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Zero black drivers doesn't mean progress is lacking
New Leash on Life
Giant audience: Most-watched Super Bowl ever
Local football fans fuming over broadcast issues
Radio Producer's Murder Still Unsolved After 5 Years
WIBW-AM host named Voice of Huskers
UpSNAP Expands Its Wireless Radio Network to Include Sports Byline USA

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Zero black drivers doesn't mean progress is lacking
By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

In less than two weeks, the 2008 Daytona 500 will kick off NASCAR's 60th season -- six decades of the best racing in the country.

From the first race on the beach and road course in Daytona to the 50th running of the "Great American Race" on Feb. 17, the growth and changes of the sport have been astronomical.

There isn't enough space to describe how much the sport has changed in just 60 years, a short amount of time compared to other major sports in the country.

But there is one glaring issue that will continue to plague this sport until someone finally breaks the barrier for good. In 60 years, you can count on almost one hand the number of black drivers to make a Cup start.

It's an unfortunate reality.

As Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and even the NHL have made tremendous strides when it comes to race, so much so that it isn't an issue, NASCAR is still stuck with the perception of being predominately white, from its tiny beginnings to the multi-million-dollar media machine it is today.

But before we can address the future, it's important to remember the past.

Charlie Scott will go down in history as the first black driver to make a NASCAR race. He competed on the Daytona Beach road course in 1956 in a Kiekhaefer Chrysler. When the checkered waved, Scott found himself in 19th place, earning $75 dollars for his efforts.

Wendell Scott, no relation to Charlie, is the most successful black driver in NASCAR history. Scott made his debut in 1961 driving in a self-owned Chevrolet at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg, S.C. Scott drove in NASCAR's highest series for 13 years, earning a victory at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla., and compiling 20 top-fives, 147 top-10s and one pole in 495 races.

The 1971 Islip 250 at Islip (N.Y.) Speedway was the first -- and only -- race to feature two black drivers. Wendell Scott finished 11th in the event and George Wiltshire came home 29th after retiring after just two laps. Wiltshire made one other start in his NASCAR career, a 32nd-place finish at Pocono in 1975.

Outside of the national series, Wiltshire made a name for himself in the NASCAR Sportsman Division in New York during the 1970s.
Another black driver who found success in the NASCAR Sportsman Division was Randy Bethea, who raced in Tennessee. Bethea's one national NASCAR start came in the 1975 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, much like Wiltshire before him, his start would go down as a DNF as engine problems forced Bethea to a 33rd-place finish.

It was a decade before a black driver made another start in a Cup race. Willy T. Ribbs started three races for DiGard in 1986 with his debut coming at North Wilkesboro. In those three races, Ribbs had two DNFs due to engine problems and his best finish was a 22nd in the North Wilkesboro event.

Then, at the young age of 46, Ribbs went back on the national NASCAR circuit in 2001, this time the Craftsman Truck Series, driving a full season in the No. 8 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge. Ribbs finished 16th in points that season, earning $235,451, the most for a black driver in the sport up until then.

After Ribbs' initial Cup start, it was another two decades before another black driver started in the Cup Series. Bill Lester qualified for the 2006 Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in a Bill Davis Dodge. Lester qualified 19th but finished six laps down in 38th. Lester also made the spring Michigan race that season, where he came home 32nd.

Lester is best known for his eight years in the Truck Series where he has three poles, two top-fives and seven top-10s in 142 races. His best season came in 2003, coincidentally in the same No. 8 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge driven by Ribbs, when he finished 14th in points.

That's the brief history of black drivers in NASCAR.

Six decades, six drivers, one win on the national level. And that streak will continue as 2008 doesn't look like it will feature a black driver.

This is a problem for the sport, and NASCAR knows it. But the sport is in a tough situation and patience is required for it to be rectified. Teams can't just give rides away to help break barriers. The sport costs way too much money and just putting a minority driver behind the wheel doesn't fix the problem -- it can potentially set them up for failure. Development is key, which is exactly the route NASCAR has taken.

