The Ski Channel, a cable television network linked to video-on-demand, the internet, mobile phones and whatever new media that might crop up, is the latest project in the works by Steve Bellamy, the founder and former president of The Tennis Channel.
Bellamy's Pacific Palisades-based company, Atonal Sports and Entertainment, plan to launch The Ski Channel in early 2008, starting with an agreement that will have it part of Time Warner Cable systems.
The content will go beyond what's just for skiiers -- try snowboarding, hiking, biking, camping, climbing, cross country skiing, rock climbing, backpacking, kayaking, caving ... what else is there? Pro mountain sports events will be included in the programming, with a majority of it related to entertainment, features, real estate, travel, equipment, instructions and news.
“The wide variety of subject matter on The Ski Channel requires an ‘on demand’ platform,” said Bellamy in a statement. “The mountain world is an industry with over 30 million enthusiasts, 500 resorts, 60 million annual visits and $10 billion of yearly resort and travel spending. Its large, upscale audience will be a great match with cable television and its content advancements like VOD."
National Ski Area Association president Michael Berry added: “Skiing, snowboarding and mountain activities are certainly some of the best family activities and bonding experiences. Our industry is hungry for a national television destination and our enthusiasts will be desirous for this type of network. Our goal is to grow participation and like The Tennis Channel infused significant growth into tennis, The Ski Channel will do the same for mountain activities. We are enthused to welcome The Ski Channel to our industry, and we will use every resource to help insure their success.”
If the Ski Channel , which already has its website up and running, has any of the success as the Tennis Channel that Bellamy headed for seven years, it's got huge upside. Bellamy's Atonal Sports & Entertainment owns tennis and golf facilities including Palisades Tennis Center, Westwood Tennis Center, Van Nuys Tennis Center, and the LA Golf Academy. Atonal’s media businesses include Atonal Films and Television, Palisades Studios, and The Ski Channel.

Posted by Tom at 09:44 PM | Permalink

Diary of a 2007 NFL Draft TV watcher, knowing full well there's no personal investment in who goes where, what local team is on the clock, or whatever else happens in the world on this day:

7:37 a.m.: Shouldn't I be carb loading, or Pilates stretching, or lighting up a cigar to warm up for this thing that starts in about an hour and a half? I flip on the TV, and already, there's Chris Berman, busting into the morning's ESPN "SportsCenter," transfixed on what kind of pick Ohio State receiver Teddy Ginn Jr. could be. In mid-sentence: "... Ginn has that sort of speed and return ability. His work as a receiver wouldn't put him the second or third or fourth most polished receiver, but as far as a return ace that could (snaps his fingers) change a game on a dime, Ted Ginn. So who says, I need one of those, where does he go in the first round, will be extremely interesting to me, so ... (the camera pans back to where Berman is on the set, and Mel Kiper, Chris Mortensen, Keyshawn Johnson and Steve Young are sitting there twiddling their thumbs, waiting for him to shut up) ... it's so interesting that we're going to do it for about 10 and a half hours which starts our preview at 11 a.m. eastern ... so that's the scene from Radio City Music Hall."
Ginn, in the first round? Maybe the first day. Maybe. Maybe.
Yes, it's the first indication that, by the time night falls, I may be hemorrhaging in the corner of the room somewhere. Unless ESPN suddenly adds Chris McKendry to the mix.

We forge onward ...

8:03 a.m.: The ESPN predraft show starts with the usual blustry banter of Berman. He introduces Young, who replies: "You're piquing early, Boomer."
"This is the draft! It's April! Get your arm in shape!" he replies, already competing with the Wurlitzer organ playing in the background.
8:05 a.m.: ESPN's Ed Werder in Oakland reports that after speaking to Raiders coach Lane Kiffin -- probably in a slow manner, using small words -- and he denied that they've informed JaMarcus Russell that they're taking him first, in addition to there's a "20 percent chance" the team will make a trade with this No. 1 overall pick.
8:12 a.m.: On the NFL Network, Rich Eisen launches a spirited but important discussion with Mike Mayock and others about the "character issues" that will come up in the draft based on commissioner Roger Goodall's recent hard-line moves. League-slanted talk? Maybe, but the verbiage isn't minced, and Steve Mariucci , Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders seem much more in tune with what's going on with this, why some teams do take the players who are "edgy" over the "choir boys" for a reason. Mayock brings up the Eric Wright story, the former USC defensive back who went to UNLV, and thinks he'll still go in the second round rather than be the first CB taken. The discussion goes nearly 10 minutes.
8:27 a.m.: ESPN launches into its own "character issue" discussion. Chris Mortensen's mike is messed up and he's talking as if he's underwater. Berman, unfortunately, can be heard clearly. Keyshawn Johnson starts to respond, but kinda rambles about how younger players need veteran guidance. Steve Young applauds Goodell's decision for making everyone accountable. Discussion ends after about four minutes, because of a commercial.
8:39 a.m. Berman interviews Goodell on the set to continue the "character policy" give-and-take. There is no Sean Salisbury sighting yet, and ESPN is probably breathing easier that Michael irvin is no longer on the roster.
In the background, a lot of loud noise causes Goodell and Berman to speak louder. A flip over to the NFL Network identifies the source: It's their own Deion Sanders at the mike riling up the crowd and introducing some of the top draft prospects, effectively providing a distraction and drowning out some of the Berman-Goodell discussion on the other channel. The crowd really boos Brady Quinn, causing him to laugh.

9 a.m.: NFL Network goes with a "def jam" poetry reading introduction; ESPN has some black-and-white fake draft room recreaction with some guy standing up and saying, "Listen up, we're on the clock!"
9:06 a.m.: Kiper insists Russell "has to be the No. 1 overall pick" by the Raiders.
9:08 a.m.: Derrin Horton, at the Raiders headquarters, notes for the NFL Network that Al Davis, back in 1968, was the first owner to select an African-American quarterback in the first round when he took Tennessee State's Eldridge Dickey. Mayock says Davis told him yesterday he's not trading that first pick, so that "20 percent" deal seems irrelevant.

9:10 a.m.: Goodell says the Raiders are on the clock. Berman proclaims the 2007 season has begun.
9:15 a.m.: NFL Network goes to a commercial, thinking either Davis won't pull the trigger until the clock winds down, or they need to get some more spots in while there's all this dead time. ESPN's Young and Ron Jaworski are expounding upon what an NFL quarterback needs to have to succeed.
9:20 a.m. Raiders take Russell at No. 1. All the hugs, family shots, hand shakes, camera flashes ... Russell did what again outside of last year's Sugar Bowl? We'll do some research and get back to you on that one.
9:26 a.m. The noise grows. The adrenalin seems to kick in with everyone involved. Everyone's got theories about what the hapless Lions should do with the No. 2 pick. Matt Millen is the pinata who can't possibly can't take another receiver -- but will, everyone's convinced.

9:30 a.m.: Detroit goes ahead and takes Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson at No. 2. It's their funeral.
9:40 a.m.: On the NFL Network, there's a shot of someone handing a card -- Cleveland's pick -- to a guy at a table with a headset. He reads the name into his microphone to someone (no audio), but any lip-reader can see him pronounce the words: "Joe Thomas, tackle, Wisconsin." He even says it twice.
9:42 a.m.: Cleveland officially takes -- not Quinn -- Thomas, at No. 3. Quinn, wearing some swanky silky vest outfit, reacts in the green room with a laugh, but you gotta know that blonde overmade-up girlfriend with him ain't real happy with any of this stuff.
Berman does a nice job mixing his metaphors, calling it in a drawn-out breath: "The first, to some, curveball of the draft."
9:54 a.m.: At No. 4, Tampa Bay takes Gaines Adams, DE from Clemson. Berman's instant analysis: "And by the way, here's the way they (the Bucs) hopes he becomes: 'No gains' Adams." Crap, that was a slamdunk (to mix in another metaphor) for Berman. No "Adams Family" reference when the guy's posse comes around for the photo op?
We're still waiting for a camera crew to find Thomas on his fishing boat adventure. That sounds far more interesting. He's smart enough to not be watching. Why are we?

By the way, if this starts to sound like this one on KissMeSuzy.com, then I've got problems ...

10 a.m.: NFL Network says it'll be an offensive tackle named Levy Brown from Penn State next going to Arizona. ESPN goes, for some reason, to its crew back somewhere (Bristol?) with Trey Wingo, Salisbury, Mark May and ...who really cares, all yammering about the Cardinals' "dilemna." Oh, the other voice is from Michael Smith, that dead weight from "Around The Horn." Great move. Three minutes later, Brown is the announced pick. Matt Leinart breathes a sigh of relieve that it's not Quinn.

Personal note: I'm officially hungry. Do I dare pull away from the tube to search for food? I'm not even sure if breakfast is still being served down at Mickey D'. I'm on the clock -- the body clock -- to go Twinkie searching.
And by the way, I'm still waiting for my Joe Thomas fishing boat interview? Do I gotta go to ESPN2 and search for a BassMaster tournament?

