A. Apology. Steelers’ center Maurkice Pouncey apologized on Twitter for wearing a “Free Hernandez” shirt along with his brother, Mike, over the weekend. Mike, who plays for the Dolphins, is expected to meet with his team this week to discuss his apparent show of support for Aaron Hernandez — who has been arrested for murder. As for the Pouncey brothers, they will only be guilty in the court of stupidity.

B. Brazil. The Brazilians destroyed Spain 3-0 in the final of the Confederations Cup late last month. As if 2014 World Cup anticipation was not already sky-high in the host nation, it’s off the charts now. Brazil is a +350 favorite at Sportsbook.ag to triumph next summer.

C. Chris Froome. Froome, for the most part, has dominated the Tour de France from start to finish. The British cyclist triumphed on Mont Ventoux earlier this week, and he even won an individual time trial — thought to be rival Alberto Contador’s chance to gain ground — on Wednesday. With just four stages remaining, Froome owns a four-minute and 34-second lead of second-place Contador.

D. Drought. Tiger Woods has not won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open. For those counting (and many people are), that’s 20 majors that have come and gone without the 14-time slam champion winning a single one. Tiger will look to end the drought this week at Muirfield, host of the British Open for the first time since 2002. He is a +850 favorite at BookMaker to lift the Claret Jug.

E. Enter Sandman. Playing in his final All-Star Game on Tuesday night, Mariano Rivera took the field for the eighth inning by himself and received a standing ovation for more than a minute. Not sure why that tribute and his subsequent one-two-three inning in the AL’s 3-0 win over the NL wasn’t enough, but he was also awarded the MVP. Um, what? The Yankees are +3200 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the World Series.

F. Johnny Football. Johnny Manziel is no stranger to controversy, and the trend continued earlier this month when he abruptly left Peyton Manning’s passing camp. Already this week Manziel has apologized for his departure, answered questions at SEC Media Days, and pleaded guilty on a misdemeanor charge of failing to identify himself to police in a 2012 incident.

G. Jeff Gordon. Gordon has seven races left in his attempt to book an automatic spot in the Chase as one of the Top-10 drivers in the Sprint Cup point standings. The Rainbow Warrior currently sits in 12th, a spot that would force him to get a wild card. The two wild cards, however, go to drivers ranked between 11th and 20th who have the most wins this season. Gordon has zero. He is +2000 to win the 2013 title at WagerWeb, well behind favorite Jimmie Johnson (+130).

H. Ron Harper. No, not Michael Jordan’s sidekick who won three NBA titles with Chicago and two more with Phil Jackson in Los Angeles. This Ron Harper is the father of Bryce, and he was throwing absolute filth (by batting-practice standards) during Monday’s Home Run Derby. The younger Harper still managed to reach the final before being outdone by an on-fire Yoenis Cespedes. Washington is +225 at Bovada Sportsbook to overtake Atlanta and win the NL East.

I. Instagram. Supermodel Bar Refaeli posted a picture on Instagram of herself kissing another woman, reportedly her friend Orna Elovitch. If you aren’t already following her (epic fail), do so. Or at least search Instagram for user “barrefaeli” and then thank me later.

J. Justin Rose. Fifteen years after the then-17-year-old Rose burst onto the scene at Royal Birkdale, he is back at the Open Championship with what has to be considered his best chance of winning the Claret Jug. Rose is also back as the reigning U.S. Open champion. Rose is +2000 to win the championship, tied for the second choice at Bovada Sportsbook.

K. Kenneth Faried. Faried was chosen as the cover boy for this year’s edition of ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue.” A TMZ reporter caught up with the Nuggets’ forward earlier this week in Los Angeles, and Faried revealed that he had no qualms about baring all because he is…shall we say…well-endowed. That doesn’t exactly make sense given that ESPN shows nothing that is close to R-rated, but it’s certainly an entertaining sound bite. And now we have another reason to call him “the Manimal”!

