In N.Y., Billy Witz profiles Empire Athletes Founders JOE BARKETT and CAMERON WEISS, who rep NFL Draft prospect MICHAEL SAM. Empire is "a little more than a year old" and its "only client on an NFL roster last season" was Lions practice squad DT XAVIER PROCTOR. Barkett said of the agency's experience at the NFL Combine, "Beyond awesome." Weiss added, “We definitely had a little more notoriety than the average agent this weekend.” Weiss and Barkett have "not just been popular with football people." They have been "interviewed on CNN and MSNBC," and they have "taken calls from clothing manufacturers, soft drink companies, wireless firms and talk shows wanting a piece of their most prominent client" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/26).
STATING HIS CASE: Former UCLA men's basketball player ED O’BANNON appeared on CBS Sports Network’s “Lead Off” last night to discuss his ongoing lawsuit against the NCAA for rights to players' images. O’Bannon said of the suit, “It’s always been to right a wrong. I’ve never swayed from that feeling, from that emotion and from that thought. I’ve always kind of felt like the student-athlete has been taken advantage of and I feel like it is about time for things to change.” CBSSN’s Tony Luftman asked, “Why did you attach your name to this?” O’Bannon replied, “Why not me? I think there was an opportunity to put my name on it, to be the lead plaintiff and I figured I would take advantage of it. I don’t see any other way of going about making change" (“Lead Off,” CBSSN, 2/25).
REVERSING COURSE: The Furman Univ. golf program, which "announced Feb. 7 that it was discontinuing the men’s team after the 2014 season because of budget cuts, reversed course" yesterday and said that the men's side "would remain active." Six alumni, including former PGA Tour player BRAD FAXON, "sent a proposal to fellow alums ... outlining a plan that would keep alive the men's program." FU AD GARY CLARK in an e-mail wrote that the funds would "need to be available as they head into the next school year, but that the supporters are 'well on the way to reaching the short-term goal'” (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 2/25).
ON THE HILL: A scene in the recently-released second season of "HOUSE OF CARDS" features fictional politician Frank Underwood -- played by KEVIN SPACEY -- "throwing out a pregame first pitch" before an Orioles game at Camden Yards. It was "less than three minutes long but it took two full months to execute." In the sixth episode of Season 2, the scene "includes a staged national anthem and features cameos by former Orioles JIM JOHNSON and NATE MCLOUTH." Before the scene "could be shot, it had to be approved by the Orioles, the stadium authority" and MLB. There were "several site meetings and scout shoots into July." A crew in July "came to Camden Yards to shoot B-roll footage of pregame scenes during an actual Orioles home game" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 2/24).
NAMES: Bronze Medal-winning U.S. figure skater JASON BROWN yesterday "stopped in his hometown" of Highland Park, Ill., and attended "two pep assemblies before a combined 2,000 students at Highland Park High School" (Illinois DAILY HERALD, 2/26)....Seahawks QB RUSSELL WILSON said that he "wants to own a baseball or football team." Wilson said that a visit to the MLB Rangers next month "will serve as an exercise in getting to know how franchises work." Wilson said, "The biggest thing is networking ... you want to put your best foot forward" (WSJ.com, 2/25)....Int'l Tennis HOFer BILLIE JEAN KING on Monday sent Nets C JASON COLLINS a text message of support. Collins said, “She was great. It was really nice to hear from her” (Bergen RECORD, 2/26)....Dreamworks SKG wrote down its $135M “TURBO” animated film after an “underwhelming US box office” of $83M plus disappointing DVD sales that "failed to live up to expectations.” Dreamworks CEO JEFFREY KATZENBERG said that despite the “modest sales performance for ‘Turbo,’ the ‘Turbo Fast’ series on Netflix is on track to be the most popular on their platform” (N.Y. POST, 2/26)….Rapper BOW WOW has backed out of a project with Eagles QB MICHAEL VICK for a jointly-planned line of new hair products called "Wave Masterz." Bow Wow said that the “failed partnership was due to the rapper not wanting to spread himself too thin” (NJ.com, 2/25)….Former IOC President JACQUES ROGGE yesterday received an honorary knighthood from Great Britain (AP, 2/25)….Roberts Edwards Auctions later this spring will put up for auction the baseball that Baseball HOFer CARLTON FISK hit in Game 6 of the ’75 World Series for the Red Sox to force a Game 7 against the Reds (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/26)….TNT’s CHRIS WEBBER has listed his 2,910-square-foot Malibu house at $3.995M after originally buying the property for $3.75M in ’07 (L.A. TIMES, 2/26)….Fox’ EDDIE GEORGE has listed his five-bedroom, 8,500-square-foot house in Brentwood, Tenn., for $1.699M (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 2/26).