Why does everyone care now how Quinn ends up?

10:07 a.m.: First Rachel Nichols sighting on the ESPN show, talking about ... we're not sure, something about Quinn going to the Dolphins? Really, it's just 15 seconds to avoid hearing Boomer's booming nothingness.
They now go to the "Monday Night" crew. Where the hell is Joe Theismann through all this nonsense? Do we care what Tony Kornheiser has to do, except provide some common sense? He just recommended the Redskins bring Sonny Jergensen back. That's as logical as anything else said for the last hour.
10:14 a.m.: Adam Schefter on the NFL Network hits it again on who's up next: Washington will take ... Ali Landry? Over on ESPN, they're already trashing Landry's abilities. Feel bad for the Redskins, apparently. Then Berman makes some stupid analogy of why the Redskins wouldn't take a guy named Landry, as if it was something he just flipped open in his Milton Berle jokebook and then bookmarked.

10:21 a.m.: Another shot of Quinn in the green room, texting on his phone, while his blondie girlfriend on one side looks around and someone who's probably his mom on the other side. The more Quinn laughs, the more you know he's squirming. And his girl knows her clothing allowance is dwindling. Suzy Kolber is now talking to Tom Condon, Quinn's agent (as well as the rep for undrafted running back Adrian Peterson out of Minnesota). Condon says it's "unusual" for these two go last this long. "They're not very tense about this," Condon says with a tense face.

10:27 a.m.: The Minnesota Vikings make their scheduled pick, which seems to be an achievement unto itself. With it, they decide the No. 7 overall choice shall be Peterson. He hugs his mom. Condon seems relieved. Berman points out that the Minnesota Vikings are "an indoor team" and makes some reference to Detroit. "But Oklahoma (where Peterson played in college) is outdoors!" Mortensen points out. Berman seems a little miffed. "Alright, but fast gets faster indoors, you know that?" Berman retorts.

10:33 a.m.: Wingo, back in the closet, explains: "The story of the draft right now is what Brady Quinn is waiting for." He asks Michael Smith if he thinks anyone will trade up to get the Notre Dame quarterback. As if Smith has a clue. I don't even wait to hear the answer, instead answer nature's call, because it seems to present the greatest upside to my morning.
10:35 a.m. ESPN finally has an ID on Quinn's arm candy. She's Lindy Slinger, listed in the graphic as "Brady Quinn's girlfriend." A quick search shows she's been his gal for about five years, she's a soccer player at the University of Miami of Ohio, and they went to the Caymen Islands together on spring break. What kinda college kid has the dough to go there for some R&R?
"I hope he goes somewhere pretty soon because he was very well dressed when it started," says Tony Kornheiser. "Now his collar has come out, and if he's not drafted by 15, he'll be naked, he'll take off all his clothes and look like John Travolta at some point dancing as his shirt comes off." Quinn is watching the monitor as they're saying it and starts adjusting his shirt.

10:41 a.m.: "The Miami Dolphins are on the clock," Berman pronounces minutes after the Atlanta Falcons draft ... we forget ... and ESPN heads into a commercial. "Is this the time for the Mighty Quinn?" Go back to our blog entry from late last night, when we posted odds of what Berman's first obnoxious reference would be to the ND QB. "The Mighty Quinn" was our "A" choice, but with 2-1 odds. We had "Here's the Story of a man named Brady Quinn" as choice "C," but with 1-2 odds. Line forms at the left on cashing wagers.

10:51 a.m. Now it gets funny. And sad. But mostly funny.
NFL Network has a split screen, with Goodell announcing the Dolphins' choice on one side, and Quinn poised on the other. The stunning decision at No. 9 -- Ted Ginn -- causes a surprised roar in the room, and a strange look on Quinn's face as he mouths the words, "That was surprising." No one, again, seems more blank-face stunned than Ms. Slinger.
And we get this weird flashback to what Berman was saying back on "SportsCenter" before the draft even started, and his wondering how high Ginn would be drafted.
Mortensen sets the tone for the next hour, going down the litany of teams from here on that doesn't need Quinn. Or any QB. Kiper calls the Dolphins' lack of Quinn choice as "ridiculous ... you've got to be kidding me."
NFL Network's Mariucci starts to sound like a guidance counselor, reminding Quinn that Joe Montana and Tom Brady were late picks, and not to worry. Others seem to feel for him and tell him things will be OK.
Are you kidding me? I haven't seen my interview with Joe Thomas yet on the boat on Lake Michigan. Look, he's already back on shore with his catch.
10:58 a.m.: NFL Network hits us with a studio update from Alex Flanagan, who gives a moment to reflect on our Farrah Fawcett poster from the 1970s. I have to hit pause for a moment, to pause. Because I can pause. And everyone should pause when Alex is on the tube. Less Brady Quinn, More Alex Flanagan.

11:02 a.m. Kornheiser tries to put it into perspective for Quinn, and for those of us who don't know what all the fuss is about: "This is real drama now, this is human drama." Wait, c'mon... "He dressed up, he expected to go higher, it becomes sort of a car wreck where as a viewer you almost want to turn away." Really? That bad? We're talking about a guy who may not be as hyped as everyone makes him out to be, and it's a car wreck? "You feel sad for him .. you say, Somebody please take this kid." You do it. Not me.
11:07 a.m. Houston respectfully declines to take Quinn at No. 10.
11:14 a.m. Kolber reveals that Goodell has moved Quinn and his family into a private suite so that the media doesn't have to keep the cameras on him and he "can have some privacy from the cameras" for at least a little while. This obviously has to be done because the ESPN and NFL Network decision makers don't have the common sense to restrict themselves on this. And we're sure Ms. Slinger had to reapply some foundation anyway.

11:18 a.m.: San Francisco forgets to apologize by passing on Quinn at No. 11.
11:27 a.m.: Buffalo sends Bruce Smith to the podium to extend his condolences -- to the Virginia Tech kids -- and announce the fact it has no desire to take Quinn at No. 12.
Over at Deadspin.com, Mike Tanier describes Quinn's stock is "dropping like liquid mercury through seawater," and Goodell had to create the "Passer-Over Draft Choice Isolation Chamber and Inactivity Room. Quinn can now relax in a sensory depravation chamber far from the peering eyes of lookie-loos like us. The room is filled with draft guides, most of which feature Quinn on the cover. There are also some forgotten alternate O.J. Simpson jurors in the room, snacking on stale dougnuts and waiting for a verdict. I expect Quinn to emerge from the room Altered States-style as some sort of werewolf. If so, he'll have to change positions."

11:32 a.m.: Schefter puts the dollars and sense into what's going on with Quinn: Each time someone doesn't call his name, it costs him roughly $1.5 million. If he went to Cleveland at No. 3, he'd have received $25 million-plus. Now, the guaranteed money is about $10 million. "So he's lost about $15 million right now," Schefter says without the aid of a calculator.
11:38 a.m.: St. Louis, remarkably, skirts Quinn at No. 13.
11:44 a.m. A trade is announced, and the New York Jets fans erupt, thinking they've swindled the Carolina Panthers.
11:53 a.m.: The Jets apparently decided to move up so it, too, only so it could spit on Quinn at No. 14 by picking some defensive back that will end up picking Quinn off somewhere down the road.
11:59 a.m.: Pittsburgh proclaims it has no desire to take Quinn at No. 15, unless he wants to start riding motorcycles, and moves forward with a linebacker.

12:06 p.m.: ESPN's Kolber lands an exclusive with Quinn at the secret private holding tank. He's got his suit jacket back on. He looks OK. We know he's breathing. Here's what we learn: It's tough, but ... it's tough. "Some teams don't need quarterbacks," Quinn reveals. Mortensen reports that the Browns are trying now to move up and take him, but he's not sure what to believe. "The whole point of this draft, it's not my pick, it's the teams." Hey, where's the girlfriend? No where to be seen, apparently. Kolber: "What's your gameplan?" Quinn: "Maybe order some food?"
Look at how the kid is handling the pressure, Young says. This might be the best thing that could happen to him.
Yup, that's probably what Quinn is thinking right now.

12:13 p.m. Green Bay, knowing it has a QB ready to quit and another waiting in the wings who went through what Quinn did recently, pass on Quinn at No. 16 for some bizarre reason.
12:27 p.m.: Denver trades up to hurdle Quinn at No. 17 and gather a guy named Moss.

Here's a story the Associated Press did on Quinn that went on the service Friday. The last quote from Quinn is prophetic: "You visit and work out for teams and talk to them," he said with a smile, "and at the end of the day they don't let you forget they are in control. It's their decision. They're the ones who say, "We'll be getting back to you.' " They just don't tell you when they'll do it.

