LOUISE CRAWFORD, SPORTS ENTHUSIAST, ENTREPENEUR - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Louise (Perkins) Gebelein Crawford of South Dartmouth, anentrepreneur, gardener, and sports enthusiast, died Wednesday at herhome. She was 82.

Mrs. Crawford was born and reared in South Dartmouth. A 1939graduate of Concord Academy, she received an associate's degree fromErskine College in Boston in 1941. From the mid-1940s until 1954, shewas an office manager at Shepley, Bullfinch, Richardson and Abbott inBoston.

Mrs. Crawford lived in Grafton from 1954 through 1997, when shereturned to South Dartmouth. She founded and operated two businessesfrom home, Landscape Consulting and Design and OpportunitiesUnlimited, an employment consultancy. She also worked for GebeleinSilversmiths in Boston.

'She was very accomplished in many ways,' said her daughter, AnnaGebelein Keegan of Lunenburg.

From 1967 to 1980, she was director of athletics at the BancroftSchool in Worcester, where she also taught physical education.

In 1954, she married George Christian Gebelein Jr. He died in1967. In 1982 she married Bruce Crawford.

Mrs. Crawford was a member of the board of directors of St.Aidan's Chapel in South Dartmouth. She was a member of the PlannedParenthood League of Massachusetts, a past president of the GraftonGarden Club, and a member of the Garden Club of Buzzards Bay. She wasa member and served as a judge of the Garden Club of America, waspresident of the Grafton Tennis Club, and was a judge for the NewEngland Flower Show. She was also the founder of the Association ofIndependent Schools Girls' Athletics.

'She was very athletic and played tennis up until two years ago,'said Keegan. 'She was very energetic and exuberant and had anamazingly positive, upbeat attitude.'

According to her daughter, Mrs. Crawford enjoyed gardening, flowerarranging, and outdoor activities. 'She was constantly involved andat the end of her life she was doing what she was passionate aboutmost.'

In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Crawford leavesanother daughter, Louisa Gebelein Jones of Pomfret, Conn.; a son,George C. Gebelein III of Walpole; two sisters, Anne P. Mitchell ofSt. Augustine, Fla., and Elizabeth P. Moseley of Hamilton; twobrothers, John A. Perkins of Concord and James W. Perkin ofCambridge; and 10 grandchildren.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL: TRIBE SALE BEST WAY TO REALIZE CLUB'S TRUE VALUE. - Crain's Cleveland Business

Buying up chunks of stock didn't do it. Neither did a road show this month aimed at institutional investors. And on Wall Street, the best record in baseball was little more than an honorific.

In the end, the flagging shares of the Cleveland Indians Baseball Co. got their biggest boost from the announcement last week that majority owner Richard Jacobs, who turned the team into a perennial contender and a model of fiscal discipline, was taking himself out of the game.

Mr. Jacobs said his decision to sell the team was based on the robust market for professional sports franchises and a desire to hand-pick his successor, rather than a desire to enhance the ball club's stock price. But analysts said a sale -- most likely to a corporate buyer -- is the next logical step in creating a growth business from what at present is simply a highly successful baseball team.

``The easiest way to unlock the value of the franchise was by putting it up to the highest bidder,' said Robert L. Caporale, president of Game Plan LLC, a Boston-based investment banking firm that specializes in in the sports and entertainment industries.

``You're probably looking at a (sale) price of up to $300 million, given the recent prices of franchises and the strong state of this one, so it makes a lot of sense to sell,' Mr. Caporale said.

Since the Cleveland Indians Baseball Co. went public last June at $15 a share, its stock has languished and slid to $5.375 a share last October before rebounding somewhat after the IPO's underwriter, McDonald Investments, accumulated more than 600,000 shares of its common. The stock's sagging status changed last Thursday, May 13, with the announcement that the team was up for sale. The stock price soared 64% that day.

Based on Thursday's closing price of $16.25, the team is valued at about $225 million, though observers expect the franchise to sell for considerably more.

Asked whether he believed the IPO, the first ever by a major league baseball team, had met expectations, Mr. Jacobs, 73, said, 'I'm disappointed. In my opinion, the stock should have gone north rather than south. But I don't regret the decision (to go public). I don't regret it at all.'

Mr. Jacobs, who is chairman, president, chief executive officer and controlling stockholder of the baseball company, said the sluggish performance of the stock had no bearing on his decision to sell. However, he did note that he 'found it difficult to buy companies and put them in with the Cleveland Indians.'

Mr. Jacobs said at the time of the IPO that he was interested in buying hotels, media properties or other entities that could be rolled into the public company to help boost its value.

Because of the stock's disappointing performance, Mr. Jacobs couldn't use Indians shares to make acquisitions, Mr. Caporale said. There also was a 'relative lack of available, synergistic properties' in the market, Mr. Caporale said.

One property that offers synergy with the Indians, Fox Sports Ohio, is controlled by 'an obvious choice' to be the next owner of the Indians, said Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., who has written several books about the sports business.

Cablevision Systems Corp., a publicly traded cable and sports giant based in Woodbury, N.Y., is the majority owner of Rainbow Media Holdings Inc., which owns 50% of Fox Sports Net. That network of sports cable affiliates includes Fox Sports Ohio. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. owns the other half of Fox Sports Net.

Former Clevelander Charles Dolan is chairman of Cablevision. He and his brother, Larry, a lawyer from Chardon, were unsuccessful bidders for the Cleveland Browns franchise and tried to buy a stake in the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.

Fox Sports Ohio at the end of 1998 signed a six-year agreement with the Indians to serve as the team's cable home. The deal gives Fox Sports Ohio the right to telecast 70 games a year in the first two seasons and 75 games a year for the remaining seasons.

Joining the baseball team with Cablevision would give the cable company another high-profile sports engine to fuel growth, Mr. Zimbalist said. Through Rainbow Media, Cablevision owns Madison Square Garden in New York, which includes the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.

Morton Cohen, chairman of Clarion Capital Corp., a Cleveland-based venture capital firm, agreed that a corporate buyer makes sense.

``This is big money now; you've got to have a strategic interest to buy it, because there's not much leverage left in ticket prices and other revenue streams,' Mr. Cohen said.

Mr. Jacobs said he still enjoys owning the team -- and now makes a healthy profit on it -- but decided it was time to sell because of the strong market for sports franchises. The Texas Rangers were sold for $250 million last year, the Los Angeles Dodges fetched more than $300 million, and the National Football League's Washington Redskins recently were sold for a record $800 million, though that deal has yet to receive final approval.

Mr. Jacobs and his late brother, David, bought the team in 1986 for $36 million.

``I never had any interest in disposing of the franchise until recently, but there's a market for it,' Mr. Jacobs said. He said he has had no contact with potential buyers and would not speculate about who would be on that list, though he said it's likely that a corporate buyer would be able to pay more than an individual.

Mr. Zimbalist said Mr. Jacobs has chosen a good time to sell.

Rugby club made Sweet 16 - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

GLOBE SOUTH 1 / SPORTS

The Marshfield-based South Shore Anchors Rugby Football Clubadvanced to the Sweet 16 bracket of the 2007 Rugby NationalChampionships this month in Columbia, S.C., where they split twomatches, just missing a chance to go on to the Final Four.

The Anchors advanced to the national tournament by winning theNortheast Rugby Union Division 2 title with victories over BurlingtonRFC of Vermont, 42-25, and Old Gold RFC of Boston, 17-10.

The team, which trains in spring and fall at the South RiverSchool in Marshfield, is coached by David Gonzales of Plymouth. Theteam captain is Stephen Flaherty of Weymouth, and its slate ofofficers includes president Matt Pomella of Marshfield and vicepresident Brad Dzierzak of Bridgewater, who also maintains the team'swebsite, ssrugby.com.

'Our team is made up of players from all walks of life,' saidBrian Black of Hanson, the team's press secretary.

Rugby is considered to be the ancestor of American football andthe inspiration for the University of Michigan fight song, 'TheVictors,' composed after a rugby match.

Rugby teams have 15 players, who play on a field slightly widerthan a football field. Five points are scored by touching the balldown over the opponents' end line, two points are awarded for asuccessful conversion rush, and a drop kick gets you three points.Specific forms of tackling are allowed.

According to Pomella, the South Shore club's run to the Sweet 16has solidified its standing in Division 2 of the New England RugbyFootball Union, created more awareness of the sport, and helped inthe recruitment of players to the team from the college level andfrom among athletes who play other sports.

DORCHESTER`S DOCKSIDERS At this workingman's yacht club, even the here and now seems like the past - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Over at the Dorchester Yacht Club, they like to tell the storyabout the South Shore commuter who once pronounced the weatheredclubhouse with its fleet of gleaming white power boats 'the lastattractive thing' he'd see on his way into Boston.

On a lazy midsummer afternoon, a group of men who have known eachother so long they can finish each other's stories basks in the glowof that remembered praise. Sitting out on the clubhouse porch, withits frozen-in-time view of Dorchester Bay, they revel in swappingyarns.

'We have old-timers,' says Tom Cooney of the group, which on thisday includes Joe Coyne and Wally Cabral and Bob Welch. 'And we haveolder timers.'

'Do you remember the half-boat?' Cooney wants to know.

'That was a tourist attraction,' says Coyne, recalling the daythat 'a guy in a nice suit drove up in a Cadillac with his grandsonand wanted to see it.'

It seems that longtime member Al Wadluga had a doubleendedsteel-hull boat, 26 feet long and 10 feet wide, and was taking it upto Lynn for the winter when it ran up on the rocks.

'He just cut it in half and welded a plate on the stern,' saidCooney. 'People said it wouldn't float, but we used to go lobsteringin it.'

Stacked up against the Southeast Expressway on a body of waterthat is more pond than bay -- it's only 8 feet in the channel at lowtide -- the Dorchester Yacht Club is a place where even the here andnow seems like the past.

There are only three sailboats among the 150 or so powerboats atthe club, but when Robert Mirabito, the club's vice commodore, digsout a copy of the club's history, it is to reveal a bygone day whenit was a premier sailing club and the yacht America, for which theAmerica's Cup was named, was moored just off the clubhouse in the1870s.

That was long before Dorchester Bay Basin was enclosed as aresult of the construction of Morrissey Boulevard -- a time recordedin an old undated photograph that Robert Malinowski, the club'scommodore, produces. A gaff-rigged yawl sails past the clubhouse-- in its original location at the end of Freeport Street before itwas moved in 1955 during construction of the expressway -- with theopen waters beyond it.

These days, the tint of a bygone era still clings to the clubhouse-- nothing too obviously new here, nothing too fancy. This is, afterall, a workingman's club. It is also a women's club, as it was oneof the first yacht clubs in the state to admit women as regularmembers.

