LeBron James OKs Megamillion Nike Deal
By TOM WITHERS
AP Sports Writer

CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James has always idolized Michael Jordan right down to his shoes. Now the high school star will begin his NBA career just like Mike.

Only with a lot more money.

James will go into the league with a swoosh after agreeing to a deal with Nike worth more than $90 million, The Associated Press learned Thursday.

James, the high school star expected to be the No. 1 pick in next month's draft, agreed to terms on the largest shoe endorsement deal ever, choosing Nike over Adidas and Reebok.

James was expected to sign the contract Thursday morning. A source who spoke on condition of anonymity told the AP the deal was worth more than $90 million.

Nike spokesman Mark Shapiro confirmed that an agreement had been reached with James. ESPN.com, citing unidentified sources, said it was a seven-year deal.

James' publicist, Alexandria Boone, would not confirm the deal but said a formal announcement would be made Thursday.

Recent published reports predicted that the 18-year-old from Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School star might get a $100 million deal, which would be unprecedented in the history of sneaker endorsements.

When Jordan signed his first contract with Nike in 1984, it was for $2.5 million over five years.

Aaron Goodwin, James' agent, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Last weekend, James, his mother, Gloria, and Goodwin spent two days at Nike's corporate headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., where the company made its final presentation.

Adidas appeared to drop out of the running earlier this week, just days after it put up billboards and placed messages on buses in Akron directed at James.

James also signed an exclusive multiyear contract with Upper Deck trading cards Wednesday.

The 6-foot-8 James' selection of Nike over Reebok and Adidas ends a nearly two-year battle among the shoe companies to land the dynamic player, whose game has been compared to that of Jordan and Magic Johnson.

James has received unprecedented media coverage the past two years. He has appeared on the cover of national sports magazines and this past season two of his games were televised nationally by ESPN.

The shoe deal came less than a day before James was to learn where he'll be wearing his Nikes as a pro.

The NBA will hold its draft lottery Thursday night, and the winner gets the right to select James, a three-time Mr. Ohio in Basketball and the consensus national player of the year the past two years.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets, who tied for the league's worst record this season, have the best chance at getting the top pick.

Terms of the deal with Upper Deck were not immediately available, but company spokesman Jake Gonzales said James' contract is on a level with previous agreements signed by Jordan, Tiger Woods and soccer star David Beckham.

Boone said the trading card deal included a $1 million signing bonus.

"Every kid who plays sports aspires to be the best and be part of a winning team," James said in a statement. "Today's deal with Upper Deck not only means that I've joined a team that is the leader in the collectibles industry, but also allows me to be part of a team of world class athletes representing their products."

Gonzales said James is the youngest person ever signed by Upper Deck, whose other spokesmen include Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui.

Upper Deck said James' trading card and memorabilia agreement prohibits any other company from using his autograph or his likeness on its packaging. It also stipulates that James can only promote for Upper Deck.

"Upper Deck is known for producing the most collectible and innovative trading cards and memorabilia in the world," vice president Tim Muret said in a statement. "It is fitting that LeBron James and Upper Deck join forces in an exclusive relationship that will bring exciting products to fans and collectors worldwide."

James' first trading card will be available July 29, the company said.
 

Tech braces for widespread effects
ACC expansion will hurt more than football, says Tech AD Jim Weaver. The threat has stopped stadium expansion.
By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Virginia Tech has much to worry about as it waits to see if Miami will abandon the Big East for the ACC.
The Big East's athletic directors made their final pleas for Miami to stay put as the league's annual meetings concluded Tuesday. The ACC wants to add Big East members Miami, Boston College and Syracuse.

If Miami leaves, Virginia Tech's entire athletic department would suffer financially because Tech's football revenue enables the department to operate in the black.

"It would be felt department-wide," Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said Tuesday. "It's a whole different dynamic that we'll have to deal with."

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Monday the departure of the three schools would cause "irreparable harm" to those left behind. Weaver concurs. If Miami leaves, the Big East could lose its automatic Bowl Championship Series berth.

"If there's no more automatic berth, we'd stand to lose $15 million that's shared [by the league] in the revenue distribution of the football money, so that's irreparable harm," Weaver said.

Tech's football program might be weaker on the field, too.

"We're pretty good right now, but can we continue at the same level of expectation because of not necessarily being guaranteed a berth in the BCS? That ultimately could impact recruiting," Weaver said. "Then your program doesn't necessarily stay at this level and has the potential to come down. That's the kind of fallout issues that are there."

There has already been fallout. Weaver said he has put the next phase of Lane Stadium expansion on hold temporarily as Tech waits to see what might happen to the Big East.

The Board of Visitors agreed last fall to spend about $47.8 million to expand the west side of the stadium. The project would add luxury suites, stadium clubs, more chair-back seats and a new or renovated press-box tower. Weaver is no longer considering beginning construction at the end of the 2003 season.