12:35 p.m.: Cincinnati, with the No. 18 pick, decides Quinn ain't their boy. One, the Bengals already got a USC Heisman winner who ain't too bad, and second, Quinn lacks the potential to get a prison record.
12:49 p.m.: Tennessee at No. 19. Vince says sorry Brady.
12:58 p.m.: The New York Giants have a guy named Manning, so their pick at No. 20 goes to ... what does it matter. It ain't Quinn.

1:04 p.m.: Pick No. 21, Jacksonville goes for a safety. Not a Brady. The last nine picks are defensive players after the first three picks were on the offense.
1:16 p.m.: At last, Cleveland makes a deal with Dallas to get this slot at No. 22, as the NFL Net's Schifter said would happen minutes earlier.
Mayock pans it right away, saying what Cleveland did by giving away a first-round pick for next year to get this is only a third-round pick value, whatever the heck that means. It's a formula he seems to be fascinated with, but doesn't really translate well to what he just said.

1:17 p.m.: "Doctor, doctor, give me the news," Berman says as Goodell makes his way to the podium for the proclamation: "With the 22nd pick of the 2007 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns select Brady Quinn, quarterback, Notre Dame." And a smile. And laughs from the NFL Net guys. And a shot of a guy in the audience wearing a Brian Sipe jersey.
Doctor, doctor, give me a lobotomy. So much made of something so trivial.
But, then, when you're talking about him landing on the same team he wanted to go to, but for about $20 million less than he could have, that's a good story.
"After waiting more than four hours and 10 minutes in the green room, Brady Quinn is about to come out on the stage and grab the jersey of his home-state team and put on the hat of the Cleveland Browns," says Eisen.
Mariucci notes that all those boos heard earlier have turned to cheers.
"What a great day for Cleveland," says Mariucci on the NFL Net.
"The whole state of Ohio's happy!" says Berman on ESPN.
No, the world is happy. That justice finally prevails.
It's a very Brady universe. And Boomer didn't even have to say it.
ESPN, by the way, just finds out the particulars of the trade and, of course, Berman is fine with what Cleveland had to give up. Mortensen is too.

1:22 p.m.: Kolber's new latest interview with Quinn reveals he's "speechless." And he's fully clothed.
"It's been a synopsis of my last year of college, a roller coaster," he says about his day. He looked too exhausted to even want to kiss Suzy.
"It's a great ending for his terrible day," said Kornheiser. "He became the most sympathic figure in this draft. On a real level, Brady Quinn won the day."

12:32 p.m.: With pick No. 23, Kansas City takes ... what does it matter any more?

2:57 p.m.: Berman, before San Diego makes its pick (No. 30), makes a reference to a "Tijuana taxi getting stuck in El Cajon." There's an awkward silence in case Berman just slammed a section of the population that no one's sure about.
LSU receiver Craig Davis is the pick, despite Keyshawn's recommendation to take USC's Dwayne Jarrett. "The Mike Williams factor has scared people," said Keyshawn, getting into an argument with Kiper, who insists that speed is a big deal for receivers.

Before the choice, the crew on ESPN was going through the list of receivers. It reminds us that a blog called SportsMusicBlog.com pointed out recently, a recent ESPN Draft Tracker listed an Albany State receiver named Antonio Atkins (5-8, 190). He was ranked last (145). Which is pretty accurate since he'd bee shot and killed in a home break-in late in '06, which would hurt his upside. ESPN eventually erased the name when it was pointed out.

3:20 p.m.: The final pick of the first round, No. 32 overall by the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, is finally announced (Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Ohio State), bringing an end to the longest first round in the history of the league, as Berman points out -- and then Goodall repeats. "This is not a record we want to break," he adds, stealing Berman's next line. Six hours and eight minutes. Time you'll never be able to get back. By the way, you're on the clock. Deep breath. And grab your girlie's hand.

Some odds and ends:
4:31 p.m.: While ESPN is in a commercial (Reggie Bush, pimping "Madden NFL '08"), Carolina takes USC receiver Dwayne Jarrett with the 45th pick overall, a second-rounder after a few receivers had already been snatched. NFL Net's Maylock: "Right about where I think he should have gone." NFL Net has a camera on him at a party in New Jersey with family and friends. ESPN finally returns where Keyshawn, the USC grad, gets to talk about his new teammate. "This guy is much like me," Keyshawn says. "I can teach him. We need another receiver, we need that third guy (with him, Steve Smith -- not the USC Steve Smith -- and Kerry Kolbert, who is a USC guy). This is going to help me have a segue maybe moving into something else."
ESPN put Keyshawn on a live split screen with a teary-eyed Jarrett: "I"ll take care of you as long as I'm down there."

Posted by Tom at 07:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This morning, despite our better judgment, we've committed to go blogging live while watching the NFL Draft, switching back and forth from ESPN and the NFL Network coverage, while attempting to go about our day's usual amount of stupid errands, food runs, bathroom breaks and any other diversions we hope come up in the process of killing a day.
Pregame at 8 a.m. Estimated finish, about 9 p.m. They don't train you for this kinda junk in journalism school. But then again, they shouldn't have to.
The first quiz we'll put up for you to consider:
When it comes time for Brady Quinn to have his name tossed around as a potential pick -- and that could come as early as 9:01 a.m. when the Raiders are on the clock and the guessing game begins -- what will Chris Berman's first non-clever reference be for the Notre Dame quarterback?
a) The Mighty Quinn (2-1 odds)
b) A Very Brady Quinn (3-1 odds)
c) Here's the story of a man named Brady Quinn (1-2 odds)
d) Dr. Quinn, Medicine Quarterback (5-1 odds)
e) Quinn the Eskimo (6-1 odds)
f) He's in a No-Quinn situation (4-1 odds)
g) Quinny The Pooh (8-1 odds)
h) Any other assinine reference (even money)
All bets are off after Quinn's been picked. We suspect he'll be sitting in that green room a long time of the Cleveland Browns don't make him the No. 3 overall pick.

Posted by Tom at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press Writer
BURLINGAME -- Victor Conte, the Johnny Appleseed of designer steroids, is back in business.
Witness the new $190,000 Bentley parked outside the building that once housed the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, where federal agents uncovered a massive steroids ring and sparked professional sports’ highest-profile drug scandal.
Since leaving prison little more than a year ago, Conte and his 22-year-old daughter have revived a nutritional supplements business he launched two decades ago called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning — SNAC for short.
They’re mainly hawking a zinc- and magnesium-based powder called ZMA that’s a staple for serious weightlifters who use it to repair damaged tissue and to sleep better. It’s legal and available through about two dozen distributors.
Conte never has been at a loss for words, especially when it comes to self promotion.
“I’m feeling much better and the passion has come back,” he says. “Things are going well.”
Conte said sales have increased 20 percent in the last year and that SNAC rings up about $300,000 a month.
Many of his best customers have been professional athletes, he says, including Barry Bonds, still the prime target of the federal investigators who sent Conte to jail for four months for illegal steroids distribution.
Bonds declined interview requests for this story while the San Francisco Giants were at Dodger Stadium earlier this week.

A 4-year-old photograph of Bonds and the slugger’s personal trainer, Greg Anderson, graces the home page of the SNAC Web site. Bonds and Anderson are wearing shirts and hats emblazoned with the ZMA logo. Anderson has pleaded guilty to steroids distribution and is now in prison for refusing to testify before a
grand jury investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified that he unknowingly took steroids.
“I’m absolutely a huge fan of Barry Bonds,” Conte says.
He hasn’t spoken with Bonds for some time “for obvious reasons,” but Conte says the baseball player never has objected to SNAC using his image to sell ZMA.
While Conte also boasts that many professional football players use ZMA, the product is not on the NFL’s approved supplements list and teams are precluded from officially handing out ZMA. That doesn’t stop Conte from dropping the names of athletes and teams and implying in his cagey manner that the rich and famous are clamoring for his
product.
But for anti-doping authorities, Conte and BALCO forever will remain synonymous with high-tech cheating in sports
“I certainly am not going to glamorize Victor Conte,” said Travis Tygart of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which polices illegal drugs in U.S. amateur sports. “In the past, he has done some horrible things.”
Conte remains defiant about his central role in doling out designer steroids to elite athletes endlessly searching for even the tiniest edge. He maintains he simply helped “level the playing field” in a world already rife with cheaters.
To Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte may as well have been pushing
cocaine or heroin. “You are talking about totally illegal drug trafficking, you are talking about using drugs in violation of federal law,” Wadler said. “This is not philanthropy and this is not some do-gooding. This is drug dealing.”
Such attitudes have a lot to do with why Conte no longer uses the BALCO name and has taken down the infamous BALCO sign, which was easily seen from Highway 101 and where tourists once posed for photographs flexing their biceps like body builders. In its place is a small sign that hangs above the nondescript front door.
The office space inside is half of what it was when Conte was shipping the undetectable steroid THG to athletes around the world.
However modest the business now appears, its proprietor remains anything but. Conte says he’s often recognized in public.
“I’m a high-profile guy now,” says the former bassist for Tower of Power and jazzman Herbie Hancock. “People approach me wherever I go on a daily basis.”
He says he taught music to fellow inmates and organized a prison track team at the minimum security Taft Correctional Institution.
“My guys always won,” he says.
The hallway at SNAC is lined with game jerseys of pro athletes, and signed photographs, including track stars Tim
Montgomery, Kelli White and CJ Hunter, all punished for doping. There's also Marion Jones, who Conte is pointing out in this photo.
“To BALCO,” reads the inscription on a photograph of baseball player A.J. Pierzynski from when he was a Minnesota Twin. “Thanks for all the help.”
Pierzynski originally was ordered to testify before the grand jury that indicted Conte, but was dismissed without testifying and never has been accused of any wrongdoing.
Chris Cooper’s Raiders jersey also hangs on the wall, inscribed with “thanks for keeping me in good health and bringing me to the top of my game.” Cooper tested positive for THG and was fined by the NFL in
2004.
The chunky Rolex hanging from Conte’s wrist is an extravagant taunt to his enemies in sport and government, whom he says sought his ruin.
Then, of course, there’s the Bentley and a similarly fast Mercedes parked at home he likes to show off. The cars can reach 100 mph in about the time it takes a sprinter to cover 100 meters, and the Bentley tops out at 200 mph. But he doesn’t plan to be caught speeding.
“I’m a person who doesn’t break laws anymore,” he says with a sly grin and the same carnival barker audacity he used to defend athletes caught using his performance-enhancing drugs. “But I still do like to look fast.”

