Baseball

• Great stuff here about revenue sharing.  Also check out the agents leading the 3+ year free agent deals [Early warning for potential labor unrest].
• A good case is made that teams benefit quite a bit from the arbitration process [Debunking Salary Arbitration Myths - Part 1].
• The new agreement will last until 2013 [Officials pass new Winter League agreement].

Basketball

• Arn Tellem is not fond of trade-demand fines [A Fine Mess].

Football

• It sure seems like DeBartolo has lost a lot of clients in the past year [Smith looking for new contract with new agent].
• If you do not see your name on this list, you will not be participating at the combine [Official Invite List].
• Always nice to get pre-draft deals [Nike Inks Ex-Nebraska Defensive Lineman Ndamukong Suh].

Bowling

• Ludacris, Hines Ward, Lamarr Woodley, Jack Del Rio, along with Dynasty’s Jason Belmonte and Norm Duke [Sunday’s Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational Features A-List Lineup].

“The ESPYs is a chance for bowling to reside alongside all of the other sports. Whether you believe baseball, basketball and football are the top tier sports, for a week we’re all the same. The ESPYs is a celebration of the greatest seasons in all sports. To be mentioned along with all of those great athletes is really special. It’s a terrific experience. I have a lot of wonderful memories from being a part of the ESPYs.”

Baseball

• Dan Leatherman – Last night, he picked up the win for the Potomac Nationals.  His final line was: 3.2 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.  This improves him to 2-0 with a 5.32 ERA on the season with the High A Potomac Nationals.  Leatherman has not walked a batter in his last 7 outings, which spans 12.2 innings.
• Pete Parise – Parise threw 2 perfect innings (1 K) in Springfield’s loss last night.  Parise has now thrown 11.1 consecutive scoreless frames over his last 8 outings and has a 0.59 ERA over his last 10 outings.  His season ERA is 2.86 in 34.2 IP (26 K’s).  We showed you a powerpoint slide on him yesterday.  His stat line has only gotten better since.
• Kyle Gunderson – Recently, Hi-A Jupiter placed Kyle on the reserve list.  Kyle is healthy and looking forward to returning back to the active list soon.  The Marlins put him on the reserve list as a precautionary measure to give his back some rest.  Since joining the Jupiter Hammerheads in a trade for Logan Kensing, Gunderson has a WHIP and ERA of 0.90 in 10 IP.
• Kyle McPherson – In his last 4 starts, McPherson has 3 wins and 1 no-decision. In the 22.1 IP over that span, Kyle has racked up 13 K’s and only walked 2 batters.  His overall record on the year with the West Virginia Power is 4-1.
• Ryan Kelly – R.Kelly has provided solid relief for the West Virginia Power thus far.  His ERA is sitting at 3.06.  When A-Rod was making his way back to the majors with rehab assignments, he could not get a hit off of R. Kelly.
• Brendan Murphy – Brendan got off to a scorching hot start with the Kalamazoo Kings of the Frontier League, but has cooled off a bit ever since.  He still has 2 HR in 8 games played, along with 6 RBI.
• The rest of our boys: Tommy Johnson, Nick Czyz, Ben Billingsley, and Zach Rosenbaum are doing very well in Extended Spring Training and will be on their respective teams’ Short Season A teams.

Bowling

• Our latest bowling client is Jason Belmonte.  He is currently in his home of Australia making the rounds with the press, but will be back in the U.S. shortly to bowl in the PBA’s Summer Series.  We have big plans for Belmo.  In the meantime, become a fan on his Facebook page.

Football

• Rulon Davis is doing well with the Denver Broncos.  The team needs all the help it can get on Defense and Rulon is just the type of guy who can give them that edge they so desperately need.
• Andrew Johnson had a very successful mini-camp tryout with the Cleveland Browns, but unfortunately, was not retained by the team.  We are now searching for other options for Drew.
• Kevin Grant is considering various options, but we still believe that he belongs in the NFL.  We continue to find the right fit for the former 4-year Akron LB.

Basketball

• We have recently added a bunch of new clients including, Terrrance Woodbury (leading scorer at UGA for the past 2 years), John Gilchrist (former standout at University of Maryland), and Jamarcus Ellis (University of Indiana – named Honorable Mention All Big-Ten).  All of them are receiving considerable interest in the United States (NBA/NBDL) and overseas.

Coaches

• Been working on a new website.  Jason and I have been given important positions in a particular coaches association.  More information will be posted in the near future.

Entertainment

• Hopefully you know about the new EntertainmentAgentBlog.com.  The new site alone, has allowed us to receive more leads for our clients.  Additionally, we are starting to move away from being “agents” to our clients, to taking on more of a managerial role.

The 25-year old from Orange, Australia made the match play field six times and cashed in eight of the nine events he entered during the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season. Belmonte averaged 219.2 and earned $44,380.

7:00 p.m. EST tomorrow (Tuesday), tune into ESPN to watch this week’s episode of E:60.  As shown above, Dynasty client, Jason Belmonte, will be featured on the program.  The trailer alone should be enough to get you interested in tuning in.  Here is what ESPN has to say about the segment:

In the tradition of great sports innovators like Dick Fosbury, who revolutionized the high jump, and Bill Walsh, inventor of football’s West Coast offense, a 25-year-old Australian named Jason Belmonte is taking the bowling world by storm with a revolutionary technique in which he bowls using both hands. Belmonte is challenging his sport’s history and redefining what it means to be a bowler. E:60’s Jeremy Schaap chronicle’s Belmonte’s development of the technique, which he began at 18 months of age in his parents bowling alley. Belmonte’s two-handed bowling is now spreading to all corners of the globe.

