Racing and dancing with Ken Greene, Warren Sapp and Misty May-Treanor

It was a mixed week for reality-show athletes.

On the bright side, former NFL player and Washington State defensive backs coach Ken Greene and his tightly-stretched former and now wannabe-again wife, Tina, won The Amazing Race 13's third stage by kicking butt during a wrestling challenge that had contestants getting into the ring with Bolivian cholitas, female wrestlers.

With Tina yelling like the loudest cheerleader ever, Ken was comfortable in his tight-fitting spandex costume (let's face it, Tina would have been too) and flew through the exhibitionist task.

In a matter of three weeks, the bickering couple, who are tiresomely open about how Ken's cheating heart put their marriage at risk, have somehow turned likeable, and now have won two weeks in a row.

My husband, a former football coach, can't believe Ken played in the NFL. "He doesn't move like an athlete," Dan says. But then he moves better than the two (now gone) self-described geeks who can't read clues either.

My thrall with Dancing with the Stars was broken when Misty May-Treanor's Achilles popped last week (and, no, not only because her dreamy partner, Maks, is gone too) but our athletes didn't have great night. Sprinter Maurice Greene was given lukewarm scores and critiques and was later seen limping into a club.

And then there's Warren Sapp.

Man, that guy can shake, shimmy, scamper on his tippy-toes and sweat. The good folks at TMZ report that Sapp, the former NFL star, isn't the most popular guy on the set. He's not particularly fond of the male dancers apparently, which seems to really annoy the writers at Outsports.

I've had my own experiences with Sapp. He has, and I don't think I'm breaking any confidences when I say, the worst breath of any athlete I've ever interviewed. It's so bad football media members have speculated he swallowed some dead road kill on purpose before meeting with the media.

Whatever, I suspect his partner is a saint. Still, Warren keeps finishing in the top spots of the show. It won't be a surprise to see Warren in the finals.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Separated couple Ken Greene, 51, and Tina Greene, 48, are competing in the 13th edition of The Amazing Race on CBS. Credit: Monty Brinton / CBS / Associated Press Photo

Comments

[Lisa Guerrero]

Diane...Thanks for the fun updates on the jocks in reality shows. I also have a funny Warren Sapp story to share. I was doing a sitdown interview with him when I worked on Monday Night Football. Halfway through the questions, his phone rang and he answered it...On a HELLO KITTY rhinestone cellphone! I laughed and he asked if I, myself, was a Hello Kitty fan. I said, sure, why not? Then out of his backpack he produced his own Hello Kitty sippycup and gave it to me. After your insight about his awful breath, I'm glad I never used it! Keep up the good work! L.G.

[Diane Pucin]

Thanks, Lisa. I also have a Maurice Greene story. My nephew (who is from Australia -- my husband's sister married an Australian and long ago moved to Perth) accepted a job with a trucking company that allowed him to come to the U.S. this summer and drive semis loaded with American corn and wheat to Canadian processing plants. His flight to the U.S. landed in Kansas City where my nephew was to call his contact and find out how to get his truck. But he wasn't sure what numbers needed to be dialed. Greene, seeing my nephew struggle, offered my nephew his cell phone and also allowed him to call home and tell his family that not only had he made it safely to Kansas City but that he was using the cell phone of an Olympian! So now that Misty is out, I'm secretly rooting for Greene!
-- Diane Pucin

[Skip]

Unfortunately Maurice Greene and Ken Greene are 2 totally different NFL football players!!!!. Same last name is all they share in common.