THE RINGER's Kevin Clark noted Steelers WR Antonio Brown could be "primed for megastardom" if he helps propel the Steelers to an AFC Championship appearance. He "already has a catchphrase, 'Business is booming.'" He also has his own talk show, "What It Is," on the Steelers’ website, where he "interviews teammates in the locker room every few weeks about everything from food to their personal catchphrases." He is "currently in commercials for Pepsi and Madden" and competed on "Dancing With the Stars." If anyone is ready to "dominate the media landscape this summer in the same way" Broncos LB Von Miller did "after his Super Bowl triumph last season, it’s Brown, who seems to have as much charisma as route-running ability" (THERINGER.com, 1/11).
COLLECTING DUST: In Jacksonville, Drew Dixon notes local sports apparel shop Sports Mania "stocked up on Jaguars merchandise before the season with the biggest buy in a decade." Now there are "rows of gear and racks of T-shirts hanging around," and not even the return of Tom Coughlin to the Jags "will move them." Store Owner Mathew Smith said, "It doesn’t matter who you bring over here, nobody’s going to start buying merchandise after the potential this team had and how they fell flat on their face and didn’t produce with all that talent on the team" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/12).
RIGHT ON TARGET: LAW360's Bonnie Eslinger noted a California judge yesterday "tentatively granted" Target’s request to "escape a sports-supply company’s claims the retailer undercut the terms of a multimillion-dollar licensing deal the supplier made" with snowboarder Shaun White and CAA (LAW360.com, 1/11).