Posted by Tom at 01:00 AM | Permalink

Forty-one years after he retired from baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax was the final player chosen in the draft to stock the six teams for the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League.
Koufax, 71, was picked by the Modi’in Miracle in the draft conducted by former major league general manager Dan Duquette, who heads baseball operations for the league.
“His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league,” former big leaguer Art Shamsky, who will manage the Miracle, told the Associated Press. “It’s been 41 years between starts for him. If he’s rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team.”
In the 1965 World Series, Koufax wouldn’t pitch Game 1 for the Dodgers because he wanted to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
The first pick in the draft was infielder Aaron Levin, 21, from San
Luis Obispo, who played for Cuesta Community College, and who was also selected by Modi’in.
No news about any other draft picks, since the league's official website says the draft wasn't scheduled to take place until Sunday. The Wikipedia entry on the league noted that a tryout took place on April 15 at Calabasas High.
The league begins play June 24 with the six teams playing a 45-game schedule. Players from nine nations were drafted, and about a dozen of the 120 players in the league are expected to be Israeli citizens.
We have confirmed that Koufax is Jewish, by his induction into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Posted by Tom at 03:47 PM | Permalink

MLB Credits Hank Aaron With 50 Lost Home Runs

According to commissioner Bud Selig, a committee of sports journalists and baseball historians was set up during the off-season and determined:
Aaron deserved more home runs based on the fact in 1958, home runs hit during both the first week of spring training and those hit in pre-game batting practice during away games in the third week of August could be added.
As well as home runs hit during the 1971 All-Star Game.
As well as any hit during the TV show "Home Run Derby."
As well as the rule in the second half of the 1962 season when balls that bounced over the outfield fence should have been counted as home runs, and foul balls that were hit behind the batter but cleared the netting intended to protect fans seated behind home plate were also home runs. That being the case, league scorekeepers now say Aaron had his best year in 1962, hitting 65 home runs—20 more than originally thought.

Posted by Tom at 03:31 PM | Permalink

The NFL Draft doesn't have to dominate your TV viewing weekend. But somehow it will suck you in. As a follow up to our Daily News media column and notebook about the draft, we expand to include more stuff that you can't get enough of:

==Keyshawn Johnson, the Carolina Panthers' receiver going into his 12th NFL season, will join the ESPN set in New York for the draft, as we explained in today's Daily News story. He says if the mood strike him, he may even lobby his team to take USC receiver Dwayne Jarrett when the Panthers' first-round choice comes up at No. 14. Although Johnson insists another Trojan receiver, Steve Smith out of Taft High, may be more mature and a better pick than Jarrett, who skipped his senior year to come out, Johnson isn’t against mentoring someone from his alma mater.
“After watching him workout at pro day and on film, I’d have to go with Steve Smith over Jarrett,” said Johnson. “I’m not enamored with a younger guy like Jarrett. I think he should have stayed in school. The draft is on the ability to perform right now. Smith has done everything the right way. Jarrett doesn’t know what the NFL is all about. He thinks he has it all figured out like Mike Williams did. Had he stayed one more year he could have been more than just a fourth-rated receiver and having people question his ability to where he’d be a clear-cut graduate and go on to earn a lot more money.
“That said, Jarrett does have some upside. I wouldn’t mind pushing the Panthers to take him at No. 14. Maybe I could help him mature.”
Johnson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has 10,571 yards receiving and 64 touchdowns in his career, tied for 15th on the all-time NFL list with Henry Ellard with 814 receptions. He could easily move into the top 10 with a 50-catch year, and then set his sights on 1,000 career catches. But at 35 and wanting to do more with his business ventures, Johnson hasn't made any commitments past this coming year.
"I'll take it one step at a time," said Johnson, who has yet to renew his contract to do a weekly radio show for Sirius Satellite. "I want to get this out of the way and get my career out of the way before I make any kind of decisions. A media job is not something I think I need to do, but it would keep me close to the game and I'd want to take it seriously as a full-time thing.
"There are some good milestones coming up, but at my age, I'll continue to play and beyond this year it's one step at a time. I'll take my time to evaluate where I'm at and not rule anything out."

We got more, read on ...

==So how will you spend your draft day? Maybe along the lines of this blog posting that emerged on KissMeSuzy.com.

==For more video and photos of Will Ferrell as "legendary strength coach Chuck Barry" giving tips to draft prospect Ryan Kalil on how to "protect the Twinkie," which will be an extended piece on the NFL Network's predraft show Saturday, check out this link at the USC website.
There's also this link to the entire 5:30 version version with Pete Carroll and Matt Leinart's contribution that explains how "Barry" was a walkon in '73 who just sort of developed these strange coaching methods. It's a classic piece of video.
You can also compare it to Ferrell and Pearl in "The Landlord" video that all the kids are talking about.

==The NFL Network is claiming to have exclusive coverage of Wisconsin offensive lineman Joe Thomas on a fishing boat on Lake Michigan during the NFL Draft, yet ESPN says it will have similar coverage on Saturday's presentation, sharing a camera and audio with the competition.

==On the radio, KSPN-AM (710) will carry the ESPN Radio national draft coverage hosted by Colin Cowherd from New York from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., joined by John Clayton. Cowherd's "The Herd" and Dan Patrick's radio show orginates from the ESPN Zone in New York today from 6-to-10 a.m. and then from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. KLAC-AM (570) will carry the Sherman Oaks-based Fox Sports Radio coverage hosted by Craig Shemon and James Washington starting at 6 a.m. with a three-hour pregame. The draft coverage, which includes Sean Farnham, Dennis Green, Chris Landry and Jay Glazer, goes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A post-draft analyis goes 4-to-8 p.m. with Evan Cohen and Derrick Deese, with more post-game from 8-to-11 p.m. with John Fricke and Landry. Sunday, Rick Horrow and Chris Moore do their "MoneyBall" show from 6-7 a.m., a draft pregame from 7-9 a.m. is hosted by Moore, more draft coverage goes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with Fricke, Marques Johnson and Green, but that should be interrupted for the Lakers-Suns Game 4 coverage.
Meanwhile, Sirius Satellite Radio has its own 20 hours of live NFL draft coverage on Channel 124 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 8 a.m. through the final pick on Sunday. Randy Cross, Gil Brandt, Pat Kirwan, Tim Ryan, Jim Miller and Adam Schein are among the talkers.

==For more reflections on renown journalist and celebrated sports author David Halberstam, who was killed in an automobile accident earlier this week in northern California, check this link to National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" where Halberstam, during an "Talk of the Nation" interview in 1997, recounts watching a 1947 World Series game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees as a 13-year-old from the bleachers. The NPR link also includes a tribute to Halberstam from Frank Deford from Wednesday's "Morning Edition," and an essay writen and spoken by Scott Simon on Tuesday's "All Things Considered."
Marc Isenberg has some reflections on his Money Player blog, with links to others.
Also, BusinessWeek's website has posted a remarkable link to the last speech Halberstam gave at UC Berkeley to a graduate school of journalism class. Between 1961 and until his death, Halberstam wrote 20 books -- many of them sports-related in his later years. His first, "The Breaks of the Game" (1981) about the '77 Portland Trail Blazers, was followed by "The Amateurs" (1985), "Summer of "49" (1989);
"Playing for for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made (1999), "The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship" (2003) and "Bill Belichick: The Education of a Coach" (2005). He was currently working on a book called "The Game" about the 1958 NFL title matchup between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants. A reaction to Halberstam's death from Bill Walton, who was much of the focus of the "Breaks of the Game" book: "It’s all so tragically sad."

