Morning Buzz, September 25, 2002

CANADIAN OLYMPIANS TO SEEK $260M FACILITY RENOVATION

The Toronto GLOBE & MAIL reports that a "group of Olympic athletes" will meet with Canada's Secretary of State for Amateur Sport Paul DeVillers today in Toronto to push for a Centre for Canadian Olympic Excellence. The athletes are seeking "financial support for an ambitious" C$260M renovation of Calgary's Olympic facilities. If the federal commitment is secured, the centerpiece of the renovation will be a "multisport indoor training complex, which will also house athlete accommodations, a satellite campus for the National Sports High School, and offices for national and provincial sport organizations" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 9/25).

OLYMPIC ATHLETES ENGAGE IN MENTORING PROGRAM IN UT

The SALT LAKE TRIBUNE reports that "almost three-dozen Utahns will be paired this afternoon at Utah Olympic Park with Olympic or national-team athletes" as part of the Visa Champions Creating Champions program. The athletes will "serve as their ultimate big brothers or big sisters" and "will be paired one-on-one with young athletes in their own sport." Freestyle aerialist and program Founder Emily Cook, on her hopes for the program: "More than anything, it's to inspire and empower these kids to be the best they can be – whether it's an Olympic athlete, a teacher or a doctor" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 9/25).

ROCKETS' CUTTINO MOBLEY CREATES HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITION

The HOUSTON CHRONICLE reports that Rockets G Cuttino Mobley today will unveil "Cuttino's Clutch City Shootout," a 3-point shooting competition for Houston-area high school students. The event will "divide $25,000 in prize money to the athletic departments of eight winning schools." This continues Mobley's efforts to boost his off-the-court profile, which included the hiring of publicist Marvette Britta, and off-season appearances at the Essence Awards, and the Roy Jones Jr. title fight (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/25).

TWINS DISAPPOINTED WITH TURNOUT GREETING DIVISION WINNERS

The Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE reports that "a surprisingly small crowd of 21,634" attended last night's Indians-Twins game, the Twins' first home game since clinching the AL Central title last week. The club was "hoping for a crowd of at least 25,000" as earlier in the day, they greeted fans during the morning rush hour on the Metrodome plaza with coffee, doughnuts and Homer Hankies (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 9/25).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

This week's cover of Sports Illustrated features an action shot of Univ. of Notre Dame WR Maurcie Stovall's touchdown catch against MI State Univ. with the tagline, "RETURN TO GLORY … NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL" (THE DAILY).

With 6,000 tickets remaining for Sunday's Patriots-Chargers game, the Chargers today look to build on the 2,700 tickets they have sold in the past two days. Commenting on yesterday's sale of 1,300 tickets, Chargers Dir of Ticket Sales & Services Jerry McBurney said, "That's one of the better days we've had in recent years. That's about four times what we sell in a normal day" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/25).

The BOSTON HERALD reports that Red Sox Owner John Henry and CEO Larry Lucchino "will gather season ticket-holders at Fenway Park today for a give-and-take meeting" (BOSTON HERALD, 9/25).

The WASHINGTON TIMES reports Wizards F Michael Jordan "will play again this season … and could announce his decision as soon as this weekend" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/25).

TODAY'S EVENTS

The Philadelphia Chapter of the National Sports Marketing Network will conduct a discussion called "Athletes Giving Back: Are Our Athletes & Teams Doing Enough In Their Communities?" from 8:00-10:30am ET at the First Union Center. Speakers include Phillies Charities Manager Regina Castellani, Eagles Youth Partnership Exec Dir Sarah Martinez-Hoffman and MVPhilanthropy Exec Dir Hadley Morash (THE DAILY).

Wizards G Jerry Stackhouse will speak at a congressional briefing on the diabetes epidemic among minorities today from 3:30-4:30pm ET at the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill. He will discuss the problem of diabetes, and the efforts of his newly created charitable foundation, The Triple Threat Fund (THE DAILY).

Redskins Owner Daniel Snyder will appear at Anacostia High School in Washington, DC, at 3:30pm ET with Mayor Anthony Williams to launch a new Redskins Leadership Council initiative called the Redskins Youth Development program (THE DAILY).

NBC Sports will conduct a Ryder Cup media conference call today at 1:00pm ET. Exec Producer Tom Roy, broadcast host Dan Hicks, analyst Johnny Miller and course reporter Roger Mattie will participate (THE DAILY).

The 6^th Annual Lowe's Motor Speedway UAW-GM Motorsports media day and press conference will take place today from 10:00am-2:00pm ET at the speedway (THE DAILY).

IN OTHER NEWS….

MULTICHANNEL NEWS DAY reports that HBO's second episode of "The Sopranos," which ran against NBC's Emmy telecast, earned a 21.1 (7,200,000 HHs) Nielsen cable rating in HBO's universe of homes, a 9% drop from the season premiere (MULTICHANNEL NEWS DAY, 9/25).

