Atlanta Reels in First $100,000 Fantasy Fishing Prize Winner as Georgia Prepares to Host $2.5 Million Forrest Wood Cup in 2010

/PRNewswire/ -- A little more than a year from now, Georgia will host the world's richest professional bass fishing tournament, the $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol, Aug. 5-8, 2010 on Lake Lanier near Atlanta, in which the world's best professional bass anglers will square off in the final tournament of the Walmart FLW Tour and compete in the world championship of bass fishing, and its $1 million grand prize.

For bass fishing junkies like Ryan Lawrence, a resident of nearby Marietta, Ga., the coming of the Forrest Wood Cup to Atlanta can't come soon enough. It's a dream come true to get up close and center to your favorite bass pros. That's because when he's not pouring concrete, Lawrence thinks about just one thing - bass fishing. He eats, sleeps and breathes bass fishing, religiously following the advice of bass pro heroes such as Team National Guard pro Scott Martin and Team Chevy pro Luke Clausen, while entertaining the fantasy of catching the big one some day.

Well, Lawrence's bass fishing fantasy has just come true, but not exactly in the way he thought. Instead of reeling in the 10-pound bass he's always dreamed of catching on nearby Lake Allatoona, Lawrence can brag about an even bigger catch -- $100,000 that he won for coming in first place playing FLW Fantasy Fishing. Lawrence is the first FLW Fantasy Fishing player from the Atlanta area to win a major prize in the international online game.

Playing FantasyFishing.com from the comfort of his home office, the owner of a small concrete construction company, Lawrence, 37, selected 10 professional bass fishermen who competed in the sixth tournament of the 2009 Walmart FLW Tour bass fishing series. Picking bass pros whom he regularly follows on weekend bass fishing television programs, Lawrence submitted his fantasy team just prior to the start of last weekend's Walmart FLW Tour bass fishing tournament on Lake Champlain near Plattsburgh, in upstate New York. It was the fifth FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament that Lawrence had entered this year at FantasyFishing.com, a game played in 123 countries around the world.

Earning points based on the performance of the bass pros that he picked, just like fantasy football or baseball, Lawrence scored more than 21,000 points when he picked the first place finisher of the Lake Champlain bass tournament, as well as the anglers who finished in sixth place (Team Kellogg's pro Dave Lefebre) and eighth place (Team M&M's/Snickers pro Greg Pugh). His exacta picks earned him huge bonus points on top of the points he earned by selecting a total of six bass pros who finished in the top 10. For his first place selection, Lawrence picked National Guard bass pro Scott Martin, a resident of Clewiston, Fla., who won the Walmart FLW Tour tournament presented by Folgers at Lake Champlain and its $125,000 prize with 10 bass for a final-round total weight of 36 pounds, 4 ounces.

"I'm hooked. This is unbelievable," said Lawrence, who's never played any other fantasy sports game before trying FLW Fantasy Fishing. "I'm totally beside myself."

Like a fishermen who relies on his confidence baits, the fishing lures that rarely let you down, Lawrence said he went to those bass pros with whom he had the most confidence in winning the final, regular-season tournament of the Walmart FLW Tour - names such as Scott Martin, Clausen, Team Chevy Pro Larry Nixon, Team Walmart pro George Cochran, Team Folgers pro Scott Suggs and Team Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi.

A native of Ft. Madison, Iowa, Lawrence dreams of getting a new bass boat to replace the bass boat he bought four years ago with his prize money. But, it's likely that his wife Stacy will have first say on his $100,000 prize.

"I'd love a new Ranger bass boat," Lawrence said, "but I think my wife has her eye on a new kitchen. And, she's also hinting that it's time to expand our family."

While Lawrence and his wife may have to "sleep on" what they'll eventually do with their prize winnings, one thing they know they'll do for sure is take their two daughters to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

$1 Million Grand Prize to be Awarded in Pittsburgh, Aug. 1

All eyes in the world of fantasy fishing and fantasy sports are now turning to Pittsburgh, Pa. On Aug. 1, 2009, as part of the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup championship tournament activities, FLW Outdoors will name the champion of the 2009 FLW Fantasy Fishing season and its $1 million grand prize.

The 10 fantasy fishing players who have accumulated the most points over FLW Fantasy Fishing's tournament season, which is based on the six tournaments of the Walmart FLW Tour, will be invited to the $1 million FLW Fantasy Fishing award ceremony at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. The FLW Fantasy Fishing player who has accumulated the most points over the entire season will be named champion and will receive a check for $1 million. The other top nine point finishers also will receive major prizes, which include a Ranger Z20 Comanche bass boat powered with an Evinrude engine (second place), a Ranger Reata fish and ski boat powered by an Evinrude engine (third place), a Chevrolet Malibu sedan (fourth place) and a $25,000 Walmart gift card (fifth place).