==Michael Weisman, the 22-time Emmy Award-winning producer added this week as the executive in charge of production for NBC's "Football Night in America," says his philosophy for the show will be to make it "a little more flexible in taking advantage of the talent that we have in that room and just going with the flow, going where the news is, going where the entertainment is and just feeling it. That's the real challenge of live sports." Over the years, Weisman says he's learned to "produce differently for the talent. In sports terms, I'm a players' manager and I try to get the most out of my talent. I work differently with Vin Scully than I would with Marv Albert. And similarly with Bob (Costas) and Keith (Olbermann), my style is very much to give the announcers their head and take advantage of what they do best, including their personalities."

==The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press reports that, because of HBO's documentary series leading into the May 5 Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout, Floyd Mayweather Sr. has been stung by comments from his son and brother and will have no involvement in the bout. His decision ends more than a month of coexistence by Mayweather Sr., his son, and his brother Roger, all of which "unraveled under the glare of near-constant television scrutiny." In the HBO four-part series "De La Hoya-Mayweather 24/7," Mayweather Sr. disapproved of his son's language in the first two segments, particularly the show's April 15 premier. "It's reality TV, and you can say something wrong, and they catch you," said Mayweather Sr. "That's one thing. But he looks right in the camera and says it."
Meanwhile, part of De La Hoya's exposure before the fight is a guest shot on "The George Lopez Show" (ABC Channel 7, Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.) where the boxer plays Dr. Tony Tovar, a sports medicine specialist who
George meets at a father-son golf tournament. De La Hoya most recently was one of the celebrities to play in the Bob Hope PGA event in Palm Springs that Lopez now hosts.

==Olympic gold medalist Joanna Hayes will be the guest analyst on FSN Prime Ticket's coverage of the USC-UCLA dual men’s and women’s track and field meet Saturday at noon from the USC campus. Jim Watson is on play-by-play, FSN executive producer Tom Feuer will be the analyst and Lindsay Soto will do interviews. This is the eighth year in a row the network has covered this meet, and it will use the impressive X-Mo camera on all field events.

==“Dodgers Insider: Campo Las Palmas,” a documentary about the Dodgers' 75-acre complex in the Domican Republic, will premere on FSN Prime Ticket on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m.

==NBC continues its NHL playoffs coverage with Detroit-San Jose Game 2 on Saturday (noon) and Buffalo-N.Y. Rangers Game 3 on Sunday (11 a.m.), both called by Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire. Those hoping to follow the Ducks in their Western Conference semifinal series against Vancouver have Game 2 tonight in Anaheim on Fox Sports Net West, but have to make the search for Versus to see Sunday’s Game 3 and Tuesday’s Game 4 from Vancouver. In making their predictions of the four current series, studio analyst Bret Hull has the Ducks winning in four games, while Bill Clement and Olczyk have the Ducks in five. In all three cases, they have the Ducks meeting Detroit for the conference title – with each predicting a seven-game series win for the Red Wings.
And, if you happened to miss Bill Macdonald's interivew with Snoop Dogg on the FSN West Ducks' first-round series coverage:

==After ESPN and Fox combined to show all three games of the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox series from Fenway Park last weekend, only Fox will carry a game nationally from the Red Sox-Yankees series this weekend at Yankee Stadium, taking the Saturday 12:30 p.m. slot (with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver). ESPN is showing the Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals game in the Sunday 5 p.m. slot and has three NBA playoff games dispersed between ESPN and ESPN2 tonight. ESPN reports that last Sunday’s Yankees-Red Sox telecast was the most viewed “Sunday Night Baseball” telecast ever, with an average of 3.9 million homes and 5.4 million viewers. It beat out a July 2004 Yankees-Red Sox game. Fox also reports that its Saturday Red Sox-Yankees game did a 3.2 rating and outrated both NBA playoff games on ABC last weekend (Miami-Chicago did 3.2 and Lakers-Phoenix did 3.0).

==The Sports Business Journal reports that L.A.'s KCET Channel 28 Public Broadcasting System channel will be one of six PBS stations that carry games from the first season of the Israel Baseball League, a six-team league that plans to run from June 24 to August.

==A new high-tech facility in Studio City that KCBS-Channel 2 and KCAL-Channel 9 will burst forward with their high-definition coverage will host a celebrity-filled open house today, including L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves and Tommy Lasorda.

==Finally, this YouTube.com version of the "Go Long Or Go Home" TV spots that Maxfli wanted to air on CBS featuring golfer John Daly getting rowdy in a bar with some bouncing women ... see for yourself how offensive it is:

Posted by Tom at 01:43 AM | Permalink

Anyone who loves a great baseball roadie has to be jealous of what Matt Meyers and Evan Markfield are up to.
A CSTV.com series called "Going Yard," where Meyers and Markfied travel the country covering the culture of college baseball, continue a loop through Southern California this week before heading out.
Friday, they're planning to attend the Arizona-UCLA contest, followed by Saturday's UC Santa Barbara-Cal State Northridge game and then Sunday's UC Davis-UC Irvine game.
Tuesday, they were at the Cal State Fullerton-USC game, where the late Rod Dedeaux's sons, Justin and Terry, gave them a tour of the park and Trojans Baseball Hall of Fame. Wednesday, they detoured out to watch the Crespi-St. Francis high school game, so that they could see Mike Scioscia's kid, Matt, and Barry Bonds' kid, Nikolai (pictured here), play for the Celts. Thursday, it was an interview with USC catcher/pitcher Robert Stock, the former Agoura High standout who bypassed his senior year of high school to attend college earlier.
Meyers and Markfield started their journey on April 1 and end it at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in June. They plan to cover about 7,000 miles and more than 65 games with video streaming and blogging.

Posted by Tom at 04:59 PM | Permalink

Jockey Garrett Gomez, the country’s leading rider by total purse earnings last year, apparently isn't such a big-shot in his own neighborhood.
The 5-foot tall Gomez lost his bid to build a house that would have been 24-feet tall.
By a 3-2 vote this week, the Duarte city council denied permission for Gomez to build the addition to his home because it exceeds his neighborhood’s height limit by 6 feet. The vote affirmed the Planning Commission’s refusal to grant a waiver.
Gomez, his wife and their two children currently live in a 2,250-square- foot, one-story, two-bedroom
home on 1.04 acres. He wanted to level the home and build a 4,061-square-foot residence with a maximum height of just under 24 feet. The new home would have had four bedrooms, four baths, dining room, family room, living room, kitchen, nook, pantry, office, gallery, foyer, media/loft room, wet bar, children’s study room,
laundry room and a two-car garage.
Sounds reasonable.
Except Gomez’s neighbors opposed theproposal, saying the house would block views, rob neighbors of privacy and set a bad precedent.
“There are better ways to configure this house on your property,” councilwoman Margaret Finlay said, suggesting Gomez build a single-story rather than a two-story home.
“We have codes and restrictions so that what is built blends with all that’s already there,” mayor Lois Gaston said.
The jockey’s wife, Pamela Gomez, told the Pasadena Star News she was too upset by the vote to comment.
“It’s unfortunate people let their emotions get the better of them,” the couple’s lawyer Bruce E. Schwartz said.

Posted by Tom at 03:41 PM | Permalink

A National Public Radio "Morning Edition" story this week jumps on the recently discovered audio tapes from Vin Scully's call of Sandy Koufax's 1962 no-hitter for the Dodgers against the New York Mets. Jim Governale, a broadcaster at Talk Radio KKLA, found the reel-to-reel tape in 1990 when his grandfather died. It has been made by his uncle.
A new twist on that story: Dodgers team historian Mark Langill reports that Barry Resnick of Orange found a tape with the last out and post-game show of Koufax's third no-hitter in Philadelphia in 1964.
"He was an 11-year-old kid and at the time he screamed “HE DID IT!!!!” after the final out – a strikeout.," said Langill. "Barry was disappointed his voice is on the recording, but I told him that makes the moment. He lives not far from Governale and has his original reel-to-reel recorder which looks like it just came out of the box. He brought the machine to the stadium, played the reel and it sounded great. Jim was there, too, and we listened in one of the suites. The fan had read about Jim’s story and said, 'Hey, I’ve got one of those no-hitters, too.' So like Johnny Vander Meer, there were suddenly two no-hitters in one week."
For the record, the headline written on the box that Governale has of the 1962 no-hitter wasn't a "perfecto" ... the only perfect game of the four no-hitters that Koufax threw came in 1965 against Chicago Cubs, which Scully had an engineer record the final inning for posterity's sake. That's the one many Dodgers fans have been lucky enough to hear.

