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By Jayson Rodriguez

Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne is a sports aficionado, for sure — from his ESPN tattoo to his gig as an ESPN the Magazine blogger and his recent appearance on the network's "Around the Horn."

But still, it's impressive when someone who excels in one thing is particularly knowledgeable in a totally different field. Weezy is always on the road. Dude has a tour bus that might make John Madden jealous. And it's not just that he always records or is grinding. He does it at such a high level that it's incredible he has the capacity to even be competent at something else. Some rappers don't even listen to the radio or other hip-hop because they're in the studio so much.

Yet Wayne, responding to an offhand question about his thoughts on college hoops and Virginia Commonwealth's improbable run, took the question seriously. He basically got out of rock-star mode for a sec and lucidly gave his analysis. He was all over the Big East Tournament. I'm sure after we talked, he peeped his BlackBerry, and someone had to tell him about the Syracuse and UConn six-overtime game. We got some more NCAA Tournament stuff from Wayne, so stay tuned for his Final Four picks and who he thinks is gonna eventually prevail in Detroit this year.

We've known Lil Wayne to be a sports fanatic for a long time — he even joined our MTV News Fantasy Football League a couple of years back — but he's been taking his knowledge of all things athletic a step further since September by blogging for ESPN the Magazine.

This morning, Weezy appeared on the network's "1st and 10" — looking surprisingly clean-cut and seeming uncharacteristically focused — to debate the network's strongly opinionated and extremely knowledgeable Skip Bayless one-on-one on a variety of topics. (Read about another Lil Wayne interest — voice-overs — here.) Wayne held his own throughout the two-hour appearance and even made his pick for the Super Bowl (Baltimore Ravens topping the Philadelphia Eagles) and proudly told a caller that he could, indeed, make the "Lambeau Leap" fully padded.

The show was filled with semi-awkward banter from Bayless, who fawned over the star's grillz and his music (Skip's favorite song off Tha Carter III is apparently "Monster"). And there was even a music video Bayless shot to top things off, complete with terribly cheesy white rappers going on about how awesome Bayless is.

(Watch Weezy's "1st and 10" introduction after the jump!) Read more...