| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
9:00am ET | |
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| • | Today Marks First Day Of NBA Free Agent Period: Lakers-Heat Deal Expected |
| • | AEG Today To Unveil Plans For Sports & Entertainment Development In L.A. |
| • | MLS To Introduce Today Salt Lake Expansion Franchise To Begin Play In ’05 |
| • | Astros Season-Ticket Holder Wins $1M In Taco Bell Promo At MLB A-S Game |
| • | 24 Hour Fitness’ Second Andre Agassi-Branded Gym To Open Today In L.A. |
| • | Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy! |
CLAUSE IN ODOM’S CONTRACT RAISES QUESTIONS IN LAKERS-HEAT DEAL
The NBA free agent signing period began early this morning, and ESPN.com reported that a 15% trade kicker in Heat F Lamar Odom’s contract “could affect the finalization of the trade to send [Shaquille O’Neal] to Miami for Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a first-round pick.” The kicker provides for Odom to receive an extra 15% on his contract, which comes to $8.5-9.5M. The issue “does not appear to be a deal-breaker” (ESPN.com, 7/13).
The Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL reports that calls to the Heat’s ticket office “revealed sales people worked through the weekend, season-ticket sales have been brisk, and the team is no longer offering a 16-game mini-plan that has been removed from its Web site” (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 7/14).
Other deals that are expected to be announced today are the trade of Tracy McGrady to the Rockets and the Suns’ free-agent signing of Steve Nash (WASHINGTON POST, 7/14).
The ’04-05 NBA salary cap will be $43.87M, up $30,000 from last season (Mult., 7/14).
AEG SET TO UNVEIL PLANS FOR $1B DOWNTOWN L.A. DEVELOPMENT
AEG President & CEO Tim Leiweke will unveil plans today for a $1B sports and entertainment district around Staples Center called L.A. Live covering four million square feet. The development will include a 1,200-room convention center hotel, restaurants, stores, offices and residential units (AEG).
The L.A. TIMES reports that construction could begin by the end of the year, but “one thorny issue remains to be resolved: The developers are asking for financial assistance from the city to help make the hotel pencil out.” Civic leaders including Mayor James Hahn have said that they “support the project but are reserving judgment on whether to help finance it until they see some numbers” (L.A. TIMES, 7/14).
MLS TO INTRODUCE EXPANSION FRANCHISE IN SALT LAKE CITY
MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Sports Capital Partners Founder & President Dave Checketts will officially announce the league’s plans for an expansion franchise in Salt Lake City during a 1:00pm ET news conference at Rice-Eccles Stadium, where the team is expected to begin play in ’05 (MLS).
Meanwhile, Northern Ohio, Philadelphia, Houston and Seattle are among the expansion candidates for ’06 (THE DAILY).
MORNING BRIEFS
Tom Gray, an Astros season-ticket holder since ’89, won the $1M grand prize during last night’s “Taco Bell Ring The Bell Challenge” at the MLB All-Star Game in Houston (MLB).
D’Backs Chair & CEO Jerry Colangelo, on future plans for the MLB All-Star Game: “We and [MLB] are working together to have the All-Star Game here in ’09 or ’10. That’s when the ‘new Phoenix’ will be ready.” The ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports that Pittsburgh and S.F. are “expected to be the leading contenders for the 2006 and 2007 games” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/14).
U.S. track athletes Alvin Harrison, Tim Montgomery, Chryste Gaines and Michelle Collins, all of whom USADA is seeking lifetime bans against, failed to qualify for the Athens Olympics. USATF Dir of Communications Jill Geer, on the four not qualifying: “It makes things simpler. There are fewer things up in the air” (N.Y. POST, 7/14).
Testifying to a U.S. Senate Caucus yesterday, an anonymous four-year walk-on at D-I football program said steroids are “extremely available" at his school (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/14).
USATF CEO Craig Masback, on drug testing: “The sports that have the resources (to test comprehensibly), including baseball and hockey, have done nothing whatsoever. What needs to happen, and I’m glad to see these Senate hearings, is for the government to get involved and say, ‘Let’s have one national system of testing’” (“Paula Zahn Now,” CNN, 7/13).
The WASHINGTON TIMES reports that WUSA-CBS will air three Redskins preseason games, but sports anchor Frank Herzog – recently “ousted as the ‘voice of the Redskins’ on the radio – will call only one of them” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/14).
ATTTENDANCE WATCH
The HOUSTON CHRONICLE notes that the fact that Astros P Roger Clemens gave up six runs and two homers in his one inning of work “didn't matter to the [sellout crowd of] 41,886 cheering hometown fans at Minute Maid Park” for last night’s All-Star Game (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/14).
A LIGHTER BUZZ
Spaniard Pablo Carral has been offered $11,800 on eBay for the ball David Beckham kicked over the bar in England’s Euro 2004 quarterfinal penalty shootout. Carral “caught the ball from his seat in row Q at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz and smuggled it out of the arena. He began a 10-day auction at midday yesterday” (WASHINGTON POST, 7/14).
THE BACK PAGES
The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sports covers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:
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| N.Y. Post | N.Y. Daily News |
| | |
| Philadelphia Daily News | Newsday |
TODAY’S EVENTS
24 Hour Fitness will open Agassi Sport Club, an Andre Agassi-branded gym, in L.A. 24 Hour plans to open five more Agassi gyms by the end of ’05. Agassi “should net more than $1[M] annually in sponsorship fees and royalties” from the deal (N.Y. POST, 7/14).
Cindy Crawford will introduce U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps as the latest Omega watch endorser in a Long Beach news conference (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 7/14).
