The most influential CEO’s in The United States
Chief Executive Officer of Center for a New American Security (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The most influential CEO’s in The United States
The most powerful CEOs in America
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CEO Mark Zuckerberg has 56.5 percent of the voting shares of Facebook.
Several CEOs and founders of well-known American companies have complete control over their companies. Through voting power, they control the boards and strategic decisions of these corporations. The best current example is Facebook, which will go public in a few weeks. Founder and CEOMark Zuckerberg owns enough of the voting shares in the company that his decisions cannot be overruled by outside shareholders or the board under most circumstances. Zuckerberg is also the most visible American CEO among a small group who have complete control of their companies and how long they will remain at their jobs.
The most powe
President Barack Obama and Warren Buffett in the Oval Office, July 14, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
rful CEOs fall into three categories. The first are founders who are currently CEOs. They may, by themselves, or with other founders, have voting control over their companies. Larry Page of Google is the best example of this. He started the Internet search engine with Sergey Brin. Together with Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt, who they hired, the three hold shares that have nearly two-thirds of the company’s voting rights.
24/7 Wall St.: The least powerful CEOs in America
The next category is founders who no longer have the majority of the vote in their companies, but who have been in charge successfully for so long that their job security is not in question. Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com is the best example of this group. He owns slightly less than 20 percent of the company that he started in 1994. This stake is greater than that of any othershareholder. But it is his status as founder and his tremendous success that ensure he will not be replaced unless he wishes to be.
The final category of powerful CEOs are relatives of founders. These CEOs inherited the voting rights, usually from their parents, and they use those rights to run the company for another generation. The best example of this is Brian Roberts of Comcast, whose father started the company. By almost any measure, Comcast has done well financially and in the stock market. Even if it did not, Roberts would have his job.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the corporate structure, governance and voting rights of the 500 largest companies by market cap. Based on a review of company proxies, we identified those companies where the CEO had voting control of the company or was the company’s founder. We then limited the universe to those companies with market cap in excess of $30 billion.
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1. Facebook
- Name: Mark Zuckerberg (Age: 27)
- Title: Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive
- Shares: 36.1 percent of the Class A shares and 56.6 percent of the Class B shares
As the initial public offering of Facebook approaches, the company faces three major hurdles with investors. The first is the company’s worth. Estimates have pegged Facebook’s market cap once it begins to trade at $100 billion. It is unclear whether investors will support that price for a company that had only a little over $1 billion in revenue last quarter and earnings of $205 million. The second is whether it can continue to keep Google and other competitors at bay as it has done so successfully up until now. For example, Internet research firm Comscore released data late last year that showed the average U.S. Facebook user spent seven hours and 46 minutes on the site during August. That is nearly four times the time spent by visitors to Google during the same time frame. The last question is how much it matters that founder Mark Zuckerberg appears to run the company with only the most modest advice from his board. When Facebook bought the photosharing application company Instagram for $1 billion, several in the media reported that the board was not briefed about the transaction until it was well underway. Through direct and indirect control of class B stock, Zuckerberg has 56.5 percent of the voting shares of Facebook, making investors nearly powerless to affect changes in the social network company.
2. Google
- Name: Larry Page (Age: 39)
- Title: Founder and Chief Executive
- Shares: 28.4 percent of all voting power among shareholders
Larry Page was the CEO of search giant Google from its founding in 1998 until 2001. He and co-founder Sergey Brin brought in Eric Schmidt to run the company as chief executive. Page took the job back last year. Among them, the three have 65.8 percent of the class B voting shares. Google’s proposed stock split would give the founders even more power. Page’s immediate challenge a little over a year into his second stint as CEO is to show that Google can expand sales beyond its traditional search business. So far, Page has not had much more success in sales diversification than Schmidt had. Google’s Android mobile operating system is now among the most widely distributed in the world, and by some measures is in first place. But Google has been unable to demonstrate how this distribution makes it money. In addition, several patent suits have been brought against Google about Android’s intellectual property ownership, which makes the sales bar for the business even higher. Investors are also concerned about the fast growth of Google’s staff, which has added rapidly to costs. Google had 33,077 full-time employees at the end of the first quarter.
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3. Amazon.com
- Name: Jeff Bezos (Age: 48)
- Title: Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive
- Shares: 19.5 percent of all outstanding shares
At 48, Jeff Bezos is the grand old man of the American Internet. He founded Amazon in 1994, and the company has gone from a tiny online bookstore to the largest e-commerce business in the world. Amazon earned $130 million on sales of $13.18 billion in the last reported quarter. Bezos has increased Amazon products offerings over the years so that the company is a major force in consumer electronics, clothing, software, toys and even groceries. Bezos’s most widely regarded innovation is the e-reader business, driven by its Kindle hardware and an online library of tens of thousands of books. The Kindle and Kindle Fire tablet are leaders in the e-reader and tablet PC market. Amazon is one of the few companies that poses a threat to any of the Apple’s products. Amazon also has a large enterprise business line. Amazon Web Services offers clients e-commerce tools through the cloud. Companies that do not want to invest in their own server hardware, software and bandwidth can use the Amazon service as a turnkey solution.
