Columnist Dean Juipe: Selling your body for fun and profit

Dean Juipe

Friday, Feb. 22, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Sports fans have grown accustomed to advertising and advertisements intruding on their games.

Race cars, for instance, are now covered from head to toe with emblems, logos and insignias that vie for the eyes' attention.

Likewise, outfield walls in baseball parks, which were once bland if not pristine, have been transformed into paid billboards in many locales. The same thing is true with extraneous areas of scoreboards and even playing fields, as NFL, NBA and NHL fans can attest.

Further, it's no longer novel for a TV network to use virtual ads, which only the captive viewer at home can see.

Athletes themselves can be walking advertisements at times, if you count the Nike swoosh and other such patches that are clearly visible on the outside of today's uniforms and sports apparel.

But a new threshold was crossed Thursday in Nevada and it's one we could have done without. As per a temporary restraining order issued by judge Mark Gibbons in Clark County District Court, professional fighters will be allowed to compete with temporary tattoos glistening (or distracting) from their bodies.

This is a little different from some janitorial firm paying a bum of a fighter a small fee to paint an ad on the bottom of his shoes, under the pretense that it will make a good photograph when the guy gets knocked out and is lying flat on his back. This is more of an all-out assault on the senses.

First up to offer his back and biceps for advertising is Clarence "Bones" Adams, who is fighting Paulie Ayala Saturday at Mandalay Bay. With Gibbons' blessing, he'll come into the ring hawking an online casino with a tattoo that will become invisible in about 21 days.

Those within range of Adams will be able to see GoldenPalace.com across his back, just as similar ads have adorned fighters in other states of late. But whereas Bernard Hopkins once had an ad start to run on him during a fight, the one on Adams won't be going anywhere for a while.

On the grounds that it was "demeaning," the Nevada State Athletic Commission was attempting to block Adams and the firm that is using his body for display purposes, Big Boxing. But Gibbons ruled in the fighter's favor and issued a TRO that will be reviewed March 6 in another court.

Even if they're not offended, fans have to ask themselves where this will all lead.

To date, athletes in the mainstream "big four" sports have been restricted from selling ad space on their bodies by edict of their various leagues. But what's to say this ban can't and won't be successfully challenged in court by a ballplayer who sees it not only as his First Amendment prerogative but as a chance to make a few extra bucks?

There is no end to the potential ridiculousness that's within sight, especially with a fighter such as Adams warranting $100,000 for the ad that will be plastered across his back.

Within years if not days, temporary tattoos and personal virtual ads could overrun sports and joust for the fans' attention. Every athlete, and not just every race car or race car driver, will sell every square inch of his body if the price is right.

They'll all try to be the Illustrated Man.