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businessliveme · 6 years ago

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One Job in The Banking World Where There Aren’t Enough Men

(Bloomberg) — Finance is a male-dominated realm. But there’s one corner where women are everywhere: the virtual world of digital assistants.

Bank of America Corp. customers can ask for Erica. In Paris, millennials with their savings at Hello bank! reach out to HelloiZ (pronounced “Eloise”). HSBC Holdings Plc has Amy standing by with advice. In Sweden, SEB’s Aida is waiting to help. Meanwhile, on the trading floor of AllianceBernstein Holding LP, it’s Abbie who assists the bond traders with their deals.

For an industry where men outnumber women at least three to one in the upper echelons, the propensity to give virtual assistants female names, personas and in some cases, voices, is coming under greater scrutiny for perpetuating sexist stereotypes.

Many executives interviewed by Bloomberg defended their use of female-gendered bots by citing research that shows both men and women prefer female voices to male ones.

But this doesn’t exempt companies from the responsibility to proactively combat prevailing norms, according to Heather Andrew, chief executive officer at Neuro-Insight U.K., a London-based firm that conducts research into how men and women respond to different voices.

“There is an opportunity for those that are forward-thinking to do something about the stereotypes,” Andrew said. “Brands and companies should be thinking about the tone of voice much more than they are.”

Neuro-Insight research shows that while people do tend to prefer the feminine voice, they also recall more information when it’s delivered by a male voice. According to Andrew, both findings correspond to oversimplified stereotypes of women as comforters and men as authorities.

Using bots with feminine personas is hardly isolated to banks. Just look at Siri, Cortana and Alexa, the digital assistants for Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc., respectively. Google’s digital assistant doesn’t have a defined gender, although its default voice is feminine. These companies have cited the same research showing people prefer female voices; more recently they’ve introduced the ability for users to switch to a male voice. So far, most banks aren’t doing that.

There are exceptions, like Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s payments tablet “Albert.” But by and large, as banks rolled out bots in the past few years, they’ve opted for feminine ones.

“Done poorly, we repeat the sins or the biases—the risks of the past”

That’s not necessarily surprising for an industry where gender imbalance has long been entrenched. Aside from the management bias toward men, there are two women for every man in support staff roles at banks, according to consulting firm Mercer.

Banking officials interviewed said they didn’t really consider the gender politics of their bots explicitly and chose female personas for branding reasons or because, during market research, customers responded better to female names and voices.

The idea for the name and persona of Abbie, Alliance Bernstein’s bond-trading digital assistant, came through an informal discussion over the internal group messaging app, according to Gavin Romm, a money manager for high-yield debt. There were two main requirements for the name: it had to be easily identifiable for natural language-processing algorithms, a machine-learning software that can understand text; and it had to reflect AllianceBernstein’s brand.

“We all refer to AllianceBerstein as AB,” Romm said by email. “This led our chat conversation down the path of names that start with the letters ‘Ab’—Abigail, Abernathy…Abby. We needed something less common, and Abbie was born.”

Bank of America also chose Erica because its team liked the play on America, according to Christian Kitchell, an executive in charge of AI Solutions. They also did focus-group testing of the persona and voice of the assistant.

“Everything we do tends to be data-driven,” Kitchell said. “We got very, very clear signals from our customers that the voice we have gone with was their favorite.”

Speaking at a tech conference in New York last week, his colleague Cathy Bessant, Bank of America’s chief operations and technology officer, said digital assistants probably tend to be women “because we’re super smart.” But algorithms are only as sensitive as the humans that program them, she added in an interview with Bloomberg Television. A firm could, for instance, use AI to quickly hire a large number of candidates using past policies—but if it wanted to create a more diverse workforce, the algorithms would need to be retooled.

“Done well, they should leverage the best of what human behavior and human judgment is. Done poorly, we repeat the sins or the biases—the risks of the past,” she said, adding the lender was studying the responsible use of AI with Harvard University.

Just because customers participating in focus groups might be conditioned to react a certain way to a certain voice doesn’t mean companies necessarily need to play into those prejudices, according to Andrew at Neuro-Insight.

“I think we will eventually see an end to the default that a virtual assistant should have a female name”

Vive la différence seems to be the attitude at French bank BNP Paribas toward the gender politics of its digital assistants. It opted for two different personas: the male persona Telmi for its BNP banking clients who are older and more traditional; and the female persona called HelloiZ for Hello bank!, its digital-banking sibling that appeals more to younger clients.

“We are maybe naïve, but for us it was not a debate,” Ariel Steinmann, head of digital marketing for BNP and Hello bank!, referring to gender politics. “What is important for us is the customer experience.”

This generational divide suggests stereotypes are changing. A closer look at the Neuro-Insight research revealed that it was primarily older men who took in far more information if it was coming from male voices. Younger people in the study, by contrast, seemed to have more equal recall between genders.

“I think we will eventually see an end to the default that a virtual assistant should have a female name,” said Jeremy Pounder, the director of marketing firm Mindshare, which did the research with Neuro-Insight. “We might see a trend toward gender-neutral names and personas.”

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newsintodays-blog · 7 years ago

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Cigarette smoking raises heart failure risk in African Americans

New Post has been published on http://newsintoday.info/2018/04/16/cigarette-smoking-raises-heart-failure-risk-in-african-americans/

Cigarette smoking raises heart failure risk in African Americans

(Reuters Health) – Cigarette smoking sharply increases the risk of heart failure in black men and women in the U.S., according to a new study.

“These findings suggest if you have heart failure or you have risk factors for heart failure such as early markers for heart damage like a thicker heart or a weak heart, you should specifically be targeted for smoking cessation strategies,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Michael E. Hall, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

In heart failure, the muscles of the heart weaken and enlarge so the organ can no longer pump blood efficiently, leading to shortness of breath and water retention. Heart failure is most often the result of damage from coronary artery disease, a buildup of fatty material within the heart arteries associated with heart attack and stroke. High blood pressure, excess weight, infection and several other factors can also contribute to heart failure.

Cigarette smoking is clearly associated with coronary artery disease, but its relationship with heart failure is not as well known, especially among African Americans, Hall’s team writes in the journal Circulation.

Blacks in the U.S. have double the incidence of heart failure as other groups, the researchers note. While smoking in this community has declined, it is still at 18 percent of adults, they add.

