July 2010
7 posts
8 tags
Fun With Flavors
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...
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Quarter-Price Tickets in New York Boost World...
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...
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Two-A-Days Put Undergrads Through Sports Media...
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...
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Guest Column: Mixed Martial Arts Legislation in NY...
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...
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Figurine 'Versus' Figurine
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...
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New Tennis Mascot Stirs Up The Fans While Reaching...
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.
...
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Five New Inductees to Irish Baseball Hall of Fame
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...
June 2010
5 posts
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...On A Horse With No Name
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...
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N.Y. Pro Tennis Team Searching for "Ball Seniors"
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...
Blyleven Voted “Greatest Dutch Sportsman” By Grand...
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...
Cervelli Talks About Humble Childhood
Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli opened up about his childhood yesterday in a Q&A session with fans as part of an “open house” at Steiner Sports in New Rochelle, N.Y. on Monday night. When asked why he didn’t wear batting gloves that when Cervelli was growing up in Venezuela, he simply couldn’t afford them. He noted that Jorge Posada didn’t wear them either,...
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Fantasy Sports Guru Perdew Talks Business
The fantasy sports business has grown into a multinational, multibillion dollar industry with thousands of sites, from small information gathering blogs to huge endeavors by media giants like ESPN and Yahoo, all looking to satisfy the jones of any sports fan who wants to out-do his friends, family or favorite (or hated) general manager. What started as a baseball ploy just over 30 years ago is...
May 2010
2 posts
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Johnny Mac CAN Be Serious... About Tennis In New...
The phrase “tennis academy” brings to mind settings like Florida and California, with aspiring young stars practicing serves and groundstrokes and doing tennis drills from dawn to dusk. It’s a formula that parents see as the best way to give their kids the best chance — realistic or not — at a scholarship or the pros. John McEnroe has another idea in mind. Drawing...
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Home Runs Add Up To Free Yankees, Sox Memorabilia
For fans of the Yankees and Red Sox, a well-timed home run during Saturday’s game at Fenway Park won’t just bring in some runs for their favorite team. It can also bring them some free Steiner Sports memorabilia. From now (Thursday, May 6), all day Friday, May 7, through Saturday at 3:05 p.m. ET, (just before the 3:10 p.m. first pitch), fans who purchase select Steiner Sports Yankees...
April 2010
5 posts
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Last Look at Giants Stadium, Seats Still Available
I haven’t been able to bear stopping by Yankee Stadium in its final days. I know that it’s just a building, but last year’s send-offs gave me proper closure.
I only saw a dozen or so games at Giants Stadium, and because there were fewer games played there and over a shorter period of time, the good-byes have been less celebrated. But I think they are just as keenly felt by...
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Emotional Highs
The Center for Media Research deposits an email in my box via the very useful MediaPost a few times a week with research briefs from different sources that I occasionally find interesting. One caught my eye today, from the Cinema Advertsing Council (CAC), involving emotional attachment people have to movies. Now, the “NewMediaMetrics 360 Cross Platform Study” is a product of the CAC,...
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World Series Victory Art
Yankees Manager Joe Girardi has been stressing that today’s World Series Ring ceremony at Yankee Stadium is an opportunity for the team to gain “closure” on the 2009 championship and become fully invested in 2010. I think it’s a good, if symbolic, marker, and a day to celebrate the title for the last time.
In that spirit, I thought it was interesting that artist Opie...
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The Mad Dominican
In the 70s, there was The Mad Hungarian. Today, there’s The Mad Dominican.
A generation ago, Al Hrabosky was a mustachio’d, excitable-type left-handed reliever for the Cardinals, Royals and Braves. Those of us old enough to have seen Hrabosky pitch will principally remember his histrionics prior to facing a new batter. He would take the ball behind the mound, rub it up roughly,...
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Hot Dogs still rule baseball concessions
Opening Day — or in the Yankees’ and Red Sox’s case, opening night — is just two days away, so the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council has picked an appropriate time to tout the hot dog as the undisputed king of ballpark concessions.
From its release today:
The NHDSC predicts that ballparks around the country will serve 21,378,064 hot dogs this season, enough to round...
March 2010
4 posts
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Mauer Extension News Best For Baseball
I’ve been a Yankees fan for more than 30 years. In a way, it’s kind of strange, because in just about everything else, I root for a collection of perennial underdogs, small-market teams, mid-majors and general underachievers. In that time, you can count on one hand (well, maybe two) the number of players that were available that the Yankees really wanted — that is, REALLY...
