Corporate Sponsors

New York -- The highlight?It could have come opening night when Olympic diver Greg Louganis came out and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani showed up.Or maybe it was at a skating rink in Coney Island when Stephane Vachon won the ice dance competition with a partner he met only 15 minutes before, a coach named Charles Sinek. Only later, after the medal ceremony, did Mr. Vachon realize that Mr. Sinek was heterosexual and he gasped, "Are you straight?"Or maybe, just maybe, the highlight occurred on a hot, steamy day on Randalls Island, when Diane Batchelor, 35 pounds overweight, eight months pregnant, and in the midst of contractions, actually completed a 100-meter dash final, while in the stands, her companion cheered.

Thirteen-year-old Octavio Vazquez had $100 to spend this past weekend at the Cockeysville Wal-Mart, but he really wasn't looking for something for himself. As he roamed the aisles with Baltimore County Officer Michael Schmitz Jr., of the Wilkens Precinct, he was intent on using most of the $100 gift card donated by area Optimists Clubs to purchase presents for his brother, uncle and grandparents. "I'm trying to get gifts for those that give gifts to me," Octavio said. "I think they'll feel good about the things I got for them.

A few months ago Earvin "Magic" Johnson was worried about being dumped as a spokesman by corporate sponsors. Now the shoe is on the other foot.Yesterday on the court in Monte Carlo, Mr. Johnson showed off a new move to reporters: the slam dump. He slammed his shoe company, Converse Inc. of North Reading, Mass., in unusually harsh terms for its behind-the-times advertising, then announced he was dumping the company after 13 years."Converse as a company is stuck in the '60s and '70s. They think the Chuck Taylor [sneaker]

Albert Einstein is famously reported to have said that the definition of insanity was to continue doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. By that definition, it appears that America has gone stark raving mad. Our economy is in tatters. We have mortgaged our children's future to the Chinese. We are mired in a state of perpetual war abroad and embarked on a ruinous course of nation building in distant, impoverished nations while our own infrastructure crumbles and decays around us. Our Congress is locked in perpetual gridlock, and our politicians are bought and paid for by lobbyists and corporate sponsors.

Michael Phelps of Rodgers Forge will be competing on the swimming team at the Olympics in Athens. He may compete for eight gold medals (five individual events and three team relays). If Phelps matches swimmer Mark Spitz's feat of winning seven gold medals at the 1972 Games, he would earn a $1 million bonus from one of his corporate sponsors, Speedo.

Baltimore hopes to reap a cleaner harbor and more money for its municipal coffers as it joins the Adopt-A-Waterway program, a fund-raising and cleanup initiative loosely modeled on more common adopt-a-highway efforts. Unlike the hands-on highway programs that outfit volunteer trash-pickers with orange vests and garbage bags, Adopt-A-Waterway mostly involves recruiting corporate sponsors, whose donations will be used for city cleanup efforts and a privately run environmental education campaign.

Albert Einstein is famously reported to have said that the definition of insanity was to continue doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. By that definition, it appears that America has gone stark raving mad. Our economy is in tatters. We have mortgaged our children's future to the Chinese. We are mired in a state of perpetual war abroad and embarked on a ruinous course of nation building in distant, impoverished nations while our own infrastructure crumbles and decays around us. Our Congress is locked in perpetual gridlock, and our politicians are bought and paid for by lobbyists and corporate sponsors.

Singing the blues costs money. "Yes it does," says Baltimore Blues Festival organizer Craig Curley. "And putting on a blues festival causes the blues." There will be no 11th annual Baltimore Blues Festival at Patterson Park next month, Curley announced yesterday. Event planners had raised a mere $125 to cover the $40,000 cost of this year's festival, which was scheduled for Sept. 9-11. Although disappointed, Curley said he had no choice but to cancel the event. Over the years, the Baltimore Blues Festival has been held at the Baltimore Yacht Basin, Patterson Park and the Maryland State Fairgrounds.

Maryland's Commission on Indian Affairs is turning up the heat on schools and athletic leagues that use Indian mascot names - even calling for an economic boycott of a baseball Little League that uses major-league nicknames. The commission - a quasi-independent board of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, appointed by the governor - wants to boycott the 64 corporate sponsors of the Germantown Athletic Club baseball leagues. That includes companies as large as Giant Food and as small as the Germantown Copy Center and Montgomery Investigative Services.

Soccer balls will fly later this month as area youths gather to promote child safety, raise money and remember an 8-year-old boy killed in a garage door accident.This year's Simon Decker Memorial Soccer Tournament will be bigger than ever and should raise about $30,000 to support programs in Howard County that protect children and promote child safety, according to Steve Levin, who is directing the tournament with the Soccer Association of Columbia/Howard County.The first two years, the tournament netted about $16,000 for Howard County General Hospital's Pediatric Emergency Services.

