NCAA Men’s Final Four semifinal and Championship Games in 3-D
Live 3-D Broadcasts Available in up to 100 Cinedigm Certified(TM) Digital Cinemas Nationwide and in Indianapolis at NCAA Bracket Town(TM) and Lucas Oil Stadium
CBS Sports teams up with the NCAA, LG Electronics USA and Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. to present for the first-time ever the 2010 NCAA Men’s Final Four semifinal and national championship games in 3-D. The broadcasts will be available live in up to 100 Cinedigm Certified(TM) Digital Cinemas nationwide. Fans attending the festivities in Indianapolis also can view the games in 3-D on LG’s LCD HDTVs at locations throughout Lucas Oil Stadium and at the NCAA’s interactive fan event, Bracket Town refreshed by Coca-Cola Zero.
The games in 3-D on Saturday, April 3 (6:00-11:00 PM, ET) and Monday, April 5 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET) will be a fully-produced CBS Sports event with CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK announcers Dave Ryan and Steve Lappas calling the action. Together with LG Electronics USA, which is the Official 3-D Sponsor for CBS Sports’ NCAA Tournament broadcasts and Official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, Cinedigm is bringing the excitement of the NCAA Men’s Final Four in stunning three-dimensional realism to tens of thousands of NCAA basketball fans in theaters across the land.
“CBS Sports has always been on the forefront of new technology to enhance the viewing experience,” said Ken Aagaard, executive vice president operations and engineering, CBS Sports. “Through our partnership with the NCAA and LG, and the technological innovations of Cinedigm, we are excited to be able to present Men’s Final Four weekend in 3-D offering fans an exciting and different way to view a major sporting event.”
“Bringing the Men’s Final Four to consumers in 3-D is a prime example of how LG strives to deliver something better – superior technology combined with an unparalleled viewing experience – for consumers,” said Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing, LG Electronics North America. “As the Official 3-D Sponsor, we are excited to partner with CBS Sports to bring consumers this immersive 3-D viewing experience and tap into the passion of college sports fans throughout the country.”
This unique sponsorship builds upon LG’s leadership in this emerging technology. LG Electronics, which introduced the first 3-D LCD sets in Korea last year, will be introducing this new feature in an extensive line of 3-D-enabled LED HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players in the United Sates beginning this May.
“The theater experience is changing dramatically,” said Bud Mayo, chairman and CEO of Cinedigm. “The Men’s Final Four is a signature event, with millions of fans clamoring to be among the few who get to see it in person. Cinedigm’s experience, having brought the 2009 BCS Championship and the 2009 NBA All-Star Saturday Night events to theaters in live 3-D, has shown us that fans who attend will feel as though they have courtside seats. We’re proud to work with our technology partner SENSIO and with our growing national network of top-quality theaters to help bring fans one step closer to courtside.”
Cinedigm’s robust digital cinema network has unparalleled experience in bringing the best in LIVE 3D entertainment to the widest number of 3-D cinema screens. Audiences at the first-ever live 3-D sports broadcasts last year hailed the revolutionary impact of seeing sports in 3-D, especially when seen in a movie theater. No other cinema network has the technological infrastructure and distribution know-how to enable this kind of large-scale, nationwide, 3-D event in U.S. theaters.
CBS Sports and LG Electronics also are working with NEP and 3-D expertise will be provided by world renowned 3-D innovator, Vince Pace, to deliver the broadcast in 3-D. Pace, has worked on the blockbuster movies Avatar and Titanic.
Philadelphia University’s legendary men’s basketball coach Herb Magee poised for 900th career win
Coach Magee on track to pass Bobby Knight’s record of 902 NCAA wins
Philadelphia University men’s basketball coach Herb Magee, renowned as a coach, player and “shot doc” to top NBA stars, is poised to win his 900th NCAA career win, cementing his reputation as one of the top NCAA coaches of all time.
With 896 wins, Magee could win game number 900 as soon as Saturday, Feb. 13, a home game against Bloomfield College.
Just three wins after that, Magee will best Bobby Knight’s NCAA record of 902 wins and become the top men’s basketball coach with all games coached in the NCAA.
A Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame nominee and Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Famer, Magee has had an extraordinary career during his 50 seasons as a player and coach at Philadelphia University.
Magee became the number one all-time Division II men’s basketball coach in NCAA history on February 1, 2007, when he earned win 829 in a heart-stopping double-overtime win against Wilmington College to break the mark previously held by Winston-Salem State’s Clarence “Big House” Gaines.
Continuing his record-breaking success, last season Magee passed former Kentucky Coach Adolph Rupp’s NCAA record of 877 wins and former North Carolina coach Dean Smith’s NCAA record of 879 career wins.
In just his third year of coaching, Magee led the Rams to a 1970 NCAA National Championship, and has taken his team to the NCAA Tournament 24 times
At 68, Magee is still at the top of his game and respected throughout the basketball world as perhaps the greatest shooting coach of all time. Just ask Charles Barkley, Malik Rose, Sebastian Telfair and Jameer Nelson, among those who have sought the “shot doc” out to improve their jump shots. Or talk to his friends and colleagues in the tight-knit Philly coaching community, people like Villanova’s Jay Wright, Temple’s Fran Dunphy and St. Joe’s Phil Martelli.
