In the News                                

Lilburn, Ga., takes swing at sports facility; City says venue would attract business, visitors
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 2, 2010 Thursday
Lilburn is a town in desperation. With no movie theaters, sporting goods stores, fine dining or hotels, many residents drive out of the city just to buy shoes or grab a bite to eat. Last week, Uncle Dave Pizza went out of business. Last month, Starbucks coffee left its U.S. 29 location. Since last year, Lilburn has seen about 100 businesses depart or simply close up shop, the city planning department said. "I don't mean to paint a bleak picture, but it's going to take something very big to reverse the trend," City Councilman Eddie Price said. City leaders believe they have found that something: a massive baseball, softball and soccer venue --- a nearly $20 million venture --- they hope will transform their sleepy enclave of 11,500 into a thriving destination for businesses and event-goers.

Opening on the road; Two Cobb schools await artificial turf
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 2, 2010 Thursday
Artificial turf has turned rival high school football programs into friends in Cobb County. Osborne and Pebblebrook will play at least two home games at other sites while construction on their stadium fields is being completed. They are the final two of seven Cobb schools that had artificial grass installed in a project that began in the summer --- and the only two forced to adjust team schedules for the regular season. "It has been and will continue to be a small inconvenience to play home games at another place," Osborne coach Keary Dias said. "But it's worth it in the end . . . very well worth it."

Can the NFL make stadium experience match what's on TV?
USA TODAY, September 1, 2010 Wednesday
When the NFL kicks off the 2010 season next week, about 1 million fans will turn out to watch games in stadiums across the nation. And in their living rooms, an average of 16 million fans will gather to watch each of the 16 opening-weekend games in what has become the golden age for NFL consumption. That's because of big-screen, high-definition TVs, surround-sound systems, channels that allow viewers to watch multiple games at the same time and check on players' stats, and the NFL's RedZone Channel -- a commercial-free, subscription-based channel that cuts to the most exciting game at anytime. Together, such innovations during the past decade -- driven in part by the NFL's efforts to expand its reach as the most popular professional sports enterprise -- have made the at-home experience better, and cheaper, than going to a stadium for many.

Troy Polamalu not first athlete to insure body part
The Christian Science Monitor, August 31, 2010 Tuesday
Troy Polamalu loves his hair and so does the company that produces a shampoo he endorses. Head and Shoulders announced Monday it has taken out a $1 million policy with Lloyd's of London on the hair of the Pittsburgh Steelers safety.

New Edmond pool to fill community need; council vote up next
The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), August 28, 2010 Saturday
EDMOND - Lance Ford's oldest son, a freshman at Edmond North High School, swims in overcrowded pools that are reaching the end of their lives. They are the same pools Ford practiced in as a high school student 20 years ago. But that could be about to change.

NCAA allows credits from online high school
The Union Leader (Manchester, NH), August 30, 2010 Monday
By CLYNTON NAMUO Union Leader Correspondent EXETER -- Elite student athletes attending the state's only public online high school can breathe a bit easier after the NCAA certified its academic curriculum earlier this summer.

New Hampshire state parks eye corporate sponsors
The Union Leader (Manchester, NH), August 29, 2010 Sunday
CONCORD -- Not every state park in New Hampshire includes a mountain, but all staffers might be wearing pictures of little peaks on their uniforms next summer thanks to a corporate sponsorship the state is exploring with Eastern Mountain Sports.

Atlanta's new College Football Hall of Fame will be '180 degrees' different than current hall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 29, 2010 Sunday
As is typical, Gary Stokan is aiming high for the new home of the College Football Hall of Fame. Stokan, the Chick-fil-A Bowl president who is leading the charge for the museum's move from South Bend, Ind., to Atlanta, said it will be "180 degrees" different than the current hall.

ER visits for young athletes with concussions double over 10 years
Chicago Sun Times, August 30, 2010 Monday
Emergency room visits for concussions among young athletes playing team sports have more than doubled over a 10-year period, and 40 percent of these injuries are sustained by children ages 8 to 13. Those are among the key findings of a new study that is one of the first to provide data on sports-related concussions in children in elementary and middle school. Between 2001 and 2005, there were an estimated 502,000 emergency room visits for concussions in children ages 8 to 19. Of those, half were sports-related, researchers reported today in the journal Pediatrics. The findings are based on data from 100 U.S. hospitals involved in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.

Pedal power assists veterans, in more ways than one
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.), August 29, 2010, Sunday
Roger Coggins was looking for a hobby when he took up bike riding about a decade ago. He found that cycling engaged and challenged him. Now, he finds it inspires him. He is preparing for his third California Challenge, a ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raises money to rehabilitate veterans who have suffered amputations or brain injuries. "People talk about supporting the troops. For me, this is a chance to not only raise money but to be there on the ride," he said. "And it's not just me being there. There have to be quite a few people who have donated in order for me to be there."

Dogs have their day in the pool
Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City), August 28, 2010 Saturday
WEST VALLEY CITY ? Fur and water were flying as dogs leapt into the swimming pool, paddled around for a while and then drenched anyone passing by as they dried off. Saturday was the annual Dog Days of Summer event at the West Valley City Family Fitness Center swimming pools, and the place had clearly gone ?