"We're not going to go out on a limb and tackle a $48- to 53-million project when we don't know what the ramifications are of the expansion talks," Weaver said.

The Big East's regular-season football TV contract and the number of bowl deals the Big East has would likely be diminished by the defections. That is a problem because football revenue helps pay for other teams' needs at Tech. In the case of women's basketball, for example, football money was used for charter plane trips and increased salaries for assistant coaches.

"All those things are because of football, because we're not drawing any more people in our stands than we did three years ago," women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson said this week.

Weaver said the defections could result in potential new sources of revenue, too.

"If those people leave ... what happens with withdrawal fees and how does that get divided up?" Weaver said. "And do we continue to pay an entry fee? Because the league that we were paying an entry fee into isn't the same league as it was."

The ADs of the Big East basketball schools met Tuesday morning, and the ADs of the football schools met Tuesday afternoon. They also heard from a TV consultant Tuesday. The ADs decided to adjourn a day early and will wait for Miami to make its decision.

"There were some things that were new ideas," Miami AD Paul Dee said. "The meetings have gone extremely well. It was a group of people looking for solutions to problems."

If Miami leaves, expect Syracuse and BC to follow. If Miami picks the ACC, Dee has no worry that Syracuse and BC would ruin the ACC's expansion hopes by rejecting the ACC.

"If such a position arose we'd talk and see what happens, but I don't think it will," Dee said.

Dee said his school will not accept responsibility for causing the league irreparable harm if it leaves.

Weaver and UConn AD Lew Perkins said the football schools not wanted by the ACC have not begun to discuss how to replace the three schools if they leave. Their focus at the meetings has only been on how to keep Miami from leaving.

"We have a chance to make this thing work," Weaver said. "It's a viable entity. We've either been ranked No.1 or 2 the last four years in the country. Obviously, the ACC hasn't been that good, and that's one of the reasons they're trying to do this, to try to get what we have that's good."

Later this week, Weaver will brief Tech President Charles Steger on the four days of meetings. Weaver said Steger is among the Big East presidents who hope to meet with Miami President Donna Shalala. He said Steger has been talking with the presidents of the other football schools that would be left behind.

"He's been very, very involved in this process," Weaver said. "It's probably been the No.1 thing on his plate, unfortunately, for the last three weeks or month."

 

COLLEGE NOTEBOOK
ACC, Miami marriage set for baseball

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   The announcement that the ACC will enter formal discussions with the University of Miami did not come as a huge surprise to the ACC's baseball coaches.

    The coaches already had welcomed the Hurricanes into their midst.

    In a development that preceded the recent expansion talks, all of the current nine ACC members agreed to add Miami to their schedule by 2005 at the latest. The Hurricanes, an independent in baseball, will not compete for the conference championship but will serve as "a scheduling partner."

    Virginia and Georgia Tech had three-game weekend series with Miami this year and Florida State played Miami six times, spread over two weekends.

    "I think that bringing Miami into the ACC is a tremendous coup for our conference," Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin said. "Seminoles don't like to talk about it, but they've [the Hurricanes] won four NCAA baseball championships. It will do nothing but create additional excitement for the entire league. That's what I thought we did in 1992."

    The ACC voted Friday to enter into discussions with Big East members Miami, Syracuse and Boston College. That would make for an 11-team league in baseball because the Orangemen don't have a team.

    "I think that still remains to be seen," Martin said. "I think we may be putting the cart before the horse on that one. We don't know yet who the other two will be. Obviously, if Miami comes, I think Syracuse will come, but the invitations have not been accepted."

    Virginia Tech, which fell two votes short of the required seven, would have been a popular choice with several of the baseball coaches.

    "Chuck Hartman [the Hokies' baseball coach] is one of the finest men I've ever known," Martin said. "He helped me a lot in my career when we competed against each other in the Metro Conference. Certainly, that would have been a good fit, but I coach baseball. I don't go to those meetings."

    IN GOOD HANDS: Well-known orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, Ala., repaired the left shoulder of Virginia freshman baseball player Tom Hagan in mid-April only days after evaluating New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter after Jeter's early-season shoulder separation.

    Hagan joined a list of Andrews clients that has included Jack Nicklaus, Bo Jackson, Charles Barkley, Troy Aikman and Hulk Hogan, as well as Jeter teammates Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, David Wells and Bernie Williams. Jackson has referred to Andrews as "the best sports doctor in the world."

    Hagan's father, Hugh, is a Roanoke orthopedist who specializes in hands. Andrews invited Hugh Hagan to attend the operation on Hagan's son, whose .386 average, compiled in 15 games, leads the Cavaliers. Tom Hagan, who is also the punter for UVa's football team, is expected to have full range of motion by the fall.