Magee also is a highly respected coaching mentor, and many of his former assistants and players have gone on to top coaching jobs, including Pat Chambers at Boston University, Sean Kearney at Holy Cross and Steve Donohue at Cornell.
Sure, he’s had opportunities to move to DI and NBA teams, but Magee has chosen to stay close to his family and hometown of Philadelphia. Having lost both his parents by age 13, this 5′10″ kid from West Philadelphia was a playground legend during the time of Earl Monroe, Wali Jones and Walt Hazzard, and starred at famed West Catholic High along with lifetime friends and future coaches Jim Lynam and Jim Boyle.
After his playing days, he was drafted by the Celtics, but instead chose to make his mark as a coach, becoming head coach at his alma mater in 1966. Remarkably, Magee has won more than 1,100 games with the Rams, including his years as a player and coach.
A two-time All-America selection at what was then Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, Magee ended his college career as the Rams’ top scorer and today remains the team’s third all-time high scorer with 2,235 career points — an extraordinary achievement in the era before the three-point shot.
Herb Magee is a Philly legend who exemplifies the tenacity and hometown loyalty of every Philadelphia fan. Considering Magee’s career as a coach and player, his contributions to basketball and his dedication to his student athletes, well, these are remarkable achievements by a man who continues to rewrite basketball history.
Source: Philadelphia University
Washington Wizards player Gilbert Arenas pleads guilty to felony weapons charge
Gilbert Arenas, a 28-year-old member of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, has pled guilty to a felony charge of carrying a pistol without a license, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced today.
The guilty plea follows an investigation in which it was determined that Arenas had brought four firearms to the Verizon Center in December 2009. On December 21, Arenas placed the firearms on the chair of a teammate with a note stating, reportedly in jest, “PICK 1.” This incident followed an argument Arenas and the teammate had on a plane two days earlier.
Arenas entered his plea this afternoon before Judge Robert Morin in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. When Arenas is sentenced on March 26, 2010, at 2:30 p.m., he will face up to five years of imprisonment. Pursuant to the plea agreement between Arenas and the government, the government agreed that it will limit its allocution at the low-end of the applicable guidelines, which is estimated to be between 6 and 24 months, with probation, a split-sentence, or incarceration permissible.
“Playing with firearms is no joke,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “Today’s guilty plea to a felony count of carrying a pistol without a license reflects the seriousness and grave risk of such conduct. Such reckless action can always be expected to garner a swift and firm response from this Office. We commend Mr. Arenas for accepting responsibility and hope he fully appreciates the gravity of his actions.”
According to the government’s proffer of evidence, on or about December 19, 2009, during a chartered flight from Phoenix, Arizona, Arenas and a fellow teammate became involved in a verbal exchange following a card game. Although Arenas maintains that the statements he made during this exchange were made in jest, the exchange between Arenas and the teammate involved mutual threats to shoot one another. Arenas also told the teammate that he would burn the teammate’s Cadillac Escalade.
On the morning of December 21, 2009, Arenas arrived at the Verizon Center, and entered the team’s locker room. When Arenas entered the locker room that morning he was carrying at least one firearm in his backpack. Once Arenas entered the locker room, he placed four firearms on the chair located directly in front of the locker of the teammate with whom he had the prior verbal exchange. Arenas then wrote the message “PICK 1″ on a piece of paper, and placed it on the teammate’s chair near the firearms. Arenas remained in the locker room.
Moments later, the teammate walked into the locker room and approached his locker. He saw the handguns and he and Arenas once again exchanged words. During this exchange, Arenas stated, “You said you were going to shoot me, so I thought you would like some firepower. Pick one.” The teammate picked up one of Arenas’s firearms from his chair, threw it across the locker room, then reportedly took out what appeared to Arenas to be a silver-colored semi-automatic handgun.
After this exchange, Arenas admitted to team management that he brought the firearms from his home in Virginia into Washington, D.C. He also told team management that the teammate also had a firearm. The teammate has since denied that he ever had a handgun. Team management directed Washington Wizards security personnel to secure Arenas’s firearms and to remove them from the premises.
On December 24, 2009, following the first report to law enforcement that Arenas had possessed firearms in the locker room on 21, 2009, members of the Metropolitan Police Department responded to Virginia, where Arenas’s four firearms were surrendered to the Metropolitan Police Department. These unloaded firearms consisted of a .50-caliber Gold-Plated semi-automatic Desert Eagle with magazine; a 500 magnum, Smith and Wesson revolver; a .45 caliber, black semi-automatic Kimber Eclipse with magazine; and a 9 millimeter Browning with a magazine.
The investigation of the reported possession of a firearm by the teammate is ongoing.
In announcing today’s guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Phillips praised the work of MPD Detectives Robbie Saunders, Timothy Smith, and Joseph Oh, Officer Jeff Janczyk, and Sergeant James Black of MPD’s Intelligence Branch. He also acknowledged the efforts of members of his own staff including Investigators Christopher Brophy and Larry Grasso, Paralegal Kalisha Johnson-Clark, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh, who is handling the investigation and prosecution of this matter.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice