Morning Buzz, August 7, 2002

MLBPA TO ANNOUNCE DRUG-TESTING PROPOSAL TODAY

USA TODAY reports that the MLBPA "will make its long-awaited response today on management's demand for a mandatory drug-testing plan." Meanwhile, player reps have "scheduled an in-person meeting for Monday in Chicago, where it's likely a strike date will be set" (USA TODAY, 8/7). The N.Y. TIMES cites a source familiar with the MLBPA's proposal as saying it "would include some element of testing for steroids" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/7). Blue Jays OF and player rep Vernon Wells, on the MLBPA's plan: "I think both sides will be happy with it. We want to be able to clear our names of all this" (MLB.com, 8/6).

K.C. SENIOR PGA TOUR EVENT INKS TITLE SPONSORSHIP DEAL

The K.C. STAR reports that Bayer Corp. will become the title sponsor of the Senior PGA Tour event scheduled to be played at The National Golf Club of K.C., a Tom Watson-designed course. An official announcement on the event will be issued today at a news conference at The National, which is located in Parkville (K.C. STAR, 8/7).

ADELPHIA NAME COMING DOWN FROM TN COLISEUM TODAY

The Nashville TENNESSEAN reports that the Adelphia name is "set to come off what is for now called The Coliseum starting at" 7:00am CT this morning. The move follows a judge's ruling yesterday afternoon that "formally severed" Adelphia Business Solutions' stadium-naming deal with the Titans (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 8/7).

CART'S FITTIPALDI PLANS JUMP TO NASCAR, PETTY ENTERPRISES

Petty Enterprises is expected to announce today it "has signed CART driver Christian Fittipaldi to run Busch and Winston Cup races next season." NASCAR's Jerry Nadeau, on Fittipaldi's expected transition: "I know Christian has done a few Busch races, and I'm sure he realizes how tough it really is. Wait until he gets to Winston Cup. It's definitely a lot tougher" (USA TODAY, 8/7).

MASON GETS TO SLEEP IN OWN BED AS RED WINGS END STREAK

The ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE reports that Triple-A Int'l League Rochester Red Wings GM Dan Mason, who vowed to sleep in the bullpen until his team won a game, "slept at Frontier Field six consecutive nights before earning a reprieve on Tuesday," as the Red Wings snapped their 12-game losing streak with a 12-3 win over the Syracuse SkyChiefs last night. Mason: "I never imagined it would become a story on such a national scale" (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 8/7).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

This week's edition of Sports Illustrated is the magazine's college football preview issue, and the cover features Univ. of OK DT Tommie Harris with the tagline, "SO GOOD IT'S SCARY … Mega-Tackle Tommie Harris Leads Oklahoma's Daunting Defense" (THE DAILY).

USA TODAY reports that Sparks C Lisa Leslie's dunk, the first ever in the history of the WNBA, is "the most popular video this year on the NBA Internet Network," with users viewing the dunk more than 140,000 times (USA TODAY, 8/7).

ATTENDANCE WATCH:

• The PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER reports that the Eagles practice Tuesday drew 7,562 fans, "the summer's biggest crowd" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 8/7).

• The DETROIT FREE-PRESS reports the Tigers sold 19,518 tickets to last night's game against the Rangers, "pushing attendance to 1,005,619 – the 38^th straight season the Tigers have drawn more than a million." It's the longest such streak in the American League (DETROIT FREE-PRESS, 8/7).

• The Albany TIMES-UNION reports that total attendance for Saratoga's '02 meet through 12 days of racing is at 330,427, which is down 2.4% from a year ago. However, total wagering "continues to be well ahead of last year" (Albany TIMES-UNION, 8/7).

Jennifer Capriati and Matthew Perry played doubles against Lakers F Rick Fox and Serena Williams at the JP Morgan Chase open last night in CA. Perry, joking about rumors he and Capriati are dating: "Jen will be starring opposite me in my next romantic comedy" ("ET," 8/6).

TODAY'S EVENTS

The Stanley Cup will conclude its four-day Russian tour with a trip to the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin (THE DAILY).

The MISL will conduct a noon CT press conference at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee to discuss the Milwaukee Wave's bid to host the '03 All-Star Weekend (THE DAILY).

The Senators announced yesterday that they will begin the second phase of their Forecheck sales program today. The Forecheck program has the Senators' sales team working to increase the number of new business accounts participating in the team's ticketing and corporate sales programs for the '02-03 season (THE DAILY).

The USOC will begin its ninth annual Minority Youth Leadership Program, F.L.A.M.E. (Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere) at their complex in Colorado Springs today. Each day of the five-day conference will cover one of the Olympic ideals in depth (THE DAILY).

IN OTHER NEWS….

USA TODAY reports that America Online CEO Jon Miller said Tuesday that he "wants to slowly migrate subscribers to high-speed Internet services and reduce the company's long-time emphasis on banner ads in favor of more lucrative promotions." Miller said that AOL would promote broadband "when it has more compelling premium services to offer" (USA TODAY, 8/7).

ABC announced yesterday that it "would begin broadcasting a rerun of the USA Network show, 'Monk,'" starting next week, only four days after the episode first appeared on USA. The deal reverses the usual order of TV programming, where shows "play first on a network and then on cable" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/7).