"Rolling Stone" magazine will release the "top album of all time" as determined by a survey of 23,000 readers. The top five are listed below (USA TODAY, 9/25).

The L.A. TIMES reports that the Disney BOD "unanimously approved" a series of measures yesterday aimed at "restoring investor confidence." The vote followed "a blunt meeting" during which CEO Michael Eisner was "repeatedly questioned about whether he could meet a series of financial targets, especially over the next year" (L.A. TIMES, 9/25).

According to a survey released by WA-based digital ad and media agency Avenue A, at-work Internet users are "heavier consumers of online media as well as bigger online spenders" than at-home Internet users (AD AGE, 9/24).

FINAL JEOPARDY QUESTION

Last night's "Final Jeopardy!" category was "World Nations."

"Of the world nations whose English names contain 'land,' this nation has the most people, 60 million."

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

CBS' David Letterman, on Monday night's studio audience: "Rough, ugly bunch of people and 20 minutes into the show, I was beaten senseless by a shirtless father and son team. I should have known it was going to be a rough show (Monday) night. The FBI picked up a lot of cell phone chatter. ... Over the weekend, three people were arrested for having sex on the Long Island Railroad. ... Apparently, St. Patrick's Cathedral was booked" ("Late Show," CBS, 9/24).

NBC's Jay Leno, on Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa being attacked on the field: "Luckily, he was okay. I guess the coach was treated for cuts and bruises in the dugout. I thought this was nice. Even the Mets stopped by with some medical marijuana. ... Everybody talks about how violent L.A. is. That kind of thing would never happen at a Dodger game. I mean, who's still at a Dodger game in the ninth inning? By the sixth inning, they're all in traffic trying to get the hell out of there." Leno: "According to the Pentagon, February is the best time to attack Iraq. See, it's after the Super Bowl and before baseball. There's nothing else to do. ... A 61-year-old man from Sweden survived for three weeks adrift in the Baltic Sea, eating nothing but dog biscuits and sugar. He said (yesterday) it's the last time he books a trip on Priceline.com. ... Detroit is now leading the nation is cases of syphilis. Now you know what the fans have been doing during the Lions games" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 9/24).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

'02 U.S. Open Champion Pete Sampras appeared on last night's edition of NBC's "Tonight Show." Leno asked Sampras, "Do you think a lot of the players (in tennis) are too cocky?" Sampras: "There are some, on the ladies tour. I think on the men's tour, the guys are pretty cool, but there's some confident girls out there." Leno asked Sampras, who is of Greek descent and was recently married, if he had a "big, fat Greek wedding?" Sampras: "I didn't have a big, fat Greek wedding, but I do have a lot of fat Greek friends" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 9/24).

Last night's "Top Ten" was "Top Ten Programs That Didn't Make The Fall Television Lineup" ("Late Show," CBS, 9/24).

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart: "We were in (L.A.) all week and I'm a little tired. Here's the thing. When you go to (L.A.) and you have to get back to (N.Y.) to do a show, don't take a riverboat. … All night long, shoveling coal. … In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder won re-election Sunday, after a campaign in which he repeatedly voiced his opposition to an American-led war with Iraq. Compounding problems are allegations that Schroeder's Justice Minister compared George W. Bush to Adolph Hitler – unfavorably" ("Daily Show," Comedy Central, 9/24).

CBS' Craig Kilborn: "Wow was it hot in (L.A.). It was so hot that Martin Sheen had to put sunscreen on his ass before mooning the Emmy judges. Hear about this? Miss Universe had her crown taken away after officials found out that the former Miss Russia may be pregnant. Hmm. Sounds like Donald Trump has some explaining to do. A new poll by TV Guide names George Clooney as 'the sexiest guy in T.V. history.' Don't worry about me, though. I finished a strong five hundred seventeenth, right after Gilligan" ("Late Late Show," CBS, 9/24).

NBC's Conan O'Brien: "…According to the N.Y. Daily News, Liza Minelli and her husband David Gest recently got into a huge argument in a restaurant. Apparently Liza and her husband got into a fight over who had more ex-boyfriends. Over the weekend, the man who started Dunkin' Donuts passed away at the age of 86. His last request was that the casket be gently dipped in a giant cup of coffee. …It was reported today that a citizens' group is trying to remove porn channels from hotels across the country. The group is called The Coalition of People Who Want To Ruin Everything" ("Late Night," CBS, 9/24).

TUESDAY NIGHT'S TV MONITOR

ESPN's 11:00pm ET "SportsCenter" led with Vikings WR Randy Moss being arrested for a traffic incident, followed by Minneapolis police spokesperson Cyndi Barrington discussing Moss' arrest.

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

"What is Thailand?"

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