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Names In The News

In Baltimore, John Fritze notes Baseball HOFer CAL RIPKEN JR. is hosting 16 teenagers from Japan who were “profoundly affected by the earthquake and tsunami in March,” his “latest diplomatic assignment from the U.S. Department of State.” The students “arrived on Monday and will remain through Aug. 23.” They are “scheduled to participate in baseball clinics, including at the Ripken Youth Baseball Academy” in Aberdeen, Md. (Baltimore SUN, 8/10).

RED LINE: In Cincinnati, Barry Horstman notes a proposal to declare the Reds Opening Day a ceremonial holiday in the city “appears unlikely to qualify for the November ballot.” Over 8,500 petition signatures were collected, many at Reds games, but 81% of those reviewed by the Hamilton County Board of Elections “have been ruled invalid because they came from outside the city” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 8/10).

FILM REVIEW: The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Kirk Honeycutt reviewed GAVIN O’CONNOR’s forthcoming MMA-themed film “WARRIOR” and wrote it “makes for a sturdy, visceral entertainment.” For the footage of extended fights over a two-day tournament, the cameras “dart and weave just like fighters” and the “excitement of these matches is brilliantly captured.” The film “may go several rounds” when it debuts next month, but Lionsgate “need to put some muscle into its marketing campaign.” Honeycutt: “Word of mouth will have to energize the fight film’s male demographic” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 8/9).

CRIME REPORT: CBSSPORTS.com’s C. Trent Rosecrans reported MLB.com writers BARRY BLOOM and THOMAS HARDING yesterday morning “were robbed at gunpoint around 1:30 a.m. just outside the media entrance and exit” at Great American Ball Park. Both “had their credit cards taken and Bloom lost $500 in cash and Harding lost $100 in cash” (CBSSPORTS.com, 8/10).

PAY DAY: The Univ. of Louisville Athletic Association yesterday approved the financial terms of men’s basketball coach RICH PITINO’s contract extension. The deal “established Pitino’s base salary at $3 million annually and paved the way for him to receive the rest of a scheduled $3.6 million loyalty bonus in payments of $900,000 each of the next two seasons" (COURIER-JOURNAL.com, 8/9).

NAMES: DENNIS RODMAN has “given his word” that he “won’t pull any shenanigans” during Friday’s Basketball HOF induction ceremony. In return, the HOF “plans to display Rodman’s outrageous clothing from the big event in the museum” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/9)....Rays manager JOE MADDON and players JOHNNY DAMON, SAM FULD, B.J. UPTON and SEAN RODRIGUEZ will record a PSA for the antigay bullying movement “It Gets Better.” Eight other MLB teams have recorded similar messages for the campaign since June (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 8/10)….N.C. State football players WAYNE CRAWFORD, MIKE GLENNON and T.J. GRAHAM have started a chapter of Uplifting Athletes, a nonprofit agency that “works with college football players to raise money to fight rare diseases.” N.C. State's is one of nine chapters nationally (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 8/10)….The Tiger Woods Learning Center selected 80 campers to participate in a weeklong summer camp in Anaheim. The participants include “40 military kids, ages 11-14.” The $1,500 per camper cost “is being covered by the Tiger Woods Foundation and private donors” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 8/10).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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