Justin Timberlake on the Marine Corps Ball: “It is one of the most moving evenings I’ve ever had.”

Justin Timberlake attended the 236th Marine Corps Birthday Ball as Corporal Kelsey DeSanti’s date.

It looked like he was so touched on the event that he posted a very intimate personal blog about his experience.

He posted on his personal blog saying that “it is one of the most moving evenings I’ve ever had.”

On the experience he said, “I knew I would have an evening that I would not forget…Something I could tell my friends about. What I did not know was how I was moved I would be by the whole experience.”

The Friends with Benefits star was also moved on a video about Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He said, “There was a common theme that I began to notice as well. No matter what the situation. No matter how dire… They were the FIRST. There on the front lines. No questions.. just reaction.”

“It was a surreal moment to be in that room with so many of our great Marines who have such a different type of connection to those stories.”

“One that we who don’t serve will never understand. It was familial.It was like they were listening to their own blood brothers.”

On the blog, he also gushed about his date, Corporal DeSantis, saying, She seems to me to be so humble and honest. She also simultaneously seemed like she was nervous about the whole evening and if I was going to enjoy myself.. I have to tell you, it’s not everyday that I meet a 23-year-old girl and she’s more worried about if I’m having fun or if I’m comfortable.”

He added, “It hit me all of a sudden that these were the type of people who look after us and our freedom..Humble, concerned for others before themselves.. This was the type of person our Marine Corps was building. I was blown away.”

Lastly, he had a message to his new heroes. He said, “To all of you that served everyday for us.. ensuring our freedom, I say, my deepest gratitude to you. I have met so may of my heroes..From Michael Jordan to Michael Jackson..And nothing makes me feel more honored and pride than when I get to meet one of you. Last night changed my life and I will never forget it.”

READ MORE - Justin Timberlake on the Marine Corps Ball: “It is one of the most moving evenings I’ve ever had.”

Former Giants RB Tiki Barber engaged to Traci Lynn Johnson

Tiki Barber, the former New York Giants running back, proposed to his girlfriend, Traci Lynn Johnson, over the weekend.

"They got engaged," Mark Lepselter, Barber’s agent and close friend, of Tiki and Traci, told the New York Post. "[Tiki’s] very happy, and he’s moving forward with his life."

Barber, 36, is still in the middle of a bitter divorce battle with his wife Ginny, whom he left in 2009 while she was pregnant with their twin daughters.

While working for NBC as a football analyst, Barber met Johnson. And he reportedly left his wife for Johnson, a 24-year-old former NBC intern. In late 2010, NBC declined to renew his contract.

The story that hit the tabloids painted him as an adulterer, though Barber said he and his wife had separated before he accelerated his relationship with Tracy.

"I was in a bad marriage," Barber said in a June 2011 interview with HBO's Bryant Gumbel. "It was in trouble for a long time. And we decided to get separated. But Ginny got pregnant in the middle of it. And a lot of people think children save marriages; sometimes it makes it worse. And we split soon after she was pregnant.

"And I was on my own for a few days, and then I moved in with Tracy. And then, five months later, here comes the New York Post stalking me."

Barber announced his retirement from football in 2007, but decided in early 2011 that he’d return to the NFL. He has worked out for a few teams, including the Dolphins, but has yet to land with a franchise for the 2011 season.

Barber’s agent said that financial interests will not play a significant role in Barber’s destination. “We’re not looking to turn this into an auction,” Lepselter told USA Today. “There are only a handful of coaches he would want to play for.”

Appearing on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” Barber said football represents a necessary anchor in a life turned upside down by the depressive aftermath of scandalous divorce and disintegration of his television career.

"The game never needs you because there's always someone else to come and take your place," he said. "But right now, I need the game."

READ MORE - Former Giants RB Tiki Barber engaged to Traci Lynn Johnson

NFL Week 1 odds: Hall of famer Lee Roy Selmon died

NFL Week 1 odds: One of the most important defensive elements in pro football history and legend of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , Lee Roy Selmon, has died at age 56, two days after suffering a massive heart attack.

