In Australia, cricketers are revered as the most skillful of all athletes. Able to either deflect a speeding ball, hard as a brick, with nothing but a wooden plank as their tool or take said ball and manually send it flying down the pitch, bending, swaying, and cutting through the air almost as if controlled by telekinesis, the greatest Australian cricketers are nothing short of national heroes. Although now retired from the international game, former Australian spin bowler, international celebrity, and spokesman for hair regrowth treatment, nicotine chewing gum, and online poker companies, Shane Warne just keeps getting himself headlines. Tabloid fodder for years thanks to his predilection for sending saucy text messages, his fluctuating weight, and numerous marital infidelities, Warne, who was once dubbed The King of Spin for his near miraculous leg-spin bowling technique, now finds himself back in the spotlight for two reasons.
First, Warne’s grinning image has been popping up in some rather unexpected places recently, most notably on sexually explicit adult websites. No, “Warney” hasn’t dropped his daks for a nude pictorial, he’s just been plugging 888poker and the ads appeared on a number of adult websites, causing yet another sex-related controversy for one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Warne’s manager claimed to know no reason why the 888poker ads would be appearing on an adult site, but said he and his client would be investigating the issue and examining the ties between The Shane Warne Foundation, a charity the cricketer started a number of years ago, and the online poker company his blinding white teeth and sunglass adorned face are pimping in the ads. Sounds like a real non-event, don’t it? Well, in typically idiotic fashion, the printed and online rags of Australia have blown something insignificant way out of proportion because it’s their trusty whipping boy and headline ace Warney’s face planted right next to a gaping female asshole. Hey, maybe that’s why he’s grinning so much!
Oh, and the second reason Warne is back in the media spotlight? He’s engaged to marry Elizabeth Hurley.