NBC figure skating analysts JOHNNY WEIR and TARA LIPINSKI appeared on E! Network's "CHELSEA LATELY" last night, with Weir noting they just returned from Sochi. Weir: "We were apart for a day and it killed us." Host CHELSEA HANDLER said, "You two are like inseparable now." Lipinski: "We've known each other for quite a long time, but we weren't as close as we are now." Handler said the outfit Weir was wearing was "kind of a toned down outfit for you. You really went balls out." Weir: "I wanted to be gentle." Weir said as a gay man traveling to Russia, "I've never had a problem ever in my life and I go as a figure skater. It's a very big sport in Russia and I'm respected as an athlete. I think if I was going as a regular tourist … I think it would be very different. But people were lovely to us in Sochi. I mean (VLADIMIR) PUTIN sat just behind us for some of the events. I didn't get arrested and I didn't get anything thrown at my weave" ("Chelsea Lately," E! Network, 2/26).
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE: Yankees SS DEREK JETER yesterday said that he "not only" would like to own an MLB team one day, but that he would "like to run it" like late Yankees Owner GEORGE STEINBRENNER. Jeter said he wants to "call the shots." Jeter: "That's the next ultimate goal, to be an owner. ... I think I've learned a lot in my career, not only what goes on the field but I learned a lot from our late owner in how to run [an] organization. I have a lot of things to learn but I would like to do that" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 2/27).
FAST BREAK: Pistons G CHAUNCEY BILLUPS and NBA Kings investor JUNIOR BRIDGEMAN, who has recently been mentioned as potential Bucks investor, are partners on 30 St. Louis-area Wendy's restaurants. Bridgeman, a former NBAer whose net worth exceeds $240M, has had a "profound influence on Billups." Billups "met Bridgeman during a charity basketball game in Denver." The two "talked shop and formed a friendship," and Billups now "has something to fall back on." Billups said that he "plans to expand his business in Detroit and Denver" (DETROIT NEWS, 2/26).
MY KIND OF TOWN: CHICAGO magazine named its "100 most powerful Chicagoans." Sports figures on the list include Blackhawks Chair ROCKY WIRTZ (No. 6), White Sox and Bulls Chair JERRY REINSDORF (No. 11), Bulls investor LESTER CROWN (18), Bears QB JAY CUTLER (No. 23), Big Ten Commissioner JIM DELANY (No. 25), Cubs Chair TOM RICKETTS (No. 48), Dodgers Chair MARK WALTER (No. 95) and Cubs President of Baseball Operations THEO EPSTEIN (No. 100) (CHICAGO magazine, 3/'14 issue).
BOOK SHELF: WNBA Mercury C BRITTNEY GRINER has co-written a book, "IN MY SKIN," with former ESPN The Magazine writer SUE HOVEY. Griner in the book "expresses disenchantment with Baylor for its stance on homosexuality." Griner in the book wrote, "I would love to be an ambassador for Baylor, to show my school pride, but it's hard to do that -- it's hard to stand up and say, 'Baylor is the best!' -- when the administration has a written policy against homosexuality" (USA TODAY, 2/27)....Author ED BRESLIN has penned a book about Ivy league basketball titled, "THE DIVINE NATURE OF BASKETBALL: MY SEASON INSIDE THE IVY LEAGUE." Breslin in the book "captures the league's uniqueness, the sense that it's like no other Division I league" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 2/27).
NAMES: Former Braves Owner TED TURNER "will be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 35th Annual Sports Emmy Awards" on May 6 at Lincoln Center in N.Y. (LATIMES.com, 2/26)....UCF athletics yesterday announced that it will receive a $1M donation from the Garvy Family Foundation to support construction of the Wayne Densch Center for Student-Athlete Leadership. The donation will be made by UCF BOD member ROBERT GARVY and his wife, CAROL (ORLANDOSENTINEL.com, 2/26)....Former MLBer FRANK WHITE today will announce his candidacy for the Jackson County (Mo.) Legislature in the "neighborhood he grew up in" (KANSASCITY.com, 2/26)....NFL agent LEIGH STEINBERG has signed former SMU QB GARRETT GILBERT (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 2/27)....ESPN’s STEPHEN A. SMITH last night gave a “black history month lecture” at UAB. His talk “lasted more than two hours” (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 2/27)….Heat F CHRIS BOSH “lent his baritone” voice for an episode of Disney XD's “MARVEL'S HULK & THE AGENTS OF S.M.A.S.H." The episode premiered last Sunday and will re-air tomorrow at 10:00pm ET (FOXSPORTS.com, 2/26)….The production crew of the film “SHARKNADO 2” and its star IAN ZIERING yesterday shot a scene at Citi Field (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 2/26)….Former NFLer LADAINIAN TOMLINSON has teamed up with Tango Tab Founder ANDRE ANGEL, whose app-making firm has “a new, free and easy way to help feed the hungry” (UTSANDIEGO.com, 2/26)….Celtics F KRIS HUMPHRIES sold his Miami Beach condo for “something in the neighborhood” of $1.7M and pocketed “a nearly $700,000 profit on the sale” (BOSTON HERALD, 2/27)….ESPN NBA analyst DOUG COLLINS "paid just under" $800,000 to buy a three-bedroom, one-story, 2,493-square-foot town home in Glenview, Ill. (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/27).
