August 22, 2005
Bill BennerThe Indianapolisbased NCAA can be-and usually is-accused of a lot of things. Sticking its big, bureaucratic head in the sand
is not one of them, at least not any longer. Say what you will about the organization under the leadership of Myles Brand
since he came on board as president 2-1/2 years ago, but he has seen to it that wishy-washy is a term best left at the Laundromat.
Academic reform and accountability, student-athlete welfare, a streamlined legislative process, rules...
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August 22, 2005
Anthony SchoettleFormer University of Notre Dame and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Blair Kiel is leading a local group that thinks it can
put up big numbers with a series of sports DVDs. Kiel-along with former Indianapolis Colts marketing chief Ray Compton, Grand
Slam Cos.' Milton Thompson and Pathway Productions' Michael Husain-formed Legendary Sports LLC this year, and the company
is preparing to launch a string of video productions. Legendary Sports' debut DVD, "Inside the Irish Huddle," the tale of
the University of...
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August 22, 2005
Anthony SchoettleIt's not a new medical procedure, but a three-day event Compton calls "a magical place-home to both the steelworker and the
CEO." Testostorama Men's Expo, planned for Nov. 11-13 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, is being hyped to men of all ages
and backgrounds "as payback for all those years she dragged you to the Flower and Patio show." "We cooked up this event and
put a little edge to it," Compton said. Testostorama organizers expect more than 200 exhibitors-from...
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August 22, 2005
Bruce HetrickLast Sunday morning, I awoke before dawn. Dreading what was to come, I lingered in bed, watching the gray light of a cloudy
morning illuminate the houses across the way. Around 7:30, I worked up the energy to get out of bed. I took a shower, popped
my morning meds, and headed downstairs. As is their teen-age wont, both my boys were still asleep. So I retrieved The Star
and The New York Times from the driveway and glanced through...
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August 15, 2005
Anthony SchoettleAdidas' plan to buy Massachusettsbased Reebok International Inc. for $3.8 billion has put the future of Reebok's eastside
manufacturing plant in doubt again. Though Reebok officials insist the immediate future is secure for the 600,000-square-foot
operation off Post Road, industry experts say changes are on the way. Reebok took ownership of the facility in 2001 when it
bought Indianapolis-based licensed apparel maker Logo Athletic out of bankruptcy court. Since then, Reebok has invested heavily
and expanded local staff from 400...
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August 15, 2005
Bill BennerThis year the NCAA mandated that Division I-A football media guides be reduced to a uniform 212 pages. Keep in mind that these
fonts of information intended for inkstained wretches had morphed into voluminous pitch-tools for recruits and brag books
for boosters. The cutback didn't prevent Purdue's sports information office from devoting a copious 11 pages of copy in its
2005 guide to Joltin' Joe Tiller. Perhaps I (or you, dear reader) should read nothing more into that other than...
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August 8, 2005
Anthony SchoettleZak Brown retired as a race car driver years ago. But he's never moved faster than he does today as the founder and president
of Indianapolis-based Just Marketing. On the heels of this year's Brickyard 400, Brown expects to announce two more major
NASCAR sponsorship deals brokered by his company. Those deals-which he can't yet discuss-along with recent deals to bring
Johnnie Walker and Hilton Hotels to Formula One, will bring his sponsorship portfolio to near $150 million annually. Though...
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August 8, 2005
Bill BennerC H I C AG O - Almost a year ago in this space, I wrote about IU's then-new athletic director, Rick Greenspan, observing that
his arrival coincided with the beginning of football season, which would allow him to be immediately confronted with the Athletic
Department's most pressing and obvious problem. Under Gerry DiNardo, an uninspired choice to begin with, Hoosier football
was continuing its mired-in-the-muck ways, hopelessly spinning its wheels. Horrible as a game coach and even worse in...
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August 1, 2005
Riverview Hospital opened a Health Care Pavilion July 5 at 146th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway. The 15,000-square-foot facility
is the first building to open in the new $5.2 million health and fitness complex. The pavilion will be home to Hazel Dell
Family and Immediate Care, as well as several physicians specializing in such areas as women's health, preventive medicine
and sports medicine. The second building in the complex, the Riverview Health and Fitness Center, is slated to open in...
