IS "HOMETOWN STARS" THE BREAKFAST OF AMATEUR CHAMPIONS?

          Marketers are finding that "many kids -- and their
     folks -- will pass up a box of Honey Frosted Wheaties with
     Ken Griffey Jr.'s grinning mug on it to buy a box with their
     own family's faces," according to Bruce Horovitz in his USA
     TODAY "On Madison Ave." column.  ND-based Carlisle Cereal
     matches high schools with "community grocers" willing to
     sell HomeTown Stars cereal boxes with photos of school
     sports teams.  The "prime market" for the cereal is small
     towns, "where local athletics often are discussed
     everywhere."  Carlisle's Chuck Fleming said that the company
     "could sell a million boxes" next year.  Horovitz writes,
     "All of this has caught the eye of General Mills," which
     recently began placing amateur team photos on the backs of
     its Team Cheerios boxes (USA TODAY, 7/7).    
          THEY'RE GREEEATTT!  In Chicago, George Lazarus writes
     that sources "indicate" General Mills "is at least
     considering" putting Tiger Woods' photo on a Wheaties box. 
     Lazarus: "[A] spokesman for Big G said Woods 'is not under
     contract.' Yet" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/8).