Selmon, who was the first player selected from around the 1976 Draft, drafted as the first element in the history of the expansion franchise for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was intrenado from Friday September 2 at St. Joseph's Hospital of Tampa . Initially, a spokesman for his restaurant chain had mistakenly announced his death, however, Dewey Selmon, Lee Roy's brother, denied that statement.

On Saturday 3, a hospital report indicated that the condition had improved Selmon.

Unmistakable with his jersey number 63, Selmon, superstar college with the University of Oklahoma and the Sooners uniform was twice named All-American Dream Team and in 1975, won the Lombardi Award and Outland prestigious Trophy.

During his brilliant career, was selected to six Pro Bowls and chosen as Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL in 1979. He retired in 1984 and in 1995 he was enthroned as the first "buccaneer" in the Hall of Fame in Canton.

The number 63, Selmon is the only retired by the Buccaneers organization and Highway Tampa, Florida, was named in his honor.

Recently, Selmon was named the No. 98 player in the NFL Network program "The 100 best players of all time."

In a statement from the organization of the Buccaneers, expressed grief over the loss of Selmon.

"Tampa Bay has lost another giant," said Glazier family in the written statement. "Today is a really bleak for the Buccaneers fans, for fans of Sooners and for all football fans. Being the first 'Buc' to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, certainly distinguishes Lee Roy, however, its height off the field as a real gentleman, he is out of the stratosphere. "

READ MORE - NFL Week 1 odds: Hall of famer Lee Roy Selmon died

Week 1 NFL Predictions, Picks & Odds

Everyone is thrilled that the NFL is finally ready to get started, and that means it’s time to take a look at week 1 NFL predictions. It’s never too early to start mapping these out, and the first games will be upon us before you know it. Here are the opening week 1 NFL predictions to get your season started off the right way.

