Hull Rich Hull
Notes From HULLywood

MARINARO TIES HIMSELF TO "ROPE SQUAD"

By Richard Hull, SportsHollywood Board Member

("Notes From Hollywood" is an occasional column about the inner workings of Hollywood, with a few sports opinions thrown in along the way...and you'll only find it at SportsHollywood.)

Hey, everybody! We've got a HUGE announcement. Coming this summer - SportsHollywood's very own Ed Marinaro will lead an elite unit of Las Vegas Detectives as the world's biggest ass-kicker in the new USA Network television series Rope Squad. But don't worry...Ed's not leaving us, because the folks from SportsHollywood will actually be producing the TV show with Ed! Just think -- exclusive behind-the-scenes scoop, breaking news from the set and, of course, Ed's regular (and much-requested) SportsHollywood column about -- what else? Sports...and Hollywood.

And how cool is this? When SportsHollywood needed the inside track on finding out how the real Vegas cops operate...one of our long-time SportsHollywood subscribers stepped up to the plate to get Ed the opportunity to spend a few days with the real-life Vegas crime busters themselves. You gotta love that SportsHollywood family. You rock, DH!

So sign up for the newsletter right now damn-it or you'll miss all the gory details of Ed's adventures with the Vegas cops this week. Let's just say that there's a little tale about a drug bust, some go-go boots and a piercing....

2/1/2001


Anaheim Angels' Tim Salmon Sentenced To Boot Camp

By Richard Hull, SportsHollywood Board Member

("Notes From Hollywood" is an occasional column about the inner workings of Hollywood, with a few sports opinions thrown in along the way...and you'll only find it at SportsHollywood.)

SportsHollywood has been circling this topic for the longest time looking for just the right sports angle to combine with just the right Hollywood angle. Well, I finally found it.

Check out Tim Salmon of the Anaheim Angels doing the daddy thing and stumpin' for Boot Camp. The Boot Camp For New Dads (www.newdads.com) is - believe it or not - a real place where rookie daddies-to-be go to learn how to be veteran daddies-that-are. It's for guys. By guys. About guys. No chicks over two feet tall allowed. And it ain't some touchy, feely kind of place either...it's about as testosterone-filled as it comes.

Salmon and Twins
Okay, I'm no dad - that you can prove - but I immediately thought this place was so incredibly cool that SportsHollywood's sister company, Avalanche! Entertainment, started writing a movie set at the real Boot Camp. And just like the Boot Camp-ers themselves, this movie - which just made a splashy, front-page sale and will be out next year through Revolution Studios and Sony Pictures - is going to be a winner!

Dads
There are now Boot Camps all over the country and they just signed some huge deal with the Navy to put these camps on military bases around the world. So check out their website - www.newdads.com -- and then look around...there just may be a Boot Camp near you. And rock on, Tim Salmon, for helping these great guys out!

11/17/2000


With *N Sync in Vegas

By Richard Hull, SportsHollywood's CEO

("Notes From Hollywood" is an occasional column about the inner workings of Hollywood, with a few sports opinions thrown in along the way...and you'll only find it at SportsHollywood.)

So I found myself at The Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas last week with Lance and Joey from *N Sync... Honestly, I had absolutely no idea that these guys were as mega-huge as they are.

Restaurants had to post security around our dinner table, casino hosts wheeled us in and out of places through the kitchens, and, several times, the security guards had to rush us out of the casino at a full sprint to ebb the tide of the virtually riotous mob around our craps table.

But ahhhh, the craps table.

At 4:00 a.m. on Friday night, we hit the tables. And I'm telling you, these guys were throwing out some dough.

Now standing in front of a huge crowd playing craps with arguably the biggest musicians in the world right now (with probably one too many Jack-and-Cokes in me), I had no intention of looking like the proverbial puss.

So I did my best to go dollar-for-dollar with these guys, knowing that with *N Sync on my side, I couldn't lose.

