Names & Faces: Jordan Hopeful Brand Will Continue To Grow

Jordan Touts New Air Jordan 2009 Sneakers

Bobcats Managing Member of Basketball Operations Michael Jordan participated in a Q&A with CNBC.com's Darren Rovell in conjunction with Jordan unveiling his Air Jordan 2009 sneaker Thursday. Jordan said of the Jordan Brand, "I want us to continue to grow. We have to end the competition between us and Nike. ... I expect this brand to compete with Nike on a global standpoint somewhere down the road." Jordan said of the shoe's $190 price, "When you think you've built the best product, obviously you feel like it has a certain value. I mean, you don't go buy a Ferrari and expect to get a Volkswagen price" (CNBC.com, 1/8).

BUSY OFFSEASON: Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia will be the cover athlete for “MLB 09 The Show,” which is slated to hit retail in the Spring (SCEA). In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy writes making the cover of "MLB 09 The Show" is the "sports equivalent of making the cover of the Rolling Stone." Pedroia: "Hopefully, I'm better in the game than I was before. It's going to be awesome. I play a lot of video games myself, and a lot of my friends are excited." Meanwhile, Pedroia said he will continue to appear in ads for Massachusetts-based Sullivan Tire & Auto Service "for two years." Shaughnessy notes Pedroia also "was invited (with his wife) to a White House dinner last weekend, along with" Astros 1B Lance Berkman and 3B Aaron Boone, Cubs P Ryan Dempster, Rays manager Joe Maddon and ESPN MLB analyst Buck Showalter. Pedroia: "It was awesome. You get a chance to see the president and he's just a normal guy. He loves baseball. Everybody enjoyed it. He showed us the Oval Office and gave us a speech. ... He took his dogs out. He was a normal guy. We had shrimp cocktail, steak, vegetables. It was quite an experience meeting those guys and meeting the president" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/9). Also in Boston, gossip columnists Fee & Raposa reported Pedroia Friday was scheduled to "shoot an ad for Salem Five Savings Bank's children's banking program" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/7).

NOTES: In Oklahoma City, Mike Baldwin reported Thunder F Kevin Durant this week filmed a promotional segment for the Cartoon Network. Durant "was the first of five NBA players to be filmed," and his segment is "scheduled to run later this month and also will be featured online." Jazz G Deron Williams and Celtics G Ray Allen will also shoot spots for the campaign (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 1/7)....Bruins LW Milan Lucic, who is a new spokesperson for Massachusetts-based Total Temperature Control, recently taped spots for the company at WBZ-AM (BOSTON HERALD, 1/7).