Sports heroes undressed

Stephen Brunt
Globeandmail.com

Some day, it will be fascinating to look back and consider just how it is we got here.

Within living memory, professional athletes were wrapped in mythic armour stronger even than that which protected movie stars. The Hollywood crowd, famous musicians, even in more wide-eyed days, could be dragged down by scandal sheets, their embarrassing personal peccadilloes aired (selectively) for those with prurient interests.

But professional athletes could be drunks and womanizers and racists, could be some of the worst SOBs alive, could behave just as badly as they wanted, and still be held up as shining beacons and role models for youth, their exceptional performance on the field or in the arena accepted as a mirror of their exceptional qualities in life. Commit a crime and go to jail and it might get noticed, but otherwise sports biography was hagiography almost without exception.

That's all changed now, which in the big picture is a healthy development. We'll all be better off understanding that having feet of clay is a universal human condition.

Getting to that point has required repeated doses of shock therapy, the two biggest coming during the past 365 days: first Tiger Woods's multiple indiscretions, and now the tawdry Brett Favre affair.
Yes, other athletes have done worse. Adultery (as in Woods's case) is not a crime, nor is sexual harassment (as alleged in Favre's), though it can in many circumstances at least be a firing offence.
But here are two figures in whom so much has been invested, about whom so much was imagined to justify a kind of three-dimensional heroism.

Though it can be argued that Woods and his handlers worked to create a perfect commercial persona that was never him, the truth is the golfer's previously pristine image was as much a function of wish fulfilment as of any clever marketing campaign.

And Favre, while very publicly battling through life challenges that most of us also face (the death of a parent, the illness of a spouse, the push back against aging) was celebrated as an everyman/superman, a good ol' boy from Kiln, Miss., who just wanted to fling that football down the field as far and as fast as he could. There were other, more problematic details (the painkiller addiction, the boozing, the infidelity alluded to in his wife Deanna's book), but on the big stage provided by the NFL, those were but minor, trivial points that only emphasized his down-home humanity.

Woods was done in by the traditional tabloid route, and by the sheer volume and recklessness of his extramarital adventures.

Favre's path to ignominy is more distinctly of the moment. The alleged object of his affection, Jenn Sterger, is a creation of the Internet age, an attractive young woman spotted on television at a Florida State game who went on to become sort-of-famous simply for being sort-of-famous. (A simple search will tell you - and show you - more.) Voice messages and lurid photographs of what may be his naughty bits, which she allegedly received from Favre while working for the New York Jets, but is said not to have personally passed along, were somehow bought and paid for by a website, Deadspin, which makes hay deconstructing sports (and sports media).

Funny, nasty, always arm's length, always ironic, the site is a perfect example of how 21st-century culture feeds upon itself. This, for them, was a batting-practice fastball.

The mainstream media wouldn't touch the story - at least for a few hours - but when the NFL, sensitized by the Ben Roethlisberger and Ines Sainz affairs, decided to investigate, when one of Favre's Minnesota Vikings teammates acknowledged that the quarterback had offered a tearful apology to the group before their game against the New York Jets on Monday, it was open season, the piling on made all the easier by the growing sense that, this season, Favre's on-field magic has finally deserted him at 41.

("Brett Comes Up Short," the front page of the New York Post read Tuesday morning, referring of course to the Vikings' loss to the Jets on Monday night.) It doesn't make you feel any better, the Woods stuff, the Favre stuff, other than the pleasure some derive from the misfortune of others, for which the Germans have a word.

But it shouldn't make you feel any worse, either, the embarrassment of being revealed as a voyeur aside. They aren't who we thought they were - or who we pretended they were. They're just really good at what they do, which is something we like to watch.

Now let's start redefining that relationship.

NFL personnel men concerned by marijuana 'epidemic' in draft class

Don Banks
Cnnsi.com

There's a widespread belief within the NFL that the 2010 draft represents one of the deepest and most promising pools of collegiate talent in years. But in addition to the vast potential of this year's draft class, numerous NFL personnel evaluators told SI.com they are concerned about the increased number of prospects who have a history of marijuana use in their background, with players often acknowledging a failed drug test for pot in college in interviews with team executives.

According to one veteran club personnel man interviewed by SI.com, 10 or 11 players who carry first-round draft grades on their board this year have been red-flagged for marijuana use in college, an estimate echoed by two clubs' head coaches. Another NFL head coach estimated that "one-third'' of the players on his club's draft board had some sort of history with marijuana use and would thus require an extra level of evaluation as part of the pre-draft scouting process.

"Marijuana use is almost epidemic, with more guys having tested positive for marijuana at some point in their college background than I can ever remember,'' said a longtime team personnel man. "It's almost as if we are having to figure out a new way to evaluate it as part of the character and background report, because it's so prevalent. There're enough instances of it that it's hard to know how to set your board. You can't throw out that many guys. You have to go case-by-case and do your homework on them.''

It's important to note that NFL club officials in this case are only referencing failed drug tests administered by the prospect's college that wind up on his background report, not the drug tests the league conducts as part of the scouting process at last month's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Players with drug test failures in college are not automatically enrolled in the NFL's drug-testing program upon being drafted, but those players can be added at the league's discretion, depending on the type of drug used, how recent the failed test occurred and if there were multiple failures.

"It's something that's concerning to all coaches and general managers in this league,'' one veteran NFL head coach said at the league's annual meeting in Orlando. "It has been trending the wrong way in recent years. But it's something that has to be dealt with from on high, at the league level, and not just dealt with on a club by club basis. It's partly a societal issue, but it's something we're having to deal with more and more.''

In many cases these days, club officials say, players are much more open to admitting to past marijuana use or experimentation in college as part of their pre-draft interviews with NFL teams.

"The kids are admitting it much more now, and part of that is what they've been coached to do [by their agents or handlers],'' one club general manager said. "They want to get the truth out and give you an explanation for their use. That's seen as better than letting someone else put it out there for you and making you look like you were being evasive.

"But we've had that same conversation internally on our club: 'Wow, there's a lot of kids this year.' It seems much more common now, across the draft.''

One NFL head coach told me this week that in this era of some states decriminalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, he has interviewed potential draft picks who didn't even seem to recognize their marijuana smoking constituted drug use in the eyes of the NFL.

"It's pretty significant as a trend,'' the head coach said. "But if you knocked everyone off your board who has experimented with weed, you'd lose about 20 percent of your board, not to mention disqualify a few recent presidents. A third sounds a little high to me, but it's not a rare occurrence to have a player with some pot use in his background. You have to make a judgment on each individual guy.''

That same head coach said that earlier in his NFL coaching career, if a player had failed a drug test for pot in college, his name would be quickly removed from the draft boards of most teams. But times have changed. Clubs are doing more work to try and identify whether a prospect's pot use falls under the experimentation heading, or is done with regularity.

"It's a matter of figuring out which ones smoke, and which ones have to smoke, because they really [are addicted],'' another head coach said. "It's like the drinking issue. You want to know if a guy drinks, or if he has a drinking problem. You're trying to find out and make that distinction with some guys.''

The reaction to a prospect's collegiate marijuana use varies from club to club, team executives and coaches said. The mentality of personnel evaluators and coaches making case-by-case decisions on players with marijuana use in their background has grown more prevalent with the league's infusion of younger coaches and general managers in recent years.

"Overall in the league there's a bit of a different generation of decision-makers and people doing the evaluating,'' one team's general manager said. "Even among those of us who didn't [smoke pot], we had some friends who did and we didn't judge them that harshly. So for some, it's a less damaging red flag for a player to have that on his record. Now, maybe [longtime Colts president] Bill Polian's perception of that is different. Maybe those players are still completely off his board. But it can be generational in that sense, yes. Definitely.''

