Turned the big 4-0 today

I only feel a day older than yesterday.

"The Casino" looks good!

Shelley and I taped the first episode of The Casino and watch it last night. This first show was rather entertaining.

This first episode had a frat boy licking whipped cream off a semi-naked girl during a bachelor party. "We thought it looked like a bikini, but they just freaked out over there," said executive producer James Bruce.

One of the high rollers, card-counting regular "Big Chuck, who had been hitting on ladies the whole night, finally convinced a "lady in red" to come up to his room. Later finding out "she" was a dude.

We were also be introduced to colorful casino denizens like Frank Sinatra wannabe Matt Dusk. Reminded me of that guy from American Idol.

Each episode will focus on two or three guests of the Golden Nugget as they try their luck at the tables and occasionally bump into Breitling and Poster's celebrity investor pals, including Andre Agassi, the Barenaked Ladies, Jewel and Tony Bennett.

Viewers will also be introduced to colorful casino denizens like Matt Dusk, "Big Chuck," and officials from the Gaming Commission, who think there's a link between one of Poster's pals and the Mafia.

The show, which will run 13 episodes, includes such only-in-Vegas moments as a catfight between a stripper and a bachelorette and a high roller who loses $200,000 at the tables.

Jenny McCarthy is getting a show

In its first midseason order, UPN has picked up the comedy "The Bad Girl's Guide," starring Jenny McCarthy.

Based on Cameron Tuttle's book "The Bad Girl's Guide to Getting What You Want," a how-to guide on career, friendship and romance, the project centers on three women who adhere to the bad-girl attitude and live life to the fullest with no excuses. UPN picked up 12 episodes, bringing the total order to 13, including the pilot.

Former Playboy Playmate McCarthy previously had her own short-lived NBC sitcom "Jenny," which aired in the 1997 season.

What's with these celebrity baby names?

Arquettes have baby girl, Coco

Courteney Cox Arquette and her husband, actor David Arquette, had a baby girl named Coco on Sunday, a spokesperson for the couple said yesterday. The actress gave birth about a week before her scheduled delivery date, according to People magazine.

I love this commercial

Six Flags Commercial

There is an old man who is the main character in their commercial. Yet he is not a frail old man, he is a crazy dancing fool of an old man. He walks into a sleepy little neighborhood, waits for the techno music to start, then starts running around like crazy. I can't stop watching. I can't stop trying to see the young man in make-up behind the dark glasses and wrinkly skin.

See the commerial here

Sorenstam scores a major hat-trick

Annika Sorenstam joined Mickey Wright as the only golfers - male or female - to successfully defend three majors after her victory at the LPGA Championship in Wilmington, Delaware, on Sunday.

Wright won back-to-back in all four major events during the late 1950s and early 1960s. And Sorenstam, who finished at 13-under 271 and earned $240,000 at the weekend, can match her by winning the Women’s British Open at Sunningdale this summer.

"Majors mean so much to me," said the Swede after her three-stroke triumph over Korean Shi Hyun Ahn secured a seventh career major title and her fourth victory of the season. Rankings released yesterday also showed that the win pushed Sorenstam’s earnings for the year over $1million.

Sorenstam, forced to play 36 holes on Sunday, set a 54-hole tournament record at 14-under-par 199 as she built a six-shot lead. But she followed a double-bogey at the ninth hole with two bogeys as the margin dwindled to two strokes.

She recovered with birdies at the 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th and could even afford a bogey at the 18th. "This one feels great," said Sorenstam, who compiled rounds of 64 and 72. "I played really well in the morning, but for some reason it started to slip away. I’m very glad I turned it around."

The Amazing Race 5 cast announced

The cast has been announced. This is one of the better reality shows on TV.

The 11 couples include the one couple we already, sadly, knew about: obnoxious Big Brother 4 runner-up Alison and her boyfriend Donny. The other teams include widowers who lost partners to cancer and met online, Miss Texas and her boyfriend, identical twins, and Syrian first cousins. (Video of the contestants aired on the Early Show.) There is only one male/male team, and only three female/female teams, and all but one of the male/female teams consist of dating or married couples.

Rocco needed a court's permission to enter Rocco's

A judge gave television chef Rocco DiSpirito permission Tuesday to enter the restaurant that bears his name so he could take photographs of himself for a cookbook to be published this summer.

DiSpirito had to get a court order because China Grill Management, a group of financial backers who say they own Rocco’s 22nd Street restaurant, sued him over management of the eatery and barred him from entering.

The chef, who claims he is part-owner of the restaurant, tried to enter Rocco’s Tuesday morning for the photo shoot but was stopped. A China Grill lawyer immediately sought a court order to bar DiSpirito permanently.

The lawyer, Laurence Kaiser, argued that in recent months the chef has stolen restaurant property and assaulted its manager.

DiSpirito’s lawyer, Stephen Hayes, denied the allegations.

State Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman signed an order that let DiSpirito enter Rocco’s on Tuesday afternoon and use it as a setting for photos for the book, “Rocco’s Italian American Cooking.” He ordered DiSpirito to put $500 in escrow to cover any damage he might cause while there.

Bitter struggle for ‘The Restaurant’
The judge’s order bars DiSpirito from entering Rocco’s at any other time without court permission until the legal fight with his financial backers over ownership and control of the restaurant is resolved.

DiSpirito’s financial backers sued the chef in February, saying he mismanaged Rocco’s and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. They say they put up $3 million for the Italian eatery, the site and subject of NBC’s reality series “The Restaurant.”

Instead of the restaurant being the critical and financial success they expected, the investors say, “The quality of the food and service has been widely criticized” and Rocco’s has lost “in excess of $600,000.”

Meanwhile, China Grill filed suit Tuesday against QVC, the home shopping television show, alleging that DiSpirito had “diverted and stolen” nearly $12,000 worth of food and beverages in March for a QVC luncheon.

China Grill’s court papers accused QVC of colluding with DiSpirito, who sells products on the show. Court papers say QVC did not pay Rocco’s and has not accounted for the cost of the luncheon.

That lawsuit, separate from one already filed by China Grill against DiSpirito, does not name the chef as a defendant. It seeks $25,000 for breach of contract and $11,948 for goods and services provided at the luncheon.

MSN story link

First Day Covers

I got these 2 first day covers. The Athens Olympics and WWII Memorial.

Ohio State Basketball Coach fired

Ohio State men’s basketball coach Jim O’Brien was fired yesterday for giving $6,000 to a recruit who never enrolled at the university.

The violation could be only the tip of the iceberg if an investigation by the university and the NCAA uncovers more wrongdoing during O’Brien’s seven-year tenure.

In addition to the payment to the recruit, a civil lawsuit filed in August by a Gahanna woman says she provided financial and other assistance to Slobodan "Boban" Savovic during his four years as an OSU basketball player. It alleges that former assistant coach Paul Biancardi knew of the arrangement among Savovic, the woman and two Columbus residents, and that Biancardi orchestrated some of it.

Biancardi, now head men’s basketball coach at Wright State University in Fairborn, did not respond to messages left by The Dispatch.

Asked last night whether the arrangement as described in the lawsuit constitutes an NCAA violation by Biancardi, Ohio State Athletics Director Andy Geiger said, "That’s part of the investigation." He refused to discuss it further.

O’Brien declined to answer specific questions during a brief interview at his Columbus home yesterday. A suitcase and travel bag were inside the front door; O’Brien said he was leaving the house in about five minutes.

"I have nothing to say about anything," he said.

O’Brien said his side of the story is "coming . . . but not now."

Asked whether he planned to contest his firing or was contemplating legal action against the university, he referred questions to his attorney, Jim Zeszutek of Pittsburgh, who did not return a call to his office from The Dispatch.

Zeszutek told ESPN that O’Brien was "crushed" by the firing. "He’s hurt that he would not have the op- portunity to discuss this (with officials from) Ohio State."

"I am troubled that a rule was admittedly violated and it took us five years to find out about it," Geiger told a hastily called news conference in the Schottenstein Center.

He told the media he had spoken with O’Brien earlier in the day.

"The coach was given a chance to resign or come to this conclusion, and he chose not to resign," Geiger said.

He named O’Brien’s top assistant, Rick Boyages, interim coach and said all other staff members will be retained while the university searches for a new coach.

Boyages, head coach at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., for three seasons before returning to Ohio State last year, was on the staff at the time the violation occurred. But Geiger said he was "assured by (Boyages) that he was not involved in this, and unfamiliar with it."

O’Brien had a 133-88 record at Ohio State. His teams reached the Final Four in 1999, his second season, won shares of two Big Ten championships, won a Big Ten Tournament title and played in the NCAA Tournament four times.

He had five years remaining on a contract that paid him about $900,000 in total compensation this year. Under terms of the contract, it could be voided immediately if he were found to have broken NCAA rules.

Geiger said O’Brien was "terminated for cause" for violating NCAA bylaw 13.2.1, which deals with illegal inducements.

Geiger said Ohio State reported the violation to the NCAA on May 18 and "since then, we have been working jointly with the NCAA and legal counsel on a complete and thorough investigation into the issues raised by the lawsuit and any other issues . . . that may arise in the course of that investigation."

