NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL on Jan. 17 "will be the featured speaker at Preview Las Vegas, the annual forecasting event held by the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 10/31).
THE GOOD STUFF: Eagles TE ZACH ERTZ, in partnership with several Philadelphia Dunkin' Donuts locations, announced a $30,000 "donation of sports gear to the Chester Panthers Youth Empowerment and Athletic Association" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 10/31)....Columbia professor DEBORA SPAR moderated a panel at Harvard Business School last night featuring Massachusetts Attorney General MAURA HEALEY, Kraft Analytics Group CEO JESSICA GELMAN, Harvard women's basketball coach KATHY DELANEY-SMITH and Harvard women's hockey coach KATEY STONE in a discussion called "Sports as a Classroom: Women in Sports, Leadership and Empowerment" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/31)....FS Detroit analyst KIRK GIBSON last night was "joined by Detroit rockers JACK WHITE and ALICE COOPER for a chat on stage" in the Shinola Hotel's upper level Birdy Room to benefit the Kirk Gibson Foundation for Parkinson's (DETROIT NEWS, 10/31).
NAMES: Actor JOHN STAMOS has been "tapped as the lead" in "BIG SHOT," a new 10-episode Disney+ original series that "follows a temperamental college basketball coach who gets fired from his job and must take a teaching and coaching job at an elite all-girls private high school" (DEADLINE.com, 10/30)....Longtime Bears PA announcer JIM RIEBANDT will retire after the season. He has held the role since '82 (Bears).
IN MEMORY: Longtime Mariners broadcaster RON FAIRLY died yesterday in Indian Wells, Calif., after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81. Fairly, a former MLBer, "transitioned to radio and television after his playing career," joining L.A.-based KTLA-TV as a sports anchor in '79 and BOB STARR, DICK ENBERG and DON DRYSDALE in the broadcast booth for the Angels from '80-86. He "left Southern California to call games" for the Giants ('87-92) and Mariners ('93-'06, '07, '10 and '11) (L.A. TIMES, 10/31). Fairly "filled his Mariners broadcasts with hilarious and apt anecdotes that would elevate the game in progress -- and usually tickle the funny bone in the process" (SEATTLE TIMES, 10/31)....Motorsports HOF Founder RON WATSON died Sunday at age 72 (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/29).
