The GUARDIAN's Paolo Bandini notes SEPP BLATTER has “warned that if he is not re-elected at the forthcoming FIFA presidential elections the decision could cause ‘irreversible damage’ to world football.” Blatter wrote an “open letter to the readers of the Italian newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport, setting out the importance of the elections and why he believes it is crucial that he wins.” He wrote in part, “What is at stake is the very survival of FIFA. I am confident I will be able to win the elections with a clear majority of two-thirds of the votes. … However it is still worth considering what the alternative would be: nobody (in charge)" (GUARDIAN, 5/13).
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS: In California, Stephen Baxter reports around 200 billboards “sprung up in Los Angeles on Thursday with police sketches on the two men who beat Giants fan BRYAN STOW outside Dodger Stadium.” The billboards promote a $100,000 “reward for information leading to an arrest” and were “donated by the billboards’ owner, Lamar Advertising Co.” L.A. police detective P.J. MORRIS said that “another 100 billboards with the attackers’ sketches are expected to be put up this week” (SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL, 5/13).
ACTING UP: ESPN.com’s Alyssa Roenigk noted a handful of "ESPN the Magazine" writers and editors and group Friends of ESPN on Wednesday night performed the first “ESPN the Magazine + Pop-up Magazine Live Issue” at NYU. The magazine was “performed live on stage,” with “short performances like how-tos and graphic-aided pieces at the beginning of the show and longer, feature stories at the end.” The show lasted “two hours, was unrehearsed, spontaneous at times and meant for the sole consumption of the theater audience” (FRONTROW.ESPN.com, 5/12).
BOOKSHELF: In St. Louis, Harry Levins noted N.Y. Times sports writer GEORGE VECSEY's“STAN MUSIAL: AN AMERICAN LIFE” biography has a “shot at putting a new glow on the reputation” of the Baseball HOFer. Vecsey in the book “ranged far and wide, interviewing scores of people to pin down just how nice -- and how generous and gentlemanly -- Musial was, and is” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/7).The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Mark Lasswell wrote one of the book’s “many attractions is its evocation of baseball in an earlier era -- not simpler, necessarily, but certainly more modest and affecting” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/7)….Auburn Univ. football coach GENE CHIZIK is writing “ALL IN: WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE BEST.” Ft. Worth Star-Telegram sports writer DAVID THOMAS is “collaborating on the book,” which will be published by Tyndale House Publishers and be available July 5 (AL.com, 5/11)….Broncos QB TIM TEBOW is “about to head out on a multi-city tour peddling ‘THROUGH MY EYES,’ his new inspirational tome hitting bookshelves and Internet sites on May 31” (DENVER POST, 5/13).
NAMES: The Univ. of Oklahoma Board of Regents on Thursday approved a seven-year, $16.6M contract for new basketball coach LON KRUGER. He will “earn $2 million next season, then an additional $100,000 every season through 2017-18, plus a $500,000 longevity bonus payable the summer of 2016.” Previous coach JEFF CAPEL was brought in at a starting salary of $650,000 in '06 (TULSA WORLD, 5/13)....BARRY IRWIN, owner of Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, is “taking no chances in the days leading to the Preakness Stakes: He has hired around-the-clock security” for the horse and will be “at the barn that he and Team Valor International partners own in Maryland on Friday, eight days before the race”(N.Y. TIMES, 5/13)....California state Sen. KEVIN DE LEON Thursday held a hearing entitled "Protecting Student Athletes from Unscrupulous Athlete Agents" at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. De Leon is the sponsor of a bill "intended to toughen penalties for agents who violate state law." The bill "has passed the Senate and is moving to the state Assembly" (L.A. TIMES, 5/13)....Saints Owner TOM BENSON and his wife, GAYLE, took POPE BENEDICT XVI's hand, greeted him and kissed his ring at the Pope's weekly general audience on April 20. Benson said he told the Pope, "I'd like to show you my ring." The Pope bent "to examine the proffered Super Bowl ring" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/12)....Nike Chair PHIL KNIGHT will receive the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation's '11 Court of Honor Award at the third annual Court of Honor Gala on Monday in N.Y. (NABC)....Manchester United Commercial Dir RICHARD ARNOLD, PA announcer ALAN KEEGAN and players RIO FERDINAND, NEMANJA VIDIC and EDWIN VAN DER SAR attended the grand opening of a new Manchester office for shirt sponsor Aon (INSURANCEJOURNAL.com, 5/12)....ECHL teams donated more than $3.6M to charitable and non-profit organizations during the '10-11 season (ECHL).
