The NFL last night announced PHARRELL WILLIAMS and SOUNDGARDEN will perform as part of the “2014 NFL Kickoff Presented By Xbox” prior to the season-opening Packers-Seahawks game on Sept. 4. Williams and Soundgarden will perform live outside of CenturyLink Field in a free event. Simulcast coverage of the 60-minute pregame show will air from 7:30-8:30pm ET on NBC and NFL Network. Meanwhile, ARIANA GRANDE will perform the National Anthem prior to the game (NFL).
WISHES DO COME TRUE: DALE EARNHARDT JR. prior to yesterday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway met with fan CHRIS BLAKENEY as part of a "visit set up by the Make-A-Wish Foundation." Earnhardt told Blakeney if he "won the race, Blakeney could join the No. 88 team in Victory Lane." Earnhardt "kept his promise and also brought Blakeney with him to the winner’s news conference, even insisting the young man get his own name plate" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/4).
HONOR ROLL: WTA/ATP Citi Open PA announcer CHARLIE BROTMAN's voice "sparkled over Rock Creek park for the last time" yesterday, as he retired at the conclusion of the tournament "after presiding every year since 1969" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/4)....Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steelers reporter ED BOUCHETTE on Saturday received the Dick McCann Award from the Pro Football HOF. The award is "given to a writer for long and distinguished reporting on professional football" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 8/3)....NASCAR and IndyCar team Owner CHIP GANASSI "will receive the inaugural Cameron R. Argetsinger Award next week in Corning, N.Y., for his outstanding contributions to motorsports" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/2)....FS Detroit Tigers play-by-play announcer MARIO IMPEMBA on Friday was "honored with the Ty Tyson Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association" (FREEP.com, 8/3).
CHARITY STRIPE: The Cubs yesterday broke ground on the School Street Playlot in Chicago. The Cubs donated $1M to construction (Cubs)....Baylor women’s basketball coach KIM MULKEY announced Saturday that she will “donate $25,000 toward a fund to have something on the Louisiana Tech campus named after” the school’s former coach LEON BARMORE (SHREVEPORT TIMES, 8/3). Mulkey played and coached under Barmore at Louisiana Tech, and he is currently a Baylor assistant coach (THE DAILY).
NAMES: Sports attorney and former Washington Senators PA announcer PHIL HOCHBERG tonight at the National Museum of Natural History will lead a panel discussion with MLB agent SCOTT BORAS, Nationals TV and radio host PHIL WOOD and Washington Post reporter ADAM KILGORE (THE DAILY)....Anonymous fans of Texas Tech “took out a full-page ad in Wednesday’s Lubbock Avalanche-Journal” in the form of an open letter asking Chancellor ROBERT DUNCAN, President DUANE NELLIS and the school’s board of regents to award former football coach MIKE LEACH the rest of his $2.6M salary for ’09 (MYSANANTONIO.com, 7/31)….Texans LB BRIAN CUSHING has purchased a 5,400-square-foot Houston-area home with four bedrooms and five bathrooms for $2.2M (L.A. TIMES, 8/2)….NFL free agent LB BRIAN TOAL and DEIRDRE SIMMS, the daughter of CBS NFL analyst PHIL SIMMS, got married July 19 in Wyckoff, N.J. (N.Y. TIMES, 8/3).
