"THE BOSS": ARMSTRONG WRAPS UP FOURTH TOUR DE FRANCE WIN

Four-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong spoke to the U.S. media at a Nike-sponsored Webcast this morning at 7:00am ET.  The event will be archived at NikeBiz.com.  This comes after Armstrong "won his fourth consecutive Tour de France, so dominating the grueling, three-week cycling race that even the often-skeptical French media have dubbed him 'The Boss'" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/29).

USOC EXEC COMMITTEE TO WEIGH CANDIDATES FOR TOP JOB

The CO Springs GAZETTE reports that the USOC exec committee will meet today in Chicago and "take the first step toward a special election to name a new president to fill the unexpired term of Sandy Baldwin, who resigned May 24 after admitting to inaccuracies on her rèsumè."  The committee will decide on a single nominee from a slate of three candidates: USOC VP Paul George, acting President Marty Mankamyer and former USOC treasurer Larry Hough.  The nominee "will then be presented to the USOC's 123-member board of directors, who will vote via mail ballot" (CO Springs GAZETTE, 7/29). 

Meanwhile, while George and Mankamyer are seen as having more support, the WASHINGTON POST reports that Hough would "score a major upset in the first step of a two-part election process" if he were to receive the nomination (WASHINGTON POST, 7/29).

LACKING SET SCHEDULE, MLB LABOR DISCUSSIONS RESUME TODAY

MLB.com reported that labor lawyers for MLB and the MLBPA will resume discussions today with the sides saying they'd proceed for the first time "without a designated schedule."  MLBPA Associate General Counsel Michael Weiner: "It wouldn't surprise me now if we met every day next week.  But it wouldn't surprise me either if we worked a few days and then took a few off, depending upon everyone's schedule" (MLB.com, 7/26).  The next two weeks of labor negotiations "could shape the rest of the baseball season and the health of the game for years to come."  MLBPA General Counsel Gene Orza said, "How deep my optimism runs will depend a lot on the next couple of days."  Meanwhile, later this week, MLB arbitrator Shyam Das "is expected to decide whether the owners must consult the union when deciding which teams MLB chooses to close down" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/29).

WEEKEND IN COOPERSTOWN: SMITH, KALAS AND FALLS INDUCTED

The UTICA OBSERVER-DISPATCH reports, "The rain held off, the crowds turned out and Commissioner Bud Selig escaped unscratched.  Overall, a pretty good day in Cooperstown."  The '02 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place Sunday, and "because there was just one member of the Class of 2002 — Ozzie Smith — some feared the Hall's projection of 20,000 visitors might have been optimistic" (UTICA OBSERVER-DISPATCH, 7/29).

Meanwhile, the DETROIT NEWS reports that longtime Detroit columnist Joe Falls entered the Hall of Fame "when he received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for 'meritorious contributions to baseball writing'" (DETROIT NEWS, 7/29).  Read a copy of Falls' acceptance speech yesterday from Cooperstown.

The PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER reports that "in a moving discourse that lasted just over five minutes," longtime Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas "graciously accepted the Ford C. Frick Award that represented his ticket into the broadcasters' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame."  Though Kalas "gave the briefest of the three speeches, it was certainly the most coherent and perhaps the most poignant" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/29).

IVERSON'S PRELIMINARY HEARING TODAY IN PHILADELPHIA

The PHIALDELPHIA INQUIRER reported that 76ers G Allen Iverson "will walk into a courtroom" today and "confront his accusers, two young men who will face aggressive examination of everything they have said about the superstar's search for his wife."  Iverson faces a preliminary hearing today at 9:30am ET, and "legal observers expect Iversons' attorneys - led by Richard A. Sprague and Guy R. Sciolla - to try to pick apart the case, starting with its key witnesses" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/28).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

A number of NFL camps opened over the weekend, and the following offers a brief round up of attendance figures at some of the sites:

BEARS: Friday's opening practice drew an estimated 3,500-4,00 at Olivet Nazarene Univ. at Bourbonnais, IL.  Bears President Ted Phillips: "So far, it's far exceeding our expectations" (IL DAILY HERALD, 7/27).

BROWNS: About 2,200 fans showed up at the morning practice on Saturday and "almost as many came in the afternoon at the Browns training camp" in Berea, OH (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/28).

COWBOYS: The team said that 32,766 attended four practices over the past two days in San Antonio, including a high of 12,173 on Saturday afternoon (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 7/29).

JETS: The Jets allowed fans onto the fields of their Hofstra Univ. training camp for the first time to watch camp, and team execs estimated a crowd of more than 1,100 showed up Saturday (Bergen RECORD, 7/28).

PANTHERS: The team's first morning session on Saturday drew about 1,500  in Spartanburg, SC (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/28).

PATRIOTS: The Patriots had to close access to Bryant College in Smithfield, RI, as an estimated 5,000 watched the team's first practice on Friday (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/27).

REDSKINS: Dickinson College execs estimated that 7,000 watched the Redskins' first live workout on Saturday (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/28).

