IDENTITY CRISIS? THARA SAUD, who "claimed to be the
wealthy widow of a Saudi prince" and who submitted a $450M
bid for the Nuggets, Avalanche and Pepsi Center in July, has
been identified as TERISA TURNER, an "ex-Kansas City
resident who until recently was wanted for allegedly passing
bad checks" (DENVER POST, 8/26).
MORE NAMES: U.S. District Judge VAUGHN WALKER has
ordered Knicks G LATRELL SPREWELL's lawyers to pay $153,000
for "arguing a lawsuit that challenged" Sprewell's 68-game
suspension for choking Warriors coach P.J. Carlesimo.
Walker called the suit "a misuse of the court system" and
told the lawyers to pay $113,000 to the NBA's lawyers,
$35,000 to the Warriors' lawyers and $5,000 to the court
(USA TODAY, 8/27)....Private memorabilia collector JIMMY
RUBINO JR. is auctioning off over 100 MICHAEL JORDAN items
at www.air23.com. Chicago-based Sports Investments Int'l is
handling the auction of the collection (PHILADELPHIA DAILY
NEWS, 8/26)....An investment group that includes Suns CEO
and D'Backs Managing General Partner JERRY COLANGELO is
negotiating to purchase a downtown Dallas Skyscraper which
is expected to sell for "more than" $80M (DALLAS MORNING
NEWS, 8/25)....ESPN's N.Y.C. ESPN ZONE, located in Times
Square at 42nd and Broadway, will host its grand opening
party on September 14. The restaurant will then open to the
public on September 15 (ESPN Zone)....LOU HOLTZ's arrival at
the UNIV. OF SC "has generated enough excitement ... to spur
season-ticket sales to a school record of more than 53,000."
The school's GAMECOCK CLUB reported it raised $8.4M in
donations and endowment interest income during the past
fiscal year (CHARLESTON POST & COURIER, 8/25)....The UNIV.
OF MEMPHIS ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT reported an operating deficit
for the fiscal year ended June 30 of $2.4M, the largest in
school history. The "largest drain" on the program's $16M
budgets was the $1.277M loss from football (COMMERCIAL
APPEAL, 8/26).
