The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jason Gay profiles the Cowboys' JERRY JONES and writes the "most-recognizable" NFL owner is "having a Jerryaissance" this season. Owners can be "quirky types, imperious about facing any kind of public query." However, Jones "commands center stage like a tenor." That type of attention is what he "signed up for, and what he sells." Life around the Cowboys is "supposed to be showy, loud, a little are-they-really-doing this?" Gay: "It's a philosophy Jones super-sized and continues to embody" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/19).
'TIS THE SEASON: The Warriors on Saturday announced $1.25M in grants to 51 organizations working to improve educational equity in Alameda and S.F. counties. Since its founding in '12, the Warriors Community Foundation has delivered $6.7M to support education and youth development in the Bay Area (Warriors)....MICHAEL PHELPS was in Edgewood, Md., on Friday for a "visit to that branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford County." Phelps "paired with one of his sponsors, KRAVE Jerky, to donate $20,000 to help expand the Michael Phelps Foundation's 'im' water safety and recreation program" (Baltimore SUN, 12/17)....Current and former NHLers on Friday "flocked to four Metro Detroit sites, competing in teams to raise money as part of the 11th annual Red Wings for Red Kettles." The participants "brought in $23,083.68 for the Salvation Army" during the contest (DETROIT NEWS, 12/17)....Colts P PAT MCAFEE "paid off the electric bills" for 115 Indianapolis residents (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 12/18)....Celtics G ISAIAH THOMAS hosted a holiday party last Thursday for "families displaced by the Dec. 3 fire in Cambridge" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/19).
SPRUNG A LEAK: According to a letter filed by the Department of Justice on Friday, an FBI agent "leaked confidential information" to the Wall Street Journal and N.Y. Times while investigating PHIL MICKELSON and professional gambler BILLY WALTERS over "allegations of insider trading" (ESPN.com, 12/17).
NAMES: The Pistons met with White House Cabinet Secretary and My Brother’s Keeper Chair BRODERICK JOHNSON on Thursday. PRESIDENT OBAMA dropped by to welcome the team to the White House (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/17)....Former MLBer DAVID ORTIZ was named one of the Bostonians of the Year by the Boston Globe (BOSTON GLOBE magazine, 12/18)....Cubs manager JOE MADDON has "helped workers break ground on a $250,000 playground" in his hometown of Hazelton, Pa. The playground is part of the Hazleton One Community Center, Maddon’s "brainchild" (AP, 12/16)....Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist SID HARTMAN "suffered a broken right hip in a fall Friday night." The 96-year-old Hartman had "surgery on Saturday at Fairview Southdale Hospital" and is "expected to be hospitalized for several days before beginning rehabilitation" (STARTRIBUNE.com, 12/18)....ESPN’s ADAM SCHEFTER had a party for his 50th birthday on Friday that included CNBC’s JIM CRAMER, ESPN analysts TRENT DILFER and MARK SCHLERETH and former NFL coach MIKE SHANAHAN (MMQB.SI.com, 12/19)....Nationals RF BRYCE HARPER married his longtime girlfriend KAYLA VARNER at the San Diego Mormon Temple over the weekend (ESPN.com, 12/19).
IN MEMORY: Longtime boxing photographer HOWARD BINGHAM died Thursday in L.A. at the age of 77. Bingham "shot millions of images of MUHAMMAD ALI and became a well-known figure in his own right through his long and abiding friendship" with Ali. For more than 50 years, until Ali’s death in June, each man "described the other as his closest friend" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/18).