'Five-0' Revival Begins Filming - For Better or...
Although I don’t remember seeing it during its original (1968-1980) run, my favorite show growing up, starting in my early teen years, was “Hawaii Five-0.” The action, the locales, the consistency of the characters and the storylines — mostly straight-on crime dramas — were appealing. In N.Y., WOR-TV (which later became WWOR, I guess when it moved to New Jersey)...
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Marilyn "Some Like it Hot" On-Set video gem of new...
I’m not sure what to make of Bideo, a new site that purports to be an “auction house for newsworthy user generated photos and video.” The site “was created for ‘right‐place‐right‐time’ citizen journalists as a profitable alternative to giving away their exclusive and often amazing images to publications for free.”
Most of the...
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Stylin' in New Tommy Bahama MLB Team Shirts
It might be time for me to update my Yankees wardrobe — for games I usually go with the old-time 1903-era New York Highlanders cap and a home or away jersey over a Yanks or plain tee, at least during the warmer months. While I don’t usually stray from the traditional (no multi-colored caps or inane “Got Rings?” t-shirts), these new offerings from Tommy Bahama combine the...
February 2010
9 posts
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Bloomberg has New Tool for Fantasy Baseball Fans
Last month I attended a demonstration session for a new baseball analytics tool from Bloomberg which is based on the company’s analysis and projection models for stocks, bonds and all things financial. Now available to all fans, the Bloomberg folks opened the site to media and bloggers to kind of kick the tires, and there’s a lot to go through, but my first impressions are quite good....
Dodge Ramming Fla. High School
Like the rest of the auto industry, Chrysler has plenty of woes. Apparently one of them is copyright infringement by a high school nicknamed the “Rams.”
Lake Mary (Fla.) High may bill itself as “Where bright futures are ignited,” but the school’s use of a ram logo that is a cut-and-paste of the Dodge logo instead ignited a phone call from Chrysler’s corporate...
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Olympic Photomosaics Brighten Olympics Site
The Internet and the Olympics are a perfect match. Real-time coverage, particularly when the Games took place in such far-away time zones as Sydney, Beijing and Nagano, was a huge boon to sports sites like ESPN.com and CBS SportsLine, and “official” sites quickly improved in quality and depth of features.
Though on a smaller scale than in 2008, NBCOlympics.com has plenty of info,...
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US Speedskating Going Social
Speedskating has traditionally provided many of the most exciting competition and interesting storylines of the Winter Olympics. This year, Apolo Anton Ohno, J.R. Celski and Shani Davis have been among the most discussed athletes at the Games so far.
Looking to capitalize on that, U.S. Speedskating has launched a social media campaign, “to connect with fans, capitalize on global excitement...
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A 13-Million Cranberry Salute
If you like cranberries and the delicious juices and sauces they make (like I do) and you like the Winter Olympics (me, too!), you will enjoy this fun tribute in Richmond, British Columbia, one of the host cities for the 2010 Games.
If you want to get bogged down with details, you will note that thirteen million floating cranberries, weighing about 13,600 kilograms (30,000 pounds), have been...
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WFAN's Francesa Knows where his Bread is Buttered
Sometimes when I’m away from my Sirius XM radio and can’t listen to XM Home Plate, I’ll listen in to WFAN’s Mike Francesa to get his take on some of the day’s sports news. As the standard-bearer for sports talk show hosts — and quite self-aware of that position — Francesa has a loyal following, and his strong position comes from having strong opinions.
...
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Some Super Bowl Fun Facts from the Census Bureau
Our friends at the Census Bureau have compiled a collection of facts examining the demographics of Super Bowl host city Miami, as well as the cities represented by the contenders, in this year’s edition of our nation’s most celebrated sporting event.
With the mail-out of 2010 Census questionnaires slightly more than a month away, the Census Bureau will run three ads promoting census...
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Three words: Sports. Film. Festival.
I heard they’re playing a football game this weekend in Miami.
But here’s another treat for fans who are in South Florida, tomorrow through Saturday… a mini-film festival at South Beach featuring three films - The U, ESPN’s all-time highest rated documentary; Invincible, the Vince Papale story starring Mark Wahlberg; and Faded Glory, a documentary of long-time friends who...
