A CULTURE CLASH:
PBS' P.O.V.'s show on "Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball":
Airs in L.A.: Saturday (July 8) at 9 p.m. on KCET Channel 28, also Wednesday July 5 (7 p.m.), Thursday July 6 (midnight) and Sunday July 9 (1 a.m.) on PBS Channel 384 on DirecTV.

This is the first English-language film to explore the annual 'Koshien' baseball tournament
For thousands of Japanese teens, their families and teachers as well as millions of spectators, the annual tournament that begins with some 4,000 teams and finishes with 49 teams competing for the
national championship at Koshien Stadium in Osaka manages to be both pure baseball-and purely Japanese.

Producer Kenneth Eng (pictured above with the captain of PL Gakuen) has done the project for the 19th season of public television's groundbreaking P.O.V. series. American television's longest-running independent documentary series, P.O.V. is public television's premier showcase for point-of-view, nonfiction films.

In March 2006, Japan beat Cuba to win the first-ever World Baseball Classic. While this came as a shock to some, many baseball fans weren't surprised. Japan's embrace of the sport, beginning in 1872 and today including Japanese players in the American big leagues like Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki and New York's Hideki Matsui, is well known. Babe Ruth and other American all-stars used to travel to Japan in the 1930s to play against the locals before adoring fans-in fact, in the very Koshien Stadium where Japan's high school yakyu ("field ball")
tournament culminates every August. But just how strong and deep the Japanese love of baseball is-how they have remade the sport into a supreme expression of their spiritual and cultural values-won't be as
obvious. Unless one has experienced what the Japanese refer to simply as "Koshien."

In Kokoyakyu, the rules, uniforms, and stadium hoopla may seem all-American. Even the cheerleaders and their uniforms, though oddly borrowed from American football, obviously derive from the U.S. But-in what may be a revelation to Americans, especially American kids involved in sports-the intensity, discipline, earnestness, and
unselfish dedication to team, school and family are all-Japanese. High school baseball in Japan appears to have sublimated the country's traditional samurai values in a markedly non-violent sport, whose essential grace and emphasis on teamwork strike a deep chord in Japanese hearts.

For more on the show: www.pbs.org/pov A DVD is also available at Customflix.com.

XXXXX OOOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOOO XXXXX

X MARKS THE SPOT:

X Games volunteers: Applications for X Games 12 at Home Depot Center and Staples Center that'll take place Aug. 3-9 are at the website: XGamesVolunteers.com. They'll need people from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to run errands, set up cones, etc.

XXX OOOOO XXXXX OOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXX OOOOOO

MORE X'S THAN O'S:

NFL 101/201: For the fifth year in a row, L.A. Sports & Entertainment Comission president Kathy Scholessman and sportscaster Andrea Kremer are putting together the July 13 event (5-9 p.m.) at Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom aimed at networking with some of the league's elite while learning something about how the league works.
Some of the guest speakers include Heisman winner Reggie Bush, NFL linebacker Willie McGinest, Senior director of NFL officiating Mike Pereira, Raiders chief executive Amy Trask, and Vince Papale, the focus of the new movie "Invincible" and his story-book playing days with the Philadelphia Eagles.

It should sellout fast. For tickets: Cindy Johnson, (213) 236-2361 or cjohnson@lasec.us or go to the LA Sports & Entertainment Commission's Website.

XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOO

YOU GOT GAME?

ESPN Online Games: A new thing offered on ESPN360, the network's broadband service, that is separated into "arena games" that include basketball, baseball and boxing; and "bar sports" that have air hockey, coin toss and bar curling.
As part of the ESPN360 All-Access Trial period, the games are available to all fans with a high-speed internet connection until July 19, after which time they will be available exclusively through ESPN360. However, on a rotating basis, one game will be available to all Internet users via ESPN.com as a showcase game. To access the games, fans just have to visit ESPN360 and click on “video games.‿
Produced using Flash technology, the online games use a combination of video footage, stop-motion animation and 3-D rendering to deliver a distinctive look and feel unlike any other sports games online. Fans access the games through navigation built within a virtual environment that includes a “Locker Room‿ for “Arena Games‿ and a virtual ESPN Zone restaurant and bar for “Bar Sports.‿ The virtual environments allow users to explore a multitude of interactive features including:
The current games are all single player, but include functionality that allows fans to compete by sending challenges to friends, comparing their scores rank with a multi-tiered scoreboard, and creating “competition circles‿ of players.
See more about ESPN360’s ESPN Online Games at www.espngames.com

XX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOOO XXXX

MORE ROOM FOR BIG JOHN:

strong>Madden's new ride: Switching from ABC to NBC means a new conversion coach for John Madden, soon to be delivered.
His new ride: a 2006 MCI E4500, has a master bedroom/bathroom with steam shower, full kitchen with granite flooring and countertops, and a TracVision mobile satellite TV system from KVH Industries that brings 155+ all-digital channels of DIRECTV programming to the onboard HD plasma television screens.
"Before we got the TracVision system, we used to have to stop to set the satellite antenna up to watch TV - which never made any sense when we were trying to get somewhere," said Madden. "It turned out we rarely watched satellite TV because we didn't want to stop. Now that we have the KVH TracVision in-motion system, the TV is on all the time. We're never out of contact."
Madden hasn't flown since 1979 because he dislikes the confinement of airplanes. He first tried trains but found they lacked point-to-point convenience. In 1986, he used Dolly Parton's tour bus before moving into his own MCI coach the year later in a deal with Greyhound and has traveled 80,000 to 100,000 miles a year ever since.

XXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO XXXXXXXXXXXXXX OOOOOOOOOOOX

KNOW WHEN TO FOLD, OK?

The 2006-07 World Poker Tour dates: Three new tournaments are set for the fifth season, meaning there are 18 events.
The Borgata Poker Classic (January 26 –30, 2007) and the Foxwoods Poker Classic (April 1-4, 2007) were initially played in Season IV and they will repeat for 2006-07 season. At Bellagio, the new Festa Al Lago Tournament (October 15-19, 2006) replaces the North American Poker Championship, which has moved to Niagara Fallsview Resort in Canada.
The schedule has changed a bit, including the WPT Celebrity Invitational so it doesn't conflict with the Academy Awards. Additionally, the dates for three Specials have been confirmed, the hugely popular WPT Ladies Night set for August 31, 2006 at The Bicycle Casino, another on the day after the WPT World Championship at Bellagio (April 28, 2007) and a new WPT Bounty Hunters tournament to be inaugurated at Borgata (Sept 18, 2006).

Poker fans are invited to come watch the filming of all WPT stops. They'll again be on the Travel Channel on Wednesday nights (9 p.m.). More information: www.worldpokertour.com.

World Poker Tour Season V Tournament schedule includes:
Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino (Aug. 26-30)
WPT Ladies Night IV at the Bicycle Casino (Aug. 30-31; invitation only)
World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Resort Casino Mashantucket, CT (November 12 – 16)
L.A. Poker Classic at Commerce Casino (Feb. 24-March 1, 2007)
WPT Celebrity Invitational at Commerce Casino (March 3-5, 2007)
Bay 101 Shooting Star at Bay 101, San Jose (March 12-16, 2007)
World Poker Challenge at Reno Hilton, Reno, NV (March 25-28, 2007)
WPT World Championship at Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV (April 21-27, 2007)