Old photographs decorate the Members' Room, a sanctum of sorts --except that the door is invariably open.

And around the walls in the upstairs meeting room -- the room witha picture-window view over Morrissey Boulevard to the Harbor Islands-- are faded banners commemorating the Dorchester Yacht Club'sparticipation in rendezvous with such yacht clubs as Town River inQuincy and Volunteer in Lynn.

Twice now the Dorchester Yacht Club has voted down proposals toseek a liquor license. 'We'd have no problem getting one,' saysCooney, 'but we want to keep it a family club.'

But he adds, ironically -- and gets a good laugh all around -- 'Iwas heartbroken at the time.'

Without a liquor license -- except for one-day permits for specialevents -- much of the club's socializing takes place in its 48wooden lockers, small rooms that are the senior members' hideaways.

'Years ago,' says John Kiley, a former commodore and a membersince 1957, 'they were used for storage of sails and gear andrubber boots. Then people started putting in iceboxes and fixingthem up the way they liked.'

Highly prized, the lockers are awarded by seniority. 'It took me28 years to get one,' says Welch.

Joining in on every yarn-swapping session is nonstop storytellerLenny 'The Quahog' Cornell, who explains that the nickname refers tohis first experience opening a clam.

'I didn't know about using a knife on it,' he says, demonstratingthe approved technique, 'so I stood it on its side and knocked itwith a hammer.'

'And you got it all over yourself,' says Malinowski.

'What you do with a clam now,' Welch contributes, 'is stick it inthe microwave for two seconds and it opens right up.'

Food is as hot a topic at the yacht club as boating, and a visitoris told he missed out on a memorable fish fry the day before --featuring cod and haddock caught off Jeffries Ledge during adaylong fishing trip on Malinowski's 25-foot sport fisherman, Nova.

As an obviously proud Mirabito tells it, his 12-year-old son,Ryan, caught the day's prize, a 15-pound cod.

'He was yelling, `I can't hold him. I can't hold him,' 'Mirabito recalls. 'So I told him to cut the line and let him go.But he said, `I can't do that, Dad,' and I guess he found someenergy.'

'It always works out that the littlest guy gets the biggest fish,'says Malinowski.

The catch was prepared by club member Gene Nardini, whom theold-timers describe admiringly as 'an artist,' with a little helpfrom a summer supply of basil he grows on the club porch.

Inevitably, the yarn swappers get around to talking about thewaterfront's needs.

Almost all of the club's 150 boats are in slips, which werecreated by running finger floats off the network of floats thatextend out over the tidal flats into the relatively deeper waterbeyond.

'They've got a life of 12 to 15 years,' Cooney says of thefloats, but they need constant repair.

On this afternoon, new member Pat Williams has volunteered torebuild one of the finger floats, so Cooney heads down the ramp toexplain the mechanics of float construction.

'I just want to haul it up on the dock today and see what I needto do,' says Williams.

There's got to be a 4-foot block of styrofoam at the end thatconnects to the main float, Cooney says, 'so it won't drag the mainfloat down.'

'Take your saw,' Cooney advises, 'and just cut those eye boltsoff.' They used to be the way to connect the floats, 'but they swingtoo much' and angle irons will be more rigid.

Williams, who has a new runabout, a small outboard boat, joinedthe club in March but observes that he has already fallen into thetime warp known as 'yacht club time.'

WORLD SPORTS at 0000 GMT - AP Worldstream

FOOTBALL:

ENGLISH DEBT

LONDON _ Heavily indebted Premier League clubs Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are accused in a British parliamentary report of engaging in "financial doping." Moved. By Rob Harris.

EXTRA TIME

LONDON _ With the end-of-season finals getting closer and intensity increasing in league title races, the Premier League managers influence more games than those played on the field. Moved. By Robert Millward.

ITALY-RACISM

MILAN _ An Italian league sports judge orders Juventus to play a match behind closed doors because of the racist insults hurled by fans at Inter striker Mario Balotelli during a Serie A match. Moved.

DRUG TESTING

BERN, Switzerland _ A leading anti-doping expert says that football players should be exempt from doping controls during summer vacations, an issue that has caused a rift between FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency. Moved. By Graham Dunbar.

CRICKET:

CHENNAI-BANGALORE

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa _ Matthew Hayden hits 65 off 35 balls and man-of-the-match Muttiah Muralitharan claims 3-11 to lead the Chennai Super Kings to a 92-run victory over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League.

IPL-PRISON PROTEST

CALCUTTA, India _ Prisoners in Calcutta's main prison go on a brief hunger strike in an effort to force authorities to allow them to watch a telecast of the Indian Premier League. Moved.

PAKISTAN-AUSTRALIA

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates _ Pakistan captain Younis Khan urges his team not to be complacent because Australia is missing three of its better players for a one-day international series. Moved.

RUGBY:

LIONS SQUAD-O'CONNELL

LONDON _ Ireland lock Paul O'Connell is expected to beat countryman Brian O'Driscoll to the role of Lions captain when the squad to tour South Africa is named on Tuesday. Moved.

TENNIS:

FED CUP-TEAMS

LONDON _ Dinara Safina is officially left off Russia's team to face Italy in the Fed Cup semifinals on Monday, the same day she takes over as the world's top-ranked women's tennis player. Moved.

BARCELONA OPEN

BARCELONA, Spain _ Igor Kunitsyn of Russia beats Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the first round of the Barcelona Open. Moved.

ATHLETICS:

BOSTON MARATHON

BOSTON _ Deriba Merga of Ethiopia overcomes the disappointment of his Olympic fade to win the Boston Marathon, and Salina Kosgei of Kenya won the women's race. Moved. By Jimmy Golen.

WITH:

_ BOSTON _ BC-ATH--BOSTON MARATHON-MEN'S WHEELCHAIR. Moved.

_ BOSTON _ BC-ATH--BOSTON MARATHON-WOMEN'S WHEELCHAIR. Moved.

OLYMPICS:

IOC-LONDON 2012

LONDON _ A year after inspectors gave London organizers "9.75 out of 10" for their work so far, IOC officials are returning to see how preparations for the 2012 Olympics are proceeding in the face of the global economic crisis. Moved. By Stephen Wilson.

WOMEN SKI JUMPERS

VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ Fifteen female international ski jumpers appear in a Canadian court seeking a ruling that women be allowed to compete in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Moved. By Jeremy Hainsworth.

ALSO:

_ WASHINGTON _ BC-NA--US-CHINA-TERROR DESIGNATION. Moved. By Jeannine Aversa.

BOXING:

KLITSCHKO-HAYE

LONDON _ World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko fights off a barrage of David Haye's insults and interruptions and vowed to send the outspoken challenger back to the cruiserweights with a 12th-round knockout. Moved. By Robert Millward.

HORSE RACING:

HUNGARIAN COLT

HAYDOCK, England _ Hungarian-owned colt Overdose, which has become a national hero back home after winning all its 12 races, is headed for next month's Temple Stakes at England's Haydock Park. Moved.

GOLF:

WOODS-CONGRESSIONAL

BETHESDA, Maryland _ Tiger Woods' knee is fine. The family's fine. The preparations for his tournament are fine and this time he is actually set to play. Moved. By Joseph White.

CORNING CLASSIC

CORNING, New York _ The LPGA Corning Classic, the longest-running event on the ladies tour with the same title sponsor and played at the same venue since its inception in 1979, will end in May, a victim of the credit crunch.

ALSO:

_ INDIANAPOLIS _ BC-CAR--IRL-INDY 500 ENTRIES. Moved. By Steve Herman.

_ WELLINGTON, Florida _ BC-NA--US-DEAD POLO HORSES. Moved. By Brian Skoloff.

_ SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York _ BC-RAC--Hall of Fame. Moved.

_ CLEVELAND _ BC-BKN--NBA COACH OF YEAR. Moved.

FA CUP; MIDLAND CLUBS ONLY.(Football) - The Birmingham Post (England)

PRELIMINARY ROUND DRAW: Buxton v Atherstone United; Willenhall Town v Solihull Borough; Belper Town v Paget Rangers; Pelsall Villa v Knypersley Victoria; Stafford Town v Cradley Town; Oadby Town v Leek Town; Blackstone v Bromsgrove Rovers; Mickleover Sports v Stapenhill; Bloxwich United v Gresley Rovers; Halesowen Harriers v Redditch United; Bilston Town v Gedling Town; Halesowen Town v Chasetown; Rocester v Boldmere St Michaels; Oldbury United v Bedworth United; Newcastle Town v Shepshed Dynamo; Glossop North End v Stourbridge; Shifnal Town v Rushall Olympic; Barwell v Racing Club Warwick; Stourport Swifts v Rugby United; Staveley MW v Stratford Town; Bridgnorth Town v Sutton Coldfield Town; Banbury United v Ware; Chard Town v Evesham United; Cinderford Town v Bideford; Mangotsfield United v Clevedon Town; Weston super Mare v Taunton Town; Cirencester Town v Gloucester City; Clevedon United v Barnstaple Town; Shepton Mallet v Chippenham Town.

To be played on Saturday September 1.

FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND: Corby Town or Alfreton Town Newcastle Town or Shepshed Dynamo; Belper Town or Paget Rangers v Oadby Town or Leek Town; Matlock Town or Holbeach United v Bilston Town or Gedling Town; Mickleover Sports or Stapenhill v Blackstone or Bromsgrove Rovers; Halesowen Town or Chasetown v Staveley MW or Stratford Town; Arnold Town or Kidsgrove Athletic v Shifnal Town or Rushall Olympic; Bloxwich United or Gresley Rovers v Halesowen Harriers or Redditch United; Lincoln United or Spalding United v Stourport Swifts or Rugby United; Rocester or Boldmere St Michaels v Barwell or Racing Club Warwick; Buxton or Atherstone United v Oldbury United or Bedworth United; Glossop North End or Stourbridge v Pelsall Villa or Knypersley Victoria; Willenhall Town or Solihull Borough v Bridgnorth Town or Sutton Coldfield Town; Stafford Town or Cradley Town v Borrowash Victoria or Boston Town; Banbury United or Ware v Tilbury or Wealdstone; Cirencester Town or Gloucester City v Bournemouth or Dorchester Town; Chard Town or Evesham United v Fairford Town; Weston super Mare or Taunton Town v Mangotsfield United or Clevedon Town; Shepton Mallet or Chippenham Town v Street or Frome Town.

To be played on Saturday September 15.

FA VASE

FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND DRAW: Walsall Wood v North Notts; Rainworth MW v Highfield Rangers; Halesowen Harriers v Stourbridge; St Andrews v Birstall United; Dunkirk v Friar Lane OB; Westfields v Stratford Town; Stapenhill v Tividale; Ibstock Welfare v Oldbury United; Quorn v Stafford Town; Marconi v Heath Hayes; Gornal Athletic v Chasetown; Anstey Nomads v Cheslyn Hay; Torrington v Pershore Town.

