Stay Outside! - Santa Fe Reporter

Zen and the Art of Camping

If your camping enthusiast obsessively shaves every ounce off his pack, gift him or her Fozzils ($19.95), an origami serving set that combines Zen-style solace with picnic pleasure. The set includes a dish, cutting board/funnel, spoon, strainer and peace of mind, and is available at Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works (328 S. Guadalupe St., 984-8221).

Wave of the Future!

Nothing says hot like a fanny pack, and nothing says efficiency like a fanny pack that has replaced cumbersome zippers with state-of-the-art magnetic seals. The Reel Life (500 Montezuma Ave., in Sanbusco Market Center, 995-8114) has the new William and Joseph Surge Mag Series Fanny Pack ($99.99). It allows the winter fisherman's chilled, stiff fingers to singlehandedly access his (or her) kit and kaboodle.

Simple and Cool

Flylow Ail-Purpose Gloves ($25) are waterproof, supple and durable. Made of abrasion-resistant pigskin and manufactured independently in the Western Hemisphere (Denver, that is), Flylow's back-to-basics work-style gloves are the ultimate all-purpose mitts for backcountry, the resort or just getting the ice off your windshield. Pick them up at Santa Fe Mountain Sports' new location (1221 Flagman Way, 988-3337).

Get Em Hooked

The Watcher Master River Landing Net ($99.99) is made in the USA, gorgeously handcrafted and surprisingly practical. The ultra-light-weight net's no-snag PVC-molded bag keeps hooks in the fish and not in the trash because of another ruined net. Find one for the fisherperson in your life at High Desert Angler (453 Cerrillos Road, 988-7688).

Snugly Being the Operative Word

Your comfort is Alpine Sports' (121-B Sandoval St., 983-5155) concern. Colorful, casual and comfy, the Marmot Flair Fleece Jacket ($90) comes in black, turquoise or plum and is the perfect companion for lining a winter coat. It's much softer than most fleeces and fits snugly, so it also looks better.

Take Myofascial-licious

Winter runners are in too much of a hurry to always properly care for those hard-working muscles and aching bones. Nevertheless, sprint into The Running Hub (527-B W. Cordova Road, 820-2523) to give the runner in your life the pleasure of the Pro-Tec Foam Roller ($25). The high-density massager improves flexibility and eases upper and lower back tension.

Myofascial-licious

Winter runners are in too much of a hurry to always properly care for those hard-working muscles and aching bones. Nevertheless, sprint into The Running Hub (527-B W. Cordova Road, 820-2523) to give the runner in your life the pleasure of the Pro-Tec Foam Roller ($25). The high-density massager improves flexibility and eases upper and lower back tension.

Myofascial-licious

Winter runners are in too much of a hurry to always properly care for those hard-working muscles and aching bones. Nevertheless, sprint into The Running Hub (527-B W. Cordova Road, 820-2523) to give the runner in your life the pleasure of the Pro-Tec Foam Roller ($25). The high-density massager improves flexibility and eases upper and lower back tension.

Myofascial-licious

Winter runners are in too much of a hurry to always properly care for those hard-working muscles and aching bones. Nevertheless, sprint into The Running Hub (527-B W. Cordova Road, 820-2523) to give the runner in your life the pleasure of the Pro-Tec Foam Roller ($25). The high-density massager improves flexibility and eases upper and lower back tension.

the Pen!

The Fisher Trekker Space Pen ($30) is good no matter the situation you throw its way. If this pen is good enough for outer space, it's perfect for the winter sportsman. Santa Fe Pens (500 Montezuma Ave., in Sanbusco Market Center, 989-4742) carries the pen as well as the pressurized refi liable ink cartridges. The pen clips conveniently to lanyards, belt loops or gloves and even writes reliably upside down.

Say No To Ninja Cyclists

Jf you know cyclists who ride in low visibility, late at night or during blizzards, keep their wheels parallel and underneath them with Black Burn's Flea Rear Light ($29.99) at rob and Charlie's (1632 St. Michael's Drive, 471-9119). This ultra-light and ultra-bright clip-on flasher comes with a long-lasting rechargeable battery and is solar charger compatible.

Harlot Hour

Bike N Sport's (524-C W. Cordova Road, 820-0809) The Roxanne ($80) is local Santa Fe company Harlot Clothing's simple, chic and warm winter sport top. There's no embarrassing neon Lycra for the modern lady cyclist; it's all about strength, durability and practicality. The 'dri-wool microblend' eliminates odor and reduces moisture - two side effects of biking that are even worse than Lycra.

