Brewers P John Axford appeared in an online interview on Forbes.com with Aaron Perlut, who said, "You’ve had two pretty stellar years in the majors ... and you’ve had some brands that you’re working with." Axford said, “It’s slowly increasing a little bit more and more. It’s enjoyable, but at the same [time] you have to kind of pick and choose ... what you want to endorse, what works for you.” Perlut said, “You’re crafting a John Axford brand around your personality, your sense of humor and of course, that really, really good-looking mustache.” Axford said the “biggest step, in all honesty, was just social media” as his agency encouraged him to use Twitter. He said, “I was pretty hesitant. I didn’t really know what Twitter was.” Axford did eventually join Twitter and it “let people know that I wasn’t just a one-dimensional baseball player” (FORBES.com, 1/3).
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE....:The BBC reported reps for EPL club Chelsea D John Terry are “taking legal advice after an image resembling the England football captain appeared on cigarette packs in India.” The “blurred head-and-upper-body image appears above the words Smoking Kills.” Indian newspaper the Indian Express said that it was “part of an anti-smoking drive.” The government's Directorate of Visual Publicity said that it was “unclear why the image was used” (BBC.co.uk, 1/3).
SOLD A BILL OF FALSE GOODS: In London, Simon Hart notes U.K. sprinter James Ellington “fears he may have been the victim of a hoax after an anonymous bidder pledged” more than US$50,000 on eBay “to sponsor him between now and the London Olympics.” Since the auction closed on Dec 17, the winning bidder “has failed to come forward and attempts by eBay to track the individual down have proved fruitless.” eBay is now "attempting to contact some of the other leading bidders but has yet to establish whether any of them" are genuine (London TELEGRAPH, 1/5).
CARPOOLING: YAHOO SPORTS’ Jay Busbee reported NASCAR drivers Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet “will be splitting time in Turner Motorsports' No. 38 Great Clips Chevy” during the '12 Nationwide Series. Kahne will drive “15 Nationwide races, while Sweet will take the remaining 18.” Great Clips is currently the “longest-running sponsor in the Nationwide Series, having served as a sponsor for the last 11 years” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/3).