The Drive for Diversity program has been in place since 2004, and while it addresses the issue of race, it's there for women and other minorities as well. Guys like Chris Bristol, Marc Davis and Paul Harraka are getting their opportunities to get behind the wheel in lower series. Some of the development drivers are still very young though, and will take time to develop into national series drivers.

The most likely to be ready the quickest is Davis, who is with Joe Gibbs Racing. At just 17, Davis looks primed to join one of the national series in 2009, but here in lies another problem. NASCAR is seriously considering raising the minimum age of drivers from 18 to 21, so Davis could have wait until 2013 to get his shot. This doesn't help the race issue facing the sport, yet NASCAR can't decide a rule isn't imperative because of one driver who could help the diversity issue.

When it comes to race in NASCAR, patience is key. Let the Drive for Diversity program try to work before criticism is passed to NASCAR CEO Brian France and the rest of the powers that be. It's important to realize that strides are being made.
Pit crews are becoming much diversified as former football players and other star athletes are finding work over the wall. The same can be said for officials. And then there is Max Siegel.

Last year, Siegel became the highest ranking black member of a NASCAR team when Dale Earnhardt Inc. announced he would become president of global operations. This is just the beginning.

There will come a time when race isn't an issue in the country's premier auto racing league. Look around at a race this season; you will see black men and women in the stands, on pit road, as officials and executives.

The one thing you won't see is a black driver. While it's disappointing that in 2008 NASCAR is still in that position, change is coming -- it just might be further away than we like.

For a long time, Jarrod Cooper wouldn't tell anyone at the Oakland Animal Shelter what he did for a living. He wasn't there as an NFL player, as the anti-Michael Vick. He had a pretty good idea that if the league wanted someone to do spin control, he wouldn't be the first choice for the job.

The Raiders had started their season without Cooper, while he served a four-game suspension for a positive steroid test. He doubted that he would return the field. It would be so easy to write off a special-teams player, even a great one, if his name was linked to any type of scandal.

He needed something to fill his time, to distract him from the disturbing thoughts that filled his head and to begin building a future without football. So he arrived at the shelter like any other volunteer. The staff members didn't ask too many questions about the heavily muscled young man with elaborate tattoos, but they did find him intriguing.

"He'd drive up in this nice car. He had all this time," volunteer coordinator Megan Webb said, laughing. "We had no idea."
Cooper returned to the Raiders, and everyone at the shelter figured out who he was late in the season, when he got hurt and arrived to volunteer on crutches. By then, he was hooked on the place. He had become the perfect antidote to Vick and his sadistic dogfighting ring - a pro athlete who owned big dogs and, more and more every day, devoted the fierce intensity cultivated by football to the cause of protecting animals.

"When I first came here, I'd see a mean dog, I'd say what's wrong with that dog? And now if I would see a mean dog, I think, 'Who did that to this animal?' " he said. "The dogs only do what you train them to do."

Almost on cue, a roaming cat jumped into Cooper's lap as he began the interview. The two-hour visit dispelled any suspicions that he volunteers here for show, as perfunctory public service. He and Webb bantered constantly about various animals, from the puppy that had been thrown against a wall to Rambo, a dog that had arrived months earlier with a mile-long disobedient streak and, after a committed effort by everyone at the shelter, had been adopted out the day before with a reformed attitude and a new name, Riley.

Cooper brought out his digital camera to find a picture of Riley. As he clicked from frame to frame, he passed pictures of a huge red sore on a dog's shin and of himself planting his handprint in newly poured concrete in the shelter's backyard. Cooper is financing the construction of outdoor kennels so that the dogs can spend time in fresh air and sunshine without having to wait for volunteers to take them out individually.

Later, Cooper peeled away from a tour of the facilities with a Chronicle photographer and reporter so that he could "take care of Bob," a man waiting for him in the lobby. Webb explained that Bob was the concrete guy. "Jarrod has to write him a check," she said.

