SHAW'S REDEMPTION: In St. Louis, Bernie Miklasz writes
on Rams President John Shaw under the header, "As Rams
President, Shaw Is Lame Duck -- And He Enjoys It." Shaw has
been working out of the team's L.A. offices and said, "I'm
not as involved on a daily basis. I've handed off a lot of
the day-to-day stuff to [President] Jay [Zygmunt] and
others." Zygmunt "essentially has assumed the leadership
role in the organization." Miklasz: "Shaw won't reveal his
future plans, but a couple of his friends told us that Shaw
would like to put together an ownership group to buy a
professional sports franchise" (POST-DISPATCH, 8/24).
COLANGELO ON THE RECORD: D'Backs Managing General
Partner Jerry Colangelo, on recent reports on the team's
financial situation: "Until I put a sign out in front of
Bank One Ballpark that says the team is for sale, I don't
think anyone needs to worry. This is not Florida. It's not
going to be a repeat of that." More Colangelo, on the
team's $130M franchise fee and an "agreement to forfeit"
their $25M share of MLB TV revenue in order to be accepted
by MLB: "If they gave me my TV money and a rebate on what we
paid to get in the league, things would change. It would be
nice to be treated like everyone else" (USA TODAY, 8/24).
NOTES: Author John Feinstein, on Redskins Owner Daniel
Synder: "It will be interesting to see how Dan Snyder
evolves as an owner. However, when I hear him say that
everything he's done is 'fan friendly,' I just don't think
it's fan friendly to charge $10 to get into practice and $10
to park for practice. To me, that's gouging." Former
Redskin Mark Mosely, on charging for training camp: "I have
found not one fan who has complained about it. ... It is a
business, let's face it. We're no longer the kind of
football or the kind of league that it was back at the
beginning. It's now a big business." FSN's Jim Rome: "I
don't agree with everything [Snyder] has done. ... But, at
the end of the day, the positives still far outweigh the
negatives. ... Not only is this guy not the devil, the
league could benefit from three or four more guys like him"
("Last Word," 8/23)....For the fifth time in more than eight
months, a WPHL team has "suspended operations," as the El
Paso Buzzards announced they "would not compete" next
season. Buzzards President Jim Paul said that the "problem"
is the "amount of money the team is losing annually" by
playing in the El Paso County Coliseum. Sources "indicated"
that the amount was nearly $1M (Faceoff.com, 8/22).