Posted by Tom at 07:29 AM | Permalink

The FBI has offered a $5,000 reward for help finding whoever mailed dozens of threatening letters - including some containing a potentially harmful insecticide - complaining about ESPN and ABC coverage of college cheerleaders and pro female tennis and basketball athletes, the Associated Press has reported.
The writer or writers complained that ESPN and ABC crews have exploited cheerleaders, WNBA players and WTA Tour players through certain camera angles -- even though those angles were rarely shown on the air.
The FBI released excerpts of two letters in the hope of identifying who sent them.
"For the past 6-7 years, ESPN and its nationwide networks have exploited cheer/dance teams all across the country. They do this by parking their TV cameras on these women for their own personal entertainment," an excerpt from one letter said.
"Pigs park their cameras on us close up, front view, dozens of times each game, yet rarely ever show on TV in this manner," another excerpt read.
Investigators believe the author "may be directly or indirectly involved in some element of cheerleading and/or the television production/coverage aspect of collegiate athletics," according to an FBI statement.
A spokesman for ESPN said the network is cooperating with authorities but could not give details about the investigation.

The letters were sent to national networks and their local affiliates, as well as people in states throughout the West and Midwest, according to the FBI office in Portland. Recipients also included people associated with university athletic departments in Ohio, Michigan and Arizona.
The initial batch of letters was postmarked in Portland and delivered in September 2004. Subsequent batches of letters were delivered between November 2006 and February, mostly with postmarks from Seattle, but some also were sent from Chicago, the FBI said.
The letters claim camera crews spent too much time on close-ups of cheerleaders. One letter also complained about coverage of WNBA players.
The FBI declined to identify the kind of insecticide contained in some of the letters but said there were no reports of injuries.
In a letter sent in September 2004, the author objects to the timing and angles of the shots captured by camera crews during sports events.
"We have asked nicely for them to respect us and all women, yet they refuse. They exploit innocent people, so we will too. When they start respecting us, we stop mailing these out," the letter reads.
The author of a letter sent in December 2006 complains that networks unfairly favor more modestly dressed cheerleading squads.
"For the last 6 years, Ohio State cheerleaders have received more TV time than any other Division 1A cheer squad on ESPN, because they wear long sleeved red/white outfits. If they wore sleeveless outfits, they would not get ANY TV time. So, we are fed up with this constant exploitation," the author wrote.

More from a Seattle P.I. story, go to this link.

Posted by Tom at 08:28 PM | Permalink

The news of the traffic accident that led to the death of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam had a strange deja vu affect on me as I read about what happened Tuesday.
A graduate journalism student at Cal was taking Halberstam to an interview he had scheduled with Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle. Halberstam was working on another book called, "The Game," about the 1958 NFL championship between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants, in what would be the 50th anniversary of that contest. Halberstam was at the Berkeley campus giving a talk to a journalism class about how to turn reporting into a work of history. A story and photo of the accident are at this link from the San Mateo Daily Journal.
It caused a flashback for me to a time when I was a USC journalism student assigned to host Halberstam during a visit he made to the campus. For our journalism class, we were assigned to do stories on the journalists that we were to host for a symposium that the school was conducting on coverage of the war, and Halberstam was about as good as they come on that stage. I gladly volunteered to do a paper about his life. Here was someone who had such a decorated career covering the war and other political issues, but he always had a love for sports stories and how they stood in the big picture.
I don't remember exactly why or how this happened, but I was driving Halberstam somewhere, probably to his hotel after the event and remember thinking as we were in the car: What if something happened?
I was given the opportunity to have a more indepth discussion about his career when he was in L.A. in Feb. 1999 to promote his book about Michael Jordan. I brought along a copy of that Jordan book, "Playing for Keeps," along with my very beat-up copy of the 1981 "Breaks of the Game" (about the '77 Portland Trail Blazers, which to me was a perfect example of how to write a sports book) and a copy of the 700-plus page book, "The Children," that he wrote in 1998 about the Civil Rights movements in the early '60s that he covered. He seemed amused to see those three books as part of my collection. I still intended to buy and read "Best and the Brightest," but hadn't got around to it yet. It was just an amazing experience to be in his presence and listen to his stories. I wish I had a tape recorder back then to capture it all.
Of all the autographed books I've been lucky enough to have on myself, and obtained not just from some meet-and-greet signing at a book store, these three remain a treasure.

Posted by Tom at 11:27 AM | Permalink

By JIM ELLIS
Associated Press Writer
No hymnals. No pews. No steeple. No stained glass windows. And no women.
The Church For Men flips around the look and feel of worship and its leader says that's a good thing — guys are "bored stiff" in many churches today.
"We try to make it interesting for them. We meet in a gym and we talk about issues that mess men up," said 46-year-old Mike Ellis, the church's founder.
The Church For Men meets one Saturday evening a month, drawing about 70 guys dressed in everything but straight-laced shirts and neckties. The service features a rock band, a shot clock to time the preacher's message and a one-hour in-and-out guarantee.
Maybe to some of these guys, the only church reference they had was to the Washington Nationals outfielder, Ryan Church.
Ellis' church is part of a national movement to reverse a long-standing problem. Studies show that men are less likely than women to show up on Sunday mornings, and now churches around the country are reaching out to men, teaching theology with a twist of testosterone in the presentation.
One study found that the average U.S. adult church congregation is 61 percent female, said David Murrow, author of "Why Men Hate Going To Church." The research shows women are more likely to attend church, Sunday school and small church groups.
"Going to church is perceived as womanly behavior," said Murrow, who is based in Anchorage, Alaska, and travels the country lecturing about the issue. "We don't go to church for the same reason we don't wear pink."
Communication skills, public forms of affection, such as hugs and hand holding, and other "soft skills" make many men feel uncomfortable in church, Murrow said.
And long church services also cause men to leave the fold, said Ellis, who first got the idea for a man-only church six years ago. "I have the attention span of a flea," he said.
To that end, followers at Church For Men meet on a basketball court, a large scoreboard with a time clock ensures the preacher's message is delivered in 15 minutes, and the same rock band that opened for Bad Company and the Georgia Satellites a month ago bangs out a three-song set.

Ellis maintains his church is not a replacement for the traditional weekly service but an outreach to what he calls the "largest unreached people group."
Guest preacher Tom Trageser, 45, talked about lust during the church's March service. He finished his message, prayer and all, with five seconds left on the clock.
Christian comedian and blogger Chris Elrod recently wrote in his blog: "Musically (men) want AC/DC and we give them Celine Dion. Lyrically (men) want Tom Clancy and we give them Danielle Steel. Spiritually (men) want 'Braveheart' and we give them 'Sleepless In Seattle.'"
The trend, some men feel, has deep roots.
The Second Great Awakening, during the early 1800s, helped to advance the liberation of women and changed some of the dynamics of churchgoing. Not only were women attracted to the sweeping reforms pushed by revivalists of this period, but the evangelists would also attempt to reach men through their wives, hoping the wives would pressure husbands and sons to join them in the church, writes Leon Podles in his book, "The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity."
The result, Murrow says, was a shift toward a service catered to women.
"If the church is going to survive, we have to get men plugged back in," said Chuck McKeown, pastor of the United Brethren in Christ in Holly Hill, where about 55 percent of the congregation is female.
McKeown launched a Sunday night service just for men in November. About 60 men convene outside, cook meat on the grill and separate into small discussion groups.
The pastor also made changes to the Sunday morning service, shortening the service time from nearly two hours to about an hour and featuring more upbeat music, all in an attempt to engage men.
Other churches with a male bent include Grove Community Church in Peoria, Ill. Members there don't have a pastor; they have a "coach," who "integrates a healthy, life-giving masculine spirit throughout the entire church," according to the church's Web site.
Motorheads in Spokane, Wash., display more than 100 hot rods, antique cars and tractors every year at Opportunity Presbyterian Church, where organizers host an annual Car-B-Que.
Ed Trainer in Vancouver, British Columbia, began International Fishing Ministries Association in 1994 to reach guys who like to fish.
"Totally unchurched men are now attending church on a regular basis because of this ministry," Trainer said. "It's an absolute turn toward God through using something men are interested in."
McKeown said that women benefit, too.
"We just encourage men to do what's right, to love their wives and family and protect their children," he said.
Carolyn Mills, 58, who attends United Brethren in Christ, sees the men's movement as positive. "It made me excited to see the men getting together and discussing what they need to be doing," she said.

Posted by Tom at 09:41 PM | Permalink

There are so many ways are out there to improve the planet that currently supports our bad habits, and starting with golf course management is one way a sportsman (and sportswoman) can be conscious about how his or her actions affect others.
This isn't just about replacing divots. It starts at the tee box.
We've been using the corn-manufactored tees made by EcoGolf, an Indiana-based company that sells its product to thousands of golf courses around the country. The company notes on its website that there are more than 2 billion golf tees used in the U.S. each year. By mixing in a corn tee, you're not just saving millions of trees that are cut down to produce the wood tees, but these are biodegradable, reduce the litter around the tee box and are in many ways stronger and last longer than the traditional wood tees.
Save the environment. It's what you play on.
More info about EcoTees: (888) 326-3003 or visit the site at www.ecogolf.com.

