Sports and ice cream are among my favorite things.  (And NOT Dippin’ Dots… clearly NOT the “ice cream of the future.”)  They didn’t have “Last Licks” ice cream shops when I was growing up, but I suspect that if they did, I might have frequented them.

“Last Licks,” termed the “Sports Bar for Kids,” has four locations, including one in New York City and three in Westchester, N.Y., and even has clever sports star-inspired names for some of their flavors, including Brandon Jacobs’ “Louisiana Pecan Crunch,” Tiki Barber’s “Tiki-Tacchio,” and Mike Richter’s “Ricky Road.”  Among the fun sundaes available at Last Licks include the Mint Messier, the Lickey Mantle, and Ali’s Knockout Sundae.

Fun, indeed, which made me think of some other historical sports figures whose names might make appropriate flavors.  Sure, there’s the obvious ones like Darryl’s Strawberry and anything involving David Cone, but I want to go a little more obscure.

• Frenchy Bordargaray Vanilla
• Darryl Dawkins’ Chocolate Thunder
• Dennis Rasmussen Raspberry
• Napoleon Lajoie Neopolitan
• Van Lingle Mango
• Cookie Rojas and Cream
• Elvis Patterson’s Toasted Almond

It’s not often that the tickets to a playoff matchup cost less than those of the regular season — especially for a first-place team coming off a near-sellout in its final match.  But World TeamTennis has been breaking convention and providing family-friendly entertainment for 35 years, the brainchild of none other than Billie Jean King.

So maybe it’s not such a surprise that the New York Sportimes, batting down to the wire for first place in the WTT Eastern Division and the accompanying home match on Friday at 7 p.m. in the playoff semifinals, is offering fans $10 general admission tickets (and kids 12 and under free) as a “thank you” for a month that has included great crowds and exciting tennis.

Should the Sportimes win their match at Newport Beach (yes, that Newport Beach, in California), they’ll make the quickie return to Randall’s Island in Manhattan, to their home courts at Sportime, the home of the new John McEnroe Tennis Academy, for the semifinal.

The All-American team of Abigail Spears (pictured), Ashley Harkleroad, Jesse Witten and Robert Kendrick, coached by Chuck Adams with the occasional playing appearance of McEnroe (four matches) and Kim Clijsters (one) has compiled an 8-5 mark to date, a slim slim 1/2 games ahead of second place Washington and a game ahead of Boston.  The top two teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, Sunday in Kansas City.

Fans can click here for details on how to take advantage of the $10 offer.

For more than a decade, the Fordham University Sports Communication Institute has helped prep students looking for careers in the sports media industry.  The two-week, two-session-a-day course, which includes guest lectures by such luminaries as the TV voice of the N.Y. Knicks and NBA ESPN play-by-play man Mike Breen (pictured); Clifton Brown of The Sporting News, Brandon Steiner, founder of Steiner Sports and David Newman, Senior VP of the N.Y. Mets, concludes Thursday.

The Institute, developed and co-instructed by John Cirillo, President of Cirillo World, and Dr. Ron Jacobson, associate VP of Academic Affairs at Fordham, also includes field trips to sports organizations like the Mets and NFL and specialty events like Thursday’s Women in Sports Media panel with Barbara Barker of Newsday, Lolita Lopez of WPIX-TV and Lauren Spencer, formerly of WNBC-TV Sports.

Fordham, located in the Bronx, N.Y., is the alma mater of dozens of highly-respected sports media professionals, including Breen, Vin Scully, Michael Kay and Jack Curry, as well as two of its most famous sporting alums, Vince Lombardi and “The Fordham Flash,” Frankie Frisch.

by Alexia Krause

With the New York state deficit hitting $8 billion, steps need to be taken in order to right the ship that is the state’s budget. Recently New York Gov. David Paterson stated that the projected deficit for the upcoming fiscal year has grown by an additional $750 million. There’s no doubting that the Empire State is in dire straits trying to fix their deficit. It is extremely difficult trying to balance a state budget at a time when the country as a whole is going through some of its most difficult economic hurdles in recent history. This forces us to take a fresh look at which programs will continue to receive funding. As a result, the state has been forced to cut, reject, and outright shut down many state programs and projects in order to make some type of movement out of the red and back into the black. Many of these budget cuts (like closing down state parks and cutting funding to public schools) were rampant and have cast an unfavorable light on politicians in Albany in the eyes of many New Yorkers. However, something must be done in order to fight the ailing state economy. As coincidence has it, a good fight might just be the answer to the budget problems.

