T-Mobile and the NBA are announcing today a multi-year extension to their partnership that began in 2005.

The partnership includes the NBA, WNBA and now the NBA Development League. In addition, Heat guard Dwyane Wade and Charles Barkley will film new T-Mobile ads to add to the popular ad campaign that has previously shown Wade’s effort to be included in Barkley’s "Fave 5." Perhaps Wade is regretting being among Barkley’s "Fave 5," after Barkley took that as license to call Wade at all hours of the day and night.

No word yet on details of the campaign.

In addition to the ads, T-Mobile will continue and expand its platform of fan involvement programs that include NBA All-Star balloting, fan voting for top performers in the Finals, rookie of the month and other honors. There will also be in-arena signage and promotions.

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Just a month after he was selected second overall by the Dolphins in the 2005 NFL draft, running back Ronnie Brown signed a deal to be a national spokesman for EAS Inc., a Colorado-baesd national supplement maker. The deal was newsworthy not just because Brown was a rookie, but because EAS was the first product to be approved under the NFL and its Players Association’s supplement-certification program.

The program was started to ensure players could find supplements free of the more than 70 items on the league’s banned substances list that includes everything from steroids to growth hormones to masking agents. The program allows manufacturers to apply for approval to state their products contain no banned ingredients.

Brown is among a group of athletes endorsing EAS, called Team EAS, that includes Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn and Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley.

The company has taken a unique approach to telling its story, featuring Brown’s post-knee surgery workout in a video. He’s wearing an EAS logo on his shirt and he does talk about the benefits of EAS and which products he uses, but it’s woven into the piece that mainly focuses on his workout routine.

No word yet on a followup to watch Brown rehab his injured thumb.

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No question this one’s a stretch (pun intended), but how could I pass up an opportunity to connect pest control with the Olympics?

Thankfully, Barry Murray -- as in “Barry The Bug Guy,” national spokesman for pest control company, Truly Nolen, –- already did. In his blog, Barry lobbies for a Bug Olympics, given insects’ remarkable abilities, which he compares to those of Olympians. Fleas are outstanding jumpers and Cicadas, Barry says, are “the world champions of noise making.”

Barry’s even found a way to link bugs to swimmer Michael Phelps, who has already won six gold medals in his quest for eight in Beijing. Barry went in search of a golden insect and found Edgar Allan Poe’s story, The Gold Bug. I’ll go one step further and bring this full circle: Phelps is from Baltimore, which is where Poe lived and is buried.

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Michael Phelps’ dominance in the swimming pool and five gold medals on his quest for eight in Beijing have boosted exposure for his sponsors to the tune of $9 million.

That’s what Joyce Julius & Associates, a Michigan firm that measures sponsor value, figures adidas, Nike, Speedo and Visa have picked up in primetime broadcast exposure on NBC.

Logos for those companies on Phelps’ apparel have garnered six minutes of on-screen time during NBC’s broadcasts. Joyce Julius measures on-screen exposure by the cost of advertising during the broadcasts.

The Nike logo on the warm-up jacket Phelps has worn during the medal ceremonies has a gotten three minutes and 33 seconds of airtime, which Joyce Julius believes is worth $5.3 million. Another $3.6 million in media exposure comes from Speedo logos on his warm-up jacket, swim cap and bodysuit.

Meanwhile, Phelps has an impressive diet, too. Read about the 12,000 calories he consumes daily, according to this piece at Yahoo! Sports.

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So Dan Marino won’t be appearing on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” but he’s still pitching products.

When I called yesterday to check on the rumors that swirled about Marino’s two-step, the Hall of Fame Dolphins quarterback was in Miami finishing up the filming on a television commercial for Fort Lauderdale-based United Steel. You’ve probably heard the radio ads or seen the print ones Marino has done for the company that bills itself as metal and steel building experts. Now the company is adding a TV spot.

Check out Marino’s endorsement for the company here.

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Talk about coincidence.

Boca Raton’s Ryan Hunter-Reay won his first IndyCar Series race on Sunday.

It was good timing since he was already a towering figure in Times Square. Well, his likeness anyway, in an 80-foot tall billboard for sponsor Izod.

The billboard originally said “I am next,” but check out how Izod changed the ad to read “I am now,” after Hunter-Reay’s win at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

“The timing with the win and everything, it’s unreal,” an awed Hunter-Reay said by phone on his way to the billboard’s official unveiling Monday afternoon. “Right in Times Square, the busiest intersection in New York. It’s indescribable.”