To investigate the potential role of smoking in heart failure risk, the researchers analyzed data on 4,129 black adults in Mississippi who participated in the Jackson Heart Study. Their average age was 54, and all were free of heart disease when they enrolled. Twelve percent reported being smokers, 18 percent were ex-smokers and 70 percent had never smoked.

Compared to never-smokers, the smokers had more enlargement of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, and worse left ventricular function. Levels of a hormone released by the heart that indicates heart failure, called brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), were higher in smokers than never-smokers, and those levels increased with the intensity and duration of smoking.

Once the authors took factors associated with both smoking and heart failure, such as coronary artery disease, into account, they found that smokers were almost three times more likely than non-smokers to be hospitalized for heart failure during eight years of follow-up.

People who smoked at least 20 cigarettes a day saw their risk increase about 3.5-fold. Those who had smoked the equivalent of a pack or more a day for 15 or more years were twice as likely as never-smokers to be hospitalized for heart failure.

Physicians will typically ask patients with coronary artery disease about smoking, and urge them to quit if they do, Hall said in a telephone interview. But heart failure seems to be a less obvious cue to many doctors.

“We probably in the health community need to do a better job of recommending cessation strategies for people who have risk factors for heart failure,” Hall said. “If they have risk factors, they should be strongly counseled to quit, that should be a no-brainer.”

He acknowledged that lack of health insurance and other factors can be barriers to effective smoking cessation treatment. But the costs of drugs proven to help people quit have declined, Hall noted, and many are now available for less than a pack-a-day smoker spends in a month on cigarettes.

In future research, he and his colleagues plan to examine whether newer nicotine delivery devices, like e-cigarettes, have similar effects on the heart.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2HpaAOV Circulation, online April 16, 2018.

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rickhorrow · 7 years ago

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15 to watch tech 5 power 5 week of 111317

with Jamie Swimmer & Tanner Simkins

With the new college basketball season officially underway, the FBI’s ongoing probe into corruption still looms. According to the Chicago Tribune, some of the nation’s most storied universities and basketball programs have been riddled with arrests and allegations, including Louisville, Auburn, and Arizona. The NCAA is hoping that public attention will finally turn toward the action on the court as opposed to the drama and scandal off of it. Speaking of the ongoing FBI probe, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, “This has been a significant issue in college basketball, and a significant distraction…There's uncertainty in the air with a lot of our coaches and people around college basketball.” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl has been repeatedly told that his job might be in jeopardy if he does not cooperate with the ongoing investigation, while further legal action is still pending for others as the season begins. Not helping the situation – three UCLA students’, including freshman LiAngelo Ball’s, continued detainment in China following alleged shoplifting charges stemming from a Louis Vuitton store near the team’s hotel in Hangzhou.

For the fourth consecutive year, the BNP Paribas Open has been voted the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year, as determined by player vote. The BNP Paribas Open, the largest WTA and ATP World Tour combined two-week event in the world, has swept the top tournament honors on both the men’s and women’s Tours since 2014. “As both a player and now as Tournament Director, I can understand why this event has been named “Tournament of the Year” for the fourth straight year,” Tommy Haas said. Since Larry Ellison purchased the event in 2009, ongoing improvements to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden have made the tournament a favorite for fans and players alike. Ahead of this year’s BNP Paribas Open, a “Full Bloom” integrated marketing campaign will highlight the world-class tennis players that participate in the renowned global event woven into the natural beauty and backdrop of the desert landscape. The 2017 BNP Paribas Open had an estimated total gross economic impact on the Coachella Valley regional economy of more than $406 million, according to an economic impact study – an increase of more than $32 million since the last study was conducted in 2014.

As the college football regular season builds toward the conference championship round, leadership positions at Football Bowl Subdivision schools continue to be dominated by white men, according to an annual report card from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. The institute gave top-level college sports an overall grade of D-plus for race and gender hiring in leadership positions, with a D-plus for racial hiring and an F for gender hiring. Overall, Caucasians hold 86.6% of the 395 campus leadership positions reported in the study, which found that 89.2% of university presidents in the FBS were white, as were 83.1% of the athletic directors, 87.4% of faculty athletics representatives, and 100% of conference commissioners. The study revealed that only 22 people of color in total held the roles of university presidents or ADs, and also found that nearly 87% of head coaches in the FBS are white. Conversely, nearly 56% of collegiate football players are black, while 39% are white. A report card is by nature an analysis of progress, and clearly much more needs to be done to create an atmosphere of diversity and inclusion among college sports’ leaders, particularly within high-revenue, high-scrutiny football programs.

Media and e-Signatures platform Twignature announced a new funding threshold of $3 million investment, with 50% coming from Veterans of the Armed Forces and a new, patented e-Signatures service on Twitter called "Twignature." Parent company lettrs, Inc. also announced that Dr. Harvey W. Schiller, one of the most respected leaders in sports, media and entertainment, and a former Air Force General, has joined the company as Chairman. The Twignature app is now available on iTunes and activates an immediate digital marketplace for authenticated, distributed, and sponsored signatures across the Twitter network. Twignature's decentralized service uses smartphone biometrics and blockchain distribution principles to activate a unique number, ledger, and seal of authenticity for signed Tweets, including signature location, device, and even whether the original autograph was associated with a major brand. Lettrs founder Drew Bartkiewicz was named one of Goldman Sachs' "Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs" in 2016, while that same year lettrs was also cited as a Forbes Top 25 Veteran founded business. A successful patent for a cyber method to authenticate mobile signatures, marrying biometrics and media on smartphones, is much needed in today’s high profile digital environments.

Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones is continuing his attack on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. According to the New York Times, Jones wants all team owners to vote on the payment package of Goodell’s pending contract extension. As it currently stands, only NFL compensation committee members will vote on this matter. Over the past 10 years as the NFL commissioner, Goodell has been paid over $200 million; Jones noted that “making a decision potentially worth more than $200 million should be done carefully.” Cowboys General Counsel Jason Cohen penned a letter to the head of the compensation committee on behalf of Jones, “which repeatedly criticized Falcons Owner and committee chair Arthur Blank” for his role in the matter. This past May, the owners voted to unanimously extend Goodell’s contract by five years. Through his lawyer, Jones stated that he wants the new contract “to include less guaranteed pay and more incentives tied to the league’s financial performance.” Goodell is essentially the NFL’s CEO, and top CEO pay has long been incentive based. So Jones isn’t off base…except within the clubby NFL ownership confines.

