SUPER BOWL: The NFL announced a "partial entertainment
lineup" for Super Bowl XXXIV: TINA TURNER will join country
singer TRAVIS TRITT in a 12-minute pregame salute to "Great
American Music of the 20th Century." The show will be
hosted by the SMOTHERS BROTHERS. Country singer FAITH HILL
will sing the national anthem (USA TODAY, 12/15).
OTHER NAMES: MLBPA Founder MARVIN MILLER feels today's
players don't appreciate all the union had to endure to
obtain free agency rights: "I do feel a little irked and
chagrined when I realize that the players have no idea that
it was the union that changed everything. ... What's taken
for granted are the salaries, the perks, free-agency rights,
salary arbitration rights, all of which were tremendous
struggles" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/15)....PENNY MARSHALL is
scheduled to direct "SHOWTIME," a biopic about the HARLEM
GLOBETROTTERS for Columbia Pictures (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER,
12/15)....Sprinter BEN JOHNSON left Monday for north Africa
to train the soccer-playing son of Libyan leader MOAMMAR
GADHAFI. Johnson, on Libya: "I know they have a lot of oil
and it's a warm place. I think the president (Gadhafi) has
done a wonderful job, for the country (and) for his people"
(TORONTO SUN, 12/14)....The ESPN.com question on yesterday's
"SportsCenter" was "WHICH SPORTS CLICHE DO YOU FIND THE MOST
ANNOYING?" The results at of the end of the show were: 1)
Religious references (39.8%), 2) Third-person references
(22.2%), 3) 110% (20.2%), 4) "One game at a time" (11.1%),
5) "Play within ourselves" (6.5%) (ESPN, 12/14)....Comets G
SHERYL SWOOPES appeared on "The Early Show" with Bryant
Gumbel and discussed her charitable efforts for RSV, a
respiratory virus that strikes infants and children under
the age of two. Swoopes is the national spokesperson for
RSV Awareness ("The Early Show," CBS, 12/15).
