Carrie Gerlach Cecil, founder of Anachel Communications, is one sports business
woman who likes to keep it simple. Doing a good public relations job for a handful
of clients like NASCAR, Fox Sports Net and the Pac-10 is more important to her
— especially now that she and her husband, Tennessee Titans assistant coach
Chuck Cecil, are expecting a baby — than growing her client base. But she
can kiss simple goodbye. She sold the rights to her first novel, “Emily’s
Reasons Why Not,” in a mid-six-figure deal, and HarperCollins will publish
it later this month. So far 17 national magazines have agreed to do reviews, including
Glamour, Cosmo and Seventeen. Now Endeavor, the big Hollywood talent agency that
packaged “Friends” for television, is preparing “Emily’s Reasons
…” for the tube.
Sports agent Jerry Solomon said he isn’t doing much athlete representation
these days. Instead he’s producing events and is focused on an animated
feature film, “Easter Egg Escapade,” starring his wife, Nancy Kerrigan,
along with Brooke Shields, Joe Pantoliano, James Woods, Eli Wallach and Sandra
Bernhard. Natalie Cole sings on the 88-minute film, due for release next spring.
… Speaking of the Solomons, son Clay, who often plays golf with his father,
stepmother and little brother Matthew, is burning up the links in Lynnfield,
Mass. The 7-handicap 15-year-old hopes to compete for the New England junior
championship later this summer.
Kenny Kramer, the self-described media slut who inspired the “Seinfeld”
character Cosmo Kramer (played by Michael Richards), told Ray Katz, OMD’s
director of sports marketing, and Michael Borkan, president of Talon Mailing
and Marketing, at Ann Liguori’s annual golf tournament that he will conduct
tours for GOP groups during the Republican National Convention in New York City
next month. He runs Kramer’s Reality Tour, subtitled: “A romp through
what’s factual and fantasy in the world of Seinfeld.”
The Minors: “Wheel of Fortune’s” Pat Sajak, who has a weekly
baseball program on radio, is a key investor in the Golden Baseball League,
a fledgling independent league planning to bring baseball to 10 to 12 California
communities. … Marty Appel, the former New York Yankees pitchman who now
has his own PR agency, said he was very nervous before throwing a strike for
the first pitch at a Hudson Valley Renegades game last week. … Three kids
from Kings Park, N.Y., Daniel Gunther, Daniel Stern and Rebecca Todaro, got
to run the Click Effects sound system at a Long Island Ducks game. The system,
which according to Fran Kowalski of Sound & Video Creations will be in 13
Olympic venues in Athens next month, allows selection of music and sound effects
at the push of a button.
Jim Warsaw flew from California to attend the Boston bar mitzvah of Joel Pollick,
son of Giving Back Fund founder Marc Pollick, and wound up in a hospital. Between
the morning ceremony and the evening party, the founder of the Warsaw sports
business school at the University of Oregon visited his old friend, Dr. Dan
Tosteson, dean emeritus of the Harvard Medical School, who insisted that Warsaw’s
heart be checked at Mass General hospital. He was admitted and treated over
four days for a heart ailment, and consequently missed the party. Warsaw was
released with a caution to monitor the Parkinson’s medication he has been
taking for 11 years.
Football: The Arizona Cardinals’ vice president and general counsel, Michael
Bidwill, completed a two-week Spanish-language immersion program in Madrid.
Bidwill said, “I figured that if we are serious about Hispanic marketing,
then I should have some knowledge of Spanish.” … Amy Trask, chief
executive of the Oakland Raiders, will be on the faculty of NFL 101 and 201,
the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission’s school for Monday
morning quarterbacking. Other instructors: Andrea Kremer and Holly Robinson
Peete, the actress wife of Carolina Panthers quarterback Rodney Peete. …
Rams punter Sean Landeta is offering punting clinics at Shelter Rock Tennis
Club on Long Island in return for tennis lessons for his 6-year-old son, Joseph.
… Former NFL stars Jim Langer and Mick Tingelhoff, after playing a round
of golf in Fargo, N.D., for the Roger Maris cancer charity, stopped the bus
transporting celebs from the course to a hotel and bought out kids selling lemonade
and cookies at a neighborhood stand. … It was a Manning family affair at
the National Quarterback Club award dinner in Washington. Archie received a
Hall of Fame award while son Peyton received the NFL quarterback of the year
award and son Eli (who could not attend) received the college quarterback of
the year award. George Michael was master of ceremonies, and Charlie Daniels
sang the national anthem.
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QB royalty (front, from left): George Michael, hall of famers Roger Staubach and Archie Manning, musician Charlie Daniels; (back) Maryland’s Scott McBrien, Navy’s Craig Candeto, Colts’ Peyton Manning, prep Sean Glennon, Saints’ Aaron Brooks and prep Brian Brohm.
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Around the horn: Comcast-Spectacor’s Ike Richman says he has “passion
for seeing Van Halen live.” He’s been to 45 concerts, but last month
he caught five shows in 10 days. … Jack Breeden, the Seattle SuperSonics’
director of suite sales, followed the NBA draft on his PDA while watching the
Pirates-Astros game at Minute Maid Park. He was in Houston for the Association
of Luxury Suite Directors conference. … Doug Verb is moving his Action
Sports America from Lafayette Hill, Pa., to Las Vegas, but he’s going to
need the world’s largest suitcase. The former Raycom exec sells hot dog
launchers and 15-foot team jerseys.
John Genzale (jgenzale@nyc.rr.com)
is founding editor of SportsBusiness Journal.