4. Berkshire Hathaway
- Name: Warren Buffett (Age: 81)
- Title: Chairman and Chief Executive
- Shares: 33.8% of Class B voting shares, also listed in proxy as a controlling person of the corporation
Warren Buffett is the grand old man of American investing. Buffett has been a board member of the company since 1965 and its chairman and chief executive officer since 1970. Berkshire filings to the SEC say that “Major investment decisions and all major capital allocation decisions are made by Warren E. Buffett, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO.” He has built Berkshire Hathaway into one of the largest conglomerates in the world, as well as into a holding company for stakes in a number of well-known companies. These include total ownership of GEICO Auto Insurance, International Dairy Queen and Benjamin Moore. Berkshire also has significant investments in IBM, American Express, Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo. Berkshire is one of the most valuable public corporations in the county with a market cap of more than $200 billion.
5. Oracle
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Name: Larry Ellison (Age: 67)
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Title: Founder and Chief Executive
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Shares: 22.4% of company’s shares
Larry Ellison, who founded Oracle (ORCL) in 1977, has thrashed his competition in the global enterprise software industry, holding off challenges from Microsoft, SAP and a number of other companies. These companies would like to increase the part of their businesses that sell hardware and software to large businesses and governments. Ellison has made a number of shrewd buyouts, including Sun Microsystems, which increased Oracle’s business in Java software and the server market. The most powerful part of Oracle’s earnings engine is the license fees it charges its customers. The fees offer recurring revenue streams that can last for years. Not shy of exercising his control in the company, Ellison has rotated a number of people in and out of the number two position at Oracle. Its most recent president is disgraced former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd. Ellison made a public statement about how foolish the HP board was to fire a talented executive, and then snatched him up within a matter of weeks. Ellison has several extremely expensive hobbies, including the support of an entry in the America’s Cup yacht race. His boat won the most recent competition.
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6. Comcast
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Name: Brian Roberts (Age: 52)
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Title: Chief Executive, Chairman and son of founder
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Shares: Owns or controls 100% of Class B voting shares
Brian Roberts, like a number of CEOs who control the voting shares of their companies, is the son of the founder. Ralph Roberts, who is 92, cobbled together a number of small cable companies as the industry grew from largely a rural and suburban business to one that serves large cities. Comcast, which was founded in Mississippi in 1967, now has 48.9 million video, high-speed Internet, and voice over IP customers. Comcast bought a controlling interest in NBC Universal from General Electric last year. The company is now only one of the largest distribution networks in the United States, but it is also one of the largest content producers because of NBC. The government struggled with potential “monopoly” problem when it approved the transaction. The cable industry used to be a de facto monopoly because cable companies controlled discrete regions of the country. Now, however, AT&T and Verizon have laid fiber in front of tens of millions of homes so that they can compete with cable companies in the broadband Internet and video markets. Comcast must also contend with improved technology for satellite TV, which makes these services more competitive with cable.
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and Comcast’s NBC Universal unit.)
7. Groupon
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Name: Andrew Mason (Age: 31)
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Title: Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder
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Shares: 41.7% of Class B voting shares
Groupon (GRPN) is widely considered the most poorly run of the Web 2.0 IPOs. The online coupon company has to restate earnings for its most recent quarter because of a “miscalculation” of its customer refunds. It has cut the original revenue statements by $14.3 million. The company admitted it has a “material weakness” in its financial reporting process, a tremendous warnings sign about the quality of a company’s management. This is not the first time Groupon had to restate its financials. It had to do so before its IPO as well because of SEC and potential investors challenged how it accounted for sales. Andrew Mason has been able to insulate himself from all of these catastrophes at least as far as his job security is concerned. Mason and two other cofounders, Executive Chairman Eric P. Lefkofsky and Bradley A. Keywell, own 100% of the voting shares. SEC filings directed to by the company to shareholders say this stock ownership “limit your ability to influence corporate matters.” What is at risk for Mason is his fortune. Groupon’s shares have dropped from a post-IPO high of $31.14 to just over $10 recently.
