By NANCY ARMOUR
AP National Writer
Think of sports memorabilia, and those baseball cards from childhood immediately spring to mind. It’s simple, nostalgic, a way to hold on to a much simpler time.
Then O.J. Simpson got involved.
Simpson’s arrest almost two weeks ago in an armed holdup of sports memorabilia collectors was a reminder of just how big a business collecting is. And like every business, memorabilia collecting has its shady characters.
“There’s an unsavory side to any business, no matter what it is. It’s the nature of business,” said Josh Evans, chairman and founder of Lelands, an auction house in Seaford, N.Y. “Unfortunately, usually they kind of slip in between the shadows and behind closed doors. When something like this happens, it brings them into the light.
“They’re a very small percentage, only a few.”
According to police reports, Simpson and several other men went to a hotel room at the Palace Station casino in Las Vegas on Sept. 13 on the pretext of brokering a deal with two longtime collectors. But once in the room, the collectors were ordered at gunpoint to hand over items including game balls signed by Simpson, framed awards and plaques and Joe Montana lithographs. Some of the items were valued at as much as $100,000.
Simpson insists the items were really his and had been stolen from him earlier. But he’s facing multiple charges,
including kidnapping and armed robbery.
One of the collectors has a criminal record, as does the man who arranged the meeting with Simpson.
“When you’re not with the flagships of the industry, I’m not real sure who you’re doing business with,” said FBI Special Agent Tim Fitzsimmons, the case agent for Operation Bullpen, which broke up a nationwide network of forgers, authenticators and sellers of sports and celebrity memorabilia.
“It’s kind of like the old axiom, you get what you pay for.”
Although the Simpson case might make the memorabilia industry seem less than legit, Fitzsimmons and others say nothing could be further from the truth. Most memorabilia is bought and sold through agents or auction houses — companies whose multimillion dollar earnings are dependent on doing honest business.
They employ authenticators to make sure that ball really was once hit by Babe Ruth, and the signature on that trading card really is Tony Gwynn’s. If someone brings them something to sell, they require a provenance, a paper trail that traces the item’s owners and history.
“You won’t last long in this business unless you’re being fair with people,” said Dan Imler, managing director of SCP Auctions, which recently auctioned
off Barry Bonds 756th home run ball.
“It’s all about earning people’s trust and earning your future business. Generally, those people that are unscrupulous don’t stick around long.”

A problem the industry does have is with forgeries or fake memorabilia. Before Operation Bullpen, the FBI estimated that much of the “vintage” memorabilia — pictures, autographs, bats, balls — were fake.
Athletes would come across autographed pictures of themselves and have no idea whose signature was on it.
Jerseys passed off as authentic were no more unique than the ones on sale at the mall.
“There were one of two of them that were just people running a criminal business out of their bedroom, more or less,” Fitzsimmons said of those arrested in Operation Bullpen. “If you’ve got a computer and a pen and a bunch of items to forge, you’re in business.”
But as the FBI was conducting its investigation in the late 1990s, athletes, sports leagues and collectibles dealers began taking action of their own.
Items were marked with unique, tamperproof markings to ensure their authenticity. When Bonds was chasing Hank Aaron for the all-time home run record this summer, Major League Baseball used specially marked balls for Bonds’ at-bats. Thirty years from now, there will be no question about whether a ball really was No. 756 — and not because the guy who bought it has decided to stick an asterisk on it.
Auction houses and dealers employed authenticators to make sure pieces were legit and signatures were real. Athletes signed with companies so there would be only one source for their memorabilia. Want an autographed picture of Tiger Woods winning the 2006 British Open? Unless he gave you one himself, you’ll have to get it from Upper Deck.
“I would say the majority of stuff out there being sold directly to the public, the majority is authentic,” said Doug Allen, president of Mastro Auctions in Burr Ridge, Ill.
“It’s not bad auction houses out there. What there are is bad people trying to get things past auction houses and authenticators. Do you have any idea of how many Babe Ruth baseballs we turn down? A lot more than we sell.”
Fitzsimmons agreed, saying counterfeits and forgeries in sports collectibles have dropped significantly in recent years. Now the problem is with Hollywood and celebrity memorabilia, Fitzsimmons said.
One ugly incident like Simpson’s, though, and the whole sports memorabilia industry is suspect again.
“This has really nothing to do with validation of sports memorabilia. This was about somebody taking the law into
their own hands,” Evans said. “Not great guys want to deal with not great guys. That’s the problem.”

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Associated Press issued this directive on how the NL will be settled, and it'll be updated after tonight's games.
For a classic explanation of a four-team tie, jump to the end:

NL East: If New York and Philadelphia (both 87-71) finished tied, and the wild card is not assured of coming from the NL East, they would play tiebreaker game Monday in Philadelphia. If the wild card is assured of coming from the NL East, Philadelphia would win the division because it won the season series 12-6, and the Mets would be the wild
card.

NL Central: If Chicago (83-76) and Milwaukee (81-78) finish with the same record, they would play tiebreaker game Monday at Chicago.

NL West: If Arizona (89-70) and San Diego (88-71) finish with the same record, and the wild card is not assured of coming from the NL West, they would play a tiebreaker game Monday in Phoenix.
If San Diego and Colorado (87-72) finish with the same record, and the wild card is not assured of coming from the NL West, they would play a tiebreaker game Monday in San Diego. If the wild card is assured of coming from the NL West, then division title would be based on who won the season series. Colorado beat San Diego 10-8 and Arizona beat San Diego 10-8.

Wild Card: In the event two teams tie for the wild card and cannot win the division, Colorado would host New York, Philadelphia or San Diego in a tiebreaker; New York would host Arizona or San Diego; Philadelphia would host Arizona; and San Diego would host Arizona or Philadelphia.

Three teams with same record: In the event three teams finish with the same record, and two of them are tied for first place, the two teams in the same division would play a tiebreaker Monday for the division title. The loser of that game would then play a wild-card tiebreaker Tuesday against the team from the other division.

Four teams with same record: In the event four teams finish with the same record, and they all
are tied for first place, NL East and NL West tiebreakers would be played Monday; the losing teams would meet in a wild-card tiebreaker Tuesday.
In the event four teams finish with the same record, and two are tied for second place in the NL West, New York and Philadelphia would play the NL East tiebreaker Monday; the loser would play a three-team, two-day, wild-card tiebreaker with the NL West teams on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the that scenario, the team with the best head-to-head record among the three teams in the wild-card tiebreaker would get the choice of having a bye on Tuesday or playing both games at home.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Photo by BASE Productions/FSN)
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart displays his entire throwing range in this high defintion photo shot at thousands of frames a second laid over each other during the production of the FSN show, "Sport Science."

Following up on today's Daily News media column on the new series, "Sport Science," where FSN will have original shows airing Sundays at 9 p.m.:
The sight of Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter using a sledgehammer on a crash-test dummy makes you think: Doesn't an All-Pro like him have better things to do than risk injury with this TV stuff?
John Brenkus, the show's co-creator and on-air guinea pig, said the first thing FSN asked him the project was what athletes would be attached to it?
"We took the approach that: If we build it, they will come," said Brenkus about the airport hanger in Hawthorne they converted into the lab. "They're gazillionares. But if you build the most high-tech sports facility that's cutting edge and tell them we want to give you insight on your abilities, they'll come. It ended up as an easy sell. When you can teach something to some athlete that you idolize, that’s an incredibly reearding experience. Guys like Chad Johnson, who has this bad-boy image, showed up on time and was only supposed to stay an hour. He was there four or five hours later asking us, 'What else can I do?'"
Softball pitcher Jennie Finch ended up shattering a piece of plexiglass in a segment trying to see which had a greater impact, a baseball or a softball. The experiment was trying to measure the reaction time a batter has against either a baseball or softball pitcher. As it turned out, they discovered that a batter can't see a 90 mile per hour pitch during the last 25 feet of flight. The eye blinks at .83 seconds, almost the same as an MLB fastball. The brain can't measure it that close for a batter to make a decision.
Matt Leinart and others participated in a "empathy" test -- hooked up with all kinds of sensors to measure blood pressure and biorhythms, the athletes were put in front of a monitor and watched images.
"It was kind of like 'Clockwork Orange'," said Brenkus. "All the images were sports related, from a car wreck to a home run to someone getting kicked into the groin. The responses were measured as how the athletes empathized with what they saw. And as it turned out, if you watched something take place either in person or on TV, your body does respond to the feeling of watching someone else get hurt. We do experience some pain. You have a physical reaction."

