THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of people and entities in sports business. Here are this week’s newsmakers: WIN : NATIONALS -- The team signs No. 1 draft pick STEPHEN STRASBURG right before the stroke of midnight, literally, and removes the interim tag from GM MIKE RIZZO ’s title, providing some stability for a franchise that has received its fair share of criticism for its on- and off-field moves. TED LERNER proves he is willing to spend to upgrade the ballclub, doling out a record $15.1M for Strasburg. There is now a buzz around the team perhaps for the first time since they left Montreal, evident by fans picking up all 6,000 tickets on sale for $1 for Friday's game and Strasburg’s introductory press conference. LOSE : NICHOLLS STATE UNIV. -- The idea may have been noble enough -- update a seemingly antiquated mascot that conjures up images of the Civil War -- but we do not think "Nazi" is what Nicholls St. wanted their alumni and fans to think of when looking at the new logo. Yet that sentiment is reverberating around the Louisiana school. They might want to go to a Plan B. DRAW : BRETT FAVRE -- Yes, it seems everyone outside the Twin Cities is tired of the latest return from "retirement" involving the future HOFer, and one has to wonder if this will damage Favre's post-football marketing career and credibility among fans. But no one can deny that No. 4 is still one of the biggest drawing cards in pro sports. The Vikings sell more season tickets in the first 24 hours after signing Favre than anyone can remember, and fans line up for hours to be among the first to pick up Favre's new purple jersey.
 |
