FEATURES
26 Bring on the Snow!
Yearning for powersports but stuck in the snow% Snowmobiling may be your answer
to an adrenalinfilled winter vacation.
54 College Basketball Preview
Mario Chalmers's game saving 3-point shot in the title game is a lasting one.
However, the list of 2008-09 contenders changes everything. Here is our preseason
Top 25 for 2008-09.
82 Holiday Gift Guide
Checking your list twice? Here are our recommendations for the gifts that will
gel you bonus points — no matter who's on your list.
86 Disturbed
Only a handful of rock bands have ever released three number one albums in a row.
Go in depth with Disturbed. HOOTERS GIRLS
36 Aspen Feature
72 Jen
98 Kalen
110 Serina SPORTS
94 Gene Upshaw
In August the NFL lost its most influential executive of the last 25 years. Behind
the scenes it was Upshaw who kept the peace between the NFL's owners and the players
who made the game.
106 Death Of A Sportswriter
Have the Internet, 'talking-head culture' killed a great art? Plus, we list the
ten best sportwriters of all time. SIDE ITEMS
10 HOOTERS Across America
22 Screen Shots
23 Tune In
24 Video Game
30 Cool Jobs
88 Gadget Guy
118 The Owl's Nest
EDITOR'S LETTER
Not So Fast My Friend
I first met Lee Corso in 1995 when he was coaching one of the teams in the HOOTERS
Hula Bowl College Football All-Star Game in Honolulu. Things were just getting
started for Lee in terms of his presence as the centerpiece for ESPN's coverage
of College Football. It would be another three years before "Coach"
donned the first mascot's head and a few more before "Gameday" became
the EMMY award-winning show it is today. As a result of that meeting, Lee agreed
to be the first official celebrity endorser for HOOTERS.
Now, thirteen years later, HOOTERS and Lee Corso represent the longest tenured
celebrity endorsement relationship in television, and both HOOTERS and Lee have
become icons in their field. HOOTERS has tripled in size and expanded into twenty-seven
countries, while Lee has simply become "The Man" for college football.
I have always felt that, in Lee, we had the best possible person to say, "HOOTERS
is the place to watch football." Through the years, we have dressed Lee as
a drum major, a tribal king and a matador. Through it all, Lee's expressions,
delivery and timing have added a humorous tone the advertisers crave.
As good as Lee is in front of the camera, I have also always known he is a class
act behind it. Lee has spoken several times at our conventions and is always a
favorite of our group. He talks about integrity, responsibility and loyalty. While
I have always believed these were more than just words in a speech to Lee, I'm
not sure I fully appreciated the extent to which he lived by these principles.
Back in August, when he was in Atlanta filming our College Bowl television ads,
Lee took me aside to tell me about a situation he had recently dealt with. It
seems his bosses at ESPN had sold a major sponsorship on the Gameday show to an
advertiser that happened to be a restaurant. This company had really wanTed Lee
to become an endorser for its product and offered him far more than we at HOOTERS
could pay, to tempt him. Many people would have asked if we were okay with this
deal. However, Lee didn't do that. He decided on his own this was not best for
HOOTERS and told his network bosses "sorry I'm sticking with HOOTERS."
He decided thirteen years was better than a quick buck. He decided not to put
a friend in an awkward situation by asking permission. He even decided not to
let me know what had happened to "get credit" for his good deed until
well after it had occurred. In short, he just did the right thing.
When Lee makes his picks, predicts the winning team in the featured game each
week and goes through his now famous mascot ceremony, make no mistake about it--
the real winner is the guy wearing the funny headdress.
