Cubs 2B JAVIER BAEZ has "added more than 23,000 new followers on Instagram and more than 9,000 on Twitter" since Game 1 of the NLDS on Oct. 7. Among Cubs players, only Baez' "nationally recognized teammates" 1B ANTHONY RIZZO and 3B KRIS BRYANT has more Instagram followers. Data from athlete social media tracker Blinkfire Analytics showed that no Cubs player "added more followers on Twitter over the past five days" than P JON LESTER, who" saw his total jump by about 13,000 followers to nearly 460,000 total" (CRAINSCHICAGO.com, 10/12).
HIT ON 15: Under Armour Founder, Chair & CEO KEVIN PLANK on Wednesday was honored at an event at the company's "Make You Famous" wall and "talked about the days when he was less than famous." Plank said that he was "broke when he started" UA, saying he had "little more than $2,000 in the account for the fledgling sports apparel company" around '97. However, Plank "had written $6,000 in checks," so he "headed for a blackjack tournament in Atlantic City hoping to make up the difference." Plank: "The mindset of the entrepreneur is I've got to cover payroll, I've got to cover the checks that I have outstanding. I took my $2,000 and I turned it into $6,000. And then like all entrepreneurs I got sucked in" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 10/13).
GIVING BACK: Wake Forest said that it has received an additional $15M for its athletics program from BOB MCCREARY, who played football for the school, graduated from in '61 and then founded a furniture company. Wake Forest said that it will "recognize the gift by renaming Deacon Tower at BB&T Field at the homecoming football game on Oct. 29." The "new name of the seven-story pressbox and luxury seating facility will be McCreary Tower" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 10/14)....Villanova announced that when the Pavilion "completes renovations, the building will be named" for WILLIAM FINNERAN. Finneran, who graduated from VU in '63, donated $22.6M to the effort in April (PHILLY.com, 10/13)....USF’s athletic department has received a $1.45M gift “from the Fishman Family Foundation, to be used for various purposes.” USF alum JEFF FISHMAN, who “operates a South Tampa-based mortgage corporation, is a fixture” at the school’s football and basketball games (TAMPABAY.com, 10/11).
NAMES: Former NFLer DARRYL ASHMORE in a lawsuit filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach has “accused the NFL’s Player Disability and Neurocognitive Benefit Plan of denying ‘total and permanent disability’ benefits because he couldn’t travel from his Florida home to out-of-state examinations” (L.A. TIMES, 10/14)....City of Miami Commissioners “voted unanimously Thursday to name a three-mile stretch of the thoroughfare from U.S. 1 to North River Drive in honor” of late Marlins P JOSE FERNANDEZ. The avenue is “just to the west” of Marlins Park (MIAMI HERALD, 10/14)....A 10-day festival that will “celebrate the life and legacy of MUHAMMAD ALI called ‘I Am Ali’ will be held July 5-15.” The festival will be “based at the Muhammad Ali Center with other events at various sites around Louisville” (COURIER-JOURNAL.com, 10/13)....AOL Founder STEVE CASE and NBC News' LUKE RUSSERT were spotted in the crowd at Dodgers-Nationals NLDS Game 5 last night (POLITICO.com, 10/14).
