| Bend It Like?Blanco
The Chicago Fire striker, like Beckham, has amped up pro soccer's star power. Plus, he's pulling in Latino fans
It was David Beckham, the fair-haired English midfielder, who garnered all the headlines early this year when he came to the U.S. to ply his trade for some $250 million over five years, including endorsements. But as American pro soccer has come of age this season--at least financially--the player most responsible isn't Beckham. Instead, it's Cuauhtemoc Blanco, a fiery striker who grew up in a barrio outside Mexico City. With an explosive season, Blanco has helped boost attendance across Major League Soccer (MLS), with the draw for his own Chicago Fire rising 60%, to 16,000 people a game. .
Romani puts a pretty face on Rotary, but music lets it down
It certainly isn't the glitziest service organization on the planet. Nor one of the most cutting-edge. But its rather humble image notwithstanding, Evanston-based Rotary International is still a worthy global group of concerned citizens who wishes to make the world a better place. For the last several years, Rotary has entrusted Romani Bros./Chicago with the task of helping the world at large better understand what RI is all about. Denny Hebson, a Romani partner, once jokingly noted that many people steadfastly cling to the notion Rotary is nothing more than a bunch of old men who gather for lunch every month. But the Rotary campaign with the tag line "Rotary. Humanity in Motion" that Romani has been evolving clearly suggests otherwise. Each of Romani's two newest executions comes at the aforementioned theme in quite different fashion.
Fans will lose out in NFL Network battle with cable operators
The NFL Network's business strategy is well on its way to becoming one of the biggest flops in sports television history. All the yap-flapping, spinning, and perhaps even some anger from fans who cannot watch Thursday's Packers-Cowboys tilt on NFLN won't change that fact. Neither will all the anti-cable rants coming from the mouth of Jerry Jones, whose sudden concern for the average fan is the leading candidate for Most Disingenuous Sports Moment of 2007. Nor will the well scripted, well presented words of commissioner Roger Goodell, who last week was on the stump campaigning against cable monopolists via a conference call. Surprised we have not heard from NFLN boss Steve Bornstein, marked conspicuously absent on this recent propaganda tour. It looks like Mr.
TV-RADIO NOTEBOOK: NFL is very fortunate how schedule plays out
In the spirit of this holiday season, let us resolve to take NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at his word regarding the eight-game NFL Network schedule that began Thursday night with the Colts-Falcons. That means we will stipulate to Goodell's assurances that the NFL did not rig the schedule to ensure the league-owned network would have attractive matchups and, more importantly, games it could employ to apply maximum pressure on cable carriers that don't carry the service, such as Time Warner, Charter and Cablevision. And so, given that assumption, we are left to conclude that the NFL this season is not conniving, merely fortunate. Next Thursday, NFL Network will air Packers-Cowboys, a potential preview of the NFC title game. The game will air on over-the-air TV in the teams' home cities but not in some of their most important secondary markets � among them Waco, Austin and San Antonio, all serviced by Time Warner Cable, and Madison, Wis., a Charter Cable market.
NowShowing: A guide to films showing on area screens
Reviews written by Kathy Gibson (KG), Josh Larsen (JL) and Wendy Fox Weber (WFW). NEW RELEASES
August Rush ( ): If your heart is not two sizes too small, you will embrace this charming fairy tale about a young orphan and musical prodigy (Freddie Highmore) who can ��hear" his parents in the music around him. August's belief that his parents are still out there leads him to seek them out in New York City, where young lovers Lyla (Keri Russell) and Louis (Jonathon Rhys Meyers) once shared a single night that changed their lives. Only a Grinch would scoff at this whimsical picture. Rated PG (thematic elements, language, mild violence); 100 minutes. - WFW Enchanted ( ): Silly yet never quite satirical, Disney's mild fairy-tale spoof is like Shrek without his teeth.
FC Thun soccer players charged of having sex with minor
Six current and three former FC Thun soccer players accused of having sexual relations with a minor. Five other individuals, who are not soccer players, also have been accused, the office of the investigating magistrate of the Bernese Alps said. .
TV-RADIO NOTEBOOK: NFL is very fortunate how schedule plays out
In the spirit of this holiday season, let us resolve to take NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at his word regarding the eight-game NFL Network schedule that began Thursday night with the Colts-Falcons. That means we will stipulate to Goodell's assurances that the NFL did not rig the schedule to ensure the league-owned network would have attractive matchups and, more importantly, games it could employ to apply maximum pressure on cable carriers that don't carry the service, such as Time Warner, Charter and Cablevision. And so, given that assumption, we are left to conclude that the NFL this season is not conniving, merely fortunate. Next Thursday, NFL Network will air Packers-Cowboys, a potential preview of the NFC title game. The game will air on over-the-air TV in the teams' home cities but not in some of their most important secondary markets � among them Waco, Austin and San Antonio, all serviced by Time Warner Cable, and Madison, Wis., a Charter Cable market.
|