He also is underwriting a workshop this month on how to identify and cultivate task-oriented dogs that are too hyperactive to be house pets but often make perfect worker animals, performing search-and-rescue duties or herding cattle. Experts from Texas are flying here to lead the discussion.

Yet Cooper's checkbook, Webb insists, isn't half as active as he is. He cleared out the back area before construction started on the kennels, and he put hours into cleaning up a barn by Lake Merritt, which the shelter owns but can't use to full advantage. His girlfriend, Erica Arana, said she barely saw him some days because he'd go to physical therapy in the morning, then spend the afternoon and evening at the shelter, sometimes returning home as late as 8 p.m.

"People save the animals, and the animals save people," he said, "and once you see that and experience it, you're stuck here. I'm stuck now."

Cooper ranks second among the volunteers in terms of hours served, Webb said, bringing out the football player's competitive side.

"Really No. 1," he said, flashing an impish smile at Webb. "Martha doesn't count anymore. She works here now."

As a college student, Cooper wanted to train for veterinary school, but the workload didn't fit with his football schedule. He now is certain that his future outside sports will be devoted to animal welfare. Working with Bad Rap, a nonprofit that promotes proper treatment of pit bulls, he has committed himself to helping pet owners understand and fulfill their responsibilities. He started an organization called Code 597, named for the California penal code against cruelty to animals, and recruited seven other Raiders to help, including Nnamdi Asomugha and Justin Fargas.

"I always use myself as an example. When I was growing up, I thought it was OK to chain your dog up and then go to work or go to school. I'd be gone from 7 to 5 at night because I had track practice," he said "You don't think about it. Your dog knocks over his food or his water. He's sitting there for 12 hours without any water. That's not how you take care of your animal."
Code 597 will help equip owners with better restraining devices, perhaps a crate or a dog run, plus neutering services or microchips that help locate lost animals. Cooper owns two Presa Canarios, Kaine and Kristo, huge dogs that, under the wrong supervision, can become very dangerous. Cooper initially thought about breeding them for profit; within in a week of volunteering at the shelter, he said, he had them fixed.

"I think I wanted to get the big dogs for a macho thing," Cooper said. "That's not a very educated reason to get a big dog. ... Thank God it got corrected by volunteering here. It probably saved me and my dogs."

The shelter work acted like therapy, Cooper said, during his suspension. He had been in trouble before, getting jailed and suspended after two DUI arrests and generally failing to ground himself. After he started volunteering, "you could really see a difference in him," said Arana, who began dating him two years ago. "It was like he'd found his place."

He likes to compare himself to a cartoon character. "You know when the Grinch had a small heart, and then his heart grew big?" he said. "You do lose your way once you're in the NFL for a while. Your sense of reality starts to get a little skewed."

"You're in another world," Arana interjected.

"Yea," he said, "you are. And this place just kind of put me back in the real world. Helping people, it just kind of opened me up, made me have maybe a little more feelings. Kind of the Grinch syndrome."

In light of Vick's guilty plea, the NFL probably could use a little Dr. Seuss in its game. Cooper hopes to take Code 597 to league headquarters someday and advance the cause throughout the league. But he's in no hurry. He wants to make things work here first, be sure that the program serves pets and their owners before it becomes an NFL enterprise. Anything less would be a show, and when Cooper doesn't want to be on stage. He's stuck in another world, and he really likes it there.

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Giant audience: Most-watched Super Bowl ever
CNN.com

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Giants' thrilling win over the New England Patriots was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 97.5 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said Monday.

The game eclipsed the previous Super Bowl record of 94.1 million, set when Dallas defeated Pittsburgh in 1996. More people watched Sunday's game than all but one American television broadcast ever, the "M-A-S-H" finale in 1983, which was seen by 106 million viewers.

