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Veteran radio host Steve Malzberg has agreed to a syndication deal with Newsmax, the popular online portal for conservative politics and news. The Steve Malzberg Show will debut February 4 on radio stations and originate from the Newsmax operation in New York City. The show will also feature a live video stream on Newsmax TV. Read more. (Photo: Newsmax Media, Inc.)

The headline read “Drug abuse impairs sexual performance in men even after rehabilitation.” It was at the top of a short press release describing a study that assessed the “sexual performance” of 605 men, most of whom had been diagnosed with some sort of drug addiction. We learn that four areas of “sexual performance” were evaluated: sexual desire, sexual satisfaction, sexual arousal, and orgasm. The term “sexual performance” appears 6 times in a 267 word press release. It appears 0 times in the article (which is around 4,000 words). If you’re getting annoyed at seeing those quotes around sexual performance then you know a little of how I felt seeing that term over and over and over again.

It’s one I’m used to. It’s commonly used in discussions of sexuality which are primarily medical, which includes most public health and sex education conversations about sexuality. It’s such a common term that I think most people who use it don’t even notice that it’s a metaphor. But it is. The term they usually mean is the one that the researchers use in their study, sexual functioning. The way the body functions, what observable and measurable things are happening when someone is doing something that they (or in this case the researchers) define as sexual.

As far as metaphors go, sexual performance reflects a few things I think most people feel about sex. It’s an event, it’s something that comes with expectations, and it’s something we do for others more than for ourselves. These are common ideas about sex, but I’d argue they also lead to a whole lot of really bad sex.

To the extent that a good metaphor doesn’t just describe a thing but creates an opportunity for us to understand that thing in new ways, sexual performance is a metaphor I wish we could put out to pasture.

Which got me thinking about other metaphors for sex. One’s that don’t rely on performance at all, or as much. Sex therapist and activist Leonore Tiefer has, for years, argued that dance is a much better metaphor for sex. More recently sex educator Al Vernacchio shared his pizza metaphor in a New York Times article about sex education for teens. I’m partial to metaphors that evoke spirit and resistance. I’m not sure what to do with some of these sexual metaphors in music.

How about you? Do you have a most or least favorite metaphor for sex? If you do, share it with us on our Facebook page, Twitter feed, or in the comments below.

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Two Hall of Famers have passed away on consecutive days. And these were no-doubt legends of the game who are icons in their home cities.

On Friday, former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver died on a cruise ship at age 82. He was on a baseball-themed cruise in the Caribbean.

“Earl Weaver stands alone as the greatest manager in the history of the Orioles organization and one of the greatest in the history of baseball,” Orioles owner Peter Angelos said in a statement.

How great? His .583 winning percentage is the greatest of any manager in the last 52 years, of any manager who was in charge a minimum of six seasons. His teams won four pennants and six division titles in 17 seasons that spanned the Brooks Robinson years and the beginning of the Cal Ripken era in Baltimore. Weaver made the Hall of Fame in 1996.

Weaver was born and raised in St. Louis, which today is mourning its favorite player of all-time.

Stan “The Man” Musial passed away at age 92 on Saturday. He had been in declining health in the past few years and had Alzheimer’s disease.

“We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family. Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball,” said William DeWitt Jr., chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Musial played in 3,026 games with the Cardinals and holds just about every offensive record in team history, including 3,630 hits (a mind-boggling 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road). He won seven batting titles, hit .331 lifetime and was a three-time MVP and three-time World Series champion — no other player who wasn’t a New York Yankee can say that. Musial was a 24-time All-Star and had more hits in the 1940s and 1950s than anybody. He had 475 home runs and just 696 strikeouts in his career, a ratio that will likely never be duplicated.

In retirement, he was St. Louis’ general manager for one year — and the Cardinals won the World Series. And he was one of the greatest ambassadors for baseball all-time, too.

“I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever,” said Hall of Famer Willie Mays.

Two Hall of Famers have passed away on consecutive days. And these were no-doubt legends of the game who are icons in their home cities.

On Friday, former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver died on a cruise ship at age 82. He was on a baseball-themed cruise in the Caribbean.

