Bringing up the rear...

Someone got "hosed"

The breast restaurant guide: How waitresses offering dinner and a tacky 'view' are keeping US diners alive in the recession

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 16:48 EST, 24 June 2012 | UPDATED: 02:46 EST, 25 June 2012
The waitresses at Twin Peaks wear skimpy plaid tops that accentuate their chests.
In case you didn't catch the joke, the chain's logo is an image of two pointy, snow-capped mountains. And the sports bar doesn't stop there: It promises 'scenic views.'
Twin Peaks owner Randy DeWitt downplays all of that and insists that the appeal of the restaurant goes beyond the obvious. Hearty meals and a focus on making customers feel special, he says, are what really keeps them coming back.

Rarity: So-called breastaraunts like Twin Peaks, four waitresses pictured, are staying in top shape despite an overall decline in restaurant sales

'We believe in feeding the ego before feeding the stomach,' he says. Or as the website of the mountain lodge-themed restaurant states: 'Twin Peaks is about you, `cause you're the man!'
Twin Peaks is part of a booming niche in the beleaguered restaurant industry known as 'breastaurants,' or sports bars that feature scantily clad waitresses.

 

These small chains operate in the tradition of Hooters, which pioneered the concept in the 1980s but has struggled in recent years to stay fresh.
Instead of relying on lust alone, the new crop of restaurants is growing by offering new themes (think: rustic lodges and Celtic pubs) and varied menus (think: pot roast and shepherd's pie instead of just burgers and wings). In other words, they're hoping maybe people really are coming in for the food.

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Breast Restaurant Guide

espnW Unveils Women in Sports Tribute at Newseum

ESPN’s network for women’s sports, espnW, celebrated the 40th anniversary of Title IX in style Thursday night, welcoming women athletes and their supporters to the Newseum for the unveiling of a photo mosaic project. A video tribute to the largest-ever photo collection of women and girls’ sports images was projected onto the Newseum’s 74-foot high First Amendment tablet, delivering a statement about the opportunity to play as an expression of freedom for women.
“Title IX enabled women to exercise their fundamental rights,” said Newseum CEO Jim Duff prior to the event. “That truth is going to be vividly displayed tonight.”
The mosaic includes photos of more than 3,000 female athletes of all abilities and achievement levels, ranging from small children to honorees from espnW’s Top 40 Athletes of the Past 40 Years. Photos were submitted online, along with quotes from women describing what Title IX has meant to them. Guests described watching the mosaic tribute as extremely moving, particularly for older guests who remember days when women and girls struggled to find support for participating in sports.

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Title 9

BCS commissioners reach consensus on four-team college football playoff

By Mark Giannotto, Published: June 20

CHICAGO — After nearly six months of debate, college football is on the verge of getting the playoff fans have been demanding for years.
The commissioners from every major Bowl Championship Series conference and Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick announced Wednesday that they have “developed a consensus on a four-team seeded playoff” beginning in the 2014-15 season, signaling an end to the BCS system that has determined college football’s national champion since 1998.
Though many of the details involved with this new postseason model remain unresolved , the commissioners will present their recommendation to a committee of university presidents that is scheduled to meet in Washington next Tuesday. The 12-member BCS presidential oversight committee, chaired by Virginia Tech President Charles Steger, still must approve the four-team playoff before it goes into effect.
“We are excited to be on the threshold of creating a new postseason structure for college football that builds on the great popularity of the sport,” Swarbrick said in a joint statement from the 11 conference commissioners and Notre Dame. “We are getting very close and we look forward to next week’s meeting. We have already had extensive discussions with our presidents and it remains important to note that all final decisions will be made by the presidents, either at next week’s meeting or at whatever date is appropriate.”
Pacific-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said after the news conference that the two proposed semifinal games would likely be played as part of the existing bowl system, although no set rotation has been announced. The championship game would likely be bid out to a neutral site, Scott added.
As for selecting the teams, Scott and ACC Commissioner John Swofford indicated there has been serious discussion about implementing a selection committee similar to the NCAA tournament in men’s and women’s basketball.
A key issue will revolve around who exactly will be on the proposed committee and how much weight they would give to winning a conference championship and strength of schedule. Revenue sharing must also be resolved in the coming months.
“There’s a positive impression on the role the basketball committee has played and there’s been a consensus that the current system is pretty flawed in a lot of ways,” said Scott, who was originally opposed to a selection committee.
Wednesday represented the sixth formal meeting among BCS conference commissioners since the college football season ended in January. But significant progress has been made in the past two weeks, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said.
The Big Ten, for instance, emerged from its conference meetings last month in favor of a plus-one model that would preserve the importance of the Rose Bowl and pit the top two teams against one another in a national championship game following the end of the bowl season. It was a philosophy also championed by Scott, and Delany said there would still be a presentation concerning the plus-one format when the presidents meet next week.
Four years ago, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive and Swofford presented a similar four-team playoff and “the conversation lasted about 10 minutes,” Swofford said.
However, there was a prevailing sentiment among all the commissioners concerning the need to preserve the importance of the regular season while continuing to support the bowl system. Steger echoed those thoughts in a statement to The Washington Post last week.
“There are some differences, and some legitimate differences, but we will work them out,” said Slive, who described himself as “delighted” by a compromise that will keep the SEC in a favorable position after winning the past six BCS national championships. “I do think that we’re all here together is an important statement on behalf of college football. We’re trying to do what’s in the best interests of the game.”
But even though the discussions surrounding what college football’s revamped postseason will look like remain a work in progress, it was clear a new day has arrived.
In the morning, before entering what turned out to be an historic meeting, Delany gave what sounded like a eulogy for the BCS, describing it as a system that never “got the momentum that we would’ve liked to have gotten in terms of public acceptance.”
By the end of the afternoon, there was hope that the commissioners had finally come to terms with a system more amenable to fans.
“I think we’re going to end up in a place where there will be more transparency. I think it’ll be more easily understood,” Swofford said. “There will still be access for teams to enter the system as well as significant financial gain for everybody in the system. I think all of that is important and all of that will be a plus if we can take this across the finish line.”