Don't Worry. Ride Happy

Santa Fe's newest bike shop, The Broken Spoke (1403 Second St., 992-3102), can assuage all kinds of worry with the Xtreme Sports IO ($10) and the IT Clip ($4). The ID bracelet gives EMTs access to emergency contact info and life-saving medical records for a $5 annual subscription. The IT Clip keeps Mamma E happy, as it allows her children to recycle goat-head-ruined tubes and convert them into practical and earth-friendly bungee cords.

Myofascial-licious

Buzz, with some bugs; We make noise over Cuban, Beckham, but history suggests a few cicadas in the ointment - Chicago Sun-Times

So I come back from the All-Star Game in San Francisco, and guesswhat's gone?

Cicadas.

Every last one of the horde -- dead, worm food, mulch. Fromnatural causes. Many were recycled through my dog's stomach, I mightadd.

For all of you who wrote in a few weeks ago angrily decrying mypassion for 'cicada baseball,' wherein the bug becomes the ball --wildly uncontrollable, with a break at the end that is sick --please relax.

My children, to whom I taught the game, are not damaged from theexperience. They still know the difference between an occasional bugsplat and dogfighting at Michael Vick's.

Me, I promise never to hurl a cicada again.

For 17 years.

- Mark Cuban's hat is now officially in that Cub buyers' ring.

Pitcher Carlos Zambrano says he'd enjoy playing for an owner likeCuban.

'He don't like to loss,' Big Z said Friday. 'I don't like toloss. I could be fine by him.'

Me, I like Cuban just fine. I like the fact you can e-mail himand he will e-mail you back, no matter how lowly a creature you are.

I also like that before he got married he had a virtuallyunfurnished mansion in Dallas, through which he used to roller-blade.

I further like the fact he offered to let Dennis Rodman move inwith him, or something like that, if he came to the Mavericks, orsomething like that.

I also like the fact he had the shrewdness to sell Broadcast.comto Yahoo for billions just before the tech meltdown of the early2000s, after which Broadcast.com might have been worth peanuts

But here's what I don't like.

Cuban lives in Dallas, and the Cubs live in Wrigleyville.

As much as he hates 'to loss,' as much as we all hate 'to loss,'what does that mean?

How many NBA titles have the Mavs won under Cuban's direction?

I remember asking him a few years back when it would be prudentfor a bruised investor to get back into the stock market.

'Never,' he said.

'You mean, like, never?' I asked.

'Never.'

Gee, Apple stock has done OK.

And Halliburton.

Yes, Cuban screams at refs, and he wears his team's jersey, andhe routinely gets fined by NBA commissioner David Stern for hisoutbursts, but what does that mean? Do you want the whiniest kid atthe playground running your sandlot team? His second team?

But here's the thing that truly blows my mind, makes me as leeryof Cuban as any wannabe sports rich guy with more dollars thansense: He had Steve Nash as his point guard, and he got rid of him.

Steve Nash.

That, in my opinion, rivals the old Tribune owners losing GregMaddux. And don't we all agree the old owners were morons?

- Good God, David Beckham and his stick-figure wife have come toAmerica to save us from football, basketball, baseball, golf,tennis, darts, hot-dog-eating, and every other competitive sport weenjoy.

'WELCOME TO L.A., DAVID BECKHAM,' says the cover of this week'sSports Illustrated, with the sub-head, 'Will He Change the Fate ofAmerican Soccer?'

I mean, why should he?

Beckham may have Hollywood looks and an ever-changing hairdo anda five-year, $32.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy, butwhat does any of that mean to a sport that fits in with the Americandemand for scoring, on-field stardom, hand usage and violence aboutas well as a spoon in a chainsaw drawer?

In soccer all you have to do is kick the ball 50 yards away fromsomebody to negate his importance, and scoring a goal every thirdgame is considered an offensive onslaught for one man.

'My family has now moved to Los Angeles, something we're lookingforward to ... and in our life everything's perfect,' Beckham saidwhen introduced to the hometown crowd in mighty Carson, Calif. 'So,on to my new challenge.'

'Everything's perfect' should be a huge clue right there. What isthis guy, a Stepford Husband?

I think he should sit down with Scary -- I mean, Posh -- Spice,his blank-faced, bony wife, and say, 'Let's eat a sandwich, luv.'

