Broncos Owner PAT BOWLEN and his family yesterday were "honored during the first television timeout" during the Colts-Broncos game. A brief video tribute was shown on the big screens at Sports Authority Field at Mile High before a live camera focused on Bowlen's family inside the owner's box. Bowlen was not in attendance, marking the "first time he missed a Broncos regular-season or playoff game since he purchased the team" in '84 (DENVER POST, 9/8).
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: In Newark, Connor Orr profiled NFL Giants President & CEO JOHN MARA, who "stands on the verge of his next master plan." Mara: "I don’t want people to ever get in a comfort zone here where they think they have a position for life and that there’s no expectations. That is the worst thing you can do. There are expectations, and people understand that" (NJ.com, 9/7).
IN THE PUBLIC EYE: NBC's BOB COSTAS and Fox News' MEGYN KELLY will co-host the 24th Annual Broadcasting & Cable HOF ceremony Oct. 20 (BROADCASTING & CABLE, 9/8 issue)....Republican Illinois gubernatorial candidate BRUCE RAUNER turned to Pro Football HOFer MIKE DITKA "for some campaign advice during a TV ad that aired during Sunday's Bears game." Rauner spokesperson MIKE SCHRIMPF in an e-mail wrote that Ditka was "not paid" for the spot (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/8)....The LSU Board of Supervisors this Friday "will consider a three-year extension" for AD JOE ALLEVA. The extension will come "without a raise in pay and would keep Alleva under contract" through '19 (NOLA.com, 9/6)....The NFL Jets on Friday announced that they and Chase will continue their support for youth football via the Northern New Jersey Football Program with a $100,000 donation to the Twin Valley Football Conference and Newark Pop Warner Football League (Jets).
NAMES: Former NFLer SAMARI ROLLE on Friday won $650,000 in a medical malpractice suit against OrthoCarolina. Rolle sued in ’11, when he claimed that surgeon CRAIG BRIGHAM “did not properly perform follow-up care after surgery, leading to complications and an early retirement” (CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.com, 9/5)….ESPN’s RAY LEWIS “appeared alongside military officials onstage at the Baltimore War Memorial Saturday to pay tribute to members of a Maryland Army National Guard unit returning from nearly a year in Afghanistan” (BALTIMORESUN.com, 9/6)….WME/IMG co-CEO’s ARI EMANUEL and PATRICK WHITESELL on Thursday night held an “intimate dinner” with “some of the top designers” at N.Y. Fashion Week (NYPOST.com, 9/7)….Pro Football HOFer WILLIE ROAF listed his Riverside, Calif., house for $1.25M (LATIMES.com, 9/5).
IN MEMORY: Former Mississippi State Univ. radio announcer JACK CRISTIL died last night at the Sanctuary Hospice House in Tupelo, Miss., at the age of 88. He “was the ‘Voice of the Bulldogs’ for 58 years.” He began in ’53, retired in ’11 and called 636 football games. At the time he retired, Cristil had called 60% of the football games played in program history. Funeral arrangements are currently incomplete, but a public memorial service is planned in the near future on the MSU campus (Jackson CLARION-LEDGER, 9/8).
