WITH SPORTS CRAZE STILL MISSING, PRODUCT SALES DROP

          The Nat'l Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) predicts
     sales of both sports equipment and athletic footwear this
     year "will approximately reverse last year's 2.2% drops,"
     according to Jeffrey Tannenbaum of the WALL STREET JOURNAL,
     who writes that sporting-goods sales "remain in the doldrums
     as no new craze emerges."  The "boom in in-line skating has
     cooled."  Meanwhile, the "fast-growing" sports include
     snorkeling, windsurfing and snowboarding, while "old
     favorites" such as swimming, bicycling and volleyball are
     "losing participants."  NSGA VP Thomas Doyle: "We don't see
     anything that exciting right now" (WALL ST. JOURNAL, 6/24).