FINAL JEOPARDY QUESTION

Last night's "Final Jeopardy!" category was "Young Stars."

"In the past three years she's played film roles based on Shakespeare's Katharina, Ophelia and Desdemona."

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

NBC's Jay Leno: "It was so hot (yesterday), I was sweating like Anna Nicole Smith trying to book a single seat on Southwest Airlines. ... How many watched the 'Anna Nicole Show' the other night? ... Now maybe people will finally begin to take this woman seriously. ... How many wanted to watch the show but didn't have the wide-screen TV?" Leno talked about the other titles considered for Anna Nicole Smith's show: "Meet The Stretch Mark;" "Ally McBeef;" "Buffy The Buffet Slayer;" "The 700 Pound Club;" "Dog Eat Chili Dog;" "Swinefeld;" and "I Weigh 90210." More Leno: "President Bush had his annual check-up (yesterday). Actually, when they told him it was time for his annual check-up, Bush said, 'What are you talking about? I just had one last year.' ... The Justice Department is now investigating the accounting practices of AOL. In fact, they changed the greeting from 'You've got mail' to 'We're in jail.' ... I think AOL now stands for 'Ask Our Lawyers.' ... I have a public service announcement. (Last night's) Gay Tolerance dinner honoring John Rocker has been cancelled. ... It seems (Rocker) got caught yelling anti-gay insults at two guys. I can't imagine what they were. The (TX) Rangers are calling this the most embarrassing thing to happen to them, other than their record. ... A man in (IA) is offering to rent advertising space on his head for $100,000. He says he'll tattoo the message on his forehead. ... You know who should take this guy up on this? The 'Don't Be A Fool Stay In School' people" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 8/6).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

NBC's Conan O'Brien: "Martha Stewart is being sued by one of her stockholders because of her part in the insider trading scandal. Martha wouldn't comment on the lawsuit, but she did say subpoenas should be served with a light appetizer. … The producers of 'The Sopranos' are coming out with a new line of Sopranos-inspired food, including pasta sauces and salad dressings. That's true. Not only that, they're also planning to whack Paul Newman. … Bruce Willis and Demi Moore may be getting back together. Apparently, Demi promised to be more patient and understanding and Bruce promised to stop playing the harmonica. … Mel Gibson is considering playing Jesus in an upcoming movie. The really weird part is, the movie is 'Lethal Weapon 5.' … Michael Douglas made his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, turn down a commercial where she would have been dressed in Victoria's Secret lingerie. Not only that, Catherine Zeta-Jones made Michael Douglas turn down a commercial where he would have been wearing Depends" ("Late Night," NBC, 8/6).

CBS' Craig Kilborn: "Saddam Hussein is getting a little worried. Today he bought a new globe and Iraq wasn't on it. … Happy birthday to Ginger Spice. She turned 30 (yesterday). And hey Ginger, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. I want fries with that. … 1,000 (CA) women set a new record for mass breastfeeding. In a related story, 2,000 (CA) men set a new record for pretending to look away" ("The Late Late Show," CBS, 8/6).

Jon Stewart: "The 1960's. Some of our viewers may be vaguely familiar with the decade, thanks to a 1999 NBC miniseries. But to music historians, it was the golden age of rock and roll. This weekend, a legendary act of that period was back in the news. Rhode Island, the Rhode Island-sized state of Rhode Island, where Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival for the first time since his legendary performance in 1965. That appearance, the famed 'Dylan Goes Electric' troubled many of his fans. This time his appearance … troubled everyone. The false wig and beard under cowboy hat told the audience, I'm a little bit country, a little bit vampire. I died in '97 is what it says. When Dylan took the stage in '65, he changed music history forever with the simple act of plugging in his Stratocaster guitar. Folk music had gone electric, and for the first time ever, didn't suck. Oh, I'm sorry, Joni Mitchell fans. While that performance outraged some in the crowd, this time around Dylan received a hero's welcome, which he cut short by launching into his latest hit 'You're All Fools For Forgiving Me'" ("The Daily Show," Comedy Central, 8/6).

ESPN's Jay Mohr: "Pittsburgh Steelers Owner Dan Rooney had to crash-land the plane he was flying when the landing gear didn't come down. This guy's 70-years old. Here's my question. What the hell is a 70-year old man doing flying a plane? Old people can't drive cars. ... Bon Jovi will perform in Times Square just hours before the NFL's first game in what the league is calling the 'World's Largest Tailgate Party.' Bon Jovi in Times Square. Can you imagine the sea of mullets that are going to be in Times Square? ... Where are they going to park all those Camaros? ... A member of the Russian mafia was arrested in Italy and is accused of fixing the Olympic ice dancing competition. Ice skating fans are so upset, that all the rainbow flags at gay bars are being flown at half-mast. ... I hope this doesn't start a war between the (Brian) Boitano and (Michelle) Kwan crime families. ... Shaquille O'Neal has purchased $100(M) in low-income housing, making him Bookman from 'Good Times.' ... (Britney Spears) walked off stage (in Mexico) after four songs and gave the press the finger. That kind of attitude will get you signed by the Vikings" ("Mohr Sports," ESPN, 8/6).

TUESDAY NIGHT'S TV MONITOR

ESPN's 11:00pm ET "SportsCenter" led with A's-Red Sox.

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

"Who is Julia Stiles?"

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