Posted by Tom at 01:37 AM | Permalink

An artists rendition of the new ballpark in Washington D.C.

By JOSEPH WHITE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Concrete gray and dirt brown are the overwhelming colors at the construction site of the Washington Nationals ballpark. For a bit of contrast, there are eight red and black cranes towering above the busy scene near the banks of the polluted Anacostia River.
Yet, one year before the first pitch is thrown, project manager Mac Naeemi stands on the concourse in his hard hat and beams with pride at the mention of another color: green.
“I can’t explain the feeling I have,” Naeemi says. “It is magnificent. We come to work with passion. This is the first baseball park that is going to be green.”
Take a short trip along I-95 to the north — in a hybrid car, perhaps — and one finds Philadelphia Eagles owner Christina Lurie, (pictured here), who announced last week that the team will reimburse employees who buy their energy from windmills. The Eagles are already one of the most environmentally friendly teams in pro sports, and
they say their “Go Green” program has eliminated some 6.4 million pounds of greenhouse gases and recycled nearly 150 tons of paper, cardboard and beverage containers — not to mention beer bottles emptied by those boisterous Philly fans — since it was launched in 2003.
“It’s definitely become a passion,” Lurie told The Associated Press. “I have children, and I worry about the planet. Is our world going to exist in 50 years? What kind of a world is it going to be?”
It will be a world with Super Bowl woods, if Jack Groh has anything to do with it. Next month, the NFL is planting 500 native trees to help reclaim the Dinner Key Spoil Islands near Miami, part of the league’s effort to negate the 1 million pounds of carbon dioxide it spewed into the atmosphere by putting on this year’s Super Bowl.
“If you go out there in two or three years, instead of finding stinking, rotting landfills, you’re going to find this beautiful chain of islands,” said Groh, director of the league’s environmental program. “So, could you go out there and wander among the NFL trees? Yeah, you could. We’ve got other projects, but that’s going to be one of the crowning jewels.”
Some 600 solar panels are being installed at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers' single-A farm team, the Great Lakes Loons, already beat them to it, with 168 panels erected in February to power the scoreboard at their minor league park in Midland, Mich.
SafeCo Field in Seattle recycles about 97 percent of the plastic beer, water and soda bottles it sells and this year started a food waste recycling program that keeps even more trash out of landfills. The Indy Racing League’s
IndyCar Series will race this season on 100 percent ethanol.
Green long has been the color of sports because of the absurd amounts of money involved. Sports, though,
can be a very wasteful endeavor, from the millions of gallons of water used to keep golf courses green and ski resorts wrapped in artificial snow to the thousands of miles teams fly on road trips. Or the mounds of paper used to produce media guides, press releases and box scores. Or the fertilizers that keep fields green while potentially
contaminating groundwater.
But a new shade of green rapidly is making its mark in the sporting world as teams, leagues and stadium-owning municipalities answer the call to make a dent in the fight against global warming.

Read on, please ...

Some are motivated by a desire to save the planet. Others see it as good PR, or as a way to save money. Often, it’s a combination of the three.
The new Nationals stadium takes going green to another level. The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission plans to make the ballpark the first major pro sports venue in the country to earn LEED certification — which means it
has to accumulate at least 26 points on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design scorecard compiled by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Minnesota Twins’ new park, projected to open in 2010, also is expected to be certified green.
“We’re the nation’s capital, where policies are set, laws are set, and it seems like it’s appropriate for the new ballpark in the nation’s capital to be the forerunner, to be the one who sets that bar,” commission chief executive officer Allen Y. Lew said.
During a recent tour of the Nationals’ construction site, project manager Naeemi beamed about his five sand filters — huge underground bunkers that will purify water from the ballpark before it trickles into the troubled Anacostia.
The ballpark also will have low-flow plumbing fixtures that will save an estimated 3.6 million gallons of water per year. The construction materials will have a minimum of 10 percent recycled content. An education program will encourage fans to recycle their trash. High-efficiency field lighting will use roughly 21 percent less energy than the lights at a typical ballpark. A subway station is about a block away, which means fewer people will drive to the games. There are plans to plant vegetation on a portion of the roof to keep it cooler.
And it’s all affordable. The green upgrades account for less than 1 percent of the $611 million ballpark budget.
“There are a lot of myths out there about green building costing a whole lot more,” said Gwyn Jones of the local chapter of the Sierra Club, which has supported the project. “We didn’t want the myths and the perceptions out there to detract from the goal, which was to make the stadium green.”
The NFL spent even less making the Super Bowl green. The league salvaged unused supplies, recycled tons of materials, planned its Super Bowl trees and more — all on a budget of $2,500 because the league found local partners willing to chip in.
“This is the biggest single sporting event in the world every year,” Groh said. “If we can find a way to make our event carbon-neutral and do it for 2,500 bucks, there goes the excuse for other people who say, ‘Well, we would do this if it didn’t cost so much money.’”

x x x x x x x

The NFL’s first serious attempt at a green Super Bowl did not go well.
“All we did was recycle, and it was a disaster,” said Groh.
The year was 1994, when many special events paid little attention to recycling. The venue was the Georgia Dome. Groh, in his first year consulting with the league, found some volunteers and went about the task the hard way.
“What we eventually decided on was taking all the bags of trash from the stadium, bringing them down to the loading dock, breaking them open, and then hand picking all the cans and the bottles out of this really disgusting and miserable garbage,” Groh said. “It was awful. It was inefficient. It was costly. It was time consuming. It was messy and dirty, and it didn’t yield enough of a return to make it worthwhile.”
The following year, the NFL came up with mission statement: Make the Super Bowl greener, but do it using the same
type of sound business practices that have helped make the game itself so popular.
As a result, the biggest of the big games has become more environmentally friendly with each passing year. The Indianapolis Colts’ victory over the Chicago Bears in Miami in January will be remembered by many as the first rainy Super Bowl, but Groh has another adjective for it: carbon-neutral.
“Everybody and their uncle is starting to talk about being carbon-neutral and carbon mitigation,” Groh said. “Five years ago, before Al Gore was doing his power-point presentation, we already were trying to address
it.”
The NFL’s list of eco-friendly measures from this year’s Super Bowl is long and impressive — and surprisingly cost-effective:
-- Leftover food. Up to 60,000 pounds of extra food was left over from all the banquets, parties and luncheons.
These weren’t leftovers in the traditional sense — this was prepared food that was cooked in kitchens, but never made it out to the serving tables. The NFL distributed the food to soup kitchens, shelters, churches and other organizations.
“If you don’t recover it, it turns into 30 tons of garbage,” Groh said.
-- Leftover stuff. Miami was decorated with 5 miles of fabric in the form of steamers, banners and other
decorations. The league could have filled a tractor-trailer or two — and a lot of landfill space — with its leftover office supplies, building materials and various things bearing the Super Bowl logo.
“Everything that could be salvaged, we would salvage it,” Groh said. “Inventory it, and distribute it primarily to local
non-profits.”
-- Recycling. The NFL recycled dozens of tons of cardboard at the stadium. (Drinks were served in plastic souvenir cups, so most people took them home.) Aluminum, plastic, glass and mounds of paper were recycled at the media center, where some 3,500 reporters sifted through a week’s worth of news releases. Tons of wood was recycled from the NFL Experience theme park.
-- Negating greenhouse gases: Two years ago, the NFL went to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to
find out how much carbon dioxide had been spewed into the atmosphere because of the Super Bowl in Jacksonville.
The answer wasn’t as bad as the league thought. For example, the ships used for temporary hotels didn’t count — they would have been pumping greenhouse gases on cruises elsewhere if not at the Super Bowl.
Still, the lab said that the NFL’s fleet of 2,000 vehicles and the electricity at the stadium helped contribute to a final tally of 1 million pounds of carbon dioxide.
“They said in the big scheme of things, that’s not a lot of greenhouse gas,” Groh said. “But you guys made it, you guys are responsible for it.”
To make up for its mess, the NFL is planting 3,000 trees in the Miami area, mostly in large groups to maximize the
carbon-negating effect. The most notable project is planned for next month, when 500 native species trees are to be planted to help reclaim the Dinner Key Spoil Islands near Miami.

x x x x x x x x

Groh would like to see more teams involved in the greening movement. The NFL, NBA, NHL and major league baseball mandate dress codes and all sorts of rules, but they leave it up to individual teams when it comes to environmental policy.
Lurie said the Eagles are planning round-table sessions at NFL meetings to share what they’ve learned. After all, there’s a huge potential audience of worshipping fans eager to listen whenever their favorite team speaks — whether it’s trash-talking or just talking trash.
“We can educate — that’s definitely a role we can engage in,” Lurie said. “Because our children and their future are our responsibility. Not just us the Eagles, but the royal ‘us.’ We can provide a unique platform from which to model civic behavior.”

