June 2007 Archives

By NANCY ARMOUR
Associated Press Sports Columnist

With that little matter of the NBA draft finally out of the way, the Lakers can get back to what’s really important: Finding a way to keep Kobe Bryant happy.
Good luck.
Nothing the Lakers have done so far has worked. Bryant pouted and popped off when he had to share top billing — and the ball — with Shaq. Being The Man apparently wasn’t as much fun as he thought it was going to be, either, as evidenced by his trade demands this summer.
What, then, makes the Lakers think anything they do will make him happy?
No matter what move the team makes, it’s only a matter of time until Bryant throws his next tantrum, says he wants to be traded, takes it back and on and on. Unless they enjoy this dysfunction, it’s time for the Lakers to remind their superstar who runs the team.
And it’s not Kobe.

(AP Photos/Ben Margot)

A male fan hopped the fence and ran out to greet Barry Bonds in left field Friday night before the San Francisco slugger calmly walked him into the custody of security personnel.
The fan came out over the short fence along the left-field line and scurried to Bonds in the seventh inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with Orlando Hudson batting. Bonds didn’t flinch, putting his arm around the man and walking him off the field.
The Giants have said they will beef up security during Bonds’ chase of Hank Aaron’s home run record of 755. The club did a trial run with metal detectors at some gates Friday leading up to All-Star game festivities next month.

See for yourself how it transpired:

Expanding on today's media column in the Daily News:
(We interrupt this blog for a commercial break):
Bud Light presents…Real Men of Genius.
Real Men of Genius ...
Today we salute you, Mr. Unathletic Sports Talk Radio Guy.
Mr. Unathletic Sports Talk Radio Guy ...
You know everything there is to know about the world of sports. Except how to play them.
No coordination...
You talk sports for eight hours a day. Which is seven hours and 45 minutes more than anyone listens.
Is anybody out there?
Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t do, or teach, talk.
I’m really good at talking ...
So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, Mr. Unathletic Supporter. You may never make the company softball team, but you'll always be a hit with us.
Mr. Unathletic Sports Talk Radio Guy...
Bud Light Beer, Anheuser Busch, St. Louis, Missouri.

That's an actual Bud Light radio spot making the rounds on radio lately -- specifically on all-sports radio stations. Thank WFAN for fanning those flames.
WFAN in New York holds its 20th anniversary celebration this weekend with brining former original hosts back on the air, including Jim Lampley, Greg Gumbel, Steve Somers, Howie Rose and Art Shamsky. Since the station does audio streaming, you can hear on the WFAN website, Lampley's apperance from 3-to-4 p.m. Sunday PDT, as well as the rest of the lineup.
A brief history:
The all-sports format began for WFAN on July 1, 1987 at 3 p.m. on 1050-AM and already had been serving the New York Mets as their flagship station. Don Imus left WNBC to join WFAN in October, 1988, when the station moved to 660-AM, and the Knicks and Rangers joined at the same time. Chris Russo and Mike Francessa became an afternoon success after they teammed up on Sept. 5, 1989. The Jets came on in 1993, the Giants in 1999, and the Devils and Nets in 2004. From 1995 to 99, WFAN was the top-revenue generating radio station in the country.
Somers, aka the Schmoozer, could even have "Jerry from Queens" make a call to his show this weekend. That would be comedian Jerry Seinfeld, whose come onto the show several times over the years to co-host.
"I ran into Jerry one time at about 1:30 in the morning at a neighborhood grocery store in 1992," said Somers, who lives in Manhattan. "At the time, the comedy club, Catch a Rising Star, was nearby. It was a very hot July evening and I went to the store to get some ice cream. I saw two other people in there -- Seinfeld, and George Wallace, his good friend and another funny comedian. Jerry is actually looking for some cereal. I do a doubletake when I realized it was him. I finally took a business card out of my wallet and, hoping he knews the radio station, I said, 'Hey, I'm a fan and I wanted to say hello, I couldn’t resist, I work at WFAN ...' He looks at the card and, without making any eye contract, sayd, 'You're Steve Somers? I hear you all the time.' We've had a nice relationship ever since. He's a big Mets fans."
Actors Tony Roberts and Charles Grodin , comedians Steven Wright and Andrew Dice Clay and the late actor Bruno Kirby are, and were, other noteworthy callers to Somers' show, which has stayed in the 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. slot since 1995, after the station tried him out in the afternoons for five years but moved him back to where he was more at home.
More Q-and-A with Somers:

The lead item in Friday's "What Smokes" part of the Daily News media column is this exclusive:
Dan Patrick, c’mon down? The price may be right in luring the ESPN/ABC personality and weekday ESPN Radio sports-talk host, who sources insist has been contacted by the producers of the legendary game show “The Price Is Right” and is on the short list of those who’ll be asked to take part in auditions to replace the retired Bob Barker, who recently ended his 35-year run. Patrick wouldn’t comment on the report except to say: “Len Barker was always one of my favorite pitchers.”
Other names tossed around in the media as Barker replacement contenders include Mark Steines, the “Entertainment Tonight” host and former sportscaster at KCAL Channel 9; B-list actors George Hamilton and John O’Hurley, and (the biggest challenger) Rosie O’Donnell, who claims she’s out of the running, as if she was ever in it.
In a direct swipe at “Stump the Schwab,” TV Guide recently named “The Price Is Right” as the “greatest game show of all time." And don’t think Patrick, who once upon a time replaced the legendary Tim Brando on the set of “SportsCenter,” doesn’t know what he’d be getting into with the plus-sized female 65-plus demographic.

During the funeral services today for former relief pitcher Rod Beck, the former Grant High standout who died last Saturday at age 38, Dusty Baker recalled a time when Beck helped the Giants turn a major corner in their 1997 season.
Melissa Isaacson, who covered the service in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Chicago Tribune, wrote:
Baker recalled perhaps Beck’s most dramatic save — in a September game in 1997 at Candlestick Park against the Dodgers, a game that propelled the Giants to their first division title in nine years.
Beck came on to pitch in the 10th inning and gave up three singles to load the bases as fans showered him with boos.
“Before the game,” Baker said, “this little girl in the stands by the dugout says to me, ‘Dusty, whatever you do, don’t bring in Beck today.’ I smiled and nodded my head and I thought about that little girl when I was on the mound (in the 10th).
“I told Rod, ‘All the knowledge you have gathered in your life, you’d better use it right now in this situation or it
could have a traumatic effect.’ “
Beck then struck out Todd Zeile and got future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray to ground into a double play.
“The franchise turned the corner because of that,” Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. “It empowered us to finish the season and helped us cross that bridge of winning the division title.”
Baker said he last saw Beck when he led the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley last August.
“When I saw him in August, he said he had a staph infection and almost died,” Baker said. “This is tough,
this is real tough.
“Death has no age. Some don’t make it to 38, some way past. I’m just glad we had Shooter around for as long as we did.”

By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- A woman who worked on the set of the ESPN talk show “Cold Pizza” is suing the sports network, saying she was fired after complaining about sexual harassment by the show’s host Jay Crawford and regular panelist Woody Paige.
In the suit, makeup artist Rita Ragone said she was pinched and fondled by Paige and subjected to crude sexual comments by Crawford at the show’s studio in Manhattan.
Ragone said Paige once grabbed her backside so forcefully, she was “propelled forward and into the air.”
“It is not true,” Paige said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He declined further comment.
ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said the allegations were false. He declined to discuss the specific charges in the suit, which also named Paige and Crawford as defendants.
Soltys said Crawford was upset by the accusations and read a statement in which the TV host said he “vehemently” denied the allegations and looked forward to answering them in court.

Shaq wants kids to lose weight. He says so on a reality TV show.
And he wants them to write more better, too. That's why he's decided to lift these two scared youngsters on his shoulder.
Championing his cause of childhood obesity, Shaquile O'Neal has another reason why you shouldn't be wolfing down Milk Duds while watching the "Kazaam" DVD.
A company called Mighty Milk says Shaq is fronting an essay writing contest where the winning kid will receive $25,000 to spend on all the bubble gum and soda he or she wants. (Not really; it's a donation to your school in your name, to fix things up on the playground.) The essay, "Be Mighty, Get Active" is supposed to be on what you'd do with that kind of cash to make you and your friends be more active -- start a jump-rope league, fix up a field ... you get creative.
The "Be Mighty, Get Active" contest info is at www.mightyfoodz.com. The first 500 entries get a signed Shaq backpack. And if you get hurt after receiving all this new athletic equipment, Shaq can probably hook you all up with some Icy Hot patches.

An eight-year contract extension between the NBA and ABC/ESPN and TNT announced today will really give each broadcast entity more Internet content and global rights as the league that can't get enough ratings for its finals has the juice to keep expanding.
No where in the fine print does it require each entity to show more of Jessica Alba or Eva Longoria when they attend an NBA game. It's up to the digression of each network.
Here's how it breaks down:
TNT: 52 regular season games, on an exclusive basis, 48 of which will be part of doubleheaders generally on Thursday nights, as well as Opening Night and holidays (e.g. MLK Day); up to 52 playoff games featuring exclusive coverage of its conference semifinals games and one full conference finals series; exclusive presentations of All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday events; enhanced digital media opportunities, including streaming TNT NBA games on a live, delayed and on-demand basis across all of its multimedia platforms such as TNT OverTime, which includes replays of the Inside the NBA studio show; interactive online elements such as selected camera angles, statistic feeds and video to complement TNT’s game telecasts; exclusive broadband and other content, including highlights and studio shows, for digital platforms.
ABC: A minimum of 15 regular season games beginning on Christmas Day and continuing on Sunday afternoons starting in January; exclusivity for all regular season, playoff and finals broadcasts; best-of-seven finals broadcast in primetime.
ESPN: Up to 75 regular season games primarily on Wednesday and Friday nights; up to 29 playoff games featuring exclusive coverage of its conference semifinals games and one full conference finals series; exclusive presentations of the NBA Draft, Draft Lottery and NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, as well as the yearly NBA Pre-Draft Camp via ESPNU; enhanced digital media rights to have the NBA deliver content for 17 platforms, including: ABC; ABC HD; ESPN; ESPN HD; ESPN2; ESPN2 HD; ESPNEWS; ESPN Classic; ESPN Deportes; ESPN International; ESPN Radio; ESPN.com; ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile Publishing; ESPN Mobile TV; ESPNU; and ESPN podcasts; opportunities to stream ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 games on a live, delayed and on-demand basis across all of its multimedia platforms; expanded international rights for game and studio telecasts to Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, cruise lines and studio programming to Europe; extension of agreements covering ESPN Radio, ESPN Classic and ESPN Deportes.
NBA TV: 96 regular season games on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays; up to nine playoff games; enhanced package of digital media opportunities.
And here, for one more time, is a shot of Jessica Alba you won't see on ESPN, ABC or TNT. Probably:

As the headline act in Sports Illustrated annual summer double issue of "Where are they now?", the Hanson Brothers from the cult classic "Slap Shot" have made the cover in a story Austin Murphy wrote with the headline, "Goons Forever."
The "real" Hanson brothers -- Jeff and Steve Carlson, plus Dave Hanson -- continue to make personal appearances at minor league hockey games. There is a third Carlson -- Jack -- who was originally going to be in the 1977 movie but the Edmonton Oilers called him up for the WHA playoffs that year and he wasn't able to do it. So, in fact, the Hanson brothers were originally the Carlson brothers, of real, old-time minor-league hockey fame. Steve Carlson played for the 1979-80 Kings, scoring 9 goals with 21 assists (and a meager 21 minutes in penalties) in 53 games -- his only taste of NHL hockey. He also ironically coached the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL, which the team in "Slap Shot" is modeled after, from from 1988-92.
Among the others who are featured in SI what's become one of our most anticipated issues each year:
=Boomer and Gunnar Esiason: The 14-year-old son of the former NFL and current CBS studio analyst was the poster child for cystic fibrosis.
=Chris Hinton: The former NFL player who's become a winemaker.
=Robert Porcher: The former Detroit Lions sack artist has become a restauranteur.
=Hakeem Olajuwon: The former Houston Rockets and Hall of Fame center is into real estate management.
=Mo Vaughn: The former big leaguer and Angels bust of a first baseman is transforming blighted developments into livable communities.
=Picabo Street: The downhill skiier is pushing for children's rights.
=Mario Mendoza: The name synonymous with mediocrity is well respected in his native country of Mexico

Someone has to let Shaq and his overweight kids know that if they're in L.A. the new few weeks, they can gulp down a Macho soda at Del Taco and get a Dodgers collector cup in the process.
That's phat, as the kids would say.
There are only 281 Del Tacos around Southern California making this offer, so hop to it. This offer started Friday and runs until July 27.
The cups feature Derek Lowe, Russell Martin and Fernando Valenzuela, but you gotta order the Macho meal -- which is normally the $1.69 soft drink, then spend another 89 cents for the Dodger cup.
Wanna bet Brad Penny can't drink a Macho cup full of milk in 15 seconds?

If you've got some room on the TiVo memory for another reality show this summer, try the one that the Sundance Channel has been running since April called "Big Ideas for a Small Planet," a 13-part documentary series that runs through next month and has an episode on sports airing Tuesday at 9 p.m. (check local listings: on DirecTV, it airs at 6 p.m. and again at 7:35 p.m.). The series is linked to another series called "The Green," which gets into the issues more indepth.
The channel-provided info on what Tuesday's episode is about:
The close relation between playing sports and being outdoors has led many athletes and everyday sports enthusiasts to a heightened awareness of environmental issues. “Sports” follows three people who are dedicated to keeping the planet safe for athletic pursuits, among them:
==Alison Gannett, a world champion free-skier (pictured at right) who has launched an international tour called "Save our Snow" to raise awareness about declining snow pack and educate the winter sports industry about simple, affordable solutions;
==Craig Calfee, who created a line of professional-level racing bikes made from bamboo (the company headquarters is in La Selva Beach, between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, just south of San Jose);
==Jason Salfi, co-founder of Comet Skateboards, which distributes a line of stylish skateboards made from bio-friendly materials (note the painter above) and manufactured in a solar-powered facility (based in Oakland).
==A video link on the Sundance Channel to some of these episodes is here.

(Mel Evans/Associated Press)
Former NFL player Lional Dalton sits on the set as he rehearses his script before making a video at the NFL Player Development Broadcast Boot Camp in Mount Laurel, N.J.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press Writer
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. -- How do you make a 300-pound NFL lineman nervous? Ask him to trade his shoulder pads for a tie, put him behind an anchor’s desk and tell him he’s on the air.
This is a different kind of NFL training camp: Boot camp for players who want to become broadcasters after their playing days end.
For men whose lives have revolved around physical gifts and skills they have honed since boyhood — in some cases, they’ve have never had to apply for a job — the camp represents a taste of the real world, possibly
a hint of things to come.
“As a football player, you believe in yourself,” said Tim Hasselbeck, a backup quarterback for the New York Giants. “You think you’re qualified to be doing what you’re doing.”
Like the other players, Hasselbeck is fluent in football speak, like “cover-2 defense” and “seam route.” But broadcast terms like “b-roll” and “roll cue” aren’t often uttered in the huddle.
“I’m back in Pop Warner now,” said Hasselbeck, pictured here, right, waiving a pen, as he listens to former NFL quarterback and current ESPN "Monday Night Football" analyst Ron Jaworski laugh while making a point.
Hasselbeck, one of the smoother wannabe broadcasters, can take pointers from his wife, Elisabeth, who works in television as a host on ABC's “The View.”
The four-day camp this week at the NFL Films headquarters in Mount Laurel was a new effort by the NFL and the NFL Players Association to prepare players for the inevitable: life after football.
The average NFL career lasts only about four years. And even the superstars who stay in the league for a decade and rake in millions of dollars are usually done by sometime in their 30s.
“No matter how much money you make, you still have 50-plus years (after football),” said Michael Haynes, a Hall of Fame player who is now the league’s vice president of player development.

Marc Altheim, the founder and commissioner of the Beach Tennis USA Tour, says its hard to give his hybrid sport a real label.
"It's a finesse sport," the 44-year-old said. "It's eloquent in its simplicity."
In November 2003, Altheim was vacationing in Aruba with his family. After a game of tennis at a local resort, he walked along the beach with his tennis racket in hand, and saw a large crowd around the beach volleyball nets. They were watching a game, but it wasn't beach volleyball; it was beach tennis.
The BTUSA, which will stage its second tournament/demonstration just south of the Santa Monica Pier today starting at 10 a.m., which we covered in today's Daily News column, is drawing thrill seekers by the minute as those rollerbladers, cyclists and skateboarders heading along the bike path stop to try to figure what's going at the beach volleyball courts just beyond the large parking lot off Barnard Way.
The hope is to have 16 men's and eight women's advanced teams ready to start play in the pro-side of the tournament, with amateurs registering up to the minute on the other side, trying to see if their skillset matches up to their idea of how tennis can be played with that pippin'-hot sand under your bare feet.
Introducing the sport to an athletic-minded Southern California crowd may seem the easy part, but the net results are mixed.
“L.A. will always have competition for your time, and the thinking of many around here is they don’t want to make a decision until tomorrow about what they’re going to do, so we try to be flexible in filling out the brackets,” said Alex Querna, the BTUSA executive director based in the organization’s offices at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach. “But once they find it’s an easy learning curve, they have fun regardless of their level of ability.”
Hoping to create as much buzz as an AVP's pro beach volleyball event, the BTUSA Tour parties on through Santa Barbara and Long Beach later next month before finishing up in New York on Labor Day weekend.
For a better feel about where it's come and where it's heading, here's more of a Q-and-A with Altheim:

We've got plenty of reservations about just how much of a deal it's become to park your extra-wide seat and enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet of rubber wienies, watered-down Cokes and stale peanuts in the right-field Dodger Stadium seats that now for for $35.
But if you're gonna make a list of the 10 best places to see a baseball game in the major leagues ....
Josh Pahigian, who writes for ESPN's travel section of their website -- yes, one exists -- came up with a Top 10 list. And, after raving about what it's like at the top of Fenway Park's Green Monster, Wrigley Field's bleachers, AT&T Park's McCovey Cove and Petco Park's grassy knoll in center field, there came this at No. 10:
10. Dodger Stadium, Right Field Pavilion
Perhaps the Dodgers were following some counterintuitive logic when they decided to offer an all-you-can-eat ticket deal for their Right Field Pavilion. After all, this is L.A. — the land of sculpted bodies, vegetarians and late-to-arrive, early-to-leave rooters. The chances of seeing the Dodgers faithful eat their team out of house and home would seem less likely than, say, the heavy-eating fans of the Midwest, should one of their teams ever offer an unlimited bratwurst deal. Just the same, for the reasonable price of $35 fans who sit in the very seats where Kirk Gibson's legendary home run off Dennis Eckersley landed can enjoy as many Dodger Dogs, nachos, peanuts and sodas as they can swallow in nine innings.
That's all fine and dandy, but did he happen to mention the ridiculous bathroom situation down there?
The best part about this link is looking at the Top 10 Minor League Best-Seat choices, and seeing them in this photo essay. It makes you wonder why no one on the big-league level has figured this out yet.

Other links:
A recent posting on the la.foodblogging.com site about the pavilion experience;

By ROB MAADDI
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA -- Mitch Williams was signing autographs before the Philadelphia Phillies played an interleague game last week when a young boy spotted the former reliever in the suite level.
“Dad, dad, who’s that guy?” the excited voice shouted. “Did he play for the Phillies?”
The father stared toward the pitcher once known as “Wild Thing,” and muttered a profanity under his breath. He shook his head and turned away before answering the child’s question.
“Well, son, that’s the bum who blew the ‘93 World Series for us. He broke our hearts,” said Ralph Venuto, a 37-year-old lifelong Phillies
fan.
Without hesitation, 6-year-old Matthew looked up at his pop and replied in typical Philly fashion: “He stinks!”
Fourteen years later, some still haven’t forgiven Williams for surrendering the game-ending homer to Joe Carter that gave the Toronto Blue Jays their second consecutive World Series title. It was an agonizing
defeat for a team — and a city — that’s too familiar with losing.
No franchise in any sport has lost more games than the futile Phillies. Now, they’re nearing an ignominious mark: 10,000 losses. Going into Friday night’s game at St. Louis, the Phillies were 10 shy of that unimaginable number.
It would take one loss every day for more than 27 years to reach 10,000. To make it worse, the Phillies have just one World Series championship (1980) in 125 years
“If you’ve been around that long, you’re going to have a couple losses,” reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard said, minimizing a milestone the current players would rather not discuss.
In a hard-core sports town with passionate fans starved for a championship — it’s been 24 years since the 76ers
captured the NBA title — a few of the faithful have chosen to embrace the moment and commemorate many years of misery.
One Web site, www.celebrate10000.com, offers long-suffering fans an opportunity to share stories and buy a T-shirt or pint glass stamped with the box score from the 10,000th loss. Site founder Charley Debow is a season-ticket holder who grew up in nearby Willow Grove.
“It’s not to throw mud in the Phillies’ faces,” the 28-year-old said. “It’s to show the city and the world that Phillies fans are a different breed. To go through all the losing and we still follow them. Every year when spring training comes, we forget about last year.”
Some fans want to celebrate with a parade on Broad Street, a tradition normally reserved for championship parties and the annual Mummers march on New Year’s Day, Philly’s version of Mardi Gras.
“I was 3 when the Sixers won, so I don’t remember it,” said Joe DiRenzi of South Philadelphia. “At the rate these teams are going, I might be 50 before somebody wins again. Might as well celebrate this. We’re the best at losing.”
Don’t expect the Phillies to go along with any wild plans. They won’t set off fireworks, flash “10,000” on their giant video screen or even acknowledge the dubious achievement. And, really, why should they?
“We don’t celebrate losing,” said Larry Shenk, vice president of public relations. “In my lifetime, the only team that celebrates losing is the Washington Generals when they play the Harlem Globetrotters.”