Even among the club officials who expressed the most concern about the prevalence of prospects in this draft who have failed at least one test for marijuana in college, none said they would automatically remove any such player from their draft board.

"There are probably different shades of red to the red flag you give that player these days, different degrees of how it impacts their grade,'' one head coach said. "I know of one guy who told me he smoked with his mom. It was just something they did together. You have to find out something about the specifics and see if it was a habit, and or if it was experimenting in college. For one thing, it could be a case of colleges testing more, and having better tests. It may not be that use is up, but detection is up.''

Some players suspected of marijuana use in college in recent years, Philadelphia receiver DeSean Jackson and Minnesota receiver-return man Percy Harvin most notably, have been two of the top offensive players in the draft the past two years. Their early success in the NFL has possibly led some teams to take a more lenient approach to drafting talented players who are suspected of collegiate marijuana use, one team front office executive said.

"If you passed on Jackson and you passed on Harvin the past two years, maybe you can't afford to just completely write off that kind of prospect every time, or you won't have a job at some point because you won't win any games,'' one team front office executive said. "But you don't want to take guys and see them be in the [league's drug] program the whole time, because they may never get out of it. You want to determine if it's in their environment and if they're bringing that environment with them [to the NFL]?''

One team's head coach said organizations are doing more and more extensive background checks on draft prospects every year to find out as much information as possible about the practices of their potential employees.

"You have to, because some guys aren't telling you the whole truth about their habits and things that have happened while they're in college,'' the head coach said. "It depends on the team's individual approach, but you can get in trouble if you're just overlooking everything when it comes to that kind of history in their background.''

Another NFL general manager interviewed this week said he has a discussion with his team's owner every time the club is even considering a player who has a red flag on their record for marijuana use in college. And you can't have too many of those talks on a year-in, year-out basis, he said.

"That's a topic of conversation for a lot of GMs with their owners,'' the general manager said. "You have a number of prospects who are quality people, but who might have [screwed] up early on in college. As long as it's not a habitual thing, there's more of a discussion about those players, rather than just jettisoning them off your board. Which is what a lot of teams have done in the past. But I think we're all a little more realistic these days.

"I've gone and scouted players at colleges and their coaches really talk them up, but then they add that 'He has this in his background.' It's definitely something we're going to have to get to the bottom of, but what are you going to do? If the kid has one thing in his past, are you going to throw away a third of your board? That's the reality of the situation we face.''

Cleveland Browns fans plan late-arrival protest in Week 10 - NFL - SI.com

Cleveland Browns fans plan late-arrival protest in Week 10 - NFL - SI.com

NFL replay review system sucks life out of game

September 14, 2009
CHRIS ZELKOVICH
thestar.com

When it comes to creating a compelling television product, most pro sports leagues look to the NFL for inspiration.

After all, the league that used television to become the success it is today usually gets it right. So why is it that the great NFL can't figure out a replay review system that doesn't send viewers screaming from their living rooms in boredom? The NHL, CFL, tennis and baseball have figured out how to keep these things to a couple of minutes or less. But the NFL, with all its resources and expertise, manages to turn a challenge into a mini-series.

Two challenges during the league's first Sunday illustrated perfectly how the NFL system can suck the life out of any game.

The Cleveland-Minnesota game was clicking along when the Vikings challenged a Braylon Edwards touchdown reception. Over the next six minutes – six minutes! – viewers were treated to the following:

• A series of replays showing Edwards being pushed out of bounds before he caught the pass.
• Two minutes of commercials.
• Close-ups of several coaches, players, officials and fans.
• Fox commentators Brian Billick and Thom Brennaman telling viewers the touchdown was good. 
• Billick calling the challenge a ``lose-lose" for Minnesota.
• Billick and Brennaman deciding it might not be a touchdown after Brennaman explained the rule, which might indicate why Billick is announcing instead of coaching.

By the time officials finally decided that the touchdown didn't count, viewers had lost six full minutes of their lives they'll never get back. You had to wonder if the guys in the replay booth didn't stop for coffee while reviewing the play. Amazingly, Brennaman thought it appropriate to praise the officials and replay booth for getting it right. Right is good. Fast would have been better. So would a Slap Chop infomercial.

Even more amazing was a challenge in the St. Louis-Seattle game. After the Rams blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown, there was a challenge because somebody noticed there were 12 Rams on the field. Since this wasn't the CFL, that's not allowed.

So how long do you think it takes to count to 12? I'm figuring 12 seconds if you count using the traditional one-Mississippi rule, double that if you count twice to be sure. Apparently NFL officials use another method as counting to 12 took almost four minutes.

That was enough time for Fox to show four different shots of the Rams formation, complete with computer-generated numbers, all of which showed 12 guys lining up for the kick.I don't know what happened after that, because I changed channels. No doubt many others did, too.

Are Bills the thin edge of the wedge?: CFL fans fret that plan for Toronto to host 8 NFL games will hurt Canada's league
Jim Byers
TheStar.com

Canadian Football League fans look at the plan to bring eight Buffalo Bills games to Toronto over the next five years and get nervous. The folks in charge of boosting Toronto's stagnant tourism numbers look at the plan and see a glittering sports entity that dwarfs anything and everything in North America.
"This is a real blessing for us," said Tourism Toronto president and CEO David Whitaker. "It's a tremendous opportunity and we're looking to take full advantage."
Backers of the plan, who include Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and media mogul Ted Rogers, say the event could lure thousands of border-shy Americans into Canada from both Buffalo and from the cities where the Bills' opponents play.
There also would be visitors from other parts of Ontario or Canada, many of them happy to drop some cash on hotel rooms or in city bars and restaurants.
"In Canada we used to think, `Oh, well, we're the land of the 65-cent dollar and we have to appeal to budget travellers,'" said Rogers vice-chair Phil Lind. "But we'll have something here now that intrigues them and captivates them, and so it puts us in their league. I think it's a good thing for economic development, a good thing for tourism and a good thing for overall impact."
Lind said bringing in tourists is nice but that the TV exposure south of the border is probably worth more. Bills games routinely attract millions of viewers in the U.S., and the team's Monday-night game against the Dallas Cowboys last year drew more than 13 million viewers in prime time.
Visitors to Toronto increased 1.1 per cent last year over 2006, but Tourism Toronto officials say there was a 4 per cent drop last year in U.S. overnight visitors. Some 2.2 million Americans bedded down in the city last year.
"The primary issue is that Americans will pay attention and focus on something happening in another country," Lind told the Star. "They'll say, `Not only does Toronto have that (the Bills game), they've got a lot of other things as well.' It'll mean something on the day of the game, but the lingering effect is probably more important."
Mayor David Miller is a little more circumspect.
"There's no question that getting Toronto shown positively on U.S. television, although that might depend on having a winning team, is helpful. But I think our number one priority has to be the health of the CFL. From Toronto's perspective within Canada, if we were seen to be killing the CFL or harming it significantly, it would really hurt us."
In a January survey of 500 southern Ontario residents taken for Rogers Communications by The Strategic Counsel, 54 per cent of respondents said bringing the Bills to Toronto for one or two games a year would be "very good" for the city and province, while 28 per cent said it would be "somewhat good." Only 5 per cent thought it would be somewhat or very bad.
About one-third said bringing the Bills here for one or two games would have a positive effect on the CFL, and only a quarter thought it would have a negative effect. But among self-identified CFL fans, those statistics were reversed.
Forty per cent of the people surveyed, CFL fans or not, didn't think NFL games here would have any real effect.
Perhaps the most worrisome note was that 41 per cent of those questioned admitted they preferred NFL football to CFL football; among those 24 and younger, 56 per cent did so. Overall, only 8 per cent preferred the CFL, while 31 per cent said they like both equally.
People who hold season tickets for the Argonauts will get first crack at NFL Toronto tickets. And the Argos, for now, are working with the Bills' Toronto supporters on combined publicity. But many CFL types are understandably wary.
"If you make the assumption that an NFL team would come into this market, it would cut into (the CFL's) ad revenue, ticketing, and would remove our ability to compete, as there's a limited (amount) of sponsorship and television money in the Canadian marketplace," CFL commissioner Mark Cohon has said.
There's talk that the eight-game run is a mere prelude to having the Bills pull up stakes for Canada permanently.

