Clippers F BLAKE GRIFFIN appeared on TBS' "Conan" last night, where host CONAN O'BRIEN noted the '11 Kia Optima that Griffin dunked over at the NBA All-Star Game Slam Dunk Contest "is going to be auctioned to benefit Stand Up To Cancer." Fans can bid on the car at AutoTrader.com and SU2C.org ("Conan," TBS, 5/5). The auction began yesterday and runs through May 15. Griffin “dedicated the All-Star weekend to his close friend WILSON HOLLOWAY, who died after a three-year fight with Hodgkin’s lymphoma” (LATIMES.com, 5/5).
RIDE THE WIND: Texas Motor Speedway President EDDIE GOSSAGE “will again embark” on the annual "Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America," which this year “features a 1,818-mile, seven-day journey along the East Coast from Lake Placid, N.Y. to Amelia Island, Fla.” The ride “begins Saturday and ends May 13.” Gossage will be joined by KYLE PETTY, former NFLer HERSCHEL WALKER and former NASCAR driver GEOFF BODINE. Gossage “has participated in all but one of the charity rides since it began in 1995” (ESPNDALLAS.com, 5/6).
THE GATOR CHOMP: New Univ. of Florida football coach WILL MUSCHAMP's contract, released Thursday, calls for him to make $13.7M over five years. Muschamp received $750,000 as “a signing incentive and will make a total” of $3.25M this year. The deal is worth just over $2.5M in '12-14 and increases to just over $3M in '15, "with a $500,000 longevity bonus." The deal includes a “$250,000 base contract, paid bi-weekly.” Muschamp also will make $1.7M each year “from his TV and radio shows, $460,000 from equipment contracts, including Nike, an expense account of $61,000 each year plus $29,400 towards a pension” (FLORIDATODAY.com, 5/5).
CRIME STOPPERS: Red Sox Senior Advisor/Baseball Operations and author BILL JAMES appeared on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" Thursday, and host STEPHEN COLBERT said, “In the '70s and '80s you revolutionized baseball statistics by applying your own methods, your own analysis. What did you do?" James: "I counted a lot of stupid stuff." More James: "I started counting a lot of things that people hadn't thought to count before." James was on the program to promote his new book, "POPULAR CRIME: REFLECTIONS ON THE CELEBRATION OF VIOLENCE," and Colbert asked, "Who's the BABE RUTH of bashing heads in?" James: "I forgot to do research on that. I didn't know you would you ask" ("The Colbert Report," Comedy Central, 5/5).
REMEMBERING A FRIEND: ESPN.com’s David Newton noted about 100 of late NASCAR VP/Corporate Communications JIM HUNTER’s friends and colleagues “gathered at Florence Country Club on Thursday to play in a charity golf tournament to benefit the McLeod Children's Hospital of Florence, the Jim Hunter Memorial Endowment scholarship at the University of South Carolina and the NASCAR Foundation.” Newton: “But most of all we came to honor Hunter” (ESPN.com, 5/5). NASCAR drivers DENNY HAMLIN, JUAN PABLO MONTOYA and BRIAN VICKERS were on hand for the tournament in Florence, S.C., about “15 miles from Hunter’s cherished Darlington Raceway” (AP, 5/5).
NAMES: ESPN NFL analyst TEDY BRUSCHI, former NFLer CHAD LEWIS and former Titans coach JEFF FISHER will meet Monday in N.Y. to depart for their trip to climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest peak. The three will hike “alongside wounded veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq, helping the NFL shine a light on servicemen who made huge sacrifices for freedom” (AP, 5/5)....Reds investor LARRY SHEAKLEY “donated a large portion of the money” for the Univ. of Cincinnati’s new $15M football practice facility, Sheakley Athletics Center, and “helped to raise much of the rest by bringing in other donors” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 5/6)….Senators Owner EUGENE MELNYK on Thursday was “banned for five years from senior roles at public companies by a panel of the Ontario Securities Commission," which concluded his actions as Chair of Biovail Corp. in '03 were "contrary to the public interest." Melnyk also will pay C$565,000 toward “the cost of a regulatory probe into his conduct” (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 5/6)….A Philadelphia federal appeals panel on Thursday sent former Olympian CARL LEWIS’ case to run for the New Jersey state Senate “back to a federal district court judge.” The move “allows Lewis’ name to remain on the Democratic primary ballot -- at least until the federal judge offers his decision” (NJ.com, 5/6)….ESPN “paced all nets and distributors in the NAMIC Vision Awards with wins in 5 categories including sports, digital media-long form and digital media-short form” (CABLEFAX DAILY, 5/6)….The Miami Int'l Airport will open a Shula’s Bar & Grill in concourse D. The restaurant from Pro Football HOFer DON SHULA “is a new concept designed for airports” (MIAMI HERALD, 5/6).
BEST WISHES: New Haven Open Dir and former WTA CEO ANNE WORCESTER “has undergone breast cancer surgery” and “is doing well” (AP, 5/5).
