Christie Hefner is brilliant and named by Forbes as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women.

Once the recognized president and CEO of Playboy, Christie was responsible for turning that bowie-wearing-bunny into a globally recognized brand. In 2009, Christie retired after more than 20 years as chairman and CEO. Last week, she was invited to Newhouse where she spoke about the future for Playboy and in general.

Although she never envisioned herself working for Playboy, in 1982, Christie became president. This, at a time when her father’s business was facing serious financial difficulties. This, also at a time when feminism was sexy, respected and desired.

Still, “I wonder at myself,” she said.

From the beginning, Playboy was something people could self-identify with, but her father likened Playboy to a lifestyle full of intellectual content.

You remember the jokes, “I read Playboy for the articles?”

So, Playboy was the first to publish the Roots and Fahrenheit 451, Christie said. Recently, Playboy purchased the rights to Vladimir Nabokov’s last, unfinished novel, The Original of Laura.

Playboy also became the first national magazine to publish on the Internet.

When asked how Playboy envisions social media, Christie said, “We wrote the book on it,” by setting up partnerships and creating more audience interaction, but she also spoke of an emerging role reversal in business,where the mentor becomes the mentee, she said.

Someone asked her how on Earth could he get into one of “those parties,” and she laughed. “Well, there’s a few ways. You could pay for a ticket which proceeds would go to charity. You could become friends with Hef. Or, you could become a very beautiful woman.”

She was full of advice. “Do more work; seek feedback; understand what’s being evaluated of you,” she said. “Go to school on other people.” When looking at your competition, try focusing on what they didn’t do; it could offer more insight.

Then, the greatest question, from yours truly: What’s going to happen when there is no more Hef? Younger generations may recognize Playboy, but they still don’t know who created it. (I referenced this New York Times interview with Hef.)

Well, she said, there might be a movie made about his life, but there is no heir apparent. That’s the point of building a legacy.

Truly a remarkable woman.

Also remarkable: The new Los Angeles Police Department chief is also the department motocross champion?

Remember Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell? Apparently, in the 15 years since then, Mark-Paul Gosselaar put on a pair of spandex as,”perhaps the best celebrity-slash-bicyclist in America,” according to this New York Times article. Right now, Gosselaar’s in NYC making his stage debut on Broadway and riding through Central Park on his carbon road bike. Next time I’m riding through the City, I’ll be on the lookout for him.

This weekend, I stayed in TriBeCa, the triangle below Canal Street, biked the Hudson River Park and watched tens of thousands people attempt the 40th annual NYC marathon, which one has to qualify for, including Edward Norton and Sal Masekela.

Lower Manhattan from Pier 40

Here’s 7 Facts you didn’t know about the NYC marathon.

View of Statue of Liberty from inside Brooklyn Ikea

One of the best things about attending Newhouse is…celebrity guest speakers! Christie Hefner, former chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. is coming to SU a few weeks, and Lord knows I won’t forget to RSVP!

Cute story from the Golf Channel on Rickie Fowler, a motocrosser turned pro golfer who feeds off trying to hit the tough spots. Sounds like it runs in the family. “Fowler’s father, Rod, won the Baha 1000 on a four-wheeler(!) in 1986 and had Rickie on a dirt bike when he was 3 and racing a few years later.”

21-year-old-ex-pro motocrosser Maxwell Jordan, 21, did some trash talking in this article from San Antonio’s first Cyclocross race of the season. “Motocross racers are all babies compared to cyclocross,” he said. “And I thought motocross guys were tough.”

Tevin Tapia’s making more news since signing with KTM. He’s relocated his family to the hills of Southwest Virginia with Florida boy Mike Picone where they’re living the dream. “I want to do my best to be ready for the East Coast Supercross season,” Tapia said. “This is my life and I want go as far as I can.”

