jimblr.com

CLEVELAND — Papa John’s said there has been a “terrific response” to Thursday’s offer of 23-cent pizzas at northeast Ohio stores.
People have been waiting in line for several hours at area Papa John’s locations to buy a large pizza for 23 cents.
The deal comes after a Washington-area Papa John’s pizza shop made and distributed “CRYBABY” T-shirts with the No. 23 to criticize Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James during the Cleveland-Washington series.
The promotion is part of an apology to Cleveland Cavaliers fans.
A Papa John’s representative said they are expecting their pizza supplies at area stores to last through dinner Thursday night. Stores will likely close at different times, depending on how long supplies last.
In a statement issued earlier on Thursday, Papa John’s said, “Even though we prepared our stores to make more than 75,000 pizzas today, this great response may mean we’ll run out of product and if we do our restaurants will close for the balance of the day. If we do run through the supply, by then we will all have helped raise a lot of money for the LeBron James Family Foundation.”
In addition, the statement said, “If you are calling our restaurants and receiving a busy signal or no answer, we apologize and appreciate your patience. The call volume is tremendous.”
In Akron, one location is cutting off the line and giving rainchecks to remaining customers. Those rainchecks will be valid for a 23-cent pizza for one week.
In Euclid, Papa John’s management said they have sold 1,200 pizzas so far on Thursday, which is as many as they usually sell in three days.
Some customers are waiting as long as 2 ½ hours for the cheap pizza. At the University Heights Papa John’s, the wait is up to five hours.

newsnet5.com

SLAM heads to Germany
By Jake Appleman
I got a call from Ben almost three weeks ago. Saying that, like a Miller Lite slogan, it was a good call would be like saying that the 50 LeBron dropped on the Knicks was decent.
As it turns out, SLAM and Adidas wanted someone to go to Germany and hang out with the USA under-18 national team at the Albert Schweitzer International tournament, taking place in Mannheim this week. Apparently, I was that guy.
I’m still blown away that this is happening. (Big shout to Mats, Team USA, SLAM, Adidas and anyone else who had a hand in making this happen.) I’ll be flying out tonight and I’ll be at the tournament through its conclusion on Saturday. Then I’ll head elsewhere in Deutschland to meet a lot of extended family for the first time.
(Note: the tournament started on Saturday, but due to other commitments, I wasn’t able to go immediately.)
I’ll be missing the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, which is sort of sad, especially if CBS has Bill Raftery doing games. (Note: Does anybody else want Bill Raftery as their extra surrogate grandfather on thanksgiving? “How are the mashed potatoes coming, grandpa? “They’re good, I added, ONIONS.” “Will we have leftovers?” “brING YOUR LUNCH!”)
Anyway, I’ll miss a few tourney games, but I think I’ll live.
(Note: If this Dirk Nowitzki injury is a German SLAM curse–I did the cover story on Dirk last year and am leaving right after he gets injured and returning shortly before he was originally supposed to come back–then I pass some of the blame to Mark Cuban for not emailing me back. Can’t a guy try and ask a billionaire and his star German for some Hefe-weizen input? I mean, this is about German hops, right?)

slamonline.com

Amare Stoudemire had 36 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots and the Suns won their third in a row while snapping Golden State’s three-game winning streak with a 123-115 victory last night in Phoenix.
Steve Nash had 21 points - including 8 in a row in a big fourth-quarter stretch - and 13 assists. Raja Bell had 18 points, Boris Diaw 16, and Leandro Barbosa 14. Nash and Bell both were 4 of 6 on 3-pointers. The Suns made 12 of 24 threes, 7 of 12 in the second half.
Baron Davis scored 38 points, 2 shy of his career high, for the Warriors. Golden State had won three straight against Phoenix.
The Suns improved to 6-6 since Shaquille O’Neal joined their lineup. O’Neal was in foul trouble most of the night, playing just 15 minutes. He had 9 points and four rebounds.
Wizards 101, Cavaliers 99 - Caron Butler unleashed a month’s worth of pent-up energy on his 28th birthday, returning to host Washington’s lineup after a 16-game injury absence to score 19 points.
Butler, whose hip injury sent the Wizards into a February slump, scored the game’s opening basket, survived some rough contact, and made six of his first eight shots.

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