Tipping the scales toward doing more good than bad in his new reality show, "Shaq's Big Challenge," as we wrote about in today's Daily News media column, Shaquille O'Neal receives his own reality check: How will he be the super-sized poster boy to get childhood obesity reforms rolling in the school systems?
At one point in the first episode (Tuesday, 9 p.m., KABC-Channel 7), O'Neal's former LSU coach Dale Brown eventually tells him: “This is going to be harder than those four NBA championships you own.”
At least they're on the same page. Shaq no longer does ads for Burger King or Nestles’ Crunch chocolate bars. The governor of Florida just appointed him to his Council of Physical Fitness.
Now it's time to see what he can do, with this show as a possible lauching pad for more dialogue and action.
The bottom line will be if O'Neal can maintain his own weight issues while all this transpires. During his run with the Lakers that ended in 2004, he was listed anywhere from 315 to 335 in the NBA guides at age 31, although speculation that it fluxuated much higher led to author and columnist Charlie Rosen referring to him as “The Big Gourmand.”
“Right now I’m at 335,” the 35-year-old O’Neal proclaimed, “and I plan on staying around this weight.”
If anyone knows what it's like to have someone always asking about weight issues, it's O'Neal. His first plan of attack in talking to these six kids on the show was to make a connection right away.
"Some of them said they went through a slight depression because they were being picked on a lot (in school), and being tall and looking kind of awkward (as a kid), I could tell them, ‘I know what you’re going through because it’s what I had to go through’,” he told reporters on a conference call to promote the show.
Consider what Shaq is dealing with here:
=Walter, 14, weighs 285 pounds (which is what O'Neal weighed when he entered the NBA in '92). He's a sensative loner who hides behind playing video games. He says his favorite food is a "pizza burrito."
=Kit, 14, weighs 263 and is sheltered by protective, emotional parents who may be more of a mess than she is.
=Kevin, 13, weighs 230 pounds. He's able to do the most pushups of anyone on the first episode: six.
=Chris, 11, weighs 206 pounds and comes from a Cuban household of overweight parents. Video of him playing baseball for his local Little League team is painful to watch.
=James, 11, weighs 182 pounds with a dream to become a professional wrestler. His meal of choice is a "fryburger" -- a hamburger with french fries on top of the patty.
=Ariel, 14, weighs 211 pounds and says she's an emotional eater which started after her parents split up when she was younger.

By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Columnist
This is exactly the kind of encouragement parents holding second mortgages to pay for trainers and summer camps do not need:
For the second year running, USC basketball coach Tim Floyd offered a scholarship to an eighth-grader.
“Hmmm,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino mulled over the news. “I’m not good enough to evaluate
that far ahead. Someday, I might wish I was.”
The kid’s name is Ryan Boatright, he’s 14, 5-foot-10 and from Illinois, and still not sure which Aurora high school, East or West, he wants to attend. But he won’t have that problem with college. Ryan left
Floyd’s basketball summer camp at USC last weekend with a promise to return in 2011. It may or may not be part of a trend.
Floyd is barred by NCAA rules from discussing specific recruits, but he said Thursday, “I don’t want this portrayed as if we’re hovering over some eighth-grader by himself. Families are involved and they view the opportunity for a $188,000 scholarship as something important to them.”
And indeed, Mike Boatright, Ryan’s father, said about the offer, “It shocked me.”
Not long after, however, he told the same interviewer, “I’m tremendously concerned. It could get ugly as far as kids getting jealous. I also don’t want it to get to his head. I want him to stay humble.”

The NCAA eased its restrictions on blogging and now says live updates from its events are permitted as long as they are limited to scores and time remaining, according to an Associated Press report Thursday.
The issue arose last week after a blogger for The Louisville Courier-Journal was ejected from an NCAA baseball tournament game for submitting live Internet updates during play.
Bennie Ivory, executive editor of The Courier-Journal, said the NCAA’s latest position was evidence that “they made a mistake ... It’s no clarification.
NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said blogger Brian Bennett was asked repeatedly not to blog play-by-play reports because it violated NCAA policy as a “live representation” of the game. Bennett provided in-game blog updates during Louisville’s super regional series against Oklahoma State that gave the score and a brief summary of game
action.
“Any reference to game action in a blog or other type of coverage could result in revocation of credentials,” the policy stated, according to a copy provided to The Associated Press.
In a statement released Wednesday, however, Williams said the NCAA had issued “incorrect information” that live updates of any kind were prohibited.
“In fact, in-game updates to include score and time remaining in competition are permissible by any media entity whether credentialed or not,” Williams said.
Jon Fleischaker, the paper’s lawyer, said the paper hasn’t made a decision about whether it will sue the NCAA or the University of Louisville.
In Thursday's edition of the Journal-Courier, Williams was quoted in a story saying that the NCAA has tried to clarify its position in saying reporters can file Internet reports as long as they don't include 'live play-by-play depictions," and the NCAA, upon further review, will adjust its position "if something needs to be adjusted, based on changes in technology."
The current June 25 issue of Sports Illustrated also addresses the story in a piece headlined: "Step Away from the Laptop!" Jeffrey Neuburger, who chairs the technology, media and communications department at the New York-based lawfirm Thelen Reid, Brown Raysman & Steiner, tells writer Chris Ballard that it's more of a copyright issue than First Amendment problem, but suggests that the NCAA "probably could take some advice from the record industry. They tried to deal with this through litigation and ultimately came to the conclusion that if you can't beat them, join them." Which is basically what the MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, etc., have done already.
Meanwhile, a couple of guys named Andrew and Grant decided to launch a blog on the College World Series based on watching it from ESPN's coverage. Just because they could.

Some things in life are still just worth the wait.
There have been several trips to Chicago in the past, but never at the right time to catch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Until last Saturday. We'll try not to bore you with the details. Like a no-hitter taken into the 8th inning. A brawl. A rainshower. A 9th inning home run. A 1-0 finish.
Otherwise, uneventful. And, as usual, a miserable finish for Cubbies fans.
If you've never been to the Friendly Confines, maybe this photo tour will spark a reason to finally go. And if you've been there either once or 100 times before, maybe I was able to catch something you'd never seen happen there before.
Such as a picture of that guy above. You run into celebs all the time in L.A. How often do we get to see the Sausage King of Chicago?
(Do we really need to explain this any further?)
Read on for more of the day from start to finish ...

Copyright: The Seattle Times

By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE — Tyler Besecker started near the bench, a foot off the court.
The 6-foot-7, one-time Stanford reserve launched into a sprint toward the basket, leaping to touch the rim.
He missed.
Badly.
By a good 3 or 4 inches.
“It’s kind of humiliating at first,” Besecker said.
Besecker will be one of about 20 test subjects come Saturday, playing in an experimental basketball game using 11-foot baskets.
The mixologist changing the basic formula is Tom Newell, a one-time assistant in the NBA and son of former Cal coach and acclaimed big-man instructor Pete Newell. In Tom Newell’s opinion, basketball is becoming too individually oriented with fewer of the fundamentals needed to succeed.
Moving the 3-point line, widening the lane and tweaking the clocks have all been experimented with or changed. The basket has always remained at 10 feet.
“All the experience I’ve had related to the game I’ve been able to understand what exactly we have seen as progress and my problem I have right now is I see the game evolving more individually than from the team standpoint,” Newell said. “People have talked about it, but no one has ever done it, raising the basket ... and getting the data.”
Newell started formulating the idea around the first of the year and found a cooperating partner in the University
of Washington, where the game will be played Saturday. Earlier this week, the baskets at Washington’s on-campus arena were moved and secured on top of 1-foot-high rectangular wooden boxes.
The game will have a number of different rules. No dunking is allowed, although many of the players would struggle to get the ball over the rim.
There will be a 30-second shot clock. Teams will play man-to-man defense in the first half and zone defense in the second half to contrast how effective offense’s are against both.
Newell’s hope is the taller basket will promote more passing and teamwork, and lessen the reliance on 3-pointers and dunks.
The event will be interactive with fans being able to provide feedback through an interactive remote
response system produced by a Seattle-area company.
Former UCLA coach Jim Harrick, now coaching Bakersfield in the NBA Developmental League, and Paul Woolpert, coach of the Yakama Sun Kings in the CBA, will coach the two teams.
“We’ve got to bring the game back to a level of execution and fundamentals,” Newell said. “I’m not trying to
change convention. I’m just asking the question, ‘why not?’”
Most of the players involved have Division I or Division II playing experience. Some are still playing in
fledgling leagues like the ABA or IBL.
All were intrigued with the novelty of the experiment.
“We’re test dummies, I guess you could call us,” Besecker said after a practice on Wednesday night. “It seemed like a crazy concept at first, but we’re all really seeming to adapt pretty well.”
At Wednesday night’s practice, plenty of lay-ups were left on the front rim. Timing the jump to grab a rebound was slightly off, and plenty of deep jumpers fell short.
Brandon Burmeister, who finished his senior season at Washington in March, was looking forward to the chance to see how the game is different.
“It’s something that is going to be very interesting once we really get out on the court and play 5-on-5 to see what a difference it makes,” he said.

More on the game, televised by Fox Sports Northwest at 1 p.m. Saturday (if you have that on your DirecTV extended sports channel package):
The Seattle Times
An even older story on it in the Seattle Times;
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Family Sports Life Today blog by Tom Newell (pictured below).

Copyright: The Seattle Times

Johnny Miller will be the star of this weekend's U.S. Open golf coverage, both for his classic commentary on NBC and flashing back to his final-round 63 that gave the then-26 year old the 1973 U.S. Open victory at the same Oakmont Country Club course. The "Miracle at Oakmont," they still call it.
Expanding on today's media column in today's Daily News ...