To be played on Saturday September 8.

SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND DRAW: Knypersley Victoria v Rainworth MW or Highfield Rangers; Glapwell v Pegasus Juniors; Anstey Nomads v Kimberley Town or Cheslyn Hay or Kidsgrove Athletic; Long Eaton United v Boldmere St Michaels; Brierley Hill Town v Holwell Sports; Alvechurch v Shirebrook Town; Kirby Muxloe v Glossop North End; Ibstock Welfare or Oldbury United v v Holbeach United; Lincoln Moorlands v Willenhall Town; Causeway United v West Midlands Police; Barrow Town v Shawbury United; Quorn or Stafford Town v Grosvenor Park.

Star v Halesowen Harriers or Stourbridge; Marconi or Heath Hayes v Bolehall Swifts; Dunkirk or Friar Lane OB v Studley BKL; South Normanton Athletic v Bridgnorth Town; Nuneaton Griff v Downes Sports; Malvern Town v Blackstone; Ludlow Town v Westfields or Stratford Town; Dudley Town v Cradley Town; Collingham v Meir KA; Handrahan Timbers v Buxton; Pelsall Villa v Stapenhill or Tividale.

Gedling Town or Deeping Rangers v Gornal Athletic or Chasetown; Bourne Town v Walsall Wood or North Notts; Kings Heath v St Andrews or Birstall United; Wolverhampton Casuals v Staveley MW; Shifnal Town v Leek CSOB; Ford Sports Daventry or Biggleswade United v Hullbridge Sports; Torrington or Pershore Town v Frome Town; St Blazey or Backwell United v Gloucester United.

To be played on Saturday September 22.

FA TROPHY

FIRST ROUND DRAW: Bilston Town v Gresley Rovers; Hednesford Town v Racing Club Warwick; Gateshead v Redditch United; Ashton United v Rocester; Moor Green v Bamber Bridge; Guiseley v Stafford Rangers; Ilkeston Town v Gainsborough Trinity; Rossendale United v Bedworth United; Atherstone United v Spennymoor United; Barrow v Halesowen Town; Sutton Coldfield Town v Hucknall Town; North Ferriby United v Shepshed Dynamo; Hinckley United v Eastwood Town; Bloxwich United v Solihull Borough; Leek Town v Tamworth; Dulwich Hamlet v Evesham United; Barking v Cinderford Town; Uxbridge v Cirencester Town; Worcester City v Mangotsfield United; Banbury United v Windsor & Eton; Cambridge City v Gloucester City; Kettering Town v Swindon Supermarine; Rugby United v Bognor Regis Town.

Bye: Stourport Swifts.

Sports Log - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

NFL

Colts sign Luck to four-year contract

The Indianapolis Colts signed No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck to afour-year, $22.1 million contract Thursday. The quarterback's agentand uncle, Will Wilson, confirmed the deal and Colts owner Jim Irsaytweeted the news. The former Stanford QB replaces Peyton Manningthis season . . . The NFL didn't cite specifics but suspendedChicago Bears defensive tackle Nate Collins for the 2012 seasonopener for violating its substance abuse policy. He was also finedan additional game's salary . . . Former Patriots cornerback RandallGay is among 18 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday inNew Orleans, accusing the NFL of failing to protect players fromconcussion risks . . . Rams defensive end Robert Quinn is facing adrunken-driving charge after a one-car accident in a St. Louissuburb last week.

NBA

Lin 'thankful' to be with Rockets

Jeremy Lin thought he'd be having a news conference in New York.Instead, he was talking about his deal with the Houston Rockets onthe same practice court where he worked in virtual anonymity sevenmonths ago before he was waived. Lin became a Rocket again when theKnicks decided not to match Houston's three-year, $25 million offer.''It's been an unbelievable ride,'' said Lin, the 23-year-old formerHarvard star. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said the teamplans to sign Bulls center Omer Asik to a three-year, $25 millionoffer sheet Friday . . .

Thunder center Kendrick Perkins had surgery for a ligament tearin his left wrist. Perkins was injured in the Western Conferencefinals and played through it in the NBA Finals. Perkins, who hadgroin surgery last week, is expected to be ready for next season . .. The Bulls signed free agent forward Vladimir Radmanovic . . .

The Mavericks signed shooting guard O.J. Mayo; terms were notdisclosed.

Baseball

Yankees' Gardner to have surgery

Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner is scheduled for arthroscopicsurgery on his troublesome right elbow next week, likely ending hisseason. He has been sidelined April 18 . . . Cardinals pitcher ChrisCarpenter, 37, is expected to be back for the 2013 season aftersurgery to repair a nerve injury in his right shoulder. TheCardinals say rehabilitation should take 2-3 months . . . The Royalssigned former All-Star catcher Jason Kendall to a minor leaguecontract . . . Prosecutors are urging a federal appeals court touphold Barry Bonds's obstruction of justice conviction. The filingis in response to the home run king's attempt to overturn a felonyconviction for misleading a grand jury.

Golf

Bohn (64) leads True South Classic

Jason Bohn shot an 8-under-par 64 to take an early lead at thePGA Tour's True South Classic before heavy rain halted play in theafternoon in Madison, Miss. Luke Guthrie, a 22-year-old in just histhird professional tournament, opened with a 65. He finished lastweek's John Deere Classic tied for fifth . . . Christopher Swift,who plays out of Great River Golf Club in Connecticut, won the NewEngland Amateur by five strokes and finished 2 under at Falmouth(Maine) Country Club. Herbie Aikens of Pinehills GC tied for second. . . Meghan Khang of Rockland lost her second-round match to CaseyDanielson of Osceola, Wis., 3 and 2, at the US Girls JuniorChampionship in Daly City, Calif. . . . Nicolas Echavarria ofColombia beat Jake Shuman of Needham, 4 and 3, at the US JuniorAmateur in a second-round match at the Golf Club of New England inStratham, N.H. . . . Samantha Marks of Maitland, Fla., defended hertitle at the Deutsche Bank Partners for Charity Junior Shoot Outwith a bogey-free 70 at the Golf Club of Cape Cod. In the boys'division, Robert Deng of Irvine, Calif., won by four shots. JonathanWoods of Duxbury tied for fourth.

Miscellany

USADA seeks to end Armstrong suit

The US Anti-Doping Agency filed a motion asking a judge todismiss Lance Armstrong's federal lawsuit seeking to prevent thedrug-fighting organization from pursuing doping charges against him.The motion, filed in Austin, Texas, cites the Ted Stevens AmateurSports Act, which gives USADA jurisdiction over athletes who competein Olympic sports. It also includes a 2005 affidavit from USADA CEOTravis Tygart stating that Armstrong took part in USADA's testingprogram and was under its jurisdiction -- the opposite claimArmstrong is making in the current case . . . A New York courtupheld a 10-year ban on horse racing in the state levied againstKentucky Derby-winning thoroughbred trainer Rick Dutrow Jr.

. . .

It sports wrong label - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Joe Montana must have cleaned up a few bucks for putting on apair of high shoes called 'City Walkers' and pretending to . . .well, to be doing something.

What he was doing was walking. A number of high buildings roseabove him and there was a bus in the immediate background, so thatmeant he was in some city.

Get it?

If you go for a walk as in just going for a walk, what you'redoing is just going for a walk. Sort of like just sitting on theporch or just paddling along in the water. Nothing really.

But if you put on the special $80 shoes, then you'reparticipating in a sport. If you do it in the mountains, of course,it's more often called hiking and the terrain sometimes requires thesupport of true hiking boots, especially coming downhill 3,000vertical feet with a 50-pound pack on your back.

This is rigorous stuff and most certainly would be a kind ofsport. But it's far more than taking a walk, as anyone can figureout.

So the shoe companies really must have put one over on us to getus to buy special shoes just to go for a walk. And they reallyscored if they got anyone to buy city walkers to go for walks in thecity.

I suppose I would have to get special suburban walking shoes forthe walks I take around home, and leave a pair of city walking shoesfor walks I take out around JFK Library while at work or . . . isthat really the city or would I need my suburban walkers? That loopsure doesn't feel like the city, but it does have a city zip code.Which I guess is how in the end you'd figure out which shoes to puton.

The other day, my wife and I took a walk along the loop aroundCastle Island in South Boston. It's a nice walk with swards ofgrass, and the historic fort, and a walkway that loops out aroundPleasure Bay up toward Kelly's Landing and back, giving walkers anice view of the harbor.

The problem there is dogs and what they leave behind, whichrequires a whole new sort of footwear designed along the lines ofwhat Farmer MacGregor wears down in the cow barn. Threepossibilities come to mind here: (1) The dogs' owners don't see theoffending behavior taking place, in which case it must be going onbehind the owner, who must be dragging the dog along at the time ofthe behavior; (2) the dogs' owners don't care about the result oftheir dog's behavior and immediately disavow responsibility for itssudden appearance on the landscape; (3) knowing how idiotic most dogowners are about this species which humans have pretty much bred thenobility out of, owners actually think the result of Poochie'sbehavior is something akin to strawberry ice cream. They leave itthere to be admired, for heaven's sake.

Anyway, a friend of mine who is a lifelong resident of Southietells me that what besmirches the walkways of Castle Island was leftthere by dogs other than South Boston dogs.

People in Southie, he says, are responsible for their dogs'behavior, and the non-strawberry ice cream found all over the walkwayaround Pleasure Bay is left by outside dogs, most likely from Milton.

'The worst thing that ever happened to Castle Island,' he says,'was the Tall Ships. When they came, the place was discovered by theoutside world and hasn't been the same since.'

But we arrive at a larger question: Though dodgingnon-strawberry ice cream in the quantities one finds at Castle Islandmay require very sure foot-eye coordination skills, is walking asport?

There are those who believe in their bones that if you can'tthrow it, kick it or hit it with a stick, it ain't a sport. Whichlets out such things as running a marathon or skiing down an icytrail trying to make precise turns at 80 miles per hour.

The hook 'n' bullet sports are always a bit suspect. Hard toimagine that a guy sitting in a deck chair drinking a beer whilewaiting for a strike is engaged in a sport. But then there's the guyfighting a 400-pound shark for an hour, dropping exhausted when it'sall over. Or the angler who has spent a lifetime learning the subtleart of finding the shy trout and fooling it out of the dark with ahomemade insect imitation. Sport?

To be sure, this is an eye-of-the-beholder sort of thing. Ifsport is the contrivance of an adversary whose defeat depends onone's ability and desire to excel, then the world of sport is verybroad indeed.

