Jordan letter real score for highest bidder
Some notable pieces of Michael Jordan memorabilia from his college days at North Carolina used to be on the walls of his “23” restaurant in Chapel Hill, but the establishment closed in 2003 and the items went into a storage locker.
Now those items - including a recruiting letter from Dean Smith to Jordan sent in the summer of 1980 - have surfaced in an auction. Whether it’s sales hype or a legitimate first in the industry (or maybe both), Goldin Auctions founder Ken Goldin said this is a historic opportunity as far as sports memorabilia is concerned.
“A recruiting letter to a major high-profile athlete has never been available for the public to buy,” Goldin told ESPN.
The auction began Friday and will run for four weeks at GoldinAuctions.com.
The letter from Smith had a starting price of $5,000, and by the end of Friday the top bid was nearly $8,900.
Jordan left for the NBA after his junior season in 1984, but he continued toward his degree and received it in December 1986.
Jordan’s autographed sneakers from the famous “flu game” of the 1997 NBA Finals sold for $104,765 in December.
Dan the man
CBS’ Dan Dierdorf, 64, signed off Saturday night as the longest tenured NFL game analyst on television.
His work on the Colts-Patriots game ended a broadcast career that began in 1984. His three-decade career included a dozen seasons on ABC’s Monday Night Football between stops at CBS.
He entered the booth in the wake of a 13-season, Hall of Fame career as an offensive tackle for the St. Louis Cardinals. Cowboys fans may remember he was the Cardinals tackle who faced off against Ed “Too Tall” Jones twice a season. His work on the field has taken a toll. Both of his knees and hips are artificial.
Traveling is not easy.
“Physically, it’s just hard for me to travel 20 weeks a year and do my job the right way,” Dierdorf said in a conference call. “I tell everybody, I’m retiring, I’m not expiring.
“I’ve got to find something to do. I love the NFL, and I love the game of football. Whether it’s radio, just something that doesn’t involve me having to go to the airport every Thursday or Friday and be gone for three or four days.
I’m going to find something to do, and you haven’t heard the last of me, I hope.”
Riding high again
From Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: “Bobby Petrino - fired in disgrace by Arkansas less than two years ago - is returning for a second stint as football coach at Louisville.
“Or as a cynic might say, he’s come full cycle.”
Quote of the day
“Alandise [Harris] felt that he could go and get some contact and it didn’t take place. He tried to make a play and it kind of backfired.” Arkansas men’s basketball Coach Mike Anderson
Sports, Pages 20 on 01/12/2014