And, I never thought it possible, but the city of Hesperia, Calif., just outside Los Angeles, actually purchased a motocross park the other day for $4.5 million. “By purchasing the property and allowing the use to continue, we allow for off-road vehicles to be used legally in the city,” said the city’s director of economic development. Ya think?

Guess how Travis Pastrana plans on bringing in the new year? With another world record! In his rally car, though, as part of Red Bull’s New Year, No Limits. Gotta say, the AP did a fine job covering the story because they actually reminded TP about the stunt he pulled in 1999 when he launched his dirt bike into the San Francisco Bay. That was awesome!

Find out what Tony Hawk thinks about freestyle MX in this Q&A with San Diego’s North County Times.

November is my favorite time of year, and not just because my birthday happens to be right around the Thanksgiving holiday. No, my favorite thing about November is the Mini O’s – the last race of the season and weeklong celebration in Gainesville, Fla. – which I wouldn’t miss for the world! Right now, I’m conjuring up questions for my next interview with one of the sport’s hottest mini-cycle riders, Adam Cianciarulo! I’ve interviewed Adam a few times, so naturally this time has to be better. Plus, with all the fancy tricks I’m learning at Newhouse, this has potential to be one of the best (phone) interviews, yet. Yes, there’s one downside to living in New York. All my work for FLmx must be done over the phone. Until next time…

AC at Reddick | 2007

Good news for the 305: The Miami Herald ran a story about a new 1,608-acre ATV park in the Everglades: Proposed park prompts delight, concern

There, in the middle of the Everglades, ”dotted with rock pits and concrete pads, crisscrossed with existing trails and next to a 10,500-foot runway,” is also a lot of drama. Even though it sounds like the perfect place for a park, with some 54,000 ATVs registered within 100 miles, the environmentalists are all shook up about it and the poor Florida panther. Still, “Something has to be done with all these bikes running anywhere,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose Diaz. Right?

Hey, if you’re up for it, check out the UK’s Daily Mail art on Carey Hart’s new clothing model. She might look somewhat familiar…

Then, the Las Vegas Sun reports on the U.S. Open of Supercross where James Stewart took home $100,000!

Florida's Davi Millsaps finished second behind Stewart at the U.S. Open in Vegas. Photo of Millsaps in Maryland - August 2009

Here's to you, Oscar Diaz

Google alerted me of the October 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated Kids, which features a bonus section on Florida’s Ashley Fiolek: “Motocross sensation Ashley Fiolek is not an ordinary teenage girl. While most girls her age are concerned with make-up and boys, Fiolek was focused on winning an X-Games gold medal in motocross. At 17 Fiolek had won nearly all of the 12 races on the Women’s Motocross Association circuit en route to the 2008 Championship. Coupled with her competitive drive is another characteristic that separates Ashley from her counterparts; she has been deaf since birth.”

There’s an error, though. Fiolek won the 2009 Women’s Motocross Championship. In 2008, she won the AMA/WMA Women’s Professional Motocross Championship. Whoops!

Here, AP talks about the only road to Powder Mountain, Utah. This, after a motocrosser lost his life when his motorhome crashed after leaving the race at the resort. The road is: “steeper and more treacherous than most roads used by large vehicles.”

And, the best for last! BBMX’s Jason Thomas wins the Montreal Supermotocross for the second time! Read more about JT$’s win this year and what’s been deemed a “spectacular runaway MX1 win,” here.

Let's hear it for New York!

Well, it’s only Tuesday and already my colleagues at South Florida want to know who I’m rooting for this weekend when SU kicks off the homecoming festivities against USF on Saturday. Quite frankly, I’m a New Yorker now, so I should be wearing Orange, right? But after USF just upset No. 18 Florida State last weekend (in front of a home crowd of 83,524) with South Florida’s star quarterback Matt Grothe sidelined for the season, I’m curious to see what happens. Plus, it’s Syracuse’s first Big East Conference game of the season, and SU is coming in with a 2-2 record for the first time since 2006! But, USF is 4-0, and no Syracuse football team has never defeated a South Florida football team, ever.