Miller, at NBC since 1990, will be the focus of a story on HBO's "Real Sports" starting next week (Wednesday, 10 p.m.). Host Bryant Gumbel, who in the past has done stories on Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and John Daly, talked to Miller, and from a preview provided by the network, Miller is portrayed as the Simon Cowell of TV golf.
Miller admits in the piece he was once terrified of public speaking.
"That just scared me to death. And that -- that was the last thing I ever wanted to do was speak in front of a big group, let alone millions on TV ... after the first day-- and maybe you don't know this -- but I was callin' my manager frantically, 'I gotta get outta this. There's no way I'm gonna be an announcer.' That was the worst day of my life. I didn't know what I was doing. You know, I'm complimenting guys, 'I hope he hits it close.' I mean, you're not supposed to do that. I didn't even know what I was doing. But I think that I finally got comfortable -- you wouldn't believe it -- but I never really got comfortable till about three years ago. I faked it well."
The piece begins with a flashback to last year's U.S. Open, with Mickelson on the 18th hole watching his tee shot go way left as the beginning of the end took place in him giving away the title. Says Miller over the shot: "I tell you what, right now, Ben Hogan officially has rolled over in his grave. ... "
They replay the quote of Miller saying Craig Perry's swing would also make Hogan "puke," which Miller says is when he realized he'd crossed a line.
"I found that puke doesn't go over real big on TV either, that word," said Miller. "It's not like I was planning on saying it. That just popped out. I shoulda said, 'make him throw up.'"
They also replay when Miller said he thought Justin Leonard "needs to go home and watch it on TV" when he was replaced during the 1999 Ryder Cup.
The piece includes comments on Miller by Mickelson, Singh and Jack Nicklaus, who says: "I think sometimes he's not considerate enough of a guy's feelings. And, you know, he and I talked about it quite a bit."
Miller, having done 12 U.S. Opens and more than 150 tournaments, also admits that recently he's reached out to some of the players he's criticized over the past.
"I don't really want to get to the point where every pro's mad at me," he says. "I started going to all the players and say, 'Lookit, I'm sorry I did this. I'm sorry I've said some things in the past that are a little rough or whatever. But -- I'm sorta making things right. I wanna get back to where we can have a relationship and go from there. ... It’s not easy to say to a guy, 'You know, maybe I've said some things in the past that you haven't liked at all. I'm gonna make a conscious effort to be a little truer and be -- you know, and I made some mistakes."

By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK -- Whether they're rooting for him or against him, fans might get to see a lot of Barry Bonds on television.
Fox and ESPN are discussing the possibility of expanding coverage of Bonds as he approaches Hank Aaron's home run mark of 755, anticipating viewers will tune in -- out of admiration, curiosity or contempt.
"First we have to decide, when can we break in and begin to do live cut-ins of his at-bats, and that's being negotiated now," said Len DeLuca, ESPN's senior vice president for programming and acquisitions. "Is it within two? Within three? Within five? Where does it become reasonable?"
Fox is broadcasting Bonds' San Francisco Giants on each of three consecutive Saturday afternoons this month, with 66 percent of the U.S. television households getting this weekend's game at the Boston Red Sox (including L.A.), the Giants' first trip to Fenway Park since June 1915. The Giants are also slated for Fox appearances on June 23, July 14, July 21 and Sept. 8.
Fox Sports president Ed Goren said the debate over whether Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs could be good for TV ratings.
"There are some who would say that in a way it's a perfect storm," he said. "Those who are rooting for him will watch. Those who are rooting against him will watch. You never know."
Bonds is eight homers shy of Aaron's record and has hit just two home runs since May 8. Chris Tully, baseball's senior vice president for broadcasting, said through spokesman Pat Courtney that it was premature to discuss national television coverage of Bonds.
Fox might be interested in carrying Bonds' games in prime time when he is on the verge of setting the record, but adding broadcasts is complicated by rights deals. Fox has an exclusive window on Saturday afternoons and ESPN has an exclusive on Sunday night telecasts. ESPN also televises games on Monday and Wednesday nights.
"We're a television network. We're not an all-sports cable operation, so we play under different rules as an organization," Goren said. "The variables are how far out do you have to declare to move a game and can you get a game in time?"

Some late suggestions, if you're still looking for a gift that'll make dad smile on Sunday:

== "Golf Freek: One Man's Quest to Play as Many Rounds of Golf as Possible," by Steve Eubanks ($23.95, Crown Publishing, 288 pages).
One thing that Eubanks realized that being a golf writer means a lot of free golf. How much? Why not as much as possible. Hence, the word "Free-k" instead of "Freak."
That was the goal, and the premise for this hilarious book. It's not so much how he got to play free, but who he ended up playing with -- everyone from Butch Harmon to Alice Cooper to Jeong Jang of the LPGA to wearing a blind fold and playing against a blind golfer. He even plays one entire free round with just a six-iron.
Writes Eubanks: "The moral of this story is simple: value is never found on a price tag. True worth is measured in respect and appreciation. The free golf I have played in my life—thousands of rounds with a total retail price stretching into the high six figures—has been more valuable to me than money….”

== "The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Golf Rules and Etiquette," by Jim Corbett ($9.95, 192 pages, Alpha Publishers).
Not ever idiot knows what to do on a golf course, and what you think you know may not be what's proper. Corbett, aka Mr. Golf Etiquette, writes about proper dress, improving your pace, what to pack in a bag, and -- most important -- what rules are safe to bend when you're just playing with friends.

=="The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card," by Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson ($24.95, William Morrow, 256 pages)
Dad may never own the famous T206 Honus Wagner tobacco cigarette card -- although if he did, you'd have something to inherit -- so maybe this is the next best thing. Or something to read before he does mortage the house to try to find one. Only a few dozen exist, even fewer that are worth anything. Only one has been traveling around from Wayne Gretzky to a new collector just month is worth more than $2 million, but it's come with a price, to relationships, jealousy, greed ... the seven deadly sins may be wrapped up in this tobacco card.

Other suggestions already reviewed here:
Jason Starks' "The Stark Truth" on who's most overrated and underrated in baseball history;
Sally Jenkins' "The Real All Americans" about the Carlisle Indians, Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner;
Mark Langill's "Game of My Life: Dodgers" and "Through a Blue Lens: The Brooklyn Dodgers through the lens of Barney Stein"
Craig Bender's "Sports Fan 101: Score the Balance in your Relationship"
"How Bill James Changed Our View of Baseball," edited by Gregory F. Augustin Pierce;
"The SABR Baseball List and Record Book"
"Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History," by Cait Murphy

(Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)
Tiger Woods, left, gets ready for his close-up by applying lip balm while talking with Jim Furyk during their practice session for the 107th U.S. Open Golf Championship at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., on Wednesday.

Coverage of the U.S. Open may be the first televised golf event to require a GPS system on top of the flatscreen for those at home trying to navigate through proceedings.
NBC, which has up to 16 hours of planned coverage from the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania has put up an interesting “Roadblock” to start the festivities this morning.
Before KNBC Channel 4 comes on with first-round coverage from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, NBC’s five other cable properties – USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, SciFi, plus Universal HD – will cut away to join NBC’s “Today” show at 8 a.m. EDT/5 a.m. PDT to simulcast the group assigned to tee off first -- defending champion Geoff Oglivy, ’06 British Open champ Tiger Woods and current U.S. amateur champ Richie Ramsay.
KNBC Channel 4, which starts its early-morning news programming at 5 a.m., will carry it live from 5:01 to 5:10 a.m. before returning to the newscsast. Three hours later, when the Pacific Time Zone is carrying the "Today" show in tape delay (7-to-10 a.m.), the event will be replayed in the 8 a.m. hour on KNBC Channel 4 as well.
"I think it's a neat concept to let the world know the tournament is starting through all the different platforms and the USGA website," said Tom Roy, NBC Sports' golf producer. "To have a marquee group -- not just Woods but having the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and the defending U.S. Open champion hit their shots at a time of day when you may not have sports fans watching but it's a general worldwide audience really is worth tuning in to."
“Today” show host Matt Lauer will co-host the event with NBC golf broadcasters Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller, giving Hicks a chance to say: “It’s the first time I’m competing with my wife (Hannah Storm) over at CBS (on the “Early Show”). But I'll just tell her that we've got Tiger Woods and she’s got nothing on her show.”
(How true. The program guide for Thursday's "Early Show" shows nothing more than a segment on "everything you need to know about kindergarten," what's the best sun screen to use and an interview with "Nancy Drew" star Emma Roberts during its 7-to-9 a.m. window. Even TiVo rejected that one when we requested a recording).
NBC also has the noon-to-2 p.m. window Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, NBC has six hours scheduled (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). NBCSports.com has a live simulcast of NBC’s broadcast Thursday and Friday.
ESPN will supersize everything with more than 30 hours of coverage across its channels and websites. ESPN airs coverage Thursday and Friday with a 7 a.m.-to-noon block (beware: hosted by Chris Berman), followed by 2-to-4 p.m. (hosted by Mike Tirico), and a taped highlights package from 5-to-8 p.m.
While ESPN doesn’t have live coverage on the weekend, it will reair NBC’s third- and final-round coverage late Saturday (midnight-to-2:30 a.m., Sunday morning) and late Sunday (11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday).
The coolest aspect is what DirecTV and Dish Network will offer an interactive service of ESPN’s coverage Thursday and Friday. DirecTV’s four channel mosaic, which will look like "NFL Sunday Ticket" or the recent French Open, will allow viewers to watch four different feeds – a) ESPN’s live coverage, b) Tiger Woods’ group (Thursday) or Phil Mickelson’s group (Friday), plus feature specific holes when those two aren’t playing, c) press-room interviews and driving-range footage; and d) best shots of the day from the leaderboard. Dish Network will have those four, plus a screen for the day’s highlights and one of historical footage from past U.S. Opens. Viewers can watch and click onto whatever channel they like from the interactive moasic.
“This is the most indepth golf coverage in TV history,” said Eric Shanks, DirecTV’s executive vice president. “Just by watching it, you will take at least two strokes off your game.”
On radio, XM Satellite has play-by-play live each day on Channel 146 from 9 am. To 4 p.m.
The U.S. Open official website also has a webcast starting today.
Note: If an 18-hole playoff is necessary Monday, ESPN will do it from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and NBC will have it from 11 a.m. until its conclusion.

Charles Krupa/Associated Press
U.S. Open golfers and their driver covers: Clockwise from left: Sergio Garcia, Shingo Katayama, Tiger Woods, Johnson Wagner, Graeme McDowell, Martin Ureta, Ian Poulter Retief Goosen and Stuart Appleby.

