UPDATE: Hartford paper rethinks publishing Auriemma’s daughter

I grew up in Connecticut where women’s basketball rules.

Long before other women’s college teams got exposure and respect, the public TV station broadcast the UConn games. In fact, CPTV began its coverage of the university women during  the 1993-94 season and has covered the team ever since.

Given the intense interest in all things related to UConn’s women’s basketball team, including long-time coach Geno Auriemma, it’s not a huge surprise that the state’s largest daily newspaper, the Hartford Courant, hired Auriemma’s daughter, Ally, to write a blog about the six-time national championship team team.

The 23-year-old, who graduated from UConn with a degree in dramatic arts, said she’ll take readers behind the scenes, but will not write anything controversial about her father’s team.

She said she’ll also counter what she called “false press” about her father, a Hall of Famer who will coach the women’s basketball team in the 2012 Olympics. In her personal blog, Live Beyond the Postseason, she writes about her Dad and life in general.

Now, according to ESPN, the Courant is re-evaluating its plan.

The newspaper’s sports editor, Jeff Otterbein, says he hired Alysa Auriemma to give an insider’s viewpoint about her father and the team on monthly blog postings during the upcoming basketball season. Otterbein said Alysa Auriemma would be paid $125 per article.

The arrangement has been criticized by a media ethics expert and journalists, who call Alysa Auriemma’s role a conflict of interest.

Otterbein says he at first considered the blog “a slice of something they could not get elsewhere.”

He said the newspaper is now reconsidering the relationship and is asking readers for their opinions.

Would love to hear any thoughts on the subject. Is this a blog you’d be interested in reading?

UPDATE 9/19/09:

Hartford Courant sports editor Jeff Otterbein said that Alysa Auriemma was paid for posts in July and August, but will not be paid for future posts to “avoid any appearance of impropriety.”

On her personal blog, the 23-year-old UConn grad says she’s pleased with the outcome.

Tennis players stop traffic in Toronto

Soon after arriving in Toronto for  this week’s Rogers Cup, Ana Ivanovic took part in an impromptu hit with world No.8 Caroline Wozniacki in the middle of the street. The “Street Tennis” event was put on by women’s tennis’ title sponsor Sony Ericsson at Yonge Street, which is the longest in the entire country.

“The Rogers Cup in Toronto is one of my favorite stops during the US Open Series,” said Ana. “I won this event three years ago and it is always nice to be back in Canada.

“I was thrilled to have a chance to participate in the Sony Ericsson “Street Tennis” stunt with Caroline. It is always exciting to be able to bring the sport of tennis to new audiences and we definitely had fun, taking people on the streets of Toronto by a huge surprise.”

Wozniacki, from Denmark, was equally excited about the event. “I was thrilled to have an opportunity to participate in “Street Tennis” with Ana and very impressed with Yonge Street in this beautiful city of Toronto,” she said.

“The court was laid out for us in a record time and playing an impromptu tennis match with Ana was really fun.”

Ana is a veteran when it comes to playing tennis in unusual but spectacular places: earlier this year she hit with Victoria Azarenka on the roof of the Villa Miami hotel in Rome, while last year she faced Elena Dementieva on a desert island in the Arabian Sea in Doha. She was also featured vaulting across rooftops in Sony Ericsson’s memorable “Never Miss A Shot” TV commercial in 2006.

Adecco sponsors tennis champion Kim Clijsters comeback

The comeback from a two-year retirement of tennis star Kim Clijsters has been boosted by the signing of a sponsorship deal with human resources company Adecco.

The 26-year-old Belgian left professional tennis in 2007 to start a family and in February 2008 she gave birth to daughter Jada. During her first career, Clijsters ranked for a total of 16 weeks as the No. 1 tennis player in the world, won 34 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. Her first official WTA Tour comeback tournament will be Cincinnati (USA), starting on August 10, followed by Toronto (CAN) on August 17 and the US Open in New York, which begins August 30.

