OWNERS IN THE NEWS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL
INTERACTIVE's Alexei Barrionuevo calls Cowboys Owner JERRY
JONES' effort to drill two natural-gas wells in South TX via
his oil and gas development firm, Blue Star Operating Co.,
his "riskiest business play" ever. Jones, who has "already
sunk" $25M into the area, also called the venture "extremely
risky," as three "major" oil companies that drilled in the
same area "came up empty before." Since "ramping up his
activity two years ago," Jones said that he has "tripled his
oil and gas lease acreage" (WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE,
8/30)....In Seattle, Beth Kaiman writes that Vulcan
Ventures' PAUL ALLEN "will give" $20M to the Seattle library
system, making him the largest contributor to the library's
"ambitious overhaul" (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/30).
NAMES: In Nashville, Richard Lawson writes that Titans
RB EDDIE GEORGE "is helping to create the menu" for EDDIE
GEORGE'S SPORTS GRILLE downtown. Along with Nashville Mayor
BILL PURCELL, George unfurled a banner with the
establishment's name and logo -- featuring George's name and
the Titans' colors -- yesterday in the "partially finished"
restaurant and bar (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 8/30)....MICHAEL
JORDAN "is ending his affiliation with THE MICHAEL JORDAN
CELEBRITY GOLF CLASSIC held in NC, and "will start a similar
event" in the Bahamas (GOLFonline, 8/29)....In N.Y., Joseph
Durso profiles the efforts of Magna Entertainment Chair
FRANK STRONACH and Churchill Downs Inc. President TOM
MEEKER, two of horse racing's "most aggressive" execs, who
have "driven forward on parallel paths with their own
solution: buying and networking racetracks across America"
(N.Y. TIMES, 8/30)....GOLFWEEK's "Forecaddie" has confirmed
that golfer CHARLES HOWELL was given 5% of ROCKY HAMBRIC'S
HAMBRIC SPORTS MANAGEMENT to sign with the company (see THE
DAILY, 7/25) (GOLFWEEK, 8/26)....OSCAR DE LA HOYA filed suit
yesterday "in an attempt to end his contract" with promoter
BOB ARUM, whose "promotional management" of De La Hoya has
"generated more than" $100M over eight years. While the
suit is "not seeking any money," De La Hoya said in a
statement that he is "disappointed that Arum has been quoted
as saying De La Hoya should retire" from boxing if he has a
successful singing career (AZ REPUBLIC, 8/30). ...Former
U.S. Women's Soccer Team player MICHELLE AKERS, on teammate
BRANDI CHASTAIN's nude photo in Gear magazine: "I just think
that the message the photo sends to young girls is not ideal
for what [the] U.S. Women's National Team or other female
athletes would like to have put out, and I think we can be
awesome without getting naked" ("Up Close," 8/29).
