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Los Angeles, March 7, 2001 Dear Readers: Name game ... What’s in a name? Try a cool $100 million. Last year, University of North Dakota president Charles Kupchella promised to decide whether to change the school’s nickname from the Fighting Sioux, after Native American students, faculty and alumni voiced their displeasure about the name and associated symbols. But according to the Chronicle of Higher Education (February 23, 2001), when alumnus Ralph Engelstad informed the state’s Board of Higher Education that he would withdraw his $100 million pledge to single-handedly fund UND’s new hockey arena if the university changed the nickname, the board pre-empted Kupchella and voted to keep the Fighting Sioux. (The school’s former nickname, the Flickertails, was changed to the Fighting Sioux in 1930.) Add name ... Engelstad, a Las Vegas developer who made his fortune selling land to Howard Hughes, played hockey at North Dakota from 1948-50. He has his own image problem. The Chronicle reports that Engelstad collects Nazi memorabilia and held two private parties on Hitler’s birthday at the casino he owns in Las Vegas – for which he was fined $1.5 million by the Nevada Gaming Control Board for behavior that harmed the state’s image. But that’s chump change for him. When Engelstad told the university that he was prepared to withdraw his donation, he said he would walk away from the $35 million he'd already sunk into the arena. Final Engelstad ... Native Americans make up the largest minority group at hockey powerhouse UND. The school has won seven NCAA titles, most recently last year, and has sent 54 players to the NHL. By donating $100 million to UND, Engelstad will get his name on a new arena that'll house 11,400 fans, 48 luxury sky boxes, and a second rink for Olympic style hockey. The Ralph Engelstad Arena is expected to debut in the fall of 2001, for the annual college hockey Hall of Fame game between UND and the University of Minnesota.
Boogie nights ... Ballroom dancing has come a long way. Although not on the Olympic program, dance sport, through its governing body, the International Dance Sport Federation, now enjoys IOC-recognized status and holds annual world championships. Those of you interested in pursuing the, err, sport, must first find a partner. And the best way to find a partner is through ... the personal ads. Or, rather, through the "Partners Wanted" ads of Dance News, which only sound like personal ads: "Nikki Richmond, 13 yrs old, D.O.B. 21.6.86. 5’4" w.o.s. Hardworking & dedicated, seeks boy partner to continue Junior B/L comps." For those keeping score, "w.o.s." means "without shoes."
The Color of Money ... All is not serene in the world of professional billiards. Several of the world’s top players have threatened to abandon the sport’s governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), in favor of the newly formed Sportsmasters Network series. The Sportsmasters Network, stating that the sport hasn’t realized its commercial potential under the WPBSA, announced a series of "fixtures" [tournaments], some of which clash with those of World Snooker. The WPBSA has struck back, threatening to expel the rebellious players. And, you call the XFL upstart?
Air heads ... The International Air Sports Federation (IASF) is shopping the world-wide television rights for the Second World Air Games, set to air (sorry) at the end of June in the skies of Andalucia and Castile, in Spain. The IASF games boast 64 individual events featuring 11 air sport disciplines, including helicopters, microlights, hang gliders, parachuting and ballooning. Cameras will be mounted everywhere – in glider and plane cockpits, in balloon baskets, and on paragliders' helmets – leaving no cloud uncovered. No word as to whether Air Jordan will sponsor the games.