Buffalo wing and a prayer -- hold the blue cheese.

Don't bet on fans buying chunk of Bills
Garth Woolsey
Thestar.com

If community ownership works so well for the Green Bay Packers, why not the Buffalo Bills?
Well, for one thing the National Football League prohibits the masses from owning and operating its franchises. The Packers are the lone exception to the rule, and their special status was grandfathered into the league's constitution years and years ago. (There are three community teams in the CFL – Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Edmonton – but such arrangements are extremely rare in ``major'' leagues worldwide, football or otherwise.)
For another, the uber-wealthy NFL prefers that its franchises (literally, licences to print money) appreciate in value and change hands, billionaire to billionaire, for the highest possible prices. In such a boldly capitalist environment, community ownership carries the stigma of a socialist/communist scheme.
Still, desperate times demand desperate measures. So, an elected official in Western New York has asked the NFL for rule changes that would allow the Green Bay model to be used to keep the Bills in Buffalo and out of the jaws, potentially, of salivating Toronto interests.
Congressman Brian Higgins has sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has deep Western New York roots, proposing changes that allow folks to purchase stock and maintain voting rights in a franchise.
``We want to make sure the team stays here in the post-Ralph Wilson era. The Bills are a regional treasure and part of the fabric of our community,'' Higgins writes. ``Community ownership in the Bills would give the Buffalo fans that built this franchise a real role in steering the future of this team.''
Higgins proposes either full community ownership or a hybrid in which one party might hold 51 per cent of shares with the other 49 in the community. At the current Forbes.com valuation of $821 million (all figures U.S.), the price of majority ownership would be $419 million. Minority shareholders would be allowed to vote on franchise relocation, with 70 per cent, say, needed to make such a move.
Meanwhile, a possible sugar daddy is in the wings in the person of Tom Golisano, the Rochester, N.Y., billionaire owner of the Buffalo Sabres who has three times run unsuccessfully for the New York governor's job (campaigns that are said to have cost him a total of $93 million).
"I realize what the issue is," he tells Associated Press. "I think I realize how important that organization is to the Buffalo area. And I'll say the same thing I've said before: If the situation arises, I would do what I can to try to keep the team in the area."
Jim Kelly, the old Bills quarterback, is also in the background, suggesting he might be able to patch together an ownership group to go wallet to wallet with the Toronto interests. Inevitably, there is also highly preliminary talk of building a new stadium on the Buffalo lakefront. You know the routine: if you build it, they will stay.
History is not on Buffalo's side. No one would have believed the Cleveland Browns would skip town, until they did, becoming the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts ducked out of Baltimore for Indianapolis in the dead of night. It is still confusing to consider that the Rams left Los Angeles for St. Louis while the Cardinals left St. Louis for Arizona and no one's in Los Angeles, not even the Raiders.
The NFL change its rules for the ``good'' of a community? Place fans ahead of dollars? Go all mushy? Maybe when pigs fly.

Naming rights deal for Giants, Jets stadium could set record
Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — All sports teams want bragging rights, but with the cost of a new stadium now more than $1 billion, it's naming rights they're after.
As several of the most storied franchises in sports replace their stadiums, sports marketing experts expect corporations to pay record amounts for the right to name them.
And the teams are finding ways to make the big price tags worthwhile by maximizing the amount of exposure of a company's name and logo, even integrating it into the design of the building.
"There's more value to what's being offered," said Marc Ganis, president of SportsCorp Ltd., a Chicago sports marketing firm. Especially in the New York market, where several new stadiums are going up and garnering record deals, corporations are getting more exposure and visibility, he said.
Already sold for record numbers: rights to the New York Mets' new stadium, purchased by Citigroup Inc. for more than $400 million over 20 years. Next up, the Chicago Cubs, as its new owner, Sam Zell, says he wants revenue from the historic ball field that still bears the name of a former owner that pays nothing to call the stadium Wrigley Field.
But the deal expected to set naming rights records is the new football stadium for the New York Giants and New York Jets in East Rutherford.
The stadium would create a historic proposition, Ganis said: The most value ever offered, in the most expensive media market, and for two NFL franchises. He predicts the deal to go for at least $25 million to $30 million annually.
"The NFL is such a marketing juggernaut in the world of sports, that there's just no other league that's close to it," said Denver sports consultant Dean Bonham. While he wouldn't estimate the amount, he predicted it would be a landmark deal.
Naming rights prices are escalating for several reasons: public support to build stadiums is waning, player salaries are increasing and stadium construction costs are rising. Stadium costs are "out of control," said Ganis, from the $325 million it cost to build the New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium in 2002 to $1.3 billion for the Giants and Jets stadium opening in 2010, a 300 percent increase.
David M. Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California, said recent deals are moving away from just advertising and branding. For example, the Oakland A's new Cisco Field would use Cisco Systems, Inc.'s technology to enhance ticketing, concessions and management of game-day operations.
"These newer deals are crafted as very, very elaborate business alliances such that these corporate partners are really involved in the building," he said.
Such will be the case, literally, at the new home of the Giants and Jets, where less will mean more.
The teams are seeking only five corporations who will pay to see their names on the stadium: One for the building itself, and four others in each corner of the structure, rather than the hodgepodge of billboards seen in other stadiums. Jeff Knapple, who is marketing the naming rights deal, declined to discuss an asking price.
"We feel the marketplace is always challenged by clutter," he said.
Uncluttering the field could make it more likely for the sponsors to be seen on TV broadcasts, therefore making it more valuable.
If the stadium brings in at least $25 million to $30 million annually as predicted, and with the four additional sponsorships, the teams could get more than double or even triple what the highest deal has brought in so far.
That belongs to the New York Mets, which will receive $20 million annually from Citigroup to name its new baseball stadium, or about $400 million over a 20-year contract. The New Jersey Nets got a similar deal from Barclays Bank PLC for their proposed new arena in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Mets wanted a sponsor to extend the reach of its brand globally, and New York-based Citigroup was a perfect fit, said Dave Howard, the team's executive vice president of business operations. More than many teams, the Mets have drawn players from around the world.
"New York is the most international city, quite frankly in the world," he said. "It made a lot of sense to have a substantial New York presence as well as a global perspective."
For the sponsors, the reasons to enter into a long, expensive naming rights deal are varied, whether it's global expansion or hometown pride. Timing is also important.
Barclays wanted to expand its brand to the U.S., said Nets CEO and president Brett Yormark. The arena, part of a $4 billion project, has also earned cachet with star architect Frank Gehry and Brooklyn's reputation as an up-and-coming borough, he said.
"It's not about the team," he said. "It's about the building. This will be landmark building, a destination area."
For Prudential Financial, Inc., the decision to buy the naming rights to a new hockey arena meant improving its hometown of Newark, said Arthur Ryan, Prudential's chairman who retired as CEO last month.
Since its October opening, the Prudential Center name is heard daily on radio, the Internet and in print as the new home of the New Jersey Devils. Prudential paid $105.3 million over 20 years.
And before the Nets and Mets deals, the Houston Texans had negotiated an annual $10 million from Reliant Energy for its stadium that opened in 2002. Team president Jamey Rootes said Reliant wanted to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring a football franchise back to Houston.
Some teams hold out, however.
The Washington Nationals are still talking with potential candidates for a naming rights partner for their $631 million, publicly financed stadium, which opens this spring, said team president Stan Kasten.
"I don't know if anything will be done by opening day," he said. "There's not a particular deadline. We want partner to be correct and deal to be correct."
The New York Yankees balked at selling naming rights for a new stadium opening in 2009, potentially leaving hundreds of millions on the table.
Randy Levine, the team's president, said a naming rights deal would diminish the team's value.
"The Yankee Stadium name is sacred," he said. "Yankee Stadium is the cathedral of baseball and would be unseemly for a naming rights deal."