The violation was a $6,000 payment O’Brien made to Aleksandar Radojevic, a 7-foot-3-inch center from Yugoslavia — and a friend of Savovic’s — who signed a national letter of intent with Ohio State in November 1998 while at Barton County Community College in Kansas.

Radojevic never enrolled at Ohio State. In May 1999, the NCAA ruled him ineligible for accepting $13,000 in 1997 from a Yugoslavian club team for which he played two games.

That summer, Radojevic was the 12 th player drafted, by the Toronto Raptors, in the NBA draft. He no longer is in the league.

Geiger said O’Brien made him aware of the lawsuit — filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court — involving Savovic’s benefactors last August but did not tell him until April 24 that he had given Radojevic money.

"He said that he was informing me because he was certain that it would be disclosed as a part of the lawsuit," Geiger said. "The coach explained to me that he gave (Radojevic) the money because he was concerned about the Radojevic family in Yugoslavia. Alex’s father passed away on Sept. 8, 1998, his mother was unable to work due to disability, and Alex has two sisters and a brother. . . . It was intended that Alex would send the money home to his family."

O’Brien’s attorney said that if the money "got there at all, it was after he was declared ineligible. If that was the case, then it would not be a violation."

Geiger said O’Brien realized he violated NCAA rules by giving Radojevic money.

"He admitted that he knew that he did, and a couple of weeks ago he offered to resign. I told him that as early as it was in our (investigation), that he should get very good advice and then make his judgment. Our next conversation about it was today."

Geiger said it was his understanding that the money was not from university funds.

A source familiar with college basketball recruiting said last night that Savovic, Radojevic and fellow Yugoslavian Slobodan "Cobe" Ocokoljic, all of whom signed with Ohio State in a six-month period from May through November 1998, were brought to the United States with the help of Semi Pajovic, a New York restaurateur who was interviewed by a Dispatch reporter while on the OSU campus with Radojevic and Ocokoljic in May 1998. Biancardi was the lead recruiter on all three players.

Savovic spent one year at a Newark, N.J., high school before enrolling at Ohio State. Ocokoljic was at Massillon Washington High School for two years and played at OSU for two years before finishing his career at Weber State in Ogden, Utah.

Geiger said he hoped the investigation would not hinder the school’s attempt to hire the best candidate to replace O’Brien.

"We will be candid with all candidates as to what circumstances we find ourselves in," Geiger said. "We hope that we can weather the storm and head forward with a good basketball program."

For Love or Money 3 debuts tonight

NBC kicks off the summer reality season with the debut of For Love or Money 3 tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

This season's twist, which isn't exactly a secret: The women are all playing for either $1 million or $1; they don't know that they might be whoring themselves for a buck, nor do they know that the guy knows. Speaking of not knowing, model Preston Mercer, who is the man in question, didn't even know he was on NBC's money-grubbing reality show. It'd be unfair to chalk this up to the fact that he's a model, as producers lied to him and said he was on a show called "Adventures in Love." Still, he had seen some previous episodes of the show, but "recognize host Jordan Murphy when he first met him," TV Guide says.

We saw Shrek 2 today

A very good movie. The kids said they wouldn't like it, but they did.

New Olympic stamp is coming out

The U.S. Postal Service will issue a postage stamp to honor the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece during a special June 9 stamp dedication ceremony in Philadelphia.

"Just as the Postal Service touches the lives of every American in every city and town in the country, our stamp program continues to touch on the meaningful events in our nation's history, both at home and abroad," said dedicating official S. David Fineman, Chairman of the U.S. Postal Service's presidentially appointed Board of Governors. "The Olympic Games Athens, Greece stamps are a most fitting tribute -- not only to the competitive spirit of participating athletes, but also to the unifying Olympic spirit of fair play and international camaraderie."

The 10:30 a.m. ceremony, free and open to the public, will take place at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 3260 South Street. A Greek gallery mini-tour, with emphasis on the ancient Olympics, will be offered following the ceremony.

As this is a first-day-of-issue ceremony, Philadelphia holds the unique distinction of being the only city in the nation where the stamp will be available that day. The stamp will be available at Post Offices and Philatelic Centers nationwide June 10.

Australian Wins Miss Universe 2004 Title

A 20-year-old, blue-eyed Australian was named Miss Universe 2004 in a two-hour pageant in this Andean capital watched by hundreds of millions of television viewers around the world.

Jennifer Hawkins smiled as the outgoing titleholder, Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic, slipped the crown on her head Tuesday night at a convention center on the northern outskirts of Quito.

Miss USA, Shandi Finnessey, was first runner-up in the field of 80 beauty queens representing their respective countries.

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