    RECRUITS WATCHING: Sean Glennon, rated the No.1 junior football prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, was at Virginia Tech for the second time this spring when he attended the Nike All-Star Camp that attracted 293 of the region's top prospects to Blacksburg on Saturday.

    Glennon, a 6-3 1/2 , 193-pound quarterback from Westfield High School in Fairfax County, recently broke a bone in his left (non-throwing wrist) and was wearing a cast that prevented him from working out. He said Tech is at the top of a list of schools that have offered him scholarships, along with Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.

    Glennon said that Virginia and Notre Dame interest him the most among schools that have expressed interest but have not offered to date. He has been paying attention to ACC expansion talks and was more informed on the topic than most of his fellow campers.

    "I would like for the ACC to take in Virginia Tech," said Glennon, who lived in the Houston area until the ninth grade, "but I understand it's all about money. I've definitely followed the expansion story. It might influence my thinking somewhat, but if Virginia Tech ended up in a BCS league, it wouldn't change my decision much."

    Another Nike camper who remains partial to the Hokies regardless of the conference resolution is 6-4, 282-pound Northside High School lineman Brandon Holland. Tech recently became the first school to offer Holland, rated one of the state's top 25 juniors by The Roanoke Times.

Thursday, May 22, 2003

Tax dollars are wasted - but not at UVa

     IN HIS MAY 14 letter to the editor, "Roanoke Times beats the drum for tax increases," Terry Eastman is whining about how much tax money will be spent at the University of Virginia.

    I'd like for him to consider the following questions before he picks on the only real seat of higher learning in the commonwealth:

    What nearby Dairy Barn College had to spend $12 million to build a "smart" road so its students could find their way back to campus?

    What nearby Dairy Barn College has to keep $2 million in a petty cash slush fund to get the football team players out of the Montgomery County jail during the year?

    How much taxpayer money was spent to see that only one of 17 Dairy Barn College football players charged with felonies two years ago were convicted?

    Eastman is right in his thinking that taxpayer money is being thrown away, but not at UVa. He needs to look in the opposite direction.

       ROBERT MILLIRON, ROANOKE

Big East: not all gloom, doom
Some simple steps to recovery process
BY MIKE HARRIS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 22, 2003

Louisville.

Cincinnati.

Memphis.

There you go.

That's the solution to what is ailing the Big East Conference, a league that has the departure of Miami, Syracuse and Boston College hanging over its proud head. The Atlantic Coast Conference wants those three, and most observers think the ACC is going to get those three. That has the Big East in something of a tizzy.

De-tizzy yourself and let them go graciously if that's what they indeed decide. Shake hands, pat backs, wish each other well and get on with life.

This is a setback. This is not a death sentence.

You have to wonder what the ACC is thinking, besides money (is there anything else?). Of course it will put Miami and Florida State in the same division. Otherwise they'd play each other for the football championship every year. ACC teams currently beat FSU once in a blue moon. Now they're adding a team that is better, a team they will beat once every three or four blue moons. Solid programs such as Clemson, Virginia, North Carolina State and Maryland have significantly decreased their chances of earning that automatic Bowl Championship Series bid.

You also have to wonder what the Big East Three are thinking. The league has been awfully good to each of them, and they're more compatible with the Big East schools than they think. Boston College AD Gene DeFilippo, a very friendly guy, joked during the Big East meetings about having some "chowdah" delivered.

Tough to imagine a "chowdah" school in a barbecue league, but if that's what they want, that's what they want. Power to them and good luck.

Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese was pretty much right in everything he said Monday, calling the whole process just plain wrong. He may have gone a tad overboard when he talked about the "irreparable harm" that would come to those left behind. Can you imagine rival recruiters if the Big East Three do leave?

"Hey, you don't want to go there," they'd say. "They've been done irreparable harm. The commish himself said so."

The loss of the three would be a blow, a significant blow. It's foolish to think otherwise. It's just as foolish to think it is a death knell, that the harm can't be repaired. It is quite survivable, even if survival depends on adopting ACC tactics and raiding another league.

So go grab Louisville, Cincinnati and Memphis and start moving forward.

The football would not be as strong. The Big East would be losing a powerhouse (Miami), a very strong program (BC) and a once-solid program that is starting the downward fall (Syracuse). It would be gaining two solid programs (Louisville, Cincinnati) and one that could use some propping up. Being in a league with the likes of Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and West Virginia - a league that would have a BCS slot - could go a long way in that propping up process.

Eventually, it could be just as good. Few imagined the Big East would be as good as it is now, and look what happened.

Basketball-wise, the league is losing things in reverse of football with the current national champion (Syracuse), a very solid program (BC) and a program that has faded some after a few good years. But the additions would be a bonanza. You'd be adding a glittery assortment of coaches in Louisville's Rick Pitino, Cincinnati's Bob Huggins and Memphis' John Calipari. Throw those three in to a league that already has Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, West Virginia's John Beilein and Notre Dame's Mike Brey and you have a coaching all-star club.

