Friday, May 12, 2006

Vince Young To Get BET Reality Show On NFL Draft Journey -- Fox Sports

I just hope someone puts a camera in front of one rather tipsy woman in the Young group -- which was huge -- at the NFL Draft. I was going back to my table when she got in my way and said something so unintelligeble I figured she'd had a few before the Draft. Believe me, you'd have come to the same conclusion, too.

Titans rookie QB Young to get reality show - Fox Sports

According to a published report in the Nashville City Paper, former Texas QB and current Titans rookie Vince Young will be starring in his own reality TV show.

Young, 22, is having a crew from BET document his life from the months leading up to the NFL Draft and into the early part of his first season with Tennessee in a show called Vince Young: The Next Level.

Fans will be able to see Vince Young more than just on the football field. (Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)

Emmy-Award winning producer Brendon J. Carter will be heading up the six-episode show, which is slated to start airing in October. Young's show is the first in the sports-themed Next Level series that will focus on other athletes in coming episodes.

"They'll follow him around through the whole process. People see the end product, but they don't know all the things he's had to do to get himself prepared for that," Young's agent Major Adams said. "They've been following him around since March, and they should be finished following him around sometime in June."

Carter wants to depict life for the QB as he makes the move from college star to multi-millionaire pro. Carter believes Young's background mixed with his future could make for must-see TV.

"This is a sports-based reality TV show," Carter said. "It focuses on athletes who are in transition. They may be making the transition from college to the pros, or maybe from high school to college, or someone who is making a comeback from a career-threatening injury."

"We went to church with Vince and his family on Easter Sunday," the producer went on to say, "then went home and had Easter dinner with them. The pastor at the church blessed me and the crew while we were at church."

Young, fresh off leading the 'Horns to a NCAA title, is the perfect candidate for TV viewing, according to a BET executive.

"We have delved into the reality genre before, and it's been pretty successful for us," said Michael Lewellen, BET's senior VP of corporate communications. "For us, from a ratings standpoint, the sweet spot is ages 18 to 34, and we feel like Vince Young is the type of person who has the appeal that fits those demographics."

Four Black NFL Commissioner Candidates Names Sumitted To League

AP and Fox News get the award for bad reporting. They deliberately failed to report that the candidates were black in their story headlines. I know what that's about: "if we don't tell them about race, they won't think about race" - knock it off!

Four candidates for NFL commissioner search

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - The Fritz Pollard Alliance, a leading force in the push for diversity in the NFL, has submitted four minority candidates for consideration as commissioner Paul Tagliabue's replacement.

While FPA founder Cyrus Mehri would not identify the candidates, he confirmed the number.

"That is true," said Mehri, a Washington attorney. "Just like the Fritz Pollard Alliance has done for all positions in the NFL over the last few years - for coaches and front office positions - we prepared a list of candidates, but we will not make the list of names public. At some point we would expect an announcement of the list of finalists."

The group's involvement was first reported in Thursday editions of The Washington Post.

Tagliabue announced his resignation in March and hopes to be out of the job by July. NFL owners will meet in Denver later this month to discuss the search for his successor.

Eight team owners are on the search committee, which is headed by Pittsburgh's Dan Rooney. Rooney sent the FPA's list of candidates to Korn-Ferry International, which was hired by the NFL to oversee the search.

"As far as we know, there's never been this kind of inclusive search for a commissioner of any of the major league sports," Mehri said. "What they have done is set out that they will embrace the diverse candidate slate for this search, and one or more minority candidates are seriously considered for this job.

"We applaud the league for that."

There has been speculation that Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, and Harold Henderson, who heads the league's management council, are among the four candidates submitted by the PFA.

The Reggie Bush "Number 5" Issue

In my view there's not much to say about this. In my opinion, Reggie Bush should wear the number "25" and not "5." Yes, "5" was his college number and yes, it's the focus of his Subway campaign. But you know what, his marketing rep Mike Orenstein should have calculated this problem and planned for Reggie to have a campaign called "From 5 to 25: My Trip To The NFL"

...Say it's not too late to do that.

Jacksonville WR Jimmy Smith Retired Wednesday

I saw it on NFL Network and wish him well. It was a nice ceremony, and it's apparent that Smith was well liked. He got out the right way: not injured, healthy, and no coach forcing him to retire.

Nice.

Antowain Smith Is Now A Houston Texan - CBS Sportswire

Texans sign Smith to back up Davis at running back
May 8, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

HOUSTON -- The Houston Texans agreed to terms with running back Antowain Smith on Monday, giving the team a backup for starter Domanick Davis.

Last season with the New Orleans Saints, Smith filled in for Deuce McAllister after he suffered a season-ending knee injury and ran for 659 yards and three touchdowns.

The 34-year-old unrestricted free agent, who attended the University of Houston, has 6,881 yards rushing and 54 touchdowns in nine NFL seasons. He has also played for Tennessee, New England and Buffalo.

After passing on Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush in favor of defensive end Mario Williams in the draft, the Texans were in need of another running back. Davis missed five games last season with knee inflammation.

Also on Monday, Houston re-signed offensive lineman Zach Wiegert.

Wiegert started five games at right guard and seven games at right tackle last season. The 6-foot-5, 296-pounder missed four games with an ankle injury. He has started 128 games in 11 NFL seasons and has been with the Texans since 2003.

Terms of the deals were not released.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Not Again, Howard Dean! - Man, What's Up

I like Howard Dean. I really do. Of course, I don't know the man. I just read where he made a comment to a Christian Rights organization that the Democratic Party Platform says "marriage is between a man and a woman."

Well, I'm straight, it doesn't say that, and I don't care.

I think Howard is trying to be this liberal hipster guy, but in reality is a conservative WASP. I first came to that conclusion at a fund-raiser I went to in San Francisco two years ago.

Howard Dean was the focus and he started giving his speach. But when he mentioned African American's he looked at me directly, as if to "reach" me. He then made sure to mention Gays in the next sentence and so on. Afterward, as I shook his hand, he said "We need your support" but his expression communicated that he did't need me as a person, but me as a black person.

I came away with a kind of "yucky" feeling about Dean.

Then he became the head of the party; I wondered why.

I'm still wondering.

I hope Howard doens't blow our advantage. We'll see.

New York City - Upcoming Wireless Hearings Note!

This is an email I got on the upcoming wireless meetings in New York:

I just wanted to remind everyone of our upcoming hearing on wireless Internet access in New York City parks on Monday, May 15 at 1 PM in the Committee Room, City Hall. Apologies for the lateness of this reminder. If you have any questions, please contact Jeff Baker (jeffrey.baker@council.nyc.ny.us / 212-788-9193), Counsel to the Committee on Technology in Government, or Colleen Pagter (colleen.pagter@council.nyc.ny.us), Policy Analyst to the Committee on Technology in Government.

On Monday, May 15, 1:00 to 4:00 PM in the Committee Room, City Hall, the Committee on Technology in Government, chaired by Council Member Gale Brewer, will be holding a joint oversight hearing with the Committee on Parks, chaired by Council Member Helen Foster of the Bronx, on the topic of wireless Internet access in New York City parks. The Parks Department, the Central Park Conservancy and several private technology providers are expected to testify.

On Thursday, May 18, 1:00 to 2:00 PM, the Council Chambers, City Hall, the Committee on Land Use and the Committee on Technology in Government will hold the Executive Budget Hearing with the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

As always, the public is welcome. No RSVP is necessary.