But walking? I see the special magazines, the clothes,advertisements for walking clubs to go scooting around together atdawn. Nice and convivial. But somehow the image of a networkinggroup dressed in coordinated Spandex clothes and expensive shoes towalk around a shopping mall -- the sad replacements for good olddowntown -- is a vision of the modern world that alarms me.

I mean, how far do you have to walk before you're doing a sport,anyway? From the house to the garage, or the whole AppalachianTrail?

Upscale club opens in low-budget mall - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Сводка недоступна. Нажмите эту ссылку, чтобы открыть запись.

HOPING THIS STORY OF LOCAL SPORTS FAN HAS HAPPY ENDING - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Todd Hill's friends know how theatrical he can be. They also knowhow much he loves to play games. Now that Hill's life is in danger,his friends are praying for an encore.

They want to hear his standard response to jokes that go oversomeone's head: 'You can't use 617 jokes in 508 area codes.' They arehoping that he somehow walks away from the rubble in New York,promising to give them all of the miraculous details. As grim asthings now appear to be, they almost expect Hill to call at anymoment.

'I know it's a cliche, but if anyone can make it out of somethinglike this, it's Hill,' Joe Chernov, Hill's roommate of nine years,said yesterday. 'If it was me, people would know I'm a goner. But notHill. One of our friends said it best, `Hill lives his life as ifthere's a trap door in every room.' That fits him perfectly. He's thetype of guy who can negotiate with falling rocks.'

Hill and Chernov are not famous athletes. They are sports fans whonever saw a day like yesterday coming. They used to spend Sundaysplaying John Madden video games and watching the NFL on twotelevisions in their South End apartment. But yesterday, the day thatall sports stood still, Chernov found himself sitting in theFrancesca's Cafe on Tremont Street, sipping iced coffee. He waswishing for games, wishing for something that temporarily would takehis mind off the quandary - at least - facing the 34-year-oldsalesman he simply refers to as Hill.

Hill was last heard from on Tuesday morning. He took a businesstrip to New York and stayed at the Marriott World Trade Center. Hewas on the 17th floor of the hotel when the first of the Twin Towerswas struck at about 8:45 a.m. He sent an e-mail to Boston at 9:49,telling a friend that he was waiting to be evacuated from hisbuilding. He logged off his computer at 9:52. About eight minuteslater, the World Trade Center collapsed.

Was Hill, a notorious free spirit, able to realize what danger hewas in and make it out of the hotel in time? That's what his friendsare hoping. They have seen him get in and out of some remarkablesituations, and that's what inspires them now.

This is the same Hill who once went up to Matt Lawton, then anoutfielder with the Minnesota Twins, thinking he was Red Soxoutfielder Troy O'Leary. Lawton corrected him and, eventually, he wasshowing Lawton around Boston.

This is the same Hill who won a trip to Cabo San Lucas forexceeding his sales quota. He went marlin fishing on the trip,although he never had been fishing in his life. While everyone elsecame up empty, he didn't.

This is the same Hill who once went out to a club with a friendand convinced everyone that he was a sports agent and that his friendwas an up-and-coming superstar.

'He lives his life with an absence of caution,' Chernov said witha smile. 'He doesn't take much of anything seriously.' Chernov, whoheads a public relations firm called Upper Right PR, paused. 'I don'teven know what verb tense I should be using. I'm hoping for the best;I'm not going to use the `d' word.'

The 'd' word doesn't fit a Boston sports fan who has so muchverve. Hill used to tell his friends that he would 'single-handedly'run Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette out of town. He is a bigJimy Williams and UMass basketball fan. He once called the Globe andcomplained that the sports section seemed to be pro-Boston Collegeand anti-UMass.

Chernov said he and Hill have had no major arguments - 'and acouple disagreements' - in nine years. They both love sports, theyboth like to laugh, and they are both used to bill collectors callingthem because they pay so late. With no games yesterday, Chernov wasentertained with the thought of Hill coming into the apartment,frantic about the boot on his car.

'He's so dramatic,' Chernov said. 'He never pays his tickets. Andhe always wants to use my credit card.

'He's a great guy. You've got to meet him.'

Since Hill has been gone, there have been no games on TV in theapartment. The phone rings often, with friends and family hoping tohear some good news about a good sports fan. Chernov was looking atpictures yesterday, pictures that remind him of good times. In one,Hill had a big smile at a friend's wedding. In another, he washolding a pair of sunglasses, still looking relaxed, still smiling.

'When Duquette leaves town, I'm going to miss Hill like crazy,'Chernov said. 'We always talk about stuff like that. Terry Glenn wasreinstated. He still doesn't know that, either.'

AVANCE! A FENCING TEEN CLIMBS HIGH AS A SPORT ENJOYS AN URBAN RENAISSANCE, WOODHOUSE JOINS ITS YOUTHFUL ELITE - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Talk to Enoch Woodhouse 3d about fencing and he gets right to thepoint.

'It's not like any other sport. There is strategizing. You aretrying to anticipate and adjust to your competitor,' says the MissionHill teenager, describing how a fencer must retreat at times toprepare for his attack, as in a chess game. 'It's something that Iwork hard at. It's something I enjoy.'

And excels at.

Woodhouse, 17, ranked sixth in the Junior World Cup games in thejunior men's foil competition in September in Kentucky and capturedninth place last April in the Junior/Cadet World Championships inTurkey in the youth-under-17 foil.

At the Boston Fencing Club in Waltham, there is a special pridethat Woodhouse has joined the fencing elite.

'He's come very far over the years,' said Linda Merritt, theclub's president. 'He has pretty much grown up here.'

Curiosity as a youngster - and a father who once fenced - ledWoodhouse to the fierce but elegant and artistic sport.

At age 7, Woodhouse was 'fooling around with some of my old foilsaround the house,' said his father, Enoch Woodhouse II, a formerofficer with the Tuskegee airmen of World War II fame and a fencerduring his Yale undergraduate days. 'I told him, `If you want tofence, it's a discipline. You have to work hard and it takes a lot ofpractice.' '

The senior Woodhouse enrolled his son at the Boston Fencing Club,and watched from behind a glass window as young Enoch climbed inlocal and national competitions in foil events. (In the foil event,a point is earned when the tip of the sword lands on the opponent'storso).

Woodhouse emerged in the sport when he won second place in theunder 11-foil competition during the 1996 Junior Olympics inKentucky.

Although most of his classmates at Roxbury Latin prefer othersports, fencing is closest to Woodhouse's heart. 'It's a littleunorthodox because it's not the classic football or basketball, butit's normal to me,' he said, adding that the sport has been enjoyingan urban renaissance in recent years, and in pop culture, as well. (Isn't that Madonna dueling herself in her newest video, the themefrom the James Bond movie 'Die Another Day'?)

Fencing has also taken Woodhouse far - to Spain, France, Germany,and, on this side of the Atlantic, to South Carolina. It was therelast year, at the age of 16, that he took 15th place in the 19-and-under foil field and tied for third place in the 16-and-under foilcompetition at the US National Fencing Championships.

He spends at least three days a week at the fencing club inWaltham, training for about two hours a day with his coach.Sometimes, he passes on his fencing prowess to younger fencers on theweekends.

His style tends to be more offensive than defensive in the duels.In his practices, he often charges, dashing like a young Zorro.

When he's not fencing or 'kicking it back' with his friends, thesenior at Roxbury Latin is focusing on what he will do after his highschool graduation.

He is applying to colleges and although he isn't sure where he'llend up, the school has to have collegiate fencing.

'It's a part of me,' said Woodhouse, as a chorus of clashing foilsclick-clack nearby. 'I cannot imagine myself not fencing.'

Their money's on the home team ; As budgets remain low, supporters and parents chip in thousands to keep school sports afloat - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Unlike the Red Sox, Anna Karski and other members of the HullBoosters Club Inc. can't afford to have a bad year.

That is because varsity sports at the high school are hanging inthe balance, always in danger of being cut if the money isn't raisedto keep them going.

Hull High boosters, area families, and other supporters are inthe fourth year of virtually self-funding the school's athleticprograms. After a property tax override failed in May 2009, theathletic budget of $240,000 for Hull High sports was reduced tozero. In May 2010, the town again voted down an override that wouldhave restored much of the school budget, and with it the athleticbudget.

The school budget now includes $40,000 for coaching salaries, butthe remaining funds needed to sustain the program -- about $220,000for this year, according to the athletic director, Jim Quatromoni --have to come from athletic fees charged to families or from moneythat is privately raised or donated.

The Pirates have managed to keep the lights on, thanks to a corpsof highly motivated volunteers and a policy of cutting expenseswherever possible, including some road games and nonleague contests.

Hull is hardly alone in needing to raise money to keep sportsprograms going. In the 46 public high school districts in the GlobeSouth coverage area, only seven do not impose athletic fees. In thepast two years, 11 districts have either instituted or increasedathletic fees, while three districts have decreased them. Inaddition, 19 districts impose non-sport activity fees, for suchthings as drama clubs, at high schools.

As communities struggle with tight budgets amid the economicdownturn and a continuing aversion to broad-based tax increases,several schools south of Boston are relying on dedicated boosterclubs of parents and fans.

In Abington, for example, the Green Wave Booster Club has raisedabout $75,000 in the last three years to help keep Abington High'ssubvarsity teams in business and assist in other areas of thebudget.

In Bridgewater, a group that was formed in 2004 to save sports atthe high school finances items that the district and sports budgetcannot afford.

Karski has been involved with the Hull boosters for six years,since her daughter Elena was in the eighth grade.

In Hull, the funds raised by boosters had long supplemented thebudget, buying jackets and other extras. But after May 2009, whenthe sports budget was slashed, they became vital to the programs.

'I can recall being devastated at first,' Karski said. 'Afterall, sports, drama, all the fun stuff, it's all part of high school.I couldn't imagine my kids not having that full experience.'

Elena went on be a captain in basketball and also played soccer.Son Calvin is a Hull High junior, playing basketball and soccer. 'Idon't know how many people other than Jim [Quatromoni] could havelasted this long doing this,' Karski said.

Over the past few years, she said, the core group of volunteershave fed off one another's energy.

'We didn't want to let each other down,' she said.

She said she has also been heartened by the outpouring ofsupport. 'The townspeople have been wonderful. They've donatedcruise boats for our midnight cruises; they wear the boosterstickers proudly on their vehicles. I wouldn't change any of theexperiences I've had.'

The sports boosters also try to help in areas outside of sports,such as renting a bus for a field trip or enrichment trip.

'It's such a small town, and we're all in this together,' Karskisaid.

She doesn't see the extensive fund-raising or user fees goingaway any time soon, but hopes there will be some light at the end ofthe tunnel.