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USC-ya later
I love this story about USC basketball student manager Stan Holt, who got a technical foul in a game at Oregon on Saturday and was subsequently fired.
Actually, love is the wrong word. More like ‘“feel like bad memories have been dredged from a quarter century ago.” But, for these purposes, love will do.
Well, I don’t love that the kid lost his job, but I can empathize...
January 2010
7 posts
Tiger Woods Atop Sports Biz Power List
Bloomberg BusinessWeek today released its ranking of the top 100 most powerful athletes in American sports — and despite all his outside troubles, Tiger Woods ranks at the top. Another golfer, Phil Mickelson, ranked third, showing the strength of the sport in terms of marketing.
The top 20 also includes five basketball players, five football players and three each from baseball and...
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See, Players Unions Have a Heart...
Let’s face it, professional athlete players associations are a breed apart from the unions to which average Americans belong. Their core functions are the same, advocating and negotiating on behalf of their respective constituencies. But millionaire players have a set of needs that is quite different than, say, the Local Union No. 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
It is...
Jets Dishes Inspire Cuisine War
New Yorkers, it seems, can’t get enough of their Jets these days. Even in restaurants. WCBS-TV reports that the venerable Gallagher’s Steak House in midtown is serving up a variety of lunch specials named in honor of their favorite Jets players. Included are such delights as:
“Shonn Greene Spinach Salad”
“Darrelle Revis Endive and Beet-up the Offense” Salad
“Rex Ryan Classic...
On sewage treatment, and moving on
Funny little “Weird News” story making the rounds today about a Knoxville, Tenn., lawyer Drew McElroy, who has filed paperwork to have the city rename a sewage treatment plant for departed Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin.
I admire the dedication of Mr. McElroy to UT football, and can sympathize with the school having lost its coach after one year. It may not be fair to the...
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Yanks Lead MLB in Philanthropy too
Once again, in times of adversity, the Yankees come up big.
As with the tragedy at Virginia Tech, Hurricane Katrina and the hurricane in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua in 2007, the Yankees have stepped up to the plate first and loudest with a $500,000 donation to support rescue and relief efforts in Haiti.
Major League Baseball has followed suit with a $1,000,000 donation of its own...
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Pro Football HOF List More Impressive than...
I suppose this might go in cycles, but I think it’s interesting to look at the list of Pro Football Hall of Fame 2010 finalists and compare it to the much-discussed Baseball Hall of Fame list. The standards, procedures and restrictions are different for induction into Canton. Notably, a selection committee has selected 15 modern-era and two “senior” nominees, and to be...
Two kinds of dumb
In Hoosiers, the best basketball movie ever and one of the 100 or so movies in my all-time top 10, one of the town leaders, George, played by veteran character actor Chelcie Ross (you probably also remember him as old man Harris in Major League and maybe as Dan Devine in Rudy), says to Gene Hackman’s Coach Norman Dale, “Look, mister, there’s… two kinds of dumb, uh…...
December 2009
4 posts
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Boone Among Athletes Highlighted in TV Show
Aaron Boone is generally regarded as one of the ‘good guys’ in baseball, and his return to the Major League field in 2009 — even if just for 13 hitless at bats — after open heart surgery (!) in March was one of the great stories in sports.
And, as a Yankees fan, one of my best sports memories is of course his ALCS-winning home run in 2003. We won’t talk about any of...
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NHL Warns of Counterfeits
Around this time of year, you often see a media push by a group with the descriptive acronym CAPS (Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports logos), warning fans of counterfeit licensed sports merchandise, especially t-shirts and hats. The organization, which is a consortium between the property arms of the four major sports plus the Collegiate Licensing Company, which handles many colleges,...
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Grass Sales Smoking
Baseball, more than any other sport, lends itself to nostalgia. And for many Yankees fans of any age (except perhaps those under 10), whose team has the most distinguished record and tradition over their lifetimes, holding on to a piece of that past means big business for memorabilia dealers.
As the 85-year-old Yankee Stadium served the Yankees for one final season before closing with much...
Shoeless Joe and Charlie Hustle
For years I’ve had something of a fascination with Shoeless Joe Jackson. It’s one of what seem like thousands of sports history related obsessions I’ve harbored since my dad bought me my first pack of Topps cards and the “All Star Baseball” spinner game in 1977. My interest in Shoeless Joe perks up around Hall of Fame selection time, or whenever I research through...
November 2009
1 post
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