What constitutes a dirty player in the NFL these days? Roger Goodell has wussified (correct spelling, Mr. Rendell?) the league so much that a finger to the facemask draws a flag. That didn’t stop The Sporting News from releasing its annual list of the NFL’s dirtiest players.

In a poll surveying 103 of his peers, Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh took top honors with 32 votes. Suh also won last year’s poll.

**It should be noted that Steelers bad boy James Harrison has missed most of the season due to injury. Harrison dropped two spots from last year, tumbling down from No. 2 to No. 4. He vowed to come back with a vengeance in the second half — at least we’re guessing he did.

Before we stray from this topic, we have a few nominations:

» Broncos linebacker Joe Mays. He went all Mike Tyson on Matt Schaub when he knocked off a chunk of his ear. He wasn’t even ejected. WWHD (What would Holyfield do?)

» Vikings defensive end Jared Allen. So this one is a year old, but Allen punched a guy straight in his genitals. A former teammate to boot. We’ll let Allen explain. “So I told [Ray Edwards]: ‘You run me over here, I’m going to punch you square in your wiener, dude.’” OK, then. No one can accuse Edwards of being a cock block.

» The Philadelphia Eagles. No, not because anyone on the team plays dirty. They make this list because the way they are playing football right now is so gross that you have to take a shower after watching them. And then they have to listen to “vile” insults from their fans.

For the record

Last week, we pondered the uselessness of the sideline reporter in this space. The one thing we failed to mention — at least publicly, though we’ve often said it behind closed doors — is that if this job continues to exist, then make sure the people in these positions are attractive. Well, Charles Barkley stated the obvious for us (read: went the sexist rout?) …

“If you are an ugly woman, you have no chance of getting a TV job,” Barkley said, via Larry Brown Sports. “I will say this: They have hot, great-looking women on TV now. But if you are an ugly woman, you ain’t got no chance of getting a TV job.”

One thing we do know: Sir Charles makes one sexy woman.

Six degrees of Rihanna

When we first started this celebrity/athlete blog we promised extensive Rihanna coverage, whether it was directly sports-related or not. But, in an effort to stick to “Playing the Field” rules, we’ll try to make this work.

You see, Rihanna has a new music video for her new single, “Diamonds.” The Miami Heat recently received their NBA championship rings, which consist of approximately 219 diamonds. After the Heat won said championship, Rihanna reeled off a tweet praising LeBron James and silencing his haters.

So there you have it. Rihanna loves basketball. We love Rihanna. Enjoy this photo gallery.