On June 16^th, the New York State Senate passed a bill to legalize MMA in the state in an effort to help amend the state’s financial problems. Opening the floodgates for MMA in New York would be more of a benefit to the state than it would to the MMA Industry. For years, promoters have happily held venues in nearby New Jersey. Mixed martial arts competitions like UFC, among others, have been banned in the state because many lawmakers felt it was too brutal of a sport (even though other legal sports like football and hockey can be just as- if not more- brutal). With the passing of this new bill, fans will finally be able to support their home state and local venues. MMA events would potentially have access to one of the most active metropolises in the world- New York City. There are dozens of great venues surrounding the state who have been capitalizing on this opportunity for years. At the UFC’s most recent event held in New Jersey, there were more New York residents in attendance than NJ natives. Fortunately state legislators have finally come to the realization that legalizing MMA will open access to a new revenue stream that it gravely needs.

By welcoming MMA in the state, as much as $11 million in economic activity could be generated for each event held. This activity ranges from salaries paid to venue workers, to an increased interest in martial arts training academies and dojos, and to tourism dollars spent in the surrounding area. At every step of the way, tax revenue is generated. Governor Paterson expects over $2 million generated annually if the bill is passed. The MMA organization UFC (who would play a large role in scheduling events in the state) is broadcasted in over 170 countries, made $5.1 million in Pay-Per-View sales in 2007 alone, and averaged 30.6 million viewers in that same year. This is 3 years ago mind you; the figures projected for the next fiscal year are much higher. This type of outreach is bound to benefit the state and bring thousands to events, thus helping the economies of struggling New York state cities.

Holding events isn’t the only way that this bill will help bring money to the state of New York. In fact, the broad reach of allowing MMA to be legalized is something that will affect participants in the sport from top to bottom. For example, people who run mixed martial training gyms and programs will see a huge revenue generating boost in enrollment that will give many the chance to train and compete in their home state. This bill may even have the effect of preventing violence instead of causing it (which opponents of the bill argue) because it will allow many kids to go someplace safe after school. Studies have shown that when at-risk children are trained by mentors in a disciplined sport such as MMA, they are less likely to become involved in criminal or violent activities. This is one of the most important aspects of the bill from a human perspective, and one of the greatest reasons why this bill needs to be passed.

Every once in a while, a sport can transcend its origins and become a true cultural phenomenon. This is what MMA could be for the state of New York and that is precisely why this bill needs to be passed. The New York budget is going through one of its worst economic times ever, but by legalizing MMA, it can help to fight back against the deficit and make a difference in the lives of millions of New Yorkers.

Update:

As of the morning of June 29^th, 2010, the state assembly quashed the proposed bill which would legalize the sport. The efforts to block MMA in the state are led by a Mr. Bob Reilly, Assemblyman of the 109^th district. You can read some of his stances in an interview conducted by Ben Fowlkes of cagepotato.com last year. If you visit that link, pay careful attention to his inconsistencies and question-dodging. This man claims to be a lifelong fan of boxing, but some of his comments in that interview are quite surprising.

Although this decision is a big setback for the industry, this is not the final word for the measure. New York is one of only 6 states which blindly ignore this sport. With your support, new revenue and jobs can be still be created.

Alexia is a lifelong fan of sports and fitness. Recently, she’s been smitten by Mixed Martial Arts. She is happy to be representing MMA Industries, proud suppliers of MMA training gloves to athletes around the world. Alexia continues to bring you the latest news in the mixed martial arts world on everything from the most advanced MMA equipment to the newest MMA shirts.

The popular Round 5 UFC collectibles took another step forward with today’s release of images of the new “Versus” line, described as “pairs of distinctly new figures highlighting battle scenes from great UFC matchups.”

The first set is from historic UFC bouts between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92), 2008; Forrest Griffin and Jackson (“The Ultimate Fighter 7”), 2008; Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar (UFC 100), 2008; and Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell (UFC 66), 2006.

As seen in the images, the Versus figurines come with an Octagon section display.  They are expected to be available at Toys”R”Us across North America this fall, and at other retailers later in the year.

Many of these fighters have been given the Round 5 treatment before in earlier series.  But, like new baseball cards or other representative collectibles, fans like to have the most up-to-date versions, and this new series adds the twist of commemorating classic matches.

I’d like to see MacFarlane or one of the others with the MLB license create pairs like this for Bobby Thomson-Ralph Branca, Mookie Wilson-Bill Buckner, Bucky Dent-Mike Torres and the many other “two-packs” that could be done.

The sport of tennis is known more for its unique characters on the court than ones roaming the seating areas. But World TeamTennis is a different animal, so to speak. That’s where “Tennis the Menace” comes in. And for college senior and aspiring astronomer Joel Peralta of New York, climbing into the furry green bear-like mascot of the New York Sportimes has been a new experience.

