Five Redskins players yesterday spent a "little more than an hour at Richmond Raceway" with DALE EARNHARDT JR. Each player took a "spin around" the track with Earnhardt, who is set to retire after the '17 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. Earnhardt, a die-hard Redskins fan, was there promoting the Cup Series and invited the players out to "show them around" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/9).
QUAIL HUNTING: WME-IMG co-CEO ARI EMANUEL today was chatting with agency client HENRIK STENSON at the practice range at Quail Hollow Club ahead of a practice round for the PGA Championship (THE DAILY). JUSTIN BIEBER also was spotted at the course yesterday (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/9).
SHERLOCK HOLMES: When former FBI Dir ROBERT MUELLER took his new job as special counsel in the Russia investigation, he "gave up a law firm partnership" in which he had made almost $3.5M since the beginning of '16, according to financial disclosures. Mueller's client list from his former firm, WilmerHale, "reads like a who's who of America's most prominent businesses," including the NFL. Mueller was involved in the "high-profile assignment" of investigating the NFL's response to the RAY RICE situation. Mueller's former Chief of Staff AARON ZEBLEY also left a $1.4M-a-year-job at WilmerHale to "join the special counsel investigation." Zebley also represented the NFL (POLITICO.com, 8/9).
NAMES: Wells Fargo will pay the federal government $108M to "settle a federal whistleblower case," leaving USL Tampa Bay Rowdies Owner BILL EDWARDS and his St. Petersburg-based Mortgage Investors as the "sole remaining defendants" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 8/9)....Pelicans C ANTHONY DAVIS earlier this week held his "first basketball camp in New Orleans for quite some time." The two-day camp was for "kids ages 7-15" and took place at the Univ. of New Orleans (NOLA.com, 8/8)....Former NFLer ANTHONY GONZALEZ is "holding meetings as he eyes Ohio’s 16th Congressional District.” He also “recently met with the National Republican Congressional Committee” (CLEVELAND.com, 8/8)....Kansas State football coach BILL SNYDER is the “co-author of a soon-to-be-released children’s book that focuses on his famous goals, entitled ‘TAKE IT FROM ME.’” The 32-page book “explains the importance of every goal with rhyming text and cartoon illustrations of Snyder coaching kittens in K-State uniforms.” Publisher Kraken Books is “currently taking pre-orders for the book on its website” (DETROITNEWS.com, 8/9)....Bengals QB A.J. MCCARRON, an Alabama alum, has opened a “new sushi restaurant” in Tuscaloosa (AL.com, 8/8).