“We are delighted to sponsor the comeback of such a great personality as Kim Clijsters,” said Patrick De Maeseneire, chief executive of the Adecco Group. “The support of athletes around the world has a long-lasting tradition at Adecco. It embodies our values of helping passionate people to achieve their aims in the world of work and life.”

“I am very excited about starting this partnership with Adecco as I return to competition and start my second professional career,” said Kim Clijsters. “Teaming up with Adecco, a world leader in Human Resources, gives me confidence in taking up the challenge of combining my career with my family life. I feel it is important to partner with a brand which understands people’s motivations, one that gives them the best advice and support to achieve a better working life.”

Adecco also supports the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee Athlete Career Programme.

If the comeback doesn’t work out, maybe Adecco can help Clijsters get a job.

Video: X Games Women’s Skateboard Comp

2007 X Games winner Marisa Dal Santo reclaimed gold in this year’s dramatic street competition.

Check out this video for highlights of the event.

Final Results from the Skateboard Women’s Street Final competition held at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on July 30, 2009.

Name/Rank Hometown Score
Marisa Dal Santo Chicago, Ill. 374.00
Alexis Sablone Brooklyn, N.Y. 353.00
Elissa Steamer San Francisco, Calif 350.00
Lacey Baker Covina, Calif. 323.00
Vanessa Torres Silver Lake, Calif. 281.00
Leticia Bufoni Sao Paulo, Brazil 278.00
Amy Caron Huntington Beach, Calif. 261.00
Evie Bouilliart Huntington Beach, Calif. 252.00
Abisha Alshebaiki Temecula, Calif. 196.00
Tamara Drybrough Port Coquitlam, Canada 124.00

Tennis star Maria Sharapova guest edits and graces the cover of ESPN Magazine

After her impressive return to competition at the French Open, Maria Sharapova took on another challenge – editing ESPN The Magazine’s third-annual Revenge of the Jocks issue.

In the current issue of The Mag, on newsstands today, Sharapova details how she would fix women’s tennis, and shows readers what she did while rehabbing her shoulder for eight months.

Sharapova on changing women’s tennis:

• The players’ lounge isn’t a nightclub, either. It’s hard to get ready for a match when there’s a bleached-out blonde in six-inch stilettos and a denim miniskirt hanging out. Who is this person, and why is she here?
• Limit on-court injury timeouts to two per season. I’ve asked for a trainer twice in my career, but I’ve played against girls who call for an injury timeout in every match. They’re just buying time; it’s laughable.

In addition, Sharapova dispenses life advice to fellow jocks, and gives a NFL-caliber makeover to rookie QB Matthew Stafford who obviously  hasn’t had a lot of on-camera experience.

Check out video of  the Sharapova and Stafford fashion shoot here.

WNBA All Star voting underway

The Beijing Olympics replaced the WNBA All-Star game last season, but online voting for the 2009 All-Star game begins this week.

Balloting will determine the starting lineups for the league’s premier event, which will be hosted by the Connecticut Sun on Saturday, July 25 and televised nationally on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Fans worldwide will have the opportunity to select their favorite players as starters for the ninth All-Star Game by voting in person at WNBA arenas or online beginning June 15 at WNBA.com.

The 65 players included on the 2009 All-Star ballot represent all 13 WNBA teams. Voters will  select two guards, two forwards and one center from each conference. A write-in option is also available, allowing fans to choose players not listed on the ballot.

The WNBA All-Star Balloting Program will be conducted from June 14 through July 7.  Following the completion of fan voting, starting line-ups will be announced on July 14 during the nationally-televised Sun vs. Los Angeles Sparks game on ESPN2.  WNBA head coaches will then select the remaining All-Stars from their respective conferences, with the reserves announced on July 20.

The Western Conference dominated play by winning six straight before MVP Katie Douglas led the Eastern Conference to a 98-82 victory in the 2006 All-Star Game. The East followed that up with another victory in 2007, when Cheryl Ford poured in 16 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to earn MVP honors.

