ESPN President JOHN SKIPPER was on the sidelines for Thursday night's North Carolina-South Carolina football game in Columbia. The game was ESPN's first college football broadcast of the season, and Skipper is a UNC alum (THE DAILY)....TIGER WOODS attended Thursday night’s Giants-Patriots preseason game as a guest of Patriots Owner ROBERT KRAFT (BOSTON HERALD, 8/30).
NAMES: Michigan State men's basketball coach TOM IZZO "is among those helping fund" MSU's $24.5M expansion of Spartan Stadium's north end zone (MLIVE.com, 8/28)....CBS Sports broadcaster GREG GUMBEL will be the morning speaker at the CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity’s Business Showcase event and Economic Champions luncheon in October. ESPN Exec Chair GEORGE BODENHEIMER will be the keynote speaker (SYRACUSE.com, 8/29)....Wizards and Capitals Owner TED LEONSIS “posted a brief blog item Monday, enthusiastically backing the launch” of a DC bid for the ’24 Olympics (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 8/29)....Former sprinter BEN JOHNSON is “promoting an anti-doping campaign, Pure Sport, which has been launched by a sportswear company” (AP, 8/29)....The WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon raised more than $3.3M for adult and pediatric patient care and cancer research (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/30)....Former Vikings GM JEFF DIAMOND and Bloomington attorney MIKE CLEMENTS are "working on forming an elite professional national rugby football league" (Minneapolis STAR-TRIBUNE, 8/30)....News Corp. Chair & CEO RUPERT MURDOCH has closed on the 13-acre winery and mansion Moraga Vineyards Estate in Bel-Air for $28.8M (LATIMES.com, 8/28)....Retired Ukrainian figure skater OKSANA BAIUL has listed her home in New Hope, Pa., for $875,000 (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/30).
