In Boston, Mike Barnicle on the Boston Lager billboard
     at a little league park in Newton, MA: "It's a bad sign when
     adults figure their own kids are such weak little simpletons
     that they might commit an error based on a billboard when
     any sane liberal knows:  Ads don't drink.  People do"
     (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/10)....Also in Boston, Ron Borges reported
     that calls to Logo Athletic for Peyton Manning's No. 18
     Colts jersey "have been unprecedented."  Logo, which cannot
     sell the jerseys until Manning signs with the Colts, has
     printed more than 3,000 (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/10).....Following
     his MLB record-tying 20 strikeout performance, Kerry Wood's
     agent Randy Hendricks is "cautious" about Woods' endorsement
     potential: "It's not likely people are going to see one game
     and say, 'Get this guy on Taco Bell tomorrow.' ... [I]n the
     case of a baseball player, you don't have to have that quick
     an uptake" (AP/Mult., 5/10)....BUSINESS WEEK profiles the
     golf club market, noting that in '96, domestic sales of the
     top 25 golf clubmakers totaled $1.6B, up from $1.3B in '95
     (BUSINESS WEEK, 5/18 issue)....ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's Tricia
     Lane reports on auto racing in Hollywood, and notes that "no
     fewer than 10 auto-racing movies" are in production and that
     "celeb interest in motor sports is also hitting the red
     line" (Tricia Lane, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, 5/15 issue).

          Michael Jordan finished No. 1 in the annual survey by
     IL-based Burns Sports, which asks business and ad execs to
     choose the sports celebrity they'd like most to pitch their
     products.  Jordan received 79 first place votes, compared
     with 24 for Tiger Woods who won the same poll last year. 
     Burns Sports said it received 250 responses.  Arnold Palmer
     finished third in the voting, followed by Jeff Gordon, Grant
     Hill, Ken Griffey Jr., George Foreman, Cal Ripken Jr., Steve
     Young and Wayne Gretzky (BLOOMBERG NEWS/N.Y. POST, 5/9).

          Currently the "underdog" in the soccer market, Nike is
     setting 2002 as the year it expects "to catapult" to No. 1
     in the industry ahead of adidas and Umbro, according to
     Sharon King of the N.Y. TIMES, who adds that "all this while
     cutting" $100M, "an amount equal to about one-third of its
     advertising budget in the 1999 fiscal year, which begins
     June 1."  In its effort to "regain firmer footing" after
     reporting recent quarter losses, Nike Dir of U.S.
     Advertising Chris Zimmerman said soccer, performance apparel
     and women's sports are areas where Nike will focus its '99
     marketing push.  Nike will also focus on the World Cup --
     beginning this June in France -- back-to-school promos and
     product innovations, including a new women's Air Jordan
     shoe.  Wieden & Kennedy will spearhead the Nike soccer push
     behind an estimated $30-40M ad budget (N.Y. TIMES, 5/11).
          OTHER NIKE NOTES: Chargers QB Ryan Leaf has signed a
     multiyear endorsement deal with Nike.  Terms were not
     disclosed (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 5/9)....In N.Y., Neal
     Travis reported that "one stipulation" when Nike leased
     space for its flagship store in Trump Tower was that Donald
     Trump "had to agree" to do a Nike TV commercial.  He is now
     featured in an Nike/NBA spot with "The Fun Police," which
     includes Tim Hardaway and Kevin Garnett, among others.
     Travis reported that Trump received a "substantial" fee for
     the spot which he donated to charity (N.Y. POST, 5/10).
           

          On Tuesday, Oakley will introduce a new, domestically-
     produced sneaker that "seems destined to be viewed either as
     masterstroke or fiasco," according to Starr & Kaufman of
     NEWSWEEK.  While Oakley's new sneaker "is about trying to
     seize a marketing opportunity," it's also about "a clash of
     giant egos, a corporate grudge match pitting" Oakley against
     Nike and Oakley Founder & Chair Jim Jannard against his
     former friend, Nike Founder & Chair Phil Knight.  Jannard
     noted that his company's decision to enter the shoe market
     came after Nike's decision to manufacturer its own line of
     eyewear: "I marvel that they would risk our relationship to
     go after part of a $200 million business against the
     possibility of us going after a share of a $5 billion
     business.  It showed a great amount of disrespect.  They
     obviously didn't take us seriously" (NEWSWEEK, 5/18 issue). 
          SHOES YOU CAN USE? Jannard says Oakley has designed a
     "technically better shoe, more consistent in sizing with
     improved support and protection."  But Starr & Kaufman write
     that "few in the industry are as impressed with [Oakley] as
     it is with itself," and add that "many think Oakley's shoe
     is a misguided, perhaps even suicidal, potion driven by
     little beyond Jannard's ego."  Marketing the shoe "will be
     tricky," since many of Oakley's "big-name" eyewear endorsers
     already have footwear deals.  In addition, Oakley plans no
     major ad campaigns around the new product and so far "has
     mustered a rather limited distribution network" of only
     about 200 stores nationwide (NEWSWEEK, 5/18 issue).