'We just have to find ways that the entire burden doesn't fall onthis committee,' she said.

Quatromoni said the number of students requiring a waiver of feeshas increased in recent years. That, in turn, has exacerbated budgetproblems, leading to an effort that asks residents to sponsor thefees of student-athletes who cannot pay.

The story is much the same in Abington, where the Green WaveBoosters long supported Abington High athletics with the traditionaljackets, awards, and banquet. But when the town faced hard budgetchoices three years ago after a failed override and it seemedsubvarsity sports would be eliminated, they stepped up theirefforts.

'If we didn't get that money, I'd hate to even think about wherewe'd be,' said Abington High's athletic director, Steve Moore.

The booster club president, Chris Nagle, had two daughters gothrough Abington High and now has a son who is a junior. The groupruns such activities as going door-to-door each October, or hostinga Teamwork Trivia night and a comedy night in conjunction with youthfootball. Then there are the usual concession stands at AbingtonHigh athletic events.

'We're always looking for new members and new ideas,' said Nagle,who has been president for three years and involved in fund-raisingfor eight years. 'Our motto is, 'Keep them in cleats and off thestreets.' '

What keeps him and the rest of the boosters going is the supportfrom residents. 'The townspeople, the high school alumni, they comeout in droves to support our fund-raisers,' Nagle said. 'It neverceases to amaze me.'

Nagle said there is a core group of 15 to 18 volunteers. Theyfeel the pressure with the schools and student-athletes counting onthe money, and he wonders what would happen if they had a bad year.

The town and the schools need to find another way to pay forsubvarsity sports on a more permanent basis, he said. 'Sooner orlater, this [money] has to be in the budget,' said Nagle. 'I don'tthink anyone involved in the schools wants us to feel that kind ofpressure.'

The Friends of Bridgewater-Raynham Athletics was born during the2004 budget crisis that threatened the existence of the athleticprogram. Since then, it has morphed into a group that funds capitalprojects or items that the school or town budgets cannot afford.

In recent years, that includes a $35,000 resurfacing of the highschool track, new scoreboards for the soccer field and the fieldhockey/softball complex, and the sweeper arm that, attached to atractor, grooms the artificial turf field.

'Generally speaking, we're going to do something that lasts morethan a year, said Friends president Paige Heath. 'We leave theuniforms to the schools and the teams.'

The group raises about $28,000 a year through businesssponsorships, and generates thousands more by staffing concessionstands and the annual 'Mr. B-R' pageant, which features male seniorsin formal wear showing off their talents and answering beautypageant-style questions.

'They've been a godsend,' said Bridgewater-Raynham's athleticdirector, Dan Buron, of the Friends.

'They've allowed us to keep our heads above the water and me tofocus on the core of the program,' he said.

In Weymouth, school sports for the past five years were largelyfunded by user fees, gate admissions, fund-raisers, donations, andadvertisements by town businesses. In one year, the school budgetallocated $100,000 for athletics, but in other years the program wasdependent on user fees and other outside sources of income.

This year, fund-raisers got some relief when the School Committeeprovided $300,000 for the sports budget, leaving just a $100,000gap.

'I think for the last five years, we've run a streamlined andsuper-efficient program, and that's allowed us to overcome financialchallenges,' said athletic director Kevin Mackin.

Mackin praised members of the booster club for their hard workand the support from businesses in town, and said the budget wouldallow everyone to 'take a breath.'

Karski of Hull, and Abington's Nagle said they believe they arenot being taken for granted and that students appreciate the workthat goes into raising the money.

When students and parents convene to register for fall sports,Karsi said, they are reminded that there would be no sports withoutthe fund-raising.

'We make sure the kids are a part of this effort and haveownership in it in some way,' she said.

'At the annual banquet, we ask kids who played subvarsity sportsthat year to stand up,' said Nagle. 'We say to the parents, 'Yoursons and daughters wouldn't be playing sports if it weren't for thepeople in this room.' I think they understand that.'

Failed Fenway health club giving lawyers a workout - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Things weren't going so well.

Barely 15 months after it opened, the Adam Berke Gym, the much-publicized, upscale Fenway fitness center, was buckling under acrush of messy financial problems and a sometimes violent familydispute.

Personal trainer Adam Berke, 34, trying to save his eponymousfacility from extinction, proposed to his landlords that he turn thesleek, moodily lit gym at 1260 Boylston St. into a sleek, moodily litbar.To several in the fitness industry, that ambition typified anidentity problem that doomed the Adam Berke Gym to failure almostbefore it opened. The gym, said its critics, was too scene-driven,too image-conscious -- in short, too much like a bar from the verystart.Indeed, the splashy rise and thudding fall of the Adam Berke Gymis more than a tale of financial and familial chaos. It is also thestory of a kind of cultural clash, between a man who apparently sawsuccess in conspicuous glamour and a city far better known for itspersistent practicality.Positioning his stylish facility at the top end of the market,Berke, who for several years had been a fixture on the city's youngersocial scene, tried to attract affluent, image-conscious members.Dues in the beginning were as high as $1,500 a year. The gymoffered not only treadmills and barbells, but lavish extras includinggilt mirrors, subtle lighting, valet parking, and a sofa-strewn juicebar that also served wine. There were plans for an oxygen room,where members could breathe in oxygen-enriched -- even scented --air, as they do in some Los Angeles clubs.Berke, who declined to be interviewed for this story, and his newgym garnered flattering publicity in national magazines such as Vogueand GQ. Boston magazine gave Berke two 1998 Best of Boston awards:Best Personal Trainer, for his professional competence, and BestPublic Sculpture, for his physique.Ordinarily, that kind of publicity would lead to healthy trade.But local fitness fanatics, say other gym owners, want few frillswith their Stairclimbers and spinning classes. Here in Boston, theysay, people like their workouts nice and simple.'There are places, like L.A. and New York, where they go to{health} clubs to be seen,' said Cathy Masterson McNeill, spokeswomanfor the International Health, Racket and Sports Club Association.'But that doesn't tend to happen in Boston. Here, they like a niceenvironment, but it's not image for image's sake.'Sooner or later, most of the fitness professionals seeking toexplain the problems at the Adam Berke Gym arrived at the C-word.'Boston, just by its nature, is very conservative,' said MarkHarrington, president of Healthworks Fitness Centers. 'People don'twant trendiness in their life, and they want a product they can counton. Adam Berke had a lot of publicity, but that just wasn'timportant to the consumer we know.'Those consumers stayed away from the new gym, and it was ailingvirtually since its much-ballyhooed arrival in October 1997.'There were very few people working out there,' said Bonnie Jones,a Fenway resident who first visited the gym Jan. 7 for trainingsessions with Berke. 'It seemed strange to me.'The gym also suffered from more practical problems. Few residentsof student-filled Fenway could afford the high fees, and there waslimited parking for patrons from more affluent neighborhoods.'He was doing high-end stuff, but it was absolutely in the wronglocation,' said Paul Crisostamo, owner of Mike's Gym in the SouthEnd.And the club's decor may have alienated some potential members.'If a gym is to be successful, it has to be into health and notaesthetics,' Crisostamo said. 'It was more a nightclub atmospherethan a gym.'McNeill agreed. 'One reason you exercise is to feel energy, andup,' she said. 'A dark atmosphere, I think, is counter-intuitive.'A year after it opened, Berke had cut the club's fee, offeringfull-year memberships for as little as $99. But he was still unableto attract enough members to appease his creditors.Jones did venture into the gym, to engage Berke as a personaltrainer based on the Boston magazine recommendation. She said shepaid him $300 for four sessions, but got only two.'I was there on Jan. 22, a Friday, then I went back on Mondaymorning and there was nothing there,' she said. 'It was reallystartling to think that all of it had disappeared since Friday.'Looking back, Jones said, she had noticed fixtures and furnituremissing in the weeks leading up to the eviction.'There were certainly signals things were not in good shape,'Jones said. 'But I had no clue the gym would actually be closing,and I felt sure {Berke} must have known that when he accepted mymoney.'Berke's landlords had told him point-blank that his bar idea was ano-go, said their lawyer, Lenard Zide. Last weekend, Berke, who hadalso been living at the gym, according to his lawyer, was finallyevicted from the premises for defaulting on rent payments totalingmore than $130,000, according to eviction orders in Roxbury DistrictCourt.'He owed a substantial amount,' said Zide. 'The landlord tried tomake accommodations. At some time you have to cut your losses.'Those landlords joined a half-dozen other creditors who have alsobrought suits against Berke in the past six months.Berke and his company have been sued by radio station WBCN, andpublications The Improper Bostonian and Bay Windows, for unpaidadvertising bills totaling more than $18,000. LAZ parking, whichleased 30 Fenway spaces to Berke when the gym opened, sued him for$3,600 in uncollected fees.Suits also were brought against the gym by a member who said Berkehad overcharged her for training sessions, and by a woman who saidshe never received a refund of her $1,000 membership fee promised toher in writing by Berke. Both won their cases by default when Berkedid not show up for hearings.It is unclear whether current gym members will have their duesrefunded, or whether memberships will be transferred to other gyms.None of the people interviewed for this story knew how many memberswould be affected by the closing.As the gym sank further and further into debt, Berke was embroiledin a bitter, protracted dispute with family members over itsfinances.He has accused his father, Carl Berke III, of siphoning off gymfunds for personal use, said the younger Berke's lawyer, Philip A.Tracy Jr. For his part, Carl Berke has accused his son of embezzlinggym money, according to a criminal complaint made by Carl Berke atRoxbury District Court.On Sept. 4, according to police reports, the dispute betweenfather and son erupted into a fistfight in the gym's lobby.'The father suffered more injuries,' said Tracy. 'But AdamBerke's position is that his father started it. Mr. Berke went tothe hospital, then a race to the courthouse began.'Adam Berke said at the time that his father attacked his wife,Catherine, and he came to her defense. The police incident reportlisted his father as the perpetrator.Carl Berke immediately took out a restraining order against hisson. Catherine Berke took out a restraining order against CarlBerke. She also sought a restraining order against Joshua Berke,Adam's brother, whom she also accused of embezzlement.The father and the son have brought assault and battery chargesagainst each other; those cases are set to be heard early this month.None of the family members would be interviewed for this story.'It's an ugly family dispute,' said Tracy. 'There's no questionthere's bad feeling on all sides. There's always hope that somehowthere can be a resolution, but right now it's not on the table.'

Field of Dreams -- Frequently Asked Questions -- What people want to know about Big League Dreams and a sports complex for Yakima - Yakima Herald-Republic

Here is a list of frequently asked questions about Big LeagueDreams' proposed sports complex that will be voted on Sept. 18:

-- What is sports complex being proposed by the city of Yakimaand Big League Dreams USA of Mira Loma, Calif.?

