Nike

The story of Kevin Plank and his company, Under Armour Performance Apparel, has so far been a feel-good tale: The former University of Maryland fullback comes up with a new kind of athletic clothing that sweeps the nation and lands him contracts with everyone from the National Hockey League to the United States Ski Team and makes his product a must-have among the Little League set. But now comes the part in the story where the battle really begins....

McDonogh's girls lacrosse team remained No. 1 in this week's Nike/US Lacrosse High School Girls' Lacrosse National Top 25 poll as the Eagles increased their winning streak to 85 games with Monday's 22-5 win over Mount de Sales. The Eagles, who have been the national No. 1 every week this season, are 16-0. St. Stephen's & St. Agnes, from Alexandria, Va., is No. 2 and is 17-0. As for other Baltimore-area teams, St. Paul's ranks No. 7 with Maryvale, No. 9; C. Milton Wright, No. 10; Mount Hebron, No. 11; Bryn Mawr, No. 12; and Century, No. 13. Undefeated Marriotts Ridge is among the teams receiving votes.

Under Armour is suing Nike, alleging that its chief competitor is illegally using a version of the Baltimore sports apparel company's new primary slogan, "I Will. " The suit, which the company said it filed Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, seeks to force Nike to stop using any form of that phrase and asks for unspecified punitive damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition. According to a copy of the suit provided by Under Armour, the complaint shows several instances of ads Nike placed on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter beginning late last year using slogans that all begin with "I will.

Longtime Lake Clifton boys basketball coach Herman "Tree" Harried has been selected to coach in Nike's Jordan Brand Classic International Game, which is set for April 13 at the Brooklyn Nets' Barclays Center. The Jordan Brand Classic International Game consists of one game between the top U-16 players from around the world. In addition to the International Game, there will also be a Regional New York City Game and an All-American Game. In January, Harried was selected to be a member of USA Basketball's 2013-16 Developmental National Team Committee.

In a recent Health and Style section article on workout gear designed for nighttime exercising, a Nike show was featured ("See & be seen," Dec. 13). Is The Sun aware that Baltimore is the home of Under Armour, a company employing hundreds in Maryland, a leader in sportswear innovation and sales worldwide, the sponsor of the Baltimore Running Festival and a maker of running shoes? Why would The Sun feature a Nike running shoe instead of one from Under Armour? Since I'm not a runner I cannot tell you if one is better than the other.

News that Nike is dropping its sponsorship of tainted cyclist Lance Armstrong brought me back to one of the most poignant sections of his first book, "It's Not About the Bike. " Armstrong described the aftermath of his testicular cancer diagnosis in 1996, as corporate sponsors decided he was no longer worth bankrolling. Nike was one of the few sponsors to stand by Armstrong as he recuperated -- despite the possibility that he would never race again. He vowed to be loyal when he returned to competition -- and forged a deep, mutually beneficial partnership with Nike as he won seven Tour de France titles.

Nike started with running shoes and Under Armour with undershirts. Both stories begin with dissatisfaction. While trying to sell a Japanese manufacturer's shoes, Phil Knight sent some to his former coach, who modified them, using, among other things, a waffle iron. Tired of undershirts that didn't dry quickly enough beneath the pads he wore as a football player, Kevin Plank set about experimenting with new materials. In 1964, Knight hawked his goods from the trunk of a car. In 1996, Plank did the same.

LANDOVER - The Oakland Mills boys indoor track team won the mile sprint medley with a time of 3 minutes, 33.38 seconds at the Nike National Meet yesterday at the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex. The winning Scorpions team was composed of sophomore Tony Cole and seniors Chris Barksdale, Ishmael Josiah and Izudin Mehmedovic.

BARCELONA, Spain -- The shoe wars erupted before a TV audience of 3 billion people. And it looks like Nike won. Or, at least, Michael Jordan did.Jordan, the centerpiece of Nike's promotional efforts, had balked at wearing the official United States Olympic Committee awards-ceremony uniform, which was made by Reebok and featured a Reebok patch on the right shoulder.When the U.S. basketball team took the medal stand yesterday after beating Croatia, 117-85, for the expected gold medal, all 12 players -- half work for Nike -- had unzipped their jackets so that the collars obscured the patch.

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.