You can vote daily for your favorite players to be named to the team here and be eligible to win a trip for two to Mohegan Sun for the All-Star Game.

To bee or not to bee

ESPN usually airs football, basketball, ice hockey and occasionally a NCAA Division I championship  — but kids pushing around vowels and consonants? America’s youngest and most celebrated letter bearers were featured today on the station generally meant to broadcast athletic endeavors (poker notwithstanding).

We’re talking, of course, of the 82nd Annual Scripps Spelling Bee. The week began with a record 293 spellers and today’s difficult semifinals began with 41 contenders. Chairs on stage emptied one by one until only 11 kids were left.

The finalists include seven girls and four boys and the champ will be crowned tonight during prime time coverage on ABC. (8 p.m. ET) hosted byTom Bergeron. Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, are expected to attend. The winner receives more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.

Favorites include a couple of pretty smart gals: of Olathe, Kan., who’s made it to the finals four times and Serena Skye Laine-Lobsinger of West Palm Beach, Fla.

Longtime ESPN Sports Center co-anchor Chris Mkendry announced the event live from the Grand Hyatt in Washington D.C. Great coverage from a channel that ranks the importance of the Spelling Bee somewhere below Major League Baseball but above women’s softball and basketball.

The highly competitive National Spelling Bee is an excursion through Webster’s dictionary in search of obscure words. Spellers ask almost identical questions as they try to wrap their brain matter around how the word is formed.

“Can you tell me the definition?” “Can you tell me the country of origin?” “Can you use it in a sentence?”

A few of today’s troublesome words included piqueur, grenache and fedelini. Twitter fans can follow www.twitter.com/scrippsbee throughout the competition for highlights.

Can you spell T-O-U-G-H?

(Update: Kavya Shivashankar correctly spelled “Laodicean” to win the 82nd annual event)

Pretty Healthy: Selena Gomez teams up with Borden to give milk a fresh face

While other Disney stars are out promoting their new singles or sitcoms, Selena Gomez is busy promoting a healthy lifestyle. The “Wizards of Waverly Place” star  has partnered with Elsie The Cow and her friends at The Borden Company for a new wellness campaign encouraging kids to drink milk.

The teen starlet shot various promos for the brand in her homestate of Texas. Borden  is the number one dairy company in The Lonestar State.

“I really wanted to do the Borden campaign because it’s kind of my job to be a role model. So for me I like to put positive things out there and try my hardest to educate kids on the importance of being healthy and being active,” Gomez said about her role in the campaign. “So being a part of the Borden campaign is an honor because it’s kind of close to me.”

Gomez should hope the milk does her body good. This summer, she’s set to release her debut album, she’s premiering a Disney Channel movie co-starring best friend Demi Lovato “Princess Protection Program,” dueted with rockers Forever the Sickest Kids, and will debut new episodes of “Wizards.”

Danica Patrick’s Got Milk

Got Milk? Fan-favorite IRL driver Danica Patrick was captured this month promoting healthy, strong bones as the latest celeb to join the popular Body By Milk campaign.

Danica has proven herself in IRL by being the first woman to win an Indy Car race and with the Indianapolis 500 approaching quickly on May 24th, maybe she’ll get to follow tradition. Every year Indycar drivers aspire to have a taste of milk on the podium. She told the media that her choice for Victory Circle at the Indy 500 is chocolate milk – a combo of protein and fast carbs.

“Milk is a tradition in the Indy 500. It started way back, I think it might have been back in the 40s or something and one of the drivers had wanted milk after the race and so ever since then it’s been a tradition and something that every driver does after they win the Indy 500.”

Danica, 27, says the milk ad is something “I’ve always seen, always noticed, always thought it was so cool and that maybe one day I’d get to do it.”

Not only is Danica the first female race car driver to participate in the Got Milk? campaign; she’s the first Indy car driver as well. Here’s hoping she gets to celebrate by drinking some this weekend.