In N.Y., Kaja Whitehouse notes Mavericks Owner MARK CUBAN is “calling a technical foul on Wall Street traders’ fast breaks.” Cuban said that “high-frequency traders, or HFTs, are corrupting the market and has called for a tax on trading as a way to tame increasingly volatile markets.” Cuban said that a “tax on trading -- say 25 cents a share per transaction -- would help weed out short-term traders, such as computer-driven traders that buy and sell in milliseconds.” HFTs have become “a source of growing aggravation for traditional, long-term investors, who blame the black-box group for ramping up market volatility” (N.Y. POST, 10/13).
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU: In DC, Peter Schaffer took issue with a recent CBS “60 Minutes” profile on sports agent DREW ROSENHAUS. Rosenhaus in the segment said, “The NFL would fall apart without me.” But Schaffer wrote the NFL is “bigger than any one individual,” and the league “will outlast all mortals blessed to be associated with it.” Schaffer: “The problem arises when people whose egos and morality have run amuck utter ignorant, arrogant and groundless statements. Statements like the game will falter and disintegrate without the benefit of any one person. This only serves to tear down the fabric of a great game that was built on the vision, backs, sweat, and tears of the great people who truly worked together to create the game in its present form” (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 10/12).
RUN FASTER: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Kristi Oloffson notes candidates for the ING N.Y. Marathon “will have to run faster to earn a spot in the race.” The NYRR Tuesday changed the rules to note that “starting with the 2013 race, a 30-year-old male would have to finish a marathon in 2 hours, 45 minutes, shaving ten minutes off the current qualifying time of 2:55.” A 40-year-old woman “would have to finish a marathon in 3:10, a dramatic change from the current 3:38 qualifying time.” The rule changes also “affect runners who have unsuccessfully entered the race lottery three years in a row.” The group has previously “guaranteed those runners a spot in the fourth year, but that practice will now be phased out, as is the rule that assured a space to any who had run 15 consecutive marathons” (WSJ.com, 10/12).
GOOD WORKS: Lakers F METTA WORLD PEACE recently donated "more than $300,000 to various charities across the country," including $37,500 to Centerstone. The funds “will help Centerstone, a mental health group, complete a new facility in Nashville” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 10/12)….Redskins TE CHRIS COOLEY on Tuesday hosted the Chris Cooley All-Star Survivors Celebration devoted to “20 breast cancer survivors.” Women at the event “had the opportunity to receive a wig, hat or head scarf,” and they “consulted with professional cosmetologists and received $300 worth of makeup.” In addition, they could “select a new pair of blue jeans and received a pink Redskins jersey” (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 10/13)….Charlotte Motor Speedway President MARCUS SMITH yesterday presented NANNIE SUE NEAL, the oldest breast cancer survivor who will turn 102 on Saturday, with a “plaque memorializing her status as the Dollar General 300 miles of Courage honorary race official” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/13).
NAMES: Dolphins WR BRANDON MARSHALL, who has publicly addressed his borderline personality disorder, will speak at Harvard Univ. on Oct. 24 “to a group of medical students about his condition” (N.Y. POST, 10/13)….World Food Programme named Saints QB DREW BREES a U.S. ambassador “to help feed people in Horn of Africa” (NOLA.com, 10/12)….Basketball HOFer and Warriors Exec BOD member JERRY WEST’s book, “WEST TO WEST: MY CHARMED, TORMENTED LIFE,” will be released next Wednesday. West co-authored the book with JONATHAN COLEMAN (THE DAILY)….PATI MURIN stars as the title character in “LYSISTRATA JONES,” a musical comedy about “basketball and sex that is coming to Broadway next month.” Murin, who during the show “has to make a layup on the stage-turned-court,” took tips from Basketball HOFer CHRIS MULLIN (N.Y. TIMES, 10/13)….The life and career of tennis player JUSTINE HENIN “will be the subject of an upcoming musical,” and Henin will “make a brief cameo in the show, which will feature songs, dance and text” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/12)….Patriots QB TOM BRADY and wife GISELE BUNDCHEN’s penthouse on Beacon Street in Boston is on the market for $10.5M, “down slightly” from the $10.9M listing a year ago (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/13)….Knicks F AMAR’E STOUDEMIRE was at Land Rover Manhattan to celebrate his Gotham Magazine cover and to promote the launch of the Range Rover Evoque (N.Y. POST, 10/13).