At Green Bay -4 New Orleans
The defending champions open up the season at home, and are showcased in the very first game of the year. There’s no better place to start your week 1 NFL predictions, and the Packers are rightly the favorites at home to begin their title defense.
At Baltimore -3 Pittsburgh
This classic match-up between hated rivals is a tough one to pick right out of the gates. Which team will be in better form after the lockout? These are always toss-up games, and the -3 advantage goes to the home team, the Ravens, although this one can always end up going to either team.
At Tampa Bay -2.5 Detroit
Tampa Bay isn’t a very large favorite at home against the Lions, which some might find surprising. The Lions though are a dark horse team for many people with their vaunted defensive line, and Matt Stafford is healthy to start the year. Which young team will prevail to get their season moving in the right direction?
Atlanta -2.5 At Chicago
The Falcons are road favorites going into Chicago against the Bears, surprising to some considering that the Bears were in the NFC championship game last season. An important test for each squad, because both of them have lofty playoff aspirations for the season. This is a tough one to call with your week 1 NFL predictions, and both sides have something to prove.
At Kansas City -6.5 Buffalo
One of the largest spreads to be found with any week 1 NFL predictions is the Chiefs at home by 6.5 against Buffalo. The Chiefs were a playoff team last season, while the Bills didn’t do much last year, and didn’t seem to make any big offseason moves to improve the squad either.
At Houston -3 Indianapolis
This one completely depends on the health of Peyton Manning. If he’s out there and playing, then the Colts probably wouldn’t be underdogs, even on the road. But there’s a chance he misses the first game of his career. This match-up may have to wait until the last minute with your week 1 NFL predictions so you get as much information about his injury and status as possible.
Philadelphia -5 At St. Louis
The Eagles, the big winners of the offseason with everyone they signed and all the trades they made, are heavy favorites for a road squad. St. Louis is a young and improving team though and won’t want to be embarrassed on their home field as the season begins.
At Cleveland -6 Cincinnati
Which of these two divisional foes and rivals will start to turn things around in 2011? As the line suggests, more people believe in the Browns with their week 1 NFL predictions over the Bengals, but six points seems heavy between two teams when neither one is really expected to be a good squad.
At Jacksonville -3 Tennessee
Both the Jaguars and the Titans know they need to do some improving on the field if they want to make a run in 2011. The big question for the Titans is that you don’t know if Chris Johnson will be on the field to do the running for them. No Chris Johnson means an easy selection of the Jaguars with your week 1 NFL predictions.
NY Giants -3 At Washington
The Giants have been battered by injuries and some turmoil in the offseason, and so they’ll be limping into the first game of the season. But the Redskins aren’t expected to do much, and don’t have a clear cut number 1 quarterback, so they’ll be expected to lose their home opener against their NFC East rival.
At Arizona -6.5 Carolina
When you start a rookie quarterback, you’re going to be the heavy underdogs in lots of games, and that’s especially true when you were the worst team in the league the year before. The Cardinals are optimistic with new QB Kevin Kolb, and with Larry Fitzgerald locked up to a nice new, lengthy deal with the team.
At San Francisco -5.5 Seattle
The NFC West was tight last season because no team was able to finish with a .500 record, so everyone was in that same mediocre range. New head coach Jim Harbaugh has a lot of hype behind him, and that probably explains the heavy point spread in their favor even though the Seahawks are the more experienced and proven team right now.
At San Diego -8.5 Minnesota
This seems like a pretty wide margin for the Chargers, even at home. The Vikings want to rebound after failing to perform to expectations last season, and they have Adrian Peterson, Donovan McNabb and a stout defense to help do just that. The Vikings could be upset picks with your week 1 NFL predictions here, or at least should beat that point spread.
At NY Jets -4.5 Dallas
The Jets are a trendy Super Bowl pick for many people, and the Cowboys are coming off a disastrous 2010 season. It’s also the first game to be played in the brand new stadium that the Jets and Giants have, so they’ll be feeding off of plenty energy and excitement and should get the job done.
New England -6.5 At Miami
Things aren’t looking too bright in Miami even if the weather has been sunny. The quarterback situation is unresolved, with nobody really believing in Chad Henne. The Patriots are expected to be one of the forces of the league yet again, and so are lofty favorites even on the road against a divisional opponent, and it’s justified.
At Denver -2.5 Oakland
This battle between AFC West rivals features two teams trying to get started in the right direction. Both have major quarterback questions, new coaches and staffs, and more. So this could be an ugly one, and Denver gets the slight advantage as they are the home team.

READ MORE - Week 1 NFL Predictions, Picks & Odds

Gordon wins NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta

                                                                                          For most of the afternoon, Jeff Gordon was the man to watch at Atlanta Motor Speedway Tuesday.

He led laps early and late. He appeared to have a historic NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in hand.

But as the laps wound down, a battle of champions developed. Gordon, who had appeared to have the race in hand, suddenly fell back into a battle with team mate Jimmie Johnson.

Gordon had passed his teammate to take his final lead on Lap 276 of the 325 at the rain-delayed and then rain-interrupted AdvoCare 500 Tuesday afternoon.

Both drivers were chasing their cars on the track. Both drivers were hungry. They raced clean, but they raced hard.

Johnson dove inside Gordon with three to go, his latest attempt to take the win. Gordon again clipped him off at the last minute, holding his spot.

Gordon, a four-time series champion, was a consistent frontrunner throughout the race — the only one who was strong start to finish. He earned his 85th career Cup win, which puts him in sole possession of third on the all-time winners list. And he further secured his role as one of the favorites for the 2011 championship.

Gordon took the win, with five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Johnson finishing second. Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.

Two days after the race was postponed because of rain, it looked like it just might end under the same conditions. Drivers struggled to get into any kind of rhythm as a misty rain began to steadily interrupt the action shortly after the halfway point of the race Tuesday afternoon.

The interruptions threatened to alter the race, but in the end had little impact.

Gordon’s win was set up following a late pit stop. On Lap 247, Martin Truex Jr. led the field following a caution period and a crafty two-tire pit stop, but immediately surrendered the spot to Johnson, who took his first commanding lead of the day. David Ragan was running ninth and blew up, but the caution did not come out until Regan Smith brought out the yellow flag with heavy damage on his car after getting hit by Mark Martin.