“I’ve never been a mascot before, but I saw an ad on Craig’s List and thought, ‘Hey, I can do that,’” said the 20-year-old senior at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University, whose sports teams are nicknamed the Seawolves. “I’ve seen the wolf mascot at our college games a lot, and of course others, so it looked like a lot of fun.”

Peralta was born and raised in Washington Heights in Manhattan, just a few miles from the Randall’s Island home of the Sportimes, whose captain, John McEnroe, knows a thing or two about being a ‘character’ on the court. Unlike the Seawolf or some other animal, there is no pre-determined mannerism for a “Menace” – or, for that matter, a “Sportime” – so Peralta has been able to use his outgoing personality to bring life to “Tennis the Menace” in his own style.

“I just like to go out there and be really silly,” said Peralta, who has been a bit hit with fans and players at the team’s first two matches, even enduring a playful shove by one of the team’s stars, Robert Kendrick, in the pre-game introductions in Monday’s opener. “The kids like to stop me to take pictures, and I try to pump up the crowd, dance a little to the music. I basically want to make the experience a little more fun for everyone.”

World TeamTennis, which is celebrating its 35^th anniversary in 2010, is the brainchild of tennis legend Billie Jean King, who developed the format and rules to encourage fan participation and a more raucous atmosphere than the pro tour, which adheres to century-old procedures and often staid conduct. The Sportimes, in their second year in the new Sportime complex on Randall’s Island, have five home matches remaining in July, with names like McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis among those competing.

As for Peralta, the astronomy major has his sights set high, to one day work for NASA. But for now, while he takes a break from his rigorous studies, he’s taking some time to spread some fun around the tennis universe.

“If kids and other fans remember ‘Tennis the Menace’ as part of a great time they had while watching tennis,” added Peralta, “I consider that a pretty good night.”

The Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame has announced its inductees for 2010: New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman, veteran TV analyst and former player Tim McCarver, longtime New York Mets announcer Bob Murphy, famed statistician and Boston Red Sox executive Bill James, and Mike “King” Kelly, baseball’s first superstar.

The honorees will be inducted on Friday, August 6 at Noon, when their plaques will be unveiled at a ceremony held at Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant (18 W. 33rd St.), which houses the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.  Voters include past inductees and a panel of baseball historians.

“This deserving group includes successful executives, a beloved voice of the New York Mets, a four-decade player and Emmy-winning broadcaster, and an early legend that time has nearly forgotten,” said Shaun Clancy, president of Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame and owner of Foley’s, which features one of the country’s most extensive public displays of baseball memorabilia.

With a blessing from Cooperstown, Foley’s, a popular destination among baseball players, executives, umpires, media and fans, created the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame to recognize players, managers, executives, journalists, and entertainers.  Inductees are chosen based on a combination of four factors: impact on the game, popularity on and off the field, contributions to society, and ancestry/connections to the Irish community.

McCarver was a two-time All-Star selection (1966, 1967) and World Series champion (1964, 1967).  During a career that spanned from 1959 until 1980, McCarver also played for the Phillies, Expos and Red Sox.

During Cashman’s tenure as GM, the Yankees have won six AL pennants and four World Series championships (1998-2000 and 2009).  began his career with the New York Yankees as an intern in 1986.  He moved up the ranks and eventually succeeded Bob Watson as General Manager in 1998.

Bill James has authored more than two dozen books on baseball history and statistics.  He coined the term “sabermetrics” for his innovative statistical analysis of player performances.  In 2003, James became a senior advisor for the Boston Red Sox and is credited with advocating moves such as the team’s emphasis on on-base percentage.

Murphy was a TV and radio announcer for the New York Mets from their inception until his retirement in 2003.  Beloved for his sunny disposition and “happy recaps” of Mets’ victories, he and colleagues Lindsey Nelson and Ralph Kiner described both the ineptitude of the 1962 Amazin’s and the ecstasy of the 1969 World Series. He died of lung cancer in 2004.

Widely regarded as the game’s first superstar, Kelly was a colorful catcher, outfielder and manager and one of America’s first sports celebrities.  He was the subject of a hit song, Slide Kelly, Slide, and a Vaudeville star.  A two-time batting champion and daring base runner, historians credit Kelly with developing the hit-and-run, the hook slide, and the catcher’s practice of backing up first base.

The game of baseball has long welcomed immigrants from its earliest days, when an estimated 30 percent of players claimed Irish heritage.  Many of the game’s biggest stars at the turn of the 20th century were Irish immigrants or their descendants, including Kelly, Roger Connor (the home run king before Babe Ruth), Eddie Collins, Big Ed Walsh and NY Giants manager John McGraw.  Today, major league teams regularly sign players born in Latin America, Japan, Canada, and elsewhere.