Victoria Beckham -- talent-less, aging, starving, falcon-eyed,driven to be something -- literally terrifies me. I would rather belocked in a dark room with Ronald McDonald.

These two English people are way too eager to be creatures wedon't need in this country, more gossip-column celebrities without abrain cell between them.

And as to saving soccer?

Beckham is a heartthrob, I guess, for young girls, 'Bend It LikeBeckham' fans and Us magazine readers. Sort of a solo dude fromMenudo.

But for the rest of us?

Soccer is fine every four years at World Cup time.

This is about the 50th time soccer was going to 'explode' in theUSA. Remember Pele and Freddy Adu?

I say nil-nil to the new two.

- The Oklahoma football team must forfeit all nine of its winsfrom the 2005 season, including its win over Oregon in the HolidayBowl. This is because the Sooners used a couple of players who hadbeen paid for work they had not performed at a Norman cardealership.

That made them no different from a lot of car salesmen, but tothe NCAA it's a no-no.

The dumbest thing is, you can't really un-do a sports win orloss.

The players know what happened, how they felt, what they gainedor lost right then on the field or court.

So you add a 'W' to your record and years down the road a littlekid asks, 'How bad did you beat Oklahoma, Grandpa?' And you can say,'Well, l'il Billy, we didn't, really. Not by the score, anyway.'

NAMES & FACES - The Washington Post

Two thousand dollars a plate just doesn't buy what it used to.

We hear that Ohio Republicans were stumped Thursday when they satdown for their Bush/Cheney '04 fundraiser in Columbus and found . . .plasticware. But the attendees were especially puzzled when theyreached for their forks. There weren't any.

'The lack of silverware was not the Hyatt Regency Columbus'sidea,' senior catering manager Theresa Mullins told us yesterday.'Apparently it's a trend in Republican fundraising.'

Perhaps it would make sense if plasticware were offered as asecurity precaution, but Mullins said that wasn't the case. 'It's inorder to prevent noise and clanging in the room. They [the Bush/Cheney '04 team] wanted to make sure that the room was very quiet.'

The good news is that to eat the food at these fundraisers(Thursday's luncheon, which raised $1.4 million, consisted of roastbeef sandwiches, a pickle wedge, fruit on toothpicks, chips andcookies), you don't need utensils.

'We were asked to design a menu that didn't need silverware,'Mullins explained. 'But we wanted to make sure people could spreadtheir condiments and that kind of thing,' hence the plastic knivesand spoons (for stirring).

But as one exasperated event-goer told us, 'So much for the highlife. . . . Limousine liberals in East Hampton and Malibu would neverstand for such a meager spread. No wonder Harvey Weinstein is sofat!'

It looks as though we won't be saying bye bye bye to JustinTimberlake anytime soon.

The 22-year-old singer with a multi-platinum solo recordingcareer, who recently signed on to headline a global ad campaign forMcDonald's, is now also a one-stop shop for ABC Sports. He willprovide music, star in promos and serve as a special sportscorrespondent for the network's NBA coverage. Not a bad deal for theformer Mouseketeer.

'This provides a unique integration of sports and entertainment,and Justin's interest and enthusiasm, not only in the NBA but in allsports, should help provide our broadcasts with a new, freshapproach,' said Michael Penn, senior vice president and executiveproducer of ABC Sports.

But that's not all for the pop star. He also has an NBC speciallined up, 'Justin Timberlake: Down Home in Memphis,' where he'llperform a few songs and provide his viewing audience with a tour ofhis home town. What with touring, guest-hosting 'Saturday NightLive,' etc., how ever does he find time to canoodle with hisgirlfriend, actress Cameron Diaz?

And the showdown begins: Who is to blame for the collapse ofRosie, the magazine? Rosie O'Donnell and her ex-publisher GrunerJahrUSA started their bitter courtroom battle Thursday.

After the magazine ceased publication in September 2002, GJslapped O'Donnell with a $100 million lawsuit. She countersued for$125 million. And based on the attorneys' opening statements, it'sgoing to get ugly.

'She went from being warm and fun-loving on TV to an 'uber-bitch,' ' GJ attorney Martin Hyman said.

O'Donnell's attorney, Lorna Schofield, didn't dispute reports thather client could be difficult to work with, saying, 'Rosie is notMother Teresa. She is loud, she has a temper and when provoked she isopinionated. She's gay and she is in a committed relationship and isthe mother of four. What you see is what you get.'