On city property around Kiwanis Park in southeast Yakima, BigLeague Dreams has proposed operating a sports park that will includefive lighted ballfields, of which three would be scaled-downreplicas of historic major league ballparks. The complex would alsocontain a multisport pavilion, batting cages, a restaurant, parkingfor up to 350 vehicles and a playground and picnic area.

-- Why was a company from California picked and not someonelocally?

Starting in 1991, local service clubs and sports enthusiastsbegan studying a number of proposals before selecting Big LeagueDreams of Mira Loma, Calif. One of the main selling points was thecompany's scaled-down replicas of major league ballparks includingBoston's Fenway Park and Chicago's Wrigley Field. Big League Dreamsalso already has successful complexes operating in Cathedral City,Calif. (opened in January 1998) and Riverside County, Calif. (openedin April 2000). A third facility in Chino Hills, Calif., is underconstruction.

-- We have heard the project will cost from $9 million to $12million. What will the actual cost be?

According to a city staff report, the estimated cost to build thesports complex is $11.9 million. The city has $2.7 million incurrently available resources - $1 million from the sale of LarsonPark to Yakima Valley Community College, another $1.1 million worthof property purchased by three local service clubs that was thentransferred over to the city, an additional $100,000 in donations,and $500,000 through grants. That leaves a balance of $8.7 million.

Added to this is the $10 million necessary for debt service andinterest payments during the lifetime of the 25-year bond.

-- Will the complex, with its sports pavilion, be used year-round, or will it be closed in the winter months?

Big League Dreams plans to run the facility 261 days a year. Themultipurpose pavilion is a semi-enclosed facility that is notheated, insulated or air conditioned. It is designed to accommodatebasketball, inline hockey, indoor volleyball, indoor soccer, andcorporate and community meetings.

City officials say if bids for construction come in lower thananticipated, amenities such as heating could be added to thepavilion.

-- Instead of the city leasing out the sports complex, whydoesn't a private owner build and run the park without seekingpublic funding?

According to a city staff report, the cost of building a sportscomplex would force the private operator to charge much higher fees,making the facility unaffordable for many prospective users. Apublic/private ownership, as proposed in the sports complex forYakima, would keep fees to a minimum.

-- How many years will it take to pay for the sports complex, andis there any guarantee that the utility tax will end when the bondsare paid off?

The city predicts that, under current rates, it will take 25years to pay off $8.7 million in general obligation bonds. Thesebonds are approved by voters. The government's promise to repay theprincipal and pay the interest is constitutionally guaranteed on thestrength of its power to tax. When the payments are met, the bondsare eliminated.

-- How much is the utility tax and how much will it cost familiesand businesses in Yakima?

If approved by voters, the utility rate on private utilities -natural gas, electric, and wired and wireless telephone services -would increase by 1 percent, from 6 to 7 percent. The city estimatedthe increase for the average household is $1.80 per month orapproximately $22 per year. Businesses or high-volume users wouldpay a maximum increase of $40 per month per account or $480 annuallyfor each utility.

-- How much have the local service clubs - Rotary, Kiwanis andLions - donated to the proposed sports complex?

The service clubs have contributed $1.6 million. That money hasbeen used to purchase property south of Kiwanis Park. Ownership ofthose lots, in turn, has been transferred over to the city ofYakima.

The service clubs have also paid Big League Dreams a fee of$150,000 to secure exclusive rights to the complex so the companywould not be able to negotiate with other cities in the region.

-- What will it cost for softball teams to use the fields forleague play and for tournaments?

Although no fees have been set for the sports complex in Yakima,officials with Big League Dreams say fees will be comparable tothose charged at their complex in Cathedral City, Calif.

For league play, Big League Dreams would charge $300 per team and$20 per player (with teams consisting of 12 players). Those chargescover a 10-game season. That's $54 per game.

The current rate through the Yakima parks department averages outto around $840 per team (there is no per player fee). These chargescover a 22-game season. That's $38 per game.

For tournaments, Big League Dreams charges $175 per team whilethe city of Yakima now assesses $190 for tournaments. In Pasco, teamtournament fees are $250.

-- Will alcohol be sold at the restaurant? If so, will there beany restrictions?

Yes, alcohol will be served. The lease with Big League Dreamsdoes not forbid alcohol sales while youth games are being played.

-- What kinds of teams will be able to use the baseball fields?

Big League Dreams states its sports complex will be home to youthbaseball, slowpitch softball, girls fastpitch, tournaments softballteams, indoor soccer, volleyball, basketball and inline hockeyteams.

-- Who will pay to clean up any graffiti or other vandalism atthe sports complex?

Maintenance of the sports complex will be the responsibility ofBig League Dreams. The company states it will staff the park fulltime. With one controlled access gate, company officials say thefacility will be 'safe and secure.'

-- How many softball teams could play in the sports complexduring the year?

There are more than 200 youth and adult softball teams nowplaying in the Yakima area, according to a city staff report. Withfive lighted fields, Big League Dreams can accommodate five leaguegames per night per field, or 50 teams per night and a total of 250teams per week (Monday through Friday). Currently, the city softballleague can host 24 teams per night at its four lighted and fourunlighted fields.

-- Is a simple majority or a super-majority of 60 percent of'yes' votes required for the utility tax measure to pass in theSept. 18 primary?

A simple majority is needed for passage. And unlike a schoollevy, there is no minimum number of votes required to validate themeasure.

-- What happens if Big League Dreams decides to pull the plug andback out of the complex in a couple of years?

Under the recently signed lease agreement, Big League Dreamswould be required to reimburse the city a licensing fee of $300,000if it pulls out of the complex within three years after the city haspaid the fee. The property would still be owned by the city, whichcould then either operate the complex with city staff or seekanother company to run the operations.

The city could also choose to lease the restaurant andconcessions to a private business as it has done with the restaurantspace at the Yakima Air Terminal.

-- Who pays admission and how much will it be?

Beginning at 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends, BigLeague Dreams will charge an admission of $1.50 for adults and $1for children who are playing a game. All other children under 13 arefree. Every person who pays an admission fee also receives a tokenworth $1 off any item at the concession areas.

-- Will parking always be free?

The sports complex will provide parking for up to 350 vehicles.Though the lease does not forbid Big League Dreams from charging afee, the company has stated it will not charge for parking.

-- Will families be able to bring food and drinks into thecomplex or will they be required to buy food and refreshments fromBig League Dreams?

A restaurant and sports bar will be part of the sports complexand will open up to the three ballfields that will be replicas ofmajor league ballparks. Concession stands also will be available. Afamily picnic area with tables and benches will be available outsideof the facility, but those entering the stadium will not be allowedto bring in food or refreshments.

-- Big League Dreams says it will make, by the fourth year, morethan $3 million and will pay the city 10 percent of that, or$300,000, to help pay off the bonds. What if the complex doesn'tgenerate that high of revenue? Will the city have to make up thedifference?

With gross revenues rising from $1.4 million in the first year to$3.1 million in the fourth, Big League Dreams has agreed to pay thecity of Yakima 10 percent of its gross income starting with thefourth year of operation. That amounts to $310,000. The city's parksand recreation department will receive a portion of this futurerevenue for maintenance costs and programs.

In the event Big League Dreams does not generate the anticipatedgross income, the city's percentage would still be 10 percent, butthe overall dollar amount returning to the city would be less.

-- What limits will be placed by Big League Dreams on softballgames? Are they different than those now being imposed in the Yakimaparks department?

Adult league softball games at the proposed sports complex willbe limited to one hour in length. This is comparable to the limitsnow imposed in the city parks program. League play in the city parksrequires doubleheaders, with no limit on the first game but anoverall time limit for both games. Total playing time is roughly twohours and 10 minutes.

Also, softball games for Big League Dreams will require that allbatters start their at-bat with one ball and one strike. That is thesame rule now being used for city softball leagues.

-- Have there been any studies of traffic congestion at the siteof the sports complex?

The proposed sports complex must receive an environmental reviewunder the state Environmental Policy Act. That would include a studyof traffic impacts.

-- How many jobs will be created at the sports complex?

Big League Dreams expects to hire 15 full-time and 70 part-timeworkers.

-- How did other cities pay for the 'Field of Dreams' complexes?Did any of these cities take a tax vote?

No other city has gone to the voters for an increase in taxes. Infact, officials with Big League Dreams say the vote in Yakima willbe the one and only time a tax issue will be sought at the ballotbox. In Cathedral City, Calif., the city used a nearly $5 millionbond measure to help pay for the facility. No direct tax dollarswere involved.

-- What happens to the Kiwanis Park property if this taxingmeasure doesn't pass?

The city of Yakima will still control ownership of the property,including the land purchased by the three service clubs. Anyadditional construction of ballfields would depend on outlays fromthe current budget of the parks and recreation department and anygrants the city might secure. City officials say it would still take$4.6 million just to build a conventional sports complex.

-- What are the differences between the family sports complex andthe proposed Central Washington complex recently proposed in UnionGap?

In July, a group of local businessmen announced plans to developa 220-acre Union Gap hayfield into a complex to include a sprawlingarray of soccer, softball and baseball fields, an indoor field andice hockey rink, volleyball and basketball facilities. The privatelyfunded venture, called Central Washington Sports Center, could costanywhere from $25 million to $50 million. Supporters of the sportscenter say the Yakima Valley could support both their facility andthe Big League Dreams complex.

However, the sports center in Union Gap is likely years away fromreality. Investors still must be found and permits secured.

-- Why did the city settle on a utility tax instead of some otherkind of tax like a hotel/motel tax?

According to a city staff report, Yakima has the debt capacity tolegally issue bonds. But it has no existing revenue source to payoff the bonds.

City staff recommended the utility tax because it would be astable and reliable revenue source, would need a simple majority forpassage and the procedures to tax private utilities are already inplace.

The city had looked at a voter-approved telephone tax increase, avoter-approved property tax increase, a new business and occupationtax and an increase in the tax on city refuse, water and sewerutilities. However, these options were not considered since theburden of these taxes would fall unevenly on residents.

A sales tax increase was ruled out because it wouldn't raiseenough.

And a boost in the hotel/motel tax likewise was not consideredbecause it's already at the maximum level allowed and would requireaction by the Legislature to increase it.

-- Why should taxes be used to build a privately run restaurant?

In this sport, it's good thing to ...: THROW STONES. - The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA)

Byline: Jon Fox

Mar. 22--JENKINS TWP. -- Only half of the Brazilian curling team showed up. The pre-game activities at The Tipsy Turtle, a nearby bar, had claimed two of their crew. One member was lost to a treacherous parking lot. He hit a patch of ice and 'went down like a bag full of curling stones,' explained Jonathan Loiselle, one of the two remaining Brazilian players. Another teammate bailed on the Sunday night curling session to continue a conversation with a girl at the bar, Loiselle said. Such is the topsy-turvy world of recreational curling.

