Morning Buzz, January 30, 2003

COMMISSION’S SESSION TODAY TO INCLUDE “THORNIEST ITEMS”

The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics continues to meet today in DC, and the WASHINGTON POST reports the Commission will vote on six proposals that are “being considered … for adjusting the proportionality rule for complying with Title IX.” Furthermore, the Commission yesterday “moved through a series of relatively uncontroversial findings and recommendations, leaving the thorniest items for today's session” (WASHINGTON POST, 1/30).

ORGANIZERS EXPECT 40,000 SPECTATORS FOR WINTER X GAMES VII

The Winter X Games VII begin today at Buttermilk ski resort in Aspen, CO, and the DENVER POST reports that about “40,000 spectators and 250 athletes from a dozen countries are expected in town … (and) about 11 million viewers are expected to watch” the events on TV. While a “Get Extreme for Peace” anti-war rally is planned, event organizers would only object in the “unlikely event someone from the peace rally showed up slopeside with signs for competitors” of X Games sponsors, including Mountain Dew, Jeep, Right Guard Extreme and Taco Bell (DENVER POST, 1/30).

USA TODAY reports that ESPN is “taking a page from the Olympic television playbook and will have more explanatory features and athlete profiles” (USA TODAY, 1/30).

NHL ALL-STAR BLOCK PARTY BEGINS TODAY IN SUNRISE, FL

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will lend his Lego replica of the Stanley Cup for display at the NHL All-Star Block Party, which begins today at 3:00pm ET in Sunrise, FL, following the theft last week of the other model (THE DAILY). The Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL reports that the “high-profile crowd coming to town this week will spend an estimated $258 a day.” Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau President Nicki Grossman: “That $40[M] is going to flow through the cash registers of Broward County” (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 1/30).

Meanwhile, the MIAMI HERALD reports that former NHL G Grant Fuhr will conduct a clinic for “about 50 kids between the ages of 11 and 15 from the Seminole reservations and 64 children from Hispanic Unity of Florida” from 3:30-4:30pm ET outside Office Depot Center (MIAMI HERALD, 1/30).

NH INT’L SPEEDWAY TO UNVEIL MULTI-YEAR DEAL WITH SYLVANIA

The CONCORD MONITOR reported that NH Gov. Craig Benson and NH Int’l Speedway Owner Bob Bahre today will meet with Osram Sylvania President Dean Langford in Boston, where speedway and Sylvania officials say they will “unveil a multi-year agreement between the two companies.” The announcement “might involve Sylvania’s sponsorship of a race at the speedway” (CONCORD MONITOR, 1/29).

FINAL PUSH LIFTS SAVE GOPHER SPORTS TO $2.7M FUNDRAISING GOAL

The ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS reports Univ. of MN officials have scheduled a 10:00am CT news conference to announce that Save Gopher Sports, a fundraising group attempting to save the men’s and women’s golf teams and men’s gymnastics team, has reached its goal of $2.7M. Heading into the final week, the campaign “was about $100,000 short,” but several donors “came in this week with commitments of $25,000 and $30,000 each” (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 1/30).

NFL, BENGALS DID NOT RESPOND TO PORTUNE’S DEADLINE

The AP reports that Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune might decide today “whether to file a suit” against the NFL and the Bengals, as he did not hear from either party by yesterday’s deadline. If Portune does decide to file suit claiming that the Bengals are in violation of their lease agreement “by failing to field a competitive team,” he would have to “do it as a private citizen, since he failed to persuade the county's two other commissioners to support a lawsuit by the county” (AP, 1/30).

JUDGE THROWS OUT SEVERAL COUNTS IN STRINGER CASE

The ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS reports that Hennepin County Judge Gary Larson yesterday “threw out several more counts in the $100[M] wrongful death lawsuit” filed against the Vikings by the widow of Korey Stringer. While Larson dismissed counts “related to the team’s contractual obligations and relationships with doctors who treated Stringer,” Kelci Stringer’s attorney Paul DeMarco said that the “core of the case is still intact.” The remainder of the suit “contends Vikings employees were grossly negligent; that the team is responsible for employee gross negligence; and that there was intentional infliction of emotional distress on the Stringer family” (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 1/30).