That set up another restart in a race that had been highlighted by tight battles every time the green flag waved.

Johnson slipped away from the field at that point, as Gordon began to make his trek toward the front of the field. On Lap 267, he took second from Edwards and began trying to move up on Johnson. Gordon had led 100 laps in the race and had been the frontrunner when it hit the halfway point, but lost positions on pit stops later in the race.

Gordon soon began putting pressure on Johnson for the lead and, on Lap 276, he took the lead from his teammate. He pitted eight laps later and held the position through green-flag stops. Johnson trailed by .652 second after the stops cycled through.

Gordon’s dominant position was hard to track in a race in which drivers faced a series of interruptions after reaching the halfway point.

The first brief interruption for rain had found Edwards in the lead. The second threatened to net a surprise winner as J.J. Yeley and Landon Cassill opted to stay out during the pit sequence to take the top two spots, but they pitted as the green flag came out. The latter stoppages set up thrilling restarts with top drivers going three wide for the lead as rain continued to be a threat.

After Yeley and Cassill pitted, Matt Kenseth retook the lead, restarting alongside teammate Edwards. On the restart, as Kenseth pulled away on the outside, Kevin Harvick whipped around inside of Edwards and began dueling with Edwards for second. The two closed on Kenseth for the lead as rain threatened at the track.

Kenseth was pulling away, radioing his team that he was about to wreck on the track and that a caution needed to be thrown. NASCAR quickly did just that as the mist hit the track once more, putting out the caution flag on Lap 221.

Again, Kenseth and Edwards started side by side, with Harvick and Johnson right behind them. Charging forward on the restart, Johnson suddenly moved into second and began mounting a challenge on Kenseth. Edwards soon moved back into the fray and the trio began to battle for the top spot.

With 85 laps to go, Johnson and Edwards put pressure on Kenseth. Johnson kept trying to clear Kenseth and couldn’t quite do it. Then Edwards moved right onto Kenseth’s bumper as Clint Bowyer slid up and cut off Juan Pablo Montoya, who hit him with his bumper and caused Bowyer to hit the wall, causing the caution on Lap 242. That was a crushing blow for Bowyer, who is trying to fight his way into a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

And then Gordon took over.

The early segment of the race featured a showdown between Gordon and kyle Busch. The pair combined to lead 120 of the early laps in the race, but Busch struggled after brushing the wall and dropped out of contention for the win as the race wore on.

READ MORE - Gordon wins NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta

Don't sleep on Saints in Super Bowl talk

Five years ago, the New Orleans Saints were looking for stability as a franchise and a team on the field. Five years later, it's clear they found it.

Half of the equation was signing one of the game's elite quarterbacks, Drew Brees. The other half was choosing right again by hiring Sean Payton as their head coach.

That winning combination was first seen when the Saints went from 3-13 in 2005 to 10-6 in '06, and doing their small part in helping the community around New Orleans heal from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. There was promise of accomplishing greater things in the near future, which came to fruition with their victory in Super Bowl XLIV.

After following up that last season with an 11-5 wild-card berth and making a shockingly quick playoff exit at Seattle, it would be easy to think they've taken a step back out of vying for another NFC championship. That would be a big mistake.

Appropriately, Payton was rewarded for his great body of work on Labor Day with a contract extension through '15. The Saints' familiarity with him on the sidelines and Brees under center is the biggest reason they're consistent contenders. Even with considerable roster shakeups since '06, neither competitor has lost his edge in pushing the Saints every year.

"You don’t ever really arrive, you’re just constantly ongoing, developing players, and with the way our league is now, there’s always that turnover in five to six years," Payton said Monday. "The offseason has become important (and) certainly the continuity with the coaching staff is important."

The Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles and the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers — against whom the Saints open the regular season on Thursday night — have all seen a brighter spotlight cast on them this offseason. But the Saints have done some quiet reloading of their own to keep with the NFC's other offensive powerhouses.

