Monday Newsline:Kaymer Snares US Open as NBC Era Ends

Germany's Martin Kaymer became the first man from his country to win the prestigious 114th US Open Sunday at Pinehurst Resort,North Carolina,and Comcast NBC Universal sadly marked its final broadcast of the storied golf tournament after 20 straight years of coverage.Kaymer,29,had previously won the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Sraits,Wisconsin;the World Number One ranking for eight weeks in 2011;10 tournaments on the European Tour-plus the Ryder Cup as a member of Team Europe;as well as the 2014 Players Championship a few weeks ago in Florida.
Kaymer's nine under par 72 blew away the rest of the field by a margin of at least eight strokes.His closest competitors were Americans Erik Compton and Ricky Fowler,who shared second at one under par.Compton,34,a survivor of two heart transplants who is happy to just be alive,became the sentimental favourite as he notched his best PGA showing ever.*
Europeans have taken the last two US Open trophies,with Englishman Justin Rose taking America's national championship last year.Speaking of Kaymer's performance,Ricky Fowler said that Martin was in his own golf tournamnet.Seeing how in control his golf game was kind of pushes me,becuase I was not far off.*
Phil Mickelson,44,was calm as he reflected on his road ahead.The Hall of Famer had carded a poor seven over par at Pinehurst as his putting seemed to desert him,but he looked forward to the next four or five years and the exciting courses on the US Open schedule.The US Open is the only one of the four majors he has yet to win,and only five other men have accomplished this grand slam of golf.*
Meanwhile,the broadcast booth was dealing with another kind of drama.NBC analyst Johnny Miller choked up as he and colleague Dan Hicks signed off.After 20 consecutive years of televising United States Golf Association events,Comcast's NBC Universal and partner Disney's ESPN were outbid by News Corp's Fox Sports last August for the next 12 years of USGA events,which besides the US Open include the US Senior Open,US Women's Open and USGA amateur events.Fox got a 12 year multimedia deal running from 2015 through 2026.Its winning bid was reportedly around 74 million dollars a year-twice what NBC/ESPN were paying.
Fox Sports has zero experience at golf coverage,so there's a big unknown for USGA golf fans in the years ahead.The USGA is the official governing body of the sport in the USA.*
US futures and Asian markets reflected concern about the Iraq crisis and the Federal Reserve possibly raising interest rates sooner rather than later.The S&P futures were down 6.78 points,while the Dow and NASDAQ futures dropped 48.0 and 9.66 points,respectively.Oil futures climbed 0.4%,and gold rose 0.6% as Treasury rates fell.Most Asian markets were down or virtually flat on the Iraq and Fed worries.The Nikkei was down 1.04%,while the Hang Seng fell 0.6% and the KOSPI was flat in Monday trading.
Comcast(CMCST A),News Corporation(NWS)

The Spirit of Sarah:Sochi Olympics Halfpipe Ski Finals

The spirit of Sarah Burke,the late and legendary Canadian freestyle skier,loomed large in the finals of the women's halfpipe ski event Thursday at the Sochi Winter Olympics.It was Burke who initially pushed ESPN to include the event in its Winter X Games and,later,convinced the International Olympic Committee to include it in the Sochi 2014 Games.She died at age 29 on January 19,2012 of injuries received January 10 in a training accident at Park City,Utah,suffering irreversible damage to the brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest,and a torn vertebral artery.
In the course of her career,she won four gold medals and a silver at the Winter X Games,plus the World Championship in halfpipe in 2005.In 2007,she received the ESPY award for Best Female Action Sports Athlete.She married fellow skier Rory Bushfield in 2010.*
Emotions over Sarah flowed in the hearts of the skiers who had personally known her Thursday.Her parents were among the spectators at Sochi,and consider the skiers to be family.*
Sarah's the reason we're all here,said Team USA's Maddie Bowman,20,of South Lake Tahoe,California.Without Sarah,none of us would be Olympians.Sarah inspired us on snow or off snow.I think she would have been proud of how all the girls rode tonight.*
Bowman won the first gold medal in the new Olympic discipline with her clean and seamless run,followed by Marie Martinod of France,29,silver,and Japan's Ayuna Onozuka,bronze.With Bowman's victory and that of David Wise the day before,the US swept the gold medals for the event.
American Brita Sigourney also performed some remarkable tricks at up to 34' off the ground,but a slight mistake on one landing kept her off the medal stand.*
The US led the medals count as of Thursday night with 25.Russia was second with 23,and the Netherlands held third with 22.Norway had the most gold medals(10).

