In Miami, Judy Erwin noted Heat F LEBRON JAMES “made a surprise visit” to the Miami-Dade Kendall Boys & Girls Club on Saturday and “interacted with the kids.” A $15,000 check donated by the Sprite Spark Parks Project “allowed the park to revamp the outdoor basketball courts and receive a wall mural" painted by DAVID LE BATARD. James unveiled “the painting and the new play area” (MIAMI HERALD, 9/18)....Patriots DT VINCE WILFORK and his wife, BIANCA, are “teaming up with the Joslin Diabetes Center for a ‘Tackling Diabetes’ campaign.” Fans can “pledge $7.50 or $75 in honor of Wilfork’s jersey number (75), for each tackle Wilfork makes during the regular season,” and those who participate “have the opportunity to meet Vince at a VIP reception and win prizes throughout the season” (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/18).
BUCKING A TREND? In Louisville, Gregory Hall reports the “sharply higher prices” this year at the 13-day Keeneland September Yearling Sale “over even a successful year last year is creating a buzz that the thoroughbred breeding market may be turning upward after a three-year plunge.” The gross from the sale’s “first two catalog books was $145.2 million, 2.27 percent over last year despite a 20 percent drop in the number of horses sold” (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 9/19).
NAMES: Lakers F RON ARTEST's name change to METTA WORLD PEACE became official Friday. His publicist, COURTNEY BARNES, said that Artest’s Lakers jersey “will now say World Peace on the back,” but it is “not clear how ABC will deal with the quirky new moniker during his ‘Dancing With the Stars’ debut” tonight (LATIMES.com, 9/16). Coastal Carolina football coach DAVID BENNETT last week “was seen at his weekly news conference, telling a story about a neighbor’s cat that had stolen into Bennett’s house through a broken screen door,” and his comments “made him an instant Internet sensation and also was shown on ESPN.” By Friday afternoon the video “had more than 625,000 hits on YouTube” (N.Y. TIMES, 9/17)….Race Car Owner RICHARD CHILDRESS has been voted into the International Motorsports HOF and “will be inducted into the Talladega, Ala., Hall May 3 next year” (SPEEDTV.com, 9/18)….Heat F CHRIS BOSH will appear in an upcoming episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 9/18)….Musicians USHER and JUSTIN BIEBER attended the Eagles-Falcons game last night (AJC.com, 9/18).