Travelling 'circuit girls' flock to Super Bowl in search of clients
CHRIS KAHN
Associated Press

Phoenix - Every year before the Super Bowl, Tammie Miller would gather her chinchilla coat and hop in a limo with her pimp. The host city, wherever it was, always offered a better supply of men than the lonesome highway in Long Beach, Calif., where she usually worked.
Miller was what's known as a "circuit girl,'' a travelling escort who, like any good entrepreneur, knows where the market is hot.
"We were in hotel lobbies, or out in front of the stadiums - wherever there were major amounts of people,'' said the 37-year-old Miller, who quit the business two years ago.
This year, Arizona authorities have stepped up patrols, promising to sweep out circuit girls and their pimps before Sunday's Super Bowl. But if the women are any good, Miller said, police won't see them.
"They had no idea what I was doing,'' she said.
Circuit girls are part of a clandestine sex trade that depends on their ability to blend with the wealthy. Unlike local street hookers, they'll navigate the high-dollar crowd with ease, tapping men on the shoulder with little more than an innocent suggestion on their lips.
"I would walk up to them and ask them directions or some kind of help,'' Miller said.
In Jacksonville, Fla., which hosted the Super Bowl in 2005, Roy Henderson, chief of narcotics in the Jacksonville sheriff's department, said his officers arrested about a dozen circuit girls after staff at one of the city's major hotels called to complain.
"I don't know if you can spot them,'' Henderson said. "A lot of times they're very attractive.
"They dress well, where typically your street walker is in blue jeans, flannel shirt, rough looking. Those are the ones we're picking up time and time again.''
Henderson said policing prostitution at the Super Bowl clearly is not as important as monitoring security threats, but several officers will be assigned nevertheless. And he warns his counterparts in cities about to host the big game to be on the lookout.
"A lot of girls are advertising on the Internet, and it's a limited customer base that these girls had,'' Henderson said. "But you want to protect the innocent folks who don't want to be bothered by these individuals.''
The Phoenix area, which already is known among hookers as a lucrative stop in the winter because of the snowbirds, is expected to be irresistible to sex workers this year.
The Fiesta Bowl already brought thousands of football fans to the region at the beginning of January. And the Super Bowl was preceded by the Barrett Jackson car show and will be played on the final day of the FBR Open golf tournament, both major draws for wealthy, vacationing men.
"It's a big deal this year,'' said Tammy Marie Pagel, a 31-year-old local hooker who was recently jailed in Phoenix but was scheduled to be released the week before the Super Bowl.
Pagel said she had a number of high-paying clients waiting. She counted them on her fingers: one from Colorado, one from Massachusetts, one from Florida, one from Tennessee.
The johns saw her ad on the Craigslist website and set up appointments before setting foot in Arizona, Pagel said. Each will pay US$500 to $600 for an hour with her - several times what she typically charges.
Authorities don't know how many circuit girls typically descend on a Super Bowl city. But Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Trantor said officers will be ready for them.
"We're going after the prostitutes, the people that pander to prostitutes - the pimps - as well as the johns,'' Trantor said. "We're going to combat this from every angle.''
Prostitutes who get caught face between 15 and 180 days in jail in Phoenix, depending on how many offences they have on their record.
Miller said it didn't occur to her to leave the circuit until police arrested her a few years ago.
Some turn to Super Bowl for their biggest touchdowns of the year
"I was addicted to the adrenaline I got from it,'' she said. "The adrenaline of getting in and out of cars.
"The adrenaline of being one step ahead of the cops. The adrenaline of, How much money can I make tonight?''
Miller laughs now when she thinks what she used to be. A black embroidered cardigan and turtle neck have replaced the street clothes. She's removed her pimp's initials - gold letters "M'' and "V'' - from her front teeth. People used to call her "Miss Envy.''
"A lot of my life is really fuzzy to me because of all the drugs I was doing,'' she said. "But of course it changed me.''
Miller became a travelling circuit girl in her early 20s, after a pimp kidnapped her while she was working the streets of west Phoenix. The pimp - his name is Vinnie - stopped the car in Long Beach and told her to "get to work'' as one of his 13 girls.
"He had a different girl for different things,'' Miller said. "Like one would travel.
"If there was a trick that came from out of state and he'd call and he'd want her to come see him, (Vinnie) would fly that person out.'' Some of Vinnie's girls would just walk along the highway.
"And me . . . I was what he called his 'bottom,' which meant I was his top girl,'' she explained. "I bathed him; I clothed him. Everything.''
Every summer, Miller said, Vinnie planned their circuit. Miller would pick one of the top earners from Vinnie's girls, and the three would hit the road. There would be stops in Fresno, Calif., and in Las Vegas. They'd arrive at the Super Bowl city three days before the game.
At times, Miller said, she felt rich. She gave all her money to Vinnie, but he bought her things. She had a Mercedes and wore fancy clothes. She lived in a beach house.
"That was like an incentive for us to stay,'' she said. "Oh, we get all these nice clothes. We get these nice things.''
But as she got older, Miller said she prayed to get out of the business. She had four children, and she was tired of turning tricks. But her pimp wouldn't let her leave. He beat her with coat hangers and shoes.
Miller said it wasn't until police arrested her a few years ago that she mustered the strength to get away. She thought Vinnie loved her, but he left her in jail for two months.
"I was just so crushed that he let me sit,'' she said. "It hurt me so bad. This guy is like everything to me. My whole world.''
That was when Miller said she found the DIGNITY House, a Phoenix-based rehabilitation program founded by a former prostitute and run by Catholic Charities in Arizona. The agency helped her find a job and put her up in a house.
With DIGNITY, Miller said she found her salvation. After two years, she is so free from the lifestyle that she hardly remembers the street words she used to sling back and forth with other hookers.
When she bumped into her pimp recently at a gas station, she did what she never could do before: She stood her ground.
"He came up and tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Hey, I'm going to California. Are you ready?' And I said 'You know what, look, I'm not the person I used to be. I'm getting married, I don't need you.'''

