ESPN.com's Darren Rovell noted Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch's Beast Mode clothing line is "in its infancy, but it has the makings of a legitimate operation." More than 1,000 hats "sold out" between the brand's online store and a temporary Scottsdale pop-up shop, where Lynch was "also selling a shirt that said, 'About that action BOSS.'" The business is a "partnership between Lynch" and his agency, Relativity Sports. Former Nike apparel designer Chris Bevans "runs the label, which currently has about 25 different products." Bevans said, "If we do this right, Beast Mode could be doing $50 million in sales within the next five years." Bevans said that Lynch has "already received calls from big players in the apparel space who offered to run the business." Octagon Athlete Marketing Manager Devin Lacerte said that the brand has "sent out hundreds of cease and desist letters for anyone who tries to sell Beast Mode without their permission" (ESPN.com, 1/29). The AP's Rob Maaddi noted Lynch has "created a run on the 'Beast Mode' caps he has been wearing at Super Bowl media appearances." New Era "makes the cap for Lynch and says it will produce more to meet continuing demand" (AP, 1/29).
HEY MR. WILSON! SPORTS ON EARTH's Kenneth Arthur notes Seahawks QB Russell Wilson "has turned his meager six-figure rookie contract into seven-figure endorsement deals, hawking brands such as Alaskan Airlines, American Family Insurance, Microsoft, Bose, Pepsi, Nike, Levi's, Duracell, Braun, United Way, and Eat the Ball." No one "would blame Wilson for cashing in on his success." He has shown his "political leanings by promoting the Affordable Healthcare Act in 2014, and he has never shied away from his religious beliefs." There is "absolutely nothing wrong with either of those things, but it does still set him up to be publicly criticized, such as when he filed for a divorce last April." There is a lot known about Wilson in part because he has "orchestrated his image" carefully, but people "would not really care about any of these things if it weren't for the fact that he has consistently won and is the first QB to go to the Super Bowl twice in his first three seasons" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 1/27).
SHERMAN'S MARCH: USA TODAY's Lindsay Jones wrote "calculated" is the word that best describes the way Seahawks CB Richard Sherman "developed his massive off-field persona, turning himself from an unheralded fifth-round draft pick into a Madden video game cover boy and one of the NFL's most marketable pitchmen." He did it by "carefully crafting every word," and by "picking his spots to make a splash." Jones: "None of it was an accident, and all of it was a way for Sherman to continue to boost his own profile" (USATODAY.com, 1/28).
TOMMY'S BOY: Patriots QB Tom Brady said that he and best friend/training guru Alex Guerrero "had started a business together, called TB12, that would institutionalize" Guerrero’s massage-like technique. In N.Y., Mark Leibovich notes the business is in a shopping center behind Gillette Stadium, but it is "hard to describe what exactly TB12 is -- not a gym, not a group practice of personal trainers, not a nutrition or massage-therapy center." Leibovich: "Whenever I asked Brady and Guerrero to define TB12, they would talk of things like 're-educating muscles' and 'prehab'" (N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE, 2/1).
