U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek is following in the footsteps of dozens of politicians, who have used NASCAR as a campaign tool.

On Saturday, Mike Wallace’s 01 Chevrolet will bear a logo reading “Kendrick Meek for U.S. Senate” during the NASCAR Nationwide Series 2010 opener, the Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Meek is far from the first pol to bank on NASCAR, but how lucky did he get? Danica Patrick, the first woman to win an Indy Car race, is making her much-anticipated NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in that race. So expect Meek’s name to get a boost in viewership from the Danica factor alone.

The campaign isn’t yet saying how much it’s spending for the one-race paint scheme – it will have to report it eventually – but where top tier teams can command $100,000 to $125,000, Meek might have paid $25,000 to $50,000 based on Wallace’s ranking. Read my colleague Anthony Man’s piece on Meek’s campaign tactic here.

The history of politicians teaming with NASCAR is lengthy. Among the highlights:

President Richard Nixon hosted Richard Petty at the White House in 1971 – marking the first time a racecar diver had been invited to Pennsylvania Avenue.

In 1976, Democratic presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter announced the start of the Southern 500.

As a candidate for president in 1992, Bill Clinton was booed at the Southern 500.

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner put a “Warner for Governor” logo on a Ford F-150 in 2001.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced the “Terminator 3” car at California Speedway in 2003.

In 2003, one Ford F-150 won its first Craftsman Truck Series race in 2003 carrying a “Bob Graham for President” logo on it.

Also in 2003, while driving a Winston Cup car at a charity event, then-North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley crashed into a retaining wall at 120 mph -- he was unhurt – and was re-elected in 2004.

And President Obama hosted NASCAR’s top 10 drivers on the White House lawn last August.

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (1) | Share:

T-shirts, caps and towels touting the Indianapolis Colts as Super Bowl XLIV champions were boxed up and shipped Tuesday to a distribution center near Pittsburgh where they will be sorted for eventual delivery to Haiti.

There was a moment Sunday night, when the gear sat in four Reebok athletic bags on the Sun Life Stadium field. But when it became clear in the closing minutes of the game that the New Orleans Saints would be champions, the Colts' gear was returned to the "secret room" in the bowels of the stadium. The four bags of Saints gear was rushed onto the field at the end of the game and shared with victorious Saints players.

For years, the league would destroy the losers’ items after the game.

“We would literally incinerate it or shred it,” said David Krichavsky, NFL director of community affairs. “Then it dawned us, it probably wasn’t the best use because others around the world could use it.”

The NFL now designates the losers’ product for a new assignment. International relief organization World Vision has been sending the gear to needy populations in developing countries since 1994. Product is also collected from the retailers, such as Sports Authority, which order it to have on hand once the game is won.

World Vision typically receives about $2 million in donated NFL apparel from the Super Bowl and conference championship games, organization spokeswoman Karen Kartes said.

This year, the league and World Vision had chosen Haiti -- the poorest nation in the western hemisphere -- before the Jan. 12 earthquake rocked the country. In the next few months, as the post-earthquake needs in Haiti grow less critical, palettes of shirts and caps will make their way to the country.

Last year, Arizona Cardinals product went to El Salvador. Those New England Patriots 19-0 shirts and caps? To Nicaragua. In 2007, Chicago Bears’ merchandise went to Zambia. (See photos courtesy of World Vision).

The NFL gets a tax deduction and avoids putting the product into landfills.

“It helps us meet really critical needs,” Kartes said. “A lot of these children and families, literally haven’t had a new item of clothing in their lives. It’s really touching. They don’t care what’s written on it.”

Major League Baseball partnered with World Vision three years ago. “The Phillies merchandise started arriving in Indonesia in December,” Kartes said.

In all, World Vision, which works with 100 countries, takes in $400 million in donated corporate product each year, including the sports gear and pharmaceutical and school supplies, Kartes said.

Kartes said while the inaccurate product could end up somewhere that someone notices it, “the benefits outweigh the risks.”

But some wonder if it would make more sense to sell the inaccurate gear for big money -- like a collector's item -- and send the money to the needy countries instead. The leagues don't want incorrect gear floating around the United States, but the idea is an interesting one. Check out Dan Shanoff's "You Lost, They Win" concept here.

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (0) | Share:

Sure, there are plenty of people ignoring the Super Bowl today – taking advantage of empty malls and entertainment attractions that have nothing to do with football.