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August 1, 2005
Bill BennerIt is 10 a.m. on July 24 and, from several thousand miles and an ocean away, it is being reported that Lance Armstrong has,
indeed, won his seventh consecutive-and last-Tour de France. I pick up the telephone and dial Dr. Lawrence Einhorn at his
home here in Indianapolis. "What a way to go out," says the doctor, the pleasure obvious in his voice. "And it still gives
me goose bumps." What a championship pairing: Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor. Lawrence Einhorn,...
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August 1, 2005
Morton MarcusI'm on hold after calling Wishard Hospital's Adult Medicine Clinic at 7 a.m., as instructed, to get an appointment with my
doctor. My call is very important, the recorded message says, but no one is responding. First, I am told that if this call
concerns a "life-threatening situation," I should hang up and call 9-1-1. That's really helpful. Maybe other, more sophisticated
patients can identify a "life-threatening situation." I am always reluctant to make such a determination. Then I go...
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August 1, 2005
Anthony SchoettleWith unprecedented growth in Solheim Cup ticket and sponsorship sales, the LPGA is preparing to use the September event at
Crooked Stick Golf Club as a cornerstone for its new, racier marketing campaign. The LPGA, working with the Indiana Sports
Corp., quickly sold out the event earlier this year and expects more than 150,000 people to come through the turnstiles for
the three days of practice and three days of competition for the international women's golf event. "We had so...
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August 1, 2005
Scott OlsonA hotel built during an era in which Indianapolis first laid claim to its title of Amateur Sports Capital of the World has
a new owner that is spending millions of dollars to bring the structure into the new century. University Place Conference
Center & Hotel, on the campus of IUPUI, opened amid the fanfare of the Pan American Games hosted by Indianapolis in 1987.
Nearly 4,500 athletes from 38 countries converged on downtown, including a throng of media that...
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July 25, 2005
Bill BennerIt is Oct. 20, 1971. I am standing near Market and Alabama streets, where the groundbreaking has taken place for a venue to
be called Market Square Arena. The price tag is a salty $23 million, and the project has attracted critics and naysayers who
wonder about the city's priorities, especially since our mayor, Richard Lugar, is using federal revenuesharing funds to help
pay for the arena. Plus, Lugar has this wacky idea about using the arena as a catalyst...
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July 25, 2005
Anthony SchoettleTwo years after its launch, Radio Disney's local WRZD-FM 98.3 affiliate is outperforming many affiliates in the 55-station
network, even though traditional measures of its success are anything but magical. WRZD's rating by New York-based Arbitron
Inc., the industry's standard media research firm, shows the station barely cracking the top 20 in this market. But WRZD has
prospered through another number: listener calls per day. The station averages an eye-popping 4,070 calls a day, according
to officials at Radio Disney's...
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July 25, 2005
Anthony SchoettleA $34 million loan of sorts to the Indianapolis Colts from the National Football League brings the franchise and local officials
another step closer to signing a new stadium lease and drastically reduces what the team will spend out of pocket for the
stadium's construction. The National Football League approved a $34 million loan June 14 that will be applied to the Colts'
$100 million share of the $625 million downtown facility, which is scheduled to open in time for...
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July 18, 2005
Design matters, and architects aren't the only ones who should care. On the eve of two significant ground breakings, even
those of us who know nothing about facades and fenestration should consider what's about to take place here. Later this month,
the first dirt will be turned on the site of the city's new airport terminal, and we can assume that dignitaries will brandish
shiny shovels next month just south of the existing RCA Dome. In both cases, there will...
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July 18, 2005
Bill BennerIn this space and in other media forums, I have expressed optimism that the Indiana Pacers' Ron Artest will (a) make it through
an entire NBA season without incident, (b) perform like the selfless allstar he has been and can be again, and (c) therefore
justify the Pacer management's faith in keeping him in a blue-and-gold uniform. What I fear, of course, is that he'll do (d)
none of the above. Artest's talent is obvious. Unfortunately, so is his volatile,...
