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Ultimate rumpus

Ultimate fighter Chris Leben, who stirred a rumpus on season one of the Spike TV reality series The Ultimate Fighter, made a guest appearance at Beat 2 Sleep in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. He was spotted afterwards at Red Star Bar and Rasputin’s with a gaggle of avid fans crowding around and asking for a little beat down advice.

Running away with it

The gym, the grocery store, the bank … you can’t go anywhere without seeing someone in the trademark “run hard, live easy” T-shirt, coveted by local runners and found only at Varsity Sports on Perkins Road. Now the local sporting goods shop has gotten national props from big-time running publication Runner’s World. In the magazine’s June issue Varsity Sports is honored with this year’s Specialty Running Store Runner’s Choice Award for general excellence, an honor voted on by runners from across the country.

Crowned a Cajun

NASCAR’s Crown Royal 400, the annual May race at Richmond International Speedway, has been renamed for a dude from Houma. This year, an official will drop the flag on the Jim Stewart 400. So just who is Jim Stewart? He’s a 34-year-old construction worker from Houma. His suggestion for naming the race was selected from 15,000 entrants. How did Stewart convince the judges to name a NASCAR Nextel Cup race after him? He painted his boat to match the color scheme of his favorite beverage (Crown Royal), and rather than champagne, Stewart smashed a bottle of the purple-pouched Canadian whiskey on its hull to christen it. Ahee! The race airs at 7 p.m. May 5 on Fox.

Hard news

Maybe it’s the backyard brick look of the newsroom set, or maybe it’s that the station has yet to find an answer to silver fox George Sells, but according to a February 2007 Nielsen report, WVLA’s fledgling nightly newscast lags far behind its competitors at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., with only a 1.0 rating. WAFB continues to lead the area in all viewers over the age of 12 with a 12.9 rating at 6 p.m., and a 14.3 mark at 10 p.m.