Friday Stuff
Next September we may or may not see the Miss America pageant on television. That's because Dick Clark Productions, who has produced the pageant's television show for a very long time has broken ties with the Miss America Organization (MAO) The reason? Some emails that were exchanged between the MAO's CEO, Sam Haskell III and Lewis Friedman, lead writer of the pageant telecast.
Mr. Friedman has been fired. Mr. Haskell apologized to the board and at this point seems poised to retain his job which comes with a $500,000 annual salary. MAO issued a statement that said the emails, "contain inappropriate language that is unbecoming at best and is not, in any way, indicative of the character and integrity of MAO or its representatives. Please note that MAO does not condone the use of inappropriate language and apologizes for this situation. The Board of Directors took the allegations very seriously, investigated them, and considers the matter closed."
Sorry Miss America Board of Directors, but the language used by these two men in their email exchanges is an excellent indication of their character and integrity. Why you would fire one and not the other is yet another indicator of how men and women enable the men who sexually harass and assault women.
* * *
If you were to take a peek at the 2016 tax return for the University of Southern California (which covers their fiscal year from 7/1/2015 through 6/30/2016), you'd see a few interesting numbers among their list of highly compensated employees.
There are five employees whose salary exceeded $2.7 million. One of those is for former football coach Steve Sarkisian. His salary of $3.2 million was the highest of the five most highly compensated employees. At $2.72 million, Athletic Director Pat Haden's salary is also among that top five.
While not relevant for the 2016 fiscal year, there will be price for USC to pay for those top five salaries in the future. The tax reform bill headed for signature by Donald Trump contains a provision where non profit salaries in excess of $1 million will be subject to an excise tax of 21%.
That's a hit to the budgets of those universities who pay big bucks to their football coaches. Will the budget for football programs be cut? Not likely. The budget for other, smaller sport programs will likely take the blow.
* * *
We learned of the passing of 82 year old Dick Enberg on December 21st. He apparently suffered a heart attack at home.
He was an icon in the sports broadcasting field, doing play-by-play for the original Los Angeles Rams, the California Angels and also worked 10 Super Bowls, multiple Wimbledon tennis tournaments and a lot of other sporting events.
RIP
* * *
A story broke last week about how the Attorney General of Indiana had filed a lawsuit against a BnB for charging $350 to the credit card of a woman for having posted a negative review of the conditions she experienced while staying there.
Andrew Szakaly is the owner of Abbey Management and was the operator of the Abbey Inn until early this year. Amanda Sweet is the new "operator" of the Inn and took pains to point out that what happened to the victim was under the previous management.
What she didn't say was that, according to WRTV6, she is the daughter of Mr. Szakaly and that this isn't their first business venture connection in Indiana.
* * *
Two thumbs up to the UCLA basketball program for announcing that the two members of their men's team that were arrested for shoplifting on the team's trip to China will remain suspended for the rest of this season.
It was the right move.
* * *
I was not much of a fan of the Big 3 basketball league in the past, but now that Baron Davis is going to play in the league in its upcoming season, I will be tuning in. I've known him since he was playing head and shoulders above his much taller competition in 7th grade basketball games. He's a tremendous player and an awesome individual.
He also plays a very entertaining brand of basketball.
* * *
Mr. Friedman has been fired. Mr. Haskell apologized to the board and at this point seems poised to retain his job which comes with a $500,000 annual salary. MAO issued a statement that said the emails, "contain inappropriate language that is unbecoming at best and is not, in any way, indicative of the character and integrity of MAO or its representatives. Please note that MAO does not condone the use of inappropriate language and apologizes for this situation. The Board of Directors took the allegations very seriously, investigated them, and considers the matter closed."
Sorry Miss America Board of Directors, but the language used by these two men in their email exchanges is an excellent indication of their character and integrity. Why you would fire one and not the other is yet another indicator of how men and women enable the men who sexually harass and assault women.
* * *
If you were to take a peek at the 2016 tax return for the University of Southern California (which covers their fiscal year from 7/1/2015 through 6/30/2016), you'd see a few interesting numbers among their list of highly compensated employees.
There are five employees whose salary exceeded $2.7 million. One of those is for former football coach Steve Sarkisian. His salary of $3.2 million was the highest of the five most highly compensated employees. At $2.72 million, Athletic Director Pat Haden's salary is also among that top five.
While not relevant for the 2016 fiscal year, there will be price for USC to pay for those top five salaries in the future. The tax reform bill headed for signature by Donald Trump contains a provision where non profit salaries in excess of $1 million will be subject to an excise tax of 21%.
That's a hit to the budgets of those universities who pay big bucks to their football coaches. Will the budget for football programs be cut? Not likely. The budget for other, smaller sport programs will likely take the blow.
* * *
We learned of the passing of 82 year old Dick Enberg on December 21st. He apparently suffered a heart attack at home.
He was an icon in the sports broadcasting field, doing play-by-play for the original Los Angeles Rams, the California Angels and also worked 10 Super Bowls, multiple Wimbledon tennis tournaments and a lot of other sporting events.
RIP
* * *
A story broke last week about how the Attorney General of Indiana had filed a lawsuit against a BnB for charging $350 to the credit card of a woman for having posted a negative review of the conditions she experienced while staying there.
Andrew Szakaly is the owner of Abbey Management and was the operator of the Abbey Inn until early this year. Amanda Sweet is the new "operator" of the Inn and took pains to point out that what happened to the victim was under the previous management.
What she didn't say was that, according to WRTV6, she is the daughter of Mr. Szakaly and that this isn't their first business venture connection in Indiana.
* * *
Two thumbs up to the UCLA basketball program for announcing that the two members of their men's team that were arrested for shoplifting on the team's trip to China will remain suspended for the rest of this season.
It was the right move.
* * *
I was not much of a fan of the Big 3 basketball league in the past, but now that Baron Davis is going to play in the league in its upcoming season, I will be tuning in. I've known him since he was playing head and shoulders above his much taller competition in 7th grade basketball games. He's a tremendous player and an awesome individual.
He also plays a very entertaining brand of basketball.
* * *
posted by me at 7:51 AM
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