| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Friday, Febuary 20, 2004
9:00am ET | |
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| • | Deliberations Continue Today In Case Between Kaiser And Bowlen |
| • | Vancouver 2010 Today To Present Two Names For CEO On Conference Call |
| • | Mets Owner To Address Reporters Today After Signing Florida Stadium Deal |
| • | NFL Network To Begin Combine Coverage Today; Clarett To Skip Workouts |
| • | ABC Hires Former Nets Coach Byron Scott As Analyst For NBA Studio Shows |
| • | Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy! |
JURY TO CONVENE AGAIN TODAY IN CASE PITTING BRONCOS OWNERS
The DENVER POST reports that jurors in the U.S. District Court case pitting formerBroncos Owner Edgar Kaiser against current Owner Pat Bowlen “areexpected to convene again today,” after ending their second day ofdeliberations yesterday without reaching a verdict. The jurors are attempting to determine whether Bowlen violatedthe terms of his ‘84 purchase of nearly 70% of the team from Kaiser (DENVERPOST, 2/20).
VANCOUVER 2010 TO PRESENT TWO CEO CANDIDATES TODAY
The CP reports that the Vancouver 2010 BOD today willconduct a conference call in which two names will be presented for the positionof CEO. Vancouver 2010 President &CEO John Furlong, who headed the city’s bid for the Games, is “one ofthe candidates, while the other has been kept secret” (CP,2/20).
METS INK NAMING-RIGHTS DEAL FOR SPRING TRAINING FACILITY
Mets Owner Fred Wilpon will meet with reporters todayat the team’s spring training facility in Port St. Lucie, FL, and the PALMBEACH POST reports that the Mets yesterday announced that “Core Communities,one of the city’s biggest developers, bought the naming rights for theballpark, known for close to 16 years as Thomas J. White Stadium.” Core Communities receives “advertising atShea Stadium and opportunities for potential clients to participate in pre-gameactivities at regular-season games.” The deal “calls for a minimum $150,000 a year from the naming rightsrevenue” to help pay for stadium upgrades (PALMBEACH POST, 2/20).
MAURICE CLARETT TO SKIP WORKOUTS AT NFL SCOUTING COMBINE
The annual NFL scouting combine continues today inIndianapolis, and the L.A. TIMES reports that suspended Ohio State RB MauriceClarett will not work out this week. Instead, Clarett is “planning a private workout in early April, when, hefigures, he’ll be in better shape.” Hisdecision to skip the workout portion of the combine “left many league honchosunderwhelmed” (L.A.TIMES, 2/20).
NFL Network begins its combine coverage tonight with thehour-long “2004 NFL Scouting Combine” at 10:00pm ET. The program will continue for six consecutive nights, culminatingwith a mock draft on Wednesday night (NFL).
MORNING BRIEFS
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that the long-term carriagedeal between ESPN and Cox Communications, announced yesterday, is for nineyears with an average 7% annual carriage fee increase. The first five years of the deal “command hikes as high as 13%,while the last few years as low as 5%” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER, 2/20).
ABC has hired former Nets coach Byron Scott as ananalyst for its NBA studio shows, replacing George Karl, who remains ananalyst for ESPN (Mult., 2/20).
USA TODAY reports that LSU football coach Nick Sabanhas signed a seven-year contract, which is expected to get final approvaltoday, that guarantees him “at least $2.3[M] this year, grows by about $100,000annually and makes him the highest-paid college football coach in the country”(USA TODAY, 2/20).
Yankees RF Gary Sheffield, on being linked to BALCO:“The bottom line is that I did purchase vitamins from that company, being outthere and working out with Barry Bonds. Besides that, I don’t know what else can come with that. I’ve been an honorable guy. I’ve been outspoken about testing guys. And anybody that wants me to say I’ll takethe challenge of taking a test, I’ll be the first guy up there” (Mult., 2/20).
