Names In The News

MLB.com's Matthew Leach noted PRESIDENT OBAMA and First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA yesterday "greeted the World Series champion Cardinals at the White House." A contingent of "more than 30 entered the East Room around" 3:30pm ET. Obama quipped he was "a little disappointed I had to leave my White Sox jacket in the closet for another year." Cardinals Chair BILL DEWITT JR. gave the Obamas "matching Cardinals World Series jerseys, each emblazoned with the couple's last name and No. 44" (MLB.com, 1/17).

QUARTERBACK CLUB: In Ft. Worth, Jimmy Burch notes golfer TIGER WOODS will be paired with Cowboys QB TONY ROMO at the PGA Tour AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament. Monterey Peninsula Foundation President & CEO OLLIE NUTT said that the tournament has been in touch with Broncos QB TIM TEBOW and "hopes to hear by the end of the week whether he will accept an invitation to play." Patriots QB TOM BRADY is "also expected to play" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 1/18). Meanwhile, Brady is on the front of the latest SI Kids issue, but he "looks like 'E.T.'" The cover of SI Kids' Science-Fiction Spectacular reads, "Tom Brady Is An Alien!" Patriots coach BILL BELICHICK "was also cloned by the aliens" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/18).

NAMES: A real estate company led by Padres Chair JOHN MOORES is "in escrow to buy the historic Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, which last changed hands in the late 1950s." The 21-acre property was "put on the market last fall." At the time, CB Richard Ellis Hotels broker BOB KAPLAN, whose company is handling the sale, said that he was "hoping to attract an offer in the mid- to low-$30 million range" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/18)....The Broadway show "MAGIC/BIRD" will open April 11 at N.Y.'s Longacre Theatre. Previews will begin March 21 (THE DAILY)....Browns President MIKE HOLMGREN will be the Packers' "lone inductee at the 42nd Hall of Fame induction banquet on July 21 at the Lambeau Field Atrium." Holmgren coached the team from '92-98, including their win in Super Bowl XXXI (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 1/18)....The Int'l Association of Venue Managers announced Comcast-Spectator Senior VP/Business Development MICHEL SAUERS is the recipient of this year's Joseph J. Anzivino Distinguished Allied Award, which recognizes members who have made extraordinary contributions to the venue management industry. IAVM also announced RBC Center Assistant GM LARRY PERKINS the recipient of this year's Charles A. McElravy Award, which recognizes extraordinary contributions to the professional venue management industry (IAVM).

IN MEMORY: Former Winnipeg Free Press sports editor HAL SIGURDSON died Monday at 79 after a "long and unyielding battle with Alzheimer's disease." Sigurdson was sports editor of the Free Press from '76-89 and worked as a sports columnist there until he retired in '96 (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 1/18).