Names In The News
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Rice Making The Media Rounds
After Indy 500 Victory |
THE RICE IS COOKING: Indianapolis 500 champion BUDDY
RICE appeared this morning on "Live! With Regis & Kelly," where guest host
NASCAR driver JEFF GORDON asked him if he drank milk in the Indy 500
winner's circle. After Rice said that he did, Gordon, responded, "I'll have
to try that." Rice, on what car owner DAVID LETTERMAN said to him following
the victory: "I've never seen him speechless, that I know of. He didn't have
a whole lot to say. And the things he did say you can't really say on TV. But
he was very happy" ("Live! With Regis & Kelly," 6/2). Rice will appear
on Letterman's show next Monday. Yesterday, Rice rang the closing bell at the
NYSE and threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 6/2).
SETTLED: In Minneapolis, Burcum & Seifert reported a
woman who claimed that she was sexually assaulted during the VIKINGS'
'03 Arctic Blast charity fundraiser has settled with the team. The woman said
that she had been assaulted "after socializing with former Vikings [QB] TODD
BOUMAN and several unidentified people in the hot-tub area of the motel"
where the event was held (STAR TRIBUNE, 5/29).
NAMES: USA TODAY's Dick Patrick cites a source as saying
that BALCO Founder VICTOR CONTE is "expected to meet with federal prosecutors
as early as Thursday about a possible plea agreement." Conte "would be in a
position to identify athletes and decipher codes used in documents" (USA
TODAY, 6/2)....SERENA WILLIAMS, when asked if she was "more interested
in her acting career than her tennis career" following her loss in the French
Open quarterfinals yesterday, said, "If I was, I'd be on the set of a movie
right now but I'm at Roland Garros. I have all kinds of different opportunities
to be doing different films and different stuff. I'm here" (ESPNews, 6/1)....In
Las Vegas, Mark Anderson reports PETER HUESER "stepped aside in April
as one of the principal investors" in Las Vegas Sports & Entertainment, the
group attempting to bring the Expos to Las Vegas, "around the time a fraud investigation
began into his Chicago-area lending company," Commercial Loan Corp. Hueser and
the company "were sued by two banks that claimed more than $18[M] was diverted"
(LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/2)....Red Sox VP/Baseball Ops MIKE PORT
returned to work last Friday after suffering a near-fatal heart attack May 1
(BOSTON HERALD, 5/29).
AGENTS: In Phoenix, Paola Boivin reported that the NBPA
is "investigating allegations" that JOHN WOLF, the former agent of Suns
F AMARE STOUDEMIRE, "violated [NBPA] rules by giving the player money
to secure his services." A letter outlining the investigation was among court
documents from an October lawsuit filed by Wolf in U.S. District Court in Minnesota,
claiming that Stoudemire "repaid only $10,000 of a much larger loan" (ARIZONA
REPUBLIC, 5/29)....In Toronto, Christie Blatchford reported Blues C MIKE
DANTON and his agent DAVID FROST had dinner with NHLPA Exec Dir BOB
GOODENOW four nights before Danton was arrested in a murder-for-hire plot
in which Frost was the alleged target. Goodenow: "I saw nothing inappropriate
or unusual, either with Mike or between Mike and Dave" (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/1).
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