Names In The News

Federal Judge Rejects Plea Deal To Give Samueli Probation For Role In Stock-Option Scam

U.S. District Court Judge CORMAC CARNEY yesterday in a ruling suggested that Ducks Owner HENRY SAMUELI "deserves to go to prison," rejecting a deal that would have given Samueli "probation for lying to regulators about his role in an alleged $2.2[B] stock-option scam." Assistant U.S. Attorney Robb Adkins told Carney that Samueli "could be indicted if he didn't agree to a new plea deal," and both sides "asked for time to study Carney's ruling and hold discussions." Carney awarded the sides three weeks, with the next hearing scheduled for September 29 (L.A. TIMES, 9/9).

BREAKING A SWEAT: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jen Murphy profiles CBS College Sports Network Exec VP/Content TIM PERNETTI in the paper's "What's Your Workout" feature, and notes Pernetti, in "addition to an intense weekend workout," exercises three mornings a week at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. Pernetti's Saturday workout, labeled "Pernetti Boot Camp," includes a 30-minute run and 30 minutes of "agility, plyometrics and resistance band training" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/9). Click here to read Pernetti’s workout.

ADMISSION STANDARDS? The INDIANAPOLIS STAR's Mark Alesia reported a study by the paper of 55 colleges found that "many of the nation's largest universities rely on special admits -- students admitted under exceptions to normal admission standards for reasons including 'special talent' -- to stock their football teams." Of the 55 public schools in the "big six sports conferences, 31 reported having special admits, 16 reported having none and eight either didn't respond or didn't provide information." The report also found that at these schools, the "percentage of special admits among students overall is extremely small." But Alesia noted it is a "phenomenon that has gone largely unstudied and unchecked nationally" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 9/7).

NAMES: Red Sox P CURT SCHILLING, who founded videogame company 38 Studios, is featured on the cover of the September issue of BIZTECH magazine. Schilling, when asked to rate his "passion for technology" on a scale from 1-5, said, "I'm a 5 because I interact with the Internet probably as much as anything I do in life. I had a notebook long before computers were in vogue in the big leagues. I always felt like I was ahead of the curve in the technology sense" (BIZTECH, 9/ '08 issue)....U.S. Olympic boxer DEMETRIUS ANDRADE has decided to turn pro, signing multi-year promotional agreements with both Banner Promotions and Star Boxing. The two companies will "make decisions jointly and each was responsible for a portion of Andrade's undisclosed six-figure signing bonus" (ESPN.com, 9/7).