Clancy, an amateur baseball historian, created the Hall after learning about the rich heritage of Irish Americans in the sport dating from its infancy – a legacy that has been overshadowed in recent years by other ethnicities.  He decided to celebrate his roots and those who helped make the game great by creating a shrine to Irish Americans in baseball in 2008.

Talking animals like Mister Ed, the Geico Gecko and the Taco Bell Chihuahua have been a part of television for years.  New Yorkers will have the chance to meet one of the newest talking mammals — and even help name him — as Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway launches its “Who’s that Horse Name Him and Win” contest with a live appearance by the equine on Wednesday at the News Corp building (1211 Ave. of the Americas).

The harness racing horse appears in Empire City’s television commercials, which have had extensive runs in the New York metropolitan area since 2009, often wisecracking or flirting in the fun spots which highlight various aspects of the casino and raceway.

Fans can help pick the name and win $1,500 if their entry is selected.  Submissions will be accepted at the live event on Wednesday, at the promotions booth at Empire City Casino or online at www.EmpireCityGaming.com.

The Empire City horse has already met thousands of fans who visited him during the recent “Summer Festival” at Yonkers Raceway on June 19. 

Empire City’s horse follows in the hoofprints of television’s most famous talking horse, Mister Ed, who appeared in the 1960’s show featuring the horse Bamboo Harvester (voice by Allan Lane) and starring Alan Young, who portrayed the character Wilbur Post, the only one to whom Mister Ed would speak.

The New York Sportimes today announced that they have created and are accepting applications for the first-ever “Ball Senior” position for their select July home matches at the new Sportime at Randall’s Island facility.  The “Ball Seniors” program will be sponsored by investment and estate planning company Snearson-Houmis of New Jersey.

“Tennis is a game that can be enjoyed at any age, and there are thousands of people in the area above the age of sixty who have played and kept in shape with this great life sport,” said Sportimes General Manager John Dato. “This promotion will give us an opportunity to have that demo show everyone that they are active and can have some fun with us for some of our matches this July.”

Interested parties can send an email explaining their interest on being a “Ball Senior” to ballseniors@gmail.com. They should include tennis experience and knowledge and whether they have any experience in being involved as a ball person previously. The Sportimes will then select one or two candidates to participate as “Ball Seniors” at  five home Sportimes home matches from July 11-19. Winners will be given a uniform, season tickets to the Sportimes, and a small stipend. The deadline for entry is Monday July 5, the same night the Sportimes begin play with a home match against the Washington Kastles. 

Circle Me, Bert! Minnesota Twins standout pitcher Bert Blyleven has been voted the “Greatest Dutch Sportsman” in a media ballot conducted by New York City’s historic Grand Central Oyster Bar. The favorite son of the Netherlands outpolled his two nearest competitors by a 2-1 margin in a survey of national sports media.

The promotion was in conjunction with the annual Holland Herring Festival at the iconic Manhattan seafood eatery and a Heineken Salute to Dutch Sportsmen, which was launched last week. Dutch herring from the Netherlands is air-expressed to New York for a two week period at the Oyster Bar.  You could say that Blyleven caught the big fish.

Jim Kaat, another outstanding hurler for the Twins, and the Mixed Martial Arts legend Bas Rutten finished in a deadlock for second place, but accumulated just half the number of votes of the leader. During a major league career that spanned three decades, the right-handed Blyleven amassed 287 victories and 3,701 strikeouts during a 23-year major league career that included two stints in Minnesota, and stops in Texas, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Anaheim.  Known for his outstanding curveball, Blyleven was American League Rookie of the Year in 1970, and hurled a no-hitter for the Angels in 1977. Blyleven is now the color analyst on Twins television broadcasts.

Johnny “Double No-Hit” Vander Meer, track and field greats Fanny Blankers-Koen and Cornelius Warmerdam, soccer legend Johan Cruyff and basketball sharpshooter Kiki Vandeweghe finished in a five-way tie for fourth.

Pitcher Curt Schilling, former Indiana Pacer center Rik Smits, U.S. Open tennis champion Tom Okker, the Dutch kickboxer Semmy Schilt, Olympic gold medalist Anton Geesink, and three time Stanley Cup champion Joe Nieuwendyk also received votes. In two somewhat odd ballots, former Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet, because he was a “Flying Dutchman” as a collegiate player at Hofstra University, and the Yonkers Raceway harness driver Brett Holland, because of his last name, both received single votes.