NAFTA....and sport

Super Bowl clobbers the Grey Cup
MARINA STRAUSS
Globe and Mail

Among Canadian football fans, broadcasts of the Super Bowl have gained a slight lead over the Grey Cup in popularity, but among advertisers the American gridiron extravaganza is the champion, hands down.
Both games are among the biggest television draws in the country, and the Super Bowl has just begun to overtake the Canadian Football League championship in the ratings.
When it comes to commercials, however, it's another story. Advertisers are paying about 70 per cent more for a 30-second spot on CTV's Super Bowl telecast next Sunday – about $110,000 (not including discounts) – than what they shelled out for a commercial on CBC's Grey Cup show in November, according to media buyers.
The difference is that the ads are part of the show on the Super Bowl. But many of the ads shown on American television don't reach the audience in Canada.
“If you are an outsider who doesn't understand our business … it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever,” said Dennis Dinga, a vice-president with M2 Universal, which buys media space for advertisers.
“But if you factor in water cooler talk, how many people talk about the Super Bowl … I can't tell you how many meetings we sit in after the fact and look at Super Bowl commercials both in the U.S. and Canada. We rarely do that with any other event.”
Super Bowl advertising is all about the buzz. Media analysts call it the prestige factor and the appeal of being part of an event in which the ads are part of the show.
They also note that CTV, which won the rights to the Super Bowl in Canada last spring after it was shown for 25 years on Global, paid a hefty price and needs to recoup those costs.
Even so, Canadians don't get to see the flashiest ads that Americans view on the U.S. broadcast of the Super Bowl. South of the border, advertisers sometimes blow their budget on a Super Bowl spot, using it as a showcase for their products. Consequently, the ads become the focus of YouTube and dinner party chatter. Canadians only get to hear about those ads later.
But advertisers are still willing to fork over big money in Canada. “You're buying it for the prestige,” said Sylvia Criger, managing director at Media Buying Services. “You're buying it for the half time show, for people talking about it: ‘Did you see yada yada.' ” The Super Bowl attracts more of an upscale viewer – “more from Bay Street” – and more women, she added. As a result, car companies, for example, are more apt to tout higher end models on the broadcast.
Even without the much-hyped ads on the U.S. broadcast, Canadian advertisers are generally reaching their desired adult audience, said Florence Ng, a vice-president at media buyer ZenithOptimedia.
Among the all-important 25-to-54 year old demographic, the Super Bowl drew 55 per cent more viewers than the Grey Cup last year, she said. The American game's ratings were higher in Toronto and Vancouver, but lower in Calgary, where the Grey Cup has a bigger following.
And the Grey Cup remains a big draw. Up until 2005, it attracted bigger audiences than the Super Bowl, according to figures from Global and CBC. The public broadcaster had the rights to air the Grey Cup until it was snatched away by CTV's TSN last year.
Rita Fabian, executive vice-president of sales and marketing at CTV, said Super Bowl ads are almost sold out and the telecast is expected to attract more than four million viewers. Last year, it drew about 3.7 million, according to Global. (However, there are discrepancies in the figures, depending on the source, age group targeted and whether other programming is included.)

Who dat say dey gonna move dem Saints?

Louisiana, Saints drop exit clauses
Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. — The New Orleans Saints have come to an agreement with state officials that will keep the team in Louisiana through the 2010 season.
Both sides agreed to toss out contract exit clauses that would have let the NFL team leave the state within the next four years.
"For the foreseeable future, Louisiana's team will keep marching to victory right here," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said at the Governor's Mansion on Monday, announcing the latest developments in ongoing negotiations to keep the Saints in New Orleans.
The contract had allowed the Saints to opt out of its current deal with the state by repaying about $70 million the state has provided in inducements to the team. But the Saints will drop that termination clause, and the state will eliminate its ability to opt out of the contract.
Both sides agreed to continue negotiating on a long-term agreement that could keep the Saints in New Orleans beyond the current contract.
Saints owner Tom Benson is "committed over the next four years to get a long-term deal done here and to stay here forever," said team spokesman Greg Bensel.
The current $186.5 million contract with the Saints was negotiated in 2001 by former Gov. Mike Foster's administration and involves making annual payments to the team on top of other subsidies through 2010.
Those state payments will continue. Blanco said she didn't agree to give the Saints any more money — but ongoing upgrades to the Saints' home stadium, the New Orleans Superdome, will continue.
Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to the Superdome in 2005. The state repaired the domed stadium and invested another $185 million into improvements and upgrades long sought by Benson.
Benson was in Phoenix on Monday for the NFL owners' meeting and was not at the Governor's Mansion for the announcement of the contract changes.

"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket."

- George Orwell

First-time advertisers get Super Bowl kick
GRANT ROBERTSON

Researchers at the University of Colorado believe they have discovered an uptick in stock prices that happens a few weeks before kickoff each year, which is directly related to the companies who buy advertising.

A study of the stock prices for 279 publicly traded companies between 1989 and 2003 has revealed that, on average, companies who don't normally buy commercials during the Super Bowl get an unexplained bump in their stock price when they wade into the advertising spectacle.
Many of the returns won't make investors rich, but some of the jumps are significant. Across the entire field of companies studied, news that a company is spending big cash on a Super Bowl ad leads to an average increase of 1 per cent in the stocks, the study found. However, some companies have seen bigger increases of nearly 15 per cent.

Once the regular fluctuations over the previous 90 days are removed from the stock price, the trend becomes evident enough to suggest the game plays a role in the psychology of investors, said Eric Hughson, a finance professor at the University of Colorado who worked on the study.
"For companies whose advertising announcements are not expected, those firms experience positive stock price reactions on average," Mr. Hughson said. "It's not the most gigantic thing you've ever seen [for some]. But I would say it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick."

The report -- titled Touchdown or Fumble -- is an attempt to determine the value of a Super Bowl ad beyond the direct impact of a commercial on consumer behaviour. More U.S. households tune into the game than any other sporting event and a 30-second spot on CBS this year costs $2.6-million (U.S.).

In the past, several non-regular advertisers have enjoyed increases during the two-day period after their plans for a Super Bowl commercial were announced, Mr. Hughson said. Reebok International Ltd. rose 5.1 per cent in 1992, while E*Trade Group Inc. jumped 14.7 per cent in the dot-com boom of 1999. However, regular advertisers such as PepsiCo Inc. and Anheuser-Busch Cos., don't experience any Super Bowl bump.

Market watchers are skeptical though. One New York analyst who follows Coca-Cola Co. said he doesn't expect to see any meaningful movement in the stock even though the soft-drink giant is returning to the Super Bowl after an eight-year advertising hiatus. "It's not fundamentally driven," said the analyst, who spoke about the report on condition of anonymity. "I certainly wouldn't look at something like that."

The results this year are mixed. Coke's shares were flat in the two days after its announcement. However, Cadbury Schweppes, which bought ads for its Snapple drink brand this year, got a 1.5-per-cent bump during the same period after its campaign was unveiled. The shares have since climbed 6.2 per cent. First-time advertiser King Pharmaceuticals Inc., a manufacturer of blood-pressure drugs, gained 3.1 per cent over the first two days after the news, while Gamin Ltd., a maker of GPS equipment, rose 2.3 per cent.

A costly Super Bowl week fashion faux pas by Urlacher
Associated Press

CHICAGO — Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was fined $100,000 by the NFL for wearing a cap during Super Bowl media day that promoted a sponsor not authorized by the league.
NFL rules prohibit gear that advertises any product but a designated sponsor, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday.
Urlacher was fined for drinking vitaminwater and wearing a vitaminwater hat during the media session in Miami leading to the title game. Gatorade is the NFL's official drink.
McCarthy said this is the first time such a fine has been levied. He added that $100,000 is the standard fine for such a violation at the Super Bowl. A violation during the regular season is $10,000. It is $50,000 at the Pro Bowl.
The fine recalls an episode involving Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon in the playoffs following the 1985 season, the previous time the Bears made the Super Bowl.
McMahon wore a headband that said "adidas" in a playoff game against the New York Giants, and then-commissioner Pete Rozelle fined him $5,000 because the shoe company was not an NFL sponsor. The following week, in the NFC title game against the Los Angeles Rams, McMahon wore a headband that read "rozelle."

"Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction' was so crass and so sleazy that Fox television is launching its own investigation why they didn't do it first."