The marquee pickup was their rookie first-round draft pick, running back Mark Ingram, the '09 Heisman Trophy winner and national champion from Alabama. Even though the Saints have a deep running game, Ingram can provide them with a necessary hammer to help Brees finish drives in the red zone.

Ingram is expected to have an immediate impact, starting with what's likely to be a high-scoring affair at Lambeau Field.

“I think he’s more than ready" Payton said. "He’s anxious. Here’s why: He’s been very consistent during training camp."

Ingram is just one of three intriguing new weapons for Payton's offense. In free-agent addition Darren Sproles, the Saints get a slightly older but arguably quicker version of Reggie Bush to assist them as a third-down runner and receiver. Second-year tight Jimmy Graham, now a starter, is primed for a breakout season.

They'll need all of those players to contribute — and good production from their aggressive defense — to beat Green Bay. Although the Week 1 matchup of the past two Super Bowl champions is huge way to kickoff for the Saints, they're careful not to put everything into it as a way to put behind last season's playoff disappointment.

"You don't want to make it bigger than it is, because at the end of the day you still have 15 games after that," linebacker Jonathan Vilma said about his team's preparation for the Packers. "We would love to get a quality win on the road against a NFC opponent.”

Considering the Saints face stiff competition in their own division, both from reigning NFC South champion Atlanta and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — a surprise 10-6 team last season — every conference win is vital. The opener is a chance for the Saints to get a potential leg up on the Falcons and Bucs, who also open with tough NFC North opponents in Chicago and Detroit, respectively.

Former Cowboys and Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson, a studio analyst for FOX NFL Sunday, sees the Saints and Falcons once again being in a tight battle for postseason position.

"If you look at the entire league, what we’re going to find out in the early part of the season is that because we didn’t have offseason programs and minicamps, the veteran teams and the teams that retained their coaches will be much stronger than some of the other teams early in the season," Johnson said in a conference call.

"Veteran teams, especially the Saints and the Falcons will be much better. It’s a two-team race in the NFC South as far as I’m concerned."

Wherever you look, the Falcons, Eagles and Packers have dominated as the preseason picks to make Super Bowl XLVI. The Saints, however, are well equipped to make it a great four-team race to take the NFC.

READ MORE - Don't sleep on Saints in Super Bowl talk

Telluride Loves Tilda Swinton, But Needs to Talk About 'Kevin'

One of the most chattered-about entries at the Telluride Film Festival was the late-bowing “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” which stars festival tributee Tilda Swinton as the beleaguered mother of a teenaged boy who commits a Columbine-style massacre.

The undercurrent of the talk on the streets, of course, had to do with another troublesome male figure: We need to talk about Oscar.

Among the English-language films receiving their world or U.S. premieres at the Colorado festival, a common thread emerged: great performances in lesser-loved or dark, difficult movies that it may be hard to get art-house audiences to spend $12 on ... or to get Academy members to watch for free.

Also read: From Clooney's 'Descendants' to Pixar's 'La Luna': 10 Buzziest Films at Telluride

These worries particularly applied to the two buzz films that dominated the second half of the four-day festival, “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and “Shame,” both of which didn’t start unspooling for patrons until Sunday, and left some tired attendees shaking their heads at the grueling contents therein -- even as they added, “Wasn’t he/she great?”

Some of these sentiments also applied to the Glenn Close project “Albert Nobbs” and David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method,” though audiences weren’t wildly polarized over these so much as lukewarm (with certain exceptions, like A.O. Scott, who raved about American movies, only runaway favorite “The Descendants” walked away with a widespread love for the film to equal the adoration for its actors.

Also read: George Clooney's 'Descendants' Sucks Up All the Air at Telluride Fest

Nothing looks to be a tougher sell than “Shame,” director Steve McQueen’s decidedly NC-17 portrayal of soul-crippling sexual addiction. The first 10 minutes are front-loaded with full-frontal shots of leading man Michael Fassbender, and the action gets more graphic in the last act. But how do you push as "sexy" a movie that means to point out how unsexy extreme erotic compulsiveness can be?

