The News Of …

Delmon Young followed a huge postseason last year with a huge spring training this year, and he seemed poised for a huge season that would lead to a huge contract when he becomes a free agent this fall.
Young hits fifth for the Tigers, directly behind Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. In the year entering free agency, Young can have star-type production without the burden of being his team’s star.
He could get big attention in this coming off-season, from teams that would want to bid for a power-hitting leftfielder in his mid-20s who might be entering his prime. He could look for 10 million dollars or more per year on a long-term deal. There hasn’t been any indication the Tigers will try to re-sign Young before he became a free agent.
On Friday, Young got the attention of teams throughout the big leagues. He was arrested at the Tigers’ New York hotel on an aggravated harassment charge. Police said Young yelled an anti-Semitic remark during a physical confrontation and was intoxicated. He did not play in the Tigers’ 7-6 loss to the Yankees on Friday night.
No matter the legal resolution of the case, the question arises whether this episode will diminish the demand for Young on the free-agent market. There is some feeling in the baseball industry that it will.
Some teams that put a high premium on character and conduct might now have pause about signing Young. The fewer teams that bid for him. The lower his value might go.

Delmon Young.

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The San Francisco 49ers have taken another step to boost their receiving corps, selecting Illinois wideout A.J. Jenkins with the 30th pick in the NFL draft.
Jenkins will join a unit that already features Randy Moss, Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree on the reigning NFC West champion 49ers, who lost in overtime of the NFC title game to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
Jenkins had 90 catches last season for 1.276 yards and eigh.
San Francisco has all 11 defensive starters back. This became a drastically different draft for GM Trent Baalke, whose selections the past two years became immediate impact players — offensive linemen Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati and then linebacker Aldon Smith (who had 14 sacks last season as a rookie).

AJ Jenkins.

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The Atlanta Falcons gave up only a seventh-round draft pick Wednesday when they acquired four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel from the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Falcons announced the trade after Samuel agreed to restructure his contract to a three-year, $18,5-million deal. His contract with Philadelphia called for him to earn $9,9 million in 2012 and $11,4 million in 2013.
Samuel (31) gives Atlanta a strong but high-priced trio at cornerback with Dunta Robinson and Brent Grimes under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.
Grimes (who signed his franchise tag tender Tuesday) will make $10,262 million this season. Robinson will earn $6 million.

Asante Samuel.

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For the second time in two months, a customer at Las Vegas’ Heart Attack Grill collapsed mid-meal and was carted off to a hospital.
The female customer, a Las Vegas resident in her 40′s, had been devouring a “double bypass burger,” puffing on cigarettes, and sipping a margarita when she collapsed Saturday night, the Grill’s owner told ABC News.
The woman is recovering from her medical emergency but – like the man who collapsed at the same Grill in February – she likely won’t be able to sue for her medical bills.
First, it’s not yet clear what caused the lady to collapse at the Heart Attack Grill. (That’s different from February’s collapse, which was determined to be an actual heart attack.)
Next, there’s a lack of scientific evidence that eating an artery-clogging hamburger can trigger an imminent heart attack, ABC News reports. But a greasy diet can add to the risk of a heart attack – along with smoking and other lifestyle factors.
Then there’s the legal doctrine of assumption of risk – when someone freely and knowingly accepts the possibility of injury for taking part in an activity.
At the Heart Attack Grill, signs warn customers that “This Establishment is Bad for Your Health.” Customers also arguably know what they’re biting into when they order a “double bypass burger,” which comes with two half-pound burger patties and bacon (with the option of adding even more bacon).
The Heart Attack Grill’s owner says he hopes the woman who collapsed makes a full recovery. “She was eating, drinking, smoking, laughing, dancing, having fun” – he told the Los Angeles Times. “But when you treat your body like that day in and day out, eventually your body is going to give out.”

Heart Attack Grill.

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E! News host Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill are expecting their first child.
The reality TV couple – currently starring in a fifth season of Style Network’s “Giuliana & Bill” – confirmed the news Monday to E! Online. The baby is due in late summer via a gestational surrogate. The Rancics will be the genetic parents.
“We are so thrilled that our prayers have been answered” – Giuliana (37) said. “We received an incredible amount of love and prayers from viewers around the world” – she said, “and we want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them for their love.”
Bill (40) added: “We are absolutely ecstatic to be sharing this with everyone who has been following our journey.”
Giuliana’s quest for motherhood is well documented, including her battle against infertility, a miscarriage in 2010 and finally a diagnosis of breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy last December.

Giuliana and Bill Rancic.

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This June, in Rio de Janeiro, more than 120 presidents and prime ministers will get together for a meeting with much at stake for every person on our planet – and future generations. It’s the so-called Rio+20 Earth Summit and so far it’s gotten very little attention. But there’s still time to change that. In fact, the United States could take the lead, starting, perhaps on Earth Day this Sunday.
The idea behind the Earth Summits – this is the 20th anniversary of the first, also in Rio – is bold. Their mission is to make sure we don’t use up our resources and do irreparable harm to our planet as we move deeper into the 21st century world, a world where more people are demanding more of everything from cars and cell phones to planes and air-conditioned housing. Experts call this mission “sustainable development.” Right now, it couldn’t be more important. By mid-century, on our present course, our planet will have problems almost worthy of an apocalyptic Hollywood movie. Extreme climate will wreak havoc on our way of life, with increased floods, droughts and weather events. Whole swathes of territory will disappear. There will be increasingly scarce water, fuel and food as the world’s population swells. Rising pollution will harm human health.
Two decades ago (in contrast to today) the Rio Earth Summit was an exciting and much-publicized event. Countries and people around the world were enthusiastic, and believed its goals could be achieved. But that was then and now is now. The excitement has soured into frustrated cynicism, and for good reason. Many of the grand pledges and action plans from the first Rio Earth Summit haven’t been implemented. International gatherings in general have become synonymous with big talk and little action.

