The timing of Nike's new commercial, which features an HIV-positive marathon runner, placed against last week's disclosure that four-time Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis also is carrying the virus that causes AIDS is, to be sure, coincidental.
Nevertheless, the Portland, Ore.-based athletic apparel giant is receiving a great deal of credit -- all deserved -- for venturing onto potentially dicey ground -- attempting to remove some of the stigma attached to the deadly virus by showing an HIV-afflicted person in an everyday light.
"Finally, at least one mainstream marketer is acknowledging reality -- that there are millions of people living with HIV," Bradley Johnson, an Advertising Age editor, said in an interview with the Portland Oregonian last week.
Indeed, in light of the absence of endorsement opportunities for Magic Johnson after he announced that he had contracted HIV in November 1991, Nike's ad is courageous, in that it must hope that the viewer doesn't link the company with the virus, but with the bravery of those who have it yet keep living their lives as normally as their health will allow.
During the 30-second spot, viewers see Rick Munoz, 36, a West Hollywood, Calif., legal secretary who has been HIV-positive since 1987, running through Malibu Canyon State Park in Los Angeles. As the scenery changes, the captions during the spot read: "Rick Munoz, Los Angeles; 80 miles every week; 10 marathons every year; HIV-positive; Just Do It."
Munoz, who is gay, told the Oregonian that he did the ad to help people who have the virus and, perhaps, more importantly, those who don't.
"I look at the ad as a runner first and a person with HIV second," said Munoz.
Nike still has much to answer for in its series of ads that push often high-priced shoes and other merchandise at consumers who can least afford it. But for once, when it came to acting nobly, Nike just did it.
Get that man some coffee
OK, so Maryland basketball crowds can be sleep-inducing with their general indifference and inability to sustain a simple chant of "Defense" for more than a few seconds, but did someone forget to wake up Walter Davis, Jefferson-Pilot's analyst during Saturday's Terps-Clemson game? Davis, partnered with the excitable Tim Brant, was somnambulant, saying little beyond the obvious and sounding uninterested.
Lax talk
Lacrosse fans, take heed! "Stan The Fan's Baltimore Sports Exchange" will air its third annual lacrosse preview show on WCBM (680 AM) at 10 tonight.
Guest host Mat Schlissel welcomes Quint Kessenich of Home Team Sports and ESPN2 and Jody Martin, the play-by-play man for Johns Hopkins radio broadcasts. The threesome will question Bill Tierney, coach of the defending men's champion Princeton Tigers, in the show's first hour.
By the way, Martin and analyst Larry Quinn kick off the new season of 12 Hopkins regular-season broadcasts on WWLG (1360 AM) Saturday, when the Blue Jays play host to the Tigers at 2 p.m., with a 30-minute show preceding all games.
Palermo in the booth
Former American League umpire Steve Palermo will join the New York Yankees broadcast team this season for the Madison Square Garden Network.
Palermo, paralyzed from the waist down while attempting to assist a robbery victim at a suburban Dallas restaurant in 1991, will provide analysis during the pre-game program.
Palermo did on-air work for the Seattle Mariners in 1992 and for The Baseball Network last season.