Before Carmen Policy left his job in 2004 as president and CEO of the Browns, he acquired prime grape-growing land in Napa Valley. “I bought into the beauty, the sense of romance, the charm and warmth of making fine wines.” He planted 10 acres of Cabernet grapes. “The vineyard is the first thing I look at each morning. It’s gorgeous, nestled next to a knoll and surrounded by mountains.” He is the caretaker of the vineyard, with emphasis on “care.” He believes, “The closer the winemaker to the process, the better the wine.” But his wine masters advised him to drop his first crop, thereby producing a higher-quality grape the next season. He was stunned. When the second fall approached, they advised him to do it again, “I almost cried. I’m not a rich man. I asked them if we could sell it to Smucker’s. They looked at me sideways.” But the third season produced fine grapes. Early tastings have indicated a superior wine. It’s scheduled for release in spring 2009. Meanwhile, he said he’s “having fun” working for Lennar Corp., the developers of a stadium for the 49ers in the Hunters Point section of San Francisco. He said the multiuse project on the last bit of San Francisco’s waterfront is a “no lose” proposition for the city. It’s headed for a June 3 vote.
THE LONG VIEW: At a May 6 panel on “The
Future of Sports on Long Island,” from left:
Stony Brook UniversityAthletic Director Jim
Fiore, Silverman Media &Marketing head
coach Ira Silverman, Long Island DucksCEO
Frank Boulton, moderator Michael Coleman of
News 12 Long Island, Pillar Rock USA Corp.
CEO AlfredDilamani (a sponsor through its
Hangover Buster product), President Terri
Alessi-Miceli of event producer theHauppauge
Industrial Association, New York Islanders
SVP of sales, marketing and operations Chris
Dey, andex-Islander Mike Bossy, now
executive director of the Islanders Business Club.
Postcards from New York: On the way to lunch with three top execs of the AFL, Commissioner David Baker bought four giant bubble makers from a New York City street vendor and gave one each to Deputy Commissioner Ed Policy (Carmen’s son), EVP communications Chris McCloskey and EVP and general counsel John Master. All three have children younger than 2. But the sight of four guys going to lunch, each with two-foot bubble-making wands, was an oddity even in New York. … Michael Kay, one of the hardest-working announcers in the business, admits that he was afraid of the ball in Little League and decided early on to become the Yankees’ No. 1 announcer. He’d do play-by-play at age 9 while tossing the ball around with his cousin Jamie, Danny Aiello’s son, who borrowed the first-baseman’s mitt his father used in “Bang the Drum Slowly.” “My uncle Danny is still a huge Yankees fan,” but it was Kay who turned his affinity into a career. Now, he hosts “Centerstage” for YES, plus the new “YESterdays,” and is very proud of his daily radio show in New York for ESPN. With that schedule, there’s no time for romance. “I almost got married once,” he said. “But she forced a ‘me-or-the-Yankees’ choice.” He’s been the lead TV announcer of Yankees games since YES debuted in 2002. … Gotta Have It!, a New York-based memorabilia dealer, enlisted Sal Durante to voice over a radio spot for a public “buy show” at Mickey Mantle’s. Durante was 19 in 1961 when he caught Roger Maris’ 61st home run. He offered the ball to Maris, but Roger told him, “Get what you can for it, kid.” Durante used the $5,000 he got to marry Ro, the girl who accompanied him to Yankee Stadium that day. They are still married 47 years later. … In Central Park, CBS News’ “Early Show” anchor Russ Mitchell got to make up for not making his high school baseball team and at the same time experience his childhood dream of playing baseball with the Cardinals. As part of “Positively Prom Week,” allowing anchors to relive their senior years in high school, Mitchell played ball with Tim McCarver and Bob Gibson.
Postcard from abroad: Jim Cain, the former president of the Carolina Hurricanes and now the U.S. ambassador to Denmark, wrote to IO: “I am in the middle of a 2,500 km. bike tour around Denmark, seeking to rediscover that unique spirit that has connected Denmark and America, allies since Thomas Jefferson signed our first Treaty in 1791. I have another 1,200 km. (about 18 days) to go on my ‘ReDiscovery’ tour, which ends on July 4 with a big bash.”
And from the circuit: The day before Mars announced its $23 billion merger with Wrigley, Juan Pablo Montoya’s Juicy Fruit Dodge pushed Kyle Busch’s M&Ms Toyota to victory at Talladega. … Once, the only thing reporter Liz Clarke knew about NASCAR was that Bruce Springsteen once mentioned Junior Johnson in a song. After her first trip to the track, she called NASCAR “part circus, part county fair.” When fellow journalists learned she was covering NASCAR, “they would stare with a look of pity or disdain, as if I’d been exiled to sports writing’s most demeaning job,” said The Washington Post reporter and author of “One Helluva Ride: How NASCAR Swept the Nation” (Villard). … Two NASCAR partners have joined Sprint and UPS in supporting George Martin’s Journey for 9/11. Best Western is providing hotel accommodations for the former Giant’s walk from the George Washington Bridge to the Golden Gate, and Featherlite has donated an RV.
John Genzale can be reached at johngenzale@gmail.com.