'Why don't they want me?'

-- Elizabeth Smart, asking her parents why CBS didn't want her toplay herself in the film about her kidnapping and rescue, accordingto an upcoming issue of TV Guide.

-- Compiled by Anne Schroeder

NARROW FOCUS BY NBC DISTORTS OLYMPIC PICTURE - The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY)

Everything is getting hazy. The lighting is dim. Faces appear,bathed in a surreal glow. Figures move in slow motion. Soft musicplays.

An afterlife experience? A glimpse into the great beyond?

Nah. Just another Olympic Moment -- the personality profiles ofindividual athletes that look like a Hallmark Card come to life.

The Olympics are the world's most spectacular and inspiringsporting event. Too bad it's filtered through the camera eye ofNBC-TV.

The network covers competitions involving Americans almostexclusively, force-feeds us gobs of warm-and-fuzzy features onindividual athletes, concentrates on major sports, and has anauseating weakness for corniness and cliche.

Granted, when you pay $456 million to broadcast the thing, yougo heavy on the home team and schmaltz. We don't expect much actualjournalism, and we're not disappointed.

The worst is the personality profiles that regularly interruptthe competition. Here's Bela, the gruff but gentle bear of a coach.Here's Dominique, the plucky young star who's fighting back frominjury. It's all soft music, hazy focus, slow motion. Everybody is'hungry for gold' or 'dreaming of Atlanta.' After a while, you'rereaching for the barf bag.

Knowing who these athletes are enhances our appreciation of theevents. But spare us the surreal glow and paint-by-numberssimplicity. It's like being spoon-fed pablum.

But it goes beyond that.

Given the concerns about the toll of intense gymnasticstraining on adolescents, the warm-and-fuzzy features edgeperilously close to propaganda.

For that matter, you don't get much perspective in the eventcommentary. We were told that 14-year-old Dominique was competing'with a 4-centimeter stress fracture in her tibia.' There's aquestion whether such an injury is a badge of courage or a productof self-abuse. Yet there was no ambiguity or hint of a larger issuein the commentator's voice, just admiration.

We expect NBC to focus on American athletes. But after a while,it's as if other countries are there only because the USA can'tcompete against itself. The U.S. athletes are the stars, the othersare mere bit players.

The Olympics are supposed to glorify the heights attainable bythe human body and spirit. Country is secondary to individualdemonstrations of grace, strength and courage.

Canadian TV is partial to Canadian athletes, but far lessemphatically than NBC. Canadian TV devoted a chunk of time Thursdayto the USA vs. Cuba in men's volleyball simply because it was agreat match.

How many events are shown on American TV that don't involve anAmerican competitor? For that matter, how many events do we see inprime time?

Thursday's night's USA vs. Cuba volleyball thriller was ignoredby NBC. Because the headline stuff gets shown to death, lesser --but equally dramatic -- events get overlooked.

In fairness, NBC does some things well. There was anextraordinary shot of Shannon Miller's foot nearly coming off thebalance beam during her routine. Viewers are so close to the actionthat they can count the athletes' nose hairs. There are occasionalfeatures on athletes from other countries. Studio host Bob Costasis easy to take.

And NBC-TV has no control over the Olympics' single largestirritation, the U.S. men's basketball team.

The presence of NBA players is testament to America's inabilityto lose gracefully.

We mustered the pros a couple of Olympics ago, after the restof the world caught up to our collegians. The USA's failure to winOlympic men's basketball gold in 1988 was treated as a nationalcrisis. The consensus: Better to blow 'em out with the big gunsthan to let the college guys settle for silver. And who cares ifthe games are as competitive as the Bills vs. Orchard Park High?

The result is a sorry spectacle. The gold medal is a foregoneconclusion. The only question is whether the NBA stars can stayawake until the end of the games.

At least the Olympics was special to the college guys. The NBAstars stay at a hotel, don't mingle with other athletes and -- mostsignificantly -- don't share their spirit. One gets the feelingthat their motivation isn't a gold medal, but the productendorsements the Olympic connection brings.

50 YEARS OF UTTER NUTTERS; IT'S THE only book where Paula Radcliffe and Sir Steve Redgrave compete for space with a bearded lady and some bloke with 20ft fingernails. To mark the 50th birthday of the Guinness Book of World Records, we asked BRIAN McIVER to scour its pages for 50 of the wildest and weirdest human achievements in history. And no, there's no record for the most pointless record.(Features) - Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)

Byline: BRIAN McIVER

1 MLongest Female Beard: Vivian Wheeler of Illinois, USA, grew an 11ins beard after her mum died and now works in a circus.