Tyne Bridge as it celebrates the arrival of the Olympic Torch

Coach Stu Vetter remembers Kevin Durant as a humble high school superstar

 

 As Kevin Durant began the fourth quarter of the opening game of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City, a memory raced through Stu Vetter’s mind.
It wasn’t about the time Durant led Vetter’s Montrose Christian team to a comeback win over Oak Hill Academy. Or about Durant’s ability to dominate with ease but also know when to defer to teammates. It wasn’t his court vision either. That’s something you just can’t teach, Vetter said.

It was a memory that had little to do with basketball.
“My assistant coach, Dan Prete, would say that Kevin would always ask him ‘Do you have any extra change’ for the Metro,” said Vetter, as he watched Tuesday night’s game in the living room of his Vienna home. “I told Coach Prete that I bet Kevin doesn’t have to ask for that change anymore.”
Durant played his senior season at Montrose under Vetter. To get to the school, Durant rode two different Metro lines each way from his home in Seat Pleasant to the school in Rockville. Class began around 8:30 a.m., but Durant arrived two hours early to shoot around with teammates. The school day and a team study hall were followed by weight-lifting and practice. Durant then would head home around 8:30 at night.
Vetter called Durant a “gym rat” whose dedication was uncommon among players with his talent.
Vetter has coached high school basketball since 1975. He’s been named national high school coach of the year twice. He’s coached future Olympians and NCAA champions, future corporate leaders and television broadcasters. But he has never coached an NBA champion.
He inched a bit closer as Durant’s Thunder edged LeBron James’ Miami Heat, 105-94, in the first game of the best-of-seven series.
“He wants to be the best,” said Vetter. “He wants to win. He wants to win a championship. He wants to be the guy that leads his team.”
Durant was 16 years old when he attended Montrose, one of the area’s perennial baskeball powers. His game was so developed that Vetter said Durant could have played in his high school game on Friday night and suited up for the Wizards on Saturday afternoon. In 2006, the NBA prohibited high school players from entering the draft.
Durant also was unselfish and humble. Vetter said Durant easily could have averaged 35 points per game. Instead he dropped in 20 for a team he led to a record of 25-2.
“He’s a good teammate and a lot of big-time stars aren’t necessarily good teammates,” Vetter said. “He’s genuinely liked. I think if Kevin didn’t play basketball, he’d still be a very popular and likeable guy. That’s not the case with a lot of stars.”
A basketball lifer, Vetter couldn’t simply watch the NBA Finals game from his leather recliner. At times he needed to coach.
In order to limit James, Vetter said the Thunder had to cut off his drives to the hoop. If Durant is guarding him, he’d have to use his long arms and give James a buffer zone, cut off his drives to the hoop and force him into outside shots. When Durant found himself guarded by the shorter Dwyane Wade near the foul line, Vetter called for him to drive. And Durant did, for an easy bucket.
“Is that a pretty shot or what?” Vetter said with a laugh. “The rotation, his left hand guided it over top of the defenders hand and he lays it in.”
With time waning in the fourth quarter, Vetter let himself become a fan. He said he becomes nervous before his former players play important games — the nerves a parent, not a coach, feels, he said. Vetter texted Durant a good luck message Tuesday morning, and the 23-year-old answered back.
“Thanks coach,” Durant wrote, “this is for Montrose.”