Last year's game between Indianapolis and Chicago was seen by 93.2 million people, Nielsen said.

The game had almost all the ingredients Fox could have hoped for: a tight contest with an exciting finish involving a team that was attempting to make history as the NFL's first unbeaten team since 1972.

But the Giants ended New England's bid for perfection, 17-14. Throughout the game, the teams were never separated by more than a touchdown.

Fox is owned by News Corp (NWS, Fortune 500). The average price of an ad was $2.7 million for 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, a separate survey from TiVo Inc. (TIVO), makers of digital video recorders, found that the E-Trade (ETFC) ad showing a baby talking about stock deals - and spitting up at the end - was the most-watched commercial during the game.
Counting in people who played back material on their DVRs, the commercials were watched by more people than the game, TiVo said.

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Local football fans fuming over broadcast issues
By T. Scott Batchelor, The Daily Reflector

Glitches and outages during Sunday's broadcast of Super Bowl XLII rankled local football fans and upset restaurant and bar owners who say it hurt business.Reports indicated the problem affected those across the area, including viewers with satellite TV as well as cable provider Suddenlink.

An outgoing phone message at Suddenlink's Greenville office informed callers that the problems were "coming from the Fox network" and that "Fox engineers are working to restore service."Phil Ahlschlager, regional vice president for Suddenlink Communications, indicated problems originated with the local affiliate.

Calls to WYDO, the Fox affiliate serving this area, rang busy.Don Fisher, the station's general manager, when reached on his cell phone at the station in Morehead City, had little to say.

"I don't have time to talk to you," he said. "Obviously we have a lot going on."

Brayom Anderson of Tie Breakers sports bar in Greenville fumed about problems. He figured he had lost $1,500 in receipts before the balky signal returned four minutes into the fourth period.

"It's been a lot of trouble," Anderson said. "It's an ongoing problem with the local Fox affiliate ... any time there is something big on, they always, always drop the ball."

He said frustrated customers left the business during long interruptions that started near the end of the halftime show and lasted into the fourth quarter. Anderson said he had gotten 100 signatures on a petition circulated at the bar expressing displeasure with the station.

Ahlschlager said it was his understanding that "Fox had some transmission and powering issues that did not allow us to receive a proper signal so we could pass that along to our customers."

Brittany Fleming, manager of Ham's Restaurant and Brew House in Greenville, said the glitches "absolutely killed our business." Fleming said people "cashed out" and left when the televised picture went on the fritz. "We get prepared, staff-up for a big night, and come to find out we lost any potential," she said.

Shortly after 9 p.m. she said the crowd was "picking up a little bit" when it appeared the broadcast was stable again.

WEDNESDAY is the fifth anniversary of the murder of CBS Talk WAOK-A/ATLANTA producer QUIANA KNOX, and the host she worked with, ROB REDDING, remains on the search for clues to find her killer.

The case is still being investigated, although police say they have uncovered no motive for the shooting in KNOX' home on FEBRUARY 6, 2003. KNOX, a LOS ANGELES native, was a student at CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY at the time of her death.

"I can't help but think this crime may have been solved by now if QUIANA had been White," said REDDING, who now runs the REDDING NEWS REVIEW website and syndicated radio feature. "Let’s look at the facts, Black victims are all too often overlooked by my friends in the media and police departments across AMERICA when we are shot, killed or come up missing. We see the priority that is placed on the lives of Whites by looking at the cases of MEREDITH EMERSON and many others. It is time to solve QUIANA's case and all the other cases where Blacks have been repeatedly ignored."

WIBW-AM host named Voice of Huskers
By Rick Dean, The Capital-Journal

The call of the Husker Sports Network will lure not one but two longtime Topeka broadcasters from the local market.
Greg Sharpe, a staple at WIBW on both the radio and TV sides since 1987, is leaving Topeka to become the radio voice for football and baseball at the University of Nebraska, where he has done part-time work since 2003.

Greg Sharpe has been with WIBW radio or TV since 1987.