L. Shane Larkin. Larkin, a first-round pick of the Dallas Mavericks, suffered a broken right ankle in his team’s final practice before heading out to Las Vegas for summer league action. The former Miami Hurricane underwent surgery on Tuesday and he is expected to need at least three months of recovery time.

M. Muirfield. Weather is expected to be as ideal as ideal can get in Scotland for the British Open. The course should play fast and fair for its first hosting of the tournament since 2002. Ernie Els, who happens to be the defending champion thanks to a monumental 2012 collapse by Adam Scott, triumphed at Muirfield 11 years ago. Els is +3000 at BookMaker to win the Open Championship, while Scott comes in at +2250.

N. North West. Seriously, Kanye and Kim?

O. Over. That's exactly what Aaron Hernandez's football career is.

P. Punked. That’s what Matt Harvey did to unsuspecting New Yorkers prior to the All-Star Game, asking them what they thought about the Mets’ ace and if they predicted he would start for the National League. Little did they know that they were being interviewed by the actual Matt Harvey! The 24-year-old, who struck out three and gave up just one hit in two innings in his start against the AL, is +750 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the NL Cy Young Award. Adam Wainwright is favored at +300.

Q. Carlos Quentin. Quentin’s numbers--.275, 12 HR, 35 RBI—are still modest. But he did not hit a home run until April 24, in part due to an eight-game suspension. Since returning from injury on June 22, San Diego’s left fielder has five homers and eight multi-hit games while improving his batting average from .261.

R. “Rolling Stone”. The Boston Marathon bomber is on the cover. This will be discussed more than enough over the next few weeks, so we’ll just leave it at that.

S. Shea. Not the stadium. The soccer player. Brek Shea scored the game-winner in the 82nd minute in the United States’ 1-0 Gold Cup win over Costa Rica on Tuesday. Team USA will face El Salvador during quarterfinal action on Saturday. Sportsbook.ag has the USMNT as a -117 to win the Gold Cup and a +15000 longshot to win the World Cup.

T. Tornado. What happens when you add sharks to a tornado? A “Sharknado,” of course. The film set Twitter on fire earlier this month, and Syfy has announced that “Sharknado 2” is already in the works, this time to be set in New York after previously laying waste to Los Angeles. Hmmm, is the “Sharknado” following the path of Metta World Peace?

U. Upton. Kate, of course. Not the Braves’ slumping brothers. The current rumor is that Upton is dating Blake Griffin. Well done, Blake. Well done.

V. Victor Oladipo. The second overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft has already been thrown into the fire by playing the unfamiliar role of point guard in Orlando’s Pro Summer League games. Oladipo’s debut, which resulted in a 95-88 Magic win over Boston, featured 18 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and five steals. The Magic are +30000 longshots to win the Eastern Conference in 2014. Miami is the favorite to defend at +110.

W. Wimbledon. What a weird Wimbledon it was, with Rafael Nadal losing in the first round, Roger Federer bowing out in the second round, and a British man (Andy Murray), capturing the title for the first time in 77 years. Murray and Wimbledon runner-up Novak Djokovic are +165 favorites at BetOnline Sportsbook to win this summer’s U.S. Open.

X. Xavier Rhodes. Rhodes really hasn’t been in the news of late, aside from the fact that the Vikings’ reportedly like what they’ve see so far from their first-round pick. But who cares? His name starts with ‘X,’ so he works.

Y. Yoenis Cespedes. Oakland has to hope that Cespedes’ derby crown on Monday will propel him to an improved second half of the season. Cespedes (.225, 15 HR, 43 RBI) became the first non-all-star in the history of the event to win it. Current home-run leader Chris Davis is a -250 favorite at Sportsbook.ag to top the Major League Baseball homer chart in 2013.

Z. Zimmerman. The sports world is not immune to the George Zimmerman acquittal story. Among many tweets was one from Falcons’ receiver Roddy White: “All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid.” And the scary part is it may be just beginning….

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