TODAY THE DAILY GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH…

Which sports exec believes fellow Yale alumnus Theo Epstein is the right man for the job in Boston and claims to have learned the most in his career as ABC Sports General Counsel? To find out, see today’s Sports Industrialists section for “THE DAILY Goes One-On-One With...”

MORNING BRIEFS

An Ipsos-ASI study concludes that 37% of the Super Bowl XXXVII TV audience watched all of the 60 or more in-game, paid commercials, compared to only 4% for the Rose Bowl, 13% for the Fiesta Bowl and 7% for the AFC Championship game. Additionally, 66% of viewers remember Budweiser commercials and 44% remember Pepsi commercials (MEDIAWEEK.com, 1/29).

The OTTAWA SUN reports that Canada, Russia, Sweden and Germany have submitted applications to host the ’07 World Hockey Championships (OTTAWA SUN, 1/30).

The BOSTON HERALD reports that Tiger Woods confirmed that he intends to play in the new Deutsche Bank U.S. Championship at the TPC in Norton, MA during Labor Day weekend, but Woods “will not act as host nor will he attempt to recruit elite golfers.” The Tiger Woods Foundation “will be chief charitable beneficiary of the $5[M] event” (BOSTON HERALD, 1/30).

Bon Jovi will headline Tiger Jam VI Presented by Coca-Cola, hosted by Woods, on April 19 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas (THE DAILY).

The ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports that Chrysler Classic of Tucson Chair Scott Butler “has a sponsor exemption ready and waiting” if Annika Sorenstam wants to play in the PGA Tour event starting February 27 at Tucson National Golf Resort (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 1/30).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

The WASHINGTON POST’s Craig Runyon spotted Titans RB Eddie George in a CVS in DC: “The woman in front of him had forgotten her money to buy the $5 shampoo that she ‘really needed’ and her friend had just spent all of her money. A soft-spoken Eddie said, ‘Excuse me, do you need some money?’ … As she and her friend were walking out of the store, her friend said, ‘See, there still are good people in this world.’” George: “I remember when I was in the same boat” (WASHINGTON POST, 1/30).

The Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL notes FL Gov. Jeb Bush is “patiently waiting to collect on a friendly Super Bowl wager” with CA Gov. Gray Davis. Davis owes Bush fish tacos and a case of wine. However, in FL, it is a felony for winemakers to send alcoholic beverages directly to consumers. Davis will bring a case of ’99 reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from the Groth Winery to Bush at next month’s National Governors Association meeting (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 1/30).

Bucs DT Warren Sapp, a Magic season-ticket holder, was to be honored at halftime of the Cavaliers-Magic game last night, but those plans were canceled because Sapp slept through the game. Magic Media Relations Dir Joel Glass: “It’s a well deserved rest” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/30).

Last night's edition of MTV's "Cribs" featured the Houston home of Rockets G Cuttino Mobley, where he said, "I love shoes. ... I mean J Lo, if you love shoes, sweetheart, I don't know where you're going to put yours unless we get a bigger house" ("Cribs," MTV, 1/29).

THE BACK PAGES

The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sports covers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:

N.Y. Post	N.Y. Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News	Boston Herald

TODAY’S EVENTS

The Flames will host the Women at Centre Ice Luncheon, honoring the most promising female minor league hockey players in Calgary, at the Pengrowth Saddledome beginning at 11:45am MT (THE DAILY).

IN OTHER NEWS….

The WASHINGTON POST reports that AOL Time Warner reported a $98.2B loss for ’02, the “biggest annual loss ever by a U.S. corporation and a total largely attributable to a steep drop in the value of once high-flying America Online.” The company also announced that Vice Chair Ted Turner will step down at the annual meeting in May. Turner may remain on the company’s BOD (WASHINGTON POST, 1/30).

Nielsen Media Research reports that for President Bush’s State of the Union address, Fox News Channel averaged 5.86 million viewers from 9:00-10:15pm ET. MSNBC averaged 992,000 viewers and CNN averaged 3.57 million (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 1/30).

