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In a stunning piece published in Sports Illustrated in 2010, former sports agent Josh Luchs admitted to paying money and providing other benefits to college athletes, in clear violation of NCAA and NFL Players Association rules. Luchs, who represented more than 60 NFL athletes over the course of his career, named more than 30 former players who allegedly accepted money or other benefits while still enrolled at universities around the country.
Since then, Luchs has traveled the country, speaking about the dirty business side of college sports. It's a world where colleges make millions of dollars off of players, and where some agents routinely win contracts through illegal means. Luchs outlines many of these practices in his new book Illegal Procedure.
Luchs first paid a player from the University of Colorado in 1990. The player, linebacker Kanavis McGhee, had explained to Luchs that his mother had lost her job and was falling behind on her rent payment. To solve the problem, McGhee needed to come up with $2,500. He asked Luchs for help.
"At the end of the day, I decided that I'd go ahead and give him what he needed," Luchs tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies. "It would help me develop a relationship, and that's really what it was all about — and it bettered my chances of signing the guy."
After lending McGhee the money, Luchs ended up not signing him — but it didn't stop him from paying more college players — or from seeking advice from other agents in the business. One well-known agent, Harold "Doc" Daniels, explained to Luchs that there were certain rules when giving out loans to college players.
"He taught me that rather than paying a lump sum of money ... it would be more productive for us to give it to them incrementally — in smaller doses — so that they'd come back on a regular basis in a systematic fashion so we would have the opportunity to maintain a line of communication and better our chances of representing the player at the end of the road," he says. "That made all the sense of the world to me. We would determine a minimum amount ... and if we understood what their needs were or what their family life was about, then we could ... better prey upon those needs and fill those gaps — and we did. ... And it may only cost $200 a month for a player that could end up being a first-round draft choice and generate millions."
Luchs and the financial advisers he worked with also purchased automobiles and other luxuries for players. He bailed one athlete out of jail and brought more than one player to live with him, just to keep them close and keep competing sports agents at bay. But he says coaches remained in the dark.
"From my perspective, they didn't know," he says. "And I don't think they wanted to know, and I don't think anybody ever looked closely enough to want to find out. I think they still don't."
Luchs was eventually suspended for a rules infraction. He has since transitioned to a career in real estate and says he would have made different choices, if given the opportunity.
"Very few of us see the world the same way at 22 as they do at 42, which I am now," he says. "But as far as providing loans, I ... really question the morality and the ethics of the entire structure that leaves these players in a position where they have to [accept loans] if they want to not live in poverty. ... As far as ethically, at the end of the day, I was helping myself. I acknowledge that. It was a shortcut I took. And would I do it again? No, I wouldn't do that again. ... My ambition exists but no longer in a blind form."
Interview Highlights
On the relationships between players and agents
"The relationships are real. They may start out, very clearly, with a tit-for-tat or pay-for-play or whatever you want to call it. But these relationships evolve. I have relationships that have gone on 15, 18 years ... with players who I gave money to. They know my family. They know my kids. I know theirs. If you look at the Sports Illustrated cover story that ran in October of 2010, where I came out and talked about all these players I gave money to in violation of the rules, one of the things that jumped out to me was the number of players that stood up and actually manned up and admitted that they received those benefits from me."
On making money as an agent
"Unlike in entertainment or book agents, we don't get our money off the top automatically sent to us and then send the player their check. Once a player gets a check, now the onus is on us to go collect. As for the amount of money the agents are earning off of these players, the money is there at the very, very top of the draft. When you factor in the costs associated — that are real costs of training and housing and doing all the things you need to do when a college player ends his season and goes into the pros — and the investment that you make in him, if you don't end up representing a player in the first two rounds, you end up losing money."
On why he was suspended from being an agent
"I was suspended for providing a $5,300 commission check that a player had paid to us to an attorney during a civil proceeding. They were able to use that as a stick or a bat to knock me down. I understand a lot of people will say, 'Well, you did all of these things so this was your comeuppance.' And maybe so. But at the end of the day, what I was suspended for wasn't something that I did. I leveraged and I bartered and I traded the stories that I had, the experiences I had, so I could create an opportunity for myself long-term in another business so I'd be able to take care of my family."
On what reforms he would implement in college athletics
"I'm suggesting that if the NCAA doesn't want to share profits and continue to have this unpaid workforce, then let the market determine their value. Let us give them money if that's what they need — a nonrecourse loan at very favorable interest rates. Allow [agents] to fill that gap, because as of right now, it's being done but it's not being done in a way that can be controlled or monitored by anybody at the NCAA or the NFL Players Association or even at the state level. And the NCAA, they don't have subpoena power and they have absolutely no impact on the agent community whatsoever. And what I'm recommending is for participation in that program, an agent then could offer up and trade the equivalent of subpoena power — access to phone records or bank records — and give the NCAA the ability to enforce its rules."
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Our guest, Josh Luchs, spent 15 years as a sports agent representing talented college football players who hoped to turn pro. He admits breaking plenty of rules in his efforts to get good players to sign with him. He gave thousands of dollars to players who were still in college in violation of NCAA rules, a practice he said was common among agents competing for the attention of top athletes.
He also rented luxury cars for players, bailed one out of jail and brought more than one player in to live with him, just to keep them close and keep competing sports agents at bay. Luchs left the business after being suspended for a rules infraction and told many of his secrets in a 2010 cover story in Sports Illustrated. He has a new memoir about his experiences, co-written with James Dale, called "Illegal Procedure: A Sports Agent Comes Clean on the Dirty Business of College Football." Josh Luchs spoke with FRESH AIR contributor Dave Davies.
Josh Luchs, welcome to FRESH AIR. Tell us about the first player you ever paid money to.
JOSH LUCHS: You know, much like it said on the cover of SI in October of 2010, I'll never forget the first time I paid a player. I had flown to Colorado to recruit a star defensive end pass rusher. You know, to give you some context, I had a hard time renting a car when I flew to Colorado, I was only 19 years old.
And I waited for him outside of his apartment and basically bum rushed him at the door and, you know, introduced myself, let him know what I was there for and that I had come all the way from Los Angeles.
He was very gracious. He let me in, and we sat, and we spoke and talked a while. And he had let me know that eventually that he had some personal matters to attend to in the form of his mother who apparently had recently become unemployed and was in danger of losing her ability to support herself in her home, she might be kicked out of her apartment.
And basically to solve the problem, he needed to miraculously come up with $2,500 somewhere. I suppose that I became the somewhere.
DAVIES: And so what did you do?
LUCHS: I told him I needed to think about it. This was the very first time that I'd even thought about doing something like that. So I left, and I made my list of pros and cons as to, you know, right and wrong and the benefit and the exposure and the issues. And at the end of the day, I decided that I'd go ahead, and I'd give him what he needed.
It would help me to develop a relationship, and that's really what it was all about, and that bettered my chances of signing the guy. And I - 19 years old, I really didn't have a whole lot of cash like that laying around. So I had to dip into my Bar Mitzvah fund, some of the money I had gotten back in the day.
LUCHS: And luckily, you know, being a good boy, I saved it and knew that one day it was going to be used for something very important, and why not this, an investment in my future. Well, my first investment was a poor one, as it turns out, because after lending it to him, I never saw him again. So yeah, it was a rude awakening.
DAVIES: So you become an agent, as you say. There's a simple, you know, registration fee. And you eventually get connected with a gentleman named Harold Daniels, known as Doc, one of the few African-American prominent agents at the time. And you describe that he showed you how to pay players but do it within a certain set of rules that just made more sense. Do you want to go over that and just describe what was the right way to do - the right way to pay players from his perspective?
LUCHS: The right way, the rules according to Doc - who was a six-foot-seven, maybe-a-biscuit-away-from-400-pound guy who was just an unbelievable character and really an amazing person, and he gave so much to so many, and I don't just mean giving money out to college athletes in violation of the rules. He was a very, very charitable man and with a really big heart.