MLS will let teams keep 100% of transfer fees for homegrown players. MLS is "set to approve a new rule this offseason that will allow teams to keep" 100% of transfer fees for homegrown players, according to sources cited by FourFourTwo. This "incentivizes league owners to invest more in player development, and rewards the teams that do so successfully." Currently, MLS receives 25% of any homegrown transfer. Additionally, the league is "weighing a proposal that would increase the cap of transfer revenue used as General Allocation Money." A source said that the proposal would also see that cap "increase incrementally from year to year.” Across the board, MLS is on the rise, and the revenue streams rising all boats will benefit teams and players alike.

The Chicago Bulls will host the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, bringing the sporting event back to the Windy City for the first time since 1988. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Bulls executives Michael Reinsdorf and John Paxson recently made the official announcement at the United Center. Back in 1988, Michael Jordan was the All-Star Game MVP and beat Dominique Wilkins to take the crown in the slam dunk contest when he jumped from the free throw line. Jerry Reinsdorf was vocal throughout the years of his opposition to hosting the All-Star Game, but ultimately this came down to his son Michael’s decision. “They would have to force me to take the All-Star Game,” said Jerry Reinsdorf in a 2012 interview. “They take over the building. Really, no good can come out of it and all it can do is upset your fans.” Famous last words from a famous father, about an event that has long been considered a standout in the pro sports All-Star Game pantheon. The NBA does it right.

The Atlanta Braves continue to see a revenue revival, thanks largely to the team’s new stadium and surrounding development. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta have helped drive in $336 million in revenue during the first nine months of 2017. That marker is “already $104 million more than all of 2016 and more than $100 million higher than any of the previous three seasons.” While the Braves’ franchise value and revenue numbers have both increased significantly in the past year, the team took on a considerable amount of debt to finance the construction of the ballpark and community area. Through the end of September, the Braves “carried debt of $585 million,” a number that is up $74 million since the beginning of July. The team is not expected to have a tough time paying off its debt with the increase in “ticket sales, concessions, corporate sales, suites, and premium-seat fees.”

WNBA teams will be allowed to sell additional jersey patch sponsorships next season. According to SportsBusiness Journal, the majority of WNBA teams already have marquee sponsors on the front of their jerseys, but a new 2.25-inch by 2.25-inch patch will be available for a new sponsor on the upper left-hand shoulder of game jerseys. In accordance with league rules, patch sponsors must be “separate from the team’s marquee jersey sponsor.” Additionally, WNBA teams will be allowed to sell on-court advertising near both foul lines to a single sponsor, though those ads will have to be removed for all games broadcast on ESPN. “The league is in growth mode, and we want to continue to innovate,” said WNBA COO Jay Parry. “We are excited to bring the jersey badge and new on-court opportunities as ways for brands to connect with teams in meaningful ways.” As long as the advertisements are tasteful, they should meet with approval from the higher-ups at the NBA, which owns the women’s league, and may be using the women’s unis to test market approval for what eventually may be seen on NBA jerseys as well.

The 2019 NHL Winter Classic is heading to South Bend, Indiana, for a matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Blackhawks will be the host team at Notre Dame Stadium, marking the team’s league-leading fourth Winter Classic. The Blackhawks played at Wrigley Field in 2009, at Nationals Park in 2015, and most recently at Busch Stadium in St. Louis this past year. In all, this will “mark the Blackhawks’ sixth outdoor game total, while eight teams have never played outdoors” and 10 more have only played outside once. Over the years, Original Six teams and other franchises with richer hockey histories have been picked more frequently to play in special outdoor games, but fans outside of Chicago “are growing discontented with the announcement of more Blackhawks games outdoors.” In all, the Blackhawks are only 1-4-0 in outdoor games, so they are hoping to reverse their luck this time around. Another reason for this league disparity – it’s a little more difficult to pull off outdoor hockey games in Phoenix, Florida, and Southern California, even in January’s so-called “winter chill.”

Amazon is continuing its push into the sports world, this time via a partnership with EPL club Manchester City. According to Bloomberg, Amazon Prime Video will produce a behind-the-scenes documentary series of Manchester City’s current season. The series will be released in 2018 to Prime members, and will include footage shot at the club’s training facilities at the City Football Academy, feature interviews with manager Pep Guardiola, and provide viewers with an inside look into executive meetings. Amazon has shown its willingness to spend big money on new ventures, with this being no exception; in all, Amazon is paying Man City more than $13 million for exclusive access to the club. The Seattle-based company is building its portfolio of sports investments and ventures, “after winning global live streaming rights for the ATP World Tour and the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package.” As cord-cutting becomes more prevalent and online viewing intensifies, look for Amazon to continue its global sports rights quest.

German sportswear company adidas is hoping to use this summer’s World Cup to restore sales growth. According to Reuters, adidas plans to launch new international kits before the 2018 Russia World Cup kicks off in June, following a slowdown in European sales these past three months. Germany and Spain – two of the best soccer teams in the world and heavyweight World Cup favorites – are among the countries that adidas currently sponsors. Adidas is now “lifting marketing spending and expects a sales acceleration in the Christmas shopping season.” Third-quarter sales missed the marker set by analysts despite the company’s recent success in China and North America. Slower growth in Europe was largely attributed to the general slowdown in the market, “while the termination of sponsorship deals with the NBA and Premier League champion Chelsea led to an overall decline in basketball and soccer sales.” Citi analyst Dan Homan recently rated the company’s shares as “neutral” in the market. It also won’t hurt adidas that the U.S. men’s team failed to qualify for the Russia World Cup – the USNMT, along with the USNWT, is a Nike operation.

The rise of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo continues after the Milwaukee Bucks forward re-signed with Nike. According to ESPN.com, the “Greek Freak” – largely considered to be the next LeBron James – was being courted by almost every major apparel company for the right to sign him to a long-term shoe and apparel deal. Antetokounmpo ultimately chose to resign with Nike because the deal “includes the creation of a signature shoe,” which is already in the works. The first signature shoe of the line is expected to be released in time for the holiday season in 2019. The international attention that Antetokounmpo receives is expected to pay huge dividends for Nike in the creation of the new shoe line. With the new deal in place, the Greek Freak now has one of the largest shoe deals ever given to a European player – right on par with the one between Kristaps Porzingis and adidas.