Earth Day.

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After more than half a century on national television, ushering music acts into the public eye and ringing in the new year for millions, Dick Clark was eulogized last week as a cultural giant first, a shrewd businessman second.
Clark (who died of a heart attack at age 82) would not have objected. But there was a fuller picture. As an executive behind the scenes, he parlayed a keen understanding of a changing marketplace controlled by the baby boomers into millions in profits.
“I don’t make culture. I sell it” – he told Forbes magazine in 1996.
Carson Daly and Ryan Seacrest are among those who have hoped to emulate Clark’s success, both on the air and as an executive.
“I sent him my bio and stuff because he probably had no idea who I was” – Daly told me once, recalling a meeting he landed with Clark. “But I walked in and he was like: ‘Carson Daly! It is a pleasure!’ He was very nice. … It was almost like I was seeing a shrink. I just sort of spewed out all this stuff. And he was like, ‘Use the force,’ these little one-word bits of advice.”
So what are some of the business lessons Clark left behind?
Innovation doesn’t necessarily require invention.
Like Steve Jobs at Apple and Ray Kroc at McDonald’s, Clark made his millions, and carved his place in the American consciousness, by being able to size up the marketplace, sense appetites and package improved variations of what existed. His version, like theirs, would be more efficient, appealing and, ultimately, satisfying.

Dick Clark.

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Jonathan Frid (a Canadian actor best known for playing Barnabas Collins in the 1960s original vampire soap opera “Dark Shadows”) has died. He was 87.
Frid died Friday of natural causes in a hospital in his home town of Hamilton, Ontario, said Jim Pierson, a friend and spokesman for Dan Curtis Productions, the creator of “Dark Shadows.”
Frid starred in the 1960′s gothic-flavored soap opera about odd, supernatural goings-on at a family estate in Maine.
His death comes just weeks before a Tim Burton-directed version of Dark Shadows is due out next month starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. Frid has a cameo role in the new movie in which he meets Depp’s character in a party scene with two other original actors from the show.
Pierson said Burton and Depp were fans of Frid, who played a vulnerable vampire in one of the first sympathetic portrayal of the immortal creatures.
“Twenty million people saw the show at its peak in 1969. Kids ran home from school and housewives watched it. It had a huge pop culture impact” – Pierson said.
Pierson said Frid, whose character was added in 1967, saved the show and stayed on until the end of its run in 1971. He said Frid was never into the fame and fortune and just wanted to be a working actor. He said he loved the drama and finding the flaws and the humanity in his characters.

Jonathan Frid.

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Dick Clark (whose “American Bandstand” made him rich, famous, influential and sometimes controversial by marrying rock ‘n’ roll with television) died Wednesday morning at the age of 82.
His agent (Paul Shefrin) said he suffered a massive heart attack. He had struggled with health issues since suffering a a serious stroke in 2004.
Before then he was often called “America’s oldest living teenager” because of his perpetual and almost eerily youthful look.
“I can’t imagine our world without Dick Clark” – said Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, the long-time radio host now on SiriusXM. “You’d just look at him — that face. I never thought we’d lose him.”
But behind Clark’s boyish, all-American look, he was one of the canniest music and media moguls of the late 20th century — starting with the way he cross-marketed the two biggest pop culture phenomena of the past 60 years, rock ‘n’ roll and television.
“The passing of Dick Clark removes one of the largest foundation stones of the entire pop music industry for the latter half of the 20th century” – said longtime friend Kal Rudman, publisher of “Friday Morning Quarterback.”

Dick Clark.

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Levon Helm, who rose to fame as drummer and vocalist for the iconic group The Band, was “in the final stages of his battle with cancer” – his family said in a brief announcement Tuesday afternoon on Facebook.
The 71-year-old musician’s beginnings could hardly have been more humbly or colourfully penned by a Hollywood screenwriter.
Born May 26, 1940, in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, the son of cotton farmers, he learned to play guitar and drums as a child. By 17 he was appearing in honky tonks in and around nearby Helena and taking in performance by such southern legends as Conway Twitty, Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley, and Ronnie Hawkins.
He joined Hawkins’ rockabilly band The Hawks just before they moved to Canada in the late 1950′s.
In the early 1960′s, Helm and Hawkins recruited Canadians Robbie Robertson (guitar), Rick Danko (bass) and pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson. They left Hawkins and toured as Levon and the Hawks before backing Bob Dylan in the mid-60′s. Fans weren’t initially receptive to Dylan’s switch from acoustic folky to electric folk-rocker, and Helm headed back south, working on offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico for a couple of years until bassist Rick Danko asked him to rejoin the group that would become known around the world as, simply, The Band.
In recent years, Helm has hosted his famous Midnight Ramble on Saturday nights at his barn/recording studio in Woodstock, N.Y.
It was the album Music From Big Pink, named after The Band’s rented house in Woodstock, N.Y., and the hit track The Weight, on which Helm sang lead vocal, that rocketed the group to stardom. Besides drums, Helm also played mandolin, rhythm guitar and bass.

Levon Helm.

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