Names In The News

Yankees Superstars To Grace Vogue Cover

COVER ME: VOGUE will feature Yankees 3B ALEX RODRIGUEZ and SS DEREK JETER on the cover of an upcoming issue (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 3/14)....Marlins Manager JACK MCKEON is featured on the cover of this month's CIGAR AFICIONADO and pictured inside the magazine smoking a PEDRON MILLENNIUM (PALM BEACH POST, 3/14).

BOOK REPORTS: National Council of Women's Organizations Chair MARTHA BURK, who last year protested AUGUSTA NATIONAL's all-male membership, is writing a book, expected to be published next March. Burk said, "It's about why this controversy is important to the place women find themselves in the business world. Augusta is emblematic of some of those problems" (AP, 3/14)....WAYNE EMBRY, the NBA's first African-American GM, writes in his new book, "THE INSIDE GAME: RACE, POWER AND POLITICS IN THE NBA," how "difficult it was for a minority to get a second chance in coaching once he was fired." In the book, Embry cites Mavericks coach DON NELSON as saying of African-Americans, "They're not qualified." Nelson responded, "I'm shocked that it's in Wayne Embry's book. I would never say that. I'm the least racial person in America, as far as I know. As far as I can gather, he's trying to sell books or he's got me confused with somebody [else]." Embry's book is due out in May (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/13)...."SEABISCUIT" author LAURA HILLENBRAND appeared on NBC's "Today" this morning to discuss the translation of the book into Arabic as part of Operation Iraqi Children ("Today," NBC, 3/15). For more, see today's Closing Bell.

PEACE THROUGH BASKETBALL: CBS' "CBS News Sunday Morning" profiled "PLAYING FOR PEACE," a program in Northern Ireland run by American SEAN TOUHY where Protestant and Catholic children play basketball together in games and at clinics. The program is spreading to South Africa and plans to expand to the Middle East and the Balkans. CBS' CHARLES OSGOOD said Touhy's older brother, BRENDAN, "quit his job to run the program back in Washington out of their father's law office. While Sean travels the world, Brendan raises the money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, first from friends, later from corporations and foundations, including the NBA" ("CBS News Sunday Morning," CBS, 3/14).

NAMES: Former Giants LB MIKE BARROW, who was released last week by the team, "quietly enrolled this winter in NYU's graduate journalism school." Barrow, who wants to be a sportscaster, said: "The trend these days is to just throw athletes in front of the camera. But by me having a degree, it's going to give me leverage" (N.Y. POST, 3/15)....CAFFEINE has been removed from the list of substances int'l sports authorities have banned or restricted. The change, part of a comprehensive WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY review, went into effect January 1 and NGBs for "all Olympic sports are in the process of adopting it" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/14)....Friday's edition of "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" featured a prize package on the wheel of private driving lessons and hotel accommodations at the TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY valued at $3,500 (THE DAILY).