| Mark 'The Ear' Oberhardt gives the lowdown on sport
And it isn't just league as local Aussie rules and soccer (which, like league, are semi-professional) report crowds are at best holding. Meanwhile, reader "P B" agreed Brisbane schoolboy rugby games drew 5000 to 10,000 but also pointed out it was a similar case in Sydney. FOLLOWING several recent The Ear stories about TAB agents the mailbox overflowed with praise for them. But we really liked these two stories. The first regarded the collapse of a patron where the agent performed CPR for a long period until a medical team arrived. But our winner was when a senior punter experienced a wardrobe malfunction and he needed the agent to hold "personal items" while his trousers were removed to extract a wallet that was "cast" during an exciting moment! ALSO in the mail was a nice story from a Logan dad whose daughter plays softball and is fundraising for the rep season.
Paulson, Portland push new Timbers plan
The $15 million hole in Merritt Paulson's $31 million soccer stadium plan has been filled, the Portland Timbers owner and city officials announced yesterday. Under the new plan, Paulson would pay $8 million in cash, and prepay $11.1 million in rent and ticket taxes; the city, meanwhile, would kick in $11.2 million in future tax revenue, plus a $700,000 development tax break. So who would actually end up paying the $31 mil to convert PGE Park to soccer-only? It's hard to say — if the previous plan was confusing, the new one is if anything more so: The $11.1 million in prepayments by Paulson, in particular, looks more like a loan than a private expense. The key point here, though, seems to be that this plan avoids using urban renewal money, which was a no-go with some city commissioners; since Paulson has already ditched the more-controversial minor-league baseball stadium plan for the time being, he seems to have given himself a leg up on getting the soccer deal done.
Gallery: Beckham returns to soccer
Los Angeles Galaxy soccer star David Beckham, right, of England, former French soccer star Zinedine Zidane, of France, prepare to play soccer match youngsters after helping announce the "Footprint Fields" donation program, which will help develop new turf soccer fields in urban location and communities at a news conference, Saturday, July 11, 2009, in El Segundo, Calif. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas) .
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