Seahawks Stadium held its first sporting event on Sunday, as a crowd of 25,515 watched the A-League soccer's Seattle Sounders beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 4-1 (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 7/29).

The Devil Rays have averaged 13,929 for the season but averaged 28,897 for their weekend series against the Yankees. The series "was the best-attended three-game series at Tropicana Field since a July 16-18, 2000, set against Atlanta drew 100,958" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 7/29).

For the next eight days, the HARTFORD COURANT will chronicle a week in Winston Cup racing by following Bobby Labonte's team, focusing on one aspect of the sport each day.  Today, the COURANT's Shawn Courchesne follows Labonte's pit crew as they pack up their gear after Sunday's race at Pocono (HARTFORD COURANT, 7/29).

The MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL reported that retired Packers S LeRoy Butler "will be in Bristol, Conn., Tuesday and Wednesday for an interview and audition with ESPN."  The network is considering Butler for its NFL pre-game show (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/28).

TODAY'S EVENTS

WUSA officials and Portland Family Entertainment have scheduled an 11:30am PT press conference in Portland today to unveil plans on a new soccer initiative in the area. The media event will feature WUSA Commissioner Tony DiCicco and  Portland Family Entertainment President Mark Schuster (THE DAILY).

Bulls Fs Marcus Fizer and Eddie Robinson will join 100 elementary school students for a reading event and Lake Michigan cruise beginning at 3:00pm CT, part of the NBA's "Read to Achieve" program (THE DAILY).

Kings G Bobby Jackson and Monarchs G Ruthie Bolton will host the inaugural "Guard Camp" beginning today through Thursday for kids ages 12-18.  The camp will be held in the Sacramento Sportsplex (THE DAILY).

Flames F Jarome Iginla will host his inaugural Hockey School beginning today through Friday at Calgary Centennial Arenas (THE DAILY).

EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Below are this week's confirmed earnings announcements for sports-business related companies (THE DAILY).

IN OTHER NEWS….

This week's cover of TIME profiles Bruce Springsteen under the headline, "Reborn in the USA."  This week's issue of NEWSWEEK profiles filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan ("Signs") under the headline, "The Next Spielberg" (THE DAILY).

USA TODAY reports that Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middelhoff on Sunday "became the third major media executive to lose his job this month."  Middelhoff stepped down because of "differences of opinion . . . on the future strategy of Bertelsmann."  He will be succeeded by Gunter Thielen (USA TODAY, 7/29).

The N.Y. TIMES reports that Ziff Davis Media "has been telling advertisers that it will be forced to enter a prepackaged bankruptcy by the end of this week" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/29).

The storied Russian Tea Room announced its closing over the weekend (N.Y. TIMES, 7/27).

DAILY VARIETY reports that CBS Sports' Lesley Visser will make a guest appearance hosting CBS' "The Early Show," but Visser "has denied interest in the job" (DAILY VARIETY, 7/29).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Friday's "Final Jeopardy!" category was "The Internet."

"With a catalog of 28 million items including books, CDs and audiobooks, it's the world's largest online shop."

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES: 

CBS' David Letterman: "It was so hot (last Friday), Allen Iverson went to a friend's house and kicked in both doors to get a cross breeze. ... Every now and then I take mom out, and we went ... to see the Harrison Ford movie about the submarine, ("K-19"). ... So we're sitting there and everything's fine, and about halfway through the film, mom says to me, 'David, when do they hit the iceberg?' ... Al Sharpton is suing HBO. ... Sharpton wants a billion dollars.  So far, HBO has offered him a guest shot on 'Arli$$'" ("The Late Show," CBS, 7/26).

NBC's Jay Leno: "It was so hot (last Friday), all those corrupt CEOs thought they'd already died and gone to hell. ... The hottest spot in L.A. – Needles, CA – was 110 degrees.  The coldest spot?  The Dodgers bullpen. ... Counter-terrorism experts are now saying that Osama bin Laden may be hiding secret messages on pornographic web sites.  Do you know what that means?  Clinton could find this guy before Bush does. ... (OH) Congressman James Traficant was disgraced and expelled from Congress (last) week for bribery, extortion, tax evasion and, of course, the biggest offense in the eyes of Congress: He got caught. ... (The Adelphia cable execs) were arrested by the postal police, not the regular police.  In court, you're going to have postal workers testifying against cable workers.   This could be the slowest trial in history. ... There's something great about watching guys from your cable company getting arrested on your illegal cable hookup" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 7/26).

SUNDAY NIGHT'S TV MONITOR

ESPN's 12:00am ET "SportsCenter" led with Angels-Mariners.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that the $75M debut of Mike Myers' "Austin Powers in Goldmember" was the "biggest ever in July," as well as the "largest [opening] for a comedy and the biggest in New Line history."  The estimated total for this weekend's top 12 films was $133.2M, which was down 7% from a year ago (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/29).

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

"What is Amazon.com?"

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