With a callback to our Daily News column and followup blog on fair-trade sports equipment now being offered through Seattle-based Fair Trade Sports run by Scott James and sold by non-profits such as Sarah Symons' The Emancipation Network comes this story on the Associated Press wires today about the upcoming Summer Olympics in China:

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer
BEIJING (AP) - The Olympic image could be damaged by allegations that children as young as 12 are being employed to make officially licensed products for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
That's the message Wednesday from Chen Feng, deputy director of marketing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who has summoned four manufacturers to Beijing to answer charges of labor-law violations in the making of Olympic goods.
A report released Sunday entitled "No Medal for the Olympics on Labor Rights" alleges four factories in southern China broke national labor laws on child labor, overtime pay and minimum wages to make souvenirs for the 2008 Olympics.
The four manufactures acknowledge they have Olympic contracts, but deny charges in the report by Brussels-based PlayFair 2008. The report also says the Beijing organizers _ and the Lausanne-based International Olympic Committee _ are doing too little to guarantee ethical work conditions in the making of official products that carry the five-ring Olympic logo.
Chen said he planned to meet Wednesday with representatives of the four companies. Li Zhanjun, director of the Beijing Olympic media center, said it would be several days before any findings might be released.
"We don't want them (makers of Olympic products) to damage the Olympic image," Chen said. "We want them to realize that their performance in terms of corporate responsibility, environmental protection and quality control has a lot to do with the image of the Olympics, and the reputation of the Olympic games."
Chen said there was a "huge gap between the report and what the businesses told us. They have told us they did not employ child labor at all."
Chen, repeating threats made earlier by Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, said contracts would be terminated if violations were found.
"We will continue our investigation until we find the truth," Chen said. "If we find any problems, we will severely punish those violators."
PlayFair's report _ along with the actual charges _ has drawn attention to the vast wealth gap in China. Beijing is spending at least $40 billion to modernize the city for the Olympics, a sharp contrast to the legal minimum wage in southern China of $90 a month.
Chen also promised a crackdown on the sale of counterfeit Olympic merchandise which, like fake DVDs and knockoffs of designer goods, is for sale on many street corners in Beijing.
"We really have taken notice of the problem," Chen said. "Some cases constitute criminal offenses and we will take legal action to tackle them.
"Those (counterfeit Olympic) products are all provided by unauthorized businesses because we have strict controls on the authorized businesses. If the authorized businesses sells to an unauthorized buyer, that would be a serious violation of the contract and we would severely penalize them."

For more information:
The Clean Clothes Campaign, which also includes a graphic on the breakdown of who gets what from the sale of a sports shoe.

Sandy Koufax: Most overrated left-handed pitcher in major-league baseball history.
Steve Garvey: Most overrated first baseman in major-league baseball history.
Steve Sax: Most overrated second baseman in major-league baseball history.
Jason Stark, who may be overrated to those tired of seeing him appear on ESPN, or underrated for those who just now figured out what he does in baseball information on ESPN.com and beyond, has carefully formed those opinions, and more, of course, in his new book, "The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History" ($24.95, Triumph Books, 206 pages), which has been out since early May.
The book jacket says Stark isn't trying to end the debate of who's been overhyped or overlooked, from Hank Aaron to Todd Ziele, more likely he's trying "to energize it for years to come." Mostly because as more players qualify, these lists can change. Stark's introduction does a fairly decent job explaining how people can become one or the other, with a lot based on media coverage, post-season accomplishments, salary, city the career is spent, and Hall of Fame enshrinement.
Which leads us to the first of the three Dodgers mentioned above:
Koufax, the Dodgers' iconic Hall of Famer, falls here because of his injury-shortened career. His glory years, Stark writes, "made That Other Half (of his career) irrelevant ... it's the job of us killjoys here at reality-police headquarters to blow the whistle." The last six years of Koufax's career were astounding, we all can agree -- 129-47 record, 2.19 ERA, three Cy Youngs, four no hitters." But in the "bad half of Koufax's career ... he was more like Jamie Easterly. Possibly Baylor Moore." Yikes.
A 36-40 record and 4.10 ERA in his first six seasons. Take out the two seasons when he had to be on the major-league squad because he signed as a "bonus baby," that's a 32-34 record and 4.10 ERA, and a 5.3 walks-per-nine-inning ratio for four season before 1960.
Six tremendous season in a 12-year career. And six other seasons between 1955 and 1960 where he had the second-worst ERA in the entire sport.
Sure, no one in the Hall has fewer wins of all left-handed starters -- 165. And the romance factor was evident when Koufax received more votes than any pitcher of the 1900s except Nolan Ryan in the 1999 All-Century fan voting.
We just can't go on with this. Stark's right. Again.
Garvey, who we have no problem arguing every year deserves to be in the Hall based on his NL consecutive-games played record, career .294 average, 2,599 hits and 272 homers, plus four Gold Gloves, gets the treatment by Stark as well for being "Mr. Perfect" in the eyes of too many. Even though he had a .550 career postseason slugging percentage? Stark brings that up, then shoots it down when comparing his stats against others he played against in his era. "Garvey lovingly constructed his personal glitz bubble, and he built it well," Stark writes. He also claims that Bill James once said that if you fed the right information into a computer and asked it to pick the prefect overrated player, you would get -- Steve Garvey."
Ouch.
Sax, we really don't have a problem with here. The 1982 NL Rookie of the Year jumped in at the tail end of the 1981 World Series title team, replaced Davey Lopes, and still won the award over Ryne Sandberg. Defense, of course, was Sax's annual undoing. Despite the fact he made Mr. Burn' Springfield Nuclean Power Plant softball team in 1992 on "The Simpsons," Sax had 30 more errors at second base than his nearest competitor from '82 to '92. Eight seasons with the Dodgers and three more with the New York Yankees clinched his overrated status as well.

Sunday's Writing On (and off) the Wall column in The Daily News focused on the creation of the Competive Gaming Series, a pro video-gamers league based in El Segundo that is having its draft Tuesday at the Playboy Mansion in an effort to establish teams and a world champion after all it said and toggled.
Add to that news generated the last few days by a New York-based group called Major League Gaming, which has been around since 2002.
MLG, which we gotta admit has a nice looking logo, announced today it has signed 18-year-old Michael “Strongside” Cavanaugh to a three-year, $250,000 deal -- the 13th deal of this kind that the league has signed with a pro player (last year the top three teams were signed to $1 million contracts).
The MLG also announced it "has smashed all of its previous records in attendance and prize money at a regular season event." The second stop of MLG’s Pro Circuit last weekend at the Meadowlands had 55,000 fans watch the competition that had $90,000 in prize money.
“This weekend’s competition was a perfect example of what MLG is all about—pros showing why they’re the best in the world, amazing new amateurs coming up and joining their ranks, and thousands of excited fans,” said Matthew Bromberg, CEO of Major League Gaming.

AP Photo/Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle, Pa.
In this 1911 or 1912 phot, Carlisle Indians coach Glenn S. "Pop" Warner, upper right, watches over his football team at The Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

By RANDY PENNELL
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA -- Chippewa and Iroquois, Cherokee and Cheyenne, they were pulled from the reservations to take
part in a brutal experiment in education at the hands of an Army captain who strove to blot out their cultural identity.
But on the football field, they were fleet and innovative, able to compete with and defeat the white man at his own game.
In her new book, “The Real All Americans: The Team that Changed a Game, a People, a Nation,” Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins recounts in rich detail the triumphant — and often overlooked — history of the Carlisle Indians, a series of ragtag teams of Native Americans from a tiny school in central Pennsylvania that regularly bested the moneyed powerhouses of football’s formative years. The book opens as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School prepares for a showdown with Army in 1912 — 22 years after Wounded Knee.
Jenkins recounts a speech given by Glenn S. “Pop” Warner, Carlisle’s coach for 13 seasons, in which he tells his players to “just go to your rooms and read your history books.”
And what follows is a history, not just of Carlisle’s great teams but also of the latter years of the country’s great western expansion. Jenkins uses the Carlisle teams to open a window onto the conflicts that eventually subdued American Indians following the Civil War and the attempts to integrate them into white society toward
the start of World War I.
“There’s a big gap in the literature on Carlisle,” Jenkins said. “There’s basically children’s literature and then academic literature. But there wasn’t a good, straightforward nonfiction narrative on the Carlisle Indians and what they contributed to American football.”
But Jenkins hopes readers come away with more than that.
“I wanted to use the story as a way into Native American assimilation,” Jenkins said. “I thought that the narrative story of that was really fascinating.”
John Glover, director of The Center for Indian Studies at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D., said Jenkins might have found a good way to reach a sometimes forgotten era of American history.
“It may be a nice platform for the sports enthusiast to learn a little about American history that they hadn’t thought
about before,” said Glover, who had just received a copy of the book and looked forward to reading it.

If you've got tickets to tonight's Dodgers-Blue Jays game (7:10 p.m. start), and you notice there the 49th annual Hollywood Stars Game taking place at 5:15 p.m., you should know: Stars, again, is being used loosely here.
Don't get us started about when this event was something to really want to go to. The Dodgers attracted stars, and stars played in this thing. Hardball, not softball, which it's been reduced to since guys like Tony Danza were tying up the Dodgers' medical staff with nasty injuries after their games.
Here are the schedule participants, with a grade from 1-to-10 trying to determine their star power, listed from those who carry clout to those who wouldn't know it if their agent/cousin told them they had it:

The (ahem) A-minus Listers:

Michael Clarke Duncan: 7 ("The Green Mile" is a great flick. It's painful to think of him in "Pulp Fiction." And he did OK in "Talladega Nights" and "Armegeddon." How do you keep him away if he wants to play?)
Joe Mantegna: 7 (Anyone with a credit from "The Godfather" has a great foundation, and playing "Fat Tony" in 20 episodes of "The Simpsons" is icing on the career. Don't forget his playing Dean Martin in the "Rat Pack" movie and Ian from "Airheads;" a very classy addition to any event, even this one.)
James Denton: 6 ("Desperate Housewives" is a decent show, and he's a contemporary crowd-pleaser, so let him in -- for now.)

The (busty) B Listers

James Van Der Beek: 5 (when 122 appearances in “Dawson's Creek” as "Dawson" continues to be the only thing anyone will remember you for -- outside of an over-the-fence catch made in a Hollywood Stars game three years ago, and the whip cream scene in "Varsity Blues" -- then you gotta make people think you at least were in "Beverly Hills 90210." He's become the Jonathan Silverman of this event.)
Neal McDonough : 4 (Played a captain in “Flags of Our Fathers," has a face you'd recognize, but otherwise, a backup right fielder).
Luc Robitaille: 4 (When you're recruiting star athletes from other sports ... OK, so Kareem Abdul-Jabbar used to play in this. Last year, it was Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy. The future hockey Hall of Famer does have an IMBD.com link, having appeared as "himself" in the movie "Sudden Death." Passes only because most Dodgers fans will recognize him.)
Corbin Bernsen: 3 (How Roger Dorn of "Major League" -- which came out in 1989 -- continues to put on the uniform, Arnie Becker should be suiing him for impersonating a celebrity at this stage. The real crime is someone is actually taking his autograph on a baseball and selling them online, originally for $140. What a steal they are now at $60.)
Dave Annable: 3 (plays one of the brothers on "Brothers and Sisters," may have had a scene or two with Calista Flockhart. He's barely in this classification.)

