Columnist Ron Kantowski: This time, Nike got a bad rap

Monday, Aug. 28, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column usually appears Thursday. His inside notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088. Regular columnist Dean Juipe has the day off.

Having defended (sort of) omnipotent boxing promoter Bob Arum for his part in the International Boxing Federation bribery trial in this space a couple of weeks ago, you might be asking whose cause will I champion next?

U.S. Steel? The Bridgestone/Firestone tire company? The Internal Revenue Service?

Worse. How about Nike?

The athletic shoe conglomerate was in federal court last week, fending off charges that the golf ball Nike cash cow Tiger Woods endorses on television is not the one he whacks from here to Valhalla on the PGA Tour.

Duffers can't buy the actual ball Woods uses. Apparently, that ball is made specially for him. I think it's made out of some space age alloy, or at least the same stuff that Jimmy Johnson puts on his hair.

In reality, the balls Woods uses aren't wound tighter than Al Gore, but they do have a slightly harder inner and outer core than balls Nike sells to the gullible public.

When jealous competitors in the golf equipment business discovered that Nike was ... well, improving its lie, they pounced as if the Oregon firm signed an incorrect scorecard or used a foot wedge from the fringe at 18.

For the record, it was a nonprofit group called Public Remedies Inc., that filed the suit in District Court in San Francisco, claiming Nike was engaging in unfair business practices.

I'm sure, or at least relatively sure, there have been more frivolous lawsuits. So let's just say this one is near the top of the leaderboard.

Taking this half-truth in advertising routine a step farther, Woods also endorses Buick automobiles, which he may or may not drive from the hotel to the golf course during tournament weekends. But are you naive enough to believe that when Tiger and girlfriend Joanna Jagoda go out on the town, they tool around in a well-appointed Regal?

When I was a kid, there was a popular TV spot in which ballplayers such as Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski yukked it up for Maypo oatmeal.

Yes, I assume it was the same Maypo my Mom could buy off the shelf and force feed to me and my siblings. But I do not for a minute assume that the Say Hey Kid and the Mick and Yaz made Maypo a part of their daily recommended diet (especially the Mick).

But anybody who thinks Woods -- or for that matter, many of his rivals -- are hitting balls you can buy in the pro shop, guess again.

"We get the opportunity to test prototypes," Irishman Darren Clarke said. "We get clubs and things to try before they are made available to the public. So I'm sure this (Woods' golf balls) is just another step along that line."

A survey conducted on the putting green and driving range at this past weekend's NEC Invitational indicated no fewer than 15 of 37 players had some sort of prototype equipment in their bags.

So all you 18 handicappers should just chill out. Nike could make a ball with more dimples than John Travolta and it's not going to help you carry that water hazard on 17.

Conversely, you could make Woods play a sleeve of range balls and chances are he'd shoot 68.

And the next day, duffers would be lining up at Nevada Bob's to buy those funny white balls with the red stripe.