The Forrest Wood Cup is the final event in the Walmart FLW Tour. To catch all of the action at the Forrest Wood Cup, watch FLWOutdoors.com, as well as the "FLW Outdoors" television program, which is broadcast in high definition (HD) on VERSUS, the network that brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated "FLW Outdoors" airs each Sunday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern time.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Georgia Reels in Major Championship Fishing Tournament

overnor Sonny Perdue joined FLW Outdoors Chairman Irwin Jacobs and other state and local officials December 16 to announce Lake Lanier and Atlanta as the site of the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol. This championship fishing tournament, which is scheduled for August 5 – 8, 2010, will draw the top bass anglers in the country as they compete for a $2.5 million purse. The tournament will be staged out of the Go Fish Georgia mega-ramp currently under construction at Laurel Park on Lake Lanier. The weigh-ins are slated for the Georgia Dome, and the Family Fun Zone and Outdoor Show will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center.

“The Forrest Wood Cup is the largest fishing tournament in the country, and bringing this tournament to Georgia is exactly what I envisioned for the mega-ramps we are building as part of Go Fish,” said Governor Perdue. “This tournament will provide nationally televised exposure for our fishing resources, generate excitement about fishing in Georgia, and provide a positive economic impact on our local communities.”

Go Fish Georgia is designed to establish Georgia as a national fishing destination by improving the quality of fishing in Georgia waters, improving access to lakes and rivers for fishing in Georgia and increasing participation through promotion and marketing of Georgia’s exceptional fishing resources. Plans call for the development of a Go Fish Georgia Visitors Center and Hatchery and an 18-site bass fishing trail with mega-ramps to accommodate large fishing tournaments.

“We are proud to have Atlanta serve as host for Forrest Wood Cup in 2010,” said Irwin Jacobs, Chairman of FLW Outdoors. “The Forrest Wood Cup is not just another tournament and an outdoor show. This is a weeklong event that brings the entire community together. Young anglers showcase their talents in the National Guard Junior World Championship and professional anglers vie for the most prestigious title in bass fishing, Forrest Wood Cup Champion. The Forrest Wood Cup showcases everything that makes bass fishing the greatest sport in the world, including the richest payout in all of fantasy sports, $1 million to the grand prize winner of Fantasy Fishing.”

The Forrest Wood Cup is bass fishing’s crown jewel and the richest tournament in competitive fishing with a total purse of $2.5 million and offers $1 million to the winner. The 78 pro anglers competing for the title qualify through the Walmart FLW Tour, Walmart FLW Series, Stren Series, and includes the champions of the Walmart Bass Fishing League and the National Guard FLW College Series.

In 2008, coverage of the Forrest Wood Cup was broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program that aired Sept. 28 and Oct. 5. “FLW Outdoors” was also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone, the organization offered more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits.

Fishing is big business in Georgia and has an estimated annual economic impact of $1.9 billion. The Go Fish Georgia Bass Trail alone will provide a sound return on investment in Go Fish Georgia. The state provided $5 million toward the development of the mega-ramp trails which was matched by local communities who wanted to build these ramps to attract large fishing tournaments. Mid-sized tournaments can have an economic impact of up to $5 million; large championship tournaments like the Forrest Wood Cup can generate upwards of $20 million.

Since 1996 when the first made-for-television tournament aired, the sport has grown rapidly. Fishing now ranks as the fifth most popular sport in the nation. According to the 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-associated Recreation, conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Commerce and the Fish and Wildlife Service, about one in every six U.S. residents 16 and older fish. Resident and non-resident anglers in Georgia currently spend $1 billion each year with an estimated $1.9 billion in economic impact.

“We look forward to working with FLW Outdoors and local and city governments to make this a very successful tournament that brings in the top professional anglers to Georgia,” said Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Noel Holcomb. “Lake Lanier is the perfect venue to accomplish all of these things and we hope that this will bring home to Georgians that fishing can be enjoyed by everyone.”

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

First-Round Pairings Set for T-Mobile Invitational National High School Basketball Tournament

South Atlanta High School Boys Basketball Team Will Play in First Round.

(BUSINESS WIRE)--The first-round pairings of boys and girls teams for the 2008 T-Mobile Invitational national high school basketball tournament have been announced by T-Mobile USA, Inc., and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

The tournament will be broadcast live by CBS College Sports Network and will be played Dec. 29-30 at Worthen Arena on the campus of Ball State University. Play-by-play announcer Jason Knapp teams with analyst Steve Wolf to call the boys games and analyst Tammy Blackburn to call the girls games. In addition, CBS Sports will air a one-hour “T-Mobile Invitational 2008 Tournament Highlight Show” on Jan. 18, 2009 (1 p.m. EST).

