Steve & Barry’s to pay Venus Williams $250,000. Venus Williams will get $250,000 from the bankrupt Steve & Barry’s LLC apparel chain under terms of her clothing line contract. Williams’ Eleven designs were licensed with Steve & Barry’s, but the company hopes to sell itself at an auction this month. A bankruptcy court has determined that the corporation can pay Williams who’s expected to wear the apparel while competing in the Olympics, just as she wore the designs while winning her recent Wimbledon title. Judge Allan Gropper determined the settlement. NBA player Ben Wallace is also owed cash by the company.

Joint NFL practice results in scrap between players.

Titans, Rams have pre-season skirmish. Tennessee Titans and St. Louis Rams players are starting their rivalry in the pre-season. The teams had a scrap Wednesday during a joint practice after Rams receiver Reche Caldwell reportedly grabbed cornerback Cortland Finnegan and threw him to the ground. The teams have a history of tense, joint practices dating back to 2000. Two more plays during the practice found Rams and Titans lashing out at each other on the St. Louis field. But receiver Torry Holt calls it a healthy sign: “After a while, it kind of got excessive as far as the banging and guys trying us. We needed that. That’s something we’re trying to build on is…our mental toughness.” No one was hurt in the skirmishes.

Celtics will face Lakers on ABC. The NBA has announced its highly rated Christmas Day game schedule. Of five contests, the highlight ABC broadcast will be a rematch between the defending champ Boston Celtics and the team they defeated for the title in June, Los Angeles. The Lakers will try and redeem themselves for the beating they took against Boston in one of the most traditionally fierce championship rivalries. Maybe Kobe can play well enough to keep Shaq from performing another freestyle.

Soccer player is charged with felonies after allegedly biting official
A Delaware soccer player is charged with felonies, including assault and terroristic threatening, after he allegedly bit a ref on the chin. Witnesses say Rannord A. Jones challenged the official, who’d given him a red card, ejecting Jones from the game last week. The ref had initially called unsportsmanlike conduct on Jones. “The player was so enraged that he just savagely attacked the official, biting him almost in an animal manner about the chin,” says police Cpl. Trinidad Navarro. Blood gushed from the referee’s face, witnesses say, proving what some thought a joke to be real violence. The mother of Jones, 28, says the official cursed at Jones, provoking him. He turned himself in to police the next day. No name or condition of the referee has been released.

Member of Super Bowl-winning team allegedly involved in club scuffle.
The son of Detroit’s most popular TV anchor woman and a native son returning home from the NFL have allegedly clashed. Geoffrey Pope, cornerback for the New York Giants, faces felony charges after visiting Detroit this past weekend to show his grandmother his Super Bowl ring and celebrate his 24th birthday. Police say Pope got into a scrap at a downtown club where he allegedly struck the son of the local NBC affiliate’s long-time evening anchor woman Carmen Harlan with a champagne bottle. The alleged victim was treated with 28 stitches. Pope’s lawyer says he didn’t commit the assault, while Pope has declined comment.

Kearse is the latest NFL player to get arrested
Tennessee Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse was arrested early Sunday morning for driving under the influence near the campus of Vanderbilt University. Why did he refuse to take a breathalyzer test? Read more details at Playa Hater.