A basketball coach who didn't want to be identified said the preference is for the Big East to remain intact. It is a known entity. But the coach said he didn't think the departures necessarily would spell doom, particularly if they don't take place for two more years.

"In basketball, we could be OK. Some awfully good teams would be left, and we could find some good teams to join us, some very good teams," the coach said.

"I don't know that much about the football end of it, but I know West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh were all in the Top 25 at the end of last season. Being able to say that about 60 percent of your remaining membership seems like a pretty good place to start."

Yes, it is. A new-look Big East with Cincinnati, Memphis and Louisville wouldn't be as good as the current setup. But it wouldn't be half bad, either.

 

Rotelli at heart of it all for Virginia
Cavs' tireless midfielder can score when needed, but real value elsewhere
By Gary Lambrecht
Sun Staff
Originally published May 22, 2003

Scoring goals once meant everything to Virginia midfielder Chris Rotelli. Then, he figured out how to carry his team and affect a lacrosse game in more varied, subtle ways.
To watch Rotelli now is to witness a driven, well-rounded senior with a grasp of the game's finer points and a love for its dirty work.

He can still shoot and score with the best of them. But Rotelli gets equal satisfaction out of hounding an opposing player on defense, or digging out a critical ground ball in traffic and restarting the Cavaliers' attack, or freeing up other teammates by attracting a long-stick defender, or dishing off to an open man after drawing a double team.

The Cavaliers, in search of their first NCAA title since 1999, will come to M&T Bank Stadium to face Maryland in Saturday's national semifinals with a stack of weapons.

There is the three-headed attack of John Christmas, Matt Ward and Joe Yevoli, each of whom has produced at least 20 goals. There is All-America candidate Brett Hughes on close defense, and goalie Tillman Johnson, maybe the game's most consistent since the season's outset.

And it starts with the co-captain in the middle, the anchor who works tirelessly at both ends of the field. It starts with the heart and soul known as Rotelli, a first-team All-American who owns the single-season school record for assists by a midfielder and is a strong Player of the Year candidate.

"The big goal scorer is what everybody sees, but [Rotelli] leads the offense when he's not scoring," Johnson said. "When we need to settle the ball or push it, he does it. You always see him find his way to the ball on the ground when you need it. He plays great defense in front of me. I don't worry about our transition defense getting back when Chris is out there. When we need a goal, we can count on him."

Rotelli wasn't always this wide-ranging. At Moses Brown High School in Rumford, R.I., - not exactly a hotbed of lacrosse - he scored pretty much at will. Virginia coach Dom Starsia said Rotelli scored well over 200 goals.

Rotelli brought that mentality to Charlottesville. He has long since been cured.

"There have been a lot of games this season where I don't think I've taken more than two shots. A couple of years ago, I thought that would have been crazy," said Rotelli, who is 5 feet 10, 182 pounds.

Rotelli is still quite dangerous when he spots an opening near the opposing net. By scoring a goal and adding an assist in last week's 12-7, quarterfinal win over Georgetown, he has 44 points (25 goals, 19 assists), which ties a 31-year-old Virginia single-season scoring record by a midfielder. With his next assist, he will become the first Cavs middie to have a 20-20 season.

"When you're scouting Virginia, you start with Chris Rotelli, because he does so much," Terps coach Dave Cottle said. "He's old school. He plays offense, he plays defense, he gets the ball off the ground, he hustles, he does everything for his team."

Rotelli was destined to end up at Virginia, which he chose after getting offers from Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, North Carolina and Duke. Starsia long ago established a family connection with him after Starsia played lacrosse at Brown as a freshman with Rotelli's father, Pete, in the early 1970s.

While later coaching at Brown during a 10-year stretch that produced a 101-46 record, Starsia got reacquainted with the Rotellis. The youngest of Starsia's four children, twins Maggie and Emma, attended school with Richard, the youngest of five Rotelli children. Starsia got a closer look at Chris when he attended a summer camp at Virginia.

"I could see Chris was somebody we were going to recruit. He was a good athlete who could run all day, and he had a sophisticated sense of the game," Starsia said.

Rotelli broke in with the second midfield unit as a freshman, then led the team with 28 goals as a sophomore. But the Cavaliers lost in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals and wound up with a 7-7 record. By the end of last season, which concluded with an overtime loss to Syracuse in the semifinals, Rotelli had produced 34 points and a career-high 10 assists.

He also had bought into Starsia's push to set the tone as Virginia's do-it-all guy.

"I've hammered him for the last couple of years about doing more to help us win, seeing the field, playing defense," said Starsia, who said Rotelli is his best-conditioned player. "His engine has always run white hot. It's been a joy to watch him grow up to become not just a really good offensive player, but a really good lacrosse player."