The Professional Mascot School has opened in Nashville. For
$795, mascot-wannabes can learn the art of entertaining fans
(Mult., 7/31)....Cal Ripken trading cards are the hot item as he
approaches Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive gains. Rich
Altman, FL-trading card dealer, sold 50 Ripken rookie cards
during the first two days of the National Sports Collectors
Convention (N.Y. POST, 7/31). The N.Y. TIMES' Ira Berkow writes
from Cooperstown this weekend on the "Nostalgia on Display and
for Sale." Berkow: "Some serenity has been broken by the
commercialism of nostalgia and reminders of Federal guilty pleas"
of Duke Snider and Willie McCovey (N.Y. TIMES, 7/30)....A crowd
estimated at 250,000 watched the Norwest Cup bicycle race on
Sunday in Minneapolis (STAR TRIBUNE, 7/31)...USA TODAY's "Ad
Track" is on Miller Lite's "Life is Good" themed commercials.
Experts say the ad-campaign "deserves" some credit for
stabilizing sales in pursuit of Budweiser and Bud Light. 77% of
those surveyed said the ad is "very" or "somewhat" effective (USA
TODAY, 7/31)...."IBM ATP Tour Tennis" examined the growing number
of advertising opportunities for players on the ATP Tour.
Profiled: Patrick Rafter and Malivai Washington for their Reebok
commercial (PRIME, 7/29)...."Sports Reporter" Bill Conlin
commented on the lack of commercial time for Deion Sanders: "One
of the problems with Deion is he changes teams so often it is
tough to get him with the right logo" (ESPN, 7/30).....Licensees
for the American Bowl, scheduled for August 12 at SkyDome,
featuring the Cowboys and Bills, include Kritz Diversified,
Canadian Graphics West, The Game, Norman James, Trench and
Windcraft (NFL).
