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On July 9 at 9 p.m., CNBC will present a feature on NASCAR that basically asks the question: is the sport still good for corporate America?
The hour-long special, from reporter Darren Rovell, will have exclusive interviews with Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. The network says it will “take viewers inside the world of NASCAR, once the fastest-growing sport in America….But after a race to the top, attendance and television ratings are starting to decline and the car manufacturing business, for decades the foundation of the sport, is crumbling.”
Rovell will talk to NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France about how he plans to move his sport forward through the downturn.
Tyler Hansbrough will have a long and fairly successful NBA career. He'll be a double figure scorer. People who complain about what he's lacking miss the point. The guy works hard, and some critics act as though the NBA is full of Kevin Garnetts. It's not.
Very impressed with Charlotte's new First Tee program, which seeks to teach life skills to area youth through golf. The program (thefirstteecharlotte.org) is at Revolution Golf Course, near uptown. I hardly recognized the place, which is in the middle of a complete retrofit. Tuesday morning, I saw young golfers of all races out chipping and putting – and reading and writing – at the facility. It was well-run and tightly organized. The kids were having fun. I think this is going to be a boon for Charlotte.
The North Carolina women's basketball team got a big boost when Gastonia Forestview point guard Shannon Smith verbally committed this week. Smith, a rising senior who averaged 26 points last season, is an Ivory Latta kind of scorer. She'll thrive in the Tar Heels' uptempo game. She's one of those rare girls players who can get her own shot without special plays or screens.
Congrats to the Charlotte Blaze Black 12U girls softball team which won the National Softball Association N.C. state championship in Rock Hill last week.
The Blaze went undefeated and outscored opponents 61-7. Next up is a trip to the World Series in Chattanooga, Tenn, later this summer. The team: Head Coach Bob Bove, assistant coach Eric Nuccio, Mackenzie Morgan, Katelyn Shifflett, Jessey Haasl, Jordan Keene, Katie Wiliford, Venus Gonzalez, Chelsea Priest, Mattie Nuccio, Casey Brescia and Madison Armstrong.
Butler High track star Aslynn Halvorson finished third in the discus at the U.S. Junior National track championships in Oregon last week. Her throw of 169 feet, 5 inches broke the 4-year-old N.C. high school record set by Harding's Kamorean Hayes (162-10). Halvorson is the first alternate for the U.S. Pan-Am Games junior team.
Indian Trail Porter Ridge High golfer Courtney Gunter, who graduated in June, was chosen as girls golf senior athlete of the year by the National High School Coaches Association. Gunter, who will play at North Carolina, won three straight state champonships. A two-time Observer player of the year, Gunter left school with a 4.5 grade-point average. She was named to several All-American teams, including one of 48 players named to the Rolex Junior team, made up of players from 26 states and four foreign countries.