“Earl Weaver stands alone as the greatest manager in the history of the Orioles organization and one of the greatest in the history of baseball,” Orioles owner Peter Angelos said in a statement.

How great? His .583 winning percentage is the greatest of any manager in the last 52 years, of any manager who was in charge a minimum of six seasons. His teams won four pennants and six division titles in 17 seasons that spanned the Brooks Robinson years and the beginning of the Cal Ripken era in Baltimore. Weaver made the Hall of Fame in 1996.

Weaver was born and raised in St. Louis, which today is mourning its favorite player of all-time.

Stan “The Man” Musial passed away at age 92 on Saturday. He had been in declining health in the past few years and had Alzheimer’s disease.

“We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family. Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball,” said William DeWitt Jr., chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Musial played in 3,026 games with the Cardinals and holds just about every offensive record in team history, including 3,630 hits (a mind-boggling 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road). He won seven batting titles, hit .331 lifetime and was a three-time MVP and three-time World Series champion — no other player who wasn’t a New York Yankee can say that. Musial was a 24-time All-Star and had more hits in the 1940s and 1950s than anybody. He had 475 home runs and just 696 strikeouts in his career, a ratio that will likely never be duplicated.

In retirement, he was St. Louis’ general manager for one year — and the Cardinals won the World Series. And he was one of the greatest ambassadors for baseball all-time, too.

“I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever,” said Hall of Famer Willie Mays.

Do you ever get the feeling we – as in NFL fans – are living in a parallel universe from the one Tim Tebow and the rest of the league are living in?

Here’s a guy, a Heisman Trophy winner who helped Florida to two national championships in college, and a guy who took over a struggling Denver Broncos and led them to the NFL playoffs.

And yet he has to be the most bad-mouthed NFL quarterback in recent memory. He’s been verbally abused by fans, the media and some of the biggest names in the game, like Broncos’ executive and former superstar John Elway, to name one.

On the other hand, both the fans and media in New York are screaming for him to start over the woeful Mark Sanchez.

But now, even his Jets’ teammates are breaking bad on their backup quarterback, a phenomenon that has always been pretty much taboo in the league.

The New York Daily News came out with a story today quoting Tebow’s teammates, almost all of whom preferred to remain anonymous.

“We don’t look at him as a quarterback,” said one.

“He’s terrible,” said a defensive player.

“Nobody,” wants him as the starting quarterback, said another.

I’d love to see those practices. Then again, maybe not, if it’s that ugly.

NFL history is rife with players who were woeful in practice, but come game time, all of a sudden they’re MVPs.

Is that Tebow? Or is he simply a bad quarterback who got lucky with Denver? Is it just his competitive drive and athleticism that’s keeping him afloat? Yes, he has that awkward hitch in his throwing motion, and he’s built like a linebacker, but he has won in this league.

Which is the real Tim Tebow? Let’s hear your thoughts on Tebow and his future as a quarterback in the league.

It’s been a week since the Hall of Fame voting was announced, along with the requisite hand-wringing that the writers voted nobody in to Cooperstown this year.

But buried in the voting was an important threshold for former stolen base champion Tim Raines. He cracked the 50-percent barrier among the electorate. In 2009, that number was 22.9 percent. That’s a pretty big leap in four short years, and it’s not like Raines really did anything in that time to merit more consideration.

So why is he looking like a strong Cooperstown contender? Perhaps it’s because there’s a new appreciation for his talent — guys just don’t steal that many bases anymore, and Raines had the best percentage all-time for a player who made 300 attempts. Maybe it’s because of Raines’ longevity in the game and a closer look at the numbers he accumulated (more than 1,500 runs, 800 steals). And maybe it’s because of sabermetrics.

If there’s one thing “Moneyball” taught us, it’s that getting on base is more important than batting average.

CBS Sports’ Eye On Baseball ranked him as the No. 5 Hall of Fame candidate in 2013 — ahead of Craig Biggio — and compared Raines’ stats favorably to first-ballot Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. They played in the same era and had roughly the same number of games and plate appearances. Sure, Gwynn hit .338 in his career and Raines hit .294. But they had almost the same on-base percentage– Gwynn’s .388 to Raines’ .385. Raines had 536 fewer hits but 540 more walks than Gwynn. Raines hit more home runs (170-135) and twice as many stolen bases (808-319). Raines also won a batting title in 1986 and two World Series as a role player with the New York Yankees toward the end of his career.

