Newsmakers: Big Week For Nike; Not So Good For Mark McGwire

THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of some people and entities in sports business. Here are this week’s newsmakers:

WIN: NIKE -– Impressive quarterly financial numbers top off a week that included signing U.S. skiing star BODE MILLER, announcing BRETT FAVRE will tout its Starter brand and again being the dominant shoe and apparel provider for the NCAA men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments.

LOSE: MARK MCGWIRE –- With his obstinate testimony during the steroids hearing on Capitol Hill, the former Cardinals slugger goes from an icon who reenergized the game to a heavily-criticized figure deserving little sympathy and whose achievements will forever be questioned.

DRAW: BARRY BONDS –- By not being asked to testify before Congress, Bonds was able to escape the scorn and headlines that befell McGwire. But he still remains a central figure in any discussion about steroids, including the one by a grand jury in California.