But conservative political activist Mark Dice thinks we should be reading a book on history or politics instead of partaking in Super Bowl Sunday excess. The spokesman for The Resistance, which bills itself as “a conservative political and media watchdog and activist organization focused on preserving family values and upholding the Constitution of the United States,” says this country’s obsession with football is “partially to blame for the decline of country.”

“Most Americans know more about football than they do about the Constitution or their political leaders,” Dice said in a statement. “People yell and scream at the TV when their team messes up, but they aren’t even aware when politicians pass legislation that will cause higher taxes, deeper government debt, or violate the Constitution.”

OK, so the group's release is one of a myriad that went flying around this past week - some more questionable than others. There were the atheists asking to pay hourly for a chance to name Sun Life Stadium during the game, a pet insurance company picking the Super Bowl winner based on pets’ names reflecting Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, and the state of Louisiana comparing its economic success with the on-field success of the Saints. But if The Resistance skips the Super Bowl, it will also miss the controversial Tim Tebow-Focus on the Family ad.

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (2) | Share:

This evening, four gentlemen will take their seats at Sun Life Stadium for their 44th Super Bowl.

Yes, 44th.

Don Crisman, sporting a blue shirt with the inscription “Never Miss a Super Bowl Club, 44th Anniversary,” was snapping photos at the Super Bowl Media Center this week. He explained how they all found each other.

Crisman, 73, of Kennebunk, Me., started making the journey with friend Stanley Whitaker, who’s now 84 and dropped out two years ago for health reasons. It was at Super Bowl XII or XIII, they discovered they weren’t the only ones. Tom Henschel’s been with them since XIV. The baby of the group at age 68, Henschel splits his time between Pittsburgh and Tampa.

By Super Bowl XXXIII – in South Florida – the NFL included their stories in the game program and that’s how they discovered Larry Jacobson of San Francisco, who’s now 70. Oh, and now the NFL reserves tickets for them so they don’t have to search for them. They do still have to pay.

At Super Bowl XXXVI, they found Bob Cook of Wisconsin, who is 79.

“It was 36 or 37,” Crisman says. They now visit each other’s homes and attend regular season NFL games together. Crisman, for example, has gone to a Patriots-49ers game in San Francisco with Jacobson.

They have other streaks, too. Crisman attended 25 Daytona 500s in a row. Jacobson’s been to about a dozen summer Olympics games, Crisman said.

They each have responsibilities for the Super Bowl trip – one books hotels, another arranges a luncheon for the group. They typically back different teams in the Super Bowl, but this year, they’re all rooting for the Saints, Crisman said. “What the area went through, those people deserve some good in their lives.”

As for future trips, Crisman said: “I’m hoping to make it to 50, then I’ll be 80 and it’s OK to stop.”

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (0) | Share:

With the USDA naming Super Bowl Sunday the second highest food consumption day of the year -- after Thanksgiving -- plenty of people this Super Bowl week were hawking messages about the dangers of -- and alternatives to -- gluttony.

Jared Fogle, the Subway Guy, has a few recommendations.

“We’re trying to encourage people to do things in moderation,” said Fogle, who was making the Super Bowl rounds this week to promote Subway’s “Footlong Nation Appreciation” to reward the public for making Subway’s footlong subs so popular. “People have New Year’s resolutions they stick to in January, but on Super Bowl Sunday, people easily fall off the wagon.”

Fogel suggested Subway’s fruit and vegetable trays or its eight sandwiches with fewer than 6 grams of fat, including his personal favorite, sweet onion chicken teriyaki. Fogle still eats Subway sandwiches two to three times a week.

The Footlong Nation Appreciation website went live Thursday at SubwayFreshBuzz.com, where the public has the opportunity to win a year's worth of footlongs. The public can also vote for its favorite footlongs -- the community that casts the most votes will win 500 sandwiches for a local food bank.

Fogle, 32, will also be at Sunday’s game at Sun Life Stadium, just as he was in 2007 to root on his hometown Indianapolis Colts. “I know stadium food is not always the healthiest either. I’ll probably end up eating before I go to the game. I may even eat a Subway sandwich.”

Meanwhile, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has been lobbying CBS to air the non-profit organization’s PSA about the heart attack risk of game day gorging. Watch the ad here.

“ As the nation’s most talented athletes compete on the field, fast-food companies are working overtime to make sure fans at home are overindulging in buffalo wings, pepperoni pizza, and other high-fat fare. The NFL encourages these unhealthy eating habits by running Web ads for KFC hot wings and by pushing high-fat foods in the Taste of the NFL recipe archive,” Susan Levin, PCRM director of nutrition education, wrote in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and CBS President Les Moonves.

