JET SET: Rangers SS Alex Rodriguez has signed on as a
spokesperson for MA-based eBizJets, an online private jet
service. Rodriguez will appear in new eBizJets' ads and
promos, set for a first quarter '01 debut (eBizJets).
NOTES: On SPEEDNET, Bill Koenig listed his winners and
losers among motorsports sponsors and manufacturers this
year. The winners were A-B, with "two winning, high-profile
programs" -- Indy 500 winner Juan Montoya and the NASCAR
Winston Cup's Dale Earnhardt Jr.; Target Stores; Toyota;
Ford; Honda; Marlboro; and Bridgestone/Firestone. Losers
were Mercedes-Benz; Conseco, as the A.J Foyt NASCAR team it
sponsored had a "rough year with drivers and other key
personnel rotating in and out"; and Texaco (SPEEDNET,
12/18)....ESPN's Chris McKendry reported the announcement of
the Backstreet Boys singing the National Anthem at the Super
Bowl in Tampa "actually kind of made [ESPN's Trey Wingo's]
day. ... He was singing all day in the newsroom." Wingo:
"My daughter has the CD. She likes it very much. But in
light what you're saying about the age group, our producer
is going to that concert in, I believe, New York, and he's
12. So, that works out well" ("SportsCenter," 12/15)....In
Ft. Worth, columnist Mac Engel reviewed sports video titles
and gave the ESPN Int'l Track & Field video game "four
thumbs" and put it among his best for the year. Engel called
the game "more addictive than caffeine, it's the only game
where you will sweat" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 12/16).