MEDIAWEEK.com reported that Arbitron “told its radio and advertiser clients Tuesday that it would be three years before the company could weight its Hispanic sample by language preference in its syndicated radio service” (MEDIAWEEK.com, 1/29).

The N.Y. TIMES reports that Electronic Arts (EA) sold more than one million copies each of 11 games in its Q3 ended December 31, a “remarkable result in a business where any game that sells more than 750,000 copies is considered a major hit.” EA posted revenue of $1.23B and earnings per share of $1.69, both higher than Wall Street analysts’ average projections. The company also reported net earnings of $250M, 89% higher than the year-earlier period (N.Y. TIMES, 1/30).

TNN Exec VP/Production Kevin Kay has been named Exec VP/Programming & Production (MEDIAWEEK.com, 1/28).

FINAL JEOPARDY QUESTION

Last night's "Final Jeopardy!" category was “Transportation.”

“In 1936 the man who beat Joe Louis returned home on the famous craft named this.”

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

NBC's Jay Leno: “All the major networks carried the President's address, including Fox which actually called the speech 'George Millionaire.' ... All those standing ovations. Did you believe that? I think this is the most excited members of Congress have been without voting themselves a pay raise. ... The President was interrupted 73 times by applause, and 75 times by really big words. ... If you didn't see the speech I think I can sum it up for you pretty quickly. What President Bush said was we got to get past Iraq so we can get back to helping really rich people. ... One really interesting moment (was when) President Bush said we will hold all corporate criminals accountable. Boy, did you see Dick Cheney sweating that one out? ... Overall, the President said the nation is doing very well. Yeah, if you compare it to Raider Nation. ... Football's over. It's gone. ... No more Super Bowl. No more Sunday football. No more ‘Monday Night Football.’ Guys, you know what that means? Time to take down the Christmas lights. No excuses. ... The Detroit Lions fired their head coach. ... The Lions said today they'd like to see the team go in a different direction. Maybe this time towards the end zone. ... McDonald’s also said this week they're going to start pre-cooking their burgers now to put the 'fast' back in fast food. How about putting the food back in fast food?" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 1/29).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

NBC’s Conan O’Brien: “Everybody see the State of the Union address last night? Several European countries are criticizing President Bush because during his speech last night, he didn’t use the word ‘Europe’ once. In his defense, the President said he didn’t use any words that begin with the letter ‘y.’ Last night, all of the major networks aired the President’s address, but NBC got the highest ratings. Afterwards, NBC viewers said it was a good speech, but Martin Sheen looked horrible. … Interesting idea. In order to reduce New York’s budget deficit, Mayor Bloomberg is raising the price of marriage licenses by 35%. Yeah, the Mayor said that New York should be out of debt in about 15 J Lo marriages. Should be about August. … It was reported today that MSNBC is in talks with Sam Donaldson about giving him his own talk show. However, at this point it is only a rumor, and they’ve asked Donaldson to keep it under his rug. … Gotta mention this, 87-year old actor Kirk Douglas says he was so inspired by his son’s wedding to Catherine Zeta-Jones that he wants to renew his wedding vows. Not suprisingly, he wants to renew them with Catherine Zeta-Jones” (“Late Night,” NBC, 1/29).

CBS’ Craig Kilborn: “Last night, my lady and I watched the State of the Union address, and it actually inspired our lovemaking. I received 76 standing ovations last night. The President is saying the tax cut is for everybody, not just the rich. Still, it’s a little weird when you get a thousand dollars back just for owning a bidet. … A survey has found that 80% of men who cheated on their wives got away with it. The other 20% bled all over the survey. … True story, a 55-year old California woman has just given birth to a baby girl. That means when she’s 60, the baby will be dating R Kelly” (“Late Late Show,” CBS, 1/29).

WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

ESPN’s 11:30pm ET “SportsCenter” led with Spurs-Pacers, followed by Trail Blazers-Jazz and the rise of technical fouls in the NBA.

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What was the Hindenburg?”

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