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July 18, 2005
Greg AndrewsWhen Indianapolis-based Hat World Corp. announced its $165 million sale to a Tennessee firm 17 months ago, it had posted increases
in same-store sales for an impressive 27 months in a row. Now, make that 42 and counting. Such a streak is almost unheard
of in the rough-and-tumble retail world, especially for a firm wrestling with the inevitable distractions that go along with
the transition from independence to ownership by a publicly traded company. "We have maintained the same momentum...
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July 18, 2005
Scott OlsonDeveloping an Internet home page that gives users more options for content than what behemoths such as America Online and
Yahoo! offer through their syndicated selections has become the ambition of George Witwer. The 46-year-old Bluffton native,
who once aspired to be Indiana governor, launched the northwest-side Humanizing Technologies in January 2000. With much of
the product's research and development in the can, the venture is close to weaning itself from investors and, for the first
time, could turn a...
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July 18, 2005
Anthony SchoettleThe Indiana Fever have reversed a fouryear attendance slide at a time when most WNBA teams are sliding backward. The team,
owned by Pacers Sports & Entertainment, has seen average per-game attendance grow from 7,589 last year to 7,926 this year.
With the Fever in the playoff hunt in second place in the Eastern Conference and several promotions planned, team officials
expect average attendance to climb higher the second half of the season. "The lifeblood of the WNBA is ticket...
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July 11, 2005
Anthony SchoettleA multifaceted sales and marketing effort is being executed amid a front-office reorganization that includes replacing the
team's longtime marketing mastermind and adding nine positions to bolster ticket and sponsorship sales. The offensive is being
quarterbacked by former strength and conditioning coach Tom Zupancic, who took over for Ray Compton when Compton left this
off-season to form a consulting firm. The team says its sales and marketing initiative is already putting up big numbers,
but today's good news will quickly...
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July 11, 2005
Julie GoldsmithWearing a pedometer, Kelly Dircksen treads 2,000 or so steps a day at the office, racking up her highest counts in her treks
to the photocopier. Her 2-1/2-mile daily goal entails after-work walks, as well. The 34-year-old quoting specialist said her
company pays 50 percent of any fitness-related costs for her and her family, including a Weight Watchers program, running
shoes for her kids, and the entry fee for her son's marathon. "I'm definitely healthier," said Dircksen, who celebrates incremental...
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July 11, 2005
Bill Benner- Luke 12:48 In light of the above Scripture, many would agree that among the most blessed creatures on this Earth are professional
athletes. As has been noted often, they receive handsome compensation to play games, and it doesn't really get much better
than that, does it? Along with the fortune, however, comes celebrity, and from celebrity comes attention. That means there
are no non-public public moments. The spotlight illuminates both the good and the bad. These thoughts come to...
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July 11, 2005
Bruce HetrickDear Lance: I've got an idea. I thought you might noodle it during that 239-kilometer, Stage 17 ride from Pau to Revel. It
might keep your mind off those flags people wave in your face. By way of background, you and I have much in common. Like you,
I'm a cancer survivor. As in your case, a physician from the Indiana University School of Medicine figured out how to treat
mine after others had botched it. Like you, I ride...
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See, I told u Indyman and Dipsicle....this 8 days is overkill. It's barely worth a weekend....great job Tony George! Your dream has been fulfilled....he fans want the I r l back. Thats how good it was.....and that sucked.
I have been in training for a short time now but right off I can see that safety and quality are the number one issues, my experience as of late has been a positive one, the employees along with Jeff the plant manager and the operation supervisor as well as the engineers are a highly motivated group of people, what an asset for the area to have and for company's in need of a quality metal products.
Pimlico
While I understand the severity of their actions as well as everyones eagerness to hold them responsible for thier lost funds, these gentlemen did know how to make money. Dispite thier poor decisions over the ownership of Fair they had made several wise investments which paid them greatly. This proves they do have the potential to rebuild so they can repay. I do not feel they should live the life of luxuary but given an opportunity could they find ways of repaying the debts? They are doing nothing now but being a burden on tax payers. Just a thought!!!!!
You guys have some "interesting" comments to say the least. I hope you will call in and share those opinions starting June 1. I'm looking forward to having you on the air.