Levin cited a 2008 New England Journal of Medicine story showing the number of heart attacks doubled in a major city during a big sporting event. She also wrote, “High-fat tailgating fare will cause an average fan’s triglycerides (a measure of fat in your bloodstream) to increase 60 percent by halftime and 150 percent before the evening is over. By the end of the game, blood flow to the heart can decrease by more than half.”

And the organization put out a report listing the details of five Super Bowl foods: Quiznos Tuna Melt (1,793 calories, 28 grams of saturated fat); two slices of Papa John’s The Meats Pan Crust Pizza (920 calories, 56 grams of fat); Muffuletta Potato Skins (601 calories, 26 grams of fat); KFC’s Honey BBQ Hot Wings (590 calories, 35 grams of fat); and Papa John’s Cheesesticks and garlic dipping sauce – four sticks (520 calories, 33 grams of fat).

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (0) | Share:

Recent visitors to South Florida arriving at Miami International Airport have been greeted by larger than life posters featuring NFL Players sharing tidbits about their lives off the field.

The banners, which cover the columns at baggage claim include Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen sharing this wisdom: “The mullet isn’t just a hairdo, it’s a lifestyle.” And New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper saying “I’m a jokester. I like to keep people laughing.”

The idea is to show players out of uniform, living every day lives. The banners, which went up on Jan. 15 in time for last Sunday's Pro Bowl and this Sunday's Super Bowl, will be up through Feb. 15. They are part of a multi-platform campaign in collaboration with mobile marketing company, Mogreet Inc., to show the players as more than their jobs on the field or as the campaign states “as normal guys with a great job.”

Other players featured include New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk. Visit nflplayers.com/real to learn more about the players, watch videos, check out photos and even email player postcards to friends.

Fans who text “NFLPA” to 21534 will get a video sent to their phones and an entry to win a trip to the 2010 NFL Players Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles. You can also enter the sweepstakes here. Those who enter the sweepstakes can also receive a gift from the Players Association.

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (1) | Share:

+ MOVES Magazine, the Hollywood-based magazine about and for athletes, hosts its annual Red Carpet Super Bowl Gala at Christine Lee’s at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday night with hosts Ray Lewis and Ludacris.

The latest issue of the glossy magazine that features high end advertising and articles both about athletes and that are meant to interest athletes, has LeBron James on the cover. That’s after the magazine had already planned its edition with Tiger Woods as cover boy.

The magazines were distributed to NFL players at the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl team hotels and is being made available at parties and events across South Florida this week.

+ Also on Wednesday, Hunt Auctions opens its preview of items for its Super Bowl XLIV Live Auction on Sunday at the Hard Rock Café in Bayside Marketplace in Miami. The preview, which includes more than 280 football-related items such as a Joe Namath game-worn jersey and 1972 Dolphins team-signed football, runs Wednesday through Saturday at the NFL Fan Zone on South Beach. There’s also an appraisal fair, where fans can bring any kind of sports collectibles – not just football items – to learn how much they may be worth.

Sharp-eyed Sun Sentinel Assistant Sports Editor Steve Svekis noticed a problem with one of the items listed in the auction catalog: a model Washington Redskins home jersey for running back John Riggins from the 1980s features No. 42. Riggins wore No. 44.

+ There’s still time – until 1 p.m. Wednesday -- to buy raffle tickets for four tickets to Super Bowl XLIV and two rooms for three nights at the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, where the New Orleans Saints are staying this week. Raffle tickets are $2 each, but you must buy at least five. The package doesn’t include airfare. Proceeds go to the Heath Evans Foundation, which is dedicated to healing children and families affected by sexual abuse, and the Drew Brees Dream Foundation, which raises money for cancer research, cancer patient care, and rebuilding schools, parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields. Buy tickets at heathevans.org.

+ And just in case you forgot that Super Bowl is rife with unusual and wacky pitches, releases, and often suspect connections to the big game: Veterinary Pet Insurance Co., which insures some 475,000 pets, checked its database of pet names and says the New Orleans Saints just slightly edge the Indianapolis Colts when it comes pet owners naming their pets for their favorite team and its players. The company included pets named Drew, Brees and Drew Brees; Manning, Peyton and Peyton Manning and a variety of other Saints’ and Colts’ names – even Saint and Colt – and the tallies were 230 Saints-related names to 227 Colts-related names. How’s that for pet equity?

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (2) | Share: