JASON'S RETURN: K.C. Star sports columnist Jason
Whitlock has returned to work two weeks after being
suspended by the paper following a press box incident at
Foxboro Stadium (Mult., 10/28). Whitlock contributed a
column in yesterday's K.C. STAR (10/28). In Baltimore,
Milton Kent writes that while Sports Illustrated took
Whitlock to task for his behavior in Foxboro, "perhaps it
should take care of things in-house first." Kent notes that
Senior Writer Michael Silver's piece on Anna Kournikova was
"more fitting for Playboy than a general-interest sports
magazine" and that Silver "stepped over the bounds of good
taste again" in last week's cover story on the NFL's
dirtiest players with a reference to "porn-film actors."
Kent: "Another of Silver's seemingly regular trips down Smut
Lane was sophomoric, unnecessary and unbecoming a magazine
with such a proud heritage" (Baltimore SUN, 10/29).
WOMEN'S TITLES: In Boston, Barbara Huebner wrote on two
magazines devoted to women's sports that are set to debut
shortly. Wsports Publisher & Editor-In-Chief Nancy Levin,
who played soccer at Harvard, said her magazine will hit
stands in March '99 and be targeted towards "the people who
are participants, the people who are fans." Real Sports,
developed by Amy Love, will debut in December and focus on
team sports (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/28).
OTHER NOTES: MountainZone.com launched SkiResorts.com,
a Web site that allows users to plan and book vacations at
over 400 U.S. and international resorts (AD AGE, 10/29).
...In Toronto, William Houston reports that the CBC will
retain rights to the Grey Cup in a new four-year,
multimillion-dollar deal with the CFL. CFL ratings on the
CBC are up 16% from last season (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL,
10/29)....Fox Sports Rocky Mountain reached three million
cable and satellite subscribers as of October 1. FSRM now
reaches 3,137,156 homes (FSRM)....Nielsen signed its
"largest contract ever," a seven-year, $150M deal with Time
Warner that covers all of Time Warner's TV units, including
Turner Broadcasting, the WB and syndication properties (WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 10/29)....Torstar, owners of the Toronto
Star, announced an unsolicited bid C$748M to buy 15 daily
newspapers owned by Sun Media Corp (TORONTO STAR, 10/29).