It's important to note that neither Loiselle nor David Degnon, the two guys wearing the green Team Brazil shirts, hail from Brazil.

Degnon's from Tunkhannock and Loiselle's from Taylor. But they did trade e-mails with the Brazilian consulate, and both had Portuguese phrases written on cards and taped to their wrists. 'It started off as a joke,' Degnon said on a recent Sunday at The Ice Box skating rink. Brazil didn't have a curling team in the winter games, so the friends figured the field was wide open to represent the South American country. Degnon, like a lot of the other players at the third meeting of the Scranton Curling Club, had seen the game televised during the Turin Olympic Games. For two weeks that seemed heavy on ice dancing, curling, sort of like a version of shuffleboard on ice, became the most interesting thing to watch, he said. For Team Brazil, it was a second try at the game that seems to be more of a punch line than a pastime in America. 'It was a joke but I tell you what we came here last week and we had a great time,' Degnon said. Dave Cawley, 39, launched the Scranton Curling Club with his brother-in-law in hopes of capitalizing on a post-Turin wave of enthusiasm for a game he grew up watching on television in Buffalo. When the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation wasn't beaming hockey games across the border, it showed curling, Cawley said. The 16th century Scottish game played with 42-pound granite stones has nearly 900,000 players in Canada, but hasn't caught on south of the border. But Cawley might qualify that statement with 'yet' -- as in 'Curling hasn't conquered America, yet.' The Pittsburgh curling club draws 80 players each week, and has a 500-person waiting list to get on the ice, Cawley said. A club in Plainfield, N.J., had 1,000 people pop their heads in after the Olympics. At a club outside Boston, 1,200 people recently lined up to try the quirky sport. 'With the Olympics, people are flocking to curling,' Cawley said The local club leased 32 used stones from a club in Utica, N.Y., and trucked them down in the back of a pickup.

Each brand new stone could have set them back a couple of hundred dollars in price and shipping from Scotland, where they are hewn from especially dense granite. The game is played by teams of four, sliding the stones across a sheet of ice. The goal is to park the stones closest to the center of a bull's-eye, or the 'house' in curling parlance.

One player, the 'skip,' points to the target for the benefit of the slider and two sweepers brush the ice in front of the stone to keep the throw true. Brushing the ice can allow the stone to slide an extra 15 feet and prevent it from curving or curling when it slows, a property that lent the game its name. It's a game that's beginner friendly, kind of like pool, Cawley said. And there's no need to know how to ice skate. 'Anyone can learn to play pool in five minutes but you're not going to be a super expert.' Pool, however, doesn't involve covering one's shoe in duct tape and sliding toward something called a hog line while propped up on a broom. The tape is 'the handyman's secret weapon,' Cawley said. It's also, incidentally, very slippery on the ice. Players normally use Teflon covers for their shoes, but a sudden increased interest has made the covers temporarily unavailable. 'This is the cheap way of doing it for now,' he said. 'We're going to be getting some sliders soon. The place we ordered them from is a little backlogged.' A couple weeks into his curling club experiment, Cawley says things are going well and he hopes to keep enough interest in the sport to keep sliding until April, the traditional end of the curling season, before resuming play in the fall. Loiselle expects to turn out a third time to represent his version of Team Brazil, but he's not ready to say he's hooked. 'It's not the crack of sports here,' he said. 'I wouldn't say twice is an obsession or an addiction.' ------------ more photos from a recent meeting of the Scranton Curling Club go to www.timesleader.com [http://www.timesleader.com] . --For more information about the club, go to www.scrantoncurling.com [http://www.scrantoncurling.com] . Jon Fox, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7219.

Copyright (c) 2006, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.),

(213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

CANINE ATHLETES PLAY RUFF IN THE NEW SPORT OF FLYBALL.(MAIN) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: BELLA ENGLISH The Boston Globe

NASHUA, N.H. -- On one track at the Riverside Canine Center, Freddie, a miniature pinscher, flies so fast over the hurdles that his tiny paws barely touch the ground. On the other track, Roli, a Jack Russell terrier, misses half the hurdles; he's much more interested in the other dogs.

``Roli's issue is that he doesn't like to carry the ball. He's a barker, and when he barks, the ball falls out,'' says his owner, Tony Costa of Waltham, Mass.

As for Freddie, owner Dawn Sullivan, who lives in Everett, says simply:``Freddie is very ball-oriented.''

The ball in question is a tennis ball, usually soggy with dog drool and a bit tattered. The game is flyball, and it's a doggy relay race, with four dogs per team trying to beat the clock -- and their rival teams.

Picture a racing lane with four hurdles spaced 10 feet apart, a spring-loaded box at the end. One at a time, each dog races across the hurdles and jumps on the box, which releases a tennis ball. The dog catches the ball, turns, and heads back over the hurdles to the finish line, where the next dog up is waiting to take off. Timing is an art; if a dog ``jumps the gun'' before his teammate has crossed the line, there's a penalty.

Move over, Carl Lewis. In flyball, the course is 102 feet up and back, and the fastest dogs can do it in less than 4 seconds. Teams beat others by thousandths of a second.

The sport has spread to Australia, Europe, and Japan. In this country, it is governed by the Chicago-based North American Flyball Association, which has a Web site that includes a ``seeding list'' and ``top point-earning dogs.'' In New England, the perennial favorites are the Trailblazers of Vermont; their four-dog team -- three border collies and a Jack Russell -- completes the course in just over 16 seconds.

Flyball is not for your couch potato -- your overweight basset hound or your shambling St. Bernard. But weight issues aside, it's a democratic dog sport, unlike dog shows, where bloodlines are as important as they were in the antebellum South. Certain breeds do dominate: the faster, ball-crazy dogs such as Jack Russells, Australian shepherds, shelties, border col@@hyphen@@lies, mini pinschers. Small dogs are sought after, since each team's hurdles are set at 4 inches below the tiniest member's shoulder height. The lower the hurdles, the faster the dogs. Yorkies, toy fox terriers, and corgis are in high demand.

The coolest thing: Like most other trends, flyball started in California, in the late 1970s. And, like most other trends, it took a while to reach New England. Barb Black of Southborough first saw flyball in a park in Southern California in 1996. ``I thought it was the coolest thing I ever saw,'' she says. She knew she had to bring it home to her three border collies, Duffy, Blazer, and Trim. She asked the All Dogs Gym in Manchester about starting a team. In 1998, she founded ARFF (Awesome Racing Flyball Fanatics); the next year, the club won the New England Regional Flyball Championship.

``At first, we didn't know what we were doing,'' says Black, 56. But by going on the Internet, putting together a flyball box, and talking to flyball veterans in California, Black assembled a group of dogs and owners. At their first tournament, in Philadelphia, they came back with a title. ``Our dogs just picked it right up,'' she says.

Some dogs are naturals, like Bluebell, an 8-year-old mutt who has her ``swimmer's turn'' down to a science. She flies down to the box and hits it with her paws, pushing off.

Then there are dogs like Joe, a ``green'' border collie who's clueless about why those crazy humans are screaming at him to ``touch the box!''

On a Saturday morning at the Riverside Canine Center, the air vibrates with barking. Owners are cheering their dogs on, or, as in the case of Joe, correcting them. Every Saturday, Black's club, ARFF, and Kay McDonald's club, the Boston Stragglers, practice side by side. Don't let the Stragglers' name fool you; McDonald's club is driven.

``Last year we finished second in the lowest division,'' says McDonald, the chief financial officer for a small high-tech firm and Bluebell's owner. ``This year we finished first in Division 1. We were so psyched.'' The Stragglers club now has three teams, with four dogs on each: the Boston Flea Party, the Boston Baked Breeds, and Fenway Bark.

``I do it as a hobby,'' says McDonald, who lives in Bedford. ``It's a good outlet for the dogs.'' Her 7-month-old border collie puppy, Luna, is in training, and McDonald is expecting big things; her father is on the world-record-holding team in Ontario.

Dog people: What kind of people want to spend half of Saturday hanging around a gym full of doggy smells and sounds, not to mention traveling to tournaments all over the place?

Roli's owner, Costa, knows the hobby might sound strange to nondog people. But that's OK. ``We had sons who played high school and college hockey,'' says Costa, a sales manager, ``so we're used to people thinking we're crazy.''

The walls in Black's home office are covered with plaques, ribbons, and dog photos. She notes that her dogs are perfect for the sport: They're ball-crazy. Duffy in particular. ``He's insane. His teeth are worn down from tennis balls.'' Duffy is a flyball master champion, two levels below the top ranking.

Though Black says she's in it for the fun, she has noticed a recent change in flyball: People are beginning to buy or breed dogs just for the sport. ``They're pets. They're so smart and so much fun,'' she says of her dogs. ``But now, people are buying dogs just because they're fast. It's too bad.''

The Weston Whirlwinds fall into the ``fun'' category. ``We're not at all snooty about it,'' says team captain Cindy Henderson. ``We don't really care what breed you are or how fast you are. Your dog just has to like tennis balls and have a good temperament.''

NAFA has a ``three strikes'' policy: If a dog shows aggression three times, it will be banned from the sport. Likewise, owners are required to behave: no choke or electric collars for dogs, no screaming at judges.

Trudy Lanman of Newton and her vizsla, Boomer, belong to the Boston Stragglers. Lanman, 78, says flyball is good for both her and her dog. ``I walk him 40 to 50 minutes a day, but he still needs more,'' she says. ``I can no longer keep up with him. Here, I stand around and the dog does all the running.''

But lots of younger members are tapped to run alongside the dogs in practice, encouraging them all the way up and back. Walt Lutter of Winthrop is a main ``runner'' for ARFF; he's 35 and athletic. At a recent practice, his Jack Russell, Mac, is barely panting after several races. But Lutter has worked up a sweat.

Kathy Buckley is a professional dog trainer and captain of the Jumpmasters flyball club in Seekonk. Of all the dog sports -- shows, agility, training -- flyball is her favorite. She likes the fact that, unlike dog shows, the judging is objective: It's by the clock, not by the coif.

Buckley, who has five dogs, says her friends don't understand her passion. ``They say, why don't you just get a life? I say, this is my life.''

Developer of Miami Condo/Hotel to Build New Tennis Club. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Cara Buckley, The Miami Herald Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 6--Millennium Partners, the developer of downtown Miami's Four Seasons, plans to build a 6,000-square-foot outdoor tennis club on a patch of downtown land. The condo/hotel itself, meanwhile, will house The Sports Club/LA, a hyperluxurious gym, spa and celebrity haunt that has enjoyed runaway success in Los Angeles and New York.

