More sports

Celebrity race, ads and off off-Broadway

John Elway proves best at a competition that may or may not have been a good idea.

By TOM JONES
Published June 26, 2007

Ad of the day

Adidas is launching an advertising campaign this week featuring soccer star David Beckham and Saints running back Reggie Bush swapping sports in a "Futbol vs. Football" story line. "There are very few people whose names transcend their own sports. People know the name of David Beckham, whether they follow soccer or not, " Stephen Pierpoint, VP of brand marketing for Adidas, told the Associated Press.

New show of the day

Reality TV producer Mark Burnett, the guy behind The Apprentice and the U.S. version of Survivor, has set his sights on the fastest-growing sport in the world: mixed martial arts. A network and time have not been set, but the ball is rolling as Burnett has teamed with MMA company ProElite Inc. And the sound you should be hearing next is professional boxing trying to catch its breath.

Two cents blog

Check out more of Tom Jones' two cents on sports (and leave your two cents, too) by going to his blog. It's easy. It's fun. And, uh, it's easy. Just go to blogs.tampabay.com/twocents. Or just go straight to tampabay.com and click on "blogs" and look for "Two Cents." It's so easy that even a caveman can do this, too.

Vroom, vroom

In case you missed it (and you probably did), former Broncos quarterback John Elway, above, won the Fast Cars & Superstars competition Sunday night on ABC. The show was kind of like Dancing with the Stars, except instead of dancing, the celebrities raced cars.

How the final race - five laps, including one pit stop, around the 11/2-mile track in Concord, N.C. - went down:

1. John Elway. Tutor: Kyle Busch. Announcer Kenny Mayne cracked, "Millions of years from now, when the sun no longer exists and cars can fly, the poets will write, 'John Elway is the greatest celebrity car driver ever.' "

2. Ty Murray. Tutor: Kasey Kahne. The cowboy celebrated his second-place finish by doing doughnuts in the infield.

3. John Cena. Tutor: Carl Edwards. Did doughnuts after, too, but lost control and spun out.

4. Tony Hawk. Tutor: Jimmie Johnson. Turned in the fastest average lap - 151 mph - but cost himself a chance to win by stalling out in the pit.

5. Jewel. Tutor: Jamie McMurray. Folksy-pop singer actually hit the wall in a warmup lap but did have a 144 mph lap.

6. Bill Cowher. Tutor: Ryan Newman. As a driver, the former Steelers coach is a good ... well, former football coach. He stalled out in the pit, too, and his fastest average lap (139 mph) was the slowest of the six.

Play of the day

Former Yankees teammates Darryl Strawberry and Jim Leyritz will star in a one-act play at Yankee Stadium. The play The Boy of Steel is based on a book written by Yankees special assistant and St. Petersburg native Ray Negron. The book and Negron were profiled by Times baseball writer Marc Topkin on Page 2 in January.

The book tells the story of Michael Steel, a young boy afflicted with brain cancer, who becomes a bat boy for a night and, through the magic of Yankee Stadium, meets legends such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

The play is scheduled for Aug. 18.

Your two cents

It was only a matter of time for Edwin Jackson and the ray tank. A big win Sunday for Devil Rays pitcher Edwin Jackson. Congratulations! He has some good stuff, and his record does not yet reflect that. We know it will happen. The same can be said for a ball hit into the touch tank where the rays are. We know it will happen. No response from PETA? Somebody's got to speak up for the little guys. Can we get a safety net up for them?

Lori Miesner

via e-mail

Whatever happened to ... Mel Hall

Remember Mel Hall? Speedy and slick-swinging lefty who played with the Cubs, Indians, Yankees and Giants from 1981-96?

Well, according to the Associated Press, Hall, 46, has been charged in North Richland Hills, Texas, with sexually assaulting two girls in 1998 and '99 while coaching them in a basketball league.

He was released Friday on $35, 000 bail after being arrested the day before on charges of sexual assault of a child under 17 and aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14. The second charge carries a possible life sentence because of the age of victim.

And one final thing. When Hall was arrested, there was an unrelated outstanding warrant on a theft charge, police said.

Oh my.

[Last modified June 25, 2007, 23:49:35]