The highest paid baseball player, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, is in the doghouse because his failure to pass a steroid test in 2003 was leaked to the press recently. The Yankees recently gave Rodriguez a huge long-term contract extension because he's on track to eventually surpass Barry Bonds as the all time home run leader, and they figured all the hoopla over a "clean" athlete breaking Bonds's tainted record would provide them with a financial windfall. Some smart strategic thinking there ...

In contrast, Mickey Rourke is the sentimental favorite to win the Best Actor Oscar for his comeback in "The Wrestler," which I review in the upcoming issue of The American Conservative. Rourke, who is either 52 or 56 (sources differ) and stands about six feet tall, upped his weight from 190 to 240 over six months for his role as a pro wrestler. Rourke, who is not the kind of guy to stick to the talking points created by his publicist, has not denied using muscle-building drugs to add mass for the part. And in the past, he has explained that he has an Andrew Sullivan-like prescription from his doctor for testosterone supplementation.

By the way, here's the YouTube of Rourke's star-making three-minute supporting turn as a professional arsonist in 1981's Body Heat with William Hurt. (Language NSFW). And here's the trailer from "The Wrestler" 27 years later.

In contrast, 44-year-old Marisa Tomei looks the same in The Wrestler as in 1992's My Cousin Vinny, just with less clothes on in the new movie.