Still, none of the athletes were hurt during the taping, whether or not a Humane Society representative was present on the set.
In one experiement, though, the pet-protection group could have flinched.
In an episode that tried to recreate things that have happened in the sports world, to prove that sometimes there's a one-in-a-billion chance that it could have occured in the first place, Brenkus had his crew launch cornish game hens out of a small cannon at 55 mph to see if they could be hit in mid-flight by a 90-mph baseball thrown from a pitching machine.
They were trying to recreate the time when a pitch from Arizona Diamondbacks buzzsaw Randy Johnson hit a dove in mid-flight during a 2001 exhibition game (it was ruled no pitch ... tell that to the bird):

"That got to be very comical," said Brenkus. "A crew member was loading these hens into a canon like a musket with a road, shoving it in. We tried it 100 times and you just can't control the flight of the bird or the ball. They were two completely random factors. We finally suspended it. I think it's safe to say it'll never happen again."
The cannon might not be the most high-tech of the equipment used, but the reason a show like this can pull off science experiments that are as visual and educational to the audience is because of the technology available these days versus five or 10 years ago. Even a camera shooting 1,000 frames per second that had immediate feedback, for example, makes the show work better.
A series like this has a shelf life that goes beyond just a regular sports TV audience. FSN arranged for the series to be included in the "Cable in the Classroom" initiave, where teachers can access the shows for students.

After Sunday's debut at 9 p.m., the show re-airs on FSN West Monday at 2 p.m., Tuesday at 8 p.m., Wednesday at 1 p.m., Thursday, October 4 at 8 p.m., Friday, October 5 at 4 p.m. and Sunday, October 7 at 8 p.m. leading into the debut of the second episode at 9 p.m.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As for Kirk Herbstreit, in addition to the sidebar in today's Daily News about his crazy travel:
Herbstreit will have seen USC play in person twice after Saturday's broadcast. The Trojans are an ABC prime-time window tennant for three straight weeks (with at least two more to come, not including the afternoon meeting with UCLA on Dec. 1). That streak will end when its game against Stanford next week airs on ... ahem ... Versus.
Asked on Mike Tirico's radio show to give his top five each week, Herbstreit isn't one to stick all season with an unbeaten tennant at No. 1 simply because it won its game. It's how USC has won this season that keeps it in Herbstreit's top spot, while LSU, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Florida continue to play musical chairs behind the Trojans.
"It starts with their defense, even with the injuries they've picked up so far with Brian Cushing and others," Herbstreit said of USC's No. 1 ranking. "I'm blown away by the speed on that side of the ball and how much chaos it creates. They feel invincable. As for the offense, it's not realistic to expect (sophomore Vidal) Hazelton, (redshirt freshman David) Ausberry and (freshman) Ronald Johnson to be as good as Steve Smith or Dwayne Jarrett right now. Maybe that'll happen by week six or seven. They're still talented but they have time to get better.
"There's a certain aura about the program now. Everyone wondered if the team would fall off once Carson Palmer left. And then when Leinart and Bush and White left. But it keeps going. The one constant is Pete Carroll and how he affects everything. He has the ability to keep things loose and authentic. When there's hard work to do, they do it for him. It's pretty cool to see that.
"And with that traditional offense, it's exciting to see how a fullback and tight end work into this, in this era of a spread offense. It's really a throwback for the fullback and tight end to not only work their way into the offense, but be vital parts, like Stanley Havili and Fred Davis have done. USC isn't all about the quarterback or the 10 running backs or the star receivers. The fullback and tight end being as active as they are is really a dying breed."

Read on .....

==It's been reported on ProFootballTalk.com that Joe Theismann's run at ESPN is over. The site quotes an ESPN spokesman as delivering the official word: "We have reached a settlement with Joe Theismann to end his association with ESPN. We thank Joe for his many years of work for us and wish him well." Theismann was bumped from the "Monday Night Football" booth after last season, but not fired. He had been with ESPN for more than three decades. ESPN also quietly replaced Theismann with Seth Wickersham on the expert picks page of ESPN.com. Under the exit deal, Theismann is free to work immediately with any other media company.

==The Onion headline of the week:

NHL Giving It Another Try Despite Advice Of Friends, Family

==For those who sit and wonder about such things, ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor John Buccigross wrote on his blog that he thinks the network will get back in the business of doing live NHL games next season. "NHL players want it, the NHL wants it and ESPN wants it. NBC and Versus somewhat hold the cards however, so we will have to wait and see; but my guess is yes. ESPN will have a piece of the pie."

==And for others who wonder what the British papers are making out of the Kings and Ducks visiting London to start the NHL season:
The Daily Mail had the only story we could find among the other majors. It was mostly an overview of the season, and no one had commented on it. Searching the Daily Telegraph’s website for NHL stories, the first the pops up as for relevance and time is on the 2005 lockout. Same at the London Times.
In addition to the staples of football, rugby and cricket, The Guardian has links to chess, motor sports, triathon, even U.S. sports … nothing about hockey.
It’s definitely not the same response the U.S. had when England’s David Beckham came over to play soccer here. For what that means, the London Times reported Thursday that Beckham made a 12-hour flight back to England to be with his father, Ted, who Wednesday night suffered a heart attack.

==To clarify D’Marco Farr’s departure from KSPN-AM (710) last week: Station management had informed him that it wasn’t going to renew his contract to continue as the afternoon weekday host with Kevin Kiley. So as a 90-day window for negotiations started – which effectively would have mean a three-month lame-duck status for Farr -- the 36-year-old former St. Louis Rams defensive end announced it was his decision to out of the rest of the deal as soon as possible so he could pursue this delusional dream of trying to compete again in the NFL after a six-year absence and spin it that way.
KSPN may also move Steven A. Smith's nationally syndicated one-hour show, currently from noon to 1 p.m., into the 7 to 8 p.m. slot once baseball's playoffs end and expand the Kiley show from noon to 3 p.m.

==In addition to the news that Dan Patrick will replace the "Roggin and Simers Squared" show from 6 to 9 a.m. weekday mornings on KLAC-AM (570) starting Monday, Ross Porter's new radio feature, "Real Sports Heroes with Ross Porter" -- the title, of course, to differentiate it with a Bud Light commercial -- also starts Monday at 5:25 p.m. on the station. It runs in the same spot Monday through Thursday and at 4:25 p.m. on Fridays during football season.
The 90-second vinnettes sponsored by American Airlines will feature, as Porter says, "men and women who have achieved a certain level of excellence in sports and feel responsible for making a positive difference in the community and giving back."
The first week of programs focus on Mike Scioscia, Pete Carroll, Tiger Woods, Vin Scully and Ann Meyers Drysdale. Porter says KLAC will hold contests to have listeners submit names of worthy candidates, and winners will receive tickets to an L.A. sporting event, supplied by the sponsor.
"My wife, Lin, who came up with the concept, and I are doing the writing," said the former Dodgers' play-by-play man and KNBC Channel 4 sportscaster. "I have written the commercials and we own the show. Beginning in 2008, the plan is to expand to other markets across the U.S."
Porter is also setting up a website for the show called RealSportsHeroes.com.

==This weekend's football telecasts:
In the NFL Sunday:
10 a.m.: St. Louis at Dallas with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Channel 11
10 a.m.: Oakland at Miami with Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker on Channel 2
1:15 p.m.: Kansas City at San Diego with Dick Enberg and Randy Cross on Channel 2 (CBS has decided to give L.A. this game rather than the Denver at Indianapolis contest at the same time where it has sent Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
5:15 p.m.: Philadelphia at New York Giants with Al Michaels and John Madden on Channel 4

On local college football Saturday:
3:30 p.m.: UCLA at Oregon State with Barry Tompkins and Petros Papadakis on FSN West
5 p.m.: USC at Washington with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit on Channel 7

The best of the rest:
9 a.m.: Notre Dame at Purdue with Dave Pasch and Andre Ware on ESPN
9 a.m.: LSU at Tulane with Pam Ward and Ray Bentley on ESPN2
9 a.m.: Penn State at Illinois with Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis and Charissa Thompson on the Big Ten Network
10:30 a.m.: Oklahoma at Colorado with Joel Meyers and Dave Lapham on FSN West
12:30 p.m.: Cal at Oregon with Dan Fouts and Tim Brandt on Channel 7 (one of four regional games in this network window, including Clemson at Georgia Tech, Kansas State at Texas and Maryland at Rutgers)
12:30 p.m.: Michigan State at Wisconsin with Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire on ESPN
2 p.m.: Alabama at Florida State with Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson on Channel 2 (which is another case of CBS using its six-day rule and changing the start time, continuing to upset fans in that region, according to the AwfulAnnouncing.com blog.)
5 p.m.: Auburn at Florida with Mike Patrick pondering Brittney Spears' next career move and Todd Blackledge on ESPN
5 p.m.: Ohio State at Michigan with Mark Jones and Bob Davie on ESPN2
7 p.m.: Cincinnati at San Diego State with Joe Beninati and Glenn Parker on Versus

And don't overlook:
Tonight at 5 p.m.: West Virginia at South Florida with Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman (a battle of two unbeaten and top 20 ranked Big East teams) on ESPN2.