2 50 MBiggest Ball Of Cling Film: Chef Andy Martell made a ball 54ins round in Toronto, Canada, last year. 3 MMost Items Regurgitated: Stevie Starr, of Glasgow, swallowed a billiard ball, a bumble bee, a goldfish, a ring and a padlock and key. He brought up the ring locked inside the padlock.

4 MBiggest Butter Sculpture: A 160ft version of the Statue of Liberty was built at Sydney harbour in Australia in April. It melted.

5 1 MLongest Fingernails: In 1998, Shridhar Chillal, of Poona, India, had nails on his left hand with a total length of 20ft, 2.25ins.

6 MBiggest Belly-button Fluff Collection: Aussie Graham Barker has collected 15.41g of his own navel fluff since 1984.

7 MBowling ball Stacking: David Kremer, of Wisconsin, USA, stacked 10 in 1998. 8 MLongest Woman's Legs: Sam Stacy, of, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, has 49.75ins legs.

9 MMost Lightning Strikes Survived: Virginia park ranger Roy C Sullivan was zapped seven times between 1942 and 1977. He had his hair set alight and lost his eyebrows. 10 MLargest Underpants: The Exeter Council for Voluntary Service unveiled a pair of 31.29 ft wide, 16 ft tall pants on June 7, 2003.

11 MMost People Wearing Groucho Marx Glasses: US schoolboy Joe Kavanagh gathered 937 Grouchos in 2003. 12 MBiggest Scottish Country Dance: The Toronto Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society staged a 512-person reel on August 17, 1991.

MBiggest Hug: A total of 4703 people hugged for 10 seconds in Kristanstad, Sweden in 2001.

14 MBiggest Accordion Group: Dutch band The Stedeker Dansers assembled 566 accordionists in 2000.

15 MMost Worms Eaten in 30 Seconds: Mr C. Manoharan ate 200 in Chennal, India, last November. 16 MMost Socks Worn on One Foot: Kirsten O' Brien put 41 socks on one foot in London in May 2003. 17 MBiggest Bubblegum Bubble Blown: Susan Montgomery Williams, of Fresno, California, blew a 23-inch bubble in July, 1994. 18 MMost Cockroaches Eaten: Ken Edwards ate 36 in a minute on The Big Breakfast in March 2001. 19 MMost Cobras Kissed: Gordon Cates of Alachua, Florida, kissed 11 cobras in Los Angeles in September, 1999.

20 MMilk Squirting: Mike Moraal, of Vancouver, Canada, squirted some milk 2.615 metres out of his eye in Paris in September, 2001.

21 MMost Bees in Mouth: Dr Norman Gary held 109 for 10 seconds in LA in 1998.

MLoudest Burp: Paul Hunn's belch registered 118.1 decibels in 2000.

2223MMost Instruments in One-Man-Band: Rory Blackwell played 108 instruments at once in Dawlish, Devon, in May, 1989.

24 MFastest Turkey Plucker: Vincent Pilkington of County Cavan, Ireland, plucked a turkey in 90 seconds in November, 1980. MFastest Skiing Behind Motorbike: 25Gary Rothwell was towed at 156.4 mph in Liverpool in 1999. MFastest Ejection of Spaghetti From26Nose: Kevin Cole, of New Mexico, USA, blew a strand of spaghetti 19cm in 1998.

27 M Chainsaw Juggling: Tom Comet, of Canada, juggled three saws 44 times at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival. 28 MCream Cracker Eating: Sports agent Ambrose Mendy, of London, ate three cream crackers in 49.15 seconds in 2002.

29MFastest 100m on Unicycle: Pete Rosendahl did it in12.11 seconds in Las Vegas in 1994. 30 MMost Sheep Sheared in 24 Hours: New Zealanders Alan MacDonald and Keith Wilson machine-sheared 2220 in June, 1988. 31 MHighest Legal Base Jump (skydive without a plane): Nick Feteris and Glenn Singleman jumped from a Pakistani mountain ledge 19,300ft up. 32 MLongest Fall Survived Without Parachute: Stewardess Vesna Vulovic fell 33,330ft in 1972. She broke both legs.

