Padres officials and others gathered yesterday at the East Village Gate of Petco Park "for a moment of silence in front of the statue honoring the life" of late Broadcasting HOFer JERRY COLEMAN. Padres GM JOSH BYRNES said, "I never thought of Jerry in terms of age. I expected him to be here forever." Coleman's death on Sunday "came as a shock to club personnel." Baseball HOFer TONY GWYNN said, "Jerry was the Padres to so many people on so many levels. Amazing man." Padres broadcaster TED LEITNER added, "He was beloved in San Diego for all the right reasons. And at the base of all that he was, was his humility." The Padres and Coleman's family "have not announced services" for him. But Padres Exec Chair RON FOWLER said, "We know what we want to do" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/7). SPORTS ON EARTH's Jorge Arangure Jr. wrote, "If anything represented San Diego baseball, it was Jerry Coleman. Tony Gwynn is the franchise's best player, but Jerry Coleman was the organization's most respected icon" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 1/6).
NAMES: Former Vikings P CHRIS KLUWE has retained Minneapolis-based attorney CLAYTON HALUNEN and the National Center for Lesbian Rights to represent him in his dispute with the team over his release (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 1/6)....New Jersey resident JOSH FINKELMAN is suing the NFL "for violating state law by making only a small number of tickets" to Super Bowl XLVIII available for purchase to the general public. Finkelman has filed a class action lawsuit in federal court "alleging the NFL and its member teams violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act by splitting the estimated 80,000 tickets" to the game "between the league, its 32 teams and the two host teams" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 1/7)....ESPN's LISA SALTERS said of her friendship with Lakers G KOBE BRYANT, "Kobe texts (me) and checks in about [her son] SAM -- ‘How’s he doing?’ (or) ‘How are your holidays? How’s the summer doing?’ We just get along really well. It goes beyond basketball” (Baltimore SUN, 1/5)....Former Raleigh News & Observer reporter A.J. CARR will be inducted into the N.C. Sports HOF on May 9 (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 1/7)....UFC fighter/agent TITO ORTIZ was arrested yesterday morning in L.A. "on suspicion of driving drunk" (DAILYNEWS.com, 1/6)....Former NFLer MATT LIGHT and Patriots RB STEVAN RIDLEY attended the Nitro Circus Live show at TD Garden on Sunday night (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/7)....Nets Owner MIKHAIL PROKHOROV has been "partying it up with a phalanx of beautiful women in the French Alps" (N.Y. POST, 1/7).