But, you know, Doc had taught me that, you know, rather than giving guys a lump sum of money, where they would take it, say thank you maybe, maybe they wouldn't, and then you wouldn't hear from them again. It would be more productive for us to give it to them incrementally, in smaller doses so that they'd come back on a regular basis, the first of each month, you know, in a systematic fashion that we would have the opportunity to maintain a line of communication and better our chances of representing the player at the end of the road.
And that made all the sense of the world to me. We would determine a minimum amount. I mean, if you just said to a guy, hey, how much credit card debt do you have, and you pay it off, you know, that was one thing. But, you know, if we understood what their needs were and what the shortfall amount was from their scholarship and what their family life was about, then we could better understand what the hot-button issue would be.
And unfortunately, and as unflattering as it might be, we'd be in a better position to prey upon those needs and fill those gaps, and we did. And it may only cost two to three to $500 a month for a player that could end up being a first-round draft choice and generate millions.
DAVIES: Right, now...
LUCHS: But the system, the way it is, is the culprit.
DAVIES: And one of the other rules was, you don't pay in cash, right?
LUCHS: No, no, you don't pay in cash, because - the good thing about cash is that it would be untraceable, but the problem with giving a player a stack of cash is he could deny that he ever took it from you. So what Doc had done - and I had no idea what this was, but - I didn't even know what a money order was.
And you could to, like, a 7-11 or a Western Union, anywhere, and you could end up picking up, you know, a money order that essentially was untraceable, but you had a receipt that you could keep in your hands that showed that you gave that money to that player and at least remove the question as to whether or not you gave the guy money.
But no outsider, nobody outside of the transaction could track that unless we wanted them to.
DAVIES: Yeah, it was interesting, because you were breaking the rules, and yet you do want some internal documentation of it. You also said: Make it clear to the player this is a loan. And you actually have him sign some kind of loan document, right?
LUCHS: Absolutely, and that brings me to today. I mean, I understand ethically and morally, people say that giving these athletes loans is questionable or wrong, you know, but upon reflection, if you really think about it, the question is why is it wrong.
I understand it's you don't want to induce guys to signing with you, but, you know, why is wrong - ethically?
DAVIES: But so if you're giving several hundred dollars a month over a period of a couple years, you're going to lay out a substantial amount of money, and in a lot of cases, of course, players end up going off and signing with a different agent. Would they pay you back?
LUCHS: Many did, and quite frankly, not that many people stiffed Doc. I wouldn't have stiffed Doc.
LUCHS: This was not the kind of guy you stiffed, OK, let's just be honest about it. And no, most of the time guys had paid it back, whether they went with us, or they didn't go with us. And that was not so much the issue until the very end. I think in the late '90s, there was a new rule that was implemented that said that if a player had taken money from an agent while they had eligibility remaining, that the player didn't have to pay that money back.
It's an ill-conceived, at best, solution to that problem, because then players who had their hands out would take money from as many agents as they possibly could and stiff all of them without any fear of repercussions and knowing that there would be no, you know, legal mechanism, by which, that an agent could go get repaid.
So it just opened up the floodgates, and it took a problem that clearly was an issue and became - it exacerbated it and made it much worse.
DAVIES: Let's talk just a little bit about what the rules were and who made them. I mean, clearly nobody expected agents to be paying college athletes, but who actually prohibited it? Who were the governing bodies, and what were the rules?
LUCHS: Well, at the time it wasn't against the law. It was simply against the NCAA rules. In fact the NFLPA eventually incorporated NCAA rules, and so did the individual states with the Uniform Athlete Agent Act.
DAVIES: Let's just make the (unintelligible), we say the NFLPA, that's the National Football League Players Association, which is, essentially it's the union for the players, right?
LUCHS: Right, and they say that agents work at the behest of the union, and they are supposed to be the governing body of the agent community. However, you have to ask yourself a question: Why do they care about the rules of the NCAA? They really don't, and that, I think, in and of itself, shows you why the problems exist the way they do today and will continue to exist because they don't have skin in that game. The individual states...
DAVIES: What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that, why they would care about what the NCAA says?
LUCHS: It's almost counter-intuitive, you see. The NFL Players Association, you know, their role has been to generate as much money for players as possible. That's what they've always done. And it seems to me that it's somewhat counterintuitive for them to prevent athletes from getting money from any source at any time.
They want them to get the most possible. And the NCAA rules, the way they're structured, are very prohibitive and quite frankly oppressive for these athletes. You know, when you're talking about loans in particular, it's the ability to receive loans, it's a basic right that all Americans have. And why should college athletes be denied that same right? The only reason why is because the NCAA says so.
DAVIES: Did parents ask you for money, too, parents of athletes?
LUCHS: Absolutely, oh absolutely, not just for loans but, you know, I had a parent - and recently, you know, an Auburn dad had told me that both of his sons were going to be pro players. And although I wasn't going to be giving him money during the season because at that time I had stopped the practice of violating the rules that way. He had said that whatever agent is going to represent my two boys is going to make a ton of money, and that agent is not only going to buy me an S-class Mercedes for that privilege, but I'm going to train my sons, and you're going to pay me what you would have been paying a training facility. Instead of paying them, you're going to pay me.
So, you know, he was laying out the terms of what it was going to take to represent his son, and, you know, you can wrap up an inducement any way you want to, it's still an inducement.
DAVIES: And how did you respond to that request?
LUCHS: At that time, I had moved on from that, and I wasn't going to play that game. And as it turns out, in hindsight I made the right decision, not only because I wasn't interested in playing by those rules anymore, but because one player I think was a seventh-rounder, and one ended up in the third round, and a year later, he hurt his knee and never, you know, made it in the long run anyhow.
So just from an investment point of view, whatever agent went ahead and paid that price probably ended up losing.
DAVIES: Now, there were times when athletes did make some pretty extravagant demands, and you played, right?
LUCHS: Yeah, absolutely, and, you know, one thing you've got to understand is that, you know, we tried to limit our exposure as much as possible. I remember one time that a player's father, who was a minister, had said that the other people who were competing to represent his son, you know, they were going to be providing, you know, a certain amount of money available to that player.
In addition, they wanted an automobile, an Escalade on dubs, with every single imaginable customized upgrade. And, you know, not just that, but they wanted it delivered to the church to inspire the flock. And I inspired the flock, let's put it that way.
DAVIES: You did it, you came up with the Escalade.
LUCHS: Yeah, we - hallelujah, it was very inspirational, but bear in mind, when I talk about, you know, trying to deflect and limit liability, we had a financial advisor who was interested in working for that player be on the hook for that car. Because if we were, you know, ending up representing, you know, seven, 10 players a year or whatever it was, and we ended up having to be on the hook for cars for all those players and the credit lines for all those players, it got pretty hairy.
So we tried to outsource as much of that as possible, limit our liability.
DAVIES: We're speaking with Josh Luchs, he is a former sports agent, whose book about his experiences is called "Illegal Procedure." We'll talk more after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: If you're just joining us, our guest is former sports agent Josh Luchs. He's written a book about some of the experiences he had representing athletes and some of the improper things he did in the course of that. It's called "Illegal Procedure."
You got into the business in 1990, and you were an active agent for, what, 15 years or more and finally left when you got a one-year suspension from the National Football League Players Association, right. Now, this followed some very long and complicated litigation you had with a former partner, Gary Wichard. What were the circumstances of the suspension, and how did that affect your decision to leave?
LUCHS: Well, you know, I was suspended for providing a $5,300 commission check that a player had paid to us, to my attorney during a civil proceeding. And they were able to use that as a stick, or a bat, to knock me down. And I understand there will be a lot of people that will say, well, you know, you did all of these things so this was your comeuppance, this is what you deserved, you got what you deserved.
And maybe so. You know, I'm willing to accept that. But at the end of the day, what I was suspended for wasn't something that I did. So I leveraged, I bartered, and I traded the stories that I had, the experiences that I had so that I could create an opportunity for myself, long-term, in another business, so I'd be able to take care of my family.
You know, Google, it's amazing, you can Google somebody, and whatever's there, no matter what people say about you, it's there forever. You can't get rid of it. And so I felt like the only way to obliterate that, would be to agree to do this tell-all for Sports Illustrated, which I did.