33 MLongest Bout of Hiccups: Charles Osborne, of Iowa, USA, started hiccuping in 1922 and stopped in 1990. He died a year later.

34 MMost Common Skin Infection: 70 per cent of humans have athlete's foot.

35 MMost Valuable Tooth: One of Sir Isaac Newton's sold for pounds 730 in London in 1816. 36 MMost Fingers,Toes: Indian brothers Tribhuwan and Triloki Yadav have 12 toes and 10 fingers each.

37 MMost Artificial Joints: Charles Wedde, of Michigan, and Anne Davison, of Tyne and Wear, have both had 12 joint replacements. 38 MLongest Tongue: Englishman Stephen Taylor's tongue is 9.4 cm long. 39 MMost Tattooed Man: Tom Leppard, of Skye, has spots tattooed on 99.9 per cent of his body.

40 MMost Body Piercings In One Session: KamMa was pierced 600 times in a day in Sunderland in 2002.

41 M Hairiest Family: Mexican circus acrobats Victor and Gabriel Ramos Gomez have hair on 98per cent of their bodies. 42 MMost spoons balanced on face: 15, by American Tim Johnston in May this year.

MHair Splitting: British engineer Alfred West could split a hair into 17 strands. 4344 MMost Plastic Surgery: Peruvian Transsexual Fulvia Sandoval has had 64 ops. 45 M Oldest Male Stripper: Bernie Barker, of Miami Beach, is 64. 46 MLongest Ear Hair: Indian Radhakant Bajpal has 5.19ins ear tufts.

47 MBiggest Dog Biscuit: Made in the US in 1999, it was 7.7ft long and 1.9ft wide. 48 MBiggest Artificial Christmas Tree: 52mhigh and 62m wide - made by locals in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

49 MMost Rhinestones On AHuman Body: Spanish designer Maria Rosa Pons stuck 30,361 rhinestones sequins to a model in 2001.

50 MMost Guinness World Records Held: Ashrita Furma, of New York State, holds 20 records, for feats including milk bottle balancing and pushing an orange with his nose.

CAPTION(S):

Winnipeg's silent film star.(Lillian Rich Nicholson) - Manitoba History

By all appearances, Lionel Edward 'Leo' Nicholson was born in 1894 with a proverbial golden spoon in his mouth. His father Edward was a Winnipeg grocery broker who could afford the best for his kids. Young Leo and his older sister Mae were frequent playmates with the children of the city's social elite. Their violin and piano performances were featured on the cover of Town Topics, the city's arts and culture magazine. Their mother Madge was one of Manitoba's first automobile owners, and she often took her two children on 'road trips' to rural Manitoba and the USA. The Nicholsons summered at the large family cottage on Lake of the Woods, entertained guests at the St. Charles Country Club, or took extended holidays in Europe, Japan, and China. They enjoyed the mineral waters of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and they wintered in California, Bermuda, and other sunny locales. As a teenager, Leo attended private school in Wisconsin, and raced his mother's car while home on holiday. And, after a tour of duty as a dashing fighter pilot with the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I, Leo married a movie star.

Leo returned from the war with a 19-year-old English bride named Lillian Rich. They settled into a comfortable home on Oxford Street in Winnipeg. The 5'3' dark-haired beauty must have immediately captivated her new father-in-law's heart. Seeing a future for her in Hollywood, Edward Nicholson bankrolled Lillian with $1,000 of his own money. She had publicity photographs taken in the summer of 1919, including one of her lounging playfully on the porch of her home, then headed off to Tinsel Town.

With Leo as her manager, Lillian's found immediate success on the silver screen. Her first role in the 1919 movie The Day Site Paid was followed by a flurry of roles, mostly dramas and Westerns with such stars as Tom Mix, Jack Hoxie, Harry Carey, and Ed 'Hoot' Gibson. She made five movies in 1920, seven in 1921, and six in 1922. (1) Then, none in 1923. What happened? Her 'sugar daddy' father-in-law, having sold his business in 1917, died that year in California after a long illness. Leo accompanied the body back to Winnipeg for burial. Lillian apparently decided that her marriage to Leo was now a liability: she locked up their California house and divorced him. Soon afterwards, her career was back on track; she appeared in six movies in 1924, and eight in 1925. Her career hit its peak in 1925 when she played 'the man-eating, social-climbing Flora in Cecil B. DeMille's extravagant The Golden Bed. She played her femme fatale in a blond wig and the New York Times thought she looked 'extraordinarily beautiful.'' (2) The next year, a role in the railroad movie Whispering Smith would be considered her only other notable performance. (3) Her movie output waned gradually in the early 1930s. Like many silent film stars, Lillian probably did not have a voice to suit the 'talkies' that were becoming common. Her career ended in 1940 after a series of uncredited roles as nurses or telephone operators, and she died quietly in January 1954.

