People & Personalities: Steve Kerr Defends TV/Ownership Role

Steve Kerr, an investor in Robert Sarver's new Suns' ownership group, said that he sees "no conflict of interest between his participation in a visit to Dallas to recruit" free-agent G Steve Nash and his duties as an NBA analyst for TNT, according to Jim Gintonio of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Responding to today's USA Today column by Rudy Martzke, Kerr said, "I talked to my bosses at TNT about the arrangement. I'm an adviser to Sarver, and I will continue to call games for TNT. I probably won't do any Suns games. But if I did, I call it like I see it" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/7). In the aforementioned column, Martzke writes Kerr would be "well advised to step down from the management committee and halt his recruitment of players" if he wants to remain on TV. But Turner Senior VP Greg Hughes said, "Similar to Magic [Johnson], Steve has a role with a franchise. But it is the offseason and we're going to talk to him further about his role with the Suns and us as we get closer to the season" (USA TODAY, 7/7).

ESPN PERSONALITIES: In Dallas, Barry Horn wrote, "Look for ESPN to soon announce 'Around the Horn' panelist Woody Paige is taking over as host of ... 'Cold Pizza' on ESPN2" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/3)....In Philadelphia, Michael Klein reported that Sal Paolantonio will host ESPN's "EA Sports NFL Matchup" with Ron Jaworski and Merrill Hoge this season, replacing Suzy Kolber (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/4)....Jerry Bonkowski wrote his final motorsports column for ESPN.com last week. He will cover motorsports and other sports for a different organization (ESPN.com, 7/2).

ON THE MARK? In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley reports that former Packers TE Mark Chmura has "had discussions with local sports talk radio station WAUK-AM to provide commentary on a Sunday morning football show." Chmura is employed as a legal assistant to attorney Gerald Boyle, who represented Chmura when Chmura was charged with and later acquitted of sexual assault. WAUK carries ESPN Radio programming (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/7).