As Jay-Z raps in Empire State of Mind, “Came here for school, graduated to the high life.”

With the first day of autumn behind us, we’re reminded that every dark cloud has a silver lining.

Read: Bay area motocross community stunned after death of racer

Pasco motocross rider Oscar Diaz, 21, killed in Guatemala after a race

From Esquire, 57 Reasons to Be Excited for Fall 2009

Ed. note: After typing the Advertising post, the motocross world suffered a great loss when 21-year-old Costa Rican and Florida transplant Oscar Diaz was shot and killed following his championship win at a race in Guatemala. Countless people around the world are missing Oscar “De La Hoya” Diaz, an enthusiastic and successful motocrosser, a gracious friend with a brilliant smile and a promising career. I dubbed him the “Charming Costa Rican,” in our April 2007 interview. May he rest in peace.

Oscar and JROmx.com at Gatorback 2009

Last week’s mind-blowing lectures on “The End of Advertising as We Know it,” reminded me why it is I love college! The genuises at IBM conducted a study that the next 5 years will have a greater impact on the advertising industry than the last 50 years! This also made me and every other journalist in the class glad we’re not advertising majors. But, then again, advertising is no longer geared toward a mass audience. Now, it’s all about the individual customer, and user-generated advertising has already begun to take over.

Friday, everything came full circle when I experienced something for the first time. I was sitting at lunch with a group of friends when my phone rang, so I stepped outside for a second to take the call.

“Is Jenn there?” The caller asked.

“Speaking,” I said in my semi-professional tone.

“Speaking?” The caller laughed and I recognized the voice right away. It was 18-year-old Lucas Crespi, the one next on my list to be interviewed!

“Hey, Lucas! What’s up?”

“Nothing. When are we going to do this interview?”

Wait. Pause. Never in my all my years of working as a journalist have I been tracked down by my subject. I was floored.

I smiled into the phone. “Is someone a little anxious? This is great! You’re marketing yourself!”

“I’m trying,” he said.

“Well, I have been thinking about what questions I’m going to ask you,” I admitted. “I’m working on it!”

He prodded, but I told him it was a secret.

“Well, I gotta talk about my friend’s new clothing company he just started,” he told me.

“All right,” my grin widened. “We can do that.”

“Do you have enough pictures?”

“Why, yes, I’m pretty sure,” I said.

“I’m sending some more,” he said. “There’s a few of me surfing.”

“Sounds good. What are you doing this weekend?”

He made a joke and then another. “Sitting on the couch with a broken foot.”

Lucas’ interview will have to wait as we plan a tribute for a fallen hero in October.

The last time I interviewed the Florida motocross/surfer sensation Lucas Crespi, his nickname was “Screw Loose,” and I’m wondering if it’s still the same after his professional debut in the motocross series this summer. Soon, I’ll come to find out when I interview him for the October issue of FLmx. This is after I ask him about the recent surgery on his ankle, what he did with the $500 “Hard charger award” that he won at Unadilla and, most importantly, what about the switch from Honda to Suzuki? I read the BBMX team was thinking about it, and according to some of their riders’ Facebooks and MySpace pages, it’s a done deal!

Crespi as an amateur at Dade City

Speaking of Unadilla, I went back to the valley on Sunday for the 10th round of the Grand National Cross Country series. It was a blast and great watching those guys battle back and forth through the deep, dark woods of New York. Before the race, one of the locals pointed out another local by the name of Ben Bouwens, who had wrapped up his championship in New York’s harescramble series, so he signed up in the XC1 PRo class. We made fun of his white open-faced helmet and full waterproof rain gear, instead of the everyone elses’ full faced helmet, jersey and pants. Yet, when the green flag dropped, it was that guy out front of all the factory machines. Man, he had everyone shaking their heads! Did he have a screw loose?

Pics to come – after class. Priorities!