==Best item in this week's Pete Arbogast blog on WeAreSC.com "Today after the show, I’m heading to Palm Springs to speak to the 39th annual Dairy, Deli, Bakery Council gathering. They are making me play golf (for the first time in this millennium) prior to the speech. I plan to talk about ethics in sports (and journalism), from youth sports to the big time."
Wait ....
Wait ...
Hold on ... my sides are still splitting. There's Thanksgiving pie coming out of my nose.
What's more hilarious, that a Dairy, Deli and Bakery Council exists, or Arbo (formerly Pete Hernandez of L.A. radio traffic reporting fame) speaking about ethics in sports and journalism (as he's mocking Walt Harris' Stanford team for a) trying a field goal and then b) getting it blocked against USC last season)?

==Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young will go on CBS' "60 Minutes" -- and up against NBC's "Sunday Night Football" -- with an interview explaining how losing the 2005 Heisman Trophy to Reggie Bush has made him a better player, pushing him to prove himself more in the NFL. The interview with Scott Pelley airs from 7 to 9 p.m. on KCBS-Channel 2. No doubt, a sneak preview will be shown on CBS' "NFL Today" show Sunday morning.
“I was angry about that situation, not bringing it back,” says Young of the Heisman. “And I wanted to show the world that I was the real Heisman Trophy winner. But on paper, Reggie Bush is the Heisman Trophy winner. Not taking nothing from him, he knows he's a phenomenal athlete."
Here's an excerpt at this link.

==A very interesting piece in last week's Sports Illustrated about how ESPN's "Monday Night Football" sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is actually fed a word or phrase each Monday by KSPN-AM (710) midday hosts Steve Mason and John Ireland for her to work into a live report. What a cool idea. And the story sounds vaguely familiar, but we can't be certain it's accurate.
Regardless, Tafoya ended an 0-for-2007 streak and got the word in for the first time in three games, ending her report before the opening kickoff on how Tennessee's LenDale White was going up against former USC teammate Reggie Bush and New Orleans: "Mike, I guess we'll see which former Trojan deserves a beignet after tonight's game." At which point play by play man Mike Tirico replied: "Oooh, very good, a little Bourbon Street reference."
Actually, Mason and Ireland gave her a choice of four words to get into the game: jambalaya, gumbo, etoufee and beignet. You don't have to be a French student to know those are what Mason and Ireland referred to the four food groups of New Orleans cuisine. Nor do you have to be a dog or cat to benefit from the latest $100 donation Mason and/or Ireland will make to the Humane Society for Tafoya's participation. Thanks for playing.

==In his Sept. 26 edition of LARadio.com, editor Don Barrett offers this "open email" to Angels owner Arte Moreno, whose team will be heard exclusively on his own 830-AM KLAA based in the city of Orange, starting next season:
"Your station covers a wide area of Orange County and the Southern part of Los Angeles County with its 50,000 watt signal during the day and its 20,000 watts at night. We know that you’ve gone through a lot of time and expense to expand the Angels beyond its previous territory when you fought to rename the team as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Please accept this suggestion that in order to reach out and expand the fan base for your team, we need to have some help in hearing the games north of KLAA’s current nighttime signal. That is, many of us who live in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, and San Gabriel Valleys, as well as other sections of L.A. county will have challenges getting a consistent signal to hear the Angels during the season.
"Here’s a thought: What about an fm station to help assure a clean signal for Angel broadcasts throughout all of Los Angeles County? Whotta treat it would be to hear Rory Markas and the Angels loud and clear on an fm signal that covers the area from the Santa Clarita Valley all the way down the coast through both Los Angeles and Orange Counties!"
Sorry, makes too much sense.

==It reminds us that the latest rumor/innuendo/speculation on the Dodgers' radio deal for next season: Still nothing to announce. KSPN made its pitch (then bowed out), and KFWB left its $5 million a season offer and then pulled it (after paying $8 million over five years). The team's latest opition may be to buy the time on KABC-AM (790) and keep the ad revenue for itself. It'll have to, since no radio sales staff will have the time now to get the ball rolling on sponsors for the 2008 season by wining and dining clients at a game.

==NBC will adjust its schedule to accomodate for 16 hours of coverage Saturday and Sunday for the Presidents Cup from Montreal this weekend. The 10 hours Saturday covers the foursomes and four-ball matches (starting at 5 a.m.) and Sunday's six hours (starting at 9 a.m.) has the 12 singles matches.
Producer Tommy Roy will oversee 27 hours of live event coverage between NBC and TNT.
"We cover match play differently than stroke play," says Roy. "For example, when we go to a match, we stay with it. You can't jump around from player-to-player and hole-to-hole as you would in a stroke play event."
TNT continues its coverage today of the four-ball matches from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Also, PGATOUR.com has videostreaming at the 7th and 13th holes during all four rounds.

==Don't think 10-year-old Jason Krause isn't soaking in all the extra pub since he started doing reports for ESPN's NFL pregame show. His angle for Sunday's appearance? What else, the Bears' QB controversy, and what he learned about how coach Lovie Smith and Rex Grossman handled themselves.

==Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, Lennox Lewis and Harold Lederman will be in Atlantic City, N.J., when HBO covers Jermain Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik and Andre Berto vs. David Estrada live Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
An HBO publicist asked Lampley if he could summarize the fight. Here is the actual filibuster Lampley gave that was forwarded to media writers across the country who had the spare time to read through it (and if you watch Saturday's broadcast, see how much Lampley uses this verbatim):
“The middleweight championship bout between champion Jermain Taylor and challenger Kelly Pavlik is a fight that harkens back to the days of boxing's broadest popularity, for easily identifiable reasons-- two American stars, both unbeaten, both from blue collar cities, both with entertaining hit-and-get-hit styles, the winner to emerge as undisputed ruler of one of the sport's most glamorous divisions. Poetically, it is the challenger who enters riding a tide of surging popularity and support, and the champion who must fight off mounting criticism for recent disappointing performances. In a year already rich with fight of the year candidates-- Miguel Cotto's bloody 11th-round TKO of Zab Judah before a record Madison Square Garden crowd, Paul Williams' sizzling upset of Antonio Margarito for a welterweight belt, Israel Vasquez' violent revenge knockout of Rafael Marquez for the 122-pound crown-- here comes the next likely entrant."
Think Lamps is done? Hardly ... Next, a lesson in Boxing 101 as he knows it:
"Stung by the ridicule which followed his less-than-inspiring victories over Kassim Ouma and Corey Spinks, Little Rock's Jermain Taylor repaired to an isolated training camp in the Pocono Mountains with legendary trainer Emanuel Steward to prepare for Pavlik, the first time Taylor has observed the monastic traditions that nurtured the careers of fighters like Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis. After the difficult technical challenges of fighting world-class defenders like Bernard Hopkins (two decision victories for Taylor), Winky Wright (a controversial draw), and most recently Spinks (an easy decision for Taylor in a low-contact matchup), the champion has his first opportunity in years to let his hands go against a willing
partner, and he is promising it will make all the difference."
The sweat glistens from Lampley's keyboard as he moves to the other side of the ring ....
“Pavlik brings his working class style from Youngstown, Ohio to the spotlight of Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, looking to duplicate the stunning success of his 7th-round knockout win over Colombia's Edison Miranda four months ago. Miranda had been the division's flavor of the month after a series of punching power displays, but Pavlik backed him up from the opening bell, stole his vaunted thunder in the first three rounds, then provided his own fireworks with a brace of spectacular right crosses, uppercuts and big left hooks. The immediate response was a rush to judgment-- having easily disposed of Miranda, Pavlik was poised to do the same to Taylor. But the ongoing reappraisal is a recognition of the sport's most indelible truism-- that styles make fights-- and Pavlik's entertaining, free-swinging style may be just what the doctor ordered for Taylor."
He's not just showing off now, he's trying to get three bills through the House of Representatives at this point before the midnight deadline ...
"So will Pavlik barge through Taylor just as he did with the heavily-favored Miranda, bringing a fresh new American face to the sport's middleweight marquee? Or will Taylor's faster hands find the target which has been so elusive against more defensively-oriented opponents, rejuvenating the career of the still-unbeaten Everlast coverboy? The boxing world finds out, live on HBO, September 29 in Atlantic City.”
Bravo! Tied up very nicely. Think that'll fit in a 30-second commercial?

