WILLIAMS HITS THE TALK SHOW CIRCUIT TO TOUT REEBOK DEAL

          Venus Williams announced her new endorsement deal with
     Reebok on NBC's "Today" show in an interview with Katie
     Couric.  Couric: "You played without having re-signed [with
     Reebok] over the summer, and ... you won the singles and
     doubles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Olympics, after
     never winning a Grand Slam.  That must have been very good
     leverage for you when it came to negotiating with Reebok." 
     Williams said, "Going on with Reebok was the natural thing
     to do, we've been together for so long, it just seems like
     we fit together.  They do a lot of things for kids in the
     inner cities and the underprivileged."  Williams wore a blue
     Reebok top during her interview ("Today," NBC, 12/21). 
          TABLOID REPORT: The N.Y. POST's "Page Six" reports that
     Venus and Serena Williams and their father Richard are said
     to be "unhappy" with a story "that's about to come out" in
     the STAR tabloid magazine.  The family's attorney, Keven
     Davis, said, "The tabloids ... are about destroying lives in
     order to sell papers" (N.Y. POST, 12/21).