For more information:
The Washington Nationals ballpark: http://www.washdcsports.com/newballpark/projects.html
Philadelphia Eagles “Go Green” initiative: http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/gogreen/gogreen.jsp?id=34329
A Forbes.com story about the Super Bowl XLI Environmental Program: http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/19/super-bowl-green-sports-biz-cz_ad_0119green.html
U.S. Green Building Council: https://www.usgbc.org
EPA “Green Venues” program: http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/greenvenues
The Great Lake Loons solar heating plan: http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17570557&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=576269&rfi=6

Posted by Tom at 12:28 AM | Permalink

The latest news trickling out about rapper Lil' Romeo saying he's committed to playing for USC's basketball team once his days at Beverly Hills High are kinda sketchy at this point.
Mostly because Romeo and his people don't know the difference between saying you're doing something and actually signing the paperwork.
According to those who represent Romeo Miller, the 17-year-old is in. Dave Lindsay, a spokesman for his online label UrbanDigital Records, told the Associated Press on Friday that it's done.
According to USC, it ain't necessarily so.
USC spokesman Dave Tuttle said he could neither confirm or deny the rumor because the school hasn't received a signed letter of intent.
“Basketball has run in the family,” Lindsay said, noting the rapper’s father, hip-hop mogul Master P, had tryouts with two NBA teams in the 1990s.
“In the future, I want to be an NBA player. That’s my goal,” Lil’ Romeo told The Associated Press in a 2003 interview.
At the time he was 14 and just 5-foot-6. He acknowledged then that his goal might go unrealized if he didn’t add another 12 inches of height. He’s 17 now and 6-1, a little more than halfway toward that goal.
At the website AllHipHop.com, Miller is described as a 5-foot-11 guard who has "officially signed" with USC and "according to representatives for Romeo, he is is the first nationally known active Hip-Hop star to receive a full athletic scholarship."
Again, not necessarily so.
So what? So let's get things straight.
In addition, FoxSports.com reports that Romeo's commitment has also opened the door for Demar Derozan and Angelo Johnson, a pair of Scout.com's Top 100 players in the Class of 2008, to also go to USC. Another report has Romeo's brother Vercy Miller (also known as Young V) also signing at USC.
Another blog quotes Romeo's father, Master P, as saying: "USC is a great school and I felt like he made a great decision ... it's just great for [Romeo]."
And this website proports to have the killer Romeo recruiting video.

Posted by Tom at 07:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

They are the Riptide, Los Angeles' proud entry into the Major League Lacrosse, the ball-and-stick activity that calls itself the "fastest sport on two feet." One of the other things they're apparently fast at is trying to extract cash from your wallet.
If you're just dying to see what the Riptide-itis is all about, the team announced today its individual ticket prices for the 2007 season, which begins on the road but finally ends up at one of the side venues at the Home Depot Center in Carson (not the main field; they need that for ... soccer?) on May 27 against something called the New Jersey Pride at 7 p.m..
Here's how the prices break down for each of the six home games:
VIP Center Sideline: $50
Center Sideline: $35
Reserved: $22
General Admission: $18
These are individual game prices, not season-long prices? Apparently so, because that VIP Center Sideline seat goes for $270 (a savings of $30 over six individual tickets), but it includes passes to the beer garden and a private event with the coaches and players.
This is a squad of basket-wackers coming off a 6-6 season, third-place finish in the Western Conference and no playoff appearance?
Hmmmmm. Let's think about this proposition.
Uh....
Pass.
For that kinda cash, we'd rather invest in the Season 2 and 3 boxed DVD set of that old TV show, "Riptide," watching Perry King and Joe Penny run around the Redondo Beach King Harbor with guns drawn. (Of course, we already have Season 1, but we're ready for more jellyfish hijinx).
We've made it already pretty clear that you couldn't pay us to attend one of these lacrosse things. Now, to actually see what they're charging for Year 2 gives us a better understanding of where this sport will go as a professional venture.
Right through the wickets. And we're sure that isn't even a term the snobby little prep kids use while playing it.
Here's a better (and free) idea: The team is having a contest to name its mascot (that creepy shark-thing pictured here). The top 10 ideas will be picked by the team staff and posted on the site. Whatever garnishes the most online votes by the May 18 deadline will win. And if the people pick the the name you came up with, the team will give you 10 tickets for you and your friends to the Riptide’s home opener, plus a prize pack that includes 2007 season seats, a Riptide T-shirt, and a Riptide lacrosse mini-stick (retail value: $350).
Here's our list of suggestions, just off the top of our head:
=Squidbreath
=Cesspool
=Nifong
=Rosenhaus
=Hasselhoff
=Osama chum Laden
=Duke Stripper
=Unnecessary Roughness
=LAXative
=Gait bait
=Skull fracture
Click on this link to see more about the contest.
For more info or inquiries on how you're supposed to afford these prices, to go www.lariptide.com or call (866) 4-LAX-TIX. They say they have some "mini-plans" available to fit your budget. How much more "mini" can a six-game home schedule be?

Posted by Tom at 10:05 AM | Permalink

Adding to the notes, quotes and antecotes gleaned from various sources through the week, spinning off from today's Daily News media column and notebook, and now into your lap:

ESPN's Bill Walton riffs further on:
==The Lakers chances against Phoenix: "It's a very difficult task. Phoenix is a great team, one of the five that have a realistic chance to win it all. I'm taking Phoenix to win the title. I voted Amare Stoudamire on the All-NBA team, and you've got the MVP with Steve Nash. The Suns have two great lockdown defenders and a great coach. The Lakers fans may say, 'we took 'em to seven games last year,' but that was without Stoudamire. The best job I've seen anyone do lately with the Suns was how San Antonio handled them recently. Bruce Bowen shut down Nash, and Tony Parker torched him on the other end. Phoenix played awful and San Antonio barely won. You beat Phoenix by playing attacking, assertive basketball. You won't win by backing in and hoping the other team plays poorly. The Lakers, like the rest of the league, can learn so much about basketball by watching how Nash operates with the Suns."
==The chances his son, Luke, will stay with the Lakers: "I'm a proud dad, and he's his own man. I can't speak for him and I don't make his decisions. I can only say from my own experience that he's in an unbelieveable great situation with the Lakers. To play for this franchise is so incredible in the big picture. To be in Southern California, playing for Phil Jackson, under this umbrella of the Lakers' mystique ... it's hard to beat."
==What may have possessed Luke, pictured far left in Sunday's game against Seatle, to cut his hair like Britney Spears: "In our house, we live by the Bob Dylan creed: You grow it out on the outside or else it'll grow on the inside and scramble your brain waves. I get my hair cut regularily so that it matches the pace which is falling out on its own. It stopped being red long ago. I'd prefer to talk about backdoor cuts, outlet passes and why Commissioner Stern can't convince Mrs. Nash to have more children, or at least allow cloning."
==Where the Dallas Mavericks fit into the championship race: "They have an inside track, but championships are won by teams that dominate the paint. The All-Star games, the shoe endorsements ... they are all won by the pretty boys on the perimeter. Championships are won by Shaq and Hakeen and Jordan charging into the paint. That's where Stoudamire can assert himself. Shaq remains a force. In the modern era of basketball that can be defined for our purposes as everything since Jordan, every championship has been decided by Shaq in one form or another. The ones he didnt win, you had to go through him to win 'em. That was the same way with Wilt Chamberlain. They're just in an other area of great players."

Read on, if you must ...

==TNT analyst Doug Collins, while agreeing this is a different Lakers team that enters the playoffs this year as opposed to the one that went on a hot-streak before facing (and being eliminated) by Phoenix in seven games, adds that not having the Lakers in the playoffs would be as disappointing as the current situation now where New York, Boston and Philadelphia have been pushed aside. “L.A. has been one of the greatest franchise in the history of the NBA, but so have the Knicks and Celtics and 76ers,” said Collins, who’ll do Games 2 and 3 for TNT with Kevin Harlan and Craig Sager. “Those teams automatically made people tune in to see their games in the playoffs. The Celtics and Sixers were always in the Eastern Conference finals. Now we’re missing them after they’ve been down for so many years recently.”

==For the entire NBA playoff TV schedule, keep an eye on the NBA's website, linked here.

==For those who need to watch it, NBA TV will televise live the decisions that will break all the ties for the 2007 NBA Draft. The coin flips,lwhich take place today in New York sometime during the league meetings between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., will break ties between Portland and Minnesota (both at 32-50); Charlotte, New York and Sacramento (each 33-49); Indiana and Philadelphia (both at 35-47); New Jersey and Washington (41-41) and the Lakers and Golden State (42-40). Boston, by virtue of having the worst record, has already locked in most ping-pong balls for the draft lottery, which includes all teams that missed the playoffs. The NBA Draft is Thursday, June 28.

==One of the first things Keith Olberm