==Showtime, which is staging one of those free preview weekends from Friday to Monday, offers some boxing of its own to those curious. A card from Arco Arena in Sacramento (Saturday, 10 p.m., delayed) includes WBC light heavyweight champ Chad Daswon against Epifanio Mendoza. Earlier in the day (2 p.m.), the network will are "Elite XC: Uprising," the mixed martial arts show taped last week in Hawaii and including Robbie Lawler's victory over Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specialist Murilo Rua for the middleweight title.

==XM Radio (8.2 million subscribers) has expanded from six to nine NHL channels so it can offer ever game for the league this season (in the contential U.S.). Games now appear on XM channels 204-209 and 237-239. The Kings-Ducks openers from London on Saturday and Sunday airs on channel 205. XM is in its third year carrying the NHL and has a deal through 2015. More info: http://www.xmradio.com/nhl.

==ESPN Home Entertainment is already pushing the 3-disc DVD set of its recent miniseries, "The Bronx is Burning," which went on sale Tuesday. The network reports that on ESPNShop.com, they pre-sold 800 copies. ESPN also got former Yankees Graig Nettles and Mickey Rivers to help promote it with autograph signings in the New York area.

==While ESPN generates garbage on one end, it also reports:
"X Games Environmentality (XGE) delivered an impressive 84 percent recycling rate at X Games 13, held August 2-5 at the Home Depot Center and Staples Center. These results indicate that progressive waste minimization and resource conservation initiatives implemented throughout the planning and execution of the event have created a new standard for environmental excellence in action sporting events. These accomplishments were achieved in part through an innovative composting program designed to capture and divert organic materials from the landfill. Spectators and staff alike were encouraged to participate in this program by composting paper and food products. The staff catering area has excelled in this effort through the use of compostable service products such as cups made from corn based PLA plastic; plates, bowls and to-go containers made from bagasse, a sugarcane by-product; utensils made from potato starch; and napkins made from recycled content paper.
"Products like these ensured that a majority of diners' discards could be composted. In addition, kitchen grease generated by the staff catering kitchen was recycled into biodiesel and more than 3,500 pounds of surplus food and catering supplies were donated to a Los Angeles area food bank.
"In a continued effort to raise awareness about ways to combat climate change, XGE introduced X Rider, an initiative that rewarded spectators who carpooled four or more to a car or used LA Metro to get to The Home Depot Center. Additionally, XGE planted 5,000 trees in the Tahoe National Forest to assist with reforestation efforts following the devastating Bassetts Fire that destroyed 2,000 acres of forestland."
X Games will remain trashing Los Angeles through 2009.

==Even with the U.S. team was KO’d from the Women's World Cup in a brutal loss against Brazil on Thursday morning, ESPN2 will have the squad in its third-place game against Norway for 90 minutes of more analysis early Sunday at 1:55 a.m. (tune in after LeBron James hosts "Saturday Night Live"), leading into the title game (Brazil-Germany) at 4:55 a.m., with JP Dellacamera and Julie Foudy on the call.

==The eighth edition of the Golf Channel's "Big Break" comes from the brutal conditions this summer at Mesquite, Nevada (think 120-degree days), and offers the biggest reward in the series history -- an exemption at a 2008 PGA Tour event, the $3.5 million Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico in late February (as the website link her asks, how do you say 'Funk' in Spanish?). In the past, the best a women's competitor could do in this is an LPGA Tour exemption, and the men could get a spot in a Nationwide Tour event. The 12-week series starts Tuesday at 7 p.m. There's also a new scoring system: Each show has some challenges that allow the players to earn points that will be used to determine who makes the cut. Players who fail to make the cut will go to an elimination challenge before they're finally cut from the show.

==Finally, why Vin Scully must never leave the broadcast booth:
During Sunday's telecast of the Dodgers' game in Arizona, Scully brought up the usual "On This Day" in Dodger history blurb before the start of the inning.
On Sept. 22, 1978, the Dodgers' Lee Lacy hit a pinch-hit homer to beat San Diego 5-3. "Now let's get back to this one." Once the inning resumed, Scully had more background on that story: A week earlier, on Sept. 15, Dodgers first base coach Jim Gilliam suffered a massive brain hemorrage and went into a coma. Before Lacy's at bat, Scully said Dodgers third base coach Preston Gomez went to Lacy in the on-deck circle and said, "Hit one for Gilliam." And Lacy did, off the Padres' Rollie Fingers, a future Hall of Famer. Gilliam later passed away after the Dodgers clinched the NL pennant, just before the World Series started.
We happened to tune in later, on Sunday's radio broadcast, where Charley Steiner had the same "Day in History" moment. He relayed the anniversary of Lacy hitting the home run and added: "And soon after that, Junior Gilliam suffered a brain hemorrage." He and Rick Monday then went into a discussion about Gilliam later died, how the World Series had this dark cloud hanging over it, etc...
No mention of the Gomez story, or Fingers ... and Monday was on that team.
And the note that Gilliam "soon after" had the medical emergency wasn't accurate.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By GARANCE BURKE
Associated Press Writer
FRESNO -- An assistant high school football coach led his team to a string of victories by improperly recruiting more than a dozen players from American Samoa and offering them housing, according to an investigation by local sports authorities.
The six-month probe alleges a Samoa-based relative of the coach began meeting with the students’ parents as early as 2004, and persuaded them to send their sons from the remote South Pacific island to Stockton, 50 miles south of Sacramento. Once there, the coach is accused of housing the students at his home, with his brother or with other coaches.
Fourteen students and their families flew to California on tickets purchased by the coach’s mother, and were put up in motels for a week paid for by Franklin High School personnel, authorities said. The coaches helped the parents get fake utility bills to establish their sons’ residency, and the Yellowjackets gained a new set of recruits to
advance their standing within the league, officials said.
“Who knows where they would have been if they hadn’t had those kids,” said Pete Saco, a regional commissioner
of the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports in the state. “Our goal is that everybody has to play by the rules. That’s the essence of what high sports is all about.”

