Names In The News

The MAGIC on Friday and Saturday collected donations, which they matched dollar-for-dollar, for the Red Cross to aid victims of Friday morning’s storms in Central Florida. Friday night’s game raised $12,500 from fans for a total of $25,000. The team also donated 100% of the proceeds from the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation in-game auction to the Red Cross (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/3).

FORMER NBAer COMING OUT? At agent LEIGH STEINBERG’s annual Super Bowl party, publicist HOWARD BRAGMAN “told several media members one of his clients, a former NBA player, is coming out of the closet ... in a book being released on Valentine’s Day.” Bragman indicated that the player has “been out of the league for ‘about three years’ and that he was not a star player.” WNBA Comets F SHERYL SWOOPES, another of Bragman’s clients, “made a similar revelation last year” (BLOGS.DAILYSOUTHTOWN.com, 2/3).

BOOK SHELF: Yankees 3B ALEX RODRIGUEZ will release his second children’s book tomorrow, “OUT OF THE BALLPARK.” Publisher HarperCollins says the book is “autobiographical fiction” about Rodriguez’ childhood. The 32-page book, written for children ages 4-8, will be published in both English and Spanish, and Rodriguez’ marketing rep, STEVE FORTUNATO, said that the proceeds will go to the AROD Family Foundation (N.Y. TIMES, 2/5)....Office Depot CEO STEVE ODLAND is featured in USA TODAY’s “What I Read” segment, where he lists “NASCAR FOR DUMMIES” among his “memorable books.” Odland read the book “because the Office Depot is a NASCAR sponsor, and he knew little about the sport when he joined the company a few years ago” (USA TODAY, 2/5)....ESPN The Magazine Exec Editor STEVE WULF reviewed former N.Y. Daily News writer MARK KRIEGEL’s “PISTOL” for the WALL STREET JOURNAL, and wrote Kriegel “has written the sport bio equivalent of [PETE] MARAVICH on a fast break: dazzling and smart and, even at 381 pages, over before you know it” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/3)....Basketball HOFer KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR said his latest book, “ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS: MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE,” is “my attempt to explain who I am and why I am who I am. A lot of my life people have seen me as a mystery man and this enabled me to explain the things that helped form me” (NBA.com, 2/4).

AWARDS AND HONORS: Penguins C SIDNEY CROSBY will receive the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year award on April 15, becoming the youngest recipient of the honor since its inception in ’39 (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 2/4)....Edmonton Mayor STEPHEN MANDEL announced that a portion of St. Albert Trail will be renamed MARK MESSIER TRAIL in honor of the Edmonton-born former NHLer (EDMONTON SUN, 2/3)....Sporting News columnist DAVE KINDRED was named to the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters HOF in Salisbury, North Carolina (WASHINGTON POST, 2/4).

BEST WISHES: Former NBC Sports President and ESPN President CHET SIMMONS is recovering from leg and hip surgery at his daughter’s home in Atlanta (N.Y. POST, 2/5).

IN MEMORY: Former Blues co-Owner ROBERT WOLFSON died Friday at the age of 88 (AP, 2/4).