Also Read: Nine Countries Where Everyone Has a Job
8. LinkedIn
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Name: Jeffrey Weiner (Age: 42)
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Title: Chief Executive Officer
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Shares: 5.9% of voting shares
LinkedIn has done a good job convincing Wall St. that its professional social network has strong longer term prospects. From a post-IPO low of $55.98, shares have risen to more than $108. LinkedIn’s 2011 revenue was $522 million, up from $243 million the year before. Net income attributable to common stockholders rose from $3 million to $12 million. Growth rates are not the only thing that shareholder likes about LinkedIn. The company makes money from its more than 150 million members in two ways. LinkedIn sells its products online but also has a sales force that sells and markets products directly to companies. The revenue between these two businesses is nearly equal, which gives LinkedIn a diversity of sales that other social networks like Twitter do not have. CEO Jeffrey Weiner benefits from his relationship with the company’s largest shareholder, Reid Hoffman. Hoffman owns 45.4% of Class B voting shares. SEC filings by LinkedIn call his holdings as having a “significant influence over the management and affairs of the company.” Hoffman is a serial entrepreneur who made a fortune as a senior executive at PayPal. He also sits on the board of online game company Zynga.
Young to face charges of aggravated assault
Tigers outfielder released on bail after skirmish
New York (CNN) – Detroit Tigers outfielder Delmon Young has been released on $5,000 bail after he was arrested in Manhattan and charged with aggravated harassment after a dispute with another man.
Young was set free Friday evening, his attorney, Daniel J. Ollen said. Young is not required to stay in New York and is due to appear in court in May.
The dispute occurred Thursday night. Police said Young appeared intoxicated when they arrived at the scene outside the Hilton New York hotel. He was treated and released from a hospital Friday morning, police Detective Martin Speechley said.
The other man, who was not identified, sustained minor injuries but refused treatment, according to Speechley.
The aggravated harassment charge is a misdemeanor, but Speechley said the case is being investigated as a possible hate crime because of “religious statements made” during the dispute.
If there is evidence to support a hate crime, the seriousness of the charge would be “elevated,” he said.
Young plans to plead not guilty, Ollen said.
“I sincerely regret what happened last night,” the outfielder said in a statement Friday, according to CNN affiliate WABC. “I take this matter very seriously and assure everyone that I will do everything I can to improve myself as a person and player.”
The team issued a brief statement Friday afternoon.
“We are aware of the situation, however it is our club policy not to comment on pending legal matters,” the statement said. “As we understand it, this is an allegation and we need to allow the legal process to take its course.”
The Tigers are in New York for a three-game series against the Yankees. Detroit lost the first game Friday to the Yankees.
Devils and Panthers face off in game 7
Zajac plays hero as patient Devils push Panthers to seventh game |
- Travis Zajac’s overtime goal lifted the Devils over the Panthers 3-2 and into a Game 7 on Thursday.
Devils
Panthers
NEWARK, N.J. — It came as no surprise that a game between the Devils and Panthers went to overtime. After all, Florida led the league with 25 extra sessions this season; New Jersey was close behind with 22. If anything, it’s shocking the teams hadn’t needed more than regulation before Game 6 on Tuesday night. At times, it looked like a marathon was in the making as they traded chances early in the extra frame.
But it took just 5:39 before the stalemate was broken by Travis Zajac, the Devils’ once-Ironman who missed all but 15 games this season with a torn Achilles tendon. In hero’s fashion, the top-line center had been missed by New Jersey for so long sent a reminder of his value into Florida’s net.
“I saw first hand what [Zajac] worked through, with eight months of rehab and the setbacks, being in the gym by yourself and on the ice by yourself, being left behind while the team is traveling,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. “It’s not a lot of fun, and [so] it couldn’t happen to a better guy, for all the work he put in to get back to this point.”
Zajac looked no worse for wear as he streaked down the left side and took a pass from winger Ilya Kovalchuk, who drew two Florida defenders with him as he gained the blue line. The open space Kovalchuk created gave Zajac just enough time to settle the puck and snap a shot through goalie Scott Clemmensen and send this series back to Sunrise, Fla., for Game 7 on Thursday night.
Zajac’s shot was one of the few Clemmensen couldn’t handle on Tuesday night. The journeyman goalie, filling in for the injured Jose Theodore and getting his second career NHL playoff start, made 39 saves in the losing effort.
Knowing they would face a desperate team, the Panthers seemed to start the game tentatively, focused more on containing New Jersey than generating offense of their own. Breaking up the Devils’ cycle and playing them close, the Panthers gave little room, forcing New Jersey to make decisions quickly. So while the Devils had plenty of looks on Clemmensen, the quality of those chances weren’t particularly stellar. Of New Jersey’s 13 first-period shots, eight came from beyond 30 feet; five from beyond 40 feet. But sometimes, quantity matters.
“He was seeing pucks, and anyone’s going to stop them if they see them,” Devils captain Zach Parise said. “But the good thing is that we threw 40 at him. You just assume one’s going to go in sooner or later.”
