I don’t really understand the intricacies of football, but I do know this: Michael Vick got Kendra Wilkinson’s husband Hank Baskett fired. In a manner of speaking at least. Baskett, who up until yesterday was playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, was let go from the team in order to make room for Vick. Who is apparently incredibly popular amongst NFL fans – his jersey is the fourth best selling in the league.

Michael Vick can throw passes to his teammates instead of ball boys. The Philadelphia Eagles elevated Vick to the team’s 53-man roster Tuesday, a move that allows the quarterback to practice with the team. Wide receiver Hank Baskett was released to make room for Vick, who is eligible to play Sept. 27 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Vick will begin practicing with the team Wednesday, though he cannot play in Sunday’s home opener against the New Orleans Saints. Vick was suspended for the first two regular-season games as the final league penalty for his role in running a dogfighting ring.

…Vick was brought in to give the Eagles another dimension on offense. He ran Philadelphia’s version of the wildcat offense and took some snaps as a traditional QB under center in two preseason games. The Eagles were heavily criticized by animal rights activists for signing Vick less than a month after he finished serving 18 months in federal prison. Dozens of protesters voiced their outrage outside the team’s practice facility the day after Vick was signed, and many fans threatened to give up their tickets.

A month later, Vick’s jersey is the fourth-highest seller in the NFL behind Brett Favre, Jay Cutler and Troy Polamalu. The league rankings are based on the sales period from April 1 to Aug. 28, so Vick – and Favre, for that matter – had plenty of catching up to do since both joined their teams last month.

Baskett was one of seven receivers the Eagles carried on their 53-man roster through Week 1. He became expendable after Philadelphia selected Jeremy Maclin in the first round of April’s draft and added Brandon Gibson in the sixth round. Baskett had 72 catches for 1,052 yards and six touchdowns in 48 games with the Eagles.

[From the Huffington Post]

I feel badly for Hank. I don’t know why but I really like the guy. He just strikes me as genuine and all-around nice. Generally speaking I think Kendra Wilkinson is pretty lucky to have landed him. And to lose your spot on your team to slime like Michael Vick has got to make the whole thing sting even worse. It is unconscionable to say that the only thing that matters is that the guy’s a good football player. I don’t care how great his skills, you do something like Michael Vick did and you don’t deserve any second chances.

I’m guessing that Kendra and Hank aren’t exactly strapped for money, thanks to their reality show. And they’ve got their first baby due in January, so he’s got a lot of other things on his plate. Hopefully he’ll get picked up by another team that eventually kicks the Eagles’ ass.

Here are Hank and Kendra at the park with their dogs, Raskal and Martini, on July 25th. Images thanks to BauerGriffinOnline.

Kendra Wilkinson had a baby shower at the home of Hugh Hefner’s secretary yesterday featuring a Candyland and ice cream and pickles theme. The E! reality star posed for a photo with her former Girls Next Door co-stars and fellow Hugh Hefner exes Bridget Marquardt and Holly Madison along with Hef’s current girls, twins Karissa and Kristina Shannon and coed Crystal Harris. I believe it’s the first time that all of Hef’s former and current girlfriends have been photographed together, although it’s not the first time they’ve all attended the same event.

Former roomies Bridget Marquardt and Holly Madison and Hugh Hefner and his current trio of gal-pals were among those who gathered at a shower Wednesday to celebrate the impending birth of Kendra’s first child with hubby Hank Baskett.

The over-the-moon duo are expecting a boy this Christmas.

Guests at the “pickles and ice cream/Candyland”-themed shower munched on treats that included cupcakes baked by BunnyBridget herself—with the help of her live-in boyfriend, Nick Carpenter.

“Just got done baking, frosting and decorating a ton of mini cupcakes for Kendra’s shower tomorrow…It’s been a busy day. I’m exhausted,” Marquardt wrote on Twitter yesterday.

Madison, meanwhile, twittered during the party that she was “wearing a sympathy pack made of balloons.”

The festivities took place at the home of longtime Playboy Mansion secretary Mary O’Conners, and Hef had twittered earlier today about squiring the new Girls Next Door,
Crystal Harris and twins Karissa and Kristina Shannon, to the party.

