LITTLE ROCK — Are fans onboard with this?
Unlike other basketball games on naval ships that have been closed to nonmilitary personnel, fans of Florida and Georgetown will be able to watch their teams square off in person Nov. 9 on an aircraft carrier stationed in Jacksonville, Fla.
That’s the good news. The bad news is tickets won’t come cheap.
Anyone who wants to attend the game will have to buy ticket packages that cost between $1,000 and $50,000.
The $1,000 package includes two tickets to the game and six tickets to the NFL game the night before between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts, four of which will be donated to military personnel.
The $50,000 sponsor’s package enables a company to donate 240 tickets to the Jaguars-Colts game to military personnel. The company would have its logosplaced on printed materials, TV ads and websites promoting the game and receive 50 passes and eight VIP parking passes to the basketball game and 20 VIP tickets to pregame hospitality and concerts.
There are also ticket packages priced at $2,500, $10,000 and $25,000.
Fat-tastic
Prince Fielder won the All-Star Home Run Derby and Pablo Sandoval hit a three-run triple that broke open the All-Star Game in the first inning.
Wrote Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Not a good week in sports for Weight Watchers.” Role playing
Actor Charlie Sheen is claiming he used steroids, back in 1989, to beef himself up for his pitching role as Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn in Major League.
“Baseball has reached a new low,” wrote Eric Kolenich of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch.
“Even its fictional heroes are tainted.”
No golden moments
The United States has never won an Olympic medal inbadminton, table tennis or team handball. Barring a major upset, that’s not about to change anytime soon.
“A lot of it is cultural,” said Bill Mallon, past president and co-founder of the International Society of Olympic Historians.
“There are some sports that are barely played in America. But things can change quickly. We had hardly any tradition in volleyball some years ago, but now the U.S.
is considered a power.
“Table tennis and badminton came into the Games in 1988 and 1992, respectively, so they haven’t been around so long and the Asian countries are completely dominant. If the United States dominated a sport in the same way that China has dominated table tennis they would kick it out of the Olympics. That is what they did with softball, and what they are talking about doing in the Winter Olympics with women’s [ice] hockey.”Quote
of the day “Hey, I’m with
Arkansas now.” Defensive tackle Darius Philon, who
signed with Arkansas
on national signing day
after Alabama asked him
to delay his enrollment there
Sports, Pages 22 on 07/15/2012