DAVIES: So that was 2010, and you describe some of the stuff you've described in this book and here in the interview. And in the book, you advance some ideas for reform. What should change in the system?
LUCHS: Well, there's lots of things that need to change. Unfortunately, players, student athletes as they call them, are living below the poverty line. There was a study done by the NCPA, the National College Players Association. They had done a joint study, the National College Players Association and Ithaca College, that showed that there was an average shortfall amount between the cost of full attendance and what players received of around $3,000.
And unfortunately, a lot of these players have no way to fill that gap. There's no mechanism by way to get that money that they need, aside from Pell grants and other things that people will bring up in defense of why nothing needs to change.
So what I'm advancing is it just deals with the agent problem. College football has a lot more problems than just the agent issue. In fact, a lot of the scandals that took place over the past few years - in college football, in college basketball - had nothing at all to do with sports agents.
But with respect to the agent problem itself, I'm suggesting that if the NCAA doesn't want to share profits, and they want to continue to have this unpaid workforce, then let the market determine their value. Let us give them money if that's what they need, in a non-recourse loan at very favorable interest rates.
You know, allow us to fill that gap because as of right now it's being done, but it's not being done in a way that can be controlled or monitored by anybody at the NCAA or the NFLPA, the National Football League Players Association or even at the state level.
And the NCAA, they don't have subpoena power, and they have absolutely no impact on the agent community at all whatsoever. And what I'm recommending is for participation in that program, an agent then could offer up in trade the equivalent of subpoena power, access to phone records or bank records and finally give the NCAA the ability to actually enforce its rules, one little tweak.
I mean, at the end of the day, do they want to lose a toenail, or do they want to lose a foot? I'm saying sacrifice the toenail.
DAVIES: The toenail, meaning this restriction on financial transactions between agents and college players?
LUCHS: Right. The ability to receive loans is a basic right that all Americans have. Why should college athletes be denied that same right? The only reason that they're denied that right is because the NCAA says that they should.
DAVIES: You know, I have to say when I read about, you know, these players getting loans from agents, a lot of them paid them back. Particularly when you compare this to other kinds of corruptions, you know, members of Congress who betray the public trust for money or Wall Street derivatives manipulators who bring the financial system down, I mean, this doesn't seem so terribly destructive.
LUCHS: No, in fact if it's a crime, it's certainly a victimless crime. People need to understand the way that the structure of the NCAA works and what they're protecting. Lots of people will argue, well, hey, you know, if you're not going to give them loans, the right way to do it is to actually pay the players.
But what they fail to realize is that if they paid the players, then an argument could be made that they're employees, and if they're employees, now suddenly there are benefits, such as workers' compensation, that need to be considered and the impact that that has on college football. And quite frankly, they should be employees.
They should be students who are also employees. I don't see how that's even wrong.
DAVIES: You began when you were 19 years old, getting started in the business, and were confronted with an athlete who wanted $2,500, and you faced a moral choice and decided it was worth a try and started down this road. Now you're in another business, you're in real estate. Are you a different person? Do you consider these kinds of dilemmas differently?
I mean, there are shortcuts in all kinds of businesses.
LUCHS: Absolutely, and, you know, let me say that very few of us see the world the same way at 22 as they do at 42, which I am now. So, obviously I don't suppose I do everything the same way I did it back then. But as far as providing loans, you know, I know people - the knee-jerk reaction, and I think they're conditioned by what they've grown up with, you know, since the '50s, I guess, when the NCAA coined the phrase student athletes, and the amateurism, the way that we know it to be today - I really question the morality and the ethics of the entire structure that leaves these players in a position where they have to, if they want to not live in poverty, take money from some of these sources.
So as far as ethically, I mean, yeah at the end of the day, I was helping myself. I acknowledge that. It was a shortcut that I took. Would I do it again? No, I wouldn't do that again. I made the choice not to do that stuff again, when after my suspension I had to decide if I was going to continue the business or move on somewhere else. So my ambition exists but no longer in a blind form.
DAVIES: Well, Josh Luchs, thanks so much for speaking with us.
LUCHS: Thank you so much for having me.
DAVIES: Josh Luchs spoke with FRESH AIR contributor Dave Davies. Luchs' memoir is called "Illegal Procedure: A Sports Agent Comes Clean on the Dirty Business of College Football." I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.


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Singer Rihanna crafted her outrageous public image over fears her voice was too weak to help her stand out in the music industry.
The Stay hitmaker is known for her raunchy music promos and saucy dress sense, but she insists her outfits are a way of making herself unique in the music world.
She tells Vogue magazine, "It's not all down to my voice. There's people with way more talent than I when it comes to singing. Bigger voices. But people want to know who you are. Fashion is a clear indication, a way to express your attitude, your mood...
"I don't go out of my way to be a rebel or to have that perception, but a lot of the decisions I make, a lot of the direction I want to move, is against the grain, or against society's tight lane, and I'm aware of that sometimes. It might not be fitting with the norm, but that's OK for me."


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Slate's Complete Coverage
This page has links to all of Slate's coverage of the Republican convention (and related events). We'll be updating it at least once a day during the convention, so check back here regularly for our latest articles. And you can use our Politics page to keep up with the convention stories from other publications.
Ballot Box
Bill Clinton's Successor, by Jacob Weisberg (Thursday, Aug. 3, 10:29 p.m.)
Pop Goes the GOP, by Jacob Weisberg (Wednesday, Aug. 2, 8:34 p.m.)
Shh, Don't Wake the GOP, by Jacob Weisberg (Tuesday, Aug. 1, 8:11 p.m.)
The Man Who Won't Be Used, by Jacob Weisberg (Tuesday, Aug. 1, 1:06 p.m.)
Blackest Night, by Jacob Weisberg (Monday, July 31, 9:09 p.m.)
Bland Old Party, by Jacob Weisberg (Monday, July 31, 3:47 p.m.)
Cheney, the Smart Choice, by Jacob Weisberg (Tuesday, July 25, 3:48 p.m.)
Dispatches From the Republican Convention, by Dahlia Lithwick and Chris Suellentrop
Frame Game
Bush's Acceptance Speech, by William Saletan (Friday, Aug. 4, 9:30 a.m.)
The Republicans' Opening-Night Tactics, by William Saletan (Tuesday, Aug. 1, 4 p.m.)
Fly-Fishing Through the GOP Convention, by Timothy Noah (Thursday, Aug. 3, 1:53 p.m.)
Spinning the Republican Color Well, by Timothy Noah (Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2:28 p.m.
Memo to Marian Wright Edelman: Don't Sue Dubya! by Timothy Noah (Tuesday, Aug. 1, 3:41 p.m.)
How Dick Cheney Is Like Dan Quayle, by Timothy Noah (Thursday, July 27, 3:14 p.m.)
Cheney's Lynne Problem, by Timothy Noah (Monday, July 24, 3:11 p.m.)
Whose Convention Goes First? by Jeremy Derfner (Thursday, Aug. 3, 2:59 p.m.)
Cheney and the Oil Cartel: Episode 2, by Mickey Kaus (Monday, July 31, 7:31 a.m.)
Cheney: Cheerleader for OPEC, by Mickey Kaus (Friday, July 28, 8:40 a.m.)
Is Cheney's Business Career a Qualification for Office? by Rob Walker
(Thursday, Aug. 3, 12:46 p.m.)
Press Box
Kristol-Balling the Veep Selection, by David Corn (Wednesday, July 26, 7:22 a.m.)
The Breakfast Table
This week: Author Erik Tarloff (The Man Who Wrote the Book, Face-Time) and Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith watch the goings-on from afar.
Last week: Slate's William Saletan and media consultant Timothy Ireland react to the Cheney pick, dis the New York Times, and more.
Philadelphia caterer Skip Schwarzman goes behind the scones.
Day 1: 84 Hours Until Chaos (Friday, July 28, 9 a.m.)
Day 2: Liberty Bells Made of Chopped Liver? (Monday, July 31, 10:30 a.m.)
Day 3: Serving Breakfast at Denny Hastert's Fishing Tournament (Tuesday, Aug. 1, 10 a.m.)