- Craig Kilborn

Debunking the billion-viewers myth
WILLIAM HOUSTON
Globe and Mail

CBS’s Sunday morning Face the Nation will be based at Dolphin Stadium. CBS will provide six hours of pregame programming, starting at noon on Sunday. Features will include Randy Cross reporting from Baghdad on a flag football game involving U.S. troops.

The Super Bowl audience
The 1967 game (Green Bay Packers-Kansas City Chiefs) drew 51.2 million viewers. However, CBS's 1967 rating (percentage of households tuned in) was 41.1, not far off last year's 41.6 for ABC's telecast.

Cost of Commercials
In 1967, a 30-second spot fetched $40,000 (all figures U.S.) — $245,000 when adjusted for inflation. This year, CBS is charging a record $2.6-million.
Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials will be on tonight at 9pm (CBS)

# of countries
It will be aired in 232 countries and territories by 54 international broadcasters in 33 languages.
# of cameras
Dolphin Stadium will be loaded with HDTV cameras, 47 in total, compared with the 18 to 20 that are used for a National Football League playoff game. Included will be two goal-post cameras, robotic cameras near the coaches, two in the broadcast booth, one on a tower atop a CBS building in Miami and four in the hallways near the locker rooms. A new lighting system will assimilate the existing lights in the stadium to produce a clearer HDTV picture. The CBS broadcast crew will number 500.

# of viewers
The Super Bowl does not draw a worldwide TV audience of one billion.
According to SportsBusiness Daily, last year's game (Pittsburgh Steelers-Seattle Seahawks) was watched by 98 million viewers, 90.7 million of whom were in the United States. (In Canada, Global Television drew 4.28 million.)
The World Cup soccer final (Italy-France) led 2006 sports audiences with 260 million. The Turin Olympics' opening ceremony drew 87 million. Barcelona-Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League final had 86 million.

Hyper-Jocksniffing vs. uber-cynicism?

Teams divulge secrets to broadcasters
WILLIAM HOUSTON
Globe and Mail

Long before the Super Bowl starts, CBS broadcasters Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will know in a good amount of detail each team's game plan.
In fact, it goes further than that. They could very well know what the opening set of plays will be.
This extraordinary access is the domain of the television broadcast rights holders only. While sportswriters and broadcasters assemble for prearranged sessions this week, CBS will get the real story behind closed doors.
Yesterday, Nantz and Simms described just how far inside National Football League rights holders can get.
Today and tomorrow, Nantz and Simms, along with CBS's Super Bowl director and producer will meet in a room with the coaching staff and perhaps also the quarterbacks of the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, respectively.
Nantz described a hypothetical scene in which Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will come in and talk about a special formation he will use for throwing deep touchdown passes.
Nothing is electronically recorded, but notes are taken. And, of course, everything is confidential.
"It's a huge responsibility, because, after you walk out of the second meeting with the second team, you know what the game plan is for each side," Nantz said yesterday. "And you know if someone is prepared to counter what the other has cooked up."
Nantz noted that care has to be taken to not frame a question in a way that tips off one team about the other's strategy. "Obviously, your questioning can't be leading," he said. "You can't steer them in the direction. So, you have to be careful in that respect."
For Simms, the game analyst, the information is invaluable. He gave an example of what the Colts might tell him: "If this week, the Colts say they have a special offence, that they're going to come out with five wide receivers and no huddle and it's going to be really, really, fast — if they tell us that, we'll know why they're doing it and what they're trying to accomplish. So, we'll be ready for it, instead of guessing at what they're doing."
The co-operation of coaching staffs over the course of a season is often measured by the success of the team. But more often than not, they are surprisingly forthcoming.
"We're sometimes amazed by how long they want us to stay in the room and just chat," Nantz said. "Peyton Manning will come in and, after an hour, you want to say, 'Don't you have something else you need to be doing right now?' "
The relationship between the two sides, of course, is based on trust. If the information ever leaked, the network wouldn't get back in the room.
"If you ever go into those meetings and violate anything that's been told to you, you will never have that access again," Nantz said.

NFL won't let church show game
Associated Press

The NFL has nixed a church's plans to use a wall projector to show the Colts-Bears Super Bowl game, saying it would violate copyright laws.
NFL officials spotted a promotion of Fall Creek Baptist Church's "Super Bowl Bash" on the church Web site last week and overnighted a letter to the pastor demanding the party be canceled, the church said.
Initially, the league objected to the church's plan to charge a fee to attend and that the church used the license-protected words "Super Bowl" in its promotions.
Pastor John D. Newland said he told the NFL his church would not charge anyone and that it would drop the use of the forbidden words.
But the NFL objected to the church's plans to use a projector to show the game, saying the law limits it to one TV no bigger than 55 inches.
The church will likely abandon its plans to host a Super Bowl party.
"We want to be supportive of our local team," Newland said. "For us to have all our congregation huddled around a TV that is big enough only for 10 or 12 people to watch just makes little sense."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league's long-standing policy is to ban "mass out-of-home viewing" of the Super Bowl. An exception is made for sports bars and other businesses that show televised sports as a part of their everyday operations.
"We have contracts with our (TV) networks to provide free over-the-air television for people at home," Aiello said. "The network economics are based on television ratings and at-home viewing. Out-of-home viewing is not measured by Nielsen."
It is also the reason no mass viewings are planned in large arenas like the RCA Dome or Conseco Fieldhouse.
Newland said his church won't break the law.
"It just frustrates me that most of the places where crowds are going to gather to watch this game are going to be places that are filled with alcohol and other things that are inappropriate for children," Newland said. "We tried to provide an alternative to that and were shut down."
Other Indiana churches said they are deciding whether they should go through with their Super Bowl party plans, given the NFL's stance.

Follow the Sport sponsorship: Arena Footbal to NASCAR to Poker

Super marketing deals up for grabs
BRIAN MILNER
Globe and Mail

If the favoured Indianapolis Colts prevail in the Super Bowl on Sunday, quarterback Peyton Manning will finally remove the stigma of never being able to win the big game. But regardless of what he accomplishes on the field in Miami, he will not reap the largest rewards off the field. That's because Manning is already a commercial superstar, with a high profile, a bankable image and a slew of impressive sponsorship deals unsurpassed in the National Football League.

Thanks to lucrative contracts with such major consumer marketers as Sony, Reebok, Sprint, DirecTV, MasterCard and PepsiCo's Gatorade brand, Manning raked in close to $12-million (all figures U.S.) last year, putting him first among NFL players and ninth among all athletes. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Manning's leading rival, ranked second among NFL players at $9-million in Sports Illustrated's annual tabulation.

"From a marketing standpoint, his upside is a little bit limited," David Carter, the executive director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute, said of Manning. "He's already pretty much the gold standard for the NFL endorser. He really can't get much higher." But if Manning has little room in his crowded marketing portfolio for more deals, others taking the field on Sunday, or just walking the sidelines, stand to make big scores if their team does well. While everyone else watches the game, the marketing pros will be keeping a close eye on a handful of players from each team, as well as their coaches.

Indeed, Colts head coach Tony Dungy and his Bears counterpart, Lovie Smith, could outdo any of their players in endorsement revenues. Both have what marketers seek: intriguing personal stories that include triumphs over adversity, a renowned work ethic, strong personalities and the respect and admiration of peers, players and fans. The fact that they are the first two black coaches to lead their teams to the Super Bowl may add to their appeal, but probably isn't going to be a big factor for marketers. For the winning coach, "you're looking at seven figures per year, multiple years," said Marc Ganis, the president of SportsCorp., a sports industry consulting firm in Chicago. Dungy's life story, which includes the tragedy of a son's suicide, and his classy demeanour will make him a sought-after pitchman, should he choose to cash in on his marketability. Smith may not turn into a Mike Ditka, Carter said. "But if you can win in Chicago, you can get big recognition," he said.

