Former Louisville QB TEDDY BRIDGEWATER has signed with MS World for representation in the NFL Draft. MS World President & CEO KENNARD MCGUIRE will represent Bridgewater for NFL contract work. As previously reported, Bridgewater has hired former NFLer ABE ELAM as his adviser. McGuire yesterday said yesterday that Elam would continue in that role. Bridgewater has not yet hired a marketing agent (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer).
SILVER SCREEN: Actors LEONARDO DICAPRIO and JONAH HILL are partnering “to tell the true story of RICHARD JEWELL, the security guard who went from hero to suspect” following the bombings at the ’96 Atlanta Games. Fox “picked up the rights to the Vanity Fair article ‘The Ballad of Richard Jewell,’ written by MARIE BRENNER, for the duo to star in.” DiCaprio will “produce the adaptation” with his partner JENNIFER DAVISSON KILLORAN, Hill and KEVIN MISHER, “who initially optioned the material” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 2/4). Hill will play Jewell, the security guard who “discovered a backpack in the Olympics compound in Atlanta.” DiCaprio “will play a lawyer Jewell knew casually” that “guided Jewell though the hellish ‘Twilight Zone’ that went on even after the FBI officially cleared Jewell’s name three months later” (DEADLINE.com, 2/4).
TAG TEAM: Several boxing and MMA execs were in DC yesterday to “show unified support for the Cleveland Clinic’s ongoing study of head and brain injuries among fighters.” Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank Boxing, UFC, Bellator and Glory kickboxing joined hospital officials, as well as U.S. Sens. HARRY REID (D-Nev.) and JOHN MCCAIN (R-Ariz.), to “trumpet the study, now about two and a half years in.” About 400 boxers and MMA fighters are participating, while study directors “hope to increase that number to 650” (LAS VEGAS SUN, 2/5).
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Westney told the story of wooing his wife through trivia
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SBD WRITERS FOR $500, ALEX: THE DAILY's own Staff Writer
ANDREW WESTNEY acquitted himself well in the '80s week of the "Battle of the Decades" tournament on "
JEOPARDY!" last night, finishing second with a total of $27,200. Westney doubled his total by correctly answering the Final Jeopardy question in the category of "20th Century Women Authors," but came up just short to the eventual winner. Westney, who won the "Jeopardy Teen Tournament" in '91 and was the youngest competitor this week, had been voted in as the fan favorite contestant. During the interview segment with the contestants, Westney told host
ALEX TREBEK about inviting his future wife
MARI to a "trivia contest at a local bar that I had organized a team for just to see if she showed up, even." Trebek: "Did she compete, and did she beat you?" Westney: "I don't remember. I'm not sure my mind was really on trivia that night." Trebek said laughing, "Good answer" (
THE DAILY).
FOLLOW THE LEADERS: Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable announced winners of their combined Multicultural TV Summit & Leadership Awards, which included Time Warner Cable President of Sports, News & Local Programming
DAVID RONE in the Pay TV Management Exec category and ESPN Deportes VP/Programming & Business Initiatives
FREDDY ROLON JR. in the Programming Management Exec category (
MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 2/3 issue).
NAMES
: U.S. District Court Judge
WILLIAM SKRETNY ruled that longtime Bills equipment manager
DAVE HOJNOWSKI “should take his claims of age discrimination to an arbitrator, not the courts.” Hojnowski filed a lawsuit in April “claiming he was improperly fired by the Bills after 35 years on the job.” The team claimed that he retired (
BUFFALO NEWS, 2/5)....A second Raiderette yesterday joined a lawsuit that accuses the Raiders of “failing to pay their cheerleaders minimum wages and illegally requiring them to pay expenses out of their $125-per-game salaries” (
S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/5)....Seahawks QB
RUSSELL WILSON “stopped by Empire Steak House" in Manhattan to watch his Monday night appearance on "
THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN" "with his management and friends” (
N.Y. POST, 2/5)....Fox’
MICHAEL STRAHAN on Saturday dined at El Toro Blanco in Greenwich Village with former NFLer
TONY GONZALEZ, Fox’
JAY GLAZER and SMAC Entertainment Partner
CONSTANCE SCHWARTZ (
N.Y. POST, 2/5).
IN MEMORY: The Flyers’ first coach and Stanley Cup-winning GM KEITH ALLEN died yesterday at the age of 90 after a lengthy battle with dementia. Allen "was hired as the team's first head coach” in ‘66 by then-GM BUD POILE. Allen remained as a Flyers Exec VP until his passing, joining team Chair ED SNIDER as the “only other team employee still serving continuously since Day 1” (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 2/5). NHL Commissioner GARY BETTMAN in a statement said, “Keith Allen always found a way to bring exceptional talent to Broad Street, and weave it into the fabric of a team that would succeed and endure at the highest level” (NHL).
