Archive for September, 2007
Money Man
Steve Greenberg
The son of Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg lasted a few years in the minors after graduating from Yale in 1970. He later became a player agent, negotiating baseball’s first-ever weight-related incentive clause for Bill Madlock in 1981. From 1990 to 1993, Greenberg rose to prominence as the deputy commissioner of Major League Baseball and the right hand man to then-commissioner Fay Vincent. These days, as part of the New York City investment firm Allen & Co., the 59-year-old is who major league owners call when they need advice on selling a franchise. He recently brokered the sales of the Braves, Brewers, and Reds and helped the Mets negotiate naming rights for their new stadium, Citi Field.
Mark of influence: In 1995, Greenberg cofounded the Classic Sports Network, which was bought by ESPN and renamed ESPN Classic. Eight years later he founded CSTV, which was sold to CBS in 2006.
Maestro of Metal
Wade Liles
In the days leading up to a PGA Tour event, you’ll find Liles camped out nearby in his spartan TaylorMade equipment trailer quietly tweaking and building drivers for TaylorMade’s 80 touring pros, including John Daly, Sergio Garcia, Scott Verplank, and Justin Rose. Millions of dollars in prize money ride on each pro’s comfort with his club, so Liles is in heavy demand. He balances a club’s weight distribution with individual preference (he stores each pro’s likes and dislikes in a laptop) and can construct an entirely new driver in less than 10 minutes. His handiwork helped power Garcia and Verplank to top-five finishes at last month’s Tour championship.
Mark of influence: Eschewing their own sponsor technicians, non-TaylorMade pros have been known to sneak by Liles’ trailer in search of a club tune-up.
Fix-it Man
Dennis Poppe
When Bob Stoops is angry about a blown call or upset about a bowl assignment, he doesn’t call Myles Brand. He calls Poppe, the NCAA’s managing director for football and baseball. The three-decade NCAA vet oversees both officiating and championship series for football and baseball, and he makes it his business to know every college head coach, AD and assistant equipment manager in the country. He knows how to glad-hand the pols, too. The 59-year-old Poppe has overseen the College World Series since its days in obscurity. Now that it has gone prime time, he’s been in talks with the city of Omaha to build the popular event fancy new digs.
Mark of influence: For better or worse, Poppe helped bring both the BCS and instant replay to college football.
What ‘Funny’ Things Must a Guy Do for Jessica Biel?
Jessica Biel may be one of the world’s sexiest actresses, but for the millions of men who want to steal her from Justin Timberlake, their best bet is to bring “SexyBack” with a bit of buffoonery behind closed doors.
“A relationship with someone who is funny-sexy is way more fun,” the starlet recently told FOX. “Sexy-sexy can be sort of boring; I much prefer people who can make fun of themselves and not take themselves too seriously, someone who can be ridiculous. That’s the most attractive thing.”
So does that mean our JT became skilled at slapstick to snag his “Senorita”?
Who knows, but one thing is for sure: It does take more than banter to get Biel bare, even in a movie or photo shoot.
Eva Banned From Babies
No Little Longorias: Eva Banned From Babies but Still Plays ‘Parent’ for Charity
Eva Longoria and Tony Parker may be riding the wave of hitched happiness, but apparently any plans to start a family have been flagged with a “no bambinos” decree from her “Desperate” director.
According to Britain’s Sun newspaper, Eva and her basketball beau will have to wait another season or two before she can burgeon her belly with a baby, as the show’s creator Marc Cherry doesn’t want the plot to be poisoned by a pregnancy from its leading lady.
“Marc’s not kidding, because he maps the year out and really knows the story line. When Marcia [Cross who plays Bree] became pregnant it was unexpected, and it was hard for him to write around,” Longoria told the paper.
“Tony and I are excited about starting a family, but because Marc has forbidden me to get pregnant this year, we’re gonna spend time as a married couple and build a solid foundation together before we bring our child into the world.”
But that still won’t stop Eva from being a motivating “mom” this Thursday when she when steals the spotlight as host of the PADRES Contra El Cáncer (Parents Against Cancer) fund-raising gala at The Lot in West Hollywood.
Pop Tarts has learned that the Tinseltown tiny and her team of “Desperate” divas including Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Nicollette Sheridan will put their “reel” life differences aside for the night in order to make “real” differences in the lives of many less-fortunate others.
But we’ve heard that Teri Hatcher won’t be high-tailing it to the glamorous gala. Is she a little hot-headed that she’s not the headliner? To find out why, stay tuned. …
Scott Baio ‘REALLY’ Couldn’t Care Less About FOX Award
Scott Baio may have launched his star-studded career as a teen on “Happy Days,” but now that he is “45 and single,” it seems the newly minted reality star has become bitter.
Baio won a FOX Really Award for “Favorite Non-Competition Program,” but the former cousin of the Fonz was less than impressed when Pop Tarts caught up with him backstage at swanky Boulevard 3 immediately after his win.
Apparently, all he had to do was “show up” to take the sought-after trophy and couldn’t care less about making a winning speech.
Why so snappy, Scotty?
Reese is scared!
Star-studded sweetheart Reese Witherspoon is almost always seen smiling, but when it comes to the future safety of her children, the single mom gets somewhat scared.
“I think it’s definitely a scary world to be raising a young family — we live in a very frightening world and a fear-based culture where we judge people by the way they look,” the star told FOX at Wednesday’s red-carpet premiere of Gavin Hood’s new thriller “Rendition.”
“We misunderstand what particular people’s intentions are because of their religion. So if I can do any part to help sort of illuminate the negative or the positive sides of either side of an argument, I think that’s a great thing to be a part of.”
And surprisingly, Reese found slumming on set with a certain co-star a rather “raunchy” experience — and we’re not talking about “acting up” alongside her on-again/off-again romantic interest Jake Gyllenhaal.
Supermodel to Super-Waddle: Milla Jovovich’s Pre-Birth Body Blues
Milla Jovovich has spent many years making millions from her itty-bitty bod, but now that the former face of L’Oreal has moved into the final month of pregnancy, she has been battling the blues associated with packing extra pounds.
“I feel like I swallowed a beach ball,” the Ukraine-born beauty told FOX. “It is not easy, let me tell you. I’ve gained like 65 pounds in the last four months. I mean, be prepared.”
And even though the almost nine-month journey for Jovovich has been “intense” yet “amazing” so far, she has a simple suggestion for future moms who don’t think they could wear the excess weight.
“You might want to adopt,” said the retired runway royal, who recently released the third installment of the action flick “Resident Evil.”
Milla, 2004′s highest paid model, even believes she would have been more mentally equipped at age 16 for the lumps and bumps having a baby brings. But once she hit the hottest of the hot list, the pressure of perfection has made her aware of every dot and dimple.
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