Day 4: Tallying Up the Take From Convention Week (Thursday, Aug. 3, 10 a.m.)
The World's Greatest Political Adman, by Scott Shuger (Monday, July 31, 10:30 a.m.
The End of Colin Powell, by David Plotz (Friday, July 28, 9 a.m.)
Net Election
Lost in Silicon Alley, by Chris Suellentrop (Friday, Aug. 4, 12:30 p.m.)
Dot-Com Journalists: This Year's "Men From Mars," by Steve Fox (Tuesday, Aug. 1, 10 a.m.)
Civil Disobedience on the Web, by Aaron Pressman (Friday, July 28, 1 p.m.)
Revving Up the Conventions, by Ronna Abramson (Monday, July 24, 4 p.m.)
Other Articles
Did Conventions Ever Matter? by David Greenberg (Thursday, July 27, 4 p.m.)
Cartoon Index


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SAN FRANCISCO -- The principal oboist for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra collapsed onstage in mid-performance Saturday night, suffering a brain hemorrhage at Davies Symphony Hall.
William Bennett, 56, a longtime member of the symphony, was listed in "guarded condition" Sunday at an unidentified hospital, according to symphony spokesman Oliver Theil.
"We all think the world of Bill and our thoughts and best wishes are with him and his family," Theil said. "We're just all hoping that he's going to be well."
Bennett was performing Richard Strauss' Oboe Concerto -- a virtuoso piece where the soloist stands alone in front of the orchestra. At some point early in the performance, Bennett passed out and dropped to the stage.
Long intermission
The performance came to a halt as paramedics treated Bennett on the scene and then transported him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with the cerebral hemorrhage, Theil said. After a longer than usual intermission, the rest of the evening's music schedule resumed.
"Bill is just an extraordinary musician," Theil added. "But even more than that, he is a wonderful person. He is a leader in our symphony in every sense of the word."
Bennett joined the symphony in 1979 and has been principal oboist since 1987. He previously suffered a health scare when he was treated for tonsil cancer. But he returned in 2005 after a leave of absence.
In an interview last week with KALW public radio, Bennett described how Strauss "wrote some of the most beautiful solos that we have" for oboists. He also hinted at how it can be a challenging, technical piece of music --including a 57-measure unbroken opening solo -- to perfect.
An athletic piece
Bennett said he had not performed the piece in two decades. The first time he played it, as a college student, "It was kind of an athletic contest playing the piece. I just wanted to hit all the notes and play it as quickly as possible." As he has grown older, Bennett added, he has come to see the piece as a "vocal exercise" where he conveys the lyrical quality of each note.
Richard Scheinin, classical music critic for the Mercury News and the Bay Area News Group, termed Bennett's "voice" a key component of the San Francisco Symphony.
"He's a superb musician," Scheinin said. "Night after night through the years, audiences have come to count on his expert renderings of whatever music is on the table -- whether Mahler's symphonies, which have lots of juicy solo spots for oboe, or the Strauss concerto he played this week, or anything else. He's comparable to a great player on a pennant-winning ball club, and also a very nice guy."
Contact Mark Emmons at 408-920-5745. ___


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Of The Decade: Michigan's Defense
Of The Decade: Michigan's Defense
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Previously in this series: ESPN Images and Michigan's Offense.
Brandon Graham (2009) & Lamarr Woodley (2006)
Slam dunk locks and mirror images, Brandon Graham and Lamarr Woodley set the standard for Michigan quarterback terror in the aughts. Wildly hyped in-state recruits and five stars, both spent a couple of years as underclassmen playing here and there and making people wonder if and when they would live up to their billings; both did so emphatically as juniors and then managed to top those performances as seniors. A large portion of last year's defensive UFRs not given over to rending of garments was spent wondering whether Brandon Graham was actually better than Woodley.
Survey says: yes, amazingly.
There was a mailbag question that explicitly addressed it:
I think Graham is better. I haven't gone over the UFR numbers yet—slightly busy this time of year—but I know Graham set a record against Michigan State earlier this year and has been owning offensive tackles all year. Woodley set standards by being consistently around +8 or +9 with forays up to 12; Graham's baseline is around 12 and ranges up to 18.
Though he didn't win the Lombardi like Woodley did his senior year, Graham led the nation in TFLs and was drafted about a full round higher by the NFL. While Woodley was more heralded in the award department, that had a lot to do with the other guys on defense. Woodley's compatriots will pepper the rest of this list. Graham's not so much. Woodley lined up next to Alan Branch, Terrance Taylor, and a senior Rondell Biggs; Graham's bookend was a true freshman and his other linemates were just sophomores.
Lamarr Woodley, meanwhile, did with the Lombardi in 2006, the first and to-date last time a Michigan player has won it. His season was statistically frustrating since, like Graham, he was close to a dozen additional sacks that a competent secondary would have seen him put up truly ludicrous numbers. Even so he had 12 sacks and 4 forced fumbles; outside TFLs were low (just three) but that can be chalked up to the rest of the defense taking up that burden. As mentioned above, he was the original gangsta of the UFR, averaging close to double-digit plus ratings on a weekly basis.
But all that pales in comparison to the play that finished the "Oh Wide Open" game in which Michigan established itself a contender. By scooping up an unforced Brady Quinn fumble and fending off ND tight end John Carlson all the way to the endzone, Woodley inaugurated the Yakety Sax era:
I just watched that three more times.
Second Team: Dan Rumishek (2001), Tim Jamison (2007 or 2008, take your pick)
It gets muddy past the slam dunks. Michigan's quasi 3-4 from the beginning of the decade makes decisions difficult, as does that one year Michigan switched to an actual 3-4. In 2001, Dan Rumishek was on the All Big Ten team with just 22 tackles. Seven were sacks, but man. That same year Shantee Orr managed 35 tackles with six sacks and 10 TFLs, but didn't show up on all conference teams. Later editions of defensive ends would have almost identical big play numbers but way more tackles. Tim Jamison had 10 TFLs and 5.5 sacks as a junior and senior but had 52 and 50 tackles.
Past Rumishek, Orr, and Jamison pickings are slim. Rondell Biggs was the unheralded guy on the 2006 line, a decent plugger but nothing special. A post-career steroid bust also gives his career an unpleasant sheen. Larry Stevens's career was very long but largely anonymous. He's best remembered for being hog-tied on the Spartan Bob play.
We'll go with Dan Rumishek, the only other Michigan DE to get on an All Big Ten team this decade, and one of Tim Jamison's upperclass seasons. Which is entirely up to the reader since they are essentially identical; I lean towards '07 because Graham was not yet a beast and Jamison saw more attention.
Alan Branch (2006) & Gabe Watson (2005)
Alan Branch:
That will do.
His statistics were not ridiculous (25 tackles, 5 TFL, 2 sacks in '06) but when he left for the NFL draft I thought to myself "this is a logical thing because he will go in the top five." Surprisingly he did not, falling to the top of the second round, but when you are primarily responsible for opponents going six of eighteen on third and one you get dropped onto the All Decade Team no questions asked.
Watson will be a more controversial choice but the guy was a two-time All Big Ten selection and is currently an NFL player. At Michigan he never quite lived up to his copious recruiting hype but he did have some pretty nice statistics for a nose tackle: 40 tackles, 6 TFLs, and 2 sacks as a senior with almost identical numbers from the year before. The primary issue with Michigan's run defense in '05 was that Watson would drive his guy yards into the backfield, forcing the tailback to cut upfield into the gaping hole left because Pat Massey was 6'8" and therefore getting crushed backwards as far as the guy futilely attempting to contain Watson.
The year before Michigan had their one-off experiment with the 3-4, leaving Watson all alone in the middle, where he dominated. In the aftermath of Watson's one-game suspension for being approximately spherical to start the '05 season, I attempted to adjust for Michigan's tendency to give up a lot of nothing and then a lot of huge runs in the spirit of Football Outsider's "adjusted line yards" and came up with the number 2.5, which was better than anyone in the NFL by three tenths of a yard. (Schedules are much more balanced there, FWIW.) Watson may have been an overrated recruit, but his Michigan career has been underrated.