The very average C Listers

Adrian Pasdar: 3 (plays a guy in “Heroes," also in three episodes of "Desperate Housewives.")
Oscar Nunez: 3 (plays the gay "Oscar" in "The Office." Also played "locker room janitor" in "Glory Road," and "security guard" in "The Italian Job." Where's Steve Carrell?).
Shemar Moore: 3 (You'd recognize him from the show “Criminal Minds," but otherwise couldn't place him.)
Larry Joe Campbell: 2 (He's the poor man's Drew Carey in “According to Jim”. According to us, he's just filling a uniform that Ron Masak used to wear).
Wallace Langham : 2 (Remember Phil, the monologue writer from "The Larry Sanders Show," who became Kirstie Alley's assistant in "Vernoica's Closet" and now plays someone named "Hodges" in the "CSI" show for the last four seasons? His star power should be better, and it's sad he's still walking on the field Billy Crystal once did.)
Antonio Villaraigosa: 2 (The mayor of L.A., with star buzz? Unless he thinks he'll be mistaken for either Desi Arnaz Jr., and Lou Diamond Phillips, he should have more important matters than suffering a potential fatigured groin.)

The Unlisted (and for good reason)

Robert Gossett: 1 (The cousin of Lou Gossett Jr., he's in “The Closer," but not the kind that Eric Gagne used to be.)
David Berman: 1 (How about David Beckham? Another regular on “CSI” the last seven seasons, but the crime is most couldn't even tell you what he looked like).
Gary Valentine: 1 (one of the "other guys" in "King of Queens." Not the funny one. Very weak).
Danny Strong : 1 (had a recurring role in “Gilmore Girls," which isn't a show that focuses on two guys. He's listed as 5-foot-2. Not even a batboy is that small.)
Michael Rosenbaum: 1 (played Lex Luthor in “Smallville," whatever network that was on, and also has a credit in "Kickin' It Old Skool." Poor bastard.)
Sam Page : 1 (Another pretty boy who hasn't done much of anything, including a recurring role in a TV show called “Shark” that jump the shark when it went on the air.)
Kenny Johnson: 1 (Couldn't tell you who he played in “Grace” or “The Shield," or why he even bothers to comb his hair in the morning.)
George Stults : 1 (Despite the fact he appeared in 108 episodes of “7th Heaven” as Kevin Kinkirk, he'd only deserve admission if he could bring in Jessica Biel.)
Aylin Mujica: 0 (a Telemundo soap star whose picture we had to include here to explain why she'd even be invited. Think she knows which hand the catcher's mit goes on? Or even what it's used for? A couple of years ago, they got away with inviting Brooke Burke. Now it's come full circle to this Charo impersonator.)
Mauricio Islas: 0 (Another Univision personality who may or may not have voted for Villiaragosia.)
Joel McHale: 0 (Some pasty looking guy who's had very small roles on even smaller TV shows, including something called “The Soup.”)
Jon Wellner : 0 (Actually has a credit as "Staffer No. 13" in the upcoming “Evan Almighty." And my neighbor, Ralph, plays Staffer No. 12. So there you go.).
And, to think: There are others who could be added to this that haven't made the roster yet.
Billy Barty, where art thou?

RENO, Nev. (AP) The Golden Baseball League settled on punishment Friday for a public address announcer who was ejected from a minor league game for inciting criticism of an umpire: spending an inning in the ump’s shoes.
Mike Murray, the announcer for the independent league’s Reno Silver Sox, was tossed Thursday
night in a 6-5 loss to the Chico Outlaws.
Plate umpire Tyler Ramsey threw out Murray and ordered the P.A. system shut down after the announcer played a sound bite of a Bob Uecker line from the movie “Major League” — “Personally, I think we got hosed on that call” — following a close call at first base that went against Reno.
League commissioner Kevin Outcalt decided the appropriate penalty would be for Murray to work
the first inning of tonight’s game between the two teams as the third-base umpire.
“We don’t think this form of discipline has been used before but we think the punishment fits the crime so we’re going to give it a try,” Outcalt told The Associated Press.
Murray said he was “a little nervous about it.”
“I never even called a T-ball game before,” he said.
The local radio personality, whose on-air name is Mike Anthony, said he didn’t mean any disrespect to the umpires.
“I didn’t think I crossed any boundaries, but apparently I did. Honestly, I was just kind of floored by the whole thing. I had no idea I could be ejected, but I guess it is well within his right to toss me,” he said.
Murray had been warned about his conduct last season after San Diego Surf Dawgs manager Terry Kennedy “took offense at sound bites directed at his players and ended up storming the press box,” Outcalt said.

HBO Sports decision-maker Ross Greenburg decided today not to decide on how long Larry Merchant (pictured) will stay with the franchise's boxing shows, instead working on a deal where both the 76-year-old will extend his 29-year relationship with the network by sharing assignments with hot-shot Max Kellerman.
“We are delighted to have one of sports television’s most respected broadcasters continue to call them as he sees them,” said Greenburg in a statement. “Larry is an institution at HBO. Sharing the workload with Larry will be Max Kellerman, which essentially gives us two formidable broadcast teams on ‘World Championship Boxing’.”
And prevents him from making a choice, which was getting a lot of negative feedback from the media, but hardly from viewers.
Merchant has done more than 600 fights for HBO, and he'll be on the broadcast Saturday for the pay-per-view telecast of Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah.
Kellerman landed at HBO Sports in April 2006. He's been doing "After Dark" shows for HBO but was added to the Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. pay-per-view telecast as a studio analyst and made his opinions known, especially about the rise of Ultimate Fighting (which play-by-play man Jim Lampley seemed to pooh-pooh).
Kellerman will do the June 23 Hatton-Castillo fight in Las Vegas; the Atlantic City portion of the July 14 “World Championship Boxing” tripleheader; and the July 21 HBO PPV event from Las Vegas, featuring Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright.
Lampley, Merchant, Emanuel Steward and Harold Lederman will also do the for June 23 “World Championship Boxing” presentation from Las Vegas; the July 7 “World Championship Boxing” HBO show in Cologne, Germany. On July 14, Lampley and Merchant are doing the “World Championship Boxing” event from the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Frank Whaley, above left, playing the role of William Nack in the movie "Ruffian" (while Sam Shepard stars as trainer Frank Whiteley Jr., right), says he was fortunate to have Nack in the flesh to talk to and study before filming for this movie started. But to get that look of living large in the 1970s?
"I couldn't do much to get his look," Whaley joked. "No amount of prothetics could get to that."

Expanding on today's media column in the Daily News, here's more on the movie "Ruffian," which ESPN Original Entertainment produced and allowed ABC to debut it at 9 p.m. Saturday, hours after its own coverage of the Belmont Stakes:
Although the timing of "Ruffian" may seem to be a result of Barbaro's injury in the 2006 Preakness, EOE actually gave the green-light to the movie in late 2005, months before Barbaro broke down in similar fashion.
"We felt it was a timeless story," said executive producer Orly Adelson, who started production in January, 2006 and began filming in April of that year. "Ultimately, unfortunately, the same thing happened last year. It's a story about pushing people to their limits and what are those limits. As a result, everyone at ESPN felt it was something that should be told now."
Adelson explained that five horse actually played Ruffian, all geldings found by wrangler Rusty Hendrickson (who also found all the horses for the movie "Seabiscuit") and there were other horses "built" in the crafts department to help with scenes. The scene where Ruffian breaks her ankle was computer generated.
"Everything that's graphic is not part of the real horses," she said. "We were very careful with the horses, having animal rights people with us at all times. It was constraining and yet we achieved what we set out to achieve."
Real jockeys were also recruited from around the world to play the parts of Ruffian jockey Jacinto Vasquez (Vladimir Diaz) and rival Foolish Pleasure jockey Braulio Baeza (Francisco Torres). Famed racecaller Dave Johnson played himself, saying he saved the tapes of all his calls of Ruffian and just recreated them for the movie.
Most of the scenes were filmed in Shreveport, La., rather than at Belmont Park.
William Nack (pictured here), asked if he could speculate on Ruffian's legacy had she won that match race, said it would have depended on subsequent races.
"By that time, she was already a legend," said Nack, who left New York Newsday four years after that race to work for Sports Illustrated. "She was the fastest female horse I'd ever seen. Some say she may have been the greatest horse of all time, but I didn't go that far. I saw Secretariat and Demascus. That's all speculation. Had she won that match race, she'd have been in a stratosphere even higher than she already was. He's probably won the Travers and others like it and retired at the end of the year as the greatest female horse on either shore."
Nack talked about how it was that he found himself running across the track to check on the injured Ruffian when the accident occured just a few moments into her match race against Foolish Pleasure.
Foolish Pleasure took the early lead when Ruffian charged up on the inside and stuck her head in front. Then, suddenly and inexplicably, Ruffian shattered the sesamoid bones and ruptured the tendons and ligaments in her right front ankle. That's when Nack eluded security and ran to see Ruffian -- narrowly getting trampled by Foolish Pleasure, who was still running.
“I could see the headline: 'Ruffian breaks down, reporter killed, Foolish Pleasure breaks shoulder',” Nack
said. “It would have been like getting hit by four Dick Butkuses going 40 miles per hour. I got very lucky.”
It's not a story that has a happy ending, of course, but Adelson said it's the "emotional arch" that she wanted to concentrate on, "not so much the ending as the journey. As a result, we told the story we wanted to. The end is sad, but the journey is amazing."
Adelson, who also produced ESPN Original Entertainment series "Playmakers" (2003) and "Tilt" (2005), as well as movies such as "Hustle," "3' and "The Junction Boys," calls Ruffian "beautiful ... she was smart .. she was fast ... everything that every woman would want to be."

Read on ...

Pushed aside from its usual page 2 home on the Daily News Friday sports page, here's the two extremes of media notes worth noting this week:

WHAT SMOKES
== MGM Home Video will begin releasing DVD packaged versions of the old “Gillette Home Run Derby” TV series ($14.95 a volume), starting with the first edition on July 10 and the second coming in August. For those who need a refresher: The campy, black-and-white shows pitted a slugger from the National League (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Ernie Banks, Gil Hodges, etc.) against one from the American League (Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, Rocky Colavito, Jackie Jensen, etc.) in a nine-inning long-ball contest that took place at the old (and empty) Wrigley Field in Los Angeles during the offseason. The winner got $2,000; the loser $1,000. The 26 episodes were taped in the winter after the 1959 season and ran only one year
(1960) because host Mark Scott died and wasn’t replaced. The show was revived on ESPN in the 1980s and it had popped up occasionally on ESPN Classic, but it hasn’t been seen on TV since 2003. Several websites, including Amazon.com, are already taking DVD preorders.