USA TODAY reports that Jacksonville Univ. will “dissolve itsathletic department and have coaches and administrators report” to theVP/Student Life, resembling a change made last year by Vanderbilt (USATODAY, 2/20).
USA TODAY completes its ranking of the ten toughest athletes(USATODAY, 2/20):
| RK | ATHLETE | RK | ATHLETE |
| 1) | Packers QB Brett Favre | 6) | Devils D Scott Stevens |
| 2) | 76ers G Allen Iverson | 7) | LPGA Tour player Annika Sorenstam |
| 3) | Titans QB Steve McNair | 8) | PGA Tour player Tiger Woods |
| 4) | Cyclist Lance Armstrong | 9) | Lakers C Shaquille O’Neal |
| 5) | Ravens LB Ray Lewis | 10) | Jockey Julie Krone |
ATTENDANCE WATCH:
- The ORLANDO SENTINEL reports that the Univ. of South Florida sold 4,107 tickets, 300 over capacity, for last night’s MLS DC United-Wizards exhibition game featuring Freddy Adu. One athletic department official “estimated they could have sold another 1,500 to 2,000” tickets (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/20).
- USA TODAY reports that a “predominately Mexican” crowd of 20,173 attended last night’s Chile-Mexico exhibition soccer match at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA (USA TODAY, 2/20).
A LIGHTER BUZZ
During last night’s edition of TNT’s “NBA Tip-Off,” ErnieJohnson wished Charles Barkley a happy birthday. Chili’s provided the birthday fare, includingbaby back ribs, boneless buffalo wings, chicken crispers, buffalo wings and eggrolls. Barkley: “Chili’s shows up oncea year. They got to show up more thanonce a year. ... At least every couple of weeks. If we’re going to keep saying Chili’s, then ya’ll quit hoggingall the money because we get one meal from Chili’s a year” (TNT, 2/19).
THE BACK PAGES
The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sportscovers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:
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| N.Y. Post | N.Y. Daily News |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…..
Every Friday, the Morning Buzz highlights a videoclip, chart or piece of information that might have fallen through thecracks. This week, Dave Chappelle of Comedy Central’s “Chappelle’sShow” offers his best Prince impersonation during another segment of“Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories.” Though Prince & The Revolution might not look the part on thehardwood, to quote Charlie Murphy, “This cat could ball, man” (THEDAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS….
The ATLANTA CONSTITUTION reports that Coca-Cola Chair &CEO Doug Daft “will retire at the end of the year,” a move that “comessooner than expected.” Daft took overthe position nearly four years ago and had said that he would serve “for fiveyears” (ATLANTACONSTITUTION, 2/20).
The N.Y. TIMES reports that Wendy’s today will begin acampaign via McCann-Erickson, N.Y., introducing characters such as “Mr. Wendy,”an “unofficial spokesman for the company who appoints himself an evangelist forWendy’s, talking up its products from the food court of a shopping mall to thelawn of the Wendy’s headquarters” in Dublin, OH (N.Y. TIMES,2/20).
The AP reports that Charter Communications lost $58M in Q4’03, bettering a year-earlier loss of $1.87B. Revenue rose 2% to $1.22B. While“seeing drop-offs in video sales and advertising, Charter added 88,100 high-speeddata customers” in the quarter (AP, 2/20).
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “The UnitedNations.”
“Of the six official languages used by the United Nations,the one that’s the native tongue of the largest number of people.”
LAUGH TRACK
THEMONOLOGUES:
CBS’ David Letterman: “What a rough audience we hadlast night. It’s the first time everthat I closed with a concession speech. ... Everybody in New York City is stillexcited about Alex Rodriguez coming to the New York Yankees. The money these ballplayers make isstaggering: $252[M]. That’s like a dealwith Haliburton. ... Here’s the good news now. Even though Alex Rodriguez is the highest paid player in baseball and isnow a New York Yankee, listen to this. Don’t worry. A family of fourcan go still to Yankee Stadium and see a baseball game for just about $1,500.... He has only been a Yankee for a couple of days and he’s already involved incommunity service. Today, what hedecided to do is pay a visit to the less fortunate, and so he drove past SheaStadium. ... So many of our top stars are in prison. For example, did you realize Diana Ross was in the slammerfor two days? ... They were rough on her. This wasn’t one of those little sissy country club deals. The guards took away her hairdryer, theytook away her eye shadow, they took away her lipstick ... oh wait aminute. Maybe I’m thinking of MichaelJackson” ("Late Show," CBS, 2/19).
NBC’s Jay Leno: “I’m told that by the end of theweek, over 3,000 gay couples are expected to tie the knot in SanFrancisco. You got to loveCalifornia. It’s the only state whereyou can marry your gay lover, take a hit from a bong of medical marijuana, be acelebrity who shoots his wife in the head and not got arrested until you try tolight up a cigarette. ... President Bush said today he’s troubled by allthe gay marriages. Of course he’stroubled. What else is he going tosay? He can’t say he’s curious. ...Actually, President Bush spoke a little bit more on this subject today. He said the only time two men should ever bein bed together is when one is a lobbyist and one is a politician. ... Deanspent over $40[M] and didn’t win a single primary. All that money and didn’t win. It’s like the New York Yankees of politics. ... Anthropologists at theUniversity of Colorado have discovered evidence of a Neanderthal man living inColorado. It turns out he’s coach ofthe Colorado football team” ("The Tonight Show," NBC, 2/19).
LATENIGHT LAUGHS:
Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Signs Bush IsConsidering Dumping Cheney” ("Late Show," CBS, 2/19).
| 10) “Cheney’s desk has been replaced by President’s new air hockey table.” |
| 9) “There’s a listing on Monster.com for a Vice-Presidential position in a ‘large North American government.’” |
| 8) “Cheney’s so depressed he’s only eating 12 KFC drumsticks a day.” |
| 7) “There is a ‘For Rent’ sign on the front lawn of the undisclosed location.” |
| 6) “When Cheney says, ‘We’re gonna win in November,’ Bush snarls, ‘What’s this ‘we’ crap?’” |
| 5) “White House interns are no longer required to know CPR.” |
| 4) “The CIA says they have reliable information Cheney won’t be dumped.” |
| 3) “Bush asked Trump if he could come to Washington and fire Cheney.” |
| 2) “Yesterday a tearful Cheney sang ‘I Will Survive’ on the White House lawn.” |
| 1) “Bush called daddy looking for Quayle’s number.” |
CBS’ CraigKilborn: “I think President Bush might be afraid of John Kerry. Today he came out against same-sex debates.… A French man went to the hospital after swallowing 350 coins. They treated him for free when he threatenedto pop a laxative and pay in change. … According to a new study, more seniorcitizens own a handgun than any other age group. The good news: they don’t remember where they put it” (“TheLate Late Show,” CBS, 2/19).
THURSDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR
| Net | Show | Lead | Next Items |
| ESPN | “Around The Horn” | NBA trades | Univ. of CO football coach Gary Barnett; 49ers QB Jeff Garcia |
| ESPN | “PTI” | Gary Barnett | NBA trades; Red Sox-Yankees |
| ESPN | 10:40pm ET “SportsCenter” | Kings-T'Wolves | Pistons-Hawks-Celtics trade; Islanders-Rangers |
| FSN | “BDSSP” | Lakers G Gary Payton | Gary Barnett; PGA Tour player Rich Beem |
| FSN | “New England Sports Tonight” | Celtics-Clippers | Red Sox spring training; Bruins-Flyers |
| Empire Network | “Empire Sports Report” | St. Bonaventure men’s basketball placed on probation | Loyola-Niagara; Iona-Fairfield |
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
“What is Chinese?”
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