Among the players, star linebacker Brian Urlacher is the only Bear who stands to reap a windfall from a dominant performance. Urlacher is already well known in the national arena, where he has pitched products for Nike, Under Armor apparel and Sega, among others, and has even appeared in one of Manning's MasterCard advertisements. If the Bears win, he'll be a natural choice for soft-drink, fast-food and other national marketers, Ganis predicts. For the rest of the Colts and Bears, the Super Bowl should be viewed as a platform to help build their images, Carter said. Those who have the one brilliant game will undoubtedly get some short-term endorsements, particularly in their local market, but they will soon be forgotten unless they can parlay the acclaim into a solid career.

NFL: Violence followed by committee meetings

Miami turning up the hoopla: This is no week for a funeral, Fidel
Dave Perkins

Fidel Castro had better not go and die this week. That would just be the height of selfishness because this is Super Bowl Week and there's too much going on without dropping a great big pep rally celebrating the Cuban leader's expiration into the middle of a jammed-full schedule.
Officially, the city of Miami, dominated by the culture and presence of its vast Cuban-American population, has a secret committee to plan an "Event at the Orange Bowl."
The city's website says it will follow "in case expected events occur in Cuba.'' With poor old Fidel trying to die, you know what they're talking about.
The city says it still is deciding on the official wording for the officially licenced T-shirts and which musicians and speakers will take part.
It promises a hip-shaking good time and there you are: Some municipalities use tax dollars to subsidize billion-dollar professional sports organizations and some spend them to encourage dancing for the demise of dictators.
Anyway, Fidel was kind enough to not disrupt yesterday's official activities.
There was, for instance, VISA USA's "Financial Football," in which "NFL players help South Florida high school students take control of their financial futures" by introducing them to a computer game to teach sound money-management skills.
Wait a minute. Pro athletes are going to do this? Without their agents around? These guys know less about money management than a 15-year-old crack dealer.
These kids should run for their lives.
Next came the Host Committee jabbering about the alleged $400 million (U.S.) in economic activity a Super Bowl brings, then the NFL brought in a few Chicago Bears for the usual bumpf and guess what? The Bears don't get any respect.
That was plenty for a Monday, particularly with both Flagler and Hollywood dog tracks open.
Today is the annual "media day" at the stadium. It's ridiculous and it'd be fine to ditch it for a Castro farewell, but timing is everything, right?
Hundreds of reporters of varying degrees of levity descend on the Bears and Colts and ask them questions. Some are serious, but the hour for each team is dominated by clowns wearing costumes who ask things – as a guy did a few years ago to one of the Patriots' lineman – such as, "Did you ever fart and blame the dog?"
It's a waste of time, but it fills the day until the first Media Party and last time we convened in Miami, they had a decent horn band, great food and little old Cuban guys hand-rolling cigars.
Outstanding, but, alas, one to a customer. So your servant drafted TV guys and total strangers to the cause and departed with many Churchills and a couple of robustos.
Those were the days.
Tomorrow, it's more sessions with the players – Prediction: The Colts will pretend they're not favourites and also play the no-respect card – and then it's the NFL Experience Built By Home Depot Kids' Day. We can't miss this, whatever it is. Next up is FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Year introduction, followed by Motorola Coach of the Year unveiling. Then it's the Quarterback Challenge "with representatives from the Cayman Islands" and shouldn't these Cayman Islands people be the ones giving out the financial advice to high schoolers?
The night is capped by a Broward County Media Party at Gulfstream Park and let's hope they fix a race for us to bet on. Yes, Wednesday could be a good one.
Thursday we get more players and then the Diet Pepsi Rookie of The Year announcement. Next is a Cirque du Soleil press conference. Aren't they mimes? And then it's the national anthem press conference with Billy Joel and the halftime palaver with Prince.
At night, we have the NFL Charities Celebrity Bowling Classic at Strike Miami in Dolphin Mall. It costs $750 to bowl with former players.
No, that damn Fidel had better not mess this up.

Face for radio


Sports airwaves getting more crowded:
Hardcore makes its debut Sunday
Chris Zelkovich

Not that anybody was asking for it, but the sports radio talk show scene will get a little more crowded on Sunday.
That's the day Sirius Canada's Hardcore Sports Radio channel launches its day-long NFL show at 1 p.m. Not surprisingly, executive producer Richard Garner promises the show will be ``hard-core."
``It's going to be ESPN Game Day except more fun," says Garner, who will use fans as correspondents and will encourage them to speak like fans.
``If a guy says, `Vince Young just ran in a touchdown and that's f---ing excellent because I covered the spread and won my fantasy game,' that's great," he says. And because satellite isn't subject to federal regulations on language, the guy can indeed say something like that.
``To differentiate ourselves from the rest, we have to talk about sports the way real people talk about real sports," says Garner, adding that quality programming and not the occasional obscenity is what will sell.
Hardcore will launch more talk shows in January, also promising frank discussions, gambling information and stuff Garner says isn't being done on regular radio.
But will satellite radio sell and will sports programming mean dark days ahead for the likes of the FAN 590?
On the first count, satellite is already selling. Sirius has surpassed 200,000 paying Canadian customers and XM Canada has 91,000 with more and more auto manufacturers installing satellite radios on new cars.
``We expected 75,000 in the first year and blew past that," says XM Canada president Stephen Tapp.
``We expect to have 1 million subscribers by 2010."
Tapp believes in the power of sports, though he admits music is satellite's great hope right now.
``Our big opportunity is NHL exclusivity," he says, referring to a 10-year, $100 million (U.S.) deal to carry all NHL games after this season.
``We made a very calculated and smart investment in what we believe is going to be a major driver for subscribers."
That's why XM earlier launched a series of hockey-related talk shows on its Home Ice channel. Phil Esposito, Jim Tatti, Gary Green and Todd Lewis are among its hosts.
FAN 590 host Bob McCown bucks the trend in his business by saying satellite is more than a flash in the sky.
``I don't see it going away," he says. But McCown also doesn't see it as a serious threat to his livelihood. (He also doesn't see it as a potential employer because he's under contract into 2008 and will soon begin talks on extending that deal through the 2010 Olympics.)
``The way it's formatted right now, I don't see how you could deem it competition at all," he says. ``Most of sports radio is local and that's the challenge."
The satellite folks disagree.
``There are plenty of people who want to hear about the entire NHL," says XM sports and talk program director Joe Thistel. ``I don't think a hockey fan wants to listen to a hockey channel that's all about the Leafs."
I tend to agree with Tapp, who sees the two loving in different worlds.
``I think we're complementary," he says.
``Terrestrial radio does its thing and we do ours.
``There's a place for all of us."

Monday Night Football: Now in Double Head(ach)er.
NFL Football also available on Sunday nights and new and improved Thursday nights.
[Note: Canadian Football and high school is also available on Friday nights, Saturdays are for the NCChurchA].