Sharpe, the radio play-by-play voice of Kansas State athletics for six seasons, will move to Lincoln with his wife, KSNT-TV (27) news anchor Amy Lietz, and their two young daughters.

"I've missed the play-by-play side of it, and I've been looking for a chance to get back," said Sharpe, who ended his tenure as the radio "Voice of the Wildcats" when Kansas State ended its long association with WIBW in 2002.

Though obviously excited about his new opportunity in Nebraska, the 44-year-old Sharpe — twice voted the Kansas sportscaster of the year in balloting by his peers — said he would have fond memories of his more than two decades as a Topeka sportscaster.

"All but about two percent of my professional life has been spent working under the same call letters," he said. "Though I didn't grow up in Topeka, I very much feel like a Topekan."

Following his graduation from K-State, Sharpe worked briefly at KTKA-TV (49) before joining WIBW radio in 1987. He was a morning DJ working at a time when the station still played music in addition to his work as a sportscaster. He made the move to WIBW-TV in 1989 and stayed there until 1997 when he left to devote full time to his duties with K-State. He was the school's radio voice from the fall of 1996 through spring of 2002.

Upon returning to WIBW radio as director of operations, Sharpe hosted "Sports Sanity," a daily sports talk show. But he also did play-by-play on several Cornhusker pay-per-view football games as well as call men's and women's basketball games for the Fox Sports Network. He also called Nebraska baseball games for Cox Cable.

Last year Sharpe called the Huskers' final three football games following the departure of longtime radio voice Jim Rose.

"It was a little odd doing my first K-State-Nebraska football game," Sharpe remembered. "I was a little uncomfortable at first, but that wore off after a couple of minutes. You just put on the professional hat and do the job, never forgetting who your audience is."

In accompanying her husband to Nebraska, Lietz leaves a market where she has been a popular fixture since 1994, when she was hired by KSNT six months before her graduation from K-State.

Hired initially as a morning anchor and reporter, she was elevated to a main anchor on the state's 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts in 1995. Lietz shortened her schedule to the 10 p.m. news only in 2005 to spend more time with daughters Emily, 7, and Campbell, 4.

Voted part of Topeka's best local news team several times by readers of The Topeka Capital-Journal in the Best of Topeka balloting, Lietz has long been active in a variety of community support groups, including the Capper Foundation, the March of Dimes and the Children's Miracle Network.

Sharpe said he and Lietz will leave their respective stations at the end of the month.

WIBW program director Bruce Steinbrock said he would host both Sharpe's sports-talk show as well as his own drive-time show until a permanent replacement is found for "Sports Sanity."

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UpSNAP Expands Its Wireless Radio Network to Include Sports Byline USA
CNN.com

UpSNAP, Inc. , a premier provider of free mobile search and streaming mobile audio entertainment, today announced that it is teaming up with Sports Byline USA to provide live sports talk radio feeds and Wrestling Observer Live podcasts via mobile phones.

"Thanks to UpSNAP, we now extend our reach to the mobile airwaves," said Darren Peck, President of Sports Byline USA. "We are thrilled about bringing our radio programming, such as Sports Byline USA with Ron Barr and World Series of Poker(R) Radio, to mobile phones so listeners can catch our radio feeds and podcasts while on the go."

"By continuing to execute our growth strategy with partnerships like this, we exhibit our ability to successfully compete with content delivery in the mobile arena. Media players and carriers are looking for a one-stop shop like UpSNAP for all of their mobile services. We're excited to expand our audio services to Sports Byline USA listeners and offer them access to their favorite mobile programming," said Tony Philipp, UpSNAP CEO.

Available on nearly all 230 million mobile phones in the U.S., users can listen to Sports Byline USA service on-demand for free without downloads by texting "BYLINE" to 27627 or calling 704-625-9950. Carrier charges may be incurred depending on the network operator. For more information, visit http://www.upsnap.com.


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