The club is slated to open next fall, to coincide with the opening of the Four Seasons and Millennium's planned tennis courts.

The tennis center will solve, at least temporarily, the problem of where Four Seasons guests can put racquet to ball. The Four Seasons had floated plans to bus tennis-keen guests to nearby courts. If the project goes through, the guests will be shuttled to the site, just eight blocks from the hotel.

Brian Collins, a principal with the Four Seasons, said the four-acre complex would primarily service condo dwellers in the Brickell corridor.

Millennium is banking on the project to drum up interest in the downtown Brickell area, where it owns eight additional acres of land that could be developed into retail shops and condominiums. The site is bordered by South Miami Avenue, the Metrorail track, Southwest Fifth Street and Southwest Seventh.

Eight tennis courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool, also roofless, are planned. Plans for the complex to be managed by Cliff Drysdale, the former tennis star who runs a tennis academy in Crandon Park and is the resident pro at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne.

The center will cost roughly $1 million to build. Membership, Collins estimated, will run at roughly $150 a month.

City Commissioner Johnny Winton believes the project will easily win city approval and bring pedestrians to a neighborhood in need of foot traffic and more patrons for its restaurants and clubs.

But the tennis center may not be a permanent fixture. When the demand for housing goes up, Winton said, the center will likely come down.

'It will last as long as it takes them to figure out what the housing market will accept on their site,' Winton said. 'If the market changes rapidly, probably three years; if the market doesn't materialize, I'd say 10.'

Collins concurred, estimating the complex's life span at five to 10 years. The developers did not receive city incentives to build on the site, he added.

The Four Seasons, for its part, should last much longer. The $390 million condo/hotel will be the second major luxury hotel to pierce the Brickell market, and its 70-story, mixed-use tower will be the largest building south of Atlanta -- hence worthy, its developers decided, of a high-end gym and spa.

Enter The Sports Club Co., touted as the Cadillac of the health-club world. The company runs 14 clubs and enjoys a devout following among the wealthy, the buff and the wealthy wannabe buff. Members include Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, Kim Cattrall and Princess Stephanie of Monaco. Perks, depending on which club you attend, include dog walkers, shoeshiners, rock-climbing walls, dermatology treatments and teeth-whitening sessions.

Membership privileges at the Miami club have not been finalized, but members can expect luxurious decor, plush carpeting, an array of workout classes, classes in five types of yoga, tai chi, a Jacuzzi and a cafe. The 40,000-square-foot club, expected to cost roughly $30 million to build, will cater to Four Seasons guests, residents and the paying public.

Membership is pricey: The initiation fee at most Sport Clubs is $1,295 plus $145 a month. Cofounder Nanette Pattee Francini, however, said Miami patrons who sign up early would get a bargain: $400 to join, then $90 a month. The membership office is scheduled to open in February.

The club will compete with the Downtown Athletic Club, mere blocks away. While the Athletic Club is cheaper, regularly charging $225 to join plus $52 a month, Francini expects people to move over because her clubs, she said, are more plush, more cutting edge and outfitted with scores of fitness-class options and private trainers.

The company's stand-alone facilities have thrived in Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Noting that the clubs, which opened in 1979, have done well even during economic slumps, Francini predicted that the Miami site would further bolster the company's healthy track record.

To see more of The Miami Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.miami.com

(c) 2002, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

PROPOSAL TO CONVERT THEATER TO CLUB OPPOSED RESIDENTS SAY THEY FEAR MORE NOISE, TRAFFIC - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

A proposal to convert a vacant movie theater into one of thelargest clubs in Boston drew strong opposition yesterday fromelected officials and the residents of a luxury apartment andcondominium building across the street.

'I think this concept is very ill-conceived,' said Rep.Salvatore F. DiMasi (D-Boston) at a hearing yesterday before theBoston Licensing Board to determine if a liquor license should begranted to Texas developer Michael Graves.

Graves is seeking to convert the former Pi Alley Theater at275 Washington St. into the Boston Arena Sports Grille. The clubwould feature 18 television monitors and a large boxing ring thatwould be used as a dance floor. It would have capacity for 975persons. Graves operates a similar bar in Baltimore.

But the project has been met with opposition from most of theresidents of One Devonshire Place, across the street from thetheater, which has been empty since August 1987. About 1,000 peoplelive in the luxury high-rise.

Residents as well as some business leaders fear increasedtraffic, noise and rowdiness from the large crowds the bar would beexpected to attract.

'I don't like the idea of our neighborhood being inundatedwith a large number of people,' said Jinx Richmond, who lives inOne Devonshire Place.

But Terrence P. McDermott, a lawyer representing Graves, saidthe developers have taken fears about congestion and noise intoaccount. He said 400 parking spaces would be available to customersat a garage next door and patrons leaving the bar would be directedaway from the high-rise toward Tremont Street.

McDermott also said announcements would be made inside the barreminding patrons there are residents in the area and to keep noiseto a minimum when they leave. A security staff of 36 would work tokeep disruptions to a minimum, he said.

Graves plans to live in One Devonshire Place and 'will be onsite and available,' McDermott said.

Graves acknowledged problems would exist. 'We're not going totell you that we're going to alleviate every noise anddisturbance,' he told Andrea Gargiulo, chairman of the licensingboard. But, he added, 'I think I've tried to do everything I can tolisten to the residents and answer their concerns.'

In arguing for the liquor license, McDermott said the emptytheater has been an eyesore since USA Cinemas vacated the11,000-square foot complex last year. He said the proposal for abar has received support from merchants adjacent to the vacanttheater.

'I don't think any of us in the city are proud of the vacanttheater,' he said. 'Unfortunately some of the homeless have takento laying in the doorway. Pi Alley is not really people-friendly.'

He also said the sports bar in Baltimore has operated in asimilar downtown neighborhood without any major complaints orproblems. And he said the same problems would exist no matter whatis built inside the empty theater.

But DiMasi, who represents residents in One Devonshire Place,disagreed.

'We're not like other cities,' DiMasi said. 'We don't havewide open spaces. We're a very congested city. This will simplycreate new problems and exacerbate existing ones.'

Although the bar would have a maximum capacity of 975 people,DiMasi said on some nights as many as 3,000 could visit the club.

Referring to McDermott's citing of the homeless sleeping infront of the former theater, DiMasi said, 'If you're suggestingthat three or four homeless people are more dangerous than 3,000or 4,000 bar patrons, I would disagree.'

'I consider this an amusement park,' DiMasi added. 'There willbe people watching sports events and people watching sports tend toget riled up. There will be people drinking all night and thenleaving the bar.'

Some residents said the bar would be inappropriate in aneighborhood with historical sites, such as Faneuil Hall, Old CityHall, King's Chapel and the Old South Meeting House. 'I'd rathersee somthing more in keeping with the ambiance of the area,' saidone resident.

A lawyer representing the owners of Devonshire Place, who areopposed to the project, said the notion of a bar would not havebeen taken seriously if it had been proposed for more typicallyresidential neighborhoods. Devonshire Place, which is next door toOne Devonshire Place, houses business offices.

'If you had wanted to put something like this in the North Endwe wouldn't even be thinking about it,' said lawyer MichaelRoitman. 'But if you spread the 1,000 people horizontally insteadof vertically you'd have a similar situation.'

EMPLOYEE AT GOLF CLUB HONORED BY MEMBERS - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

Friends at the Brookline Golf Club (formerly Putterham Meadows)said a collective and surprise 'thank you' to town employee JimmyRozon, a familiar face behind the desk at the club's pro shop.

A week ago Wednesday, Rozon, who officially retires this monthafter more than 30 years with the town's recreation department, wasleaving the course at about 6 p.m. for the commute to his home inHingham. But the folks who planned the party took Rozon's car keysso that he had to remain on the premises, where he was feted by 100friends and club members who bought tickets for the dinner and a giftto Rozon. His wife and two daughters were on hand for thefestivities.

The party was hosted by the staff of the Putterham Golf CourseCafe, headed by Brookline resident David Rosenberg, who said that'Jimmy was very surprised and very honored, even though he had saidto me earlier this summer that he really didn't want a retirementdinner. But the response was so overwhelming, that we had to do it.'

Among the others who planned the event were club members TomMcCarthy and Joe Gulley, head pro and director of golf Jack Nevilleand assistant pro Frank Milbury.

Harvard's defense welcomes Fitzgerald

Ryan Fitzgerald of West Roxbury, a junior defensive tackle whoplayed at Roxbury Latin School and was a Globe All-Scholasticfootball choice, is listed as No. 2 defensive left tackle on theHarvard University football team, which had a 5-5 record last year.Harvard's season starts at home Sept. 16 against Holy Cross.Fitzgerald, considered the quickest of the Crimson's defensivelinemen, is a 6-foot-2-inch, 255-pounder. He earned his first varsityletter last season and had a quarterback sack to his credit. 'He hasexcellent instincts,' said Harvard head coach Tim Murphy, who willwelcome 111 candidates to preseason camp on campus Aug. 25.Fitzgerald, a 1998 graduate of Roxbury Latin, captained the football,basketball, and lacrosse teams his senior year. He was a three-timeall-Independent School League pick in football and was league co-MVPhis senior year. He was a two-year starter in basketball and wonfirst team all-ISL honors as a senior and was a two-year startingdefender on the lacrosse team.

Boston contingent joins Curry team

Steve Nelson, head football coach at Curry College of Milton, willwelcome four freshmen from the Boston area to his third preseasoncamp. Under Nelson, a former New England Patriots All-Pro linebacker,Curry posted its first back-to-back winning seasons since 1988-89.Nelson led Curry to a six-game turnaround in his debut season (6-4)and was named New England Football Conference Coach of the Year.Last year, the Colonels improved to 7-3.

The freshman contingent includes linebacker Bob Bertucci ofCambridge, a graduate of Matignon High; offensive guard Paul Burdetteof Dorchester, a graduate of John D. O'Bryant High; linebacker MarkCilibrasi out of East Boston High, and defensive back Derrick Lyonsof Dorchester and Boston English High.

Curry's returning players include junior linebacker Rance Cooleyof Hyde Park and Wellesley High; senior linebacker Chuck Israel ofMattapan and Reading High; sophomore linebacker Darrell Jones ofDorchester, a graduate of Cathedral High; sophomore tight end LarryMulrey of Somerville, who attended Matignon High, and seniordefensive end and tackle Damien Simpson of Dorchester, a graduate ofSouth Boston High.

John Hurley of South Boston, a 6-7 forward from Thayer Academy inBraintree, was a member of the MassHysteria team that competed inlast month's AAU National 17 and Under boys basketball championshipsat the Disney Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. The team finished witha 2-3 record, including victories over Ohio and Arkansas.