Leo, meanwhile, looked for other employment in California. He allegedly tried his hand at directing movies although there are no records on what ones he made, if any. Then he had the idea of becoming a sports journalist in the new medium of radio, and began broadcasting football games in Los Angeles under the sponsorship of an automobile agency. In 1930, he moved back to Canada where, in Vancouver as kindly 'Big Brother Bill', he created a radio program to feature talented local children. (4) His love of sports reporting reasserted itself, however, and he began calling 'every sports event that has a book of rules' (5), including bicycle races, softball, golf tourneys, and salmon derbies. (6) He announced home games for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team in 1941 and, for a time, wrote a sports column for the Vancouver News-Herald newspaper. Known for his rapid-fire elocution, Leo was widely credited for popularizing box lacrosse in Canada, and for describing it as 'the fastest sport on two feet.' He remarried but had no children. He worked vigorously on behalf of Vancouver charities and war bond drives, but he died after a brief illness at a young age, just 52, in October 1947. Like his movie star first wife, there is no indication that Leo Nicholson ever returned to his home town and, like her, he is virtually unknown today. But for a brief time just after World War I, a silent film star was born on a quiet Winnipeg street, and nurtured by a wealthy local businessman whose son later 'made good' as one of Canada's first sports broadcasters.

Acknowledgements

A series of minor misadventures in Victoria, BC in late 2004 eventually led me to photograph albums compiled by Mae Nicholson Bawlf, sister to Leo. Among the wealth of information contained in them were clues to Lillian Rich's brief residence in Winnipeg. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Alexandra Bawlf, her sister Virginia Bawlf, and her cousin Nick Bawlf (all of them descended from Winnipeg grain merchant Nicholas Bawlf), as well as Professor Gene Walz, in piecing together this little-known historical tidbit.

Gordon Goldsborough

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Notes

(1.) Lillian Rich's filmography can be found on several Internet sites, including http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0723678.

(2.) Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide, www.allmovie.com

(3.) Ibid.

(4.) 'Leo's Life Was an Exciting One', Vancouver News-Herald, 29 October 1947, p. 10.

(5.) 'Leo Nicholson Funeral Set for Thursday', Vancouver Sun, 29 October 1947, p. 1.

In October '10, it's time to hang 10 - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

Top 10 sports media- related things we see causing tension during

the 10th month of the 10th year of this decade:

10 You may be looking live now at the first day of the Ryder Cupcompetition on ESPN, but what time the sun comes up for day twodepends, again, on NBC's clock.

The network's call to go with a 5 1/2-hour digital delay (doesanyone use videotape anymore?) during Saturday's play in Wales meansit doesn't have to bump Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly latertonight and there's still time to cash in on some overnightinfomercials. But by the time we're allowed to view it - thatawkward 5 a.m., because that's how it lines up with an 8 a.m. EDTlaunch - the event could be decided and we'd already know about itthanks to our Internet machine.

'What? I didn't know that,' Paul Azinger, the 2008 U.S. Cupcaptain and an ESPN analyst tonight, told USA Today when told aboutthe Saturday TV delay. 'I don't even know how to comment.'

It's the Summer Olympics all over again. And this must be the NBCcompromise, after Dick Ebersol couldn't convince the Ryder Cuppeople to actually start their event in the dark with flashlights soit could be in prime time the night before on the East Coast.

9 The NHL's U.S. TV rights with Versus and NBC expire after thisseason, and commissioner Gary Bettman recently said 'we will havediscussions in the not-so-distant future ... we will deal with thenext contracts in the ordinary course.'

What's been ordinary about how the NHL buries its product on TV?And what's to wait for?

'There is a lot of hype and focus on it,' Bettman added. 'We arenot at the stage viewing it with the same level of scrutiny as it'sbeen getting. That's not to say it's not important.'

Read between the lines: Make sure your cable or dish system hasthe National Geographic Channel.

8 An Associated Press report on the Miami Heat's opening oftraining camp this week noted there were about 275 media credentialsgiven out and 'players posed for pictures with some reporters afterpractice, a sight that rarely, if ever, happens in Miami.'

