 |
Stevie Wonder Will Perform At Concert Honoring
Washington Sports & Entertainment Employees |
IRENE POLLIN, widow of late Wizards Owner ABE POLLIN, and her sons, ROBERT and JIM, will host a free, private concert featuring STEVIE WONDER on May 26 to "honor employees of Washington Sports and Entertainment and those of several civic and public service organizations." Robert Pollin said in a statement, "Abe Pollin deeply appreciated and respected all the people who make the Verizon Center and our DC community thrive. This concert is a way for our family to convey as emphatically and joyfully as possible these same feelings of appreciation and respect." The Pollin family is selling their share in Washington Sports & Entertainment to TED LEONSIS (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 5/10).
LOS BANKERS? Suns Managing Partner ROBERT SARVER, who "sparked controversy by unveiling bilingual uniforms" for Game Two of the Suns-Spurs Western Conference Semifinals last week, indicated that he "doesn't intend to do anything like that involving the banking firm that he oversees." Sarver serves as Chair & CEO of Nevada-based Western Alliance Bancorporation, which operates Alliance Bank of Arizona. He said that the move to wear the Los Suns jerseys was "basically a team decision to support diversity in the National Basketball Association, Arizona and the nation" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/11).
SLIP OF THE TONGUE: In Boston, Zuri Berry notes Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was at TD Garden yesterday to honor a new statue of Hockey HOFer Bobby Orr, which "depicts Orr’s famous overtime goal on May 10, 1970, that won the Stanley Cup." Trying to put Orr’s goal in context, Menino, a "self-described sports fan, cycled through other great athletic feats in Hub history." Menino: “Havlicek stole the ball; Fisk waving the ball fair; Flutie launching the Hail Mary pass; Varitek splitting the uprights.’’ What Menino "meant to say, of course, was Vinatieri, as in Adam, the former Patriots kicker who booted a 48-yard field goal" to beat the Rams in the '02 Super Bowl (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/11).
L.A. WOMAN: Zenyatta, the undefeated filly and Breeders' Cup Classic champion, is the latest L.A. celebrity to be featured by the Dodgers in the club's "This Is My Town" marketing campaign. Zenyatta will be featured on a billboard near Hollywood Park race track, where she lives and is stabled. Other celebrities who have been featured in the campaign include Basketball HOF KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, former boxer OSCAR DE LA HOYA, musician SLASH and TV personalities GEORGE LOPEZ, OZZY and SHARON OSBOURNE and LARRY KING (Liz Mullen, SportsBusiness Journal).
 |
Ravens Players Help Out With
Birk's Charity Event At Morton's |
NAMES: National Post President & CEO and former Blue Jays President & CEO PAUL GODFREY yesterday led a "group of unsecured creditors of CanWest Global Communications to beat out" a Toronto Star-Fairfax Financial bid and win ownership of Canwest. Godfrey will become President & CEO of a "new media firm that will eventually become a publicly-traded company" (TORONTO STAR, 5/11)....Louisiana will "continue to be among a handful of states where residents are barred from collecting winnings from online fantasy sports games" after the state House "shot down a bill Monday that would have exempted the contests from anti-gambling statutes" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/11)....WNBA Sparks co-Owners CARLA CHRISTOFFERSON and KATHY GOODMAN will be honored by the Anti-Defamation League tomorrow in L.A. The two women are "among four community leaders being celebrated by the ADL at its 16th annual Deborah Awards" (LATIMES.com, 5/10)....Ravens QB JOE FLACCO was one of six Ravens players who "played celebrity waiter at a charity dinner at Morton's The Steakhouse" in Baltimore last night. The event benefited Ravens C MATT BIRK's HIKE Foundation, "which provides educational programs and resources to at-risk children in Maryland." More than 200 people "paid $250 a pop for the four-course dinner" (Baltimore SUN, 5/11)....Mavericks Owner MARK CUBAN last week announced that he will "make a $25,000 program contribution" to the inaugural USA 7's Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational (RUGBYMAG.com, 5/4)....NASCAR driver MIKE SKINNER's mansion in Port Orange, Fla., "was sold last week" for $1.5M. One of the features of the 10,000-square-foot home is a "'Man Cave, a separate two-story building that houses a custom hand-carved bar, billiard room and a private theater that features surround sound and live-motion seats" (NEWS-JOURNALONLINE.com, 5/10)....Richard Petty Motorsports co-Owner RICHARD PETTY will be the grand marshal for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Autism Speaks 400 (Dover Int'l Speedway).
IN MEMORY: Golfer ERICA BLASBERG, 25, was found dead at her home in Nevada on Sunday. Though Blasberg "struggled to gain footing on the LPGA Tour, she was one of a handful of LPGA players to successfully cross over into the realm of product endorsement." When Puma "launched its golf division in March 2006, the company signed Blasberg to its brand," and at Puma she joined golfer GEOFF OGILVY "in a global ad campaign featuring two television commercials" (GOLF.com, 5/10).