MaxPreps.com, the official online partner of the T-Mobile Invitational, will offer replays of the full broadcast of all tournament games, available on demand 48 hours after the conclusion of each contest. Maxpreps.com will also provide video features on all the competing teams, as well as comprehensive highlight packages following each game.

The T-Mobile Invitational is the only basketball tournament sponsored by the NFHS, and the field is composed only of schools from NFHS-member associations. The NFHS’ 51 member associations oversee and administer athletic and fine arts activities within those states. Only high schools that are members of those state associations are allowed to compete for their respective state titles.

Leading off the Dec. 29 first-round girls games is a matchup between Gentry High School (Indianola, Miss.) and Bob Jones High School (Madison, Ala.). Gentry has won back-to-back Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A state titles, while Bob Jones High School claimed the 2008 Alabama Class 6A title with no seniors in its starting line-up. The second girls game pits two-time defending New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group 1 champion University High School (Newark, N.J.) against Washington High School (South Bend, Ind.), which has earned an Indiana High School Athletic Association Class 4A state title and two runner-up finishes the past three years.

The first boys game features Duncanville (Duncanville, Texas) High School, which began the season ranked No. 1 in multiple national preseason rankings, against South Atlanta High School (Atlanta). The second boys game features Garfield High School (Seattle) against Lawrence North High School (Indianapolis).

The winning teams will advance to the girls and boys championships on Dec. 30, with the consolation games to be played earlier that day.

The boys field features some of the top individual players in the country. South Atlanta’s Derrick Favors is the top-ranked big man in the country, according to nearly every expert’s list. The 6-foot-9 power forward averaged 23.7 points, 17.1 rebounds and 9.1 blocks as a junior. This year’s tourney also features the top-rated sophomore in the nation in Garfield’s 6-5 point guard Tony Wroten Jr. In addition to these two standouts, the 2008 T-Mobile Invitational field features at least eight other players who have committed to attend Division I universities including Louisville, Texas, Oklahoma State and Purdue.

The girls bracket also features some of the top players in the country. Leading the way is Washington High School’s Skylar Diggins, the top-rated point guard in the nation and a 2007–08 Parade Magazine first-team All-American performer. University High School’s Laurin Mincy brings equally impressive credentials to this year’s event. She was the first girl in New Jersey history to earn first-team all-state honors as a freshman and was named New Jersey Player of the Year as a sophomore.

“Once again, we have an outstanding field for the T-Mobile Invitational,” said Robert F. Kanaby, NFHS executive director. “We’re very pleased that the country will be able to see not only some of the nation’s best basketball players, but some of the top all-around student-athletes as well.”

“It just seems to get better every year,” said Mike Belcher, vice president of brand communications,

T-Mobile USA. “We’re excited about the quality of the teams, the quality of the individuals involved and being able to showcase it all for the fans watching in person in Muncie and those watching live around the country on CBS College Sports Network.”

In addition to the two days of games, all coaches and players of the participating schools will join together for a T-Mobile Huddle UpSM community service project on Dec. 28 designed to improve various elements of the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie (located at 1710 S. Madison St. in Muncie). T-Mobile Huddle Up is T-Mobile USA’s community outreach program connecting kids, primarily from single-parent families, in high-need urban communities to positive people, places and programs. T-Mobile Huddle Up focuses on addressing the critical need for safe, high-quality after-school programs for kids nationwide.

Here is the complete schedule of games (game times are approximate and subject to change). Game times are Eastern Standard Time:

Monday, Dec. 29


Girls:

Noon Gentry (Indianola, Miss.) vs. Bob Jones (Madison, Ala.)
3:30 p.m. University (Newark, N.J.) vs. Washington (South Bend, Ind.)


Boys:

1:45 p.m. South Atlanta (Atlanta) vs. Duncanville (Duncanville, Texas)
5:15 p.m. Garfield (Seattle) vs. Lawrence North (Indianapolis)


Tuesday, Dec. 30


Girls:

Noon Consolation game
3:30 p.m. Championship game


Boys:

1:45 p.m. Consolation game
5:15 p.m. Championship game

For ticket information, go to www.t-mobileinvitational.com.

The partnership between T-Mobile USA and the NFHS, the national leadership organization for high school sports and fine arts activities, strives to encourage student participation in interscholastic activities and emphasizes the importance of these programs in preparing students for life. In addition to the basketball tournament, the multiyear agreement between the NFHS and T-Mobile includes T-Mobile’s sponsorship of the NFHS annual student leadership conference, plus other initiatives and events. T-Mobile is the Official Telecommunications Partner of the NFHS.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Public Health Response to a Rabid Kitten --- Four States, 2007

Includes Georgia...