Texas A&M University is looking to address the common issue of hotel room scarcity in college towns, but it’s going to cost consumers an extremely high price. According to the Wall Street Journal, Texas A&M is planning to build a new hotel directly across the street from Kyle Field to give more football fans a place to stay on home game weekends, and will use guaranteed room options to auction off rooms. For reservations on the hotel’s top floor, bids for GROs “range from $125,000 to $475,000.” GROs are much like personal seat licenses – a tactic that sports franchises deploy upon building a new stadium to partially fund projects and lock in ticketholders. A&M “took inspiration for the hotel from LSU,” while Alabama and Ole Miss currently offer “similar perks at campus-affiliated hotels.” School officials plan to have the hotel completed in time for the 2018 home opener. The GRO program is expected to raise more than $28.5 million for the university.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Bruins both have their eyes on China. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Boston Globe, the two franchises are looking to expand their respective footprints into the Asian country by partnering with Chinese companies. The Timberwolves recently played two preseason games in China after Shanghai sports marketer Lizhang “John” Jiang “became the first Chinese investor in an NBA team when he bought a 5% stake” back in 2016. The team has since reached a partnership with a Shanghai-based organization that will help see Chinese youth basketball players and coaches come to Minneapolis to participate in camps and attend games. In terms of the Bruins, the NHL franchise has been “aggressive” in planting seeds in China. Hockey is not as popular as basketball across the vast country, so the Bruins have been helping to build the game from the grassroots up by sending players overseas to put on youth clinics. Of course, building a long-term fan base, in China and elsewhere, begins with youth involvement in the sport at hand.

Tech 5

1. Intel bringing ‘live’ virtual reality experiences to NBA on TNT games. Beginning with the 2018 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, Intel True VR and Turner Sports will be delivering NBA content to fans ‘live’ in virtual reality. The two organizations announced a multi-year partnership which sees Intel True VR become the exclusive provider of virtual reality for the NBA on TNT. Intel will also be partnering with the NBA around its 360-degree video using Intel freeD technology. Intel plans to integrate the freeD technology into the fan’s ‘live’ virtual reality experience so they can freeze play and view the action from LeBron James’ or Stephen Curry’s point-of-view for example. The 360-degree replay technology can also be woven into broadcasts for commentators to pause and further analyze important plays.

2. NBA, Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz executives talk NBA 2K esports league. Aaron Ryan told audience members at last week’s TEAMS Conference in Orlando that despite working at the NBA for the past 20 years, what now gives him “street cred” at his house with his 12 year old daughter is being associated with 2K and the NBA 2K league. Ryan was joined alongside by executives with the Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Monumental Sports and Entertainment (Washington Wizards). He added that the new NBA venture with 2K and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is “access to a different conversation” with new fans, corporate partners and facilities. Seventeen NBA franchises will participate in next year’s inaugural season, with tryouts and a draft expected to be held next February and March.

3. Media and e-Signatures platform Twignature lands $3M investment, with 50% coming from Veterans of the Armed Forces and a new, patented e-Signatures service on Twitter called "Twignature." Parent company lettrs, Inc. also announced that Dr. Harvey W. Schiller, one of the most respected leaders in sports, media and entertainment, and a former Air Force General, has joined the company as Chairman. The Twignature app is just now available activates an immediate digital marketplace for authenticated, distributed and sponsored signatures across the Twitter network. Twignature's decentralized service uses smartphone biometrics and blockchain distribution principles to activate a unique number, ledger and seal of authenticity for signed Tweets, including signature location, device, and even whether the original autograph was associated with a major brand. Twignature offers to verify, authenticate and "notarize" e-signatures on social networks and emerging currency networks like Blockchain and Bitcoin.

4. Whether on the golf course or in the boardroom, Norman has always tried to push the boundaries of what was possible. In this spirit and slated to disrupt the golf industry, Norman unveiled the “Shark Experience.” The bold, non-traditional concept combines connectivity, content and customization intended to produce an enhanced on-course experience. The centerpiece for Shark Experience presented by Verizon is Club Car. The Ingersoll-Rand golf subsidiary, along with longtime business partner GPSi, one of the world’s leading global positioning system brands, has joined forces with the Greg Norman Company and Verizon to deliver a ‘Your Game, Your Way’ concept to golfers through a connected Club Car golf cart. The overhead unit features a high-definition screen and built-in speakers with Bluetooth connectivity. Neither of those elements are ground-breaking until the system is turned on. When engaged it brings elements of Topgolf — music, live sports, news and other curated entertainment content — onto the golf course, combines it with standard dynamic yardage and hole flyover capability, and augments it with a seamless, one-swipe platform for a cashless on-course experience.

5. Bayern Munich’s use of Instagram Stories polls shows how useful it can be to clubs. The poll function – as illustrated brilliantly by Bayern’s social media team – adds a new dimension to stories allowing fans to feel involved and, in this case, literally direct the content themselves. Indeed, the reason that Bayern’s attempt at this is so interesting is because of what it could mean for teams in the future, and why Instagram polls could become so important., Instagram is the fastest-growing social media platform for football clubs. Recently, Nielsen found that it was the platform where starting lineup graphics gained the most traction, even though Twitter would seem like the most appropriate platform for a piece of content with such a short shelf-life (of only about an hour before kick-off). Cracking Instagram is clearly key for clubs in the near future, and having a way to actively interact with fans in stories is incredibly useful on this front

Power of Sports 5

1. NFL Makes Donation to Tuesday’s Children. The National Football League has given a $200,000 grant to the nonprofit organization Tuesday’s Children. Tuesday’s Children, a mentoring program focused on supporting children who have lost one of their parents, provides support to communities and families impacted by terrorism and the loss of loved ones in warfare. The NFL first began working with Tuesday’s Children after the 2001 terrorist attacks, when the league partnered with the organization to provide the families of first responders with aid. The recently announced grant will be used to expand this program to include children who have lost a parent in the military. Enrolled children will be matched with carefully selected mentors, who will provide the children with guidance and support to help them succeed both in school and in their communities.