“The girls are going to Kendra’s baby shower today,” he wrote. “Crystal, the Twins, Holly, Bridget & Kendra will all be there. How can I stay away?”

Madison, who’s staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel while in town, also twittered ahead of time that she’d be filming a baby-shower episode for the sixth season of The Girls Next Door, premiering Oct. 11 on E!

“Hope she likes the gift I brought!” wrote the Peepshow star.

[From E! Online]

Kendra isn’t even six months pregnant as she’s due on December 25th. Isn’t it customary to hold the shower much closer to the end of the pregnancy? According to Babycenter.com, it’s fine to hold the shower “any time after conception.” They don’t say anything about having to accommodate filming for a reality show, but schedules are mentioned so I think that covers it.

Looking at the picture from the shower on E! Online, it’s pretty clear that 83 year-old Hef’s last set of girlfriends is much classier than the ones he has now. At least all of the previous girlfriends knew not to wear belly-revealing clothes to a baby shower. I think you can see the twins’ underwear through their white sweatpants too.

My mother and I recently found ourselves talking about Hugh Hefner’s ex-girlfriends Holly, Kendra and Bridget. It wasn’t a subject I thought my mother would enjoy, but she began to ask me, in that gossipy way that must be a particular gene, what I thought about Kendra’s wedding. I believe my mom’s words were “Can you imagine having that for a daughter-in-law?” And I really couldn’t. Not that Kendra really strikes me as a mean or evil person, she just strikes me as profoundly dumb and unaware of the world beyond her own narrow perspective. She also doesn’t seem to have a lot of self-awareness, so that makes for some interesting and unintentionally funny interviews.

Now, Kendra’s new husband and baby-daddy Hank Baskett comes from a very religious, very conservative family. We’ve already heard how Kendra has “changed” since she met him – apparently, Hank makes Kendra “pray” before every meal. Now Kendra is talking about her plans to raise their child in a strict Christian household:

Now that Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett are officially husband and wife the reality show duo is focusing on the next important phase – parenthood.

While Hugh Hefner’s 23-year-old former flame has led a pretty wild life (besides being Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend, the number of times she’s revealed her assets in public is well into the double digits), and said earlier this year that Baskett was helping her find God for the first time, she is determined to be a strict religious mama.

“Our child will definitely be Christian,” Wilkinson told Tarts last week, with Basket adding that they are going to be “very strict” yet still “spoil” their young ones at appropriate times.

“But they are going to have to earn it, we’re not just going to hand it to them. Most importantly, they have to keep good grades because school comes first and then everything else after that,” he explained. “Being a father is something I’ve always wanted and something Kendra and I have talked about from the time we met, we’re just truly excited and truly blessed to be becoming parents very soon. We pretty much fell in love right away and when you ask someone to marry you that means you really want them to be the woman in charge of your family, the person to be your teammate in raising the child.”

Although the expecting parents won’t find out until a few weeks what their first born’s gender is, they already have names prepared.

“If it’s a boy Hank the 4th and if it’s a girl Arianna, we love Arianna,” Wilkinson enthused. “I’m feeling so good, I’m in my 2nd trimester now at 14 weeks and I’m feeling like a whole new person, I feel great.”

[From Fox News]

How much can you really change another person? In a few years, after the new-marriage smell wears off, won’t Kendra be back to shedding her clothes and doing sudsy shower dances in Las Vegas? Did Hank marry Kendra thinking that he would get the best of both worlds – the Playboy bunny and the conservative Christian wife and mother?

Note by Celebitchy: Radar Online has photos of pregnant Kendra in a bikini on her honeymoon.

Kendra and Hank are shown on 6/22/09. Credit: WENN.com

Former “Girl Next Door” reality star/Playboy Playmate Kendra Wilkinson married her football player fiancé Hank Baskett Saturday. The two were wed at the Playboy Mansion, but Kendra’s ex-boyfriend/father figure Hugh Hefner did not give the bride away. According to US Weekly’s sources, Hef was Kendra’s first choice to walk her down the aisle, but she ended up going with her brother, Colin.