Heart-pounding turns, surprising twists and edge-of-your-seat drama draw fans to the brand of high-speed automobile racing that will transform the streets of Baltimore in less than a year. But as the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix looms closer, it appears the lead-up to the event could be just as much of a nail-biter. With the three-day racing festival just 10 months away, organizers have yet to land a title sponsor to help shoulder the cost of promotion. A set of light rail tracks is posing an apparently unprecedented challenge for engineers.

Halfway through the Black Eyed Peas' live show, rapper Taboo hops on a neon-glowing motorcycle and, using suspension wires, rides it out above the crowd — all while singing "Rockin' to the Beat." "You never expect a flying motorcycle to hover over your head during the show," he said. "It takes the show to a different level." Inspired by the '80s movie "Tron," the motorcycle is one of the more eyebrow-raising moments in a concert that's loaded with dizzying lights, props and special effects.

For years, the Preakness has been run in Baltimore as if it might be the last time. Now, a rebounding economy, a new marketing strategy and its owner exiting bankruptcy appear to have solidified the race's future here. Corporate sponsorships for today's Preakness Stakes are up, according to organizers, and include newcomers such as the horse racing broadcaster HRTV and Iberia Airlines. Ticket sales are brisk as fans who pinched pennies last year are heading back to the races and as the "Get Your Preak On" marketing campaign — controversial to some — seems to have lured back the younger crowd who stayed away last year because of new rules against bringing in alcoholic beverages.

The recent Supreme Court decision extending individual freedom of speech rights to corporations is yet but another step away from what our founders conceived as a government "of, by and for the people" ("And now, the deluge," Jan. 25). It further enables the vast wealth and power of corporate entities to influence public policy well beyond the abilities of any individual or collective group of citizens. We have long witnessed the overwhelming success of health care, insurance, energy and other corporate lobbyists' in the service of their own financial needs rather than in the service of the public good.

A new Jesuit-run high school will offer a college-prep curriculum for low-income Baltimore students and steer them to part-time jobs in professional offices to help them earn money to cover tuition costs. The Maryland Province Jesuits say Cristo Rey High School will offer a glimmer of hope in a city where census figures show that 26.2 percent of the children live in poverty and the median household income is $30,078. Yesterday, Maryland Province Jesuits, corporate sponsors and city officials met at Loyola College to unveil plans for the school, which would open in 2007 at 1634 Guilford Ave. in an old city elementary school that was shuttered in 2001 because of declining enrollment.

NEW ORLEANS --With the city in dire financial shape because of Hurricane Katrina, companies are lining up for the opportunity to become the first-ever corporate sponsors of New Orleans' Mardi Gras celebration. At least 20 companies are offering to pay $2 million each to help cover the police and cleanup costs for next month's parades and parties, according to MediaBuys LLC, the firm hired to search for underwriters. Such sponsorships are a radical change for what is billed as the nation's biggest free party.

In Baltimore County Officials to dedicate Towson police station at morning ceremony TOWSON - Baltimore County Police Chief Terrence B. Sheridan and County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger will dedicate the new Towson precinct station at 10 a.m. today. Community leaders, business owners, elected officials and residents will be allowed to tour the l7,500-square-foot building, at 115 W. Susquehanna Ave. The $5.1 million facility is two stories and includes seven holding cells, with bail hearing, fitness, roll call and intoximeter rooms.

In Baltimore County Jury selection delayed for trial in officer's killing BEL AIR -- Jury selection for Richard Moore, who could be sentenced to death in last year's killing of Baltimore County police Sgt. Bruce A. Prothero during a robbery, was postponed yesterday because Moore was ill. Harford County Circuit Judge Emory A. Plitt Jr. postponed proceedings after Moore complained of digestive problems and his lawyers requested the delay. Plitt said jury selection is expected to begin today.

Singing the blues costs money. "Yes it does," says Baltimore Blues Festival organizer Craig Curley. "And putting on a blues festival causes the blues." There will be no 11th annual Baltimore Blues Festival at Patterson Park next month, Curley announced yesterday. Event planners had raised a mere $125 to cover the $40,000 cost of this year's festival, which was scheduled for Sept. 9-11. Although disappointed, Curley said he had no choice but to cancel the event. Over the years, the Baltimore Blues Festival has been held at the Baltimore Yacht Basin, Patterson Park and the Maryland State Fairgrounds.

Baltimore hopes to reap a cleaner harbor and more money for its municipal coffers as it joins the Adopt-A-Waterway program, a fund-raising and cleanup initiative loosely modeled on more common adopt-a-highway efforts. Unlike the hands-on highway programs that outfit volunteer trash-pickers with orange vests and garbage bags, Adopt-A-Waterway mostly involves recruiting corporate sponsors, whose donations will be used for city cleanup efforts and a privately run environmental education campaign.