2. Retired NHL Player Launches Charity Hockey Series. Former professional hockey player David Moss and his charity Hockey Has Heart hosted a face-off series for charity this weekend at the Arctic Edge Ice of Canton. The first annual Hockey Has Heart Charity Face Off pitted several Michigan high school varsity teams against each other to help raise money for the Hockey has Heart general fund. The Michigan State women’s varsity club team was also present at the event to compete against the Michigan Selects hockey club. Founded in 2003, the Hockey has Heart organization has raised over $2 million to help more than 70 hockey families that are currently facing life challenges. Made up entirely of volunteers, the majority of all funds raised by the organization come from direct donations. These donations are used to provide assistance for families facing financial strain or extended periods of hardship. Most distributions are $10,000 or less and are intended to cover medical expenses and lost wages where earners have lost income due to accident or illness.

3. Andy Murray faces Roger Federer in Charity Match. On Tuesday, tennis superstar Andy Murray made his return to the court for the first time since injuring his hip on July 12. Murray returned early from his hip injury to face off against Roger Federer as part of the Andy Murray Live exhibition in Glasgow, Scotland. All of the money raised at the event will be donated to a variety of charities, including Unicef and several local organizations. The 26th matchup between the two champions wasn’t the only match that Murray participated in at the event. He also played in a doubles match alongside his brother Jamie. Last year, in the first year of the event, Murray and company were able to raise more than £300,000, and they expect to easily top that number this year after competing in front of nearly 11,000 people.

4. Falcons Honor Veterans for Salute to Service Week. The Atlanta Falcons hosted their third Salute to Service week ahead of their game with the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. The week was dedicated to honoring the military with different events throughout the week for veterans of our armed forces and their families, leading up to the game on Sunday where they were hosted for the game and each player on the Falcons wore a decal with the initials of a different veteran on their helmet. The families were also invited to the team’s Saturday walk-through where they were able to meet the players and coaching staff. Some of the events hosted by the team throughout the week included a a youth football clinic at Fort Stewart, an event where Falcons employees assisted with the packing of approximately 300 care packages that will be shipped to military personnel overseas, and a Vietnam War Veterans Breakfast.

5. Girls in Brazil Finding Solace in Soccer. Brazil's favelas are best known for their high death tollheavily armed drug gangs, and heavy police presence. Every day, the people in these communities have to live their lives surrounded by violence. The children in the area have it particularly rough, unable to leave their homes or go to school many days due to nearby gunfire. It is for this reason why Street Child United, a charity based out of the United Kingdom, is working to create safe spaces where the children of the favelas can play without fear. In order to create these spaces, the charity had to strike a deal with local residents, police, and gangs to declare their facilities off limits to all violence and illegal activities. Thus far, the result has been a soccer pitch where many young girls have come to find support from others in their community and escape from the surrounding environment. Street Child United provides a global platform for street children receive the protection, support, and opportunities that all children deserve. Based in London, the charity focuses on giving at-risk young people opportunities through sport. The charity’s mission is to assist local street-connected children with reducing their risk of exploitation and abuse, developing their life skills, and improving their education and employment opportunities while changing the negative perceptions and treatment of street children around the world

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shg11 · 7 years ago

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Versions of Jodie Whittakers bogus TV medic do exist. But fantasists and charlatans tend to operate outside the hospital, where victims have been assaulted, misdiagnosed or offered false hope

Within the first half-hour of the BBCs psychological thriller Trust Me, Cath (a former nurse) had stolen her doctor friends identity, picked up some suturing skills from YouTube, and was handling a stethoscope like a pro. Before you could say: Adrenaline, STAT!, Cath (played by Jodie Whittaker) was a fake doctor at an Edinburgh hospital, yanking twisted ankles into place and shoving chest drains where they belonged.

It couldnt happen in real life, though, could it? It already has. Others with medical backgrounds have posed as fully fledged doctors before. Take Levon Mkhitarian who encountered 3,363 patients in two years, working across seven NHS trusts on oncology, cardiology, transplant and surgical wards as well as in A&E. Mkhitarian, originally from Georgia, had graduated from medical school in the Caribbean island of Grenada and received provisional registration from the General Medical Council (GMC) to work specifically under supervision here. But he failed to complete the year. He went on to fraudulently secure a job anyway, was caught, and then promptly struck off. Undeterred, he forged a host of documents including a medical degree and energy bills, stealing the identity of a genuine doctor. The IT department of the William Harvey hospital in Ashford, Kent, finally rumbled Mkhitarian when he applied for a security pass in the name of another doctor. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges and in July 2015 was sentenced to six years in prison.

Levon Mkhitarian worked as a locum, never staying in one hospital or one speciality too long. Photograph: Kent Police/PA

These sorts of hospital cases are uncommon the subterfuge required is substantial and most medical impostors thrive in the community (more of which later) or apply for non-clinical roles. Anecdotally, the GMC receives about half a dozen cases a year where details of a registered doctor (their name or GMC number) have been used illegally. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, 13 people were charged with pretending to be registered as a doctor since 2004 (under the Medical Act 1983) prosecution figures are unavailable and this omits those charged more broadly under the Fraud Act 2006.

How did Mkhitarian get away with it? He certainly capitalised on medicine generally being a team sport. There are (or always should be) senior decision-makers around medical training is an apprenticeship and so asking for assistance wouldnt necessarily raise a red flag. He may have had enough experience to coast at times, just as Caths nursing background helped in the first episode of Trust Me she quickly diagnosed a boxers fracture and deftly administered intravenous drugs. And Mkhitarian later worked as a locum, never staying in one hospital or one speciality too long.

He earned 85,000 during the two years, but undoubtedly sought more than financial gain. Steven Jay Lynn, professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton, believes a variety of motivations drive medical impostors: a grandiose fantasy of power, respect, authority and the social rewards of being a doctor.

Lynn also thinks that many are old-fashioned charlatans. Theyre likely not much different from conmen and women of different stripes who try to pull off scams in the business world, law and psychology, he says. Many could probably be described as callous, lacking in empathy, narcissistic, antisocial and even psychopathic, such that they can exploit people and treat them as objects without guilt or remorse.

