ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S Stephan Lee writes ESPN’s MIKE GREENBERG’s new book “fits squarely into the ‘women’s fiction’ genre.” Greenberg “gave himself the intimidating task” of writing “All You Could Ask For” from the “perspective of three different women.” Each one “gets a shocking diagnosis of breast cancer, and they forge a tight bond via an online support group.” Greenberg, to get the female voices right, “enlisted his wife, his agent’s wife, and his yoga teacher to serve as an ad hoc focus group.” His earnings from book sales “will go to the V Foundation” (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, 3/29 issue).
TWEET, TWEET: In Atlanta, Michael Carvell notes Univ. of Georgia football coach MARK RICHT now “has more than 62,000 followers” on Twitter. He was a “pioneer” in the social media platform as one of the “first college coaches to sign up for an account and tweet on a semi-regular basis.” He joined in ’09, but his “initial interest faded quickly.” These days, with “recruiting on his mind, Richt is a Twitter regular.” He claims that he “does the tweeting himself” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 3/26).
AWARDS & RECOGNITION: USC’s athletic department received a $5M gift from the Otis Booth Foundation to endow its community service program and fund a coordinator’s position that will be named in honor of former QB MATT BARKLEY (LATIMES.com, 3/25)….The Oakland Sports HOF named Baseball HOFers RICKEY HENDERSON, FRANK ROBINSON, JOE MORGAN, Basketball HOFer BILL RUSSELL, former NBAer GARY PAYTON, former MLBer CURT FLOOD and Int'l Tennis HOFer DON BUDGE to its inaugural class (SFGATE.com, 3/23).
NAMES: The UMass-Amherst Mark McCormack Department of Sport Management announced Ducks scout BRIAN BURKE will be its next Executive-in-Residence guest (UMass-Amherst)....RORY MCILROY, a UNICEF ambassador for Ireland, will “spend part of his week before the Masters on a humanitarian mission in Haiti” (AP, 3/25)....SugarTime Sports Management signed tennis player JENNIFER CAPRIATI to a management deal for PR and communications (SugarTime)….NASCAR driver CLINT BOWYER has “asked a South Dakota judge to dismiss a motorcycle company’s lawsuit against him that alleges he didn’t pay for $31,000 of custom work it did on his Harley-Davidson.” Klock Werks Kustom Cycles in Mitchell, S.D., said that it “did the work on Bowyer’s motorcycle about four years ago” (JSONLINE.com, 3/25)….USAIN BOLT opened a club and restaurant called Tracks & Records in Jamaica (London INDEPENDENT, 3/24)….Rapper DRAKE will perform live following the 12th annual Jordan Brand Classic on April 13 at Barclays Center (Nets)….MLBers CC SABATHIA, JUSTIN VERLANDER, MIGUEL CABRERA, PRINCE FIELDER and golfer BUBBA WATSON were among those in attendance last night for the Heat’s win over the Magic at Amway Center. Seats “remained vacant for” golfer TIGER WOODS, who “never showed up after his victory at Bay Hill” (PALM BEACH POST, 3/26).