Note to 'reporters:' There's a slight difference between being'embedded' and 'in bed' with the team you cover.

7 A new Deloitte survey shows while plenty of 3D TV sets areready to be sold, 83 percent of the respondents 'agree 3D is notimportant enough to buy a new television.'

And then there's wearing the glasses.

'Aside from possibly being uncomfortable and geeky, they are alsoa barrier to the multitasking that consumers engage in whilewatching TV, including surfing the Web, reading e-mail, talking oninstant message and reading books, newspapers and magazines,' saidDeloitte's Ed Moran in a story on Televisionbroadcast.com.

ESPN's programmers, who spoon-feed the key 18-to-34 maleattention deficit disorder demographic, couldn't factor that inbefore launching its own 3D TV channel?

6 The Lakers begin the 2010-11 season with all the contracts oftheir broadcasters - Joel Meyers and Stu Lantz on TV, Spero Dedesand Mychal Thompson on radio - needing to be renewed, or rejected,moving forward.

5 ESPN's change-over this week to a high-definition broadcast of'Pardon the Interruption' and 'Around the Horn' will be the greatestdeterrent to any future sportswriters aspiring to stroke their egoson TV. Except for Woody Paige.

4 Eric Karros' wide, wild goatee. Not a violation of his Fox MLBcontract?

3 CBS college basketball play-by-play man Gus Johnson, who usesthe catch phrase 'Rise and Fire' to no end, has launched a line of T-shirts with that graphic on it. A version on the NCAA.com storesells for $34.95.

For a 'lightweight ribbed' piece of cotton with short sleeves.

2 FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal writes this week:

'Baseball, due to its refusal to expand instant replay, is headedfor more controversy this postseason. And the sport's powers thatbe, led by commissioner Bud Selig, have no one but themselves toblame.

'Once again, baseball is about to walk straight through a glassdoor. I will not feel sorry for the sport when some blown calloccurs in Game 3 of the World Series and the play is shown to death -not just on all-sports networks but also all-news channels - turningoff even casual fans. ...'

A hint that Fox, which again carries the World Series and isRosenthal's employer, will load up with extra replay machines?

1 Immediately after the Texas Rangers agreed to a new 20-yearextension last week with the local Fox Sports Net channel for areported $1.5 billion, which figures to boost the team's playerpayroll by at least $25 million a year, speculation started abouthow this is a good sign for Dodgers current owner Frank McCourtlooking to line his pockets soon with a cash influx from Fox SportsWest/Prime Ticket.

Unless he goes ahead with a Dodgers' network; DTV is the workingtitle, according to divorce court records.

'Why would Fox be willing to shell out so much for the Rangers inan era when the LosAngeles Dodgers, a bigger market team with a morevaluable product and was once owned by Fox, takes in only about $45million a year for its cable rights?' asked the Dallas Morning News'Barry Horn. 'The answer is simple. Fox has done the math and thinksthe value is there.'

Once Fox does its due diligence with the Dodgers, and sees theMcCourts still are in charge, what value will it find?

WHAT SMOKES

Fox's ability to find a sponsor willing to finance a pushed-upfirst pitch to the third game of the upcoming World Series is astart in the right direction toward making the product more viewer-friendly for future generations. Yet it's hardly a major move, perse - a 3:57 p.m. PT/6:57 p.m. ET for the game set Oct. 30 -considering it's only an hour earlier from every other start time(except Sunday's Game 4, which will wait for the finish of Fox's NFLcoverage). 'We've said over the years that if advertisers werewilling to support earlier starts at prime time levels, we'd be ableto begin games earlier,' Fox Sports president Eric Shanks said in arelease. He noted Chevrolet is the sponsor (with parent-company GMstill 60 percent owned by the U.S. government) that stepped up.

Zenyatta's attempt Saturday at Hollywood Park to win her 19thrace in a row in a final prep for defense of the Breeders' CupClassic in November airs live on ESPN at about 4:10 p.m., busting inon the 'NASCAR Sprint Cup Happy Hour' and the college footballscoreboard shows. Joe Tessitore, Randy Moss, Jerry Bailey, HankGoldberg, Jeannine Edwards and Jay Privman make up the broadcastteam for the Lady's Secret Stakes. ESPN Classic (and ESPN3.com) willbe on live Saturday from 3:30-5 p.m. to do the pre- to post-racecoverage.

WHAT CHOKES