In N.Y., Jennifer Preston noted the Packers' Super Bowl XLV victory ranked second on the "list of global topics discussed on Facebook" in '11. Also last year, the ending of the FIFA Women's World Cup Final "prompted the most Twitter tweets per second," a metric Twitter uses to "measure the intensity of a conversation about a single event." There were "7,196 tweets per second for the end of the game, compared with the 5,106 per second generated by the killing" of OSAMA BIN LADEN. La Liga club Barcelona F LIONEL MESSI "was the most talked-about athlete on Facebook," while the "top soccer player talked about on Twitter was" EPL club Manchester United F WAYNE ROONEY (N.Y. TIMES, 1/2).
FUTURE INVESTMENT: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Stephen Moore profiled ESPN's JALEN ROSE and his Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in Northwest Detroit. Each school day, 120 high school freshmen attend Rose's Leadership Academy, which is "a charter school free to set up its own schedule." The school year "is 211 days, not 176," and only "one student has dropped out since the school opened in August." Rose said the Leadership Academy has "a 20-to-1 student teacher ratio and 10-to-1 in math and English." Rose "plans to start with this freshmen class and add a new grade each year until there are some 500 kids in grades 9-12." Rose "takes no pay" for his role, and he "doesn't just lend his name to the letterhead." Rose said that he is "often in the building for 20 hours a week" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/1).
CREAM OF THE CROP: In Orlando, Scott Maxwell named his "25 Most Powerful People In Central Florida," with Orlando Mayor BUDDY DYER topping the list. Magic CEO ALEX MARTINS ranked fifth, followed by Walt Disney World President MEG CROFTON (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/1)....In Tampa Bay, Ernest Hooper named Lightning Owner JEFF VINIK to his list of the "10 most intriguing people of the year" in the area (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 12/31).
BOUGHT & PAID FOR: Nike CEO MARK PARKER last month "exercised his option to buy 1,000 shares of Nike stock at $26.12 a share and immediately sold them for $98 a share -- pocketing a cool $72,000" (N.Y. POST, 1/1)....The Univ. of Connecticut "hopes to build its 70,000-square foot practice facility for its basketball programs by September 2013." The project will cost approximately $30 million, and last week longtime UConn basketball supporters PETER and PAMELA WERTH "took a bite out of the bottom line by giving the school its largest donation ever, $4.5 million" (HARTFORD COURANT, 1/1)....Liberty Media CEO JOHN MALONE, whose company owns the Braves, became the "largest individual landowner early in 2011, surpassing" former Braves Owner TED TURNER (AJC.com, 1/2).
NAMES: Baylor QB and '11 Heisman Trophy winner ROBERT GRIFFIN III was in New Orleans yesterday "with 17 other college football players as part of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team clinic for kids at Tad Gormley Stadium" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 1/3)....Kraft Foods reps announced Saturday night that 25,554,558 meals had been donated as part of the Fight Hunger Bowl drive (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 1/2)….Sources said that Patriots Owner ROBERT KRAFT snuck QB TOM BRADY’s wife, model GISELE BUNDCHEN, “into the locker room Sunday while the team was doing post-game interviews” so she could “admire the painting the players commissioned in honor” of Kraft’s late wife MYRA KRAFT (BOSTON HERALD, 1/3)....The Lightning unveiled a life-sized commemorative bronze statue in honor of franchise founder PHIL ESPOSITO on the west plaza of the Tampa Bay Times Forum before Saturday’s home game against the Hurricanes (THE DAILY)….Heat F LEBRON JAMES turned his 27th birthday dinner “into an engagement party after he popped the question to his longtime girlfriend SAVANNAH BRINSON on New Year’s Eve.” James and his teammates, F CHRIS BOSH and G DWYANE WADE, “held court at a New Year’s Eve dinner with Remy V at Vesper American Brasserie in the Shelborne Hotel in South Beach” (N.Y. POST, 1/2)....TNT analyst SHAQUILLE O’NEAL hosted a New Year’s Eve party at Viceroy Hotel in Anguilla (N.Y. POST, 1/3).