While not criminal, athletic recruiting at the high school level is not permitted by high school sports governing bodies in United States, along with exercising “undue influence” to coerce young students to switch schools, sports authorities said.
Still, administrators in the Stockton Unified School District questioned the report’s focus on students from one ethnic group.
Dozens of students of Samoan descent play on other teams in the Central Valley area, and all three Samoan students enrolled at Franklin High School are in compliance with the rules, said Superintendent Jack McLaughlin.
“We viewed this in the beginning as kind of an attack on a culture,” McLaughlin said. “We did not violate anything.”
Messages left for the high school’s assistant principal and athletics departments were not immediately returned Thursday.
Local sports authorities started probing allegations that parents of students at five high schools in the capital city, Pago Pago, were being paid to fly to California, and that their children were being housed with American coaches, according to the investigation.
In June, a consultant and a Sacramento lawyer flew to Samoa, where they interviewed student recruits, parents and administrators. Saco would not say how much the investigation cost, but a federation spokeswoman said it was the most extensive inquiry undertaken in California in recent years.
If Saco finds the school violated the rules, Franklin High may have to forfeit games when the accused students were on the team or could be suspended from playing in section championships, the federation said.
Stockton Unified School District officials must respond by Oct. 5.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LeBron James' rendention of the old Bobby Brown song "My Prerogative" with the MC Hammer pants and Gumby haircut, was the only memorable thing from when he co-hosted the ESPY Awards last July with Jimmy Kimmel.
And that's what apparently helped sell the folks at NBC's "Saturday Night Live" to invite him as the host to open the 33rd season of the show (Saturday, 11:35 p.m., KNBC Channel 4). James will be the first NBA player since Michael Jordan in 1991 to open the series, and the first NBA player to appear since Charles Barkley did it in '93 (all back when NBC was covering the NBA on a regular basis).
"We started talking internally last year (about having James on) and then after the playoffs, and watching the ESPYs of course, and the Nike ads, you can tell when someone has a sense of humor or perspective on theirself and can laugh at stuff," said Lorne Michaels on moments ago on a conference call with media writers. "He's known by all sorts of people who don't follow basketball that much."
Kimmel said of James during the EPSYs: "He can do it all -- except sing and dance." Now the 22-year-old has another chance, especially with muscial guest Kanye West busting a few moves.
Thursday, James wouldn't say if he's going to reprise a song-and-dance number. That's mostly because he's not sure if any of the skits they've rehearsed so far are getting on.
"Right now, we're about 30 minutes long and we're going to wait to see after dress rehearsal so I hate to say what's in," said Michaels. "He's really good at this stuff."
"I've been a fan of the show since my mom let me stay up to watch it," said James. "If I wasn't a fan, I wouldn't be doing it."
"We have been on 12 years long than he's been alive," Michaels reminded us.
Here's a Wikipedia list of sports figures who have hosted the show over the years.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Those of us who caught the end of this morning's "Roggin and Simers Squared" episode on KLAC-AM (570) were amazed to hear that the show's three co-hosts -- Fred Roggin, T.J. Simers and Tracy Simers -- have all been blown out, and Dan Patrick, the former ESPN Radio midday host, will replace them in the morning time slot beginning Monday.
"It is Fred, T.J. and Tracy in this time period for the last time," Roggin announced this morning, according to LARadio.com. "This is going to be our final show together on KLAC. Yesterday, the somewhat sobering, yet exciting news. As many of you know, Dan Patrick, who worked for ESPN for many years, left that network and became a free agent and decided to go with syndicated radio. As the story goes, as the crow flies, as the wind blows, Clear Channel, which owns this station, signed Dan Patrick. Dan Patrick needed a Los Angeles home. Given the fact that from the very beginning of our go-round here, it had been trumpeted that it was only going to last a year."
Simers, the L.A. Times page 2 columnist, admitted the grind of the morning radio was taking its toll on him and had been asking for some sort of change in the schedule. Simers will be paid through the end of his contract, until 2008. Roggin said he will stay at the station in some capacity.
On Dan Patrick's official website, a clock counts down the days, hours and minutes to the launch of his new show. On his blog, the September 26th, 2007 entry reads: "So here it is. I’m proud to let you know that ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ will return Monday morning October 1st. We’ll be live from 9a-Noon ET…6a-9a PT on a station near you. We’ll have more info at danpatrick.com leading up to the launch about station specifics. Thanks to all of you that checked out the site and the blog over the past two months. I can’t wait to get back on the air. Talk to you Monday."
It is known that any station that carries ESPN Radio content could not take Patrick's show under orders from ESPN. That left 710-AM as well as 1090-AM in San Diego out of the picture for a Southern California home for Patrick.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) — Nike has unveiled what it said is the first shoe designed specifically for American Indians, an effort aiming at promoting physical fitness in a population with high obesity rates.
The Beaverton-based company says the Air Native N7 is designed with a larger fit for the distinct foot shape of American Indians, and has a culturally specific look. It will be distributed solely to American Indians; tribal wellness programs and tribal schools nationwide will be able to purchase the shoe at wholesale price and then pass it along to individuals, often at no cost.
"Nike is aware of the growing health issues facing Native Americans," said Sam McCracken, manager of Nike's Native American Business program. "We are stepping up our commitment ... to elevate the issue of Native American health and wellness."
Nike said it is the first time it has designed a shoe for a specific race or ethnicity. It said all profits from the sale of the shoe will be reinvested in health programs for tribal lands, where problems with obesity, diabetes and related conditions are near epidemic levels in some tribes.
Nike designers and researchers looked at the feet of more than 200 people from more than 70 tribes nationwide and found that in general, American Indians have a much wider and taller foot than the average shoe accommodates. The average shoe width of men and women measured was three width sizes larger than the standard Nike shoe.
As a result, the Air Native is wider with a larger toe box. The shoe has fewer seams for irritation and a thicker sock liner for comfort.

Jerry Bread, outreach coordinator for the Native American Studies program at University of Oklahoma, said the idea was "fantastic" and addressed a core issue for tribes, though he was skeptical that the feet of people from so many tribes could be so similar.
"It's an excellent gesture and I know it will get a lot of support from tribal people," Bread said. "We stand to profit from it in our physical health and well being."
Dr. Kelly Acton, director of the national diabetes program for Indian Health Services, said she was dubious of working with a corporation at first but said she was delighted with the result, saying Nike "bent over backwards" to design a shoe and respect public health needs.
The N7 name is a reference to the seventh generation theory, used by some tribes to look to the three generations preceding them for wisdom and the three generations ahead for their legacy.
The design features several "heritage callouts" as one product manager described it, including sunrise to sunset to sunrise patterns on the tongue and heel of the shoe. Feather designs adorn the inside and stars are on the sole to represent the night sky.
The company anticipates selling at least 10,000 pairs and raising $200,000 for tribal programs. At $42.80 wholesale, it represents less of a financial opportunity than a goodwill and branding effort.
"The reason I like it is that, even if there's not a big Native American market, it gives people the impression there is a constituency that deserves attention," said John Dickson, a member of the executive council of the Native American Leadership Alliance in Washington, D.C.
Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said the product reflects how Nike does business.
The company prides itself on designing specifically for certain athletes and having close ties to its customers. Nike has been involved with the tribal community for years, supporting tribal athletic teams, events and other social initiatives.
"It reinforces the core of the Nike brand, which is: If you have a body you are an athlete," Swangard said.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK (AP) -- The ball Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756th home run will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Fashion designer Marc Ecko, who bought the ball in an online auction, set up a Web site for fans to vote on the ball's fate, and Wednesday announced the decision to brand it won out over the other options -- sending it to Cooperstown unblemished or launching it into space.
(According to the site Vote756.com, 47 percent of the 10 million plus votes cast picked the asterisk, while 34 percent wanted it sent to the Hall unmarked and 19 percent were willing to have it blasted into space). Ecko announced the results this morning on NBC's "Today" show, to give him as much publicity as possible.
Ecko said he believed the vote to brand the ball showed people thought "this was shrouded in a chapter of baseball history that wasn't necessarily the clearest it could be."
Ecko, whom Bonds called "an idiot" last week, had the winning bid Sept. 15 in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit Aug. 7 to break Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs. The final selling price was $752,467, well above most predictions that assumed Bonds' status as a lightning rod for the steroids debate in baseball would depress the value.
The asterisk suggests that Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks on them to ballparks as he neared Aaron's hallowed mark.
Bonds publicist Rachael Vizcarra did not immediately respond to an e-mail sent early Wednesday seeking comment about the ball's fate.
Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey said accepting the ball did not mean the Hall in Cooperstown, N.Y., endorses the viewpoint that Barry Bonds used drugs.
"This ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown if Marc hadn't bought it from the fan who caught it and then let the fans have their say," Petroskey told The Associated Press. "We're delighted to have the ball. It's a historic piece of baseball history."
Hall of Fame officials and Ecko are discussing how to affix the asterisk on the ball. It's not yet known when the ball will go on display.
The Giants announced Friday they will part with Bonds after this season, the seven-time NL MVP's 15th in San Francisco and 22nd in the majors.
Ecko, known for his pop culture pranks, said he bought the ball and arranged to let the public decide its future online as a way to hold a conversation about a classic American sport in the digital world.
"This is obviously something that struck a chord with fans," Ecko said Wednesday in a phone interview with the AP.
Bonds broke the home run record with a shot into the right-center field seats off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik at San Francisco's AT&T Park.
Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle holding the ball. He said he decided to sell it because he couldn't afford to pay the taxes required to keep it.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Only a few hours remains before the 6 p.m. (PDT) deadline approaches on the fate of Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball.
Fashion guru Marc Ecko spent more than $750,000 to buy the ball at auction and has set up a website -- www.vote756.com -- that allows three options for the ball's fate. According to his digital counter, more than 10 million have voted.
The choices: Give it to the Hall of Fame as it, brand it with an asterisk and give it to the Hall, or blast it into outer space.
"He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds has said. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid."
The stupid part is you can vote as many times as you want, seemingly all day if you like.
At least the counter on the site that'll determine the fate for home run No. 755 is a bit more realistic.
On EndTheDebate.com more than 18,000 have voted to smash No. 755, while more than 8,000 want to save it. No word on when the voting ends there.