Tiny parks considered neighborhood gems
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin), August 27, 2010 Friday
A park doesn't have to be a million-acre Yellowstone to be a star. It doesn't have to be a 130-acre Lake Park to be a sanctuary. Tiny parks can offer as much as their big cousins. The Milwaukee area is dotted with havens smaller than 10 acres, some littleknown but well-beloved. "We call our smaller parks 'neighborhood parks,' and they help to balance out the gold-medal-winning park system," said Milwaukee County parks director Sue Black. "These neighborhood parks are a great place to read a book, fly a kite, play catch, enjoy a picnic or just sit back and take a break from the hustle and bustle of today's busy lifestyle." These little oases shine because they possess a rare view, a slice of beach or a glimpse of days gone by. Here are some of the area's fairest micro-parks: Uncas Playfield S. 3rd and Uncas streets So hidden it doesn't even have an exact address, this 5-acre haven indeed may be what City of Milwaukee Recreation Department staff like to call it: the nicest little park that no one knows about. Recently updated, the park sports freshly painted basketball and tennis courts along with a reassuringly old-school baseball diamond.

Muslim student-athletes adjusting to Ramadan
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, August 27, 2010 Friday
IRVING - Temperature readings on websites and the nearby banks flash in the triple digits. The sun doesn't just shine. It beams and burns. Exhaustion has a smell, one of sweat and dry grass and dirt, and unmistakably, that scent hangs in the air at Irving's MacArthur High School. It's 5:30 p.m. on the seventh day of Ramadan. Shahzeb Khan and Mohammed Mohammed don red jerseys and white helmets and run drills as the starting quarterback and backup wide receiver at football practice. Their most recent meal came about 13 hours ago, at about the same time as their last gulp of water.

First female high school varsity football coach loses in debut
The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.), August 28, 2010 Saturday
The Associated Press WASHINGTON When the whistle blew and the opening kickoff sailed through the air on a beautiful late-summer night, Natalie Randolph could finally take a deep breath and focus on the thing she wants to do most - coach football.

Rough year for rooftop clubs overlooking Wrigley Field
Chicago Sun Times, August 26, 2010 Thursday
With the Cubs and the economy in the tank, it's been a rough year for rooftop clubs overlooking Wrigley Field.

Regents green-light UVU-Geneva land deal, master plan
The Salt Lake Tribune, August 27, 2010 Friday
Utah Valley University is one step closer to becoming the first player to buy into a massive Geneva Steel redevelopment project that promises to transform the small town of Vineyard into a mixed-use haven on the shores of Utah Lake. Utah Regents on Friday approved UVU's proposed acquisition of 100 acres of cleaned-up Geneva land, just two miles to the north beside the site of a future FrontRunner stop, where university officials hope to build intramural fields and other student-life facilities to relieve space constraints on the 228-acre mother campus.

Realignment e-mails show a casual but powerful side of college presidents regarding athletics
The Salt Lake Tribune, August 27, 2010 Friday
"Stan," Nevada president Milton Glick wrote in an e-mail to Utah State president Stan Albrecht the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 17, "some time when you are bored, give me a call." Glick presumably wanted to chat with Albrecht about "The Project," the code name given to the Western Athletic Conference's since-scuttled plan to add Brigham Young University's non-football sports teams and finalize a series of football games for WAC teams against the Cougars beginning in 2011, when they would be an independent in that sport. Besides showing how The Project was engineered and almost finalized, e-mails exchanged between presidents of universities, obtained Thursday by The Salt Lake Tribune in an open records request to Utah State University, show the presidents have the real power when it comes to negotiations regarding athletics, not athletic directors.

More pools, courts and park acreage planned for Chico, Calif.
Chico Enterprise-Record (California), August 20, 2010 Friday
CHICO The Chico City Council and Planning Commission will review the public facilities finance plan and the parks, public facilities and services element of the draft 2030 Chico General Plan on Saturday.

Riddell sued over helmet; high school player suffered permanent brain damage
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA), August 25, 2010 Wednesday
POMONA - The family of a Garey High School football player who suffered a permanent brain injury during a 2009 game is suing the manufacturer of his helmet. A family attorney for Edward Acuna claims padding at the front of a Riddell helmet was not as sturdy as toward the sides and the back. The helmet's "dangerous and known defective design" caused the injuries, Acuna's attorney, Ilyas Akbari, said.

Scholastic Rowing Association makes a splash in Buffalo River
Buffalo News (New York), August 27, 2010 Friday
Balloons bobbed brightly Thursday evening where the renaissance was taking place at the edge of a desolate post-industrial stretch of Ohio Street in Buffalo's Old First Ward.

Many sports in New Orleans still feeling Katrina's effects
USA TODAY, August 27, 2010 Friday
NEW ORLEANS -- They gathered for lunch last week, a handful of school, conference and college bowl officials who'd bonded into a support group of sorts since Hurricane Katrina tore so unimaginably through their city and their lives. "I propose a toast," Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Wright Waters said, rising to his feet in a white-tableclothed room in the Garden District's landmark Commander's Palace restaurant. "To survivors, five years later." Glasses clinked, the eight diners understanding that in that room -- and across New Orleans' sports and recreation landscape -- survival of one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in the nation's history has come in degrees.