Yankee Doodle United ... Those of you wondering why the New York Yankees would "deign" to partner with Manchester United in their recently announced joint marketing deal might consider the bottom line: the Yanks are the junior partner in almost every category. The Yanks are worth approximately $500-600 million, according to industry observers; the Red Devils’ market value is estimated by most analysts at at least $1 billion. The Yanks have a lucrative local TV deal; United has its own television channel (MUTV) and its games are viewed around the world. The Yanks have won four of the past five World Series; Man Utd has won the English Premier League title six times in the past eight years. Shortstop Derek Jeter is a heartthrob; United's David Beckham married Posh Spice. Only in the category of player salaries do the Yanks win: Jeter just signed for $189 million over 10 years; the highest paid Manchester player, captain Roy Keane, reportedly makes "only" $3-plus million per year. Manchester United the junior partner? Not bloody likely. Manchester United is not the only draw in the English Premier League, which is a worldwide television phenomenon. According to industry analysts, the Premiership is the world's most watched football league. Last year, counting matches broadcast and highlight’s shows such as Fox's two-hour weekly "English Premier League Soccer," 440 million television viewers watched the EPL each week. The league just sold its international television rights distribution contract for $256 million (for three years). Viewership is expected to soar even higher in the next decade as China gets connected. At present, only 80 million of China’s 310 million TV-owning homes are connected to cable. Indeed, in China, just like in the rest of the world, they’re learning to say those magic words: "Rupert Murdoch." Drinking a Bud, watching the footie ... With the Premier League searching for a new title sponsor, it appeared for a while that the league was going to end up with, of all brands, Budweiser. Anheuser-Busch was prepared to pay close to $100 million, for three years, to replace UK beer Carling as the league's title sponsor. Apparently, the deal fell through because the brewer insisted on "clean" stadia – that is, venues with no other perimeter advertising. But, surely, the league is relieved: now, it doesn’t have to worry about fans rioting over the fact that they actually have to drink a beer from the colonies.
Hyperbole watch ... Comedian Jay Mohr moonlights on Fox as an in-studio football commentator. (Call him the poor man's Dennis Miller.) During the playoffs, Mohr showed off his legal "expertise" by weighing in on the Rae Carruth murder case. After Carruth was acquitted on the first-degree murder charge, Mohr explained that Carruth "had money to hire a team of lawyers." Actually, by the end of the trial, Carruth was declared indigent by the state of North Carolina. Over $100,000 of his legal fees was paid for by the taxpayers. Don’t expect to see Mohr on Court TV any time soon.
Dot Bomb ... Maybe the demise of the dot-coms is not all bad. A recent column written by Joe Concha for www.FoxSportsBiz.com (January 16, 2001) proposed moving the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to the last weekend in January to "make Super Bowl weekend a three-day holiday." The "reasoning"? "Alcohol is present at most adults' Super Bowl parties, and attempting to watch the halftime show ... will only horrify people to the point that they make whatever they're drinking a double. If MLK Day were held the day after the game, Americans wouldn’t be so rushed to get behind the wheel – possibly driving impaired – as soon as the final gun sounds because they are forced to get up for work the next day." Add dot-com ... Concha contends that changing the date of the holiday will save lives. "Undoubtedly, drunk driving accidents would be curtailed, and hangovers could be eliminated as a result of a good night sleep. Plus, people could actually stay awake long enough to see the trophy presentation." Frankly, we're at a loss for words. Prescient tense ... ESPN The Magazine's "NEXT" choices – athletes that the editors believe will become sports' biggest stars in the years to come – is an annual feature. The magazine went out on a limb with its most recent forecast, predicting that China’s 7-foot-6-inch center Yao Ming would be "NEXT." But in congratulating itself on past picks, the magazine revealed that it's anything but daring. Two examples: predicting Marion Jones would be "NEXT," as the magazine did in 2000, is about as difficult as being a weatherman in Southern California. Same goes with choosing Tim Duncan in 1999, when he’d already won the Rookie of the Year award and led the Spurs to an NBA title. Next year, look for the magazine to go with that bright PGA prospect, Tiger Woods.