The blackout bowl: NFL Network's Texas Bowl may shut out Rutgers fans
Associated Press

Rutgers football fans hoping to watch their team in the Texas Bowl later this month may be better off going to Manhattan -- the one in Kansas, that is.
The hometown of bowl opponent Kansas State is likely to have better coverage since the NFL Network, which has exclusive rights to televise the game, is not carried on two cable companies that serve more than 1 million of New Jersey's 2.5 million cable subscribers, not to mention most of New York City.
With No. 16-ranked Rutgers suddenly at the flashpoint of the dispute between the NFL Network and cable operators Time Warner and Cablevision, New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg sent a letter to the NFL on Wednesday urging the league to allow the Dec. 28 game to be telecast on local television.
"Rutgers fans and the people of New Jersey do not deserve to be punished or used as a bargaining chip in that dispute," Lautenberg wrote.
Through spokesman Seth Palansky, the NFL Network said a solution will depend on an agreement between the network and the cable providers.
"As the senator recognizes, we have repeatedly offered to make not only this Rutgers game, but all NFL Network programming available broadly throughout New Jersey," Palansky said. "We regret that Time Warner and Cablevision have not yet agreed to carry NFL Network, but we will continue to work as hard as we can to resolve this commercial dispute as soon as possible."
That isn't likely to happen in the next three weeks. According to Time Warner cable spokesman Mark Harrad, the NFL Network wants cable providers to offer it as part of a basic cable package rather than as a premium service, an idea he said would force Time Warner to raise rates for all subscribers to cover the network's $140 million price tag.
"The NFL Network is asking for a price that would make it one of the top five networks in terms of audience," Harrad said, comparing it to networks such as Disney, ESPN and TNT. "But they're not a network that has shown broad ratings or broad appeal. That doesn't mean we don't want to offer it, because there are definitely customers who will want to pay more to get the NFL Network."
In his letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Network President Steve Bornstein, Lautenberg asked the league to apply the same policy for the Texas Bowl that it uses for its eight NFL telecasts this season. Those games are also broadcast locally by network affiliates.
Officials from Rutgers and the Big East are searching for a way that a local broadcaster such as MSG Network or Secaucus-based WOR Channel 9 could show the game.
That would require changing the NFL's broadcast agreement with the Texas Bowl, and Palansky said the league has no plans to alter that agreement.
Barring that, Rutgers fans could be forced to find bars or restaurants that have satellite feeds, since the NFL Network is carried on DirecTV and the Dish Network.
Comcast, the largest cable company in the country, carries the NFL Network on its digital service that is used by about 7 million of its 24 million subscribers. Comcast is the largest cable provider in New Jersey with about 1.3 million subscribers.

Today's multiple choice exam

Q: Which of the following generated the most media coverage? Outrage?

a) NFL will not suspend Ravens linebacker

Associated Press

NFL star Ray Lewis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Monday under an agreement that drops murder charges in the stabbing deaths of two men outside a Super Bowl party.
Lewis entered the plea before Judge Alice Bonner, who sentenced him to a year's probation under Georgia's first offender act.
"It's a good day for Ray," defense attorney Don Samuel said as he entered the courthouse.
The Baltimore Ravens linebacker walked in a few minutes later, tossing the yellow tennis ball he has clutched throughout the first two weeks of testimony in his murder trial.
Defense attorney Ed Garland said he and Lewis discussed the plea agreement and went over his testimony before going to court.
"He said a prayer with me about his duties and his responsibilities and what he was doing and he was happy to go forward and let the truth -- all of it -- come out," he said.
Garland said Lewis' only crime was to tell his companions after the brawl that led to the deaths, "Keep your mouth shut," and giving an incomplete statement to police.
"He fully acknowledges his responsibility for those acts," Garland told Bonner after the plea was entered. Lewis is a former player at the University of Miami.

OR

b) Terrell Owens' insult reveals how far star has fallen

Kevin Sherrington The Dallas Morning News

IRVING, Texas — Of all the low points since the Super Bowl days — handing Arizona its first playoff victory in 50 years, players quitting on Barry Switzer, Dave Campo's debut against Philadelphia — this was the lowest:Terrell Owens standing on the star, arms raised, staring up through the hole in the roof. Said Owens: “It was just a spur of the moment thing.” Twice?No one could remember anything quite as insulting. Not in Texas Stadium, not even in the Cotton Bowl.Nothing in the long proud history of the Dallas Cowboys could match it for sheer embarrassment.

OR

c) Lawyer: Brutal violence beyond football

Associated Press

Former Raiders linebacker Bill Romanowski ended Marcus Williams' NFL career two years ago when he ripped off his teammate's helmet and punched the second-year tight end in the face during a practice drill, Williams' attorney told a jury Tuesday.
During opening statements in the trial of Williams' multimillion dollar lawsuit against Romanowski, lawyer James Brosnahan said the linebacker struck Williams with such force that it broke the tight end's left eye socket with a "sickening sound" that could be heard 15 yards away.
"This case is about brutal violence beyond the rules of football," Brosnahan said.
Williams, who earned $300,000 a season with the Raiders, is seeking damages of $3.8 million for alleged battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The blow he took Aug. 24, 2003, also injured his brain. His football career ended at age 27.

OR

d) Vick makes obscene gesture to home crowd

Associated Press

Michael Vick apologized for making an obscene gesture toward Atlanta fans as he walked off the field after the Falcons' fourth straight loss Sunday.
Vick used both hands to deliver the gesture and flashed an angry look toward the handful of fans remaining in the Georgia Dome. Those who hung around booed the home team loudly after its dismal 31-13 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
''First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my inappropriate actions with fans today,'' the quarterback said in a statement released by the Falcons. ''I was frustrated and upset at how the game was going for my team, and that frustration came out the wrong way.''

A: ?

Michael Irvin's comments don't figure into Romo's success
David Whitley
The Orlando Sentinel

Don't tell Bill Parcells, but Tony Romo is currently the NFL's best quarterback.
Don't tell Michael Irvin, but it's not because Romo has black ancestors.
And whatever you do, don't tell ESPN that Irvin has no business pretending to be Charles Darwin.
If you're a little confused, bear with me. We came to Dallas to cover a Tampa Bay game. We got one of the biggest stories of the NFL season, along with one of the most under-reported.
The biggest continues to be Romo. The Bucs made him look like Roger Staubach. Or he made the Bucs look like Chernobyl High. Either way, five touchdown passes added up to a Thanksgiving Day Massacre.
"He made us look really bad," Ronde Barber said.
Four games ago, Romo was a nondescript backup who'd never started a game. Now fans are hanging his name in the Cowboys Ring of Honor next to deities such as Dorsett, Hayes and the aforementioned Dr. Irvin.
How did a fourth-year nobody from Eastern Illinois become a pro sensation?
"I just try to execute," he said.
That's the kind of nice, modest explanation you've heard countless times. Then there is Irvin's explanation, which you probably haven't heard once.
"Somewhere there are some brothers. . . . (Maybe) his great, great, great, great Grandma ran over in the hood or something went down."
That's what Irvin said Monday on the Dan Patrick radio show. The host then asked Irvin if having black ancestry was the only way to be a great athlete.
"No, that's not the only way, but it's certainly one way. Great, great, great, great Grandma pulled one of them studs up outta the barn."
It should be noted that Irvin was cackling throughout. It should also be noted that doesn't matter.
Some things you just can't joke about in this day and age. At least you can't if you're, let's be honest here, the color of Romo's great, great, great, great Grandma.
Jimmy the Greek, Al Campanis, you know what happened to them when they offered their views on genealogy. Michael Richards went Klansman at a comedy club last week and his diatribe was a YouTube sensation almost before he got offstage.
Irvin's comedy routine wasn't nearly as incendiary, but didn't it warrant some attention? Other than minor Internet mention, it's gotten almost zero run, even though he did it on a national radio show.
Maybe it's just coincidence that show is part of the ESPN Empire, and that Irvin is one of the networks more recognizable characters. That's not necessarily a good thing, since a lot of viewers would rather watch a Bucs scrimmage than endure one of Irvin's 120-decibel commentaries.
Whatever the reason, there's been no comment from ESPN, much less an apology/explanation from Michael the Greek. There's no need to comment, of course, since the incident hasn't made ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN.com, ESPN Texas Hold `Em or any of the other tentacles.
It shows you the danger of media conglomeration. These days if it's not on the Worldwide Leader, it never happened.