With the Devils outshooting the Panthers 12-3 late in the first, one finally went in. With 3:23 left in the opening frame, a clean offensive zone faceoff win set up defenseman Peter Harrold for a point shot, which was tipped in the slot by center Ryan Carter. Clemmensen handled the tip, but the rebound went off to his right, leaving a chance for winger Steve Bernier to sweep the puck through the goalie’s feet. It was the fourth goal generated by the Devils’ fourth line in the series, one fewer than their top line at even strength.
“Our fourth line, I can’t overstate their importance through the first six games of this series,” DeBoer said. “[Bernier] is a playoff-type guy. He’s a big body, likes to forecheck, wins battles. He’s an underrated player.”
Special teams, too, have played an important role throughout the series, usually in the Panthers’ favor. But early in the second, New Jersey’s power play connected, extending their lead with a tic-tac-toe play. With crisp puck movement, Zajac, stationed down low on the goal line, spotted Kovalchuk pinching in from the opposite point and put a perfect pass in the crease for him to tap in.
But it took less than three minutes for the Devils’ two-goal advantage to shrink. The Panthers’ ability to pounce on opportunities — whether on the power play or by taking advantage of turnovers — had staked them to a 3-2 series lead.
“They’re a team that doesn’t go away,” Parise said.
And when they saw their chances, the Panthers pounced again. Seven minutes in, center Stephen Weiss confidently carried the puck into the zone, gaining speed down the left side and getting position on both David Clarkson and Bryce Salvador. Strong on his skates, Weiss put a pass on the stick of linemate Kris Versteeg in the slot. The winger snapped a low shot through Brodeur’s feet, scoring his third goal of the series.
Nearly six minutes later, the Panthers would tie the game on a 4-on-2 rush created because Kovalchuk and Parise were tripped up in their own end. As Florida gained the zone, defenseman Tyson Strachan, the fourth man in, took a shot that went through Brodeur’s pads and skittered wide of the net. Winger Sean Bergenheim, positioned at the goal line, had an easy put-in to draw even. It was Florida’s eighth shot of the game.
“[They're] a really opportunistic team,” DeBoer said. “But I thought we deserved the win, and we got it.”
A workmanlike third period, in which the Devils kept Florida to just three shots, was more characteristic of how New Jersey wants to play, DeBoer said, and it set the tone for overtime.
“We were defensively solid, creating offense,” he said. “I really felt it was just a matter of time, if we could just stay patient and keep that type of game going.”
It’s the game New Jersey will also want to take back to Florida for Thursday’s decider. With hopes of winning their first playoff series since 1996, Florida has another chance to dismiss the Devils on home ice. The opportunity is there and the Panthers won’t be an easy out.
Bubba wins the Masters 2012
Bubba Watson won the Masters with his own brand of golf, but family trumps his green jacket
By Dan Wetzel
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Molly Watson walked down the side of 10th fairway in the second playoff hole ofthe Masters, saw the spot where her son, Bubba, had put his tee shot – deep in the woods without a clear path to the green – and knew immediately he’d find a way to swing for the pin.
“That’s his game,” she said.
“Bubba Golf” is what Bubba Watson calls it, and it’s some combination of aggressiveness and innocence. The guy boasts of never taking a lesson. He has no coach. He employs no sports psychologists. He does things he knows he shouldn’t, like hitting driver when control is of the essence, or imagining some weaving, looping wedge shot out of the woods and into history.
“Hit a crazy shot that I saw in my head and somehow I’m here talking to you with a green jacket on,” he said.
So, yes, Molly Watson sure was correct. She knew her boy. Knew he was a simple kid from the Florida Panhandle, son of a contentious Vietnam vet. Knew he learned the game hitting Wiffle balls around the yards. “Inside the house, too,” she said.
She knew that as much as he wanted to win the Masters, Bubba was more focused on getting out of Augusta and back to his wife and their 6-week-old son, Caleb. They’d adopted him just weeks ago after an emotional, roller coaster of a process, and none of this seemed to mean as much anymore.
She knew that as much as her late husband, Gerry, always said Bubba’s greatness was possible, it wasn’t in Bubba’s mind to believe it. He was a kid who would assume the worst yet play carefree anyway.
“I dreamed about [winning the Masters],” he said. “I just never made the [winning] putt.”
When you assume it won’t work you might as well try something that shouldn’t. Bubba Watson was in a playoff with Louis Oosthuizen for a green jacket, so what if he’d cranked into no man’s land?
Watson had always lived by a simple golfing motto: “If I have a swing, I have a shot.”
He knew he had a swing. So they parted the gallery for him. He tried to take measure of where a green was. He couldn’t see it behind the patrons and a television stand. He grabbed his 52-degree gap wedge and from 164 yards to glory he let rip the most perfect Bubba Golf shot ever.
