Saints and Hornets Owner TOM BENSON on Sunday wrote a letter urging New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE Editor STEVE NEWHOUSE to keep the paper daily. Benson wrote, “I am corresponding in hopes that your organization will strongly reconsider its recent decision to publish the Times-Picayune three days a week, rather than the customary tradition of a daily newspaper.” He continued, “It is my belief that New Orleans has the passion and spirit and resilience and deserves to be a city with a daily. … It is hard for me to imagine no Times-Picayune on Monday, February 4, 2013, the day after our city hosts Super Bowl XLVII. Cities like ours deserve, and have, at least one daily paper” (NOLA.com, 5/29).
LUCK OF THE IRISH: Steelers Chair Emeritus and U.S. Ambassador to Ireland DAN ROONEY “has one foot firmly planted in Dublin” and “the other firmly planted in Pittsburgh, still de facto head of that country known as Steelers Nation.” Rooney is “clearly relishing the opportunity to live not just in his ancestral homeland … but to make a difference in the Irish political and economic travails that have preoccupied him for decades.” The “most frequently asked question” Rooney gets from the Irish “is about undocumented relatives in the United States, a problem that still hasn't found a solution.” But he also “notes, with some wonder, that businessmen frequently ask him about the Rooney Rule, an NFL requirement he pushed through that requires that a minority candidate be interviewed for any head coaching job vacancy.” Three years “is the usual time frame for ambassadorial postings,” but Rooney earlier this month “firmly declined to say when he would be leaving.” Rooney: “I serve at the pleasure of the president” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 5/27).
RARE COMMODITY: ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Acquisitions NORBY WILLIAMSON “has held more than 10 different posts” at the net and received his newest in January, when ESPN President JOHN SKIPPER “swapped the roles of Williamson (then executive VP of production) with fellow ESPN lifer JOHN WILDHACK.” Williamson is “tasked with ensuring that the company’s nickname, the “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” remains more than just good marketing.” He is also “looking to expand ESPN’s original programming slate, and ‘not just partner with leagues.’” Williamson is that “increasingly rare commodity, an executive who has spent his entire career at one network” (BROADCASTINGANDCABLE.com, 5/28).
NASCAR'S MAIN MAN: NASCAR President MIKE HELTON is the sport’s “ultimate authority.” Driver TONY STEWART said, “Of all the people I’ve worked with in racing over 31 years, Mike is probably the guy I respect more than anyone.” Plenty of people within the sport “have feuded with NASCAR but none has publicly challenged Helton.” Team Owner RICK HENDRICK said, “When you say Mike Helton … he’s got the respect of everybody.” Each race day, Helton “meets with television officials about the previous week’s telecast, hitting on the good, the worrisome and whatever hot-button issues might have emerged in the last race.” They then talk about the “upcoming broadcast and any issues that might be associated with it” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/26).
COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU: Lakers Exec VP JEANIE BUSS “will stay involved with the return of Women of Wrestling in a show titled ‘Wow Girls.’” The show is being produced in partnership with 44 Blue Productions (LATIMES.com, 5/29)....Producers GAVIN POLONE and JEFF NATHANSON have “sold a pitch” to HBO for “an untitled hour-long project that would offer viewers an unflinching behind-the-scenes look at a professional basketball team.” The “dramedy would feature the money, sex, power and temptation that often accompanies the world of pro sports, both for its millionaire players and billionaire owners” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 5/29).
NAMES: Former Red Wings coach and Hockey HOFer SCOTTY BOWMAN “received the Order of Canada” last Friday. It is the “highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Canadian, other than the Queen’s Order of Merit” (DETROIT NEWS, 5/27)....Former FIFA VP JACK WARNER “will not face prosecution in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago” over the alleged FIFA bribery scandal. Warner left his position after being charged in connection “with payments to Caribbean football officials.” The Dir of Public Prosecutions has decided “against pursuing criminal charges against Warner, the country’s deputy prime minister” (London INDEPENDENT, 5/30)....Basketball HOFer DENNIS RODMAN yesterday was sentenced to 104 hours of community service by an Orange County court commissioner after “being found guilty of contempt for failing to pay child support” (LATIMES.com, 5/29).…Golfer CRISTIE KERR hosted a charity golf outing Monday to raise money for Wall Street Warfighters, a “Philadelphia-based charity that educates and helps place service-disabled veterans into jobs in the finance industry” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 5/28)....Former NFLer JAMAL LEWIS “has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.” Records with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Georgia show Lewis “has assets of about $14.5 million and owes about $10.5 million” (Baltimore SUN, 5/28)….The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has registered the term “Linsanity” for Knicks G JEREMY LIN. Lin’s filing Feb. 13 “came six days after a California man with no ties to the Knicks guard became the first to apply for a Linsanity trademark (NEWSDAY, 5/30)….Lions DT NDAMUKONG SUH will serve as Grand Marshal of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix June 1-3 (Chevrolet)….Former NFLer WARREN SAPP is the author of an upcoming book, “Sapp Attack” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/25).