Second Team: Terrance Taylor(2007), Grant Bowman (2003)
This is actually Taylor's junior season, when he lined up next to Will Johnson, a sophomore Brandon Graham, and Tim Jamison and managed impressive-for-a-DT numbers: 55 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, 3.5 sacks. He'd drop off considerably in his doomed senior year; whether that was a falloff in play or just collateral damage from the wholesale implosion around him is in the eye of the beholder. My opinion is the latter since Taylor tended to beat a lot of blocks only to see poor linebacker play rob him of opportunities in the run game; he was never much of a pass rusher.
We'll go with Taylor's statistically productive 2007 over 2008 because he was just about as good via the eyeball then and had more to show for it. Either way he is an easy pick.
The last spot is not easy. Early in the decade, Michigan defensive tackles were excruciatingly bored guys who spent football games blocking offensive lineman and letting linebackers take all the glory. In 2001 Shawn Lazarus started 12 games and managed 16 tackles. In the absence of accolades, statistics, or personal remembrances I can't put Lazarus or Eric Wilson or Norman Heuer in here even though I couldn't tell you whether or not those guys were even good. The guys not on the list who I do have personal remembrances of were not very good or are still on the team.
It's a debate between Grant Bowman, who I don't remember much about other than his mother was attacked by the usual band of Columbus idiots one year, and… yeah, Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen. Bowman's 2003 featured 36 tackles, 8 TFLs, and 3 sacks; Van Bergen had 40, 6, and 5; Martin 51, 8.5, and two sacks. Bowman's defense was infinitely better (22nd nationally in rush defense) than either Martin's or Van Bergen's but without the UFRs sitting around it's hard to tell how much of that had to do with Bowman and how much was the contributions of Pierre Woods, Carl Diggs, Lawrence Reid, and the profusion of non walk—ons in the secondary.
The tentative nod goes to Bowman if only because the rest of the line that year was Heuer, Massey, and someone the Bentley doesn't even bother to list but is surely Larry Stevens. Even if he had more help behind him, being the best player on a line that did pretty well against the run is a tiebreaker here.
David Harris (2006), Larry Foote (2001), Victor Hobson (2002)
A couple years ago I was editing a Hail to the Victors article about the considerable difference between David Harris and Obi Ezeh that referenced a couple plays from the '06 season. The diagrams, as diagrams are often wont to be, were confusing so I set about looking at the play myself so I could break the diagram out into three or four separate ones that would explain things in a more leisurely fashion. This was the result:
I swear to God I saw David Harris read not only the direction of a run play, the blocking scheme of that play, and which offensive lineman was assigned to him but modeled the lineman's brain and duped him into thinking the play had cut back. I found this terribly exciting.
That was just another boulder on the pile of reasons I love David Harris. He looks like Worf. He tackled everyone all the time and never did not tackle anyone. He was the first player I felt I was ahead of the curve on thanks to UFRing the games—like David Molk I think I was the first person in the media to recognize that this unheralded player was the balls, which made me feel like Dr. Z. And he kept tackling people. At some point in 2006 the Greek gods descended from the clouds and borrowed him for a while because the eagle that eats Prometheus's liver was on strike.
Then the Lions passed on him and Lamarr Woodley to take Drew Stanton, guaranteeing that the pair would instantly become two of the best defensive players in the league. Yeah. David Harris. I miss him so much.
Larry Foote had a less tangential connection to the worst franchise in sports, but outside of that one-off decision his career has been a good one. As an upperclassman he was an all-around terror, notching 19 TFLs in 2000 and 26 in 2001 at the same time as he picked up a total of 16 PBUs. In 2000 he actually had more of the latter than Todd Howard, and Todd Howard got some of his when the ball deflected off the back of his helmet. Foote was what Jonas Mouton was supposed to be.
We'll go with Foote's senior year when his sack total leapt from one to six and he was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year en route to a smattering of All-American honors. A fourth-round pick of the Steelers, Foote's NFL career has been long and productive; he gets a small dollop of bonus points for being one of the current NFL crew frequently seen hanging out with Barwis.
The final member of the first team had to beat out stiff competition but Victor Hobson gets the nod because he was by far the best player on his front seven (Rumishek, Bowman, Lazarus, Stevens, Orr, Diggs, and Zach Kaufman(!) were the other major conributors) in 2002 and racked up the best all-around numbers of any linebacker under consideration: 99 tackles, 13 for loss, 5.5 sacks, and two interceptions. One of those was the Outback-sealing reverse pass interception. Hobson was deservedly All Big Ten on a team that finished 9th in the final rankings and 31st in rushing defense despite having zero future NFL players other than Hobson and an injury-stricken Orr.
Second Team: Pierre Woods(2003), Shawn Crable(2007), Lawrence Reid(2004)
Pierre Woods did something almost but not quite bad enough to get booted off the team after his breakout sophomore season (68 tackles, 14 TFL, 7 sacks) and spent the rest of his career playing sparingly—probably the only thing that has infuriated both Ted Ginn Sr and myself—until injury forced Michigan to deploy him extensively in the '05 Iowa game, whereupon he totally saved Michigan's bacon. Though he'd moved to defensive end by then, his bust-out year was at linebacker so here he goes.
Poor star-crossed Shawn Crable will go down in history as the best player to ever put on a winged helmet who Michigan fans have exclusively terrible memories of. In the span of three games at the end of the 2006 season and beginning of 2007, Crable delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit on a scrambling Troy Smith that turned a fourth-down punt into first down and eventually the winning points for OSU and failed to execute a simple blocking assignment on the field goal that could have turned The Horror into the worst win ever.
When he wasn't doing either of those things, though, he was a unique weapon. He is the current holder of Michigan's TFL record and spent his college days bouncing from linebacker to defensive end to crazy 6'6" chicken-legged defensive tackle in certain spread packages, finding ways into the backfield wherever he lined up. He also was the Ryan Mallett of defense as an underclassman, overran a bunch of plays even after he got his head on straight, and appears twice on the upcoming Worst Moments Of The Decade list. That disqualifies him from the first team, but not the second.
Finally, Lawrence Reid saw his career end prematurely as his back went out; late in the 2004 season it was clear he was laboring. Despite that he finished with 70 tackles, 12 for loss, 3 sacks, and an interception. Without the injury his senior season could have made it on to the first team… and seriously aided the 2005 team's efforts to not play the unready Shawn Crable.
Marlin Jackson(2002), Leon Hall(2006)
Leon Hall was sneaky great, one of the few players that the NFL ended up drafting well before I expected them to. Before Hall went halfway through the first round I'd pegged him as another LeSueur sort who'd go in the second and have a decent career; instead he's kind of ridiculously good. Hall leapt into the starting lineup midway through his freshman year an continued improving until he was a hidden beast on the '06 team. Hall's tackles declined from 61 to 45 as teams targeted neophyte Morgan Trent and whichever slot receiver Chris Graham had no hope of covering. At the same time his PBUs leapt from 5 to 15(!). That's impressive. Hall was a deserved Thorpe finalist.
Jackson, meanwhile, has the rare privilege of being the only sophomore to feature in the All-Decade first team. His opening-day matchup against Reggie Williams, Washington's star receiver and a player who had seriously considered Michigan before choosing to stay home, was electric. Jackson got in Williams's grill all day and the Huskies would not back off; by the third quarter he'd set an all-time Michigan record for pass breakups.
By the end of the year he was a second-team All-American to the AP, third team to Sporting News, and (whoopee!) first team to College Football News. He would spent his junior year at safety, battling injury, and though a return to corner as a senior found him on All-America teams again, Jackson never quite recaptured that sophomore magic.
Second team: Jeremy LeSueur (2003), Donovan Warren (2009)
LeSueur was a true rarity on the Michigan roster: a kid who managed to escape the state of Mississippi's immense gravitational pull. He started off slightly wonky—it was his face-mask penalty on Charles Rogers that extended Michigan State's final drive in 2001, setting up both the Spartan Bob play and Lloyd Carr's public dressing-down of Drew Sharp—but finally developed into the guy I thought Leon Hall was: an All-Big Ten type of player destined for a solid NFL career. That wasn't quite the case—LeSueur is currently playing for Bon Jovi, but no one else from the decade comes close.