Hunter-Reay loves the idea people might not be recognize the 2008 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.

“That’s the beautiful thing about that,” he said. “They will say ‘Who is that?’ They’ll check out the IndyCar thing.”

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Joe Torre. Albert Pujols. Mariano Rivera. Manny Ramirez. Dan Uggla.

Dan Uggla?

The hot-hitting Marlins second baseman is in the center (green shirt) of a group of Major League Baseball players and coaches in Macy’s Father’s Day catalog sent out across the country recently. Titled "The Boys of Summer," the campaign includes 15 baseball stars from around the country.

Uggla was chosen to represent our “hometown.”

“Dan Uggla is one of the most popular ‘hometown’ baseball players who has really become a shining star in South Florida,” Macy’s Central spokeswoman Ellen Fruchtman said via email. “Dan was selected to be part of this campaign as a result of being an All-Star second baseman, a terrific father AND a positive role model.”

Uggla is not a Macy's endorser, but did make an appearance at the department store at the Pembroke Lakes Mall earlier this month.

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OK... it's clearly a joke, but in keeping with its Shaquille O'Neal plays jockey theme, vitaminwater has taken out an ad in this weekend's Daily Racing Form that's an open letter from the former Heat center expressing his interest in running in the Kentucky Derby.

The company debuted an ad duing Super Bowl XLII in which O'Neal, who was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February, plays a jockey. The print ad says O'Neal wants to run in the derby.

It begins "dear friends at the national thoroughbred racing association and trainers, roll up your seersuckers, and put down your mint julep because i have some important news...the big diesel wants in the derby!"

O'Neal signed on with vitaminwater as an endorser and investor last year. The company has even created a web page for horsinaroundwithshaq which includes video and photos of O'Neal having fun at the track.

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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the NBA can thank Time Magazine for paying tribute to its playoff ads that are part of the league's "Where Amazing Happens" campaign.

The magazine's latest issue shows a split image of Democratic presidential candidates U.S. Sens. Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton and the headline "There Can Only Be One." The NBA ads feature split images of LeBron James and Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan and the same tagline: "There Can Only Be One."

Time contacted the NBA before using its image and credited the league's 2008 playoff ad campaign on its content page with inspiring the cover photo illustration.

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To celebrate the first decade of the NBA Store, the NBA has released a list of the store’s Top 10 most popular jerseys. Heat guard Dwyane Wade’s jersey ranks seventh – not bad for a guy who’s only in his fifth year in the league. Michael Jordan ranks No. 1, natch. See the full list below.

And speaking of jerseys, NBA Commissioner David Stern didn’t rule out the possibility of NBA players wearing sponsor logos on their uniforms during exhibition games in Europe this fall that will feature the Heat, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets and Washington Wizards. The Heat will play the Nets in Paris and London.

“We're mindful of the fact that baseball just did it,” Stern said in a media conference call last week. “Our history has been we've tended to do things that have honored the local venue where we're playing with sort of modifications in uniforms, but we're mindful that in Europe sponsorship on uniforms is more common than it is here, and it's something we would consider but we're not planning.”

The Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s, who opened the 2008 MLB season with two games in Japan last week, wore sponsor logos on their jerseys and helmets. According to Joyce Julius & Associates, a Michigan firm that measures the impact of corporate sponsorship, the jersey logos – EMC on Red Sox sleeves; Pepsi on the A’s -- generated $851,000 in media exposure during the two game and two replay broadcasts.

The company figured the logos got more than 28 minutes of broadcast time and multiplied that against the estimated cost of commercial time during the broadcasts. Ricoh, the sponsor of the games, got exposure on both teams' batting helmets, worth a total of $498,000 from more than 16 minutes of screen time during the four broadcasts, the company said.

Here’s the NBA’s list of most popular jerseys sold at the NBA store, 1998-2008:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Allen Iverson
4. LeBron James
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Tracy McGrady
7. Dwyane Wade
8. Jason Kidd
9. Vince Carter
10. Tim Duncan

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The Heat got help from some politicians Wednesday night in debuting a new public service announcement aimed at keeping South Florida litter-free.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dennis Moss were on hand for the debut of the county's “SLAMIT JAMIT STUFFIT” ad, which was shown during halftime of the Heat-Knicks game. The campaign, which shows Heat coach Pat Riley; players including Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem; and a dancer exiting a bus and shooting bottles, foil and other bits of garbage into a trash can, is being accompanied by in-arena anti-litter messages and contests.