“Hooked it about 40 yards,” he said. “Hit it about 15 feet off the ground until it got under the tree and then started rising.”
[ Related: Phil Mickelson comes up a shot short in bid for green jacket No. 4 ]
It wound up in the middle of the green, where he would need a simple two-putt to win the Masters. As he ran out trying to follow its flight, fans jumped forward and patted him on the back and ran right along with him.
“Pretty easy,” he smiled.
Soon he and Molly were hugging and crying at the center of the green. Neither could say a single word.
Bubba isn’t quite your prototypical “Bubba,” but he’s the closest they’ve ever seen at Augusta National. He recently rewarded his success by purchasing the original General Lee of “Dukes of Hazzard” fame and is restoring it.
He once won a bet that he couldn’t drive a golf ball out of Sanford Stadium, home of his beloved alma mater University of Georgia football team (he won that one). His first words at the green jacket ceremony were, “Go Dawgs!”
His wife, Angie, was in Florida, watching on TV, trying to get Caleb to take a nap. She was trying to figure out what he was going to do to celebrate, “You know he’s gonna put on the green jacket and drive down something in the General Lee,” she told the Golf Channel. And as for next year’s champions dinner, where he’ll pick the menu?
“Might be In-n-Out cheeseburgers,” Angie said.
Everyone was laughing Sunday because it had all worked out, and they all knew how close things had come to breaking bad. Bubba was always talented and always headstrong. He says early in his career he was overwhelmed by everything.
On the course, “every golf shot was controlling how mad I got,” he said. Off of it, “I was the fun, goofing-around little kid.”
It was a terrible mix: no balance, no focus. Angie sat him down for a long talk. His caddy threatened to leave him. He said he gave himself to Christ. All helped, but he acknowledges it’s been “a slow process.” It still is.
Part of his recent emotions came from finding his son. On their first date Angie told him she was incapable of having children. “I said, ‘That’s fine.’ ” Various family responsibilities, including the death of his father in 2010 to throat cancer, prevented them from seeking adoption sooner. They finally went after it this winter.
The adoption process can be painful for would-be parents, hopes rise and then are dashed with cruel regularity. On March 19 they thought they had a baby and then got turned down at the last minute.
“Heartbreaking watching my wife,” he said.
They were willing but Bubba had to play that weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational outside Orlando. He wanted to pull out, but Angie made him stay. He finished fourth, a fine tune-up for this.
“Then Monday morning, we were down in South Florida, picking up little Caleb,” he said.
Watson began to tear up again.
“I can’t wait to get back.”
He meant it. Even during the green jacket ceremony, he kept thinking about a private jet waiting for him at the airport. He saw a helicopter and wondered if it might be about to whisk him out of Augusta National right then.
Most Masters champions want to stick around, soak up the memories and the moments and bask in the glory of what may be their greatest accomplishment.
“The thing is, golf is not my everything,” he said.
This is the most staid, traditional, secure-of-itself place in America. It changes for no one. It’s convinced it is everything.
Bubba Watson came a long way, the hard way, his own way, to get here. The guy can really play golf. He just isn’t obsessed with every last facet of the game, doing it how everyone else does, playing it safe when he should.
Bubba Golf just won the Masters and now all he wanted to do was go home and avoid changing diapers. And that, too, is just what Molly Watson expected.
Tiger Woods – The tale of the comeback kid
Tiger wins back fans from young to old
Like Arnold Palmer had his army, Tiger certainly has his troop.
Thousands of patrons lined the fairways on Augusta National Golf Club’s front nine Tuesday morning as Woods played a practice round. They crammed themselves as many as 10 deep around the greens and moved from tee to green like waves going up each side of the fairways.
“I think he’s going to bring a lot of people back to the game,” said Will Brown, an Augusta resident who was following Woods with his wife and two sons. “He’s good for golf.”
As he spoke, his son Zeke, 6, tugged at his father’s pant leg, begging to go to the practice tee to wait in line for Woods’ autograph.
“He’s very special,” Zeke squeaked about his favorite golf star.
Woods scored his first official PGA Tour victory in two and a half years two weeks ago, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida by five strokes. It was also his first victory since disclosure of his marital infidelities, which led to divorce.
In the months between those wins, his game nosedived and he plummeted from the top spot in the world golf rankings, even falling out of the top 50. He’s rebounded to No. 7 and rebounded with the fans, too.
Leo Brown, a 60-year-old from Greenville, South Carolina, was pleased to see Woods back in the winner’s column.
“He showed all the doubters that he still had a game,” Brown said.
SI.com: Tiger Woods shows this is his Masters to lose
Some never were doubters, including Qabaniso Lupafya, a native of Zimbabwe who moved to Massachusetts 26 years ago and now lives in Worcester.
