:

At a June roundtable event in New York City hosted by PACE, an education program sponsored by Dick's Sporting Goods, former New York Giants linebacker Carl Banks told a haunting story about the culture of the NFL in the 1980s.

It's been so long since the last asinine NFL fine! But today, Goodell's goons went vigilante on spousal communication and fined Troy Polamalu for calling his wife to let her know he was not bleeding from his ears (yet):

This link came from Ben Roethlisberger's website's official Twitter feed. It's probably for the best that Big Ben wasn't part of this reasonably entertaining shampoo-commercial gimmick at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, though.

During tonight's Philadelphia Eagles/Pittsburgh Steelers preseason game, conversation in the Fox Sports booth turned to Troy Polamalu and Hawaii. Here's a quick synopsis:

Four-and-a-half hours of pregame coverage is about to start on Fox. Water torture for the brain. So, here's a collection of Super Bowl XLV stories that have filtered in over the course of the past few days.

Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and internets to bring you everything you need to know to start your day.

Clay Matthews signed a one-year endorsement deal today. It's with Unilever's Suave brand. Matthews' "marketing agent" Ryan Williams said it involves pre- and post-Super Bowl appearances. And a whole lot of groovy questions about Troy Polamalu's mane as well.

And her Halloween outfit this year is downright inspired: Troy Polamalu. "I'll get the wig. Put on some bronzer. And I'll just cross myself all night," she says, mulling it over. "Or maybe I'll be Houshmandzadeh." [GQ via AnimalNY]

Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day.