DAILY VARIETY's Adalian & Schneider write that Detroit
Free Press sports columnist MITCH ALBOM "is moving into
series television, inking" a deal with CBS to "create an
hourlong drama about the worlds of TV and print journalism."
The project is to be produced by DreamWorks Television and
GARY DAVID GOLDBERG's UBO Productions (DAILY VARIETY, 9/19).
...Former Seahawks Owner KEN BEHRING will announce today
that he is giving $80M to the Smithsonian Institution in
what "is believed to be the largest cash donation to an
American Museum" (USA TODAY, 9/19)....Dolphins Owner WAYNE
HUIZENGA was elected to join the board of trustees at Nova
Southeastern Univ. (MIAMI HERALD, 9/19)....Orioles 3B CAL
RIPKEN JR., on considering a career in politics after he
retires: "There's something about [it] that fascinates me a
bit. ... When the window of my playing career comes open,
I'm going to fill it up with a lot of things. If I say I'm
non-committal, does that make me a politician?" (ROLL CALL,
9/18)....YANKEENETS donated $500,000 to the U.S. Naval
Academy last week to establish the DR. JOHN J. MCMULLEN
ENDOWMENT FOR THE BRIGADE OF MIDSHIPMEN (N.Y. TIMES,
9/19)....The NBA has filed a friends-of-the-court brief in
support of songwriter JERRY LEIBER's suit against NAPSTER.
In its brief, the NBA stated, "Napster fosters a culture
that views intellectual property either as not property at
all or as communal property" (Redherring.com, 9/13).