“I love Tiger. I’m obsessed with him,” said Lupafya, who also goes by Frank for those who can’t pronounce his name. He said his goal is to play with Woods one day.
Lupafya, a former rugby player, said watching Woods — and a nasty knee injury — inspired him to take up golf four years ago. He’s down to a six handicap, he said, and has won local tournaments, but he’ll just be watching Woods from the other side of the ropes at Augusta.
“I got a date with Tiger. I’ll see ya!” he said Tuesday morning, scampering down the ninth fairway in search of his idol.
Gary Hanson of Palm Beach, Florida, also had a date with Tiger on Tuesday morning, but don’t count him among Woods’ fans.
That’s because Woods doesn’t respect the fans, he said, adding the golf star had done little to acknowledge their cheers in Tuesday morning’s practice round.
“Without the fans, where are you?” Hanson asked. So why was he making the trek around Augusta’s back nine for a meaningless round on a gray Tuesday morning?
“The wife loves him,” he said. He looked over to the ropes where his wife, Gail, followed Woods as he walked up to the sixth green. “She’s in love with him!”
For himself, Hanson said, he’d rather be following Phil Mickelson.
“And you know why? Because he interacts with the fans,” Hanson said.
Don’t tell the kids Woods doesn’t interact.
Up by the practice green, they squeezed against the railings of the junior autograph area, hoping to get Woods to sign whatever they had handy.
Golf.com: Most-anticipated Masters in years
Alec Cwienkala, a 13-year-old from Allentown, Pennsylvania, scored Woods’s signature on his flag.
“It was really cool being up close to him,” said Alec, who waited 90 minutes in the autograph area.
Woods and the other Masters participants have been examples for his own game, Alec said.
“I try to make my swing like all those pros,” the young golfer said.
And maybe watching Woods is something that will inspire new generations of players to take the game to new levels.
Vicki Martin of St. Cloud, Minnesota, said she thinks there’s something to that argument.
“Tiger makes these young kids what they are today,” said Martin, noting that Woods athleticism and conditioning regimen has set the standard for others and elevated the game as a whole.
Martin said Woods has inspired her 13-year-old grandson.
“He’s obsessed with Tiger,” she said. “He says, ‘I want to play in the Masters.’”
Woods has elevated more than just the sport, said Jim Banks, a retired Army colonel from Fort Hood, Texas.
Leo Brown, Tiger Woods fan
That’s because if Woods is bringing people out to PGA Tour events, the charities that golf supports are able to do more for those they serve.
“Think about the revenue created for the charities,” Banks said. “It’s he, and he alone, who does that.”
Out along Washington Road, the main route from Interstate 20 to the course, Woods’ resurgence is having another kind of economic effect. Those who came to Augusta without tickets are paying more to buy passes from the roadside brokers.
Tye Bedwell of Chattanooga, Tennessee, his brother and a friend lucked into two passes at face value from a passing motorist, Bedwell said. But they still needed a third and hadn’t found anything under $350 at noon Tuesday.
“We’re not going to pay $350,” he said.
“The ticket price has spiked up,” said Randall Matod, who said he’s been trading tickets on Washington Avenue for the past 30 years. He had sold passes for Tuesday’s practice round for $250, he said, but was looking for new inventory at lunchtime. For Sunday’s final round, they’ll be around $500 — and they’d be higher, he said, but the fact that Sunday is Easter is keeping the price dampened a bit.
Of course, that Easter Sunday deduction may well be eliminated if Woods is atop the leaderboard on Saturday night.
“I couldn’t say I’m pulling for him to win. It just makes golf more interesting,” said Jordan Myers of Columbia, South Carolina, who was watching for Woods with his brother and father.
“Golf is way better with Tiger,” said Alec’s father, Steve Cwienkala. “Whether you love him or hate him, the sport needs him.
Sadaf Rahimi dream to become the Olympic boxing champ
Afghanistan’s first female Olympic boxer eyes London dream
17-year-old Sadaf Rahimi was given a wild card to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) – An arena where the Taliban used to execute women provides a chilling and incongruous setting for one teen girl’s unlikely Olympic dream.
But the dusty floors, broken mirrors, and poorly-lit hallways inside Kabul’s Ghazni stadium have been the training base for 17-year-old Sadaf Rahimi.
Dressed in a track suit, red lace up boots and a blue bandana, she is on course to become Afghanistan’s first female Olympic boxer and only the third Afghan sportswoman to compete at an Olympic Games.
“The first time I hit someone it was in my village, I was 11. It was actually my cousin,” she told CNN during a break from training. “Afterwards he said I hit him so hard that I should become a boxer!”
She did just that. A wild card from the Olympic committee has propelled the student towards the London games this summer, a daunting prospect given the modest resources at her disposal.
