Reporter throws his shoes at Bush. Saying that he was angry over the deaths of women and children at the hands of U.S. military personnel, a reporter for a Baghdad TV station hurled his shoes at President Bush Sunday, barely missing Bush, who was in the middle of a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. “This is a farewell kiss, you dog,” Muntadar al-Zeidi yelled in Arabic as he hurled his shoes at Bush. “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.” Al-Zeidi, identified as television correspondent, was wrestled to the ground by members of the crowd. “So what if the guy threw a shoe at me?” said Bush, who narrowly missed being hit in the head. “If you want the facts, it was a size 10,” he joked. He continued with jokes later aboard Air Force One, when he quipped, “I didn’t know what the guy said but I saw his `sole, ” The Associated Press reported.

Roy Jones doesn’t “know what’s next” after loss. Welsh boxer Joe Calzaghe can go through with his plan to retire undefeated, if he chooses, after whipping the formerly acknowledged best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing. Roy Jones Jr. suffered his bloody fifth loss this past weekend after Calzaghe beat him in a lopsided decision. Judges scored only the first round, in which Calzaghe was knocked down, for Jones. The fighter agreed with the judges’ decision, saying that Calzaghe hit harder than he’d expected. Some have urged the once-unbeatable Jones to spare himself anymore embarrassment, now with four losses out of his seven latest fights. “I don’t know what’s next,” says Jones. “I don’t know.”

Serena challenges reporter: “Live the dream!” Think it’s easy being Serena Williams? Well, let her tell you a thing or two – like she told a reporter who suggested that she play through an injury rather than pull out of the Sony Ericcson tennis championships, as she did this past weekend. “I think what I should do is make you work out, have a severe stomach strain and play for the sponsors,” Williams responded. The British journalist said he’d be up for the task, to which Serena laughed sarcastically and answered: “You really should. You should go for it and live the dream!… You know, the dream of working out and sweating and being questioned on your commitment to the game versus your love for fashion and Hollywood and really obnoxious jewelry and all that.” Williams says she once played through a similar injury for several weeks, but was more concerned that she fully recover this time around so she can start the new year healthy.

Texas lineman makes racist post against prez-elect. A University of Texas lineman has lost his spot on the team after suggesting that “all hunters gather up” because “we have a n**ger in the White House.” Buck Burnette says he’s sorry for the Facebook.com post, that he’s not racist and didn’t mean to be hurtful. “Clearly, I have made a mistake and apologized for it and will pay for it. I received it as a text message from an acquaintance and immaturely put it up on Facebook in light of the election…I have to be more mature than to put the reputation of my team at stake and to spread that kind of hate which I don’t even believe in.” Nice words. But isn’t there something kinda illegal about making threats against elected officials?

Those responsible say that race absolutely had nothing to do with it.

Why was a Black reporter assigned to cover a McCain campaign rally in Panama City, Fla., singled out by security and told to leave? That’s what The Tallahassee Democrat, the newspaper that employs that reporter, wants to know. Executive Editor Bob Gabordi said, “I’m upset because my reporter was singled out for whatever reason. That bothers me. We’re just trying to figure out what that reason was.” Stephen Price was one of four Florida Capital Press Corps reporters on hand to cover the rally last week when a Secret Service agent approached and told him he had to leave. Price, the only Black journalist on hand, says he pointed out there were other reporters on his same beat in the area, but he was the one who got the boot. “The fact that I’m Black was the only obvious reason,” Price said. Jonathan Block, a McCain campaign worker, told Gabordi that “access to the senator is tightly controlled … I would first express regret that your reporter was moved, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that race had nothing to do with it…. At the end of the day, your reporter was in the wrong place. I do not know why the other reporters were not moved. The rest of the local press should have been moved as well.”