MATTHEW MURPHY was named Dir of Affiliate Sales &
     Marketing, Northeast Region for ESPN.  He had been Senior
     Account Exec for the Eastern Division (ESPN).... NC Gov. JIM
     HUNT named FRED STARR, CEO of Thomasville Furniture
     Industries, as the head of the State Authority responsible
     for building the Triad's $210M MLB ballpark (AP, 12/4).

          JEWEL will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XXXII
     on January 25 in San Diego (USA TODAY, 12/4)....Lloyd's of
     London insured Univ. of New Mexico C KENNY THOMAS for $2M,
     according to an Albuquerque Journal report (USA TODAY, 12/4)
     ....Disney Chair MICHAEL EISNER exercised options for 7.3
     million shares of stock at a profit of about $565M that he
     had accumulated since January '89 (WASHINGTON POST, 12/4).
     ...RUSSELL CROWE and MARY MCCORMACK have been cast as the
     leads in a Disney hockey movie to be filmed in Canmore &
     Calgary this summer.  Appearing in the film, based on a
     small town Alaskan hockey team that takes on the Rangers,
     will be five members of the Rangers, including ADAM GRAVES
     and KEVIN STEVENS (CALGARY SUN, 12/4).