Belmonte has already garnered plenty of media inquiries since coming across the pond to participate on the Lumber Liquidators PBA tour.  “Belmo” has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and Fox and Friends in the recent weeks, as well as a front page story in the Wall Street Journal.  Jason has also been recognized on ESPN’s Around the Horn.  He recently won his first PBA title by beating out Michael Fagan at the Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic, Belmonte’s TV finals debut.

In ‘00 Belmonte became the first Junior Australian to shoot 300 overseas and also won five Gold medals at the Junior National Championships.  In ‘01 he was the Australia Day Orange Junior Sportsperson of the year, which he followed up the next year by winning the Senior Award, as well as the Orange Sportsperson of the Year (he repeated in ‘03 also).  The years ‘02 and ‘04 were filled with medals Belmonte won at the Commonwealth Championships in Scotland, WTBA World Youth Championships in Thailand, Asian Youth FIQ in Hong Kong, World Youth FIQ titles in Guam, and the World Tenpin Masters.

2005 is when Belmonte began to compete around the world with victories and top five finishes in Kuwait, Asia, and Europe, and 3 major wins and a top five finish in all but one event at home in Australia.

As of 2008, Belmonte has bowled 33 perfect 300 games and has appeared three times on the Matchroom World Masters (3^rd in ‘05, 5^th in ‘06, and 1^st in ‘07).

Jason Belmonte and Dynasty are eager to build upon 2009’s first PBA title and are looking forward to many more to come.

Let’s get some more high-profile sports personalities to jump on the bandwagon! On the next video, skip to where there are only :40 left.

Duke, who earned a PBA-best $229,350 for the calendar year despite battling injuries early in the year, won his third Bowler of the Year title. He received 69 first-place votes for a total of 388 points on BWAA’s weighted points scale. He also was honored by BWAA in 1994 and 2000.

Check out the article by PBA.com:

http://www.pba.com/news/feature.asp?ID=1144

Norm Duke and teammate Liz Johnson won the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship in dominating fashion. Duke called his 31st career Professional Bowlers Association title “the easiest I’ve ever won” and that was because he and partner Liz Johnson were nearly perfect in running away with the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship at the National Bowling Stadium.

Johnson, the first and only woman to advance to the title match in a Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour event, and Duke defeated Jennifer Petrick of Canton, Ohio, and Steve Harman of Indianapolis, 274-180, in the title match to split the $50,000 first prize.

See the full article here: http://www.pba.com/news/feature.asp?ID=1121

1/31/09

#8 Marquette (Scott Monarch) (19-2) vs. #23 Georgetown

Having taken down yet another of the Big East’s big names, No. 8 Marquette goes into February undefeated in the conference and oozing confidence. The Golden Eagles used a second-half surge to put away Georgetown (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today, No. 25 AP) 94-82 on Saturday — the fifth straight loss for the reeling Hoyas. The victory leaves Marquette (19-2, 8-0), tied for the conference lead with No. 7 Louisville. Jerel McNeal scored 26 points in perhaps his most complete game of the season, adding 11 assists, six rebounds, five steals and three blocks while committing only three turnovers.

Tennessee Tech (Steve Payne) (11-10) vs. Southeast Missouri (Rodney Hamilton) (3-20)

Daniel Northern had a career high 27 points and a career-tying 18 rebounds to lead Tennessee Tech to a 91-75 win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday. Kevin Murphy also had a career high with 16 points for Tennessee Tech (11-10, 5-6 Ohio Valley), with Frank Davis adding 15 points and Alfred Jones 11 for the Golden Eagles. Kenard Moore scored 21 for Southeast Missouri (3-20, 0-12), Jaycen Herring had 17 and Calvin Williams had 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Golden Eagles led 11-1 four minutes into the game but went into halftime up by only four, 35-31. Tennessee Tech took command in the first five minutes of the second half by outscoring the Redhawks 23-6 to take its largest lead at 58-37. Tennessee Tech shot 72 percent from the field in the second half.

Louisiana-Lafayette (Robert Lee) (7-14) vs. Florida Atlantic

Florida Atlantic held Louisiana-Lafayette without a double-figure scorer in a 63-47 win on Saturday night, the Owls’ first Sun Belt Conference win of the season. The Owls shot just 39.5 percent from the field (17 of 43) in the win, but the Ragin’ Cajuns (7-14, 4-6) hit 26.9 percent (18 of 67). Florida Atlantic also hit 25 free throws versus nine for the Ragin’ Cajuns, along with going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. Louisiana-Lafayette hit just 2 of 38 from 3-point range. Louisiana-Lafayette’s Travis Bureau, who came in shooting 41.9 percent from beyond the arc, made just 1 of his 10 attempts from long range.

Savannah State (Horace Broadnax) (11-11) vs. North Carolina Central (Henry Dickerson) (2-22)

Chris Linton scored 13 points and Savannah State picked up its first road win of the season with a 67-51 victory over North Carolina Central on Saturday night. The Tigers (11-11) won for the first time in 11 games away from home and sent the Eagles (2-22) to their fifth consecutive loss. Savannah State led 29-28 at halftime, but outscored North Carolina Central 38-23 in the second half, going 14 of 24 from the field (58.3 percent). The Tigers scored 20 of the first 24 points in the second half for a 48-33 lead with 10:17 remaining in the game. Savannah State outrebounded the Eagles 38-18. Jovonni Shuler added 12 points and Arnold Louis scored 11 points and had nine rebounds for Savannah State. Linton also added eight rebounds. Jamar Briscoe led North Carolina Central with 28 points.

Now is the time to become a sponsor in the PBA with ratings growing and sponsorship opportunities coming to you at a very affordable price.  No better place to go than Dynasty, whose bowlers are tearing it up this year.  Contact Bruce Falcon for more information.