The ad by Beber Silverstein Group was shot before the 2007-08 season started. That meant there had to be some re-shooting and a little creative editing after Shaquille O’Neal was traded last month to the Phoenix Suns. Watch the ad:

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The NBA All-Star Game is just as much about showcasing business as it is about the game’s top players. Last year, Heat guard Dwyane Wade was the toast of Las Vegas with his new T-Mobile sidekick, Converse shoes, Topps collectible card with a gambling chip and brand summit with his business partners.

Tonight during the NBA All-Star Rookie Game in New Orleans, Gatorade will debut a new ad featuring Wade for its low-calorie G2 drink. The 30-second ad is in keeping with the theme of the one featuring New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter that ran during Super Bowl XLII and showed grass growing under Jeter’s feet even as he walked city streets. The Wade ad will show the pavement under Wade's feet turning into the boards of a basketball court.

Watch a behind the scenes video for the ad:

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Luckily, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning’s performance in Super Bowl XLII was clutch. Manning, a Gatorade endorser since 2005, is featured in an ad for the sports drink’s new “League of Clutch” campaign that promotes athletes who make the plays that win games, in spectacular fashion.

The new ad, which began airing Wednesday, includes images from the Giants’ final drive that led to the team beating the undefeated New England Patriots and, of course, an image of the Gatorade being dumped on Giants Coach Tom Coughlin. Some expect Manning to continue to be in demand from Madison Avenue.

Gatorade is also auctioning five Giants commemorative Super Bowl bottles autographed by Manning on eBay.com. Proceeds from the auction, which runs through Sunday, will benefit the United Way.

Other League of Clutch athletes include Eli Manning’s brother Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, Heat guard Dwyane Wade, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and 2008 Australian Open champion tennis star Maria Sharapova.

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So, will Super Bowl XLII Champion New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning challenge his brother Peyton for ad time after pulling off his team’s stunning upset of the New England Patriots on Sunday?

“Eli couldn’t have scripted a better finish for his marketing success,” says Bob Dorfman, of San Francisco-based Baker Street Partners and author of the Super Bowl XLII Sports Marketers’ Scouting Report. Dorfman says the Super Bowl win could be worth as much as $5 million in new endorsement deals. “Though Eli lacks the cachet, charisma and acting chops of big brother Peyton, he shows solid potential as a potent pitchman.”

Dorfman figures Manning, who already has deals with Oreo (you've no doubt seen the Eli and Peyton pitching Oreo's Double Stuff Racing League), DirecTV and ESPN, could do ads for T-Mobile “everyone will want to be in his Fave 5 now,” a car deal, or fast food, where he could promote a “Giant-sized” deal. "As the new toast of New York, Eli could also earn seven figures in regional marketing deals,” Dorfman said.

Other marketable Giants able to capitalize? “Michael Strahan stands to benefit the most after Eli. He’s already a household name and face, has a proven endorsement resume, speaks well, is charismatic on camera, and has that signature gap-tooth smile that might be fun in a Crest toothpaste ad,” Dorfman said. “He also has a solid future in broadcasting.”

And “Plaxico Burress could land a Kleenex deal after his teary post-game interview,” Dorfman said.

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Shaquille O’Neal. Dwyane Wade. Danica Patrick. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Carl Edwards.

Plenty of athletes will be appearing in the most expensive advertising of the year during Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLII on Sunday. The price is averaging $2.7 million for a 30-second spot, up from $2.6 million last year.

O’Neal plays a jockey in a first-ever Super Bowl ad for Glaceau’s vitaminwater. Wade and Charles Barkley are in the latest installment of the T Mobile ad campaign, where we’re supposed to learn if Barkley will finally let Wade into his “Fave 5.” Earnhardt is scheduled to appear in an ad for new sponsor, Pepsi Amp. Patrick will be in another ad for GoDaddy.com.

Under Armour, which is also making its first entry into the Super Bowl ad world, has included more than two dozen athletes for the company’s new line of non-cleat athletic shoes that debut in May. In addition to Edwards, other athletes in the 60-second spot include Ray Lewis, Alfonso Soriano, Garret Atkins, Vernon Davis, Kimmie Meisner and Cat Osterman. Super Bowl XLII participant, Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants also appears.

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