Michigan football coach JIM HARBAUGH "will receive" $9M from the school this year "based on the contract amendment signed in June." Harbaugh already stood to make $5M a year, but now UM "will loan him" $4M this year and $2M "the next five years to pay a life insurance policy." He received $2M on June 3, and if he "remains the coach on Dec. 6, he will receive" another $2M payment (DETROIT NEWS, 8/19).
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Following Packers QB AARON RODGERS' comments this week on player speaking out on social issues, former NFLer DOMONIQUE FOXWORTH wrote, "Currently, the expectation of athletes to take a stand on social issues falls only on black athletes, as if we are the only athletes with a responsibility for the advancement of society." Foxworth wrote to Rodgers, "I assume you agree with me when I say every person has an equal obligation to advance our society, black or white, celebrity or not, athlete or fan. So, please be the leader I believe you are, be the first white superstar athlete to accept some of the burden black athletes are currently shouldering alone. And say 'Black Lives Matter'" (THEUNDEFEATED.com, 8/18).
LOST IN SPACE: The new film "SPACEMAN," about former MLBer BILL LEE is “interested not in the heart of Lee’s career but the end of it, and the slow process of letting go of the glory days.” The film’s “effort is commendable, but the execution is rocky.” Lee in the film "isn’t particularly likable or charming, just annoying and self-destructive” (N.Y. TIMES, 8/19). The film “seldom delivers despite an engagingly game lead performance by JOSH DUHAMEL” (L.A. TIMES, 8/19).
NAMES: The Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice will honor Thunder Exec VP & GM SAM PRESTI at its ‘16 Humanitarian Awards Dinner on Sept. 6 at the Skirvin Hilton in downtown Oklahoma City (OKLAHOMAN, 8/19)....Detroit Association of Black Organizations CEO HORACE SHEFFIELD’s “Bust the Ball” campaign kicked off on Thursday at the Sheffield Center in Detroit to “bring awareness to his concerns” over the Pistons and NBA’s “economic exclusion of people of color beyond the court” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 8/18)....Red Wings LW JUSTIN ABDELKADER and C DYLAN LARKIN “flew with the Breitling Jet Team on Thursday” in Michigan (MLIVE.com, 8/18).
IN MEMORY: Former Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Daytona Int’l Speedway President JOHN COOPER “died Wednesday in Indianapolis” at the age of 83. Cooper served as IMS President from ‘79-‘82, then became DIS’s President from December ‘87 to July ‘90. Cooper’s “ties to NASCAR came through a longtime friendship” with NASCAR Founder BILL FRANCE SR. (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 8/19).
