For TV advertisers, the "risks" of the Winter Olympics
     "include trying to tug one too many heartstrings, latching
     onto a few too many Olympic stars, getting mired in cliches
     or blending in so completely that the product gets lost,"
     according to Harry Berkowitz of NEWSDAY.  So "some
     advertisers are trying to step up the humor, inject some
     clever twists" and even "play down the Olympic connection." 
     Nike will use poems from high school poets on Olympic themes
     and athletes.  IBM is "using little-known" Olympic athletes
     in its ads by Ogilvy & Mather "as a way to focus on the
     company's tracking of events on its Web site."  Most of A-
     B's ads are "unrelated" to the Games.  Coca-Cola, as they
     did in '96, is "focusing on fans" and "stressing" its red
     label.  AT&T and "many advertisers are featuring women
     prominently," and Nike and AT&T both highlight hockey player
     Cammi Granato.  John Hancock will use "dramatic ads," with
     one for the Sarajevo Olympic Children's Fund that shows the
     turmoil there since the '84 Games.  One woman says, "We felt
     like sports has died in Sarajevo" (NEWSDAY, 2/5).
          NIKE'S LEAVES OF GRASS: In its poem ads created by
     Goodby Silverstein & Partners, poets and high school
     students to verse on Nike athletes Picabo Street, Cammi
     Granato and Dawn Staley.  One 60-second ad was created for
     each athlete.  Excerpts from the Street poem: "Picabo Street
     -- That's probably the coolest name in the World.  ...
     [W]hen a champion has that name, It's a whole different
     kettle of fish.  There's all kinds of jazz in a name --
     Shakespeare didn't know what he was talking about" (Nike).
     ...Street was profiled on "ET."  Street, on what the Nagano
     Games mean to her following her silver medal performance in
     the '94 Lillehammer Games: "This one's the one.  This is the
     big daddy.  I'm going to go slay that dragon" ("ET," 2/4).

          CBS earned a "disappointing" 4.9/8 rating for its two-
     hour Olympic preview on Tuesday night, "but the numbers are
     not expected to be indicative of how the network's upcoming
     Games coverage will perform," according to Lisa de Moraes of
     the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.  "Gateway to Glory" gave CBS one of
     its "lowest numbers to date in the two-hour block and well
     below" its 6.6/11 season average.   But de Moraes adds that
     networks "schedule primetime Olympic walkups despite their
     historically low ratings in order to accommodate overflow
     Olympic advertising" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/5). 

          Dr. Dave Lewis, who oversees the NHL/NHLPA Substance
     Abuse program, said he has "no concerns" about NHL athletes
     participating in the Games in regards to possibly testing
     positive for using Sudafed (NHL).  The Coyotes' Jeremy
     Roenick said players will have "no problem," and added, "We
     have been aware of it this season" (USA TODAY, 2/5)....In
     San Jose, Mike Guersch examined the NHL's "Big Gamble" of
     participating in the Olympics: "The outcome of the NHL
     Olympics experiment won't really be known until the middle
     of the next decade" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 2/4). ....While
     women's ice hockey makes its debut as a medal sport, several
     "top" Olympians said "they aren't counting on seeing pro
     paychecks any time soon."  Team USA's Sandra Whyte: "Maybe
     after the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.  But right now,
     we're definitely behind where women's basketball is."  U.S.
     Women's coach Ben Smith: "I'd say we're still a ways away
     from a successful pro league" (PHILA. DAILY NEWS,
     2/5)....SLOC is "receptive" to proposals to add women's ski
     jumping and bobsled to the 2002 Games.  IOC President Juan
     Antonio Samaranch said any new sport wishing admission to
     the Games "must comprise women's events" (USA TODAY, 2/5).
          NOTES: The FINANCIAL TIMES features a special pull-out
     section on the Games, with specials on financing the Games,
     sponsorship, and "the fight to host the games" (FT, 2/5).
     ...Eastman Kodak "expects its spending" at the Winter
     Olympics "to cut its earnings per share" by $.05 in the
     first quarter (REUTERS, 2/5)....Jacques Roggs, "touted by
     some Olympic insiders as a future candidate" for the
     presidency of the IOC, has won a seat on the IOC's Executive
     Board (KYODO NEWS, 2/5)....REUTERS looks at live coverage of
     the Games on the Web, as sports sites will be "unencumbered
     by the same time and production constraints" of CBS. 
     CNNSI.com Marketing Dir Hart Hooten: "If you don't want to
     know what's going on before you watch TV at night, you
     shouldn't come to the site" (REUTERS, 2/5).