| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Monday, August 26, 2002
9:00am ET | |
| |
| • | MLB Labor Talks To Resume Today After Weekend Of Little Progress |
| • | U.S. Open Begins Today Amid Tighter Security, Remembrances of 9/11 |
| • | Hurricanes To Ink New Television Deal Today With FSN South |
| • | TV Guide's NFL Preview Issue Hits The Stands Today |
| • | MLB.com To Make History Today With First Live Webcast |
| • | A Lighter Buzz/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Box Office |
LITTLE PROGRESS MADE IN MLB LABOR TALKS OVER WEEEKEND
The AP reported that MLB and MLBPA today "will be in their offices, with one or more bargaining sessions anticipated" (AP, 8/25). The union offered a proposal on Saturday and management countered with a new proposal on Sunday. MLB Exec VP/Labor Relations Rob Manfred, on the clubs' latest offer: "We made a significant move in their direction. We're trying to move the process forward." The players have set 3:20pm ET Friday as the start time of their strike (WASHINGTON POST, 8/26). MLBPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr said that "talks would continue today and the union probably would respond to Sunday's proposal" (USA TODAY, 8/26).
U.S OPEN BEGINS IN FLUSHING MEADOWS; 9/11 ON EVERYONE'S MIND
The '02 U.S. Open begins today in Flushing Meadows, NY, with "more than 640,000 people expected to attend" the "richest – and most profitable – annual sporting event in the world" (N.Y. POST, 8/26). The gates open at 10:00am ET and USTA spokesperson Eric Handler said, "Fans will notice a significant increase in uniformed presence around the tennis center" (NEWSDAY, 8/26). USTA Pro Tennis CEO Arlen Kantarian noted that last year's men's final concluded two days before the Sept. 11 attacks: "About 36 hours after the men's final, the world changed. So we want, at this year's Open, to truly celebrate the soul of New York, to show New York as a confident, resilient and proud city, a city that has kept its attitude, its edge and, frankly, its sense of humor." To that point, the Open will "stage nightly 'hero salutes'" (NEWSDAY, 8/26). Today's opening rounds will be broadcast on USA Network from 11:00am-5:00pm and from 7:00-11:00pm (THE DAILY).
NEW TELEVISION DEAL FOR STANLEY CUP FINALISTS
The Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER reports that the Hurricanes are expected to announce a new television deal with FSN South today, "one that offers a substantial improvement over the previous five-year contract in terms of the number of games broadcast." The new deal calls for FSN South to broadcast 55 games, "up from 40 last season – the fewest of any NHL team – and 33 the season before" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 8/26).
BRADY & MCNABB ADORN COVER FOR TV GUIDE'S NFL ISSUE
This week's issue of TV Guide, which hits newsstands today, is the magazine's '02 NFL Preview issue. The cover story focuses on two of the league's top QBs, the Patriots' Tom Brady and the Eagles' Donovan McNabb, and their divergent paths to stardom. Also featured in the issue is a story on the new ABC "MNF" announcing team of Al Michaels and John Madden, Fox's new top team of Joe Buck, Cris Collinsworth and Troy Aikman and a look at female reporters in the NFL (THE DAILY).
MLB TO OFFER LIVE WEBCAST OF RANGERS-YANKEES GAME
MLB.com will offer a live video Webcast of today's Rangers-Yankees game at 1:05pm ET, marking the first time ever MLB.com has broadcast an entire game live. However, the coverage will not be available in the home TV markets of the participating teams (MLB.com, 8/23).
A LIGHTER BUZZ
The HUNTSVILLE (TX) ITEM reported that it "is going on a pro baseball strike," and will provide no coverage of MLB until a new CBA is reached. The paper conducted a poll asking residents how they felt about the strike. The paper received 100 responses, and "82 people said they supported the [paper's] strike of professional baseball. Only 18 fans said the Item had no business pulling baseball news out of the paper" (HUNTSVILLE (TX) ITEM, 8/24). The Item has a circulation of 7,000 (AP, 8/25).
USA Wrestling "has pulled out of the world championships of freestyle wrestling set for Sept. 4-7 in Iran" citing threats against the U.S. team (USA TODAY, 8/26).
USA TODAY reports that Andy Petree Racing "is expected to make an announcement about its future Friday morning at Darlington Raceway." There has been speculation about a deal between Petree and Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones (USA TODAY, 8/26).
The Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL reports that Little League World Series winners Valley Sports American will return to Louisville tonight on U.S. Airways Flight 5803 at 7:30pm CT. City and county officials "will meet today to decide on a tribute for the team" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 8/26).
NJ Gov. James McGreevey signed the Athletic Code of Conduct Bill yesterday morning that "will permit a school board or youth sports organization to establish a code for all athletes, coaches, officials, and parents as a condition of participating in any sport." As part of the bill, local officials will now be allowed "to banish misbehaving adults from future games until they take a course in anger management" (Bergen RECORD, 8/26).
ATTENDANCE WATCH:
- Attendance at Sunday's WNBA Mystics-Liberty Eastern Conference Finals Game Three was 11,780 (THE DAILY).
EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Below are this week's confirmed earnings announcements for sports-business related companies (THE DAILY).
| DATE | TICKER | COMPANY | QUARTER |
| 8/28 | ASHW | Ashworth | Q3 2002 |
| | | | | | | |
IN OTHER NEWS….
The AP reported that a woman taking part in a Double A Southern League Orlando Rays promotion on Friday "collapsed and died as she ran across the baseball field in search of a hidden diamond." Victoria Lampe, 28, "appeared to suffer a seizure" during the promotion, in which participants "run from the wall to the infield and search through the infield dirt for a small box containing a diamond" (AP, 8/25).
This week's cover of TIME offers the latest research on weight loss and weight gain under the headline, "What Really Makes You Fat?" Meanwhile, NEWSWEEK examines "The Tough Love of Dr. Phil" (THE DAILY).
The N.Y. TIMES reports that AOL Time Warner Vice Chair Ted Turner's stake in the company "was worth $7.2 billion when the merger of America Online and Time Warner closed in January 2001. It is now valued at only $1.76 billion" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/26).
The N.Y. POST reports that the "redesign of Rolling Stone hits newsstands on Wednesday with shorter features, lots more pictures and the clear intention of knocking insurgent music magazine Blender for a loop" (N.Y. POST, 8/26).
USA TODAY reports that Nestle "is offering about $11.5 billion, or $82 a share, to buy candymaker Hershey Foods" (USA TODAY, 8/26).
NEWSDAY reports that Cablevision Systems Corp., which is "facing Wall Street pressure," says that it is "looking for new independent directors, a search that could significantly alter the makeup of the family-controlled company's board" (NEWSDAY, 8/26).
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Friday night's "Final Jeopardy!" category was "20th Century British Novels."
"The phrase that's the title of this novel comes from the translation of the Hebrew word Beelzebub."
LAUGH TRACK
THE MONOLOGUES:
CBS' David Letterman: "Michael Jackson had a brand new baby boy. ... It's his third child and the baby is a boy. We still don't know the sex of the father. ... Remember Danny Almonte last year (in the LLWS)? ... This year, Danny Almonte Jr. is pitching. ... Bill Clinton is getting his own TV show here at CBS. That's right. It's going to be a new daily afternoon (TV) show, and also, he'll be the new fat weatherman on the 'Early Show.' ... They've already picked out a name for the show. I think it's a pretty good one. They're calling it 'Bubba.' ... This will be the second time that Clinton has appeared on CBS. Three years ago, he was in that Tori Spelling movie, 'Mother, May I Sleep With the President?'" ("The Late Show," CBS, 8/23).
LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:
Friday's "Top Ten" was "Top Ten Complaints Of The Average Baseball Player" ("The Late Show," CBS, 8/23).
| 10) | "Medical plan does not cover cryogenics." |
| 9) | "It's the grueling 3-hour work day." |
| 8) | "Beer vendor seldom makes it to the dugout." |
| 7) | "Being called 'out' is a crippling blow to one's self-esteem." |
| 6) | "A certain percentage of us have to play for the Devil Rays." |
| 5) | "Mitt hand doesn't get any sun." |
| 4) | "It's 2002 and we still have to endure tiresome 'We Will Rock You.'" |
| 3) | "When a beach ball comes on the field, we want to keep it." |
| 2) | "People think strike is about money, when it's actually about a boatload of money." |
| 1) | "I think Mike Piazza's checking me out." |
ESPN's Jay Mohr: "Ed Headrick, the inventor of the Frisbee, died at the age of 78. ... He will be laid to rest on his neighbor's roof. ... (Mavericks G) Steve Nash has now exited Team Canada, so there will be no Canadian professional players on the Canadian World Championship team. Zero professionals. It's like watching a Raptors game. ... It's got to be tough to be a Canadian basketball player because the second you put on a headband, they think you're Mike Reno from Loverboy. ... The Pope arrived in Poland last week. He immediately walked into a bar with a priest, a rabbi and a monk" ("Mohr Sports," ESPN, 8/23).
SUNDAY NIGHT'S TV MONITOR
ESPN's 11:00pm ET "SportsCenter" was the 25,000th episode of the program.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Buena Vista's "Signs" returned to the top of the box office this weekend with approximately $14.3M in gross receipts. However, the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that overall, the weekend "proved lukewarm as the estimated total for all films was down 4% from the comparable session a year ago" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 8/26).
| Title | This Weekend | Cumulative |
| Signs | $14.3M | $173.2M |
| XXX | $13.7M | $106.7M |
| Spy Kids 2 | $7.8M | $58.5M |
| My Big Fat Greek Wedding | $7.5M | $64M |
| Blue Crush | $6.5M | $26.4M |
| Serving Sara | $6M | $6M |
| Austin Powers in Goldmember | $5.6M | $193.9M |
| Undisputed | $4.7M | $4.7M |
| S1m0ne | $4M | $4M |
| Blood Work | $2.8M | $20.2M |
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
"What is 'Lord of the Flies'?"
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