Their hunting ground is often outside the hospital, away from the scrutiny of regulators or eagle-eyed IT departments. They prey upon impressionable, suggestible and vulnerable victims, perhaps not explicitly stating they are doctors, but professing medical knowledge all the same. Recently, 48-year-old Joseph Valadakis from Tottenham, north London, convinced his victims that he had treated the royal family, Barack Obama, Banksy, Robbie Williams, Theresa May and Russell Brand. One Hertford couple fell for Valadakiss claim of running a government laboratory he assured them he was allowed to treat commoners, too. Meanwhile, his website stated that he possessed a biophysics PhD: It gave him the credibility we were looking for at the time, one of the defrauded couple said. She and her husband received wrap treatments costing 1,600 each (made from the excrement of snails fed on lemongrass) and 2,000 massages with whale sperm. These treatments would prevent otherwise inevitable strokes, heart attacks and blindness, Valadakis insisted. He (incorrectly) diagnosed the husband with pancreatic cancer, cautioning him against obtaining a second opinion. The couple were ultimately conned out of 97,000. In 2015, Valadakis, who had no medical qualifications, was jailed on fraud charges for four years.

Other victims of medical impostors pay a different price. Sheffield civil servant Stewart Edwards posed as a GP for 34 years, targeting Asian families (initially following them home and looking up names on the electoral roll). He arrived at their doorsteps carrying a briefcase and stethoscope, claiming he had been sent from a local health centre. Unsuspecting families let him in; one treated him as their family GP for a decade. In 2011, Edwards pleaded guilty to 13 offences five indecent assaults, two sexual assaults on a child, three counts of sexual activity with a child and three sexual assaults on two women and a man, between 2000 and 2010. He was jailed for four years. But Edwards admitted to impersonating a GP since 1976, in London and Sheffield. His actual number of victims remains unknown.

The family of Angela Murray say medical deception hastened her death. Photograph: Collect/BNPS

Some victims forgo effective treatments or receive unnecessary ones. An ongoing Ohio lawsuit claims that dozens were given a false diagnosis of dementia by Sherry-Ann Jenkins who had no medical qualifications. The Associated Press reported that her patients had been planning their final years, preparing their children for the inevitable, quitting their jobs and selling their possessions. Attorney David Zoll tells me that many of his 65 clients are devastated; they had placed absolute faith in Jenkins. One developed depression after his diagnosis and took his own life. An autopsy showed no evidence of Alzheimers, his wife says. She, too, was mistakenly diagnosed with dementia by Jenkins.

Back in Britain, the family of Angela Murray say medical deception hastened her death. The lack of a transplant was going to kill Angie anyway, her brother said, but I am totally convinced her death was due to this. It took away her will to live.

She met Julie Higgins at Inspire beauty salon in Poole, Dorset. Higgins was a regular there, or at least visited whenever her hectic schedule allowed, she said. She claimed to be an oncologist at Great Ormond Street childrens hospital and a humanitarian aid worker. Occasionally she arrived in medical garb, apparently fresh from a volunteer shift at the local health centre, happy to dispense medical advice to other customers. Sometimes, she had her head shaved, too, later, saying it put her young cancer patients at ease.

Murray, a 59-year-old sales manager, was terminally ill with lung fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. But Higgins carried hope when there was barely any to find she would source transplant organs, she assured Murray, on one occasion telling her to fast overnight as organs were in transit from Germany. Later, she sent texts from a supposed aid mission to Aleppo, promising to donate Murray her organs if she died. None of it was true.

Murrays family did become suspicious, but her brother, Dave Drummond, explained: Even when it was at its most unbelievable, I didnt want to say to Angie I think shes a conwoman. It would have just taken all the hope away from her.

Angelas husband, Gregory, told a local newspaper about how the eventual exposure of Higgins, in September last year, affected her: [Angelas] health deteriorated rapidly. Before then, she had said she was going to fight, but she lost hope. A month later she died in my arms.

Higgins claimed dissociative identity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder were responsible for her actions. Earlier this year, she received a 12-month community order and was instructed to pay a 140 victim surcharge. Judge Donald Tait concluded that the Medical Act 1983 did not allow him to impose a prison sentence.

There was no real financial motive Higgins received free haircuts valued at 80. But she envisaged herself as Murrays saviour. I rang her twice a week to keep her going and support her, she told the Bournemouth Echo. She relied on me and said I was her sanity.

Murrays husband sees Higgins as anything but: To put my wife through what she put her through, Ive never met someone so evil. You see things on TV and you think how can people be so stupid. But if someone gives you that little bit of hope you grasp at it.

Criminals such as Edwards, Higgins and Valadakis who act outside hospitals never register with the authorities in the first place that is one of the secrets of their success.

But in case Trust Me has you worried about encountering a bogus hospital doctor, the GMC insists that it now conducts face-to-face identity checks for registration and cites a robust data-security system. Employers must take responsibility, they insist, for checking identification and qualifications. Abdul Pirzada became a locum GP in Birmingham after employers failed to challenge his misleading CV or confirm he had registered with the GMC (he hadnt).

You cant be worse than Brigitte! was how one character greeted Cath in Trust Me. Dan Sefton, doctor and writer of the series, said: For me, theres a delicious irony in the idea that the impostor doctor is better than the real thing, both clinically and with patients. Im still hoping Cath wont get away with it. That might be just the reassurance we all need.

Jules Montague is a consultant neurologist and writer.

Trust Me continues on BBC1 on Tuesday at 9pm.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2017/aug/14/trust-me-im-a-fake-doctor-how-medical-imposters-thrive-in-the-real-world

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

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Trust me, I’m a fake doctor: how medical imposters thrive in the real world

Versions of Jodie Whittakers bogus TV medic do exist. But fantasists and charlatans tend to operate outside the hospital, where victims have been assaulted, misdiagnosed or offered false hope

Levon Mkhitarian worked as a locum, never staying in one hospital or one speciality too long. Photograph: Kent Police/PA

The family of Angela Murray say medical deception hastened her death. Photograph: Collect/BNPS

Criminals such as Edwards, Higgins and Valadakis who act outside hospitals never register with the authorities in the first place that is one of the secrets of their success.

Jules Montague is a consultant neurologist and writer.