Rahimi and her teammates, including her sister Shabnam, can’t train in a proper boxing ring, because one doesn’t exist in war-torn Afghanistan. Instead dozens of girls and women in the team shuffle around in mismatched uniforms inside a small, dirty improvised gym complete with padded flooring.
“The equipment we have is pretty inadequate. I’ve even had to buy my own boxing socks,” she said.
Women’s boxing in Afghanistan
With sport facilities in short supply in Kabul, the boxing team’s time in this gym is limited.
“We can only train one hour a day, and that’s it,” said Rahimi. “It’s not enough to prepare for London. Other teams around the world train three times a day.”
Rahimi says she would like expert help in Dubai or India to be competitive against more seasoned international fighters.
But this is Afghanistan, where money is too often in all the wrong places. So they’re left hoping for a sponsor to help them out.
“We would like a sponsor with a good name in the world of sports. But more importantly a company that can assist our female athletes in the future, Rahimi’s coach, Mohammed Saber Sharifi, said.
Sharifi, a former male professional boxer and an advocate for women’s rights, believes the world will see Afghanistan in a different light when Rahimi steps into the ring in London.
“I hope the world can see that Afghan women are breaking down barriers by pursuing their dreams of becoming a professional athlete. We represent this country with pride,” he said.
Mohammed Saber Sharifi, coach
Afghan females imprisoned for ‘moral crimes’
The Afghan Amateur Women’s Boxing Association was established by the Cooperation for Peace and Unity project in 2007 to promote women and girls in sports.
When female athletes were banned by the Taliban from competing in sport, Afghanistan was suspended from competition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It missed the 2000 Olympics in Sydney as a result. Afghanistan — with female athletes involved for the first time — competed in Athens in 2004 after the Taliban had been ousted in 2001.
But the Taliban have not been the only obstacle.
In a country where human rights activists say women are still vulnerable to prejudice and a range of issues including domestic violence, forced marriage and sexual abuses, Rahimi fears for her own safety.
Her father spoke of anonymous threats and warnings that his daughters should not be boxing. Many fear this kind of conservatism in Afghan society will increase when NATO leaves the country.
“For one month I was not allowed to come to the gym for practice because of my safety”, she said.
While her own parents are extremely supportive of her and her sister, she says other family members have criticized their lifestyle.
“My aunt used to say girls should stay at home and do housework, they shouldn’t be going out and playing sports. She would say my actions are not in line with Islam.”
But Rahimi says this pressure doesn’t keep her from the sport she loves.
It’s easy to be impressed by the dedication shown by someone who says she’s never hit anyone in anger — well, not yet anyway.
No fight between Murray and Chavez due to visa problems
Murray withdraws from Chavez Jr. fight in June
Great Britain’s Martin Murray (right) battled middleweight beltholder Felix Sturm to a draw in December. (Uwe Anspach/DPA/ZUMAPRESS.com)
British middleweight Martin Murray has withdrawn from a June 16 fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. due to legal issues preventing him from obtaining a visa to enter the United States. The issues are connected to Murray’s past criminal behavior, which included street fighting and robbery, crimes that resulted in four separate stints in prison.
“I’d signed the contract and everything was agreed, so to be told I cannot box Chavez Jr. because of my past is gut-wrenching,” Murray said. “As a human being, I couldn’t have done any more to turn my life around over the last seven years. I have a fantastic wife, Gemma. We have two wonderful children, Archie and Amelia. They are my life and everything I do is for them.”
Murray, 29, popped on the international radar last December, when he battled WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm to a draw. Murray’s manager Neil Marsh and promoter Ricky Hatton said in a statement that they would work to resolve the visa issues quickly. In the meantime, they will look to make a fight for Murray (23-0-1) in the U.K., where he could defend his minor domestic titles.
“I am a qualified youth worker and spend lots of time working with kids making an effort to help keep them out of trouble,” Murray said. “I am pleading with the youth of today not to make the same mistakes I did when I was young. Even if you change your life around it can still come back to bite you.”
Meanwhile, Chavez Jr. will look to fill Murray’s slot. Industry sources say unbeaten junior middleweight contender Vanes Martirosyan and middleweight Andy Lee are the leading candidates.
Mississippi State president speaks about shooting
Isolated incident claims MSU president
Campus police were notified about 10 p.m. Saturday of an incident in Evans Hall, a dorm for male students on the northwest side of the campus, Mark Keenum said Sunday.
John Sanderson, of Madison, Mississippi, was found with “what appeared to be serious injuries” in the dorm. He was transported to a nearby hospital, but “unfortunately could not be saved,” Keenum said.
Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs at the Starkville, Mississippi, school, said Saturday the victim was shot more than once. Three men who did not appear to be university students were seen fleeing in a blue sedan, he said.
The shooting prompted the school to send out a campus-wide alert through a series of text messages.