The final spot is a tossup between Morgan Trent in the one year he wasn't clueless or unmotivated (2007), Donovan Warren this year, Grant Mason's year that exemplifies totally average play, and the nine starts James Whitley made in 2000 before succumbing to his personal demons. The vote here is for Warren, who I actually thought was good, over Trent, who I thought was okay trending towards good.
Jamar Adams (2007), Julius Curry (2000)
Michigan fans will be unsurprised to find a wasteland here after nine defensive positions occupied by world-wrecking All-Americans who have embarked on long NFL careers—everyone on the first team to this point is still in the NFL and almost all will start this year. Safety? Well, Cato June is still kicking around as a linebacker, but at Michigan he was a wreck thanks to an ACL tear that took years for him to fully recover from. And that's almost it.
The almost: Jamar Adams, bless his heart, was the closest thing to a star safety Michigan had in the aughts. He was actually good. Not good enough to get on the All Big Ten first team or get drafted, but good enough to be on the second team two years running and stick with the Seahawks long enough to actually get on the field in six games last year. This makes him a slam-dunk lock as the best safety in the last ten years of Michigan football.
And now: guh. After Adams it's a choice between the most massively overrated Michigan player of the decade—Ernest Shazor—or the guys towards the beginning of the aughts that no one remembers being specifically terrible. You can feel free to disagree but there is no way I'm putting Shazor here. While he did decapitate Dorien Bryant in that one Purdue game, his Michigan career ceased there unbeknownst to the coaches and most of the fans. He was about 80% of the reason Braylon Edwards had to hulk up and smash Michigan State in the Braylonfest game and when he entered the NFL draft he went from a projected second-round pick to totally undrafted, but not before various organizations made him a first-team All American. I will exercise my Minute Observer of Michigan Football privileges and say this: ha, ha, ha.
The problem then is that as I went through the names that vaguely occupied the safety spots for Michigan over the last decade I thought to myself "I should probably write down Willis Barringer and Brandent Englemon." Sadly, I cannot vouch for two guys who couldn't stay healthy or maintain their starting jobs, nor can I seriously support anyone I've seen take the field in the UFR era. So let's reach back into the long, long ago when memories are fuzzy and haul out easily the most unlikely member of the All Aughts: Julius Curry.
I can't tell you that I have detailed knowledge of Curry's play anymore, but I do remember liking the guy a lot and being seriously disappointed when his junior and senior years were wrecked by injury. As a sophomore in 2000, he put up an impressive collection of statistics: 59 tackles, 5 TFLs, 5 PBUs, and 3 forced fumbles, plus two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown against Ohio State in a 38-26 win. Michigan managed to scrape out the 49th-best pass efficiency defense despite deploying Todd Howard and a very confused James Whitley—this was the heart of the "suspects" era—thanks to Curry's unregarded efforts. Maybe he never decapitated anyone, but by God he definitely would have tackled DeAndra Cobb by the second time.
Second Team: DeWayne Patmon(2000), Ernest Shazor(2004)
Patmon was the second member of the safety unit I remember not being specifically terrified about; Shazor was discussed above. He does deserve to be here because even if he gave up a ton of big plays he made more big plays in Michigan's favor than the other safeties kicking around this decade, and those guys gave up about as many plays.
Garrett Rivas (2006)
Rivas never had a huge leg but he was good out to 47-48 yards and stands as the most accurate kicker of the decade, hitting 64 of 82 in his four years as Michigan's kicker. That's a 78% strike rate; in 2006 he checked in at 85%. He was reliable, and that's all you ask for in a college kicker.
Zoltan Mesko (2009)
Obviously. All hail Zoltan the Inconceivable.


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This is Michael Kevin Lallana of Fullerton, California, a 31-year-old financial representative at Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. He is also, according to the Orange County District Attorney, a sex offender who put his semen in a co-worker's water bottle. Gross.
Are you looking for a financial advisor in Orange County? May we suggest you steer clear of Michael Kevin Lallana? At the very least, you will probably want to bring your own water to any meetings you have with him. Lallana was arrested on Tuesday and charged with two misdemeanor counts of "releasing an offensive material in a public place" (might was well charge Dan Brown's publishers with that, am I right?) after DNA testing apparently confirmed that semen in his coworker's water bottle was, um, released by him.
This is, according to the Orange County DA, the second time Lallana has bequeathed his coworker with semen-laced H2O. The first time, on January 14, he left some of his "vitamin" water on her desk; she drank it, felt sick and poured it out. The second time happened in March, after both had been transferred from Newport Beach to Orange—but this time, the woman wised up and sent the bottle to a private lab for testing. The lab got back to her in June, with the results: Semen.
Prosecutors say that Lallana hadn't shown any animosity toward the woman, and that he volunteered a DNA sample. Upstanding of him! And consistent with his profile on business networking site LinkedIn, where he touts his "accessibility" and "high ethical standards." (He also says he's looking for "career opportunities" and "new ventures." I'll bet.) His personal Northwestern Mutual site has already been scrubbed by the company, but Google's cache of it works fine and allows you to learn about bonds.
Lallana is currently facing three years in prison and mandatory sex offender registration. I almost hope he's innocent, though, just for the story of how someone obtained his semen and put it in that coworker's water bottle.
This post originally appeared on Gawker.com and is republished here with permission.


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Your cart is empty.
Protect yourself when you take matters into your own hands with the 5.11 Tactical Station Grip Gloves, which feature leather construction with 4-way stretch back panels that move with your hands to ensure a great fit and optimal protection. Reinforced palms and fingers offer durability to safeguard your hands from abrasions without sacrificing flexibility. ID tag on the pull tabs for quick identification.


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Trine is a physics-based action game where three characters allow clever solutions to challenges created by hazardous puzzles and threatening enemies. The gameplay is based on fully interactive physics - each character's different abilities and tactics can be used to invent new ways to overcome obstacles and save the kingdom!
Ok, I did it as well.
This gameplay got me to see if I can solve troublesomes and more tough boss ( i bored those simple action tricks very fast and no much puzzle for later games.
However, the shine of the game fade very fast, very fast, I wasn't prepared to giving it great then downgrade to good.
Made me fool by nice graphics, I don't care much what I see in this type of game because its not an adventure game with elements I want to look at.
This game is such a great one! really glad they brought a Linux client out :) the graphics are lovely on it...the music goes well with the game and the gameplay is really good...I'm also doing lets play videos on this game!!
Well, a demo to test it before the buy would indeed be nice...
What an awesome game!
Visuals are great, the music is great and the gameplay is real fun, specially in coop mode.
The three characters have different abilities that make riddle solving so much more worthwhile.
The knight can smash things and guard himself with his shield. The wizard can levitate things and create boxes from air, and a blue liquid. The thief can shoot arrows and ropes.
To get sound with pulseaudio start the launcher with
padsp ./trine-launcher
The website says nothing about a GNU/Linux build/demo.
1/10 for a temporary server overload? You are a tad off you your marks
The website is working again ;)
I call trash on this one.


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Demonstrating public value - Speaker biographies
Lord Eatwell
John Eatwell has taught economics at Cambridge since 1970, and became President of Queens' College, Cambridge in 1997. He entered the House of Lords in 1992 where, from 1993 to 1997, he served as Principal Opposition Spokesman on Treasury and Economic Affairs. Along with Clive Hollick, John set up the Institute for Public Policy Research - now one of Britain's leading policy think-tanks. As well as acting as Chairman of the British Library, John is a Trustee of the IPPR, he chairs the Commercial Radio Companies Association and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Opera House with particular responsibility for the Royal Ballet.
Jeremy Skinner, Senior Policy Analyst, HM Treasury
Jeremy Skinner joined the Treasury in 2002. He is the Treasury's lead advisor on issues relating to appraisal and evaluation. In his previous careers he was a consultant in government and public services with PA Consulting Group, and before that qualified as an accountant with the Audit Commission. He has worked for and with a range of public sector bodies, in the NHS, Home Office, and local government.
