The guerilla ad camapign pushing a Hakeem Olajuwon-
Shaquille O'Neal one-on-one match continued today with a full-
page response from Hakeem. "Anywhere, any way, any time at all,"
reads his rebuttal. There was still no public acknowledgement by
Taco Bell that the company is behind the unattributed ads, but it
is now known that the chain hopes to stage the event in a
commercial. Olajuwon has reportedly signed a "seven-figure,
minimum two year arrangement with Taco Bell" that will feature a
Spike Lee-directed ad featuring the two stars to air on July 6
(Greg Boeck, USA TODAY, 6/28). Frank Vuono, President of
Integrated Sports International which represents Olajuwon, said
filming will begin today in New York at locations in Central Park
and Brooklyn. The two will battle over the merits of a new Taco
Bell shell (David Barron, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 6/28).
HAKEEM UNPLUGGED: Olajuwon recently attended a meeting at
Time Warner when he asked Sports Illustrated execs who it is who
decides who makes SI's cover. Olajuwon: "They were shocked when
they realized I was serious. I wanted somebody to explain to me
what they are thinking when our team is involved in a great
playoff series with San Antonio and their cover is about the
University of Miami. ... It's all about politics. We've seen the
NBA make the cover and we all know that it is usually the same
people and the same teams that get played up. ... I wanted to put
the question to them directly and see how they would respond. It
was fun to watch" (Fran Blineberry, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 6/28).
TAKE OFF: Clyde Drexler will model the Rockets' new uniform
and logo tonight at the Rockets draft party. T-Shirts, caps and
other items will be sold, but jerseys are not expected for
another month. Kenny Smith will appear at Foley's department
store on Thursday promoting the new look (Farmer & Barron,
HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 6/28). The team also announced that it has
sold 1,400 season tickets this month for '95-96, nearly 100 per
day over the past week. The sales have put the Rockets' season-
ticket base at about 12,000 (Eddie Sefko, HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
6/28).