Trust Me continues on BBC1 on Tuesday at 9pm.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2w4BaXy

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rickhorrow · 8 years ago

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15 to watch week of 32717

15 TO WATCH: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BUSINESS/ MARKETING/ENDORSEMENT ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 27 With Jamie Swimmer It looks all but certain that within days the city of Las Vegas will have not one but two pro sports franchises – the NHL Las Vegas Golden Knights and the NFL Las Vegas Raiders. Late Friday, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf disclosed the city’s last-ditch offer to keep the Raiders in town, but the NFL quickly rejected the latest proposal for a $1.3 billion stadium (involving a $600 million contribution from New York hedge fund Fortress Management Group), all but assuring owners at this week’s annual NFL meeting in Phoenix will approve the Raider’s relocation to Las Vegas. The stadium proposal is the same one Oakland presented to NFL owner committees in early March, to lukewarm reviews. One NFL source said, “The foundation elements – rapid access to the land at nominal cost and free of major contingencies are not present.” More incentive for NFL owners to put this to rest – revelations that the projected cost is $200 million less than the $1.9 billion estimate, and that an additional $200 million public subsidy for capital improvements is available. The odds of winning in Vegas just improved significantly for the league. In another interesting Phoenix-Vegas story arc, unanticipated Final Four matchups for the NCAA’s men’s basketball finale in Phoenix have captured Vegas oddsmakers’ and March Madness fans’ attention. In the two East vs. West matchups, Vegas has the Gonzaga Bulldogs a 6.5 point favorite over newfound upset expert South Carolina, reaching the school’s first Final Four ever and having the distinction winning twice as many NCAA tournament games in the last ten days than they had in the school’s entire history. While South Carolina last won an NCAA game in 1973, the University of Oregon, battling North Carolina on the other side of the bracket as a 4.5 point underdog, hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1937, the tournament’s maiden year (although they made the Elite Eight last year). Even bigger numbers: the Greater Phoenix region is hoping to pull in more than the estimated $300 million in economic impact Houston pocketed from hosting the Final Four last year. With the NBA regular season winding down, teams start resting players more often to preserve them for the playoffs. Commissioner Adam Silver is not a fan of that tactic. According to ESPN.com, Silver sent a memo to teams saying that resting key players is an “extremely significant issue” for the league that needs to be addressed immediately. Teams could receive “significant penalties” if they do not abide by standing league rules. The NBA has already warned front office executives about potential repercussions; Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin said the league office “called him shortly after the team announced its decision” to sit star players out of a nationally televised game against the Clippers on ABC. Griffin responded to the league office by stating that it “isn’t his job to appease the league and its television partners.” Hard to decide how to deal with this one: a solution might be collectively bargained way down the road, but it’s difficult to see how the league could mandate some standards unilaterally. StubHub’s MLB Pre-Season Wins: With MLB Opening Weekend upon us, fans will flock to ballparks across the country, and there’s a good chance they used StubHub to purchase a ticket. Now partners with 29 of MLB’s 30 clubs, StubHub services all but one team in MLB as the secondary ticket partner. Most recently, the world’s largest ticket marketplace welcomed the L.A. Angels back into the StubHub portfolio, and with the partnership, is supporting the club’s move to mobile entry this season, following suit of two other StubHub-MLB partners, the NY Yankees and the Chicago Cubs. StubHub’s technology chops and leadership in mobile ticketing provide partners with the tools they need to move the sport into today’s anytime-anywhere experience economy, making it easier than ever for MLB fans to get a ticket and into the game. Also with the start of a new season, StubHub has officially rolled out its virtual view, 360-degree virtual reality seat viewer to every MLB ballpark, which adds an additional layer of personalization and efficiency in the ticket buying experience. This is good news not only for baseball fans but for the clubs as well – when the world’s largest ticket marketplace, with its industry-leading tech and tools, works hand-in-hand with partners to offer a superior product and experience, it’s a win for everyone involved. Marking another significant step towards gender equality in sports, the University of Pittsburgh has introduced Heather Lyke as its new athletic director. According to SportsBusiness Journal, Lyke’s appointment at Pitt now makes her the fourth female athletic director out of the 65 universities that constitute the Power Five conferences. “The others are N.C. State's Debbie Yow, Penn State's Sandy Barbour and Washington's Jennifer Cohen.” When looking at the larger context of Division I schools, there are significantly more women in power positions; 33 women currently serve as athletic directors out of the 351 Division I schools, “not counting outgoing UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy.” Lyke had served as the AD at Eastern Michigan since 2013 before coming to Pitt, and had had a tremendous amount of success at the small-market school. “Eastern Michigan had the worst football program and nobody donated. Heather Lyke comes in, they go to a bowl and donations went up 40%.” The sports industry is focused on gender equity, given the number of national conferences and executive leadership seminars devoted to the issue; among them is the Women’s Leadership Conference I moderated last week at the Kia LPGA Classic in San Diego. Despite doing an “excellent job” hosting the FIS Audi World Cup Finals, Aspen might not be awarded the event anytime in the near future. According to the Aspen Times, FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis was quick to praise the Colorado resort for pulling off the event, though she also warned that it must “meet conditions before the ski races will return.” The FIS is calling for multiple significant mountain improvements before making Aspen host again, including replacing Lift 1A with a faster chair and making upgrades throughout the mountain and at the base. The five-day event reportedly drew over 30,000 spectators for the men’s and women’s speed and technical races. Aspen Skiing Vice President/Sales & Special Events John Rigney said that Aspen is “ready to host World Cup events as soon as next season,” and it is “up to the U.S. Ski Team and FIS if that happens.” As in all sports, upgraded and modernized facilities are the key to hosting mega-events. In many cases, the public sector contributes significant resources to generate the long-term commitments necessary to deliver the appropriate economic and tourist impact. This may be another example. While it remains one of the two remaining cities contesting to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, the Parisian Olympic committee made it clear that it has no interest in hosting the 2028 Games instead. According to Reuters, Paris is competing with Los Angeles to land the 2024 Olympics, and the 2028 Olympics will be handed out at the same time as its predecessor. Paris 2024 Olympic bid committee co-Chair Tony Estanguet noted that he was “not against the awarding of the 2024 and 2028 Olympics in the same session later this year, but ruled the French capital out of the latter Games.” The leader of Paris’ bid also guaranteed that none of his team will “accept or offer bribes for votes” in September’s election. It looks like the Paris vs. Los Angeles drama will go down to the wire. The idea of a two-city/two-Olympics selection was floated last week. At least on the surface, parties seem to reject that idea. Major League Baseball has identified its next “arms race:” sports science. According to SportsNet.ca, the Toronto Blue Jays “may be