Dr Caroline Pung, Head of Strategy and Planning, The British Library
Caroline Pung is the Head of Strategy and Planning at the British Library. She was originally a research chemist but moved from science to work for McKinsey and Company, a global strategy consulting firm. With McKinsey she worked with corporations and non-profit organisations from the UK, Europe, and the US on key strategic, organisational and operational issues. Since joining the British Library Caroline has been leading a corporate strategy review. In addition to her work relating to measuring the economic impact of the Library, Caroline has been focusing on the Library's work in science, technology and medicine.
Tabitha Elwes, Partner, Spectrum Strategy Consultants
Tabitha is a partner and one of the founding members of Spectrum Strategy Consultants. Spectrum provides strategic and operational support exclusively to the media, telecommunications and public sectors. With 15 years of industry experience, Tabitha's work now focuses on regulatory dynamics, changing economics and new business development.
Phillipa Marks, Director, Indepen
Phillipa Marks is a Director of Indepen, an independent management consultancy specialising in addressing the challenges of innovation, restructuring and change. Phillipa focuses on the analysis of economic, public policy and regulatory issues in the media, telecommunications and utility industries. Her earlier career included a spell at the Institute of Transport Studies and as a director of the National Economic Research Associates (NERA) leading assignments in the media, telecommunications and utility sectors.
James Thickett, Controller - Business Strategy, BBC
James Thickett is Controller of Business Strategy at the BBC - responsible for all the BBC's performance and measurement functions, as well as leading editorial and business process change across the organisation. He is currently involved in the BBC's charter review process and the 'Making it Happen' culture change project. Prior to joining the BBC, James held a number of senior strategy and marketing roles at The Walt Disney Company.
Dr Tony Travers, Director, Greater London Group, London School of Economics
Tony Travers is director of LSE's Greater London Group, which carries out research into subjects relating to the government and economy of cities. Along with Stephen Glaister, he was commissioned - by the National Museum Directors' Conference (NMDC) - to prepare a major report on Valuing Museums; impact and innovation among national museums, which was published in March 2004. Tony has held a number of official posts, including acting as a member of the Audit Commission and as an advisor to several Parliamentary committees.
Magnus von Wistinghausen, Senior Consultant, AEA Consulting
Magnus is Senior Consultant at AEA Consulting, a management consulting practice specialising in strategic, operational and facilities planning in the cultural sector. In 1999 he was the co-author of Creative Industry, the first comprehensive review of commercial income generation in museums and galleries undertaken in the UK. He is a member of the board of EU Consult, the European Association of Consultants to the Not-for-Profit Sector. Prior to joining AEA, Magnus worked in investment banking at S.G. Warburg, as an international economist and in corporate finance.


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A lumbar laminectomy is a surgical procedure to remove a small portion of a vertebra, or back bone in the lower back (lumbar). Lumbar laminectomy is usually done to take pressure off the spinal cord or a spinal nerve. It may also be done to access the spinal cord, bones and discs below the lamina, or the removed part of the bone.
Spinal problems such as ruptured discs, bony spurs, or other problems can cause narrowing of the canals that the nerves and spinal cord run through. If it gets too narrow, it can irritate the nerve, causing:
A lumbar laminectomy procedure is often performed along with a disc removal to help make the canal larger and take pressure off the irritated nerve.
At UPMC, our neurosurgeons specialize in performing minimally invasive lumbar laminectomy surgical techniques. The surgeon will make a few small incisions and insert a scope and small instruments into the area. The lamina is removed using a drill or other tools. Once the lamina is removed, the surgeon can inspect the spinal cord and discs that were hidden under the lamina.
In some cases, open surgery is necessary, and involves making a larger incision in the skin over the problem area of the lower back. Depending on the cause of the patient's symptoms, the disc may need to be removed, or a spinal fusion may necessary.
The procedure typically takes one to three hours and requires a one- to three-day stay in the hospital.
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Arista Power Announces Launch Of Community Solar Purchasing Program For Genesee County, New York
Jan 02, 2013, 10:03 EST
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Arista Power, Inc. ("Arista Power" or the "Company") (OTC Bulletin Board: ASPW), a developer, manufacturer, and supplier of custom-designed power management systems, renewable energy storage systems, and a supplier and designer of solar energy systems, announced today that the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) has partnered with Arista Power to launch a new community solar purchasing initiative, called "Solarize Genesee."
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110613/NY18505LOGO)
Solarize Genesee is a solar purchasing program available to the community that offers bulk pricing, a complete streamlined process from site assessment to installation and tax incentive form assistance, educational workshops, and local workforce training. The program will be available to all Genesee County home and business owners, farmers, institutions, and municipalities on a first come, first serve basis for a limited time. Site assessments are complimentary. Interested parties should visit www.aristapower.com and click on Solarize Genesee to receive more information.
John Benetti, Project Director at Arista Power, said, "We are taking the successful community solar purchasing model that we implemented with the Solarize Madison County program and are bringing it to Genesee County. The Solarize program simplifies buying a solar system and uses bulk purchasing and cost efficiencies to offer solar purchasers an attractive return on investment. Our customers are realizing how effective solar energy generation works in New York and in many cases they are able to eliminate over 90% of their electric bill. With our solar community purchasing program, combined with tax incentives, our solar customers can have paybacks as low as just a couple of years, with several decades of ongoing benefit."
"Our partnership with Arista Power will provide Genesee County businesses and residents the opportunity to learn more about solar energy as a way to potentially lower their electricity costs in an environmentally friendly way," said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center. "We are excited to be partnering with such a reputable solar energy company, as Arista Power offers competitive pricing and incentives, an experienced installation team, and a strong network of suppliers."
Bill Schmitz, CEO of Arista Power, said, "Madison County's Solarize program created a lot of community buzz and many residents and businesses have benefitted from that program. We collaborated with community leaders, local contractors, and the area educational institutions to offer a full suite of benefits to this community program. Not only is it good for the environment, it's good for community bonding, the local economy, and solar buyers' pocketbooks."
About Arista Power, Inc.
Arista Power, Inc. is a developer, manufacturer, and supplier of custom-designed power management systems, renewable energy storage systems, WindTamer wind turbines, and a supplier and designer of solar energy systems. Arista Power's patent-pending Power on Demand system utilizes inputs from multiple energy sources including wind, solar, fuel cells, and the grid, in conjunction with a custom-designed battery storage system and a proprietary smart monitoring technology that releases energy at optimal times to reduce peak power demand, thereby lowering electricity costs for large energy users who deal with peak usage pricing. Arista Power also sells a Mobile Renewable Power Station (MRPS) that utilizes energy generated from wind, solar PV, generators, fuel cells and other energy-generating devices that is stored in an integrated onboard storage device for military and other applications, and a stationary, scalable Renewable Power Station (RPS) that can be drop-shipped to off-grid locations to be used as a micro-grid. Arista Power's diffuser-augmented WindTamer wind turbine utilizes a patented technology for the production of electrical power. For more information on Arista Power, visit the Company website at AristaPower.com. View, Like, and Follow the Company's social media platforms at:
Facebook: Facebook.com/AristaPower
Twitter: Twitter.com/AristaPower
LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/company/arista-power-inc
YouTube: YouTube.com/channel/AristaPower
About the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC)
The GCEDC is the primary economic development agency in Genesee County, NY. The GCEDC's mission is to be the driving force in fostering community economic success through growth, expansion and retention of our existing business base and to market our community as "business friendly" facilitating new business attraction in order to build a sustainable long-term economy. The GCEDC is also focused on fostering increased economic activity for our community by providing a high quality of life for our residents and their families. The GCEDC enables this by progressively marketing our community to businesses facilitating business capital investment which contributes to the creation and retention of quality jobs. The Batavia/Genesee County region has been recognized for eight consecutive years by Site Selection Magazine as a top ten micropolitan in the United States and is rated number three by Business Facilities Magazine as a top metro area for food processing and manufacturing growth.