==Gotta admit, we had our doubts about the viewer-ability of a Major League Baseball draft when ESPN2 announced it would carve four hours out for it a Thursday afternoon. But in the end, that was the beauty of the whole proceedings: It didn't compete with anything else (especially the NCAA college baseball playoffs), it was done very professionally, it was at a time when we could watch and follow along, and it moved at a much better pace than the NFL Draft that ESPN and the NFL Network constantly drags down with overanalysis and how it's playing out according to their experts predictions. Having both Peter Gammons and Steve Phillips on the set gave the show plenty of time to explain to viewers what was going on, why agent Scott Boras could muck things up, and what was the philosophy behind taking college players over high school players. As long as ESPN keeps this thing on a low-key level and doesn't try to NFL-it down the road, it wouldn't be that difficult to imagine watching an NHL draft someday. Again, as long as Chris Berman isn't around to choke the life out of it.

== HBO Sports executive producer Rick Bernstein said in a statement earlier this week that “as we optimistically iron out a new agreement with Larry Merchant, Larry has agreed to work Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view telecast from Madison Square Garden” featuring Miguel Cotto against Zab Judah. Merchant, 76, who has been with HBO for 30 years, had his contract expire June 1. The two are trying to reach a two-year extension, according to ESPN. Tonight, Merchant is supposed to be honored at the annual Boxing Writers Association of America banquet with an award for his longtime service to the sport. Word is that HBO executive producer Ross Greenberg was all ready to replace Merchant with the younger, louder and (somewhat) contemporary Max Kellerman, but a backlash in the media caused him to reconsider. Taking Merchant out of the main event and sending him to cover the "After Dark" matches isn't a bad idea. Merchant has become almost painful to watch form questions in post-fight interviews and his long, drawn-out commentaries leave viewers wondering if their TiVo is on pause. But it's the Kellerman element that probably upsets more viewers. Greenburg may just need to buy more time to find someone as a better replacement.

WHAT CHOKES
== Fox Sports Net confirmed a multi-year deal with the (egads) Versus network to sublicense 10 football games from the Pac-10 and Big 12, starting this fall. What it means is that UCLA’s Sept. 8 opener at home against BYU (3:30 p.m.) and USC’s Oct. 6 game at home against Stanford (4 p.m.) will be farmed out to the Versus network, as well as the Dec. 1 Cal-Stanford game and two others yet to be determined. Versus will also have UCLA’s game at Utah on Sept. 15 (2 p.m. PDT) as part of its Mountain West Conference deal. Five Big 12 games will also be included, starting with the Sept. 15 Iowa-Iowa State contest. For the last five years, FSN had this arrangement with Turner Sports, but TBS will be tied up this fall with coverage of the Major League Baseball playoffs. FSN is in 82 million homes (through 25 regional affiliates); Versus is reported to be available to 72 million homes, but the network is in only half of the 3 million cable homes in Southern California.

== ESPN and Fox have been jockeying to try to lock in on Roger Clemens’ 2007 debut for the New York Yankees - ESPN made a special switch last Monday to get the Yankees-White Sox on before Clemens bailed out with a “fatigued groin.” As it turns out, neither will do his comeback game set for Saturday when the Yankees face the Pittsburgh Pirates. Fox, which has the exclusive Saturday afternoon rights, already committed to three other regional games — Oakland-San Francisco (where Giants starter Barry Zito pitches against his former team), Houston-Chicago White Sox and New York Mets-Detroit, the later of which will be sent to the Southern California market (as well as 70 percent of the country, with Dick Stockton and Eric Karros on the call). Expect plenty of cut-ins from the Yankees-Pirates, which starts just minutes after the 12:55 scheduled starts of the three regionals. Fox Sports spokesman Dan Bell explained that the network has to notify MLB two weeks in advance to change its Saturday regional schedule, and the fact that Clemens’ on-and-off status of coming back precluded Fox from locking in a date that far away. As for why the Mets-Tigers would be in the L.A. market rather than Giants-Athletics, Bell explained that the West Coast factor can be argued in this case, but any New York team does well as far as generating ratings in Southern California, and Mets-Tigers play out as the best overall matchup of the day and the network wants that one to have the most exposure in cities that don’t have a local team playing in that time window.

Associated Press
The last time the world looked at Amanda Beard she was winning her first individual Olympic gold medal at the Athens Games.
There’s a lot more of the 25-year-old swimmer on view in the July issue of Playboy, where a topless Beard is on the cover billed as “the world’s sexiest athlete nude.”
The magazine hits the newstands Friday.
Inside, she takes off her clothes in eight pictures certain to create a stir among rivals and young girls who consider her a role model. Beard is unapologetic about what she calls her latest “outside adventure.” After all, she’s modeled in men’s magazines before, notably a spread in FHM that left little to the imagination.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I really felt excited and motivated to do it,” she told The Associated Press on Thursday, sipping coffee in the sunny backyard of her Venice home.
“I’m kind of used to people not necessarily agreeing with everything that I do and that’s totally fine. This doesn’t change my personality or who I am. It’s just a business decision, a career decision.”
Beard, who previously dated NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, posed in the prime of her career. She’s aiming to qualify for her fourth Olympics next year in Beijing, and is the Olympic champion and former world-record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke.
It may be months before Beard is competing in meets and can gauge the reaction of her fellow swimmers to her
magazine spread. She won’t begin serious training for the Olympics until later this year, when she plans to give up riding motorcycles, snowboarding and vacations.
“It would only feel awkward if they make comments to me about it,” she said. “We’ll see how that one goes.”
Beard first came to attention at the 1996 Games, where as a scrawny 14-year-old she toted her teddy bear to the starting blocks and won two silver medals. She medaled at the 2000 Games, too.
“There’s a lot of debate about whether it demeans women and female athletes,” said Dave Salo, Beard’s coach at Trojan Swim Club. “If nothing else, it celebrates the athleticism and takes away from the model-type women.”

Passed-around actress Alyssa Milano, whose aptly named "Touch 'Em All" blog on MLB.com has been all the rage (especially if you're a Russell Martin stalker), is being used again by Major League Baseball.
A contest currently running on MLB.com tells users they can use her to get into two Dodgers games at Dodger Stadium this year -- but with the caviot that it includes a meeting with her.
Ask Brad Penny, Carl Pavano , Barry Zito, Josh Beckett and half the Florida Marlins how impressive that can be.
The grand prize also includes "a hotel for three nights in the Los Angeles area" -- can you be any more vague about it? -- and two tickets to two Dodgers games, but "transportation to/from games not included."
So you arrive in L.A. from Tulsa, Okla., all set to meet the grown-up kid from "Who's The Boss," and you're in charge of flagging down a bus to take you there, and back to this non-descript hotel which, for all intents and purposes, could be a Travel Lodge in South Central.
If you're not fortunate to win the grand prize, there's one second prize: $150 worth of Milano's "Touch" clothing line, which for the most part are tight-fitted shirts with team logos on them.
Third prize is even cooler: An autographed baseball. Autographed, however, by her.
You gotta enter by just before midnight on June 15. Open in all 50 states, except Rhode Island, for some reason.

The 2000 enductees for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame were Bob McAdoo and Isiah Thomas (as players), Pat Head Summitt and Morgan Wootten (as coaches) and Danny Biasone and Charles Newton (as contributors).
Check that list again. Nope, don't see John Ameche there.
Abdul-Jabbar, Archibald, Arizin, Auerbach, Auriemma ... again, no Amache, alphabetically, athletically or anonymously.
The only reason this comes up is because Ameche, the former NBA player who became famous for outing himself last year in his book, "Man in the Middle," two years after his retirement, will be the grand marshall for the L.A. Gay Pride Parade set for this weekend (Friday through Sunday).
On the official L.A. Pride website, under the list of honorees, Ameche is listed last (after 13 others). And his bio reads:
"Following an illustrious basketball career, including an induction into the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, Amaechi was named national spokesperson for the ...."A Hall of Famer?
Maybe we missed something here.
Is this Alan Ameche in the National Football Hall of Fame?
Continue:
"(Ameche) has risen above myriad reactions from athletes and the media as an articulate example of one who can stand up for himself to the benefit of a world-wide community. ... the actions of John Amaechi exemplify the core mission ... to advocate for equality and acceptance by celebrating our diverse community."
Sorry. We can't get past that Hall of Fame reference. It even mentions that he retired in '04, which would make a Hall of Fame induction impossible.
Maybe England's National Basketball Hall of Fame. Does one exist?
For what it's worth, Ameche is/was the gay pride marshall for parades in Chicago and Utah (last week), says this story in the New York Times.
"I really owe Salt Lake. My time there would have been so multiply miserable had it not been for so many
people -- gay, straight and otherwise -- who made my time there so special," Ameche told the Associated Press.
Amaechi signed with the Jazz in 2001, feeling betrayed by his former team, the Orlando
Magic, who he claims reneged on a promise of a rich contract.

(Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic)

Here's Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart showing his left hand to Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Orlando Hudson. Why? Leinart just took batting practice with the local Phoenix ballclub on Tuesday at Chase Field.

Before doing so -- and risking his future as an NFL professional -- Leinart talked things over with Diamondbacks hitting coach Kirk Gibson, who not only encouraged him to go forth, but told him it'd be worth limping up to the plate, just to add some drama.

Then he went ahead and did it. (Throws left, bats right according to his baseball card).

We've always been concerned that Katie Couric's voice would make our ears bleed, our eyes roll back in our head and cause us to swallow our tongue.
The 2012 London Summer Games logo apparently can do the same.
The animated display of the jigsaw-style logo has already been taken down from the official website today following concern that it -- for real -- could trigger epileptic seizures.
Epilepsy Action, a British health charity, said 10 people had complained about the animation and some had suffered seizures from watching images depicting a diver plunging into a pool, the Associated Press reported.
The Olympic group said it has taken steps to remove the animation from the Web site and will now re-edit the film.
The design is made up of four jagged pieces that form the numbers 2012 in a variety of colors. It cost $796,000 and was targeted at young people. The logo was unveiled Monday and within hours an online petition was established asking for a new design.
London's Design Museum founder Stephen Bayley said the logo was "a puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal."
Chief organizer Sebastian Coe claimed the graffiti-style design was created to draw the attention of young people. An official Web site shows flashing and moving images of the logo. In a departure from previous games, the logo has no visual imagery of the host city or country.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x..x.xx.x.x.x.x

Since we have disabled the blog comment section on some of these recent entries because of unwarrented spam, we have agreed to post this response from Bob Timmerman of South Pasadena in relation to this posting:
I'm not sure why the events of an epileptic seizure seem so funny to people. It's even stranger because Mr. Hoffarth mentions two symptoms: bleeding out of the ear and "swallowing your tongue", that don't even happen when people have seizures.
I can state that because I have epilepsy, which thankfully is able to be controlled by medication. But the only way someone with epilepsy will start bleeding out of their ears is if they hit their head. "Swallowing your tongue" is a widely held misconception. You can't swallow your own tongue. You can have your tongue block your breathing passage after a seizure, but all you have to do is just make sure the person having the seizure has their head in the proper position.
Epilepsy seems to be one of the few diseases that people feel that you can still poke fun at. You can't make fun of someone with AIDS or cancer or heart disease or diabetes or multiple sclerosis. But for some reason, people with a chronic neurological condition like epilepsy are fair game.
The disease never seems to get noticed in the media unless advocacy groups can get some publicity over something like the London Olympics logo causing seizures in people who are sensitive to flashing lights (which isn't particularly common.)
But most people with epilepsy just go on with life the best they can, knowing that, often without any warning, their brains will misfire and they can only hope that they don't hurt themselves in some way or wake up and find that they've soiled their own clothing. Yeah, it's a laugh riot.