Add allegations of academic misconduct to UNC's list of possible improprieties
The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.), August 27, 2010 Friday
By Ken Tysiac McClatchy Newspapers CHAPEL HILL, N.C. North Carolina's investigation into possible improprieties in its football program took another serious turn Thursday night with the announcement of possible academic misconduct. The allegations involve a tutor who formerly was employed by Tar Heels football coach Butch Davis. Chancellor Holden Thorp, athletic director Dick Baddour and Davis explained the new twist at a news conference at the Kenan Football Center .

Residents urge property tax increase to save rec services
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, August 26, 2010 Thursday
The Dallas City Council opened the floor Wednesday to residents who wanted to sound off on the city's budget woes. More than 30 of them did, and, with just one exception, they called for an increase in the city's property tax rate.

Closing of Gold's Gym juice bar leaves sour taste
Pasadena Star-News (California), August 24, 2010 Tuesday
PASADENA - A popular cafe inside Gold's Gym will close shop after 16 years of selling fruit smoothies, nutritional supplements and healthy eats at the same location. Officials from the Texas-based Gold's Gym International Inc. notified Joe Maadanjian, the owner of Joe's Juice Bar, earlier this month that his lease will not be renewed. The lease expired August 14. He was told he had to leave by August 24, he said. Now Hovsep "Joe" Maadanjian, who is trying to buy some time to consider his next business move, said he would not leave the popular gym until he gets a court-ordered eviction notice.

FSU cracks down on high school with Seminole mascot
Sarasota Herald Tribune (Florida), August 26, 2010 Thursday
BRADENTON For as long as anyone can remember, Southeast High School and Florida State University have been close. Top students from the Manatee County high school are funneled to FSU. Its best athletes, like superstar wide receiver Peter Warrick, became stars in Tallahassee. And FSU recruiters, including former FSU coaching legend Bobby Bowden, have visited Southeast to scout. The two schools are so tight they even share the Seminole mascot, identical Indian-head logos and the same iconic spear on their football helmets.

What is the NFL's most valuable team?
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, August 26, 2010 Thursday
OXNARD, Calif. - Are the Cowboys really the most valuable franchise in the NFL, as Forbes magazine said on Wednesday? "In my lifetime, we'll never know," owner-general manager Jerry Jones said. "The Cowboys will never be sold." In its annual ranking of NFL franchise values, Forbes listed the Cowboys as being worth $1.805 billion, an increase of 9 percent over last season. Jones purchased the franchise and the lease to Texas Stadium for a reported $140 million in 1989.

New finger scanning at 24 Hour Fitness raises privacy concerns
The San Francisco Chronicle (California), August 23, 2010 Monday
When the 24 Hour Fitness chain recently installed finger scanners as a way of verifying members' identity, it was a public premiere of sorts for a powerful and fast-expanding technology - and a test of whether consumers will embrace it. The scanners, which came to the chain's 60 Bay Area gyms this month, are a form of biometrics, in which people are recognized through a unique physical quality. Although 24 Hour Fitness checks fingers, biometric devices can verify people's identity based on the contours of hands, eyes and faces, a voice, even a scent or a style of walking. The technology has become far more accurate and affordable in recent years, allowing it to move beyond longtime police and military uses and to be hailed, by some, as a potential solution to the menace of identity theft. Corporate America has taken notice, as have privacy advocates, who say consumers ought to tread cautiously into a largely unregulated field.

Technology may be playing role in mishap increases at national parks
The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.), August 22, 2010 Sunday
By Leslie Kaufman The New York Times Cathy Hayes was cracking jokes as she recorded a close encounter with a buffalo on her camera in a recent visit to Yellowstone National Park.

After 10-year absence, Houston prep football team starts from scratch
The Houston Chronicle, August 25, 2010 Wednesday
CHAT: Join writers from the Chronicle and around Texas at noon today to discuss the onset of high school football. chron.com/sports On a couple of levels, football is a foreign concept at Lee High School. Some of the players tasked with becoming building blocks in a sport that hasn't been played at the school in a decade are from countries where they didn't grow up watching football. Last February, the administration at Lee and the Houston Independent School District decided to bring the sport back to the school for the first time since 2000. Lee will field a junior varsity team the next two seasons, with plans for a varsity in 2012 - the school's 50th anniversary. Lee opens its JV season against New Caney at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Dyer Stadium.

Visitors wowed by high school's elaborate 54,000-square-foot athletic center
San Jose Mercury News (California), August 25, 2010 Wednesday
With seven Central Coast Section girls volleyball titles, six CCS boys basketball crowns and four CCS girls basketball championships, Menlo School-Atherton has always had game. Now it has "gym." Well, at least, that's what the T-shirts suggested on the front when I attended Tuesday night's unveiling of the Menlo School Athletic Center. "Got gym?" (front)