Genesee County is a county located in western New York, between the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, New York. The county seat is located in Batavia, New York. The county has 8 public school districts, including: Alexander Central School District, Batavia City School District, Byron-Bergen Central School District, Elba Central School District, LeRoy Central School District, Oakfield-Alabama Central School District, Pavilion Central School District, and Pembroke Central School District.
To learn more about Genesee County and GCEDC visit: www.gcedc.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Arista Power, Inc. cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect Arista Power's analysis only as of today's date. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct, and actual results could differ materially. Arista Power undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements. Further information on these factors, and other factors that could affect Arista Power's financial results, is included in Arista Power's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the latest Annual Report on Form 10-K.
SOURCE Arista Power, Inc.


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What women need to know about heart disease
What women need to know about heart disease
By Barbara Floria, Pure Matters
Many women are unaware that heart disease is a bigger health threat to them than breast cancer. Several factors increase women's risk for heart disease. Some of the factors can be avoided, but some can't. And the more risks a woman has, the greater the chance she may develop the disease.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), these risk factors can't be changed:
- Increasing age. The chance of developing heart disease increases as women get older. As women approach menopause, their risk for heart disease and stroke begins to rise and continues to do so with age.
- Heredity. Women are more likely to develop heart disease or stroke if their close blood relatives have had them.
Making changes
These are risk factors for heart disease that can be changed:
- Smoking. Women who smoke have a higher death risk from heart disease. What's more, smokers who have a heart attack are more likely to die suddenly than nonsmokers.
- High blood pressure. Some women with hypertension (140/90 mmHg) can bring their blood pressure down to a normal level by losing weight, quitting smoking and exercising. Other women may need to take medication. Women who have a family history of high blood pressure -- especially African American women -- are at high risk.
- High cholesterol and triglycerides. Women should be sure to get regular cholesterol screenings and maintain a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet.
- Lack of exercise. Studies have found that a sedentary lifestyle is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. The Physical Guidelines for Americans state 2 hours and 30 minutes, or 150 minutes, regular moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking, tennis, dancing, and house and yard work each week, can reduce the risk for heart disease.
- Excess pounds and/or a poor diet. You should consume plenty of fruits and vegetables, fiber-rich foods and cereals low in saturated and trans fats. The risk for heart disease is particularly high in women who have excess abdominal fat.
- Diabetes. About 68 percent of people who have diabetes die from some form of heart disease or stroke. Compared with women of the same age without diabetes, diabetic women have an increased risk for heart attack.
- Heavy drinking. Women shouldn't have more than one alcoholic drink per day.
- Stress. Adopt healthy ways of dealing with stress. For example, take breaks from work and home duties, read books, take daily walks and avoid negative people in your life.
Ask your doctor about the risks specific to women and to you so that you can take lifesaving preventive measures.
Source: http://resources.purematters.com/prevention/heart-disease/what-women-need-to-know-about-heart-disease


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Sustainability at FSU
On Sept. 15, 2007, Frostburg State University officially became a charter member of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). This commitment provides framework and support for American colleges and universities to eventually go climate neutral. FSU understands that promoting environmental sustainability must happen at the college and university level.
Learning Green, Living Green (LGLG): Frostburg State University's Sustainability Initiative
LGLG Mission - Frostburg State University's Learning Green, Living Green Initiative engages students, faculty, staff, and community members to develop and coordinate programs and projects that create sustainable solutions to environmental, social, and economic needs.
LGLG Vision - We will promote positive changes in the behaviors and actions of Frostburg State University students, faculty, staff, and surrounding community members that will reduce our environmental impacts and create sustainable solutions for our daily lives.
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Frostburg State University, 101 Braddock Road, Frostburg, MD 21532-2303.


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Jenna and PJ do a lot of events with NNJR.
TOPEKA, Kan. (Feb. 14, 2014) – With all this talk about
flowers, chocolates and love being in the air, we decided to talk to some of the
couples from SCCA Solo to see what happens when two gearheads find each other.
We talked to three couples and asked them what role SCCA racing plays in their
PJ and Jenna Corrales, of Rocky Hill, Conn.,
may be one of the prime examples of the motorsports couple. Both PJ and Jenna
were involved in racing before getting together, but an unsolved car problem
brought the two together.
"We met during the offseason through an online car forum, 240sx Owners of New
England (ONE)," Jenna said. "I had a 1990 Nissan 240sx with a vibration issue,
and PJ was just re-entering the 240 scene after racing an Infinity G35 for a
year. He read my post, and decided to come visit me and try to fix the issue. He
took me to dinner after that, and the rest is history."
In fact, racing became such an important part of their relationship that they
tied the knot at the 2011 SCCA Tire Rack Solo Nationals.
"Racing is something we do together, and it's great that we can both talk
about it and understand it," PJ said. "It also helps that the majority of our
friends race. Now, our family does too since my sister married Jenna's
co-driver, when they raced the 240sx that I bought her as an engagement gift. We
all love racing, she gets along with her in-laws and we both have a lot of
common friends."
While motorsports is this couple's primary hobby, they do share other
interests including golfing and snowboarding. Both agree that they have some
similar musical taste, but that the most important thing is that they share the
same sense of humor.
Corrin and Brian Tyson, of East Dublin, Ga., are soloists from the Middle
Georgia Region SCCA that have taken on a leadership role in their local
"We are both from the same small town in Georgia, but we didn't know each
other until a chance meeting at a St. Patrick's Day car show, in 2009," Corrin
said. "From that day, we became friends, then boyfriend/girlfriend, then engaged
and now happily married for almost three years. Over the course of those five
years, we participated in many competitive motorsports events including car
shows, drag racing, autocross, RallyCross and track."
Throughout their relationship, the couple's involvement in motorsports has
gotten deeper than in would have otherwise.
"If it wasn't for Brian, I would not be involved to the extent that I am,"
Corrin said. "He forced me to compete in my first autocross, back in 2009,
before either of us really knew what it was. In fact, he registered me the
morning of the event behind my back and told me I had to do it now because my
name was on the roster. I enjoyed it so much that we have not voluntarily missed
a local event since then."
Corrin credited their mutual enjoyment and participation in the sport as one
of the things that makes their relationship so strong.
"I think that because we both have an intimate understanding of the dynamics
of the sport, we are able to emotionally support each other in a way that most
couples wouldn't understand," Corrin said. "Huge celebratory hugs when something
goes well, like capturing the elusive 0.1-second of a second, and consolation
whispers when the whole world crumbles, because first place has been stolen away
due to a stupid cone. I think motorsports has helped to seal the bond that we
have with each other into something that is very solid, understanding and
David and Kim Whitener have been racking up trophies for the past three years
and are defending STS and STSL National Champions, respectively. However, this
couple was together in high school, before Kim even had a driver's license.
"Racing with SCCA allows us to spend time together and break away from other
stress," the couple said. "We have also been able to make vacations out of
several of our out-of-town races, spending some extra days together across the
What brought the couple to racing was a purchase that came with something
"A few years after we were married, we bought a Subaru that came with a free
SCCA membership," they said. "This drew us to the sport. While we were not
competitive the first several years of racing at the local level, we gradually
improved and started enjoying the competition of national-level events."
After hearing these stories, an argument could be made that SCCA may want to
get into the match-making business. But then again, we'll just stick to what we
know best: showcasing some of the best amateur racing talent in the United
From all of us here at SCCA, we wish everyone a happy St. Valentine's
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @SCCAOfficial. More information
on all of our racing programs can be found at www.SCCA.com.
Advertise on SCCAForums.com and reach thousands of visitors per day!
SafeRacer FREE SHIPPING over $99
Shop for Pirelli tires at Tire Rack.


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Reviewed By Leon D (Mascotte, FL) Reviewed for a 2007 Chevy Corvette —1/5/2016 5:12 PM
Having purchased the replacement filter in 2011, I gave this a shot. The replacement filter gave an immediate increase in air flow and throttle response. But, getting the kit was an even better improvement than I anticipated. This along with a cam, headers and tune netted me 475 rwhp. Way to go!