Baseball Psychodrama:A-Rod Drilled;Gets Revenge Later

Alex Rodriguez,the controversial third baseman for the New York Yankees,was deliberately struck with a second inning pitch by Boston Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster in a Sunday night game at Boston's Fenway Park.The game was nationally televised on ESPN.Apparently,Dempster had taken it upon himself to be the enforcer for the Boston fans who had greeted A-Rod with loud boos in reponse to the embattled slugger's alleged involvement with performance enhancing drugs,or PEDs.*A-Rod just stood there looking stunned when Dempster threw the baseball directly at him,remarkably composed despite the hostile act.Umpire Brian O'Nora warned both ball clubs that any further nonsense would result in the offender being tossed from the game.That wasn't enough for Yankees manager Joe Girardi,who ran out on the field,beside himself with anger at O'Nora for not ejecting Dempster straight off.He screamed in O'Nora's face and promptly got tossed out himself.Several of A-Rod's teammates also ran onto the field to support him.*A-Rod got his revenge by hitting a home run off Dempster in the sixth inning,plus two other hits in the game,leading the Yankees to a 9-6 victory over the Red Sox,their bitter rivals in the American league East division.*After the game,A-Rod said the win was huge.These guys have such a great team.Obviously it was a weird situation there.I didn't scream anything at them.Not everybody hates me.I have some great teammates.I have faith in God and a lot of people praying for me.I've always been booed.The key is for us to win games,and we're doing that.*It was A-Rod's 649th home run of his career.He is fifth in the all time home run list,six behind San Francisco Giants legend Willie Mays.Many say there should be an asterisk beside A-Rod's career records because he used PEDs at various points in his career.They also feel A-Rod should be barred from the Hall of Fame.The Yankees star is currently appealing a lengthy suspension from baseball for his alleged involvement with a Florida anti-aging clinic,Biogenesis,that reportedly administered PEDs to athletes.*The Yankees have an outside chance at a post-season slot this year,with many having already written them off.The team and its fans hope that the return of A-Rod to the lineup after being injured most of this season will be the catalyst that propels them to the playoffs.

Should You Buy Disney Shares

Walt Disney beat the Q2 profit estimate,earning 1.01 per share versus the 0.93 estimate,but missed on sales,racking up 11.1 billion dollars versus the 11.3 billion estimate.It found a lot of studio success with "The Avengers" film.Media Networks and Entertainment and Theme Parks provided most of the income.Media Networks rose 3%,while Theme Parks gained 9%,and the Studio division was flat overall.
Disney's new CarsLand park was well-received.Worldwide TV was driven by higher sales in international markets-the hot places to sell properties.ESPN charges pay TV operators more than anyone else does.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said every one of our businesses were up nicely year over year.The consumer is still flocking to valuable,good product.Spending is up nicely from a year ago.Visibility is still somewhat lacking in advertising.Generally speaking,there is not much visibility in the ad market.ABC had a modest decrease in advertising for the quarter.
Resort spending is up nicely.We have huge strength in ESPN.The Disney Channel has been on fire,in the number one position.We actually see a relatively strong environment for our channels' franchise fees.
We're relatively consumer-facing and global.Europe is troubling us the most.Our businesses in Asia have been quite strong-the Tokyo and Hong Kong theme parks.People are willing to step up for the cruise ship business and expanded parks.We started to ween ourselves off deep discounts.There's still some room to increase prices based on good,fresh product.
It would be fair to view the environment with some degree of caution,but with our product,our outlook is generally favorable.The world is more complex and competitive than ever before.We've got to have a culture of innovation and a strong infrastructure.We've got to figure out a way to get the government moving forward.That's vital for our business.Corporate taxes have to be looked at carefully,Mr.Iger urged.
Walt Disney Company(DIS)

Disney Grows Across the Board,But Sales Light

The widely held Walt Disney Company reported mixed earnings for Q4.Profits were 0.80 a share versus an estimate of 0.72,while sales were 10.8 billion dollars versus an estimate of 11.2 billion.Parks and resorts showed a 10% increase in revenue,and media and entertainment revenue increased 30%.
We had real strength in our cable networks,led by Disney Channel and ESPN,which brings in 40% of Disney's revenue.We're growing all of our businesses,as by the Marvel acquisition with the movie "The Avengers,"said CEO Bob Iger.The numbers at our parks are very encouraging.I think it says a lot about the American consumer.
We had an NBA strike,but ESPN's advertising was actually up for the quarter.The cruise ships are about 75% booked for the year on 40% more rooms.
The entire cruise ship business was hurt short term by the Costa Concordia sinking in January,but generally speaking,we're seeing a good year ahead for that business.
Foreign sites are stealing and reselling our property,hurting our economy.This company has looked at tech as a new means of opportunity for us;we believe we can monetize it,Mr.Iger stated.
CNBC's Karen Finerman said she owns Disney shares.It's a premier company that doesn't get a premier valuation,and it should,in her opinion.
Disney and Univision are launching a 24 hour English language ABC News channel targeted at Hispanics.Ninety percent of U.S. Latinos under 30 are consuming in English,so the project makes economic sense.
Walt Disney(DIS)

Reflection:LeBron's Respectable Decision

ESPN,a holding of Disney,was criticized for devoting an hour special to LeBron James' decision on where to play basketball for the next several years.Both LeBron's decision and ESPN's coverage,in the event,turned out to have a lot of integrity.It was refreshing to see that in the high-priced world of professional sports.The ESPN journalists stayed true to their own profession.They didn't shy away from LeBron.They were in his face with the tough questions,questions that knowledgeable fans were surely asking in their own minds.
As for LeBron James,he handled the whole process as well as any human being could be expected to.Everything he said made sense.By all appearances,he is a well-grounded gentleman,as well as a sports star.To keep his sanity through the media and business madness is the true mark of his character.Congratulations to him for that achievement.We need all the examples of sound behavior we can find in a culture racked by mental illness and extremes of every sort.And ESPN is also praiseworthy for keeping their heads above the dangerous water.
No child who watched the ESPN special went to bed the worse for it,and should have benefited from the reasoned judgement showed by all concerned.That is high praise indeed for contemporary television.
In Cleveland,the response was sharp,with vitriol being directed at LeBron for his mature,rational approach.Cleveland produced and retained a star player for seven years,but ultimately failed to make a championship team possible,as so many other cities have failed;but Cleveland will start over again on the project,not waste time castigating LeBron James for exercising his rights as an athlete and a person.
Disney(DIS)