Phil Mickelson signs autographs after a practice round ahead of the US Open at San Francisco's Olympic Club

LeBron James is the Villain

It’s hard to understand how LeBron James became the villain

View Photo Gallery — 2012 NBA Conference Finals: Memorable images from the NBA’s final fo

By Mike Wise, Published: June 11

I first met LeBron James during his senior year of high school, when LeBron and his mother were still living in subsidized housing, on a hill in west Akron,Ohio. Even when Gloria James’s addiction demons kicked in, she told me she made sure money or food stamps went to the family who housed and fed her little boy when LeBron was just 8 years old.
I met the family who took him in, including Frankie Walker, who showed him how to use his left hand, who purposely never told him how good he was, and whose wife, Pam, made that withdrawn child smile big when she plopped a German chocolate cake on the table for his ninth birthday.

I also met Chris Dennis, the family friend who handled all the business early on, who made sure he got LeBron to Sonny Vaccaro’s camp.
Dennis, who does marketing in the Cleveland-Akron area, was the guy who originally secured the domain name LeBronJames.com early in high school to protect his image. He managed his Web site and helped broker a deal between LeBron’s former agent and a company that ended up paying LeBron seven figures over three years, still unprecedented at that age.
They all formed a protective, if invisible, circle around a golden child so, as his former high school teammate Maverick Carter told me, LeBron would never “lose his glare.”
If you would have told me then that the same kid would grow up to become one of America’s most disliked athletes, that he would be the big-city villain standing between Kevin Durant and small-market Oklahoma City’s NBA Finals dreams, I would have said you are crazy and asked: What’s not to like about his story?
Yes, even at 17, he knew he was famous and destined for the NBA and some of his words felt pre-packaged and programmed. But without the Hummer to drive to school, beneath the tats and jewelry, he was every teenager, U.S.A. — trying to come across much more confident than he really was, wearing a mask of certainty to hide the fact that some nights as a child he had no idea where he would sleep.
Beyond “The Decision,” which he even now regrets, what happened? How did we lose sight of where he came from, how a kid who never knew his biological father, who was never incarcerated, much less arrested for anything, become so reviled? How a latchkey child ended up being raised by a village of extended family that made sure he wouldn’t be another lost soul in the streets.
“Y’all helped create the monster,” Frankie Walker, now 52, said by telephone Monday afternoon from Akron. “Y’all created the ‘King James.’ When it don’t go the way you wanted it to, he didn’t win the championship right away, you changed it up, brought him down.
“Didn’t you make foolish decisions at 21, 22? Everybody has made ’em. But his were magnified. Y’all created the monster. When you build ’em up like that and you put millions on top of that, you not talking about a broke monster; you talkin’ about a rich monster.”

 

John Feinstein, John Wall and a Wizards trade proposal

By Dan Steinberg

(By Gary Bogdan-Pool - GETTY IMAGES) If the mark of a good sports-talk radio guest is the ability to say something that comes not just from out of left field, but from out of a carefully hidden hole in left field that rabid gophers have built using robotic acorn-tipped drills imported from secret Manitoban gopher breeders intent on discombobulating world carrot futures, well then, John Feinstein is a good sports-talk radio guest.
Great, even.
“I even had this thought last night,” Feinstein said recently, while talking about the NBA draft with 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies. “You guys have probably heard me say this before: I think Kendall Marshall’s gonna be a terrific NBA guard. I really do. He reminds me a lot of Jason Kidd. He’s not a great shooter, but he’ll become a better shooter as time goes along. He knows how to run a team, he’s smart, he plays defense.
“If I was the Wizards, I swear if I could pull off a deal, I would trade down. I would take John Wall, trade down, get a player or two, and use the first pick on Kendall Marshall. I swear to God I would do that, I think that highly of Kendall Marshall.
“They’re not gonna do that,” he continued, “because that’s thinking out of the box. And they’ve made such a big deal out of John Wall they can’t afford to trade him. But I think that would be a good move. I think Kendall Marshall, in terms of running a team, potentially is a lot better than John Wall.”
Feinstein clarified that he would require two would-be starters, plus a lottery pick, in return for Wall, and that he thinks the Wizards actually should draft Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. If he kept it at that, the segment would have been considerably more boring.

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