On July 24, 2007, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) was notified by the North Carolina Division of Public Health (NCDPH) of a stray, rabid kitten that had been handled by players on several girls' softball teams during a tournament in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. This report summarizes the public health response to exposure to the rabid kitten and highlights the importance of multistate collaboration in a rabid animal investigation.

During July 13--15, 2007, the South Atlantic Summer Showdown softball tournament was held at a recreational complex in Spartanburg County. Softball games were held at four recreational facilities. Approximately 60 teams of approximately 12 players each from multiple states participated in this tournament. Spectators at the tournament included families and friends of the softball players and tournament coordinators and staff members.

On July 14, a softball coach from a North Carolina team found an apparently healthy and alert kitten in a barrel-shaped garbage bin located near one of the playing fields at which the tournament was held. The kitten was placed in a box and later brought to at least six different games played at two recreational facilities that same day. That evening, the kitten was transported by the coach in her private vehicle to her home in Buncombe County, North Carolina. On July 15, the kitten began behaving abnormally and became increasingly lethargic. The coach's housemate brought the kitten to an emergency animal hospital in Buncombe County for care. Although further investigation would reveal that the housemate had been bitten by the kitten, she did not disclose this to the attending veterinarian at the time of the visit. After evaluation indicated that the kitten was severely ill, the kitten was euthanized and held for cremation, planned for July 18. Rabies was not suspected by the attending veterinarian.
On July 18, the mother of a softball player from North Carolina, after learning from the coach that the kitten had become ill and was subsequently euthanized, contacted the emergency animal hospital and asked whether the kitten had been tested for rabies. The mother had been bitten while trying to feed the kitten during the tournament. Rabies testing had not been planned by the animal hospital because the coach's housemate had signed a routine release form indicating the kitten had not bitten anyone during the preceding 10 days. The mother went to the clinic, requested the cat's body, and took it in her private vehicle to her local health department. On July 20, the local health department sent the body to the North Carolina State Laboratory for Public Health for rabies testing. On July 23, the kitten had rabies diagnosed by direct fluorescent antibody testing. The rabies virus was identified as the eastern United States raccoon variant by rabies monoclonal antibody typing.

The mother provided her travel history to NCDPH, which then contacted SCDHEC on July 23 to alert the department about the possible human rabies exposures in Spartanburg County. NCDPH and SCDHEC obtained a roster of teams from the tournament organizer and discovered that Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee all had teams participating in the tournament. NCDPH and SCDHEC contacted CDC and state public health authorities in Georgia and Tennessee, and all four states subsequently initiated contact investigations; these investigations sought to identify and locate potentially exposed persons and ensure that only persons with actual exposures (i.e., contact with saliva, either through a bite, a lick on the oral or nasal mucosa, or a claw scratch) received postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). SCDHEC coordinated the interstate investigation and led its own intrastate investigation to locate persons, assess exposures, and prescribe PEP as warranted; in South Carolina, PEP is provided by the state to exposed persons as determined by SCDHEC.

To locate potentially exposed persons, each state issued advisories (e.g., through daily e-mails) to local health departments; additionally, South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina used local news media to alert the public and solicit responses from potentially exposed persons. South Carolina also activated the state's 2-1-1 telephone information system, which uses media channels to advise the public to call a dedicated state telephone number (2-1-1) for information related to specific public health emergencies.

The multistate contact investigations and interviews of persons who had potentially been exposed to the kitten revealed that at least two other stray kittens of similar age as the rabid kitten were found in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant near the garbage bin where the rabid kitten was found. These stray kittens, which were possibly from the same litter as the rabid kitten, were reported by interviewees to also have been present throughout the length of the softball tournament; several softball players had handled them. These kittens were never located by public health authorities. Interviewees were questioned about their handling of all of the kittens to assess potential exposure to rabies.

Health department personnel relied on the point-of-contact for each team, usually the coach, to identify persons who might have been exposed to the kitten. If players reported exposure, they were interviewed by health department personnel. Anecdotal evidence indicated that no tournament spectators had handled the kitten; investigators were unable to contact spectators because neither documentation nor recorded entry of persons to any of the recreational facilities was available.

Of the approximately 60 teams participating in the tournament, 38 had players and associated family and friends who reported exposure to the rabid kitten. From these teams, 27 persons were identified as having exposures that warranted PEP: one from South Carolina, 15 from Georgia, and 11 from North Carolina; Tennessee reported no exposed persons. All recipients of PEP had reported actual exposure to a kitten's saliva, either through a bite, a lick on the oral or nasal mucosa, or a claw scratch. No reports of human rabies or adverse reactions to PEP were reported.