Within 10 minutes...I was cleaned out.

Every single dollar in my pocket.

Luckily for me, everyone else was getting clobbered too, so we decided it was movin'-on time and we left.

As I started for the cash advance machine, I said to Lance, "Man, that table frickin' killed me."

"Me too," he said. "It's a good thing the casino gave us money to gamble with so that we'd hang out down here!"

My face turned white as a sheet. "You mean to tell me that you millionaires aren't even losing your own damn money?!!"

Yep, you got it.

I'm sure there's a moral to this story, but right now I'm too broke and bitter to figure it out.

11/9/2000


Big Ed

So how cool is it that Ed Marinaro writes a column for SportsHollywood?!! The guy rocks.

I was at Ed's house in the Hollywood Hills not long ago - actually, that would be "Big Ed" as we call him around here - and it occurred to me that this dude has had the life that, as guys, we all dream of. He was a Heisman Trophy runner-up and football great in college (I'm sure that that meant lots of chicks); he was one of the greatest running backs in NFL history (in my mind...more chicks); and he has turned into a great celebrity in Hollywood (which, as I see it, means even more chicks). Of course, the chick part is pure speculation on my part.

However, the point is: here's a guy who is still having a fantastic career doing what he loves and has somehow kept it all together enough to remain a person with a true heart of gold. I meet a lot of celebrities in my business and the bulk of them ultimately turn out to be the world's biggest schmoes.

But Big Ed is the real deal. Whether he's talking about fishing, football, Hollywood, golf or politics (all favorite subjects of his), Big Ed Marinaro is the man-among-men who gets this week's SportsHollywood Thumbs Up.

October 10, 2000


'N Sync & This Week's 'Texans Are Losers' Article

  • I spent all day yesterday with Lance Bass from the band, 'N Sync, going from meeting to meeting in a green 1970 Cadillac convertible. For all of the nonsense that I find myself putting up with on a day-to-day basis, the great thing about my day-job as a movie producer is that I get the chance to hang with a lot of interesting people. And Lance is definitely one of those people...and he's a huge baseball die-harder to boot. In fact, he has a bar in New York with Yankee great, Derek Jeter, and is also proud to say that he's a big Jose Canseco fan (even after Canseco took it in the noggin' with a fly ball a couple of seasons ago). I'm happy to say that Lance gets this week's inaugural SportsHollywood Thumbs Up. And keep an eye out for him in an upcoming movie...

  • I am absolutely thrilled that my ol' pal -- well-known throughout the world, but known here on SportsHollywood as "Anonymous" -- has agreed to write for us an occasional column aptly entitled, "Let's Do Lunch". I know that Anonymous is excited to have a forum to weigh-in on issues of sports and Hollywood in a way that his/her status as a Hollywood celebrity has never allowed. However, how did I know that she would jump-start her first column with some bogus rant about how Texans are losers? What a chump! I'm a proud Texan myself and, yes, I've been known to be a little brash about my teams and my state. But it's only because we're the best at everything. Hands down...Zip it...We're the best.

    Anonymous was nice enough to forward me a handful of the hundreds of emails she received after her "Texans Are Losers" column in Tuesday's SportsHollywood. Besides subscriber Kathryn's very eloquent "Who the hell does this guy think he is??? What a bastard!," my favorite came from Paula in Texas: "Tell Mr. Anonymous that there are two kinds of people in the world: 1) Texans, and 2) Those who wish they could be Texans."

    Quite true. It's sort of like the guy who drives a fast sports-car to overcompensate for his small...you know. If you feel the need to bitch and moan about Texans being too arrogant...then you're obviously on the outside wishing you could be "in."

    (Richard Hull was born in Texas.)

    9/27/2000


    JOIN OUR AWARD-WINNING,
    FREE NEWSLETTER!


  • sports | hollywood | columns | about us | store | ComedyOnTap | newsletter | links
    Copyright © 2004 SportsHollywood.com, All Rights Reserved.