leading the pack.” The franchise is investing heavily on this front with their new High Performance department, which will serve as an “interdisciplinary collection of specialists covering everything from strength and conditioning to psychology.” Blue Jays players who have worked out at the facility thus far have been amazed. “In my experience, it's completely unique to baseball,” said Left Fielder Steve Pearce. “I feel like a fish out of water just trying to learn all the stuff that they do because it's completely different.” The team has already made multiple full-time hires for the facility, trying to bring some of the best talent in sports science to help the team succeed on the field. All new competitive information follows the same trend: acceptance among a small number of enlightened teams, and then a frenzy to copy or include all of the others. Sports science seems to be the next phase. Despite not making much progress on improving the event’s venue, WME-IMG is planning on keeping the ATP/WTA Miami Open in Key Biscayne. According to SportsBusiness Journal, Miami Open executives have been unable to allocate the $50 million voter-approved money for enhancements, which is why WME-IMG, owners of the event, were thinking of relocating the tournament. The Miami Open is currently played at Crandon Park, where concessions and hospitality are “housed in temporary venues, there is one stadium with no overhead protection from the piercing Florida sun, and many of the outer courts could be found at lower-level events on the tours.” Back in the early 2000s the event was often compared to the Grand Slam tournaments, but those comparisons have since stopped with the lack of capital coming in. After the positives surrounding the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the two-week Miami Open seems to require significant political and business momentum to keep pace. The NFL has set the Oakland Raiders’ relocation fee to between $325-$375 million. According to The MMQB, even if the Raiders are forced to pay up to $375 million upon moving to Las Vegas, this range comes as “relatively affordable” when pinned against the steep $650 million the Rams and Chargers each had to pay to move to Los Angeles. The NFL’s stadium finance committee met last week, and clearly the NFL is “bullish on a funding plan that is now being backed by Bank of America,” and has its foundation in a record $750 million in public money. A final vote from the NFL owners on the Raiders’ relocation plans is expected to come soon, which would end all of the drama surrounding the team and its inability to find a new home in the Bay Area. Sources close to the owners noted that it is “likely but not definite that the relocation will be ratified.” The Raiders drama seems to be moving toward a rapid conclusion – little conversation about Oakland and more comfort surrounding the public/private partnership in Vegas. The Olympics are widely considered the most prestigious sporting event in the world that an athlete could participate in, but the NHL still may not let its players make the trip to PyeongChang, South Korea in 2018. According to Reuters, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that with negotiations on Olympic participation “at a standstill,” people should “assume the league will not be sending its players” to the 2018 PyeongChang Games. The NHL has let its players participate in the last five Winter Olympic Games, but Bettman said that there has been “no quantitative benefit” for the league to send its players away for those weeks. “We don't get content for the NHL Network, we don't get content for our social media platforms and NHL.com,” said Bettman. “Why did we do it five times? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time but we have been unable to quantify any benefit from it.” The NHL always faces a difficult choice relative to Olympic participation, especially compared to the NBA (whose season always falls outside of the Olympic schedule). It is clearly important to protect the integrity of the NHL season and its players. Becoming the first foreign club to open an office in mainland China, German club Bayern Munich has opened an office in Shanghai. According to Bloomberg, Bayern Munich has been making a push as of late to expand its international presence, opening its first overseas office in New York recently. The club currently has over 136 million followers in China, so Bayern thought it made sense to focus more energy and time on the Chinese soccer market. Soccer is becoming a “national priority” in mainland China, with major clubs now trying more than ever to win over some of the 1.3 billion residents. Spurred by China President Xi Jinping's wish for the nation to become a soccer “super power, leading companies and some of China's wealthiest individuals are plowing billions into the sport, paying record fees to lure top talent to clubs, building training complexes and buying foreign teams.” Look for a trend that includes more mega soccer clubs to open offices in China: marketing synergies, player development, and brand building all factor into the decision. Twitch now faces a new challenger for dominance in the e-sports realm: YouTube. According to Mashable, YouTube has started to “double down” on live e-sports video, becoming e-sports’ “secondary video home” to Twitch. YouTube “doesn't want to take second place to Twitch, so it's forcing fans to switch over” by continuing to buy exclusive streaming rights. YouTube recently announced a partnership with the Esports Championship Series, which comes on the heels of the deal it signed with ESL. Twitch, which was launched in 2011, is responsible for helping to popularize live streaming in the video game world, but YouTube seems poised to take over as the leading streaming service. YouTube, which is backed by Google, has a significant amount of power and capital behind it. Other streaming services and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have “started to double down on live video” as well. It was inevitable that YouTube invaded this space. Esports continues to become a major player in the “team sports” landscape – especially with the younger demographic. With Tom Crean getting ousted from his job at Indiana University, coaches around the country speculated that UCLA Head Coach Steve Alford would return to his alma mater to fill the vacancy – with a little help from adidas. Although Dayton’s Archie Miller actually got the job, according to SportsBusiness Journal, college basketball coaches around the country expected adidas” to pay Alford’s $7.8 million buyout at UCLA to get the coach to Bloomington. Back when Alford took the UCLA job in 2013, the school was sponsored by adidas, but it signed a 15-year, $280 million deal with Under Armour last year. Adidas has slowly been slipping in college athletics over the years due to Nike’s dominance and Under Armour’s willingness to spend big to sign top universities. Another example of “retail wars” influencing the ultimate decision. As we head toward the Final Four in Phoenix, the influence of the retail companies over college athletic programs becomes even more obvious. Longtime Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause has passed away. At the age of 77, Krause, the “architect of six NBA Championships” who “turned the Bulls into a world-wide brand,” passed away after losing a battle to numerous health-related issues. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Krause was "responsible for surrounding" Michael Jordan with the likes of Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, Toni Kukoc, and Dennis Rodman, "as well as the hiring" of coach Phil Jackson. Krause originally got his start in baseball, helping the crosstown Chicago White Sox acquire Ozzie Guillen before making the switch to basketball. The two-time NBA Executive of the Year received a lot of criticism while with the team, despite the team’s tremendous on-court success, because of his tense relationship with Jackson and Jordan. “Jerry was one of the hardest working guys I have ever been around, and he was one of the best talent evaluators ever,” said Bulls Chair Jerry Reinsdorf. Krause was in many ways the dean of the “old-time general managers.” He had fewer day-to-day “salary cap” issues, but more successes related to chemistry, team unity, and the “supporting cast” than Michael Jordan.

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