We'll be seeing more of Maria Sharapova than ever before at this year's U.S. Open Peter Kramer/Getty Images
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Every Tuesday, the 10 Spot will present our list of the 10 hottest people, teams or trends in the world of sports.

1. Maria Sharapova: The 18-year-old moved past Lindsay Davenport into the No. 1 spot in the Women's Tennis Association rankings on Monday despite skipping her last event with an injury. She is the 15th woman to be ranked No. 1 and the first Russian to hold the honor since the tour began its computer rankings in 1975. In other Sharapova news, Time is reporting that she has grown two inches since last year's Wimbledon and now stands 6-foot-2. Still, she isn't overjoyed at her literal rise. "I wouldn't say I'm in love with [the extra inches," said Sharapova. "Because if I wear heels, I'm like 6-4. It's a little too tall." Indeed, how do you solve a problem like Maria's?

2. Baseball locker room dares: Milk might do a body good, but only in moderation. That was the lesson learned on Sunday by a Marlins bat boy. Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny bet the unidentified bat boy $500 that he couldn't drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. Several Dodgers teammates kicked in cash to raise the booty to $1,000. The batboy managed to down the beverage in time but couldn't fulfill the second half of the bargain. This is merely the latest example that baseball players have far too much free time on their hands.

3. The color pink: The new visitor's locker room at Iowa's Kinnick Stadium is entirely pink, down to the urinals. The tradition was started by in the '80s by former football coach Hayden Fry, a psychology major who hoped that the muted and reputedly unmanly tone would soften the edge of rival squads. The color scheme was maintained in the refurbished stadium, with a shade dubbed "innocence." Coincidentally or not, the Hawkeyes have won a school-record 18 straight home games.

4. Ricky Williams: Perhaps fearing that Randy Moss had stolen his thunder as the league's reigning pothead, Williams left a two-page handout outlining his team's game plan in a Pittsburgh hotel over the weekend. One of the Dolphins' security guys was dispatched back to the Marriott City Center to retrieve the documents. Fortunately, it's still the preseason, so the handout likely said something like, "Just don't get hurt."

5. BCS voters: Harris Interactive revealed the 114 members of the new college football poll on Monday. The list includes such big names as Lou Holtz, Terry Bradshaw, Steve Largent and Anthony Munoz. Our favorite pollster, though, is Kevin Duhe, a Louisiana-based territory manager for Blue Bell Creameries, an ice cream maker. When Duhe received a letter asking him to be a voter, he thought it was a practical joke played by his father-in-law, legendary Louisiana high school coach Larry Dauterive. Duhe was a punter in the late '80s for Louisiana-Monroe, which was then known as Northeast Louisiana and played in Division I-AA. The Ice Cream Man will now help decide which Division I-A team plays in the BCS title game.

6. U.S. Badminton: Sure, we can't win at basketball anymore, but we're bully at badminton. Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan became the first Americans ever to win a gold medal at the World Badminton Championships on Sunday. The duo defeated the Indonesian team of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto 15-11, 10-15, 15-11. Gunawan actually won Olympic gold for Indonesia in the same event in 2000 with Wijaya as his partner. Welcome to the melting pot, Tony.

7. Alternative music: It's more important than soccer, at least in the mind of the goaltender on the Belgian women's team SK Berlaar. The goalie on the third-division squad skipped a game over the weekend to attend Pukkel Pop, a Belgian alternative music festival that boasted five stages, DJs, theater and cinema. Alas, the gaping hole left behind in the net led to a 50-1 defeat to FC Malines. The emergency keeper, a 16-year-old, might well have wished that she had skipped town as well.

8. Tiger Woods: He gears his game for the majors, but the World Golf Championships have been an awfully profitable sidelight. Woods has played in 18 WGC events since their creation seven years ago and won nine, including last weekend's NEC Invitational. He has earned about $11.6 million from WGC events alone, more than 20 percent of his career earnings. Presumably, that's one way to attract a Swedish model/nanny.

9. Michael Finley: Shed no tears for Finley, who was waived last week by the Mavericks under the amnesty clause to save on the luxury tax. Not only will Finley still collect the $52 million that Dallas owes him, but he's such a hot property that his suitors are heading one by one to his hometown of Chicago to woo him. The Heat came calling on Monday and can offer $5 million for this season. The Spurs, Suns and Timberwolves are also interested. In sum, Finley will not only make extra cash for being released but has his pick of championship contenders. What a country.

10. Bulls 1, Morons 0: Forget Pamplona. The annual running of the bulls on Sunday in Huamantla, Mexico, led to at least 40 injuries from gorings and street fights among drunken revelers. They're really going to be hurting once the booze wears off.