Voting rights ... The journalists who voted for Associated Press' female athlete of the year in 2000 have some explaining to do. Marion Jones won the award, with Venus Williams second. No problem there. But Venus' sister, Serena Williams, polled 8th, with 17 ½ votes (including ½ of a first-place vote), while Martina Hingis finished tied for 16th with three votes. Perhaps that result should be reversed. Ranked #1 in the world, Hingis won nine tournaments in 2000; she was a finalist in four others. She did not win a Grand Slam singles crown. However, she did win the doubles at Roland Garros with Mary Pierce, and finished 77-10 in singles play with $3.45 million in prize money. Serena won two major doubles crowns (Wimbledon, the Olympic Games) with her sister Venus, but she won only three tourneys, finished 37-8 in singles play, and won $1.02 million in prize money. More voting ... As long as we're questioning other peoples' opinions, consider The Sporting News. The magazine’s "Sportsman of the Year" award for 2000 went to the Rams' Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner, presumably because they led the Rams to victory in the Super Bowl in January of 2000. But outside of that admittedly huge win, the rest of the year was not so hot. After changing head coaches, the Rams squeaked into the playoffs only after the lowly Chicago Bears eliminated the Detroit Lions with a last-second field goal in the final game of the year. Then, the Rams lost in the first round of the playoffs. Both Faulk and Warner missed numerous regular-season games due to injuries (though Faulk still enjoyed a stellar year). "Sportsmen of the Year"? For one big win? Over that guy named Tiger? More News ... The Sporting News is based in St. Louis and seems to like its hometown a lot. Last year six TSN covers featured athletes from the Cardinals, the Rams, and the Blues. Four other covers featured St. Louis athletes alongside players from other teams. Guess which city The Sporting News selected as "Best Sports City" in America? That's right. St. Louis. Maybe Tiger Woods should move there.
Fighting words ... Last year, in the first-ever sports issue of The New Yorker, David Remnick dubbed Teddy Atlas "the greatest trainer of the younger generation." Remnick described how Atlas harangued his fighter, Michael Moorer, during the 1994 heavyweight title bout between Moorer and Evander Holyfield, and stated that Atlas' verbal theatrics after the 8th round propelled Moorer to victory. "Inspired at last, Moorer started hitting," Remnick writes. "Just in time. He won a split decision and the heavyweight championship of the world." Add words ... Exciting prose, but the magazine’s vaunted fact-checking department missed two errors. According to the judges' scorecards, Atlas' verbal pyrotechnics after the 8th round didn't translate into Moorer's victory. Two judges ruled the final four rounds even, while the other gave Holyfield three rounds to Moorer's one. In other words, Moorer won because he had built up a large lead in rounds 1 thru 8. Also, Moorer won by a majority decision, not a split decision, meaning that none of the judges gave Holyfield the nod.
Lou who? ... The Web site www.dead-or-alive.org promises to "keep track of whether people are dead or alive" in politics, sports, music and entertainment. You can search the site using various criteria, including "cause of death." But a search under the category "amyotrophic lateral sclerosis," also known as "ALS" and better known as "Lou Gehrig’s disease," yields no mention of ... Lou Gehrig. Add death ... The recent story about boxer Darrin Morris making a rapid rise in the WBO rankings – despite the fact that he was deceased! – received much press attention. But a similar story involving Olympic boxing referee Muili Ojo received scant press. The Web site www.allafrica.com reports that the Nigerian Amateur Boxing Association (NABA) told the International Amateur Boxing Association before the Sydney Games that Ojo was dead, so as "to scheme the referee out of the Olympics." Ojo’s place in Sydney was given to another person, despite the fact that Ojo was "hale and hearty." According to the Web site, Ojo, who is a board member of the NABA, was "the victim of politics within the NABA." Talk about burying the opposition.
Awash in controversy over his comments (and non-comments) regarding basketball coach Steve Lavin, UCLA athletic director Pete Dalis has had a long winter. This point was underscored in the 2000-01 media guide for the UCLA women’s swimming team. It states that Dalis is in his "176th year" as athletic director. Perhaps it only seems that way. Spirit of St. Louis ... With apologies to TSN, the St. Louis University mascot, the Billiken. Sincerely, SportsLetter staff.
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