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The Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week Award is the only honor in college football voted on exclusively by the fans ATLANTA, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Down. Set. Text message! Another exciting college football season is upon us, and Cingular Wireless and ABC Sports are calling on college football's experts - the fans - to select this year's outstanding performers. For the second year in a row, fans will represent the sole voice in determining the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of Week and Year thanks to the convenience and ease of wireless text messaging. The first award announcement is on September 8. Beginning this weekend and extending through the end of the season, four candidates for the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week will be picked by ABC Sports and ESPN college football analysts based on their performances that week. The nominees will be revealed to fans on the 9 a.m. ESPN "SportsCenter" each Sunday morning and on the Web at http://www.abcsportsallamerica.com/. Fans will then have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the following Wednesday to submit their vote. The winner will be announced during the first half of the ESPN Thursday Night College Football Game. Fans need only register one time by text messaging "VOTE" to "87654" on their wireless phone.* Then, each week, the four candidates for Player of the Week will automatically be sent to their wireless phones. Every time fans vote, they will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a trip to the Bowl Championship Series game of their choice. "Cingular, ABC Sports and ESPN continue to lead the way in using technology to enhance the fan experience," said Daryl Evans, vice president of advertising and marketing communications for Cingular Wireless. "College football fans are some of the most passionate in all of sports, so it makes sense to let them choose the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week. We're proud to help present the only major award in college sports voted on exclusively by the fans." "This agreement is a great example of how ESPN ABC Sports Sales tailors a marketing program to suit our customer's needs as well as engage sports fans whenever and wherever they consume sports," said Ed Erhardt, president, ESPN ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales. "We are pleased to grow and develop a continuing relationship with Cingular Wireless." In December, fans will get a chance to say who the best player in the nation is by voting for the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Year. The selection process will culminate in December in a one-hour special on ABC Sports when the Cingular/ABC Sports Player of the Year and the Football Writers Association of America All-America team will be announced. Last year, University of Texas running back and Chicago Bears first round draft pick Cedric Benson was selected by fans as the Player of the Year. Last year's Player of the Week awards were dominated by the Big 12, which had five players selected as winners, led by University of Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson with three awards. Other 2004 winners who return to the college gridiron this season include USC quarterback Matt Leinart and University of Michigan running back Michael Hart. *Other wireless carriers must opt-in for their subscribers to participate ABOUT CINGULAR WIRELESS Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving 51.6 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS), has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(SM) network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(R), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com/. Get Cingular Wireless press releases e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up at http://cingular.mediaroom.com/. DATASOURCE: Cingular Wireless CONTACT: Clay Owen of Cingular Wireless, +1-404-236-6153, or ; or Mark Mandel of ABC Sports, +1-212-456-4867, or Web site: http://www.cingular.com/ http://www.abcsportsallamerica.com/ http://cingular.mediaroom.com/

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