Names In The News

The title cut for Spurs G TONY PARKER’s debut rap album, “BALANCE-TOI,” has reached No. 2 on France’s new-music charts. The song’s video features “tarted-up cheerleaders and [Parker’s fiancée EVA] LONGORIA in a cameo.” Parker: “This is for real. I’m already working on my second album.” Parker, whose deal with the Spurs runs through 2011, said of his next contract, “We need to live full time in the same city, so naturally my decision is going to be affected by Eva and her career” (SI, 3/19).

CAR-HORTS: The family of Canadiens Owner GEORGE GILLETT JR. and ROD BUSCHER, former business partner of Pro Football HOFer JOHN ELWAY, have agreed to pay $11.2M for four car dealerships in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, pending the approval of the car manufacturers. Buscher said that he “has no plans to bring Elway back into the fold” (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 3/16).

DOCU-DRAMA: In Illinois, Ted Cox writes NOEL GIMBEL’s DVD documentary about late Cubs announcer HARRY CARAY, “HELLO AGAIN EVERYBODY,” “isn’t a warts-and-all biography,” but “neither is it a fawning, worshipful memorial.” It is “prone to the odd fact error, but for the most part [is] accurate” (DAILY HERALD, 3/16)....L.A.-based production company Happy Trails HD is filming a documentary about Winthrop Univ. men’s basketball coach GREGG MARSHALL and his team (ROCK HILL HERALD, 3/16).

BOOK SHELF: N.Y. Post baseball writer MICHAEL MORRISSEY has written “THE PRIDE & THE PRESSURE: A SEASON INSIDE THE NEW YORK YANKEE FISHBOWL,” for which he was given access to the team’s front office, coaches and players. Tigers RF GARY SHEFFIELD has written a memoir titled “INSIDE POWER,” in which he “criticizes the Yankees for how they treated him during his tumultuous three-year stint in the Bronx.” Yankees LF HIDEKI MATSUI’s first authorized biography is titled “HIDEKI MATSUI: SPORTSMANSHIP, MODESTY, AND THE ART OF THE HOME RUN.” It is written by Japanese fiction writer SHIZUKA IJUIN (SI, 3/19 issue)....Sports writer DON YAEGER is teaming with former Duke Univ. men’s lacrosse coach MIKE PRESSLER for a book called “IT’S NOT ABOUT THE TRUTH,” which follows the “rush to judgment” over rape allegations against three team members (DAILYNEWS.com, 3/16).

IN MEMORY: WashingtonPost.com Sports Editor WILLIAM GRANT died Thursday from complications of melanoma. He was 53. Grant, who received his cancer diagnosis in August, worked until two weeks ago (WASHINGTON POST, 3/16).