A man was left shoeless after a gun-toting robber forced him to hand over his Nike Air Max sneakers in the parking lot of an Anne Arundel County mall, police said. Officers headed to Marley Station Mall on Ritchie Highway just before 10 p.m. Friday and found a man who said a teenager brandished a gun and demanded his shoes, police said. He handed them over and the gunman fled, police said. The 16-year-old suspect was tracked down nearby, with the shoes near him, and was identified by the victim, according to police.

Nike started with running shoes and Under Armour with undershirts. Both stories begin with dissatisfaction. While trying to sell a Japanese manufacturer's shoes, Phil Knight sent some to his former coach, who modified them, using, among other things, a waffle iron. Tired of undershirts that didn't dry quickly enough beneath the pads he wore as a football player, Kevin Plank set about experimenting with new materials. In 1964, Knight hawked his goods from the trunk of a car. In 1996, Plank did the same.

Under Armour is suing Nike, alleging that its chief competitor is illegally using a version of the Baltimore sports apparel company's new primary slogan, "I Will. " The suit, which the company said it filed Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, seeks to force Nike to stop using any form of that phrase and asks for unspecified punitive damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition. According to a copy of the suit provided by Under Armour, the complaint shows several instances of ads Nike placed on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter beginning late last year using slogans that all begin with "I will.

In a recent Health and Style section article on workout gear designed for nighttime exercising, a Nike show was featured ("See & be seen," Dec. 13). Is The Sun aware that Baltimore is the home of Under Armour, a company employing hundreds in Maryland, a leader in sportswear innovation and sales worldwide, the sponsor of the Baltimore Running Festival and a maker of running shoes? Why would The Sun feature a Nike running shoe instead of one from Under Armour? Since I'm not a runner I cannot tell you if one is better than the other.

Good morning and welcome to an extra robust Friday online trends report. So did you see that awesome Meteor Shower ? No, I didn't either, but thanks to Internet our ignorance and laziness will not be punished because the photos are plentiful and popular. Thanks Internet! The political soap opera Scandal continues to prove extremely popular with Baltimore audiences after another eventful show. SPOILERS BELOW PEOPLE! Meanwhile, Susan Rice  will not be leading the State Department anytime soon, The Air Foamposite One 'Stealth' (a sneaker, a not military drone)

News that Nike is dropping its sponsorship of tainted cyclist Lance Armstrong brought me back to one of the most poignant sections of his first book, "It's Not About the Bike. " Armstrong described the aftermath of his testicular cancer diagnosis in 1996, as corporate sponsors decided he was no longer worth bankrolling. Nike was one of the few sponsors to stand by Armstrong as he recuperated -- despite the possibility that he would never race again. He vowed to be loyal when he returned to competition -- and forged a deep, mutually beneficial partnership with Nike as he won seven Tour de France titles.

Bill Buckner, blamed by Boston for the loss of a World Series, is back in the limelight: Buckner, who missed a crucial ground ball in Game 6, enabling the New York Mets to win, 6-5, is featured in a new Nike commercial.In the spot, filmmaker Spike Lee finds Michael Jordan playing minor-league baseball and points out that he is not a baseball star. Willie Mays, Stan Musial and Ken Griffey defend Jordan, saying, "He's trying."Then it's Buckner's turn. "Michael's no Bill Buckner," Lee says as a grounder shoots between Jordan's legs.

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Nike Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter net income surged 81 percent, it reported yesterday, smashing Wall Street's estimates with strong sales of its athletic apparel and shoes worldwide.Net income rose to $176.9 million, or 60 cents a share, from $97.8 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier. The earnings far surpassed the average estimate of 54 cents from 13 analysts surveyed by First Call Corp.The company said orders for its clothing and shoes rose 54 percent, a strong increase that astonished analysts.

Ravens defensive tackle Terrence Cody became national talk radio fodder Friday after he and a pair of teammates were quoted in a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Does this New Uniform Make Me Look Fat?” In the article, Cody said he didn't care for the new uniforms from Nike, which replaced Reebok as the league's official uniform supplier this season, because the jerseys tighten up when they get wet and ride up his body . The 350-pound lineman said he thought that Nike should put different material in the jerseys for "the big guys.

NFL players of size -- including some Ravens -- are saying that the new Nike jerseys are less than flattering to their figures. In a word -- they make them feel fat. A funny Wall Street Journal story says unlike the old Reebok jerseys, the new ones made by Nike are slimmer fitting, something called the "body-contoured fit. " While the more lithe players applaud less material, the larger ones -- like the Ravens' Terrence Cody and Arthur Jones --...