The school’s emergency response procedures “were executed quickly and effectively last night,” Keenum said Sunday.
Early Sunday morning, police were talking to witnesses and reviewing surveillance tapes.
Campus police stepped up patrols, Keenum said, assisted by officers from Starkville and the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office.
“Throughout the night and into this morning, we have kept the campus informed of developments through our Maroon Alert emergency notification system,” the president said. “But we have had no indication that there is a danger to others and we believe this was an isolated incident.”
Keenum said he could not release many details because of the ongoing investigation, led by university police and assisted by authorities from the city, county and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
“Our Bulldog Family is saddened by this event and the loss of one of our students,” he said. “Our hearts go out to John Sanderson’s family and friends. They continue to be in our prayers.”
Campus safety, he said, is a top priority.
“This is the first time in our school’s history that such a tragic incident has occurred, involving a student being shot on campus,” he said. “Our campus is known as a safe place, and I want to assure students, parents, faculty and staff that it continues to be safe.”
“Mississippi State University’s main campus is located in a rural, low crime area,” the university website said. “Serious emergencies happen rarely and are usually weather related — ice storms and wind events.”
The school, located on 4,200 acres about 125 northeast of Jackson, had a 2011 fall enrollment of 20,424.
Sandusky diagnosed as a pedophile in 1998
Psychologist flagged Sandusky in 1998
(CNN) – Years before Jerry Sandusky was charged with child sexual abuse, a psychologist told Penn State police in 1998 that the former assistant football coach acted the way a pedophile might.
In her assessment, Alycia Chambers described her involvement in a case in which the mother of a young boy reported that Sandusky had showered with her son and may have had inappropriate contact with him. A redacted version of that evaluation was published Saturday by NBC News.
“My consultants agree that the incidents meet all of our definitions, based on experience and education, of a likely pedophile’s pattern of building trust and gradual introduction of physical touch, within a context of a ‘loving,’ ‘special’ relationship,” Chambers wrote.
The assessment could be significant because it suggests the university was warned about Sandusky, in no uncertain terms, as early as 1998, but did not stop the alleged abuse.
Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions, is currently under house arrest as he awaits trial on more than 50 counts of child sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.
Former school officials Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are charged with perjury and failure to report a crime in relation to the investigation.
Like Chambers, he spoke to the child in question about what transpired between him and Sandusky. He went into the interview cold, and reported he found no indication of child abuse.
“Seasock said that he hadn’t heard of a 52-year-old becoming a pedophile,” the report read.
In an e-mail to CNN, Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, spokesman for the Pennsylvania attorney general, declined comment on the 1998 assessment and differing opinions.
Penn State rejected a CNN public records request for a copy of the 1998 police report in December. Amy Elizabeth McCall, an assistant general counsel, asserted in a letter to CNN then that Penn State is “a state-related institution” and not a “state school” like some in other states, and therefore does not have the same public records requirements as other public institutions.
“Because the 1998 investigation did not result in any criminal charges, it is not criminal history information and the university’s police are thus required by law to keep that information within the police department,” McCall wrote.
According to a grand jury’s report released in early November, the mother of one of Sandusky’s accusers — identified as Victim 6 — came forward and said the coach had showered with her son and hugged him.
Two campus police detectives eavesdropped on conversations in May 1998 when the mother confronted the coach, who retired a year later from the Nittany Lion program. Police later monitored a second conversation that month, in which the mother told Sandusky to stay away from her son.
“I understand. I was wrong,” Sandusky said, according to the grand jury report. “I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead.”
No charges were ever filed in that instance, and local and state law enforcement authorities did not look deeper into those and other allegations against Sandusky until years later.
Howard Janet, attorney for Victim 6, released a statement soon after news of the report broke on Saturday, blasting Penn State for failing to take action.
“Why was a second opinion sought from someone with a connection to Jerry Sandusky? Why were reports of inappropriate contact between Sandusky and young boys on the Penn State campus and Penn state activities consistently ignored?”
“Much of the evidence coming to light points to a conspiracy of silence surrounding Sandusky’s behavior at the expense of children,” he wrote.
Sean Payton takes fall for New Orleans Scandal
Payton sorry for bounty scandal
Sean Payton says he is sorry for the bounty scandal that has resulted in his season-long suspension and that he takes ”full responsibility” for it.
In a written statement released by the New Orleans Saints on Friday evening, Payton says he shares and fully supports the NFL’s concerns and goals concerning player safety.
Payton also says that respecting the game and the NFL shield – a reference to the league’s famous logo – is extremely important to him.
The coach says the Saints will implement all necessary protections and protocols, and that he will be ”more vigilant going forward.”
Payton says he also thanks team owner Tom Benson, his players and Saints fans ”for their overwhelming support.”
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