Time Warner President Thomas Baxter will testify before a House subcommittee “in opposition to calls for more a la carte options on cable” (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 7/13).
The Sabres will hold an 11:00am ET press conference at Blue Cross Arena, where Owners B. Thomas Golisano and Lawrence Quinn will announce further regionalization developments.
The World TeamTennis Newport Beach Breakers, Maria Sharapova’s team, will host the Sacramento Capitals at Palisades Tennis Club, and the ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that within hours of Sharapova’s Wimbledon victory, fans “began descending in person or by phone on the tennis club and the Breakers ticket office” (ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/12 issue).
JobCircle.com will host a career fair at Citizens Bank Park from 10:00am-4:00pm ET.
ESPN’S 25 MOST OUTRAGEOUS CHARACTERS OF THE PAST 25 YEARS
Last night ESPN aired as part of their 25th anniversary celebration “ESPN25 Who’s #1; Most Outrageous Characters.” The following details the net’s ranking (ESPN, 7/13):
| RK | CHARACTER | RK | CHARACTER |
| 1) | Mike Tyson | 14) | Reggie Jackson |
| 2) | Don King | 15) | Lyle Alzado |
| 3) | Dennis Rodman | 16) | Mark Cuban |
| 4) | Charles Barkley | 17) | Ted Turner |
| 5) | Howard Cosell | 18) | Jimmy Connors |
| 6) | George Steinbrenner | 19) | Dick Vitale |
| 7) | Al Davis | 20) | Vince McMahon |
| 8) | John McEnroe | 21) | Harry Caray |
| 9) | Billy Martin | 22) | John Rocker |
| 10) | Tonya Harding | 23) | Buddy Ryan |
| 11) | Jim McMahon | 24) | George Foreman |
| 12) | Deion Sanders | 25) | John Riggins |
| 13) | Marge Schott | | |
IN OTHER NEWS….
NBC has sued former “Access Hollywood” co-host Pat O’Brien and Paramount Pictures for violation of O’Brien’s contract. A judge “denied NBC’s request for a restraining order barring O’Brien from working” on his new syndicated show, “The Insider,” before his “Access” contract formally ends in August (L.A. TIMES, 7/14).
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Headlines of the Last 40 Years.”
“The first two New York Times headlines set in 96-point type were in these two years, five years apart.”
LAUGH TRACK
THE MONOLOGUES:
CBS’ David Letterman: “New York City is getting ready for the Republican National Convention in about a month at the end of August, and President George Bush is very excited to be coming here for the convention, because he’s absolutely certain when he comes here, he’ll have no trouble finding weapons of mass destruction. … They’re telling people if you live around Madison Square Garden – where they’re going to have the big Republican Convention – stay in your home, because the theory is that the Republicans don’t really want to mingle with New Yorkers. The Republicans are just here to nominate a president and get laid. While the Republicans are in town, they’re going to take a visit up to Grant’s Tomb to see what a two-term Republican looks like. ... Merv Griffin gave Nancy Reagan a puppy, and today it was announced the dog would speak at the Democratic Convention” (“Late Show,” CBS, 7/13).
NBC’s Jay Leno: “What was it, 102 today? I was sweating like Rudy Tomjanovich trying to find some Lakers to coach. It was so hot today, executives from the NAACP tried to meet with President Bush just so they could get the cold shoulder. In fact, it was so hot, Bush said today we may have to cancel the election. … John Kerry and John Edwards are still traveling around the country in their big ‘Hands Across Each Other Tour.’ … A recent poll shows that John Edwards has a higher approval rating than Dick Cheney. That’s pretty amazing, because for the first time, the lawyer is ahead of the guy in the ambulance. … The Philippines announced they’re withdrawing all their troops from Iraq, all 51 of them. P Diddy’s got a bigger posse than that. … The state of Kentucky has launched a $15[M] campaign to find a new state slogan. The early winners are ‘Kentucky Unbridled’ and ‘My Kentucky, Make It Yours.’ I guess they want to replace their old slogan, ‘Got Teeth?’” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 7/13).
LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:
CBS’ Craig Kilborn: “Have you guys seen lately John Kerryand John Edwards together? They are touching, they are hugging, they are groping each other. Even the ‘Queer-Eye’ guys are saying, ‘get a room.’ … Boy was it hot today in Los Angeles. It was so hot, Shaquille O’Neal got sunburned mooning the Lakers. It was so hot today, the L.A.P.D. was caught on tape beating the Good Humor man. … The Senate is now debating whether to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage. They want to define marriage as a sacred union between a man and J-Lo” (“The Late, Late Show,” CBS, 7/13).
LAST NIGHT’S TV MONITOR
| Net | Show | Lead | Next Items |
| ESPN | “Around The Horn” | D’Backs P Randy Johnson | MLB All-Star Game; F Carlos Boozer |
| ESPN | “PTI” | Steroids in MLB | Lakers; Trading C Shaquille O’Neal |
| ESPN | 11:00pm ET “SportsCenter” | Lakers | NASCAR fight during Tropicana 400; NFL Cardinals |
| FSN | “I, Max” | Yankees | Cubs; Giants LF Barry Bonds |
| FSN | “BDSSP” | D’Backs managerial position | Former MLBer Mark Grace someday managing; Dodgers P Eric Gagne |
HOT TOPIC: The first report the on the 11:00pm ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on the MLB All-Star Game was at 49:24 into the broadcast which coincided with the conclusion of the game. The broadcast had 14:01 of total All-Star Game coverage.
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
“What was 1969 and 1974?” The headlines were: “Men Walk On The Moon” and “Nixon Resigns.”
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