And compared to another speedster in the Hall of Fame who played the same position, it’s hardly a fair battle. Raines hit for a better average, more power and almost as many stolen bases as Lou Brock. Brock’s on-base percentage was a pedestrian .343, considerably lower than Raines. But Brock got to 3,000 hits, which made him essentially an automatic Hall of Famer.

Raines doesn’t have a magic number like 3,000 hits. And he had some trouble with drugs, but it was a drug of abuse (cocaine) early in his career, a problem he addressed and kicked. More and more voters are looking toward sabermetrics when deciding their Hall of Fame vote, and that trend will only get stronger as older voters die off and younger ones are added. So all trends are pointing toward a Cooperstown future for Raines.

What do you think? Does Tim Raines belong in the Hall of Fame?

border="0" alt="white chocolate dipped strawberries" hspace="5" width="200"
height="170" align="left"/>Planning on hosting an Academy Awards party? You don’t have to wait for the Oscars to do it. This makes a terrific theme for a kids’ birthday party, and with these Oscar-worthy desserts, you can treat your party guests to elegant and decadent desserts that deserve an award for great flavor.

Take my white chocolate covered strawberries dipped in coconut. These berries couldn’t look more elegant, but they are actually incredibly easy to make. If you have a chocolate melter (compare prices), the kids can even make these themselves.

For a hand-held treat, try my ultimate chocolate brownies. They deserve an award for melt-in-your-mouth decadence.

Or how about a dessert you can drink? Everyone will love my frozen hot chocolate. It’s based on the recipe from the famed Serendipity 3 in New York.

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White Chocolate Dipped Strawberries image by Stephanie Gallagher 2013, licensed to About.com Inc.

The best reliever available is off the market, and he’s getting big, big money.

The Washington Nationals have Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard already, but they just became either setup relievers — at least most of the time — or trade bait as the Nats signed Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $28 million contract that makes him the highest paid relief pitcher in the game. It also includes a $14 million option for 2015 if he finishes 120 games in the next two seasons.

The Nationals, who also brought back Adam LaRoche last week (but have to figure out what to do with Michael Morse), will also forfeit their top pick because the New York Yankees offered Soriano arbitration. He closed last season for the Yankees after Mariano Rivera’s injury and saved 42 games.

And the Soriano-Storen-Clippard arrangement — assuming they keep all three — is potentially as good as the Craig Kimbrel-Jonny Venters-Eric O’Flaherty trio at the back of the Atlanta pen.

The Hall of Fame voting totals become public tomorrow, and early returns aren’t promising that anybody will be elected.

Roughly 26.4 percent of the ballots have been made public in some way, according to a computation by Baseball Think Factory. The leader of that polling so far is Craig Biggio, who had votes from 68.2 percent of the electorate. That’s seven percentage points away from Cooperstown for a player who had 3,000 hits. (And if Biggio had played his career in someplace like New York or Los Angeles or Boston, I bet he’d easily have the 75 percent needed.) Every eligible player with 3,000 hits who wasn’t named in the Mitchell Report is in the Hall of Fame.

Jack Morris, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines each received a bit more than 60 percent of the vote in the poll, and Mike Piazza is fifth at 58.9 percent, which is ridiculous when you look at his career accomplishments (.308, 427 HR, 1,335 RBI, .922 OPS, almost all as a catcher). Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are in the 40 percent range (which is higher than I’d thought).

Nate Silver, the New York Times blogger who was dead-on accurate in his prediction of the U.S. presidential election, is looking at the Hall of Fame numbers as well. And his analysis suggests that steroids are dragging down every player who hit a lot of home runs in the last 20 years, regardless of whether they were caught using or not. And that’s the reason Piazza and Bagwell seem to be on the outside looking in.

We’ll see how accurate this is at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday. And if it’s accurate, it could show that the way we pick Hall of Famers in these days is flawed as well.