Menu
People and Pop Culture

Names In The News

In N.Y., Marc Tracy profiles Oklahoma President DAVID BOREN, who is "not a typical university chief executive." Boren served as Big 12 BOD Chair when the conference "discussed expanding beyond its 10-institution membership" last year, "which it did not." The decision not to expand the Big 12 "will prove momentous." Should there be another "round of conference realignment, Oklahoma, one of college sports’ most valuable brands, may possess more leverage than any other institution." Boren will step down from his post at OU effective June 30 (N.Y. TIMES, 12/1).

SAFETY FIRST: Lightning Owner JEFF VINIK is the lead investor in a $6M round of fundraising for StemRad, an Israeli company that "recently decided to headquarter its U.S. subsidiary in Tampa." StemRad "makes a personal radiation shield to protect troops, first responders and nuclear power plant workers from deadly high-energy gamma radiation released by atomic bombs, nuclear meltdowns or similar catastrophes" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 12/1).

HEADED TO COURT: Former Louisville basketball coach RICK PITINO is asking for $37.6M in a "federal breach of contract lawsuit filed Thursday against the school's athletic association." The lawsuit states that the board's actions "violated his employment contract in two ways." The lawsuit also "alleges the university had no justification to fire Pitino 'for cause' in October and failed to fix the breach within 30 days despite being notified of the breach by the coach" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 12/1).

HOLIDAY SPIRIT
: The Bruins on Thursday "went on a shopping spree for a good cause" at a Walmart in Saugus, Mass. The team "took part in its Annual Holiday Toy Shopping event, purchasing presents that will be delivered to more than 600 children in hospitals throughout Boston and won’t be home for Christmas" (BOSTON HERALD, 12/1)....Islanders players on Thursday gathered at a Toys ‘R’ Us in Carle Place, N.Y., to "buy gifts they will distribute to children during the team’s annual holiday hospital visits later" this month (NEWSDAY, 12/1).

WELL DESERVED: The Canadian Baseball HOF on Thursday named late Toronto Star baseball writer ALISON GORDON the “first female recipient of the Jack Graney Award, given to a member of the Canadian media for his or her contributions to Canadian baseball.” Gordon, who died in ’15 at 72, was the “first female sports writer in the Baseball Writers Association of America” (TORONTO STAR, 12/1).

NAMES: Gold Medal-winning U.S. swimmer KATIE LEDECKY and Gold Medal-winning U.S. wrestler KYLE SNYDER won the USOC’s Olympic Athlete of the Year honors at the Team USA Awards (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 11/30)....Liberty Media Chair JOHN MALONE’s Liberty Global has “taken an interest in STX Entertainment.” Liberty Global has “invested an undisclosed amount in the Burbank studio.” Financial terms “were not revealed” (L.A. TIMES, 12/1)....The personal papers of late North Carolina basketball coach DEAN SMITH, which includes 12,000 items, have been “donated” to the school’s Wilson Library (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 12/1)....Saints QB DREW BREES, Spurs G TONY PARKER, Pro Football HOFer DERRICK BROOKS and Mavericks Assistant GM MICHAEL FINLEY on Thursday joined film production company Argent Pictures as partners. The four will “help develop, finance and produce films with the Argent founders." The athletes “worked on Argent projects before the idea came to merge them into a super-team” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 11/30)....Rockets Gs CHRIS PAUL and JAMES HARDEN were in attendance at the ninth CP3 PBA Celebrity Invitational on Thursday night at Bowlero Woodlands in Conroe, Texas. The two were joined by Red Sox RF MOOKIE BETTS, former NFLer TERRELL OWENS and Texans CB KAREEM JACKSON (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 12/1).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/12/01/People-and-Pop-Culture/Names.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/12/01/People-and-Pop-Culture/Names.aspx

CLOSE