**==UPDATE: Ecko's website now says you have to tune into NBC's "Today" show Wednesday at 7 a.m. to find out the results of the poll........

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In today's Daily Oklahoman, writer Jenni Carlson wrote again, standing by the facts in her original column on Oklahoma State quarterback Bobby Reid back on Sept. 22 that set Cowboys coach Mike Gundy into a post-game tizzy last Saturday that made its way quite quickly around the sports world thanks to immediate video.
Carlson even went on ABC's "Good Morning America" to defend her position Tuesday. The newspaper has her video response on its NewsOK.com website as well.
"I didn't expect this sort of outrage," she said on ABC.
How could she, or anyone?
The Association for Women in Sports Media even issued a response, saying it was "alarmed at the unprofessional manner in which Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy chose to take exception with a column written by AWSM member Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman. Gundy has the right to express his opinion, just as Carlson has the right to express hers. But his decision to air his objections in the form of a personal attack shows a lack of respect for all journalists."
Gundy's meltdown probably didn't do his QB any good -- now the kid must want to curl up in a corner and hide because everyone who has access to a TV knows about his mom feeding him chicken and all the other questionable stuff she included in that column.
She asked Gundy again in Monday's press conference for him to clarify his remarks that three-quarters of her story was inaccurate, but he wouldn't do it. So where is she supposed to go now?
Gundy's overreaction made for great TV. And it opened a better debate on what role the media has in covering college athletes vs. pro athletes.
Do we put pressure on college athletes in the media?
"More than we used to and more than we should," said Washington Post columnist Mike Wilbon when he came onto Mike Tirico's ESPN Radio show Tuesday.
Wilbon said he wasn't sure Carlson "gets it." He thought she crossed the line by criticizing his personal live and not his on-field performance. A younger columnist like Carlson is more inclined to be more bloger-mentality than journalistic quality reporter, both Wilbon and Tirico co-host Scott Van Pelt said.
"There's no accountablity with bloggers," said Wilbon. "Way too much rumor. That's not what we should be doing. Everyone now wants to be a star through opinion. I wonder what contributes to that?"
Wilbon, of course, with his appearances on ESPN's "PTI."
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Slezak wonders if Gundy was more upset about the female writer than the contents of the story. A fair question.
Also check in on what Marc Isenberg has to say about this matter on his Money Players blog: "Gundy should stick up for his players, but that doesn't mean he should publicly berate someone in the media who writes something critical. Gundy might benefit from some media training. Lesson 1: Don't argue with anyone who works for a company that buys ink by the barrel (great advice offered by Walter O'Malley)."
Some say Gundy was more upset at his staff for leaking information to Carlson, and used Carlson as the target of his anger to get the message across to his guys. His tirade made no sense coming off a big victory that day against Texas Tech.
If so, that's a brutal approach. Because, as Jim Rome gave his take on his syndidated radio show today and probably will expand upon on his "JRIB" ESPN show later today, all Gundy had to do was take Carlson aside and get angry at her privately. Nothing justified his reaction Saturday and an apology is in order.
Regardless, let the lively debate continue. As long as it doesn't get personal.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Going back to our story Sunday in the Daily News on the Los Angeles Amazons of the Women's Pro Football League, we made the reference to the first real attempt at a female pro pigskin team -- the L.A. Dandelions, who started in 1973 at Long Beach Veterans Stadium and lasted until the late '70s with another ownership change.
Ann Beebe, currently the radio producer for USC football and basketball on KSPN-AM (710), will now admit she was one of the original Dandelions as a punter and kicker.
"It's 30 years later, and I'm still hesitant to let this out ... I guess that shows you how far women's football has come," Beebe said.
"We were paid $25 per game, for a whole season and a half, at which point we had to play for free if we wanted to continue. Our owner did pay to fly us to two road games, however -- Oklahoma City and Albuquerque. We played a game in the Dodgers minor league ballpark against Dallas."
Beebe said the highlight of the whole experience was when several players from her team were in a TV movie, "The Oklahoma City Dolls," starring Susan Blakely, Eddie Albert and Waylon Jennings *and Mike Walden as the game announcer). The team photo above is of many Dandelion players portraying the Dolls' opponents, Minnesota Maids. Beebe, as No. 73, is shown here as a punter.
That's where they really made some money.
"We had about a week's work and made more money on that movie than we ever did playing for real -- which still was not much," she said. "I learned how to kick a field goal over one weekend by watching NFL games, and kicked one in the movie."
Beebe says she is still in touch with Dandelions quarterback Rose Lowe and has fond memories of playing for coach Aubrey Duncan, who is now the Amazons' head coach.
"Rose has actually been to some Amazon practices but I haven't made it by yet," Beebe said. "If I ever get there, I want to show Aubrey I can still kick a football."
In the team photo above, that's Beebe (73) in the top row next to Lowe (12).
Another member of the Dandelions was a linebacker named Barbara Patton.
"She used to bring her young son to practice," said Beebe. "He grew up to be a real NFL linebacker."
That would be Marvcus Patton, a former star at UCLA who played for Buffalo, Washington and Kansas City during a 13 year career in the NFL.
Beebe says she still has a VHS video of some of Dandelion history and remembers when NBC did a story on a "Dateline"-type show. Channel 9 reporter Mark Steines, who is now with "Entertainment Tonight," also did a three night feature about 10 years ago.
As for reading the story on the Amazons, Beebe said: "I'm not sure I would have the dedication today's players seem to have. I'm glad they are still trying to make it happen."
Beebe has produced USC football and basketball since 1998. She also did Clippers games from 1986 to 2006 and worked on the KWKW Dodgers broadcasts from 1999-2004. She's also worked at KRLA, KHJ, KRTH and did 20 years for ABC Watermark on American Top 40 with Casey Kasem.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Milton Bradley questioned the legitimacy of what goes on with Fred Roggin's "The Challenge," and see what happened to him?
The thing he should be upset about is how easy the "rapid fire" question segment got for those playing live at Barney's Beanery.
We agree, they needed to dumb down the questions based on the fact no one (hardly) got past five right the first two weeks. But here was a series of true-false asked to one female contestant:
In hockey, they use a ball?
In NASCAR, the drivers always turn left?
Luge is an Olympic sport?
Motoball is an Olympic sport?
You can play tennis with either hand?
What a shock when she won.
I'll give you name of a team, you give me the city, he said to another guy.
Another stunner. Dude got 'em all right.
"Let me say what's up to Petros and Money!" he said afterward.
A smart man on many fronts. Except Money wasn't in the studio. Just Petros.
Third guy also won a dinner.
"True or false: The Dodgers play in the National League?"
The guy gulped before he said true.

Anyway, for Week 3, I believe it's the first time I got every question correct. None were wrong for a dreaded 0. So chalk me up for an all-time best 260 points for third place, only 10 points out of first. Again, this is despite the delay of playing on DirecTV through the Tivo. There's 40 points possible per answer, and I only got that once even though I clicked onto the right answer immediately at least five times (and only got the 40 points once). That's my handicap for the others to take advantage of.
Over the season, I'm in seventh place with 630 points. The lucky red balls are working.
(Not that I'm paying that much attention, but Richel Rogin .... 20th place in the overall standings ... c'mon, you can do better .... )
Here's how it played out Sunday:

Question 1: Which quarterback led the Baltimore Ravens to victory in Super Bowl 35?
A) Steve McNair
B) Tony Banks
C) Maury Povich
D) Trent Dilfer

Question 2: You make the call (A clip of Green Bay's Brett Favre throwing a pass, having it batted back at him, he catches it and throws it again, the pass sailing out of bounds).
A) Incomplete pass
B) Muff
C) Incomplete forward pass.
D) Ineligible player downfield

Question 3: What NFL coach was once an assistant at USC?
A) Mike Shanahan
B) Joe Gibbs
C) Mike Holmgren
D) Fred Rogers

Question 4: Southland resident Maurice Greene won two gold medals at which Olympic Games?
A) Sydney
B) Athens
C) Atlanta
D) Cheyenne

Question 5: (Audio question): Which major league baseball player is singing this song?
A) Scott Spiezio
B) Barry Zito
C) Jason Giambi
D) Ben Broussard

Question 6: Who is the first unseeded player to win a men's title at Wimbledon?
A) Pat Cash
B) Donald Rumsfeld
C) Boris Becker
D) Michael Stich

