Last month, former Atlanta Dream center Chantelle Anderson announced through her blog that she was retiring from basketball at age 28. She was released by the Atlanta Dream in May and was unable to find another gig within the league. So what is she going to do with all that spare time? Write an autobiography, of course. Anderson is an avid blogger and recently let her readers look at an excerpt from her forthcoming yet-to-be-titled book.

In the excerpt, she admits to smoking weed, not once, but twice while on the rosters for the Sacramento Monarchs and the San Antonio Silver Stars. This excerpt takes place after Anderson was traded to San Antonio while nursing a torn Achilles:

The last time I had smoked was at a party in Sac almost three years before. Shortly afterwards, on our next road trip to Phoenix, the league had surprised us with a drug test as soon as we got to the gym for practice. I immediately began to visualize the meeting with my coach telling me I was off the team for violating the league's anti-drug policy, and the subsequent phone call to my Dad as I informed him I no longer had a job. I had been so scared I was going to fail that I offered up a prayer in which I traded a clean test for a promise to God that I would never smoke again. Well, I passed, and I hadn't[sic] smoked since. In my current situation, however, I figured God would understand."

Does Usain Bolt need a jogging partner? The champion sprinter and world's fastest man recently took a trip to Kenya to help launch a conservation campaign, called Long Run, headed up by German charity Zeitz Foundation, which works to promote ecologically sound practices in Kenya. During the trip, Bolt toured an animal sanctuary in Nairobi and saw some of the animals Africa is known for.

"I was attracted to the initiative because of its objectives on the conservation of the environment and co-existence of different cultures," Bolt told BBC News. "I do a lot of charity work in Jamaica, but I would like to see firsthand the challenges facing Africa in environment."

During his visit, he adopted a baby Cheetah and named it Lightening Bolt. Even though there are a variety of animals in the sanctuary, Bolt obviously felt akin to the cheetah. Is there a better choice?

"I am glad it wasn't a lion. The cheetah is much more calm," he said.

While the New York Yankees are looking to close out the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series this week, Bronx community planners are talking about a way to honor one of the Yank's stars. According to the New York Post, Bronx leaders are in discussions to name the borough's soon-to-be-built East 153rd Street bridge after shortstop Derek Jeter.

"There have been conversations at the community board, and I know the idea is being examined," Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. told the New York Post. "It's something I am ready to support. We're moving on it."

The $87-million bridge would be 512 feet long and span the Metro North tracks that bisect East 153rd Street, between Park Avenue and the Grand Concourse.

On Sunday, American runner Mebrahtom Keflezighi, also known as Meb, won the New York City Marathon. It is the first time an American has won the race in 27 years, but apparently, some folks don't think Keflezighi is American enough. He immigrated to the United States when he was 12 years old from Eritrea, and even though the 34-year-old spent most of his life here, he isn't being considered a true "American runner." Fans and commentators consider Keflezighi just another elite East African runner.

"I've had to deal with it," Keflezighi told MSNBC.com. "But, hey, I've been here 22 years. And the U.S.A. is a land of immigrants. A lot of people have come from different places."

Shaquille O'Neal has made no secret of his interest in going in to law enforcement after his NBA career. He spends his off-seasons hanging out with 5-0 in Los Angeles as a reserve L.A. Port police officer, and in Miami, he serves as a Miami Beach reserve officer.

Shaq was even a part of the Maricopa County Sheriff Posse in Arizona until his badge was confiscated for going after Kobe in a freestyle rhyme.

After a pretty bad season last year, Washington Wizards' Caron Butler took some drastic measures during the off-season to prepare for the 2009–2010 NBA season. In his new blog on NBA.com, Butler admitted that he was addicted to Mountain Dew. How bad was his addiction?

It was so bad, at one point, that I had to have a cold one right there at the nightstand before I went to bed. I had to get the coasters and let it drip a lil' bit and just have it waiting on me. Come 2 a.m.., I'd wake up out of my sleep, I'd pop one open and hear the fizz sound...and just down it! Then I always had to have another one in the morning when I woke up. Before practice I had one, too, and before games I would knock back two.

Seeing that it was affecting him healthwise, he kicked the habit over the summer. As a result, he lost 11 pounds and is now ready for the long, arduous NBA season, but it wasn't easy.

Charles Barkley has been the biggest mouthpiece on TNT's Inside the NBA program for the last eight years, but it appears he's itching to get back with an NBA team. Don't get it twisted, he's not trying to put on a uniform and head to the court, but he'd like to don a suit heading the front office. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Barkley revealed that he may be ready to move on to a bigger challenge: being a general manager of an NBA team.

Barkley told the Boston Globe:

It's time for me to be a general manager. I think everybody around me knows it's time for me to take a different challenge. I always want to keep going as a person. I love my job. I love the people I work with, but now it's time for me to take on another challenge as a man. I need to grow as a person, and it's time for me. And certainly I can do a better job than some of these guys have been doing.'