The ceremony was held on the lawn of the Playboy Mansion, which is supposed to be lovely. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the Mansion’s grounds (yes, I watched Hef’s A&E Biography), and they are beautifully manicured and extensive. The bride, the groom and the groomsmen all wore white (which I think is a little tacky, but whatever) while the bridesmaids wore lavender:

In a wedding fit for a princess, Playboy Playmate Kendra Wilkinson wed her NFL player beau Hank Baskett at her onetime residence, the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles’s exclusive Holmby Hills, on Saturday, PEOPLE confirms.

At around 6:45 p.m., the Playmate and former Girls Next Door star, 23, walked down the aisle in a white dress, dripping in more than $100,000 worth of platinum jewelry by Michael Barin, including drop earrings, a pendant and bracelet. The groom also wore white, as did the groomsmen, while the bridesmaids were in lavender.

Among the hundreds of guests were former boyfriend and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and fellow Playmate Bridget Marquardt, who was among the bridal party.

The bride and groom married out in the open on a lawn, and there were white rose petals and flower wreaths decorating the aisle.

“She was beaming,” says an eyewitness.

The wedding week kicked off with date night Monday evening at the premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, where Wilkinson told PEOPLE, “I feel great! We’re just ready to say our ‘I do’s’ and just go on our honeymoon and we’re ready to be married.” Her sole concern? “Tripping down the aisle,” she admitted.

Wednesday afternoon the bride-to-be relaxed with some personal pampering and girl time with her mother, grandmother and bridal party at Face to Face Los Angeles, a salon in Studio City.

The happy couple announced some other big news earlier this month – their first child, due on Christmas day.

[From People]

Man, that’s a lot of jewelry. I’ve never understood the need or desire for a bride to deck herself out in gobs of diamonds – should the wedding ring be the only piece that really “pops”? Maybe I’m just old-fashioned that way. Oh, well. Congratulations to Kendra and Hank – I have a feeling he’s going to have to put up with a lot. Not that Kendra’s a bad person, just that she’s not very bright, and she annoys the hell out of me. But that’s wonderful that she found love, and she’s probably absolutely thrilled with her dream wedding and the baby on the way, so good for her.

Photo credit: Fame Pictures and BM/GVK/MATEI/bauergriffinonline.com

Former “Girls Next Door” star Kendra Wilkinson, 23, is expecting her first child with her fiance, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett, 26. Wilkinson and Baskett will marry on June 27 at the home of her ex boyfriend, Playboy head Hugh Hefner. Although Hefner was originally slated to walk Wilkinson down the aisle, she recently said that her brother would give her away during the ceremony. It looks like super-fit Wilkinson is going to have to get her dress taken out:

The E! reality star has exclusively confirmed to me that she and fiancé Hank Baskett are expecting their first child.

“Hank and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our first child together,” she just told me.

“We are touched by the outpouring of support by our family, friends and fans.”

Wilkinson, 23, and Baskett, 26, announced their engagement last November after the pro footballer popped the question at the top of Seattle’s Space Needle.

What a month for these two! Besides this happy news, the couple’s wedding is set for June 27 at Wilkinson’s former abode, the Playboy Mansion. And Kendra, her new post-Girls Next Door show premiered Sunday, scoring E!’s second-highest rated series debut ever with 2.6 million viewers.

Just last month she told me the couple were already talking babies.

“I plan on having them very soon,” Kendra said. “We want to be young parents and be able to chase around our kids and run and coach our kids. So, very soon.”

[From E! Online]

It was just a couple months ago that Kendra announced that she was starting her own line of stripper poles, and now she’s knocked up. We saw her work the pole a week ago. Maybe she’s already planning to help pregnant women keep in shape and lose the baby weight quickly – the sexy way. Congratulations to Kendra and Hank and I’m sure there are many trips to the Olive Garden planned in their immediate future.

Kendra’s new reality show premiered on E! on Sunday.

Kendra and Hank are shown on 5/22/09. She is also shown on 6/2/09. She sure doesn’t look pregnant. Credit: WENN.com