Question 7: Before being drafted by the Expos, Gary Carter signed a letter of intent to play which sport at UCLA?
A) Volleyball
B) Football
C) Water polo
D) Basketball

Question 8: Which NBA team drafted Dodgers pitcher Mark Hendrickson?
A) Sacramento Kings
B) Cleveland Cavaliers
C) New Jersey Nets
D) Philadelphia 76ers

The answers:
A1: D: Dilfer. Got it right. Got 40 points. Povich? How many knuckleheads took that choice. It's not like you needed to make it that easy. Why not throw in Kyle Boler to make people think an extra second?
A2: C: Incomplete forward pass. The rule is you can only throw one pass from behind the line of scrimmage. Farve threw two. Therefore ... I got it right. Got 35 points. Finally, got one right on these NFL rules question. A muff? No, but nice word to throw out there.
A3: B: Joe Gibbs, with McKay in the late '60s and early '70s. Got it right. Got 35 points. Fred Rogers? Now it's getting really, really idiotic. But it forces the test taker to look at the name, think about it a second, and then move on. It's a hurdle that should be easy to get past, but it's so ridiculous you have to look at it and laugh.
A4: A: Sydney. Got it right. Got 35 points.
A5: A: Spiezio. It was a loud, hard rock song, so guessed right. Got 30 points.
A6: C: Becker, in 1985. I hesitated, but got it right. Got 25 points.
A7: B: Football. He said he signed a letter of intent out of Sunny Hills High in Fullerton to run the wishbone for Pepper Rogers in 1972. Got it right. Got 35 points. You mean UCLA didn't try to sign him to play baseball?
A8: D: 76ers. I waited until one answer was eliminated -- I thought it was the Nets, but then it disappeared -- before I took the Sixers and got it right. He was their second round pick in '96. Got 25 points.

The top 10 scores win tickets to the Oct. 18 Clippers' preseason game against Phoenix.
Kinda makes it a waste to do so well, doesn't it?

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Associated Press)

As a follow up to the column in today's Daily News about the Los Angeles Amazons womens' pro football team, here's a recent story that covers the Women's Pro Football League -- where it's been and where it's trying to go:

By DEANNA MARTIN
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS -- Lisa Watson has a husband and five kids at home, plus a full-time job. But her schedule gets really crazy in the summer and fall, when she becomes “Tank,” a member of the Indiana Speed women’s professional football team.
“I just make time, because I love it,” said the 30-year-old Watson, dressed in pads and a helmet while taking a break from a sweltering August practice at a city park.
When football fans across the nation were gearing up for college football and the NFL, the 14 teams in the Women’s Professional Football League had already begun their eight-week regular season.
They don’t have prime time TV spots or multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals. They don’t draw huge crowds to their games at high school or small-college stadiums. Most teams -- with names such as the Las Vegas Showgirlz, the Minnesota Vixen and the Carolina Queens – don’t make a profit.
But the women who wear these football uniforms aren’t playing for fame. And with salaries sometimes at $1 a game, they certainly aren’t playing for fortune.
“I got into it just for the love of the sport,” said 41-year-old April Priest, a linebacker and running back who is also co-owner of the Speed. “I saw my first practice and was hooked.”
Though women’s football has been around for more than 100 years, the current incarnation of the WPFL began in 1999. The sport has come a long way since an 1896 exhibition game in New York City featured women in sailor suits and short dresses. Police stopped the game for fear of spectators crushing the players as they tried to get a better look.
Today, dozens of teams offer women the chance to play football in at least three different leagues, said Brian Wiggins, executive director of the Women’s Professional Football League and owner of the Houston Energy.
“Women want to play,” Wiggins said. “There’s always going to be women’s football.”

Team members like the camaraderie they’ve found in a sport dominated by men. Women who have played sports all their lives enjoy the chance to continue their athletic pursuits after college.
Yet some say they’re surprised by how demanding the game and the practices can be.
“I just thought it’d be fun,” said Sandi Ballard-Groth, a 38-year-old wide receiver and co-owner of the Speed who played softball and volleyball in school. “I’m a football fan, and I always thought it’d be cool to play. I just didn’t know it would be as intensive as this.”
The women in the WPFL play by most NFL rules and, like the guys, they study film and pore over playbooks. The result is entertaining, full-contact football, said John Evans, coach of the Empire State Roar of Rochester, N.Y.
“These girls can hit,” Evans said. “It’s a vicious contact sport and they don’t lay back.”
Even so, teams don’t put up NFL numbers. At the Speed’s Aug. 18 season opener, Speed quarterback Cassie Longcore completed 7 of 18 passes for 64 yards and a 17-yard touchdown pass to lead the team to a 16-0 victory over Minnesota. The Vixen had just 96 yards of offense.
Still, Wiggins insists women’s football is not a “sideshow.”
“We’re not powder puff,” he said. “It’s real women, real football. It’s the real deal.”
Real football means injuries. Watson recalls a game last season in which an opposing player was taken away by ambulance.
“People get hurt,” she said.”There’s pain. People break things, just like the NFL.”
Ballard-Groth, who has a 12-year-old daughter and owns a graphic design and marketing firm, said the team is always looking for players to replace those who leave due to injury or for family reasons.
“Women’s bodies aren’t built … they aren’t ready for football,” she said. “We’re lucky to have them three or four years.”
Family members sometimes get concerned, but husbands, children, parents and others are generally supportive, the women said.
“I’m just very proud of her” said Watson’s father, Jerry Officer. “I get a little squeamish sitting there watching her, but she does pretty good.”
Alex Groth, who used to help coach the Speed, said it’s more fun watching Indianapolis Colts games with his wife since she joined the team. She points out plays, and isn’t just interested in the score.
“They watch a football game just like a coach would watch a football game,” he said of his wife and her teammates.
Family and friends are part of the crowd at women’s games, which typically draw a few hundred fans. The Houston Energy draw an average of nearly 2,000 fans in football-crazed Texas. At the Speed’s first home game of the season, nearly 400 fans turned out.
Game tickets bring in some money, but teams search for sponsors to help pay the bills because it’s an expensive endeavor.
Houston’s budget last year was about $90,000, Wiggins said, and a single away game requiring airline tickets can set a team back $10,000.
The league doesn’t keep track of player salaries, but Wiggins said many receive just $1 a game.
Some teams, like the Empire State Roar, require players to pay for uniforms and travel costs. The Speed take long bus rides (it took 12 hours to visit the Carolina Queens) to avoid expensive flights, and players concede they aren’t always thrilled with the travel arrangements.
“By the end of the season you feel like you haven’t been home very much,” said Priest, an athletic trainer who swam competitively through college, and played soccer, softball and basketball growing up. “It’s a little difficult to leave Friday night, travel all night, play a game Saturday, travel all night and get home Sunday. Monday morning is always the hardest. You’re sore, you’re tired.”
But sacrifices are part of the game.
On some practice days, offensive tackle Tanka Watson sleeps just a few hours in the afternoon when her young children are napping before heading to practice. Afterward, she returns home for a quick shower and then heads to her job as an animal control officer on the overnight shift.
“It’s worth it,” said Watson, whose children range in age from 2 to 12. “It’s fun, it’s good exercise, (and a) good stress reliever, which I need big time.

A look at the 14 teams in the Women’s Professional Football League, one of several full-contact football leagues for women (which already has dropped to 13 teams with New Mexico's disbandment):
Carolina Queens, Charlotte, N.C.
Connecticut Cyclones, Norwalk, Conn.
Dallas Diamonds, Hurst, Texas
Empire State Roar, Rochester, N.Y.
Houston Energy, Houston
Indiana Speed, Indianapolis
Las Vegas Showgirlz, Las Vegas
Los Angeles Amazons, Los Angeles
Minnesota Vixen, Eden Prairie, Minn
New Jersey Titans, Bloomfield, N.J.
New Mexico Burn, Albuquerque, N.M.
So Cal Scorpions, San Diego
Toledo Reign, Toledo, Ohio
Wisconsin Wolves, Madison, Wis.

==A link to the National Women's Football Association
==A link to the Independent Women's Football League, which includes the California Quakes, who play in Long Beach from April through mid-August.
==Some background on women's pro football in L.A. through the years.

