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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Utah teams donate to holiday charities
From toys to teddy bears to Jazz merchandise, Utah sports teams chip in to spread the cheer in December.
BYU's men's basketball team took part in the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation fundraiser this week. It's the 10th year that coach Dave Rose and the Cougars have participated in the event, which raises toys and donations for more than 90 families who have children with cancer living primarily in Utah County.
The Utah Grizzlies made their annual Pre-Christmas visit to Primary Children's Medical Center earlier this week, taking 933 stuffed animals with them.
The teddy bears were collected from fans during last Saturday's Teddy Bear Toss game at the E Center.
The Jazz presented the Dave Mearian family with more than $5,000 worth of merchandise last week as part of the Utah Jazz/APX Alarm Ultimate Jazz Christmas. The family was randomly selected from more than 13,000 entries.
Open for business
While the Arena Football League is on hiatus, the American Indoor Football Association is steaming ahead with plans for its 2009 season.
That means the Ogden Knights expect to take the field in the spring. To build a roster, the Knights are staging an open tryout today at the Sportsplex in Kaysville.
Registration begins at the indoor field, 1188 W. Sportsplex Drive in Kaysville, at 2 p.m. For information, visit www.ogdenknights.com.
Tidbits
The Mtn. -- the Mountain West Conference's TV programming -- brags about a 78 percent increase in household viewership in 2008, and perhaps Utah, BYU and TCU enjoying such successful football seasons had something to do with it. That's not much consolation for those customers who still can't get the Mtn. on their local provider. ...
Southern Utah was picked second and Utah State fourth in the Western Athletic Conference preseason women's gymnastics poll. Defending champ Boise State was tabbed first. SUU joins the WAC for gymnastics only. ...
Franklin Covey Field, home of the Salt Lake Bees, is again featured in Baseball America's Great Parks 2009 Calendar. Franklin Covey Field is featured in January. ...
The BYU men's volleyball team was picked to finish eighth in the 2009 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The top eight finishers in the conference advance to the MPSF playoffs, in hopes of advancing to the 2009 NCAA Championship held in Provo on May 9-11. ...
Chris J. Miller is sports editor for the Standard-Examiner. He can be reached at 625-4261 or cmiller@standard.net.
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