Hearing that I had a “Shame” screening scheduled for later in the day Monday, two New York women down the row had some words of wisdom. “You’ll need to take a shower afterward,” said one. The woman next to her offered even stronger, and more amusing, counsel. “Make sure to have sex beforehand,” she advised me, “because you’ll be off it after.”

Fassbender -- who also appeared, pants mostly on, as Carl Jung in “A Dangerous Method” -- is frankly amazing in “Shame,” all the way to the remarkable scene near the end when he simulates graphic intercourse while wearing one of the most anguished expressions in the history of cinema. It's a good thing McQueen lays off the casual frontal nudity after the first reel, so we can rightfully claim we couldn't take our eyes off Fassbender's face.

Dyed-blonde Carey Mulligan, meanwhile, may not be having anyone calling her “Audrey Hepburn-esque” anymore after her role as Fassbender’s similarly degraded sister, although she gets off kind of light on the nudity front. The one non-sex scene that’s going to prompt considerable polarization is a jazz club sequence where a not entirely on-pitch Mulligan sings a radically slowed down rendition of “New York, New York” that goes on for so many minutes, it almost starts to qualify as torture porn.

“We Need to Talk About Kevin,” based on a popular British novel, is an exceptionally well-mounted portrait of a serial killer’s mother, and would seem like a shoo-in to usher Swinton toward award consideration -- if not for the fact that literally every single one of its 112 minutes is grim and filled with overwhelming dread. The back-and-forth flashback structure telegraphs all the atrocities to come, leaving the audience with nothing to hang on but the sight of Swinton’s once-vibrant character being increasingly overwhelmed by her son’s implicit menace and her spouse’s aggravating naïveté. For fans of great acting, that’s almost enough.

As the husband, John C. Reilly so overplays the ineffectual card, you hardly believe he could get a job or a wife, much less share a huge Connecticut house with a character as sharp and accomplished as Swinton’s. But the two kids who play Kevin as a toddler and teenager make such deeply convincing and disturbing sociopaths that someone should make use of them by quickly mounting a “Bad Seed” remake or “Omen” sequel. Come to think of it, maybe that’s what “Kevin,” in its own smart, arty way, already basically is, since the film ultimately doesn't seem to have much more to impart than ... Evil Happens.

That these entries didn’t inspire across-the-board accolades doesn’t mean nothing at Telluride did, just that unanimity was largely reserved for a handful of international entries.

Also read: Watch Out, Oscar: Here Come the Film Festivals

Unofficial polling on the streets and on the gondola showed four clear favorites. One was Alexander Payne’s George Clooney vehicle “The Descendants,” which enjoyed an overwhelmingly successful world-premiere engagement at Telluride on its way to Toronto. The other three arrived in the U.S. via earlier stops at Cannes.

Attendees weren’t shy about calling the Iranian film “A Separation” a masterpiece, and it won’t be any surprise to see this riveting morality tale topping year-end critics’ polls.

Agnieska Holland’s equally dazzling but less intrinsically inviting “Into Darkness” won raves from everyone who had the moxie to submit to a two-and-a-half-hour Holocaust drama. “Holocaust suspense picture” might be a better way of selling the film, with its brilliantly directed action setpieces -- which, just to make things difficult, take place in nearly pitch-black Polish sewers. 

But if anything equaled “The Descendants” as a popular favorite, it was the French-made, American-set “The Artist,” a bona-fide black-and-white silent movie that left most of the passholders who caught it in a state of delirium that could only partly be attributed to the altitude. In something close to a repeat of the feel-good bliss surrounding "Slumdog Millionaire's" debut at Telluride three years ago, predictions ran rampant that “Artist” could cross over to mainstream audiences and even, conceivably, get a nod for the Academy’s top honor -- the kind of soothsaying you could blame on the lack of local oxygen, incredible foresight, or both.

READ MORE - Telluride Loves Tilda Swinton, But Needs to Talk About 'Kevin'