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By NOAH TRISTER
AP Sports Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- In some ways, this is a story of triumph — a group of football players playing through chaos and giving a school a much-needed source of pride.
In other ways, it’s a footnote — a great team rightfully overshadowed by nine symbols of bravery.
Or maybe it’s both. Maybe the 1957 Central High School football team is forever destined for this uncertain legacy.
To many, Central is famous for one reason: the Little Rock Nine, a group of black students who integrated the school 50 years ago this month amid a howling mob and a military escort. But the school has an additional claim to fame as the home of Arkansas’ most storied high school football program.
And the Tigers just happened to be one of the best teams in the country the year Central desegregated.
“I think there’s still a great deal of resentment that that year (students) paid more attention to the football team than we paid to the Little Rock Nine,” said Ralph Brodie, who played football and was student body president that school year. “We were going to make our grades and do our sports and achieve what we could achieve.”
Central has won 32 state championships in football and 17 in boys basketball — and that’s just an overview of the school’s athletic dominance. From 1952-57, the Tigers won six straight football titles. From 1955-58, they won 35 consecutive games.
That streak, of course, includes the ‘57 team, which was ranked No. 1 in the country by a Minnesota news service. The Tigers went 12-0 under coach Wilson Matthews — in one of the more unusual seasons any team has ever played.
Sam Gill, a linebacker that year, remembers the 101st Airborne arriving to enforce integration.
“We had military helicopters and other equipment on our practice field,” he said.
The 101st didn’t want to be a burden, though, and showed up on game night to cheer the Tigers.
“They were our biggest fans,” said Gene Hall, then an assistant coach. “They were cheering for Fort Central.”
When asked about the desegregation, some players from the all-white team are defensive — not about the Little Rock Nine, but about how the student body was portrayed by the media.
“When you are shown to the nation and to the world (as) pariahs or racists, and knowing that you’re not,” Brodie said. “By the time we had won the state again and won all 12 games, it was a very big sense of pride — one of the few things that we could be proud of.”

Billy Moore, a quarterback who went on to become a college star at Arkansas, said he didn’t notice the Little Rock Nine much. He said he was like any other high school student — focused on football and girls.
Moore blamed most of the problems near the school on people from out of state.
“Most of them, the ones that came up here, come up here in buses — from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama,” Moore said. “They knew if Little Rock got integrated, they were next. They had signs and raised hell across the street.”
“We didn’t know why blacks went to black schools and whites went to white — and didn’t care,” he added. “Never even thought about integrating — never dreamed of it. It just wasn’t on our minds.”
If any players did have strong feelings about the Little Rock Nine, they were urged to suppress them by Matthews, who ruled over the team with an iron fist.
“You were more scared of him than you were your father. He told us at a big team meeting that not one of us better get in trouble doing anything smart-aleck,” Moore said. “We were like robots.”
Brodie acknowledges that some students caused problems for the blacks — but he says the troublemakers were few. Many focus on the Little Rock Nine and those who harassed them — but Brodie insists most students either treated the blacks well or had little interaction with them.
“That’s the third side of the story. That story reflects real well on us,” Brodie said. “I’m proud of that group — have been for 50 years, but it was hard to tell people why.”
It’s easy to sympathize with Brodie, who says he welcomed the arrival of the 101st Airborne. But at least he was able to play football.
Jefferson Thomas enjoyed sports and was on the track team at Dunbar Junior High. Then he entered Central as one of the nine new black students.
“I had played with some of the white kids from the neighborhood,” Thomas said. “I went up to Central High School after school and we played basketball and touch football together. I knew some of the kids.”
“Eventually, I ran into them ... and they were not at all happy to see me,” Thomas added. “One of them said, ‘Well I don’t mind playing basketball or football with you or anything. You guys are good at sports. Everybody knows that, but you’re just not smart enough to sit next to me in the classroom.’”
The nine black students weren’t allowed to participate in extracurricular activities in 1957.
Central’s winning streak ended the following year. In 1958, Little Rock’s schools were closed in a final attempt to derail integration — but extracurricular activities such as football were allowed to continue. Central went 8-3-1 amid
significant player attrition.
“At first we thought, ‘This will be great, we’ll just practice football all day long,’” said Hall, who took over as Central’s head coach that year. “But that got old pretty quickly.”
An era was ending and another was beginning. As resistance to integration waned, blacks began participating in sports at Central. Kenneth Robinson, an uncle of San Antonio Spurs star David Robinson, was considered a pioneer for black athletes at Central when he played basketball during the early 1960s.
Hall doesn’t remember the first black football player at Central. Whoever earned that distinction did so with little fanfare. Bill Brooks, a black wide receiver who graduated in 1967, said his career at Central wasn’t all that difficult.
“I think they had a lot of respect for me as a result of my ability to help the team,” Brooks said of his teammates. “When you’re in athletics, that’s what you want to do — you want to win. I think they saw me contributing to the team’s ability to win, and I think that brought me a level of respect.”
Nowadays, that’s the norm. A lot has changed at Central. The school and the football team are both about as diverse as it gets.
What hasn’t changed is the tradition. Central won state titles in 2003 and 2004 and is among the favorites again this year.
As it embarks on that quest, Central decided to honor its past. Brian Cox, son of current coach Bernie Cox, invited the ‘57 team back for a ceremony at Friday night’s game against Pine Bluff.
“The ‘57 team has never been formally honored for their accomplishments that year,” said Cox, whose book, “Tiger Pride,” chronicles the history of Central football.
But the ‘57 Tigers aren’t the main attraction this month. The Little Rock Nine are, and there are many events planned in recognition of Central’s desegregation.
Even so, Cox figured the football players deserved something — so he had a national championship trophy made.
“They’re going to be presented that as a team,” Cox said earlier this week. “And then of course that’s going to go in the school’s trophy case.”

==More on the Little Rock Nine, their official foundation website
==Information on Cox's book, "Tiger Pride."

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 1:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anything goofy going on at KSPN-AM (710) concerning afternoon host D'Marco Farr?
His mug and bio has been removed from the station's official site. There were reports on a rival station -- KLAC's Joe McDonnell -- that Farr, who made it to No. 1 on the Bottom 5 in the most recent "Best and Worst of L.A." sports-talk show hosts, was working with the station on a buyout, a settlement hadn't been reached, and he ended up coming into work Thursday late.
Not because the station didn't want him. Because he wanted to leave.
This morning, LARadio.com reported that KSPN GM Bob Koontz "let D'Marco out of his contract early" so he could pursue an NFL job.
No, not as another NFL TV talking head.
It's the Seven Year Itch, D'Marco style. And he's scratching, leaving the rest of us scratching our heads.
"D'Marco has been working out and losing weight," KSPN program director Larry Gifford e-mailed us this morning. "My understanding is he wants to return as a player."
Farr, 36, last played as a Pro Bowl defensive lineman in the NFL in 2000 after winning a Super Bowl title with the St. Louis Rams. His rookie year, '94, after being drafted from the University of Washington, was spent with the Los Angeles Rams.
As far as the weight loss goes, they're still talking about the chair he personally destroyed while just sitting in it at Hertiage Hall on the USC campus before a live radio remote earlier this year.
And as for comebacks:
The Jan 14, 2002 Sporting News reported:
Look for former Rams DT D'Marco Farr to put his broadcasting career on hold and attempt a comeback. He has been rehabbing from two knee surgeries. Within a month or two, he is expected to be able to show teams how far he has come. Farr, 30, missed six games because of injury in 2000 and did not play at all this season.
And then on May 26, 2003,when he tried his comeback with the San Francisco 49ers:
Former Rams DT D'Marco Farr's comeback from a two-year hiatus didn't last a full minicamp. Farr made it through two days of practices before bowing out because of his nagging knee problems.
It's not like Farr doesn't have a media career to (cough) fall back on.
He does radio every Sunday for the Rams on KLOU-FM (103.3 FM) in St Louis, flying back to see all the home games. He's also on the FSN college football studio show live Saturday.
When the former "DKLA" show started at 1 p.m., listeners were informed of Farr's decision. Co-host Kevin Kiley, who has been with Farr the last eight months, confirmed that Farr "retired from radio because he had some opportunities in pro football -- not necessarily as a player, but maybe a coach ... I'd rather watch him play than argue with him. He just had an opportunity he couldn't pass up. We're friends and I stand by him."

Posted by Tom Hoffarth at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Following up on the Daily News media column today, if the audio of the DodgerTalk segment from Sunday in question isn't still on the KFWB website, here's a transcription of what host Bob Harvey said, thanks to Alan Oda at LARadio.com:
"Now I have never, in 35 years I’ve been on radio, been the kind of host that would ever air dirty laundry, so having said that, I’m going to put o