Fun, music and $9 million

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

The Grand Slam was a slam-dunk. Great entertainment for a great cause was highlighted by news that the next Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy will open in Camden, N.J.

"The work we are doing in Las Vegas is reverberating around the world," retired tennis superstar Agassi told an audience of more than 10,000 Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena during the 12th Grand Slam for Children.

The academy, and a dozen or more other organizations supported by the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation for at-risk children, will benefit from the money raised at the concert and auction.

"This may look like a concert, but it's a movement," Agassi said.

He said $8.1 million had been raised by the activities. At the last minute local developer Charles Heers (Tuscany resort) donated $1 million to bring the total of the Grand Slam to $9.1 million.

Each year musical impresario David Foster and event executive producer Julie Walther work to outdo the previous year's concerts. This one will be hard to top.

Surprise artists The Goo Goo Dolls, the band that shot to stardom with "Iris" from the "City of Angels" soundtrack, was one of many highlights from an evening that left fans wanting more.

It was a sampler of entertainment with great performers proving why they are great.

The platter included:

Bennett also sang "Fly Me to the Moon," which was one of his many hits but a song associated with Frank Sinatra.

"It is Andre Agassi's favorite song," Bennett said.

Foster, who has won 14 Grammys, hosted the entertainment.

"Tony just said to me when we passed, 'You got 14 Grammys? I've got 15.' "

But most of the humor was left in the capable hands of George Wallace, who performs regularly at the Flamingo, and Jerry Seinfeld, who made his Grand Slam debut.

"Las Vegas is the fastest-growing city," Wallace noted. "That's because people come here and lose all their money and they can't go home."

Wallace often rips his humor from the headlines, such as stories about O.J. Simpson's recent arrest in Las Vegas.

"What's wrong with him? Doesn't he know Johnnie Cochran died?" Wallace said.

Seinfeld hasn't lost his comedic view of the world since his hit TV series ended almost 10 years ago, wondering why news programs scroll headlines across the bottom of the screen during the telecasts.

"We don't want to read. That's why we watch TV," Seinfeld said. "We can't listen and read the script at the same time."

His favorite terrorist, he says, is the one who accidentally blows himself up without hurting anyone else.

"Jihad E. Coyote," he called him.

He went through a rapid list of observations about everyday elements of life, including the absurdity of the five-day weather forecast.

"If it were accurate, they'd have one weather report every five days."

The 53-year-old comedian married eight years ago and has found fodder for his comedy.

"Being married is like being on a game show and you're always in the lightning round," he said. " 'I'll take 'What I said Eight Years Ago' for 20, Alex.' "