Willis Reed's New York Knicks home jersey -- the one he wore when he came limping out onto the floor at Madison Square Garden in the 1970 NBA Finals for Game 6 and inspired a victory over the Lakers to clinch the title -- seems to be the real headliner for the Sotheby's and SCP Auctions sports memorabilia auction that'll take place Tuesday in New York. There's also Lou Gehrig's 1931 Yankees home jersey, a bunch of letters Jim Thorpe wrote to some woman who became his fiance in the summer of 1924, the cleats Ted Williams wore during his final home run in his last at bat in Sept. 1960. ... Stuff you and I have no chance of ever seeing, let alone affording, to add to our collection of Fernando Valenzuela bobbleheads or the squished pennys we got outside the Dodger Stadium store at the top of the park.
What'll be most intriguing to us, as we discussed in today's "Writing On (And Off) The Wall" column in the Daily News, are the things made available by the Casey Stengel estate.
On Stengel's official website -- yes, he has one, although since he died in 1975 and has been resting comfortably ever since at Forest Lawn not far from his home in Glendale -- has a couple of stories relating to this auction and what's being made available. Frank Ceresi of SCP Auctions does a nice job laying it all out, there's a list of things up for sale at the SCP Auctions site (type in "Stengel" in the search engine and you'll see the 40-odd listed lots), and, in particular, a chance to look at the photo of the 150 cancelled checks that we made mention of in today's story, as well as pictures of many other items.
“As the only person to have worn the uniform, as player or manager, of all four major league baseball teams that played in New York City in the 20th century, Casey’Stengel is a true New York baseball legend," said David Kohler, the President/CEO of Mission Viejo-based SCP Auctions. "Casey’s true legacy comes from his tenure as manager of the New York Yankees during which he led his squad to an unprecedented five consecutive World Series titles a feat unrivaled in baseball history.
“Among the marquee items being offered as part of the Stengel Estate are Casey’s 1951 World Series Ring, won during his only season as manager for both Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle; his 1969 Mets Championship Ring, bestowed upon him by the Mets for his services as the teams vice president; and his Hall of Fame Plaque, received by Casey upon his induction in 1966. The estate collection also includes team signed baseballs, photos, scrapbooks, contracts, World Series bats, caps and cleats, programs, press pins and more.”
Estate sales are kinda tough to look at, in some regards. These are things hopefully the family is OK with giving up after having a chance to look at everything a legend like Stengel left behind. This isn't anything to help pay outstanding debts, we all hope. But a way to share a piece of baseball history.
As for Stengel's long connection to Glendale, you can still see it in many places throughout the community.
Stengel Ballfield (1601 Canada Blvd.) was opened in 1948, but renamed in Casey's honor in 1952.
Glendale Community College plays its home games at 1,500-seat Stengel Field (1601 Canada Blvd.), across the street from the campus. (Crescenta Valley High also plays its home games near its campus on what's called Stengel Field).
"I feel greatly honored to have a ballpark named after me, especially since I've been thrown out of so many," Stengel is quoted to have said once.
The Bob's Big Boy restaurant chain started in Glendale in 1936 by Bob Wian, who became close friends with Stengel and was part of the board of Glendale Federal Savings.
If you search hard enough, you'll probably find a piece of Stengel on many a corner throughout Glendale.
"There comes a time in every man’s life and I’ve had plenty of them," Stengel also once.
We'll leave it at that.

Say, for the sake of more insanity, Kobe Bryant has had enough, and is ready to mail in his retirement papers into the NBA's league office. He got a better offer from the Pluto Plutoniums of the rival Milky Way Basketball League Presented by Snickers, and he's already called Living Spaces to have them send over some flat-screen TVs and cushy chairs to his new apartment in Sector 5, Dark Side. (Hang a left at Uranus, you can't miss it).
A stretch, for sure. But thanks to the NBA's marketing department and a clever move by our government trying to keep snail mail relevent, both you, and Kobe, will all have access to something soon that'll make any irrational flip-flop declaration seem more official.
The U.S. Postal Service is offering a 39-cent stamp with the logos of six teams -- including the Lakers. Ironically, the Clippers, who mailed in most of their games last year, didn't make the cut with the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets.
There are also five NBA players who've been picked to have their pictures on the postage stamps. Kobe? Naw.
Try Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Stephon Marbury.
Nowitzki? A German dude on a U.S. stamp? Didn't we learn anything from The History Channel?
Then there's no excuse for having a Steve Nash stamp, in our humble opinion.
It'll be tough to get use to these things. At first glance, they seem like some kind of Easter Seal, nothing more than a sticker you'd buy at the Team LA store to dress up your personal diary. Apparently, your eagle-eye delivery man in Eagle, Colo., will be able to distinguish between what's real and what's made up by some floozy at a hotel just by looking at the markings of these things. We salute you, Mr. Postal Worker Stamp Cancel Person. No wonder you oft-times just go nuts and pull your paintball gun out of the holster to spray to all bullet-proof windows in the lobby of the local post office.
Rick Pennick of the NBA says neither the Clippers' logo nor any of its players are featured at this time, but "we are looking to expand to more teams and players moving forward."
Meaning, let's see what team Kobe ends up playing for before we ask anyone to lick him.
And, let's wait a week to let Dr. Buss use this stamp to send his paperwork to the Vista Detention Facility to request his personal effects be returned pronto.

By JOHN NADEL
Associated Press
Steve Yeager has learned the hard way about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s just grateful to have survived.
“I’m like a cat. I might have used a few lives up, but I’m here,” the former World Series co-MVP said four weeks
after a bizarre car wreck. “I guess God said it wasn’t my time and the devil didn’t want me.”
Yeager, who played for the Dodgers from 1972-85, underwent surgery for a punctured esophagus nearly 31 years ago after the barrel end of a broken bat struck him as he stood in the on-deck circle.
“They knew I was OK the next morning when I asked for bacon and eggs for breakfast instead of a liquid breakfast,” the 58-year-old former catcher recalled with a chuckle.
Yeager said he spent about 10 days on the sidelines before returning to action.
Now a coach for the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers of the California League, Yeager was on the 134 freeway headed home following a night game May 4 when another vehicle hit the center divider, went airborne and came down on top of his car.
“Bam. That’s it. It happened so fast,” Yeager said. “I saw the car coming, tried to swerve to my right. It was too late. I swerved enough so it didn’t land directly on top of me, just partially on top on the driver’s side.
“It sent me spinning — I ended up on the side of the road.”
Yeager said when his car finally came to rest, he saw blood — lots of blood — coming from his left arm. And he felt the kind of pain that can’t be measured.
“How do you describe pain? I started moving my fingers to make sure everything was still attached, and figured, ‘We’ll go from there,’” he said. “My arm’s still attached and nothing serious happened to me. I’m just lucky it wasn’t worse than it was.”
It was bad enough.
Yeager said he needed between 250 and 300 stitches including six or seven in his left ear. He said it took a plastic surgeon about 2½ hours to sew him up.
“I could have been killed in both situations,” he said. “I’m still here, I’m still kicking. I’m still doing what I love to do. I love being around the kids. Hopefully I can help them fulfill their dream just like mine was.”

Maybe the Ducks have a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals against Ottawa. But they aren't going to win.
The grand masters at EA Sports say so.
They played this seven-game series out on their video game console. Then they sent out a press release recapping the whole thing on May 25, three days before the series even started:
"The Ottawa Senators will be the Stanley Cup Champions, according to a simulation of the Stanley Cup Finals using the EA SPORTS NHL videogame to predict a winner. After a tight six game series, Ottawa will edge out The Anaheim Ducks and bring Lord Stanley's Mug back to Canada for the first time since 1993."
Here's how the series virtually played out, according to their software:

In reverence to Nomar Garciaparra, did you ever stop to think that Kobe spelled backwards is Ebok?
Not that it means anything. It actually means nothing. But it's about as new a spin we can put on everything, something you can even use while you're waiting on hold to get onto a local sports-talk show that'll allow you to give your three cents about his future with the Lakers, as well as the future of the free world.
T.J. Simers, the L.A. Times' columnist and morning co-host of "Roggin and Simers Squared" on KLAC-AM (570), seemed to be trying to advance the Bryant-wants-out story by sifting through possible candidates who qualify to be this "Laker Insider" source that started Kobe on this rant a couple of days ago.
An insider, of course, doesn't have to be someone in management, although that's what Bryant seems to want to believe, Simers points out. It could be another player. A broadcaster. Someone who's written a book (Charlie Rosen) ...
"Let's start a rumor -- it's Joe Safety of the Clippers," Simers said of the rival team's public relations man.
Sounds like a safe pick to us.
Y'know, we could yammer on all day about the Kobemeister, but we'll leave it to the professionals who have hours to fill on the radio and get paid much more to do so than us. All we can do is document it, as we did in today's Daily News media column, noting how the the flames were fanned and the fans enflamed in this Kobe non-kabuki theatre.
We now offer up some other media notes that may not make your palms sweat, but perhaps bring a little more handwringing:

==SportsByBrooks.com makes note of a story on the Orange County Register relating to attractive Newport Harbor High pole vaulter Allison Stokke, who has stoked many internet sites into running her photo. Going by this story on KCBS Channel 2, she's apparently not happy (although her father may dispute it) about all the attention she's been receiving, which includes this story in the Washington Post, despite the fact she's an accomplished high school athlete heading into the CIF state track and field championships this weekend in Sacramento. What Brooks' story goes further to point out is how the Register is offering copies of its own photographs to readers -- one can even be had in a mahogany frame for $215, or on a coffee mug, Christmas ornament or mouse